The Dark Rising (12 page)

He’d come back.  I wondered how much he had heard.

Shelly stiffened and let go of me.   We turned to move through the doorway together.

“Hey Shell,” he said with one of his sultry grins, his eyes flicking over her before he began walking toward us.  “How’s it going?”

“I’m okay.” She sounded a bit like a kid who had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Vance moved past her to come to my side, and I noticed she ducked back away from him slightly as if she were scared of him.

“I’m sorry for walking out on you earlier,” he said softly to me.  “I understand you were trying to help.”  He bent to kiss me on the cheek.  His temperament seemed to have done a complete one hundred and eighty degree turn.  I couldn’t possibly keep up with him.

“It’s fine,” I replied, trying to hide my surprise.  “I shouldn’t have questioned your feelings.”

He waved his hand in dismissal.

“We’ll talk about it later, okay?” he asked, and I nodded before he turned back to Shelly.  “Shelly, where’s the rest of the coven?” he added, abruptly changing the conversation.

“What?” she stuttered, not prepared for the question in the least.

“Ah hah!”  His grin widened.  “I knew I was right.  You know where they are.”

“Uh … I … I’m not supposed to tell you,” she stammered out while she stared at him.  “I’m not even supposed to tell Portia.”

“I need you to tell me, Shelly,” he responded taking a step closer to her causing her to take an involuntary step backward.

“Why?” she asked, swallowing hard.

“Well, first off, I think I owe Babs an apology, and second, I want to let Sean know it’s safe for everyone to come home,” he explained.

“I’ll pass your messages along,” she offered, looking toward me for some help.

“I’d prefer to do it in person,” Vance said continuing to press the issue with her.

She shook her head vehemently.

“Sorry Vance.  I took an oath I wouldn’t say.  I promise I’ll tell Sean about your desires and if he wishes to speak to you or let you know where they are then he can get hold of you.”

“Come on, Shelly,” Vance complained.  “I could just follow you.  What’s the difference really?”

I placed my arm on his.

“Vance, don’t ask her to break her word.  Let her give the message to my dad,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t be too angry with me for intruding.

He looked at me and I saw the frustration pass through his eyes.

“Fine.” He snapped as he turned to walk into the bedroom, closing the door loudly behind him.

“I’m sorry if I made him mad,” Shelly apologized in a whisper.

“Don’t even worry about it,” I said, guiding her toward the entrance.  “You do what you have to do, and I’ll take care of stuff on this end alright?”

She nodded in agreement, opening the door to step out into the sunshine.

“Be careful, okay, Portia?”

“I’ll be fine!” I laughed at her.  “Things will get better I promise.  Have some faith.” I added, wondering if she actually bought my optimistic line of bull.

“I’ll try,” she said with a slight shake of her head.  I watched her cross the courtyard before I shut the door after her with a sigh.

“Can I come in?” I called out softly to Vance when I approached the closed barrier between us.

The door swung open.

“Of course you can.  Why would you have to ask?  It’s your room too,” he said with a perplexed look.

His mood swings were going to drive me insane.

 “You’ve been a little unpredictable,” I said, hoping that wouldn’t upset him too much, but his frustration became immediately apparent.

“I’m doing the best I can, Portia,” he replied and his eyes flashed at me his jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth.

“I know.”  I placed my hand gently over his heart.  “I just want you to let me help you, without all of the arguing.”  I stepped closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.  “Please let me.”

He gazed at my face, several emotions flitting across his own, but then he leaned closer to me.

Suddenly a loud explosion from outside rattled the panes of glass in the windows.

“What was that?”  I called out.

We jerked away from each other, turning to run through the living room and out of the front door.

A plume of black smoke billowed up from the back parking lot.  Krista emerged from her bungalow, casting a glance over to me and Vance.  The three of us took off running.

I rounded the corner and stopped in horror when I saw Shelly’s mustang completely engulfed in flames.

“Shelly!” I screamed, fearing she was inside and I ran full speed toward the vehicle.

I found her on the far side, several feet away from the car, bloodied and unconscious.  I dropped to my knees and I quickly began running my hands over her body, trying to locate her injuries.

“People are coming!” Vance said next to me.  “You can’t do this out here in the open!”

“I don’t care!  Get rid of them!  I’ve got to help her!”  I continued my examination of her.

“He can’t!” Krista spoke up.  “Someone might recognize him.  You need to leave now Vance!”

“I won’t be far,” he said and he stepped away from me.

Krista turned and ran toward a group of onlookers that were arriving. 

“Go get help!” she called out, trying to give me some more time to work with Shelly.  “Call an ambulance!”

I located a spot in Shelly’s abdomen which was bleeding heavily, and I let the white light seep from beneath my hands into her stomach, feeling the magic begin to make the repair.  I finished just as several more people started to rush onto the scene and sirens began wailing far in the distance.

“Shelly can you hear me?” I asked her.

She moaned a little and she tried to turn her head toward me.

“Don’t move.  I need you to lie still.  Help is on the way,” I told her.

“My car blew up,” she muttered.

“I know, sweetie,” I responded.  “What happened?”

“I was starting it up with my keyless ignition and it just exploded,” she said, looking at me with fear filled eyes.

“That guy was out here messing with it earlier,” a woman, who I didn’t recognize, spoke up.

“What guy?” I asked, whipping my head up to glance at her.

“I don’t know who he is.  I’ve never seen him before,” the lady replied, pushing some strands of her red hair out of her face.  “He was putting something underneath the hood when I came out here, but when he saw me, he ran off.”

“What did he look like?”

“He was around six feet tall I would guess.  He had dark brown hair, kind of styled in a messy way, wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans,” she said.  “I remember he had really blue eyes, because I thought they almost glowed as he passed me.  He was very good looking.”

My heart sank to my toes as I stared over at Krista.

She had just described Vance to a tee.

I waited until after the ambulance had taken Shelly to the hospital, before I gave my report to the police officer in charge.  When he was done, Krista and I moved to make our way back to the bungalow.

“Excuse me,” a voice called to us and we both turned to see the same woman who had described Vance earlier approaching us.

“Yes?” I asked.

“I’m real sorry about your friend,” she said extending her hand.  “My name is Catriona, by the way, but most people call me Cat.”

“Thanks,” I replied to her as she shook hands with us both.  “Nice to meet you.  Are you visiting?”

“Yes.  I was just arriving when all of this happened.”

“Well, hopefully you’ll have a better stay for the rest of the time you’re here,” Krista said kindly.

“I don’t mean to be rude Cat, but we have to go.  Maybe we’ll catch you around later?” I spoke up, looking at her apologetically.

“No problem,” she replied with a smile.  “I hope things turn out well for your friend.”

“Me too.  Thanks,” I said.  Krista and I left to continue our way to the bungalows.

 “Is she okay?” Vance spoke as soon as we entered, pausing in the middle of his pacing.

I stared at him, over his blue t-shirt, and down to his jeans before looking back up.

“What’s the matter?” he questioned.

“An eyewitness came forward saying she saw someone tampering with the car.”  I watched his expression for any sign of guilt.

“Who was it?” he asked, convincingly.

“She described you perfectly,” I replied, not wanting to believe it had been him.

“Me?”  He sent a perplexed glance between the two of us before the realization suddenly dawned.  “You don’t think I had anything to do with this?” he asked in amazement.

“Did you?” I countered and anger flashed over his face at my question.

“How can you even ask me that?” he said, his frustration growing.  “Why would I want to hurt Shelly?”

“I don’t know.” I stared him down.  “But I do know a few minutes prior to the explosion, Shelly saw you head out toward the lot.  You were also angry with her for not telling you where the coven is located.  It’s a little coincidental.”

“That argument took place after I’d come back in from being outside.  What could’ve possible been my motivation to hurt her prior to that?” he argued.

I slowly eased into his mind, beginning a mental shuffle through his recent memories.

“Get out of my head, Portia!” he yelled, taking a threatening step toward me.  “Either you believe me because you want to, or you don’t, but my mind belongs to me!”

He slammed his thoughts closed so hard against me it was if I’d run into a brick wall.  He had definitely regained control.

I took a big breath and released it.

“Why won’t you let me?  We can clear this thing up once and for all,” I replied, not willing to let the issue go.

His face flashed as the demon features took hold of him and he grabbed me by both of my arms.

“You’re going to have to learn to trust me,” he growled, staring down at me.

I snorted at him.  “It’s kind of hard to when you look like that.”

Krista stepped forward, gently placing a hand on Vance’s arm.

“We want to believe you, son,” she said softly, trying to calm him.  “Don’t we, Portia?” she added casting a glance toward me.

I couldn’t say anything, but he released me then.

“You may want to Mom, but Portia doesn’t,” he replied, continuing to stare hard at me.  “She hasn’t trusted me for one second since the moment she met me in the graveyard.”

“That’s not fair!” I said, my own anger rising to the surface.  “You don’t remember who you are, and you’re a demon now!  I have no idea how these things are affecting the person you are today!  Your moods are constantly shifting, and you’re completely different from one minute to the next!”

“That might be true, but I’m not a killer of innocents!” he hollered back at me.  “And until you realize that there’s no reason for us to even pursue this relationship together!”

He turned and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him in the process.

“That went well,” Krista spoke with a sigh. 

I flopped onto the sofa and I knew she was disappointed in the way I had handled things.

“I’m sorry,” I replied, feeling lost.  “I want to believe him, but at the same time I’ve seen exactly how dangerous he can be.  His moods are so crazy right now it’s totally believable he’s capable of something like this.”

“It doesn’t make sense though,” Krista said.  “Think about it.  That woman, Cat, she said she saw him place something under the hood.  Why would Vance need a device to destroy a car?  He’s pure fire!  He could blow his breath at anything and make it explode if he wanted to.”

I looked up at her realizing she was right.  I went over to her to give her a hug.

“You’re absolutely correct,” I said, before I released her.  “I need to go fix things with him now.”

She nodded and headed for the door.

“Let me know how it goes,” she said to me, stepping through the opening out into the sunlight.

I waited until she was gone, before I walked over to the bedroom.  I knocked.  The door swung open on its own, revealing Vance to my gaze where he was lying on the bed with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I’m sorry,” I said, not moving.

He didn’t reply.  He only stared at me with his red eyes.  The anger rolled off of him, and I was aware instinctively, he needed to feed again.

I walked over and climbed up to sit next to him, extending my wrist out to him.

“Please don’t take this gesture the wrong way,” I said, when he glanced between my face and my arm.  “Think of it as a peace offering.”

He only hesitated a second before biting into the limb, his eyes never leaving me as he drank.  I knew he was really angry at me because he didn’t stop like he had before.  He continued to feed even when I fell over, unable to hold myself up any longer.

I was teetering on the brink of unconsciousness, when he finally pulled away.

“Do you believe me, Portia?” he asked with a raspy voice while he wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand, removing some of the blood that had dripped.

“Yes,” I whispered faintly, trying to keep looking at him.

“Good,” he replied, and he carefully dropped my arm.  “Then go to sleep and we’ll discuss this later.”

Something wasn’t right.  I looked out over the parking lot where I stood shrouded in darkness while I watched the building ahead.  I realized then I was looking at Grandma’s store.

Grandma exited the shop along with Babs, turning to lock the door behind them.  When she was finished the two of them walked out to their parked cars together.

I noticed Grandma driving away and a satisfaction settled in my chest when I realized Babs had not yet started her car.

The hunter in me jumped to the surface and I quickly, but silently, approached the vehicle.  In the blink of an eye, I ripped the car door from its hinges, causing Babs to scream in terror.

I reached inside and yanked my victim out before she even had the chance to try to get away.  I sank my teeth into the side of her throat, ripping out a chunk of flesh before beginning to devour the hot blood spraying from the wound.  The powers of her life force ran through my body while I drank, and I felt excited over how easy the kill had been.