It was Sheriff Cobb.
I stared at him trying to understand how he fit into the puzzle. He stared back, his intelligent eyes crinkling with fatherly laughter. I hovered near the stairs, my arms hugging my body.
“Hello, Clare.”
I didn’t reply.
“You don’t understand what’s happening here, do you?” he asked in his thick southern drawl.
“No.”
The sword in his hands was covered in strange etchings and gleamed with silver malice as he twirled it. He walked towards a small table piled with delicious-looking food, the sword adding gravity to his steps. “Would you like something to eat? An apple or an orange? A date perhaps?”
I shook my head, reminded of the story of Persephone. She had been trapped in Hell by eating food offered to her by Hades. I wasn’t about to go there.
Cobb placed the sword on the table and sat. Picking up a piece of fruit, he regarded it for a moment before he popped it into his thin, lined mouth. “At least, come and join me. An old man hates to eat alone, especially when he has a pretty girl so near to talk to.”
“I think I’ll stand,” I said with rebellion in my voice.
“My, my, what a mouth! He told me you were stubborn. He told me quite a lot about you.”
“He?” I asked.
“Yes, my dear, recently departed, cousin has been observing you for a while now.”
He ripped apart a plum, his hawk-like hands tearing into the fruit easily. Frustrated at not understanding what he was saying, I concentrated. His thoughts were blocked. He was the first person beyond Daniel and his family who could block me. I wondered how he did it, remembering that Amanda’s father had the same talent.
Stymied I asked, “Your cousin?”
“Yes. A redneck if there ever was one.”
Cobb shook his head and smiled paternally at my confused expression. He snapped his fingers, and the dark-headed Seeker stepped out of the shadows. I jumped, not having noticed him standing there. My body tense, I waited for him to attack me, figuring this was the reason I had been sent down here.
Instead, the Seeker threw something to the floor. It rolled and bounced in my direction. I took a step closer, fixated, unable to look away. I wanted to understand the oddness of the shape, why they were so intent I see the shape. Blank eyes stared up at me. I gagged when my brain registered what my eyes were seeing. It was a severed human head. Was that who I thought it was?
“Yes, that’s my cousin.” Cobb’s eyes searched my face, looking for fear. “Gavin Nichols. He got in our way today. Spewing some sentimental nonsense about how we couldn’t use Amanda. That we had to leave her alone. That our plan was flawed. You do know Amanda, right?”
I looked away from the head. Cobb was trying to scare me, unbalance me for whatever he had planned next. I wouldn’t let him do it. He had used Amanda’s circumstances, her suicide attempt, to draw me out and distract the others. Could he have planned that? Had they killed Mr. Nichols because he had been trying to save his daughter after all? I almost looked back at the head, wondering if his love had gotten him killed, but I focused on Cobb instead.
“Everything turned out for the best, though,” he said in that grandpa voice. He regarded me for a moment and picked up another piece of fruit. “You have no idea how much work it took to get you here, my dear.” He shook his head with a smile. “Your grandfather is a stubborn, prideful man. He came so close to ruining everything.” What could my grandfather have to do with any of this? He saw the question on my face. “Yes. I knew Roger Michaels. We were very close…knew each other since childhood. I was there when he got married. I was there when his daughter was born. When Ellen ran away and he was heartbroken, I was there. When he knew the cancer was terminal and he only had months to live, I was there. Why not convince him to change the will and give his daughter everything? Why not let his final act be an act of reconciliation? He was eager to agree. You see, he regretted not talking to your mother for all those years. He only did so because of your grandmother – another prideful soul. He was never the same; broken you might say.” He gestured at the Seeker. “My friends were pleased when I told them I had a way of drawing you out. All I had to do was play on your mother’s emotions, her desire to make amends for some of the hurt she’d caused her parents. It was actually quite easy. If those others,” his thin lips hardened, “hadn’t interfered, we would have had you within days of you moving here. But what’s a slight delay in the grand scheme of things, eh?”
At least, I now understood why we had the house. At least, I knew my grandfather regretted something. If I got out of here alive, I would have to tell Ellen.
I found my sarcasm, unwilling to let him unnerve me, particularly when I felt so exposed. “What a horrible cliché,” I said. “It’s never a good idea to tell your whole plan to your victim, Cobb. It’s tacky, very tacky.”
“I don’t understand…”
“Go ahead and tell me what I’m doing here,” I said. “I know you’re just dying to.”
The Seeker started laughing at my tone. His black eyes bored into my grey ones with grim delight. There was no pity there. Just a barely tempered rage.
Cobb laughed as well. “Marcus was right about her. She’s pretty strong-willed, isn’t she?” He stood. “It will make this more difficult.”
The Seeker shrugged indifferently. “They’re all breakable….so very breakable. Can we get on with this?” He sounded bored. I wondered how many deaths he had seen, how many deaths he had been responsible for. I hoped never to be that callous. If I lived through tonight…
“Yes, Thomas, we will. Just a moment more.”
Cobb walked over to me. I met his eyes in hate and fear. His brown eyes held a burning purpose. It went beyond intelligence or thought. It was obsession. Could I use it against him? I frowned and tried to break through his mental shield, but it was like a fortress.
“What’s going to happen next can happen willingly or by force. I prefer willingly. It will be better for both of us,” Cobb said.
“Spit it out,” I said through clenched teeth. I didn’t like to be threatened.
“Your blood, my dear. Give me your blood willingly.”
He stepped closer. I smelled the typical person smells, but also something else. Something foreign. Desperation? Could a person smell of desperation?
“You and I are going to be a grand experiment. If we are right, if Marcus is right, then it will be a new beginning. Together, we will be Adam and Eve. A new dawn for man and angel.”
My stomach dropped. He was crazy. He had super humans doing his bidding and he was crazy. I didn’t know what he meant, but none of it sounded good. I didn’t want a new dawn, or a new beginning, and I definitely didn’t want him to be my Adam. Gross.
“Over my dead body,” I spat.
At my words, the Seeker, Thomas, started forward. “With pleasure.”
Cobb put a hand out. “We will do it the other way first. Remember, she has to agree to it.”
“Whatever. But after?”
“She’s not to be touched if it works.”
“What about the other one?”
“You can have him.” Cobb’s cold eyes met mine. “In fact, why don’t you call him in here?”
Thomas grinned, his boredom fading. In a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Bring him in.” It sounded deafening to my ears.
A large metal door banged against the opposite wall and a dog-like figure appeared. I took a shallow breath, terrified at having a Nightstalker so near. It surged across the room in restless movement. I looked beyond its evil appearance, trying to understand the movement. Why it was so agitated?
I focused again and realized it was fighting with something, rolling it in its massive paws. The creature snapped at the form and growled with a deafening sound that filled the large room. A second Nightstalker barged through the door, to help control the smaller creature, which was obviously much stronger than its size suggested. I tried to recognize what the
y were fighting with. It was difficult around the movement. I finally realized what I was seeing.
I gasped. I hadn’t thought anything could hurt him. I had thought him steel and metal, untouchable by evil. I was wrong.
The first creature reached out and slammed Daniel to the ground with a paw into his stomach. The sound of crunching bone danced across the space. Another swipe along his arm tore into his shirt. I cried out in pain as I watched Daniel’s blood, which was surprisingly silver, spill onto the expensive carpet.
Daniel stopped struggling when he heard my gasp, giving the second demon time to pin him down. He strained his neck to look at me, his eyes widening with fear. I tried to tell him not to give up fighting, but he was frozen with shock. The Nightstalker on top of him grunted happily, and its lips curled back in satisfaction over gleaming white teeth.
I took a step forward to help Daniel, to do anything, but Cobb stopped me with a hand on my arm. “You can do what I ask, and your friend dies peacefully, or you can refuse, and we make it more painful.”
Thomas walked over to Daniel and bent down. He reached out and grabbed Daniel’s hand. Daniel struggled with Thomas, but the Nightstalker on his chest pressed harder. I saw pain ignite the coolness of his green eyes. Daniel kept his hand shut and focused his eyes on me. Adrenaline and fear surged through my veins in response. I could shove Cobb off, but that wouldn’t stop the demons on top of Daniel. They would kill him before I could do anything – not that I could do much.
Thomas peeled back Daniel’s fingers and looked over at me playfully. He jerked one finger backward and the bone snapped. Daniel shut his eyes, mutely refusing to cry out. I realized what they were doing. Watchers still felt pain, even though they healed from most wounds. Daniel could still feel pain. They would make him hurt. They would torture him, until they got what they were after. Until they got my blood.
My blood pressure rose as Daniel reopened his eyes. His eyes pleaded with me to run. He told me to leave him and get out. The look tore at my heart. I couldn’t give in and let him die, but I couldn’t run either. I wouldn’t leave him to this.
“Choose, Clare,” the old man said.
Another pop of bone.
“Choose. It’s just a drop of blood.”
Another and another. Snap! Snap! I jumped with each pop.
Cobb’s sleepy drawl turned the blood in my veins to ice. “Choose…”
I focused on Daniel, absorbing his strong features. I ignored the way his hand was becoming unrecognizable and focused on the good things. I etched the perfect lines of his face into my brain. Was I saying goodbye? Was I trying to remember his features for later? Were we both about to die?
I had told him only last night that I would prefer to die fighting for a cause, fighting for the person I loved. If we were going to die, I would make sure I hurt someone first. I wouldn’t just go peacefully into the night. I would take someone with me.
My necklace started glowing. Cobb released my arm and jumped back as the light intensified. My anger crept towards the boiling point. I saw red.
Power surged into my body. I suddenly felt stronger than I ever had before. My body started to shake from the power. I knew I had to act to dispel the energy before I exploded.
Looking to my right, I saw Cobb. I didn’t understand what his part was in all this, but the others listened to him. He was a threat. I reached out and took hold of his throat, easily raising him off the ground. “Release, Daniel.”
“Gahhh!” he choked.
I looked over at Thomas. “Release him.”
My eyes trained on Thomas, I waited to see if he would do what I commanded. He didn’t move; he was frozen with surprise. A second that felt like eons passed. Cobb kept struggling, but his struggles barely registered against my newfound strength.
The first Nightstalker snarled at me, foamy drool falling from its mouth onto Daniel. It burned away his shirt and scorched his skin. My jaw tightened in response. I shifted my focus as the second Nightstalker crept towards me, taking careful steps as it maneuvered closer.
“Stop,” I commanded. The Nightstalker kept moving, ignoring me. “Stop,” I repeated.
This time I held my free hand up, palm out. The demon snarled in response. Feeling that I had given ample warning, I released the energy I had been restraining. Fire poured from my hand. It boiled out and completely engulfed the Nightstalker. My surprise at the act wasn’t enough to stop the fire. It lashed against the creature, tearing into its scaly flesh.
The demon thrashed madly around the space, running into furniture, its pain a harsh lament as it searched for a way to extinguish the fire. Its death-throes brought it too close. Running blindly, it barreled directly at me. With only seconds to react, I threw Cobb away, jumped to my left, and rolled. It ran over Cobb, crashed into a table, and collapsed. I found my feet again. Ignoring the dying demon and Cobb, I took another step towards Thomas – towards Daniel.
“Release him,” I said.
Thomas finally dropped Daniel’s hand and rose, his feet sliding into a defensive stance. He had finally caught up to the situation. I sensed him assessing me, looking for a weakness. I was doing the same, my brain working three steps ahead. He started edging to his right, away from Daniel and the other creature. I followed him with my eyes, keeping both him and the last Nightstalker within view. Daniel struggled feebly against the Nightstalker, but he didn’t rise. He had been beaten worse than I’d imagined. How much pain could he take?
Satisfied that he had me where he wanted me – between Satan’s spawn and Satan – Thomas stopped moving. I counted the seconds before he would attack me.
He started forward, his hand reaching for me, but stopped again just as quickly. His eyes widened as he stared past me to where the burning demon had stopped crashing into things. The smell of burnt, dead flesh was overwhelming, but Thomas wasn’t looking at the dead Nightstalker. He was looking at something much more frightening.
A deep, rumbling growl pierced my ears. I didn’t have to turn to know it was another Nightstalker. They had kept one in reserve. I was surrounded. The Nightstalker on top of Daniel responded with its own hair-raising growl. What now?
Without warning, the Nightstalker at the foot of the stairs launched itself across the room. But it wasn’t aiming for me or for Daniel. It was aiming for the demon on top of Daniel. It crashed into the Nightstalker pinning Daniel with the sound of two freight trains crashing in to one another. They rolled away from Daniel, fighting tooth and claw, gouging huge chunks of reptilian flesh from each other as they rolled across the floor. As odd as it was, I had an ally in the Nightstalker.
I returned my focus to Thomas. He was the main threat now. I leapt at him, trying to take advantage of his surprise. I went for his head, but he gracefully ducked out of reach. Although he didn’t react well to new situations, he was fast and agile. His eyes turned hard as I kicked at his knee, and I knew we were in a dance of death; only the best dancer would keep their life.
Thomas tried to capture me in his arms, but I danced out of his way – a tango to his box step. He pursued me across the room with kicks and punches, his blows turning increasingly deadly. I blocked his attacks with my forearms and knees, falling back on the karate Ellen had forced me to take years ago. Our dance took us around the room, destroying any furniture that wasn’t already broken. The room became a swirl of color and sound as we matched blow for blow, the world fading into the background as I fought to keep my life and protect Daniel’s. As we danced, I searched for a way through his guard. I sensed him doing the same to mine.
I found a flaw in his defense first. Thomas favored his left, which caused him to compensate by guarding his right too much. I started aiming for his left side, giving vent to a rapid set of moves that put him off balance. He tried to block, but I could see the fear begin to form in his face. He knew what was coming; probably more than I did.
I twisted his hand out of the way – a desperate punch at my gut – then jammed my hand t
owards his heart. Instead of the debilitating move I had intended, my hand punched through to his actual heart. I jerked back, tearing it from his chest, before I had time to stop myself.
Thomas looked at me in shock, all his hatred draining away. I stood there, holding his heart, which was dripping silver blood on to the expensive carpet, and stared into his eyes. What had I just done? His knees buckled under him and he collapsed to the floor with a sigh, his regret his death mask.
I was motionless as the chaos surged around me. I heard the Nightstalkers fighting, furniture tearing, and flesh ripping. I heard someone yelling, but none of it registered. All the anger and power had drained out of me. I had killed. Twice. I was a murderer. I sat down heavily, the heart still in my hand.
It took me a moment to notice I was next to Sheriff Cobb. At first, I thought he was dead, but then he started coughing. He looked at me, blood running across his forehead. His thoughts were pain-filled and incoherent, his mental shield gone. His thoughts told me my throw, coupled with the Nightstalker’s charge, had hurt him bad.
“Just a drop of blood,” he pleaded. “Just a drop and I’ll live forever. I would be your greatest protector. You would live forever as my granddaughter. We would rule the world. We would stop the war and the killing. There would be peace forever. Just a drop given willingly…Please?”
He clutched at my arm, the arm holding Thomas’s heart. I cringed and leaned away from the fevered light in his eyes, more afraid of him then my fight with Thomas.
“For a drop of blood, you would ruin so many lives? You would hurt so many?”
I thought of Gavin Nichols and Ryan Holt. I thought of Amanda. I thought of the Adamses and Daniel. Cobb didn’t respond. I didn’t see how my blood would help him live forever, but I knew one thing. “You don’t deserve to live forever. You’ve proved that much.”
His hands dropped away from my arm, all the fire leaving his eyes. His voice was hardly a whisper, a ragged plea, “Just a drop? I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. Please, God, I’m scared to die. Please, God…” He never got to finish.
That made three. I had killed three.
The silver heart slipped from my limp hand. I started crying, unable to stop the remorse and guilt. I bent forward and cried a lament to the night and to my deeds. I couldn’t understand what had happened to make me so strong, so capable, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that I had killed. Three lives were gone because of me. I looked at the silver blood in my hands knowing I would never feel clean again. I cried harder, my head and chest pounding with the pain.
“Clare!”
The call swirled on the edge of my senses.
“Clare!”
It was no good. I was still lost.
“Clare! Answer me, damn it!”
Did I know that voice? Did I know that frustrated worry? It sounded familiar. My crying lessened a fraction as I tried to remember.
“Clare! Alex is hurt!”
I stopped crying at once and looked up. The room, which had been a cacophony of noise and confusion during the fighting, was silent. The lights were off, the room impossibly dark. Would this dark tomb be the place I stayed in forever lamenting the death of the three?
“I think she’s broken an arm! Please help…I can’t.”
The voice was tired but familiar. I crawled to the sound, needing it more than I needed air. That voice had the power to take the darkness away. I felt glass and wood cut into my hands and knees, tearing my jeans and skin with equal indifference. I ignored the stinging, desperate for an end to the pain crushing my chest. I heard two more snaps as I crawled to the sound of Daniel’s voice. I flinched, knowing what it meant; he had just reset his broken fingers. In the dark, my crawling felt as if I was going nowhere, as if I were in a black hole. I would never reach him. In a panic, I called out to him to tell me where he was, the tears still running down my face.
I felt a hand reach out and touch my neck. It was electrifying and wonderful, instantly calming. “I’m here,” he said.
“Are you okay?” I asked my throat hoarse from crying.
We had come so close. So close to losing everything.
“I’m fine. I just need a minute to heal. Are you okay?”
Not wanting to answer, I turned away from him and felt around for Alex. He had said she was hurt. I found her arm first. It was bent back at an awkward angle. Even though I had bumped into it, she didn’t cry out. I moved to check her pulse. As I did, I realized she was naked.
“Is there a blanket nearby?” I asked.
“Yes. But I can’t reach it.”
“Why not?”
“I’m waiting for my broken pelvis and back to heal.”
He said it so calmly. I swallowed around the lump in my throat.
“Oh…well... Where is it?”
“To your left…” he started directing me.
We managed to find a cover, which was more of a drape, and I went back to wrap it around Alex.
“What should we do next?” I asked.
“I need a couple more minutes,” Daniel said “Then we should leave and torch this place behind us. That’s the only way to make sure they stay dead.”
“You mean they could still be alive?” I asked hopefully.
Even though they were evil, I hated having their deaths on my hands.
“No. Not like that.”
“Like what then?” I demanded, not in the mood for vague hints.
“Ever seen a zombie movie?” he asked dryly.
“Yeah...”
He could tell I needed more of an answer. “Our regenerative abilities work even after our…our soul is gone. Our body still wants to heal, and acts as if it’s still alive, even though we’re gone.”
“Oh.” I glanced down at the dark shape that was Alex. “We need to get her to a hospital.” I caught up with the oddity of her being here. “Wait, how did she get here? And why is she naked? I don’t remember…” I trailed off.
I didn’t want to think about what had just happened. Not yet. He raised his unhurt hand and placed it on my neck. He grunted in pain with the effort. I moved his hand back to the floor and held it for a minute.
“I think I can carry Alex to the top of the stairs. Then I could come back for you,” I offered.
I was tired, more tired than I had been after sharing that first vision with Daniel, but for these two people, I could do anything.
“No. In a couple more minutes I should be okay.” He paused thoughtfully then continued, “There’s something from the vision we shared that I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”
Resigned that I would have to wait, I welcomed the distraction. “Yeah?”
“I saw you in a city somewhere. You were in a garden surrounded by wild flowers. You turned and looked at me, then you smiled like you’d never been happier. That’s all. You just smiled. What was that about?”
I frowned. “Nothing. I don’t remember the memory. How old did I look?”
“Like you do now.”
“Maybe you were seeing the future or something.”
“I don’t think I was,” he said. “I can only see things that you experienced.”
“Maybe it was a dream,” I suggested.
“Maybe.”
“You don’t sound very sure.”
“With you, I am sure of nothing,” he said.
In the long moment of silence that followed, I worked furiously to block out what I had just done.
“Clare?” Daniel’s voice was thick with emotion.
“Hm?”
“It gets better. It doesn’t get easier….just less painful.” My heart caught. “And I promise I’ll be here no matter what. Whatever you need. Just remember that I’ve been through it as well.”
I struggled with the proper response.
Finally healed, Daniel stood up. He reached down and pulled me up. “Don’t say anything. Just know I’m here. And, Clare?” I had turned away to pick Alex up. He put a hand on my neck. “T
hanks for saving my life.”
I shrugged, wanting to downplay what I had done. Was this how he felt all the time? I had no idea how to put words to all the emotions I had felt when saving him. “Call it even?”
Daniel’s laughter was bliss. It echoed around the tomb, bringing life back to my senses. Laughter and light were possible in the darkness I was experiencing!
“Deal.”
Daniel picked Alex up and cradled her gently in his arms, careful to touch nothing but the drape. Together, we walked up the stairs, putting the room behind us.
Chapter 20