Deadly Chaos (3 page)

Chapter Two

Sunshine Woman

Dakota strained to see something, anything, in the dark hallway. Tapping his Maglite on his leg, he tried to jiggle it back to life. He’d been in the old school building for less than five minutes and already he’d gone through two sets of batteries. Fresh ones were in the van. He should turn back and get some new ones but he knew as soon as he put them in the flashlight, they’d be drained too. Something was in this hallway, and it was strong. “And getting stronger,” he mumbled.

A chill passed through him and he stopped moving. Planting his feet, he scanned the darkness. In the pitch blackness he couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face let alone any dark shadows or other people. But he could sense them. He wasn’t alone. He fought a shiver. It was as if someone or something was surrounding him and sucking the warmth from his body.

Dakota considered his options. They boiled down to fight or flee. He was accustomed to spirits and the cold sensation they could cause but this was something different. It was circling him, almost as if it was taunting or offering a challenge. “Show yourself. Make yourself known,” he said, his booming voice echoed off the walls and down the long corridor.

A deep rumble of laughter vibrated off of the walls. “Shit.” He pushed the call button on his walkie talkie. “Linda, Sheila? You guys there?” He wasn’t about to call them into the building and put them in danger, but he could use some guidance. Maybe they could see something on the monitor. They had a video camera positioned at the end of the hall. In fact, if his guess was right, he should be facing it directly. And you should be able to see the light on the recorder too, he thought. But he couldn’t see a damned thing. It was as if something was blocking out all the light.

“Kat?” He pushed the call button again.

“Copy. What’s up, Dakota?”

Dakota exhaled in relief. “Where are Linda and Sheila? Where are you?”

“I’m in the van. Linda and Sheila are in the basement.”

“Can you see them?”

“Yep. They’re doing an EVP session by the boiler room. This old school building is freakin’ off. Freddy Krueger creepy, you know? There’s writing on the walls in the boiler room like children were locked in there. I’m glad I’m not alone in there.”

“Yeah,” Dakota agreed. He was glad she wasn’t alone in here, too. Who knew what this thing would do? “Keep an eye on Linda and Sheila, okay?”

“Always ready to save the day, Tonto,” she chided. “They’re fine. You okay?”

“Not sure,” he said. If anyone else had called him Tonto he’d be tempted to punch their lights out. Coming from Kat, he tolerated it. Like a pesky little sister, it was her way to push people’s buttons. It was an obvious button for her to push and he had better things to focus on at the moment. “My flashlight keeps dying and I can’t see the camera at the end of the hallway. Is it working?”

“Yep. I can see you perfectly.”

“Good. You see anything else? Shadows? Anything?”

“Nope. Just you standing in the middle of a junior high school hallway.”

“How far away from the camera am I?”

“Wow, what’s going on, Dakota?”

He could hear anxiety creeping into her voice and didn’t want to alarm her. “Just tell me how far away the camera is. I can’t see the light.”

“About thirty feet. You’re facing it right now. Just walk straight ahead and you’ll run right into it.”

“Thanks.” Dakota was grateful for his sense of direction. Maybe it was something handed down by his ancestors but he never got lost or turned around. He was like a walking GPS. A whisper of a breeze stirred the hair at the nape of his neck. Strands of his long hair floated across his face. Snagging a rubber band from his wrist, he pulled his hair back into a ponytail. The last thing he needed was hair in his face distracting him from the presence in this hallway. He felt, deep down in his gut, that he needed to be on high alert.

The cold breeze pushed through him again. This time Dakota got the sense that it was male. What was it trying to do? “Who are you?" he asked. "What do you want from me? Speak to me." The words,
I want to help
that were poised on the tip of his tongue fell away. It was a habit from other investigations to offer his help. That’s what they did. The Spirit Savers helped spirits get unstuck. Sometimes it was denial. Sometimes they didn’t know they were dead and sometimes they had unfinished business. Linda had a mission to help them and he had a mission to protect Linda. Kat and Sheila joined the group a few years ago and together they’d accomplished a lot. But he didn't want to help this thing. He wanted it to go away. He raised his hands in the air. "I command you to leave this place."

Counting his footsteps, Dakota strode to the end of the hallway. Maybe if he had the video camera he could see better - see what he was up against.

"Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven." Three feet from the camera, he could see the small red light on the side indicating it was recording. Three more steps and he'd have it. The cold breeze passed through him again. This time it didn't just pass through passively. It took something with it. Dakota lurched backward with the force as the entity escaped through his back. He felt it circle him and pass through again. "What’s going on?” He yelled. “Stop. I command you to stop!”

It passed through him again. Like a tornado building right inside him, he felt the entity pick up speed. It was circling him and passing through at a rapid rate now. With each heartbeat he felt it pull more from him. Energy? What was it taking? What did it need? He had to make it stop. If it continued taking energy from him, he was screwed. With each pass it was getting stronger and he was weakening. Reaching for the camera, Dakota tried to move forward. He stumbled backwards as the entity passed through him again. Any second now he'd drop to the ground unable to move. He felt the strength leaving him. Dakota’s mind raced as he struggled to figure out how to make it stop.

Raising his arms, the words for a protective spell flowed freely from his lips. An illuminated shell instantly surrounded him. Egg-like in shape, it glowed silvery violet and encased him from head to toe.
How did I know to do that?
he wondered. He’d never done anything like that before. A dark mist appeared in front of him. It was inside the orb. He’d sealed the entity inside with him. It was trapped inside. It pushed inside him once again. As it did, Dakota could feel its surprise. Then rage. The rage bubbled up quickly as if fury was second nature. He felt it go still, as if it were trying to figure out what to do next. It wasn’t a person. It couldn’t be. No person had this much power alive or dead. It had to be a demon. He wasn’t sure he believed in them, he’d certainly never encountered one, but it was the only explanation he could come up with. Now what? What was he going to do with a demon trapped inside him?

"Are you okay?" He heard Kat’s voice on the walkie. His first and last instinct was to protect her. To protect them. He didn't know what he was dealing with and he didn't want any of his team in danger. He also couldn't lie to them. "I’m fine. Dealing with something new. I'll let you know if I need help."

“Okay.”

He could tell she didn't quite believe him and he knew she could see him. Dakota lurched forward and picked up the recorder. He turned it so it was facing down a different hallway. Kat would assume he'd heard or seen something down that hallway and wouldn't question it. At least not right away. It’d buy him some time to figure this out.

Icy fingers raked down his spine. They clawed at his throat and scraped his intestines. Whatever was inside him was getting restless and more violent. He could feel it starting to tear away at his shield. He could feel the sharp claws shredding. It wouldn't break through; at least he didn't think it would. But he'd never trapped something inside with him before. He took a minute to analyze the energy. Male. Hateful. And it didn't belong here. It had somehow become trapped in the school. He wondered how and what it wanted with him. Perhaps a way to get out of the school. Did it need more energy to escape? That’s what it had been doing; stealing energy from him. Maybe it wanted to manifest for them. Or hurt them. Dakota doubled over in pain. He felt like a knife was slicing him in two from the collarbone to his pelvis. It burned. He screamed.

“Dakota?”

Dakota hit the floor. Somewhere far away he could hear Kat yelling for him. He could hear Sheila and Linda running down the hallway calling his name. He saw the lights of their flashlights bounce off the shiny lockers. He couldn't move. The pain was too intense. He could feel his soul being ripped from his body. “No,” he groaned. Lying on his back, the cold tile floor gave him some measure of comfort. If he could feel something solid, he was still alive.

All sound faded. Dakota saw his soul rise above him. But it wasn't the soul he knew. It was black. It hovered above him. He felt it watching him, assessing its next move. As if on a puppet string, his right leg lifted straight in the air as he watched his soul ascend toward the ceiling. It caught. His leg jerked. His soul snapped back toward him like a rubber band. The pain was excruciating but in that moment he realized it was still tethered to him by a long, almost silvery cord. It jerked away again. The cord pulled taut. Dakota yelled. It jerked again, this time wildly like a dog trying to get off its leash.

“Dakota!”

Turning his head, he saw Linda, Sheila, and Kat standing helplessly. Linda’s eyes were closed as if she were praying. He could see them from his vantage point on the floor. He could also see them from his spirit body above. They held hands. He knew they didn't see his soul floating above his body but they knew something was wrong. He didn't think Linda's cleansing prayers were going to help. If it was a demon, then they needed an exorcist and he didn’t have time. Any second now the demon was going to rip his soul from his body and he’d be dead. He was on his own and he had to stop it before it killed him - and then did God knows what to them. With each tug, he could feel the tether weakening. Dakota struggled to pull energy back into his body and sit up. The pain was debilitating. Bracing his arms on the floor he pushed himself up. His leg jerked in the air as the thing with his soul continued to flail.

As he sat up he noticed a woman standing next to the lockers. She wore jeans, work boots and a man's white t-shirt. She had a kiss of a tan and freckles spattered across her nose. A coyote hid in the shadows behind her like a skulking omen. Yet a brilliant golden light radiated from her, brighter than the sunshine. Even her long blonde braids shone in the darkness. He felt like if he could touch her, everything would be okay. Compelled to try, Dakota grabbed the tether. Electricity shot through him as he wrapped his hands around it. It was breaking. The woman stood there watching him struggle. Why wouldn’t she help him? Dakota reached for her. The tether broke.

Dakota woke with a start. Drenched in sweat, his heart pounding wildly, he threw off the covers and jumped from the bed. Gasping he looked around him. He recognized his bed, his dresser. His pictures hanging on the wall. No school. No demon. He was alive. Dakota took a deep breath and sat back down on the side of the bed.

"That was the worst dream I've ever had," he groaned. Raking his hands through his hair, Dakota knew he should write it down. Dreams always meant something - especially a dream like that. His mother’s people believed that dreams were often the ancestral spirits talking to them. What were his ancestors trying to tell him? He wasn't sure he wanted to know. Dakota glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was four-thirty in the morning. He’d be getting up soon anyway. Grabbing a shirt and sweats from the floor, he dressed for a run. Maybe he could run the memories of the dream away. The presence of the coyote made him feel ill. It was a bad omen. Hopefully the run would purge the bad feelings from his body. He slipped on his shoes, grabbed a key and headed out the front door. As his first foot hit the sidewalk, he wondered, "Who was the sunshine woman in the dream?"

Chapter Three

Bad Luck is My Middle Name

Chaos stood in the center of the yard and hollered out directions to her crew. They didn’t need her help but she was tired of sitting in the office answering phone calls. It also helped keep her mind off of the murder she’d committed last week. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She couldn’t stop thinking about Dead Bill. She relived every single moment of that horrible night with each breath she took. But the crisp October air and sunshine helped ease the grip the memory had on her just a bit. At this point she’d take any help she could get. It’d been five days since the murder. Self-defense, she reminded herself. It was self-defense. She didn’t know what Paolo and his friends had done with Bill’s body and she figured she was better off not knowing. Paolo hadn’t mentioned the incident and she was grateful for his discretion. She’d yet to figure out exactly how she could repay him, but she would find a way.

Her cell phone rang. Pulling it from her back pocket, Chaos looked at the number. She was half expecting the police to call her and exhaled in relief when she recognized her office number. Probably another family trying to get their sprinkler system winterized before the snow came. An early season storm was predicted for the weekend and the ski resorts were getting excited. The first snow in Santa Fe was always a big deal.

She let the call forward to her answering service. They had the schedule and could handle it if there was room.

“Go home, Mija,” Paolo said, coming up beside her.

“I can’t,” she said. “The whole place stinks like him.” It did smell like him. The sickly combination of cologne, whiskey, blood and sweat had become part of her home. She’d left the windows open for two days and froze trying to get the smell of him out. It hadn’t worked. But that wasn’t the real reason she didn’t want to go home. Dead Bill was stalking her. She woke up in the middle of the night thinking about him and went to sleep with the fear that she was going to wake up thinking about him. She couldn’t get away from him and it was driving her crazy.