Beloved Evangeline (33 page)

“
Come out here! Don’t you have the balls to show yourself?” I shouted

Still nothing. I ran to the tree, carefully avoiding running too fast. I expected to see someone or something there, but still there was no one. I could only stare in admiration at the lovely glen, visible clearly now in the twinkling ethereal light. It was the wrong season for dogwoods or magnolias or Carolina jasmine that I remembered from my childhood, but the red sugar maple leaves and yellow hickory leaves would’ve made up for it, had I the vision to make out their colors…

I heard approaching footsteps and finally saw human figures becoming increasingly clear.

“
Evangeline?”

That voice.
No
, I shook my head.
NO
.

“
Shut up and keep walking,” a brusque male voice ordered.

Nicky and Gavin stepped through the forest and into the clearing, followed by John Maverly—yet another innocent being dragged into my hellish life. My chest seized. The resolve I’d been mustering faltered.

“
Guys, run! Run
now
!” I heard my voice quivering.

Nicky only shook her head uncertainly. Gavin seemed to stumble for a moment before collapsing onto the ground.

I ran to them and tried to help Gavin up. His side was wet. I pulled my hand back and saw it was covered in dark liquid.
Blood
. It was then that I noticed Gavin had one hand to his neck, trying in vain to stop the blood gushing out.

“
Oh God,” I whispered involuntarily before composing myself. “Gavin, it’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay,” I said quickly, but as soon as I’d said those words, I realized that no one is ever okay after I tell them that. My eyes went wide.

“
I’m sorry... I didn’t... believe you, Evangeline,” Gavin managed in between gasps for breath, trying to force a smile.

“
Don’t—
don’t
worry about that.” I took off Mr. Fernwood’s jacket and used it to place pressure against his neck. I tried my best to make him comfortable before turning to Nicky and John.

“
What happened to him?” I whispered.

Nicky only shook her head, her eyes horrorstruck.

She was obviously in shock so I turned to John instead, “Do you know what happened?”

“
Yeah.” John nodded. “He got his
throat
slashed.” His tone was just a little too callous for the situation.

Clearly, they were both in shock.

Gavin’s head lolled against my arm—he was out. We didn’t have time to waste.

“
John, snap out of it! If we don’t get him to a hospital, he’s going to
die
. Soon. Do you understand?”

“
Probably,” he replied casually.

I turned to Nicky in confusion.

Nicky’s eyes were welling up. “
He’s
not with us,” she whispered.

My head swiveled back and forth in confusion. Nicky motioned toward John in response to my utter stupidity. Now that I was looking at him clearly, and up close, I noticed something
different
about him. Everyone else was a sort of a bluish grey color, just like their surroundings. John was different.

“
You?” I know, not exactly brilliant of me, but I was covered in Gavin’s blood and therefore unable to think clearly.

John grabbed Nicky’s face, his hand squeezing around her cheeks. “Thanks for spoiling the
fun
.” He shoved her forcefully, flinging her backwards onto the ground. She didn’t get back up.

I let out a horrified, indignant shriek. Instinctively, I tried to jump up, but I was still supporting Gavin. My sudden movement jostled him. His head fell forward lifelessly, sickeningly. I checked his breathing—very,
very
weak.

But everything would be fine—Mr. Fernwood was here. He would fix everything. My head spun, eyes searching every direction for my paranormal friend.

He was nowhere.

“
I’m right in front of you,” Jonathan said in exasperation, waving his hand before my face. This is what I get? You’re meant to be my
brilliant, witty nemesis
? I mean, seriously, you’re just going to sit there and place nursemaid to your little boy toy all night? I got to tell ya, you’re pretty disappointing so far.”

The ugly realization of what was going on chilled me to the core, but I couldn’t let him know that.
Keep it together
, I willed silently. “Yeah, I’ve actually heard that before. Though, I can’t say I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“
You’re such a hypocrite, Evangeline. You say you don’t care about looks, but this is the guy you choose.” He inclined his head toward Gavin. “The most obviously attractive person, male or female, in the entire office! You’re so pathetic.”

With Gavin’s blood spilling all over the ground, soiling the brilliant autumn leaves, it didn’t seem the appropriate moment to correct John’s assumption about us. That would mean acknowledging Gavin lay here dying because of a mistake. And more importantly, because of me.

“
I
would
like to know how you managed to escape the orderly I sent to
take care
of you.”

“
I told him he was a very pretty man,” I replied with the most wicked sarcasm I could muster. “No one can resist false flattery.”

He chortled humorlessly. “Sure you did. Keep your secrets, Evangeline. That’s fine. I don’t think I’ll need them anymore.”

“
You’re the Midnight Murderer, right? That’s the big secret? Not a huge shocker to me at this point.” It took all my strength to sound tough. I could not afford an ounce of weakness.

He grinned at me knowingly. “Maybe I’m not the one who’s fallen down on her research,” he replied, his voice measured, confident. “I don’t think you know
why
I killed them.” He smirked at me.

“
Rampant mental instability?”

“
Nice mouth. You really don’t want to know what I did to the last woman who called me
crazy
.” Hatred flashed in his eyes. “Do you know anything about all of those men, the men your mother killed?”

My calm facade was slipping away. I didn’t like the sudden change of direction the conversation had taken.

“
I’ll take that as a
no
, then?” His voice reeked of smug self satisfaction. “One of them, a man your mother so callously disposed of, his name was Thomas Rancourt. Does that name mean anything to you?”

I shook my head in what I hoped was a casual, nonchalant way.

“
No, I guess it wouldn’t. Why would you care about any of the people left in your wake? They’re no different than these friends of yours,” he motioned toward my handful of precious friends, one of whom lay unconscious, the other not so slowly bleeding to death.

Clearly, he was insane. I didn’t know him at all, so that bit of ranting was just crazy talk. However, there was no minimizing the fact that both Gavin and Nicky were in this fatal situation because of me, and I was painfully aware that if I fell apart now, they would certainly die. Whereas if I held it together and figured out a plan, their chances of dying were decreased to merely highly probable, instead of certain death.

Once again, I found my train of thought leaning toward the
unhelpful
.

“
You know they are going to die because of you. How does that
feel
?” he continued wickedly, catching my gaze.

My jaw went rigid.

“
I thought so,” he smirked. “Anyway, the dead man you can’t be bothered with was my father. Oh, don’t worry—he was a cruel, crude man. No originality. No creativity. All it took was a twelve-pack every evening for him to be happy. He had no other dreams in life, no ambitions. When I was older, I found out he was suspected in a number of disappearances back in his day, but nobody could ever make anything stick. He murdered prostitutes, mostly, or runaways, the kind of people who’d never be missed. I’ve used my abilities to find some of them recently. Disgusting, utterly disgusting. I don’t blame your mother one bit for doing away with him. He was a pathetic excuse for a man. I don’t believe he had an ounce of grace or style in his entire body, the complete opposite of your mother in so many ways.

“
I was so
enraptured
by her as a child. I never knew my mother, but if I had, I’d have wanted her to be just like that. I became obsessed.”

This new revelation ignited a current of pain in my body. It radiated through me, ebbing and flowing in waves. I didn’t want to hear any more.

At that moment, another person fell into the clearing in front of us.

Simon
. And the three enormous men that followed led me to believe he hadn’t fallen on his own.

“
Finally,” John said, “You idiots took long enough bringing him. Where’s the geek? I want him here, too.”

“
Don’t call him that,” I replied flatly.

John only grinned until an unnatural-sounding voice relayed that Lyle was nowhere to be found.

Thank God
.

Simon pushed himself up and stumbled forward. He saw Nicky lying on the ground and went to check on her before coming over to Gavin and me.

“
Is she alright?” I whispered, frantic.

“
Yeah. I think she’s just unconscious.

“
So, now that we’re all here, let’s begin properly, shall we?” John approached me. “Get up.”

I nodded to Simon. He took Gavin from me hesitantly. I knew exactly what he was thinking.
I know,
I wanted to tell him
, but what else can I do?

“
I need to show you something,” John said, nodding his head toward the very large man nearest me, who, in turn, grabbed me by the arm and gave me a shove in the direction of my long lost tree.

I’d assumed we were headed to the tree, because it so intently held my fascination, but John stopped me after only a few yards. “I have something here for you.”

John abruptly grabbed my hand, forcing my fist open. I would’ve struggled harder, but seeing as I was completely outnumbered by some rather odd looking individuals, there didn’t seem to be any use to it. To my surprise, he placed something inside my palm.

I held the object closer to my face. It glimmered in the moonlight with the movement. It was only a blank card of some kind. What was the big deal? As soon as I turned the card over, however, I felt all the air being expelled from my lungs. I didn’t need to read the words.

Beloved Member of..... The Haunted Explorers Society
.

My first thought was something along the lines of
how had he gotten this from my house
? But then I realized the lamination on the card was in mint condition, whereas mine was crumpled from my father’s rage.

“
I find your intellect severely lacking, Evangeline. I can read the confusion on your face. So
hilarious
. Have I changed so much that you really don’t recognize me?”

My mind raced, grasping for comprehension. I had only ever made three of those cards. A few kids achieved Honorary Member status at one time or other, but they were never, ever given cards, and they certainly didn’t merit
Beloved Member
status. The only three cards given out went to Nicky, myself, and... Jonathan.

I had no idea what had happened to Jonathan after my mother fell apart. I assumed that, like so many of my other friends during that time, his parents had simply stopped allowing him to play with me. I’d never seen him again.

“
Recognize me now?” He asked coldly.

I strained to find something familiar about his features, but the world now seemed unsteady beneath me, like all of the realities I’d clung to had been false. I couldn’t focus. No one around me had proven trustworthy.

Jonathan sighed. “This is just a total let-down. I’d really been hoping for a big reveal, a moment when you screamed and gasped. I’d been fantasizing about the moment you...”

“
Are you hoping for
tears
? Cause that’s
not
gonna happen,” I interrupted.

“
Oh, we’ll get to the tears soon enough,” said he, gesturing to his small army of apparent minions. “When I got out of the hospital a few years ago, the old neighborhood was the first stop I made. I thought I was seeing things when I saw you at that house. At first glance, you looked just like your mother. But then, the way you moved and spoke, something just wasn’t quite right, and I realized it was you, all grown up. I was immediately intrigued. I did some research on your family. When I found out where your mom was, I even paid her a little visit.”

My body tensed in revulsion.

“
Don’t worry, I didn’t actually get to visit her.” He smiled. “Let’s just say she wasn’t having such a good day.”

I understood him perfectly, though I dearly wished I didn’t.

“
She was the one I originally wanted, but we can’t always get our way with every little thing, can we? When I found out where
you
worked, I made a goal of getting a job there with you, to get to know you. It was a lot harder than I thought. You’re not an easy person to get close to. I mean, I went by John instead of Jonathan, changed my last name, blah, blah, blah. I still believed deep down that you wouldn’t forget me. But when you introduced yourself to me at the office, I saw that you had. It really wasn’t my plan to
kill
... it just sort of happened one day. A woman at the mall bumped into me. I think she did it on purpose actually, as an excuse to talk to me. She really wasn’t very interesting at all, but her hair was exactly the same color as your mother’s, so
intoxicating
. She had to die. I mean, after I’d had some fun, of course. It was beyond my control. That’s what you fail to understand; I have to do this. I
need
their souls. And they just give them to me willingly, begging and pleading for their lives—they give me
everything
.”

“
One day at the gas station I saw a woman who had eyes that reminded me of yours. I’m not sure when your features started to take precedence. Does it matter?” He grinned gleefully. “I actually enjoyed my time with that one. I didn’t want to kill her, but she just couldn’t go on living with those eyes.”

The more he said, the harder it was for me to hear. But I needed time to work out what the hell I was going to do.

“
You always have control,” I said coldly.

“
Do
you
?” he asked, a trace of a smile on his face. He licked his lips and whispered, “What about when you sleep? Do you have control then?”

Time seemed to suddenly stand still.

“
You see,
I
really, really don’t,” he continued, “I mean, I guess I did... at first, but once I got good at it,” he smiled devilishly, “Why would I ever stop? Besides, when I figured out how to summon these guys here, well, they just made it so much more
fun
.”

I surveyed the men standing on all sides of me, realizing with a charge that some weren’t men at all. Several had enormous chains round their necks and hands. They were far larger than normal, and they all wore similarly blank, unchanging expressions.

“
So you
are
Jonathan...” I began, “How is that possible? You look... different.”