Reborn (23 page)

“Yes. But the longer he stays on Excalibur, the more his body will materialize—and then, there will be no stopping him.” Melba put things into perspective, quickly.

“You know I would never put Desiree in danger. I would give my life for her, if necessary,” I said, feeling the need to reassure Melba.

She grabbed my arms. “Is she in danger?”

“I think so.”

“Then we mustn’t let her out of our sight. Where is she?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t answer the phone today when I called. But I saw her last night.” A mild blush surfaced on my face at the thought of the two of us in her apartment. “I think your spirit Priestesses watch over her.”

“Yes. Good.” She said it like she knew. “I’ll give her a call.”

When Desiree didn’t answer, Melba hung up the phone and grabbed her purse. “Let’s go and find her. We’ll stop at the plantation on the way.”

“Why the plantation?”

“Aubrey, from up the road, said he saw a white horse and rider galloping through there last night. Maybe your horse is there.”

A sprinkling of rain dotted the windshield as Melba pulled out of the driveway. Solomon Brandt Estate was the last place I wanted to visit.

he freshly painted mansion flitted into view between the massive trunks of the live oaks out front. Overhead, clouds rolled, churning up their fury, sending forth the first flash of lightning, followed by a crack of thunder. At the same time, the heavens opened, drenching everything in sight.

“The place suddenly looks spooky,” Melba said.

But I barely heard her, because my gaze was glued to the mansion. Through the blur of rain that pelted the glass, I distinctly saw a glow coming from inside the den windows.

The noise of the water pelting the car grew louder once Melba turned off the engine.

“Go and check the buildings out back,” she said. “I’ll wait here for you, then we’ll go inside together, see if we can find a clue as to what’s going on. I just can’t seem to make myself go inside that place alone.”

Melba’s lips twitched after that, but no sound came out. I assumed she conversed with her ancestors again.

By the time I’d run through the grass to get to the buildings out back, the water had soaked through my sneakers. Standing in the doorway of the first building, I glanced over the nearly empty shed. Apart from some lawn equipment, the space looked deserted. The other two buildings were as empty as the first. Before I headed back, I stood in the downpour, searching the land, yelling out Excalibur’s name, but saw nothing.

By the time I’d run back to the car, Melba had the kitchen door opened for me and was standing just inside. “Nothing?”

“No sign of him.”

“It’s important to get that horse back. The longer he has control of Excalibur, the closer he is to becoming whole,” she said.

I stepped inside and pulled the wet, clingy T-shirt away from my chest. When I lifted my head, my heart constricted at the sight awaiting me.

“Solomon? What is it?” Melba followed the line of my widened gaze. “What do you see?”

The old slave woman stood in one corner of the room, her hands wringing together in front of her apron. She eyed me warily.

“Who are you?” I asked, taking a step toward her.

Without words, she pointed a finger toward the hall door.

“Solomon?”

I felt the pressure of Melba’s hands on my shoulders, reminding me she was there.

“Don’t you see her?” I asked.

“See who?”

“Never mind. It’s nothing.” I turned from the apparition and headed into the hall she pointed to. “I have to check on something.”

“Solomon, you’re dripping water all over the floors. I just finished cleaning the place for the grand opening.”

Her voice trailed close behind, but I ignored her ramblings. I took a left and then a right and soon stood in the open doorway of Solomon’s den.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Melba said from behind me.

I could imagine her fingering her pendants.

“In all the years I’ve worked here. I never felt these hostile vibes in the air before. I think we should leave and go find Desi. Your horse isn’t here.”

“In a moment.”

Although nothing meant more to me than Desiree, I felt a pull beyond my control coming from within the room, and I couldn’t turn back.

I took a step inside, and then another. The den door slammed shut behind me.

Melba cried out my name from the other side. I tried the door handle from my end. It didn’t budge.

Then the stench of something familiar sickened me to my very core. Death. Nausea crawled over and under my skin.

I turned from Melba’s distressed voice and faced the room. It looked no different than it had the last time I was there. Everything was pristine and in its place—all except for the fire blazing in the hearth, lending no warmth.

The next step I took cursed me with a vision from the past. A young girl with hair as dark as coal and skin as light as Desiree’s knelt in front of her master, begging for his mercy. She held the front part of her dress together with slender fingers. It looked as if it had been ripped open by a pair of strong hands. My adversary looked on from his golden throne, not an ounce of remorse on his hardened face.

He bent forward and covered the girl’s slender neck with one beefy hand. Whimpers replaced her cries. The master, in all his inhumane glory, took the other hand and stripped the girl of the top part of her dress.

I knew I was powerless to stop the heinous act I was about to witness, but I yelled out anyway. And for a brief moment, the beast’s intense blue eyes met with mine. He curled his fingers into a claw. I ran toward them, lunging at my twin, but I only succeeded in grabbing an armful of air, as my body fell onto the throne. Suddenly I felt heavy and couldn’t stand. I gripped the wooden arms, trying to pry myself away from the front row view, but I was powerless.

The girl’s eyes, the same green as Desiree’s and widened with fear, stared into mine. I wanted to reach out to her, cover her, at least express my sympathy, but my muscles locked. All I could do was look on with sorrow and regret.

With a clawed hand bearing sharp and pointed fingernails, my evil twin reached out from within me, penetrated the girl’s flesh between her breasts, and ripped out her heart with one yank. Her last breath expelled, and she collapsed into a heap at our feet, her eyes froze open. But her heart, sitting in the palm of our hand—still beat the last bit of warm life through it.

Without wasting a precious moment, he brought the dying organ to our lips and drained it of its sweet liquid. Warm blood flowed down my throat and seeped into my flesh, mingling with my own. On one hand, I felt invigorated and all-powerful. On the other, I held back vomit and tears.

The girl’s frightened gaze etched into my mind as her life’s essence pulsed through my veins. I only hoped this wasn’t a memory. Not of my life. It had to be a twisted vision courtesy of my twin. Another frightful image that wasn’t real. Or had they all been real?

I licked blood off my chin and arm, watching the crimson liquid spill from the girl and pool onto the carpet, threatening to cover up the rose pattern in the center. As I swallowed the last drop, my insides tingled with new life.

A sharp thunderclap shocked me back to reality. In the same instant, Melba burst through the door. The fire in the hearth extinguished, leaving no lingering scent of char behind.

Melba stopped just inside, holding her chest, a look of relief highlighting her features.

“What happened? Why did you lock the door?”

Swallowing the last bit of metallic taste in my mouth, I said, “I didn’t. A draft must have blown it shut.”

Her suspicious gaze lifted to a blowing curtain hanging in front of an opened window that wasn’t opened a moment ago. Mumbling something about water stains on the floor, she rushed to close it.

I stood, towering over the spot where the girl’s body had lain. “We have to go.”

“Solomon! You’re bleeding”

Out of instinct, I checked my hands.

“The corner of your mouth.” She touched her own mouth.

I wiped the salty liquid away with my tongue. “I bit my lip.”

She gave me a pointed look. “Boy, you’re not telling me the truth. You’ve been in here almost an hour. Didn’t you hear me yelling?”

“What?” Alarms went off in my head. So much time wasted. “We have to get out of here and find Desiree. Now. Come on.”

I herded her toward the door, glancing back as lightning lit up the room in its eerie glow. On the second flash, the image of Solomon appeared—a bloodied sneer across his face. I slammed the door shut and rushed toward the kitchen. I felt the old woman’s presence, but I didn’t glance her way.

When I stepped out into the rain, I couldn’t hold back the horrors of what I’d seen. What I’d participated in. My stomach heaved, emptying its contents, a piece of toast and a glass of water. But the pile of vomit on the grass was tinged red.

“Solomon, are you all right?”

With my hands on my knees for support, I lifted my head and filled my mouth with rainwater, swirling it, then spitting.

“Yes.”
No!
Far from it.
When my stomach settled, I got in the car.

“Are you sure you aren’t coming down with something?”

Yeah, a bad case of memories.
“Let’s just get to Desiree’s before it’s too late.

“Too late for what?” Melba peeled out of the driveway and sped past the estate. “What are you not telling me?”

“Nothing.”

Melba picked up a pendant, brought it to her lips, and whispered into it for the remainder of the drive.

It was early evening when we arrived at Desiree’s apartment. The rain had slowed and the thunder paused. But the sticky dampness prevailed. Besides its gnawing emptiness, my stomach was in knots with worry. When Desiree didn’t open her apartment door, Melba used a key from her purse to let us in. The first thing I laid my eyes on when I walked in was the rose I’d given her the previous day. It stood in a tall glass of water in the center of the small kitchen table. I couldn’t help the smile that formed on my face from the memory of our date.

Melba called Desiree’s cell phone, and when she didn’t receive an answer, she called the coffee shop, but didn’t reach her there, either. She hung up the phone and turned to me, her face lit with worry.

“Now what? There has to be somewhere else we could look.” I refused to believe that vile creature had her.

Then a new light switched on in Melba’s face. “The campus. We’ll check there. She could be studying. I think she has another test tomorrow.”

“Right. Let’s go, then.” I rushed Melba out of the apartment.

Savannah State University was a city in itself. Finding Desiree here would be like finding a particular ball of cotton in a field ripe with cotton plants.

Melba drove from building to building. I followed her inside the ones that weren’t locked, but we had no luck in finding Desiree. As hope dwindled of ever seeing her again, we came to the library. Before I could get out of the car, I spotted her head of vibrant curls as she walked under a streetlight.

“There she is.”

“Thank God, child,” Melba said when we reached her.

Desiree looked more confused, and also a little annoyed, than happy to see us. Melba threw her arms around her niece. I didn’t think she would let go, but Desiree soon squirmed out of her grip. Melba captured her hand.