Raven's Peak (19 page)

Kurt nodded. “I know.”

“Tonight.”

“I understand.”

“You won’t let me down?”

“Never,” Kurt said, shaking his head. He’d never been so sure of anything in his entire life.

“Good,” Bret said, the wisp of a smile on his young lips. “Then take me home.

They were the last group back to the cabin. Everyone else was gathered on the porch and waiting for them, and as soon as the mother saw Bret she broke out in tears.

“Bret!” she gasped, rushing over and scooping her son up. “You scared me.”

He didn’t reply but allowed her to pick him up and spin him around.

Alex looked over at the other two. “Thought we might have to send a search party out for you two as well,” he said jokingly.

Kurt forced himself to laugh, but all he could feel was seething hatred for Alex. The bastard had always pretended to be his friend, but Kurt could see through his lies. He knew the truth.

“Kurt found him,” Becky said.

“Oh really?” Alex replied. He seemed surprised. Of course, he would be, the two-faced jackal.

“Yes,” Kurt said. “I did.”

The mother set her son down and walked over. She took Kurt’s hand, and he could see the tears streaming down her face despite the rain. “Thank you,” she said. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem,” he said.

“I should give you something for helping me find him,” she said, digging into her purse. “I owe you so much.”

“No,” Kurt said. He forced another smile. “We couldn’t possibly take your money.”

A few of the other members of the group, especially Alex, seemed surprised by the response. “He’s right,” Alex said finally. “We’re just happy we could help.”

“Thank you.”

She started walking to her car, pulling her son along. They watched her go and then headed inside the cabin.

“Thank God that’s over,” Becky said, shaking out of her raincoat and brushing her fingers through her hair.

“You’re telling me,” Alex said. He hung his coat up and then patted Kurt on the back. “Great job, man. I knew you had it in you.”

The touch made Kurt’s skin crawl, but he kept smiling. “It was nothing.”

“No, I’m serious. When you dig down deep, you’re a great guy.”

Kurt brushed the compliment away, feeling sick to his stomach. “You know what,” he said. “It’s been a pretty rough day, but it ended well. How about tonight I dip into my private stash and we all have a little party?”

“Seriously?” Mary asked. Kurt knew she wouldn’t pass up an opportunity like this. “Hell yeah, I’m in.”

“Me, too,” Tim added. Kurt knew that if Tim was in, his girlfriend Aniya would be as well.

“Not me,” Becky said, shaking her head. “I’m exhausted and cold. Think I’m going to tuck in for the night.”

“All right,” Alex said. “Let’s get some tunes going and get this party started!”

Becky felt a hand clamp over her mouth and awoke with a start.

She panicked and thrashed around, but she felt something heavy settle overtop her body, pinning her down. It was pitch black, disorienting, and it took her a few seconds to remember where she was: she’d gone to bed in her room in the cabin. The last thing she’d been thinking about was how much she wanted to turn off that God-awful music blaring downstairs.

She could still hear the music, but it wasn’t as loud anymore. She must have finally fallen asleep at some point. She tried to sit up again, but she felt the weight on top of her adjust, forcing her back down. The hand stayed firmly clamped on her mouth, though she could make little gasping noises.

“Shh,” a voice said in the darkness from just above. “It’s OK.”

Becky recognized the whisper as Kurt and thrashed again. He held her firmly, and when she finally gave up, he started gently brushing her hair.

“It’s OK. It’s all going to be OK.”

He gently brushed her forehead, making soft cooing noises, and her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. She saw Kurt leaning over her bed, using his body weight to keep her down. He looked wild-eyed and crazy, smiling at her.

“I wanted to get to you first,” he said. “The others are downstairs and could probably sleep through a hurricane right now, but you didn’t accept any of my drugs. So I have to take care of you first.”

Take care of me?

Becky started fighting again, then adjusted her mouth to bite Kurt in the hand. He didn’t flinch as she bit down, and after a second she could taste blood as she tore through his skin.

But he still didn’t move. He stayed still, letting her bite into his skin without even a flinch. It wasn’t the response she had been expecting.

“Are you done?” he asked when she finally unclenched her teeth. She watched as he picked something off the bed, and she could make out the shape: it was a knife. “I used to dream about you.”

He said it casually, holding the knife up and studying it.

“I was in love with you throughout all of my freshman year, and you wouldn’t even give me the time of day. You barely even knew I existed. Hell, you still barely notice me.

“But that changes today, doesn’t it? I bet right now I have your full and undivided attention. Too bad it’s just too late, huh?”

He gently ran the flat of the blade across her neck, caressing her skin with it. The metal was cold, and she flinched away from it.

“A pity,” he said. She could taste his blood and heard herself making soft whimpering sounds.

Gently, ever so gently, he sliced the knife into her neck. She felt heat and pain and cried out, the sound muffled by his hand. He pushed it farther in, severing her jugular vein on the left side of her neck and sliding all the way across.

She felt her life blood spilling out, drenching her clothes and the blankets and immediately felt weak and lightheaded. She tried to sit up, but her body was already too weak.

He released her, sitting up, and she clamped a hand over her neck, gasping and dizzy. She tried to cry out for help, but the sound was raspy and gurgling.

“You should be proud,” he whispered to her, kissing her softly on the cheek. “You were my first.”

Then he stood from the bed, leaving her alone, and headed for the door. She watched him leave, life slipping away, and heard him whistling a cheerful tune as he exited her room.

“What happened back there?” Haatim asked once Abigail was finally awake. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and rubbed the hair out of her face. “What happened in the park with that little girl? When you got back to the car you looked terrible.”

“Don’t you know you should never tell a woman she looks terrible?”

“Somehow, with you, I don’t think that rule applies.”

Abigail chuckled. “No, I suppose not. Do you have any Tylenol?”

“Aspirin. In the glove box.”

Abigail flipped it open and dug through miscellaneous papers until she found a little bottle. She popped two pills into her mouth and swallowed them, hoping it would at least take the edge off.

As soon as she had climbed into the passenger seat of Haatim’s little Chevy she passed out. He’d tried striking up a conversation once she woke up, but she wasn’t able to respond. Her mind and body hurt and she could barely move. It was as if she’d just run a marathon while taking an exam.

She realized she was putting her life into Haatim’s hands, which was something she didn’t like doing. The only person she’d ever trusted was Arthur, and after she helped lock him away in that black site prison she’d found it difficult to trust anyone again.

But she hadn’t had a lot of options at the time. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and she needed to sleep, which meant she prayed Haatim would keep her safe and get her to Raven’s Peak.

And now Haatim had woken her up several hours later, stopping at a gas station for another restroom and food break. He bought them some cheeseburgers, but she wasn’t hungry.

She bit into her sandwich, barely tasting anything except the grease, and stared out the window. It was dark out, a little after eight at night, and they were about fifty miles outside of Raven’s Peak.

“A lot,” she answered finally. “A lot happened, but not all of it was good.”

She remembered bridging the connection, but the sensations were fading. It was like her memories of the event were slippery.

She knew one thing for certain: everything she needed to know to rescue Arthur was locked in her mind.

But she’d also learned something else. When the demon first took her in the Church six months ago, it had been by surprise, and she’d assumed she could handle the demon if she had time to prepare for a confrontation. Whatever it was that had taken Arthur, it was strong. A lot stronger than anything she’d ever dealt with before.

She knew she couldn’t go toe-to-toe with it even on her best day with months to get ready. Knowing she was helpless against it elicited an emotion in her she wasn’t used to experiencing.

Fear.

She wasn’t going to stop trying to find and rescue Arthur, but now the odds of being successful had dropped dramatically.

“You looked like you were hit by a train,” Haatim said. He was devouring his sandwich, barely breathing between bites. “Or like you’d been to hell and back.”

“Just about,” Abigail said with a laugh.

“You said you knew what we needed to do next?”

Abigail stared at him. “We?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Me and you.”

“There is no ‘me and you,’” she said. “There’s just me.”

“I helped you get to the girl and talk to her.”

“And I saved your life,” she said. “We’re even.”

“Not quite,” Haatim said. “You promised you would tell me what was going on after. It’s after, so start talking.”

Abigail sighed. She knew telling him anything would be dangerous: she wasn’t allowed to initiate anyone without Council approval. If they found out—worse, if Haatim’s
father
found out that she’d been the one to tell him—she’d definitely be punished.

But, she also felt he had a right to know: if there were things out in the world trying to kill him, he should, at least, understand why.

“What do you want to know?”

“You said it wasn’t your place to tell me about my father earlier. What did you mean?”

“Your father is on the Council,” Abigail said.

“What Council?”

“The Council of Chaldea,” she explained. “It’s a multi-religious and multi-national organization dedicated to protecting the world from the supernatural.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m explaining to you who your father really is. It seems you were never told, and this was a side of his life he kept from you. There are thirty members on the Council.”

“And you’re one of them?”

“No,” she said. “I’m a Hunter. I was trained to battle the demons on behalf of the Council, but I belong to the Ordo Daemonium Venator. We protect and serve the men and women like your father. There are…were…fifty-three of us and we answer to a woman named Frieda Gotlieb.”

Haatim stared at her. “You’re saying my dad is part of a secret organization dedicated to defending the world against evil?”

“We’re more concerned with defending against fear and panic caused by evil. But yeah, basically.”

A long minute passed. “We need to get moving,” Abigail said. “Do you want me to drive?”

“What?” he asked, distracted. “No, I’m fine.”

He started the car but didn’t immediately drive anywhere. He just stared out the windshield, lost in his thoughts.

“You OK?” she asked.

He looked at her. “Yeah, sorry. It’s just a lot to take in. That’s why you brought me along, right? You recognized my father’s name and you’re keeping me safe for him?”

She nodded, deciding to withhold some information. Haatim didn’t need to know that Frieda didn’t trust her father or that she hadn’t told him where Haatim was. Best to skew the details, at least for now.

“And I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on when I first found you,” she said. “So I brought you along to keep you safe.”

“OK,” he said.

“Your family knew you were in Arizona, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “It was where I went to college, so it’s where I returned to after my sister died. I just couldn’t stand being around my parents anymore. I told them I needed space.”

Abigail nodded. “I can sympathize. I wouldn’t talk to anyone for months after Arthur was taken.”

“What happened?”

Abigail wasn’t planning to tell him about this part of her life, considering it off-limits, but she started speaking before she could stop herself.

“I was possessed,” Abigail told him. “Several months ago.”

“Wait, what?”

“A demon lived inside me for several hours. I don’t remember what happened during that time, I just remember waking up in a hospital bed almost a week later. Apparently when they found me I was half-dead and delirious.”

“That…” Haatim said, trailing off. “That’s crazy.”

“Tell me about it,” she said. “The demon who was inside me took Arthur back to hell with it. I’ve been trying to find him ever since. The little girl, Sara, was linked to Arthur.”

“OK.”

“When I…when I saw her, I found out that she couldn’t help me find out who the demon was. But, it doesn’t matter. I already know.”

“You do?”

“Yes,” Abigail said. “Or, at least, I knew
before
it possessed me. It hid the memories from me, but at one point I knew it’s name. Now I need someone to help me retrieve that memory.”

“People can do that?”

“I know a guy,” Abigail said, “and that’s where I’m headed next, as soon as we get to Raven’s Peak and you head back home to be with your family.”

“Why not just go there now?”

“I have to check this out for the Council,” she said. “It’s my job. How far are we from Raven’s Peak?”

“An hour,” Haatim said. “Maybe less. I picked up a map to help us find our way. I don’t think GPS is going to work that far into the mountains.”

“Probably not,” Abigail said.

“What’s in Raven’s Peak?”

“I don’t know,” Abigail said. “Probably nothing, Maybe something. We’ll find out when we get there.”

“So you don’t know what we’re looking for?” he asked.