Will’s belly clenched. He hadn’t really thought about having to break it twice. He ran his fingers lightly over the two spots. He didn’t have to memorize their exact locations. The skin around the bone was still a light shade of purple and it was obviously swollen. He settled his cloak over the higher spot first so that the wood wouldn’t damage the skin any more than necessary. Then he held onto her left hand so that her arm was outstretched. "Ready then?" The man searched Bridget’s eyes for any chance she’d spare herself this. He saw only grim determination.
"Ready." She hiccuped then her brow furrowed. "Wait." She took one last drink and set the bottle back on the dock as she padded unsteadily over to one of the wooden support posts. The post was about shoulder high and she stretched her bad arm out as best she could and place her hand, palm down, on the post. When he joined her, she grabbed his shirt with her other hand and focused her eyes on his. "One strike each time, Will. Hard and fast. Make them count."
"I will, Bridget." It was a promise.
"Will?"
A little of Bridget’s fear showed through in her expression and Will felt a heavy sensation creep into his chest. "Yes?"
"I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand for the second blow."
Will set his jaw. "It will be done. Never fear." His fist tightened around the rough length of maple in his hand until his knuckles shone white.
"Thank you," Bridget whispered and allowed her eyes to flutter closed. Her heart began to pound.
I can do this. I must.
For a moment Will stood looking at this woman in utter amazement. She wasn’t shaking or crying, instead, she was standing perfectly calm with her arm outstretched, ready for him to shatter it to pieces. The only visible sign of strain was a fine sheen of sweat that glistened on her face and the working of her neck muscles as she occasionally swallowed hard. Then he reminded himself that Bridget had endured the tortures of being an accused witch and still not buckled. She was no stranger to pain. He wondered if he would be so brave.
Setting his feet shoulder-width apart, he bent his knees a little and raised the piece of wood high overhead.
God, help me to help her.
Putting all of his considerable muscle into the motion, he began the swing.
Bridget heard a soft grunt and the whooshing sound of the club as it approached her arm with startling speed. Time seem to slow just before she felt the impact. She felt the air shift around her elbow and goosebumps break out across the exposed skin, making tiny hairs stand on end. Then the piece of wood exploded against her body with a pain so great it was more than she could truly comprehend all at once. The stunning blow snapped the bone cleanly in half, sending it tearing through muscle and sinew until it ripped through the skin at her elbow in a jagged mess of blood and flesh.
In less than a heartbeat, her knees violently hit the dock and she tasted the metallic tang of blood where she’d bitten the edge of her tongue clean through. Her eyes bulged and she gasped as the agony that had failed to fully register a second before came roaring to the forefront of her consciousness with savage intensity.
Arghh!!
Saliva mixed with blood dribbled from the corners of her mouth as she panted harshly. She instinctively gripped her dangling arm closer to her body as she began to shake. Her eyes were screwed tightly shut and hot, salty blood dripped from her elbow to her hand, trickling from her fingertips in a steady stream onto the sun-bleached dock. A light fog lifted from the crimson liquid as it pooled on the ground.
* * *
Virginia (Mainland)
That same day in January, 1691
"Do you think they’ll make it back before dark?" Katie asked, holding her mending up to the light coming in the window so she could examine her handiwork.
Faylinn sat in front of the fireplace and next to Katie so she could learn the new stitch the husky woman was trying to teach her. She brought a cup of tea to her lips and took a sip, enjoying its warm, sweet flavor on this cold winter’s day. "Bridget assured me they would. She—" The blonde woman stopped abruptly as every ounce of air was crushed from her chest in a violent spasm. In a panic, she tried to stand but before she could find her feet her legs buckled and she dropped to the floor with a solid thud. Her hands flew to her ears as a mind-numbing scream ripped through her consciousness and sent her heart into her throat.
"Faylinn?" Petrified, Katie jumped up, knocking over her sewing in the process. "Are you—?" Her eyes automatically shifted to Faylinn’s belly. "The baby?"
Faylinn shook her head vigorously, still trying to process what had just happened. She was trembling and felt as though she was going into shock.
That scream could have only come from one source.
"It’—" She paused as Katie helped her back to her seat and pushed the cup of tea back into her hands, placing her own hands around Faylinn’s shaking ones. "It’s Bridget." Terrified green eyes met Katie’s. "Something’s happened."
Katie’s face showed her confusion. "Something? Bridget’s not here, girl." Her eyes darted back and forth nervously as she responded to the horror in Faylinn’s eyes. "What are you talking about!"
Haphazardly, Faylinn set down her cup and stumbled to the door. She grabbed her cloak from a peg on the wall as she went. "Something bad," she said tightly as she disappeared into the cold.
* * *
Will’s eyes were so round it would have been comical had Bridget not been writhing around on the dock in pure agony. "Oh, God. I think I hit you too hard." The stick fell from his limp hand and he sank to his knees alongside Bridget, afraid to even touch her. "I-I-I…"
"S’fine," Bridget hissed from between clenched teeth as she rocked back and forth, one arm wrapped around herself in mute, pitiful comfort.
"Sweet Mother Mary, I can’t believe you’re still conscious!" he screeched. "What in the hell is wrong with you?"
Bridget sneered at him though she herself had wondered the same thing.
Will had thought for certain the shock of the strike in combination with the amount of alcohol she’d consumed would have knocked her out instantly.
For a moment, Bridget thought the normally stolid man might actually burst into tears. "T-time for hit number two, eh?" she joked faintly. She wasn’t sure at all if she’d live through another strike, but it was too late to turn back now. She tried to smile to remove the stricken look from Will’s face but her mouth refused to cooperate. Instead, it shaped an ‘O’ as her stomach lurched and she began to retch painfully. Her breakfast made an unwelcome reappearance.
When she was finished, Will took one look into vivid, bloodshot eyes and knew what he had to do. "Let me help you, Bridget." It wasn’t a question it was a command.
"What?" She coughed weakly at the acrid taste in her mouth and tried to focus her fuzzy mind on anything besides the millions of knives that were stabbing her arm.
"Sit up a little." He guided her with gentle hands. "There."
"Wh—?" The last thing Bridget remembered was the sight of a meaty fist hurling directly towards her jaw.
* * *
Virginia (Mainland)
That same day in January, 1691
"Jesus protect and keep me," Will said to himself as two figures appeared on shore like apparitions emerging from the evening fog.
It was Faylinn and Katie, hands on hips, feet tapping impatiently.
His rowing suddenly slowed and he turned to a very drunk Bridget, who had regained consciousness on the open sea, halfway to shore. "I’m about to be the victim of a bloody murder. I just thought you’d like the opportunity to thank me for torturing you today before I die."
Bridget sniggered. Her lower lip was twice its normal size and a lurid purple bruise covered most of her jaw. Her left arm, now broken in two places, was splinted and tied to her body so tightly she couldn’t move it even an inch. "Feckless coward!" she snorted, pointing at her friend and laughing some more.
"I only thank God that I didn’t knock out any teeth."
Bridget reached up and stuck her fingers in Will’s mouth. She felt around curiously. "Why would you knock out your own teeth?"
"Phft. Blah." Will glared, then slapped her hand away, snapping a long string of spit that ran from his lips to her fingers in the process. "Ewwww. Keep your filthy hands to yourself, Bridget. I already feel sick to my stomach as it is. You’ve no need to gag me too."
"I do beg your pardon," she giggled unrepentantly.
As they approached the shore, her laughter, however, died down. She took another drink of brandy then tossed the empty bottle into the floor of the boat. "Dammit!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "Why didn’t I take two bottles?"
The boat creaked loudly as Will put his back into the last several strokes and they caught a small wave, gliding them safely onto the sandy beach. Now Bridget got a good look at the worried, furious gleam in Faylinn’s eyes. "Goodbye, Will," she said.
Will couldn’t speak. He could only close his eyes and whimper. Katie had a rolling pin in her hands.
* * *
"Well, it’s truly been a pleasure." Badger stood up and smiled at Kayla and Liv. "Will you ladies be stopping by another day?"
"Wh-wh—?" Liv and Kayla exchanged startled glances.
"You can’t just leave us here in the story," Kayla complained, yanking the blanket off her legs as she stood up.
"Leave you where, lass?" Badger’s eyes opened a touch wider and he regarded her with his normal mixture of mirth and curiosity. "You don’t really think that that slip of a girl, Faylinn, killed Will Beynon, do you?"
Kayla scowled. Now that she thought of it, it did seem pretty ridiculous. "No." She shoved her hands into the pockets of her well-worn Levis. "I mean, well, how do I know? But, I guess not."
"Good."
Green eyes twinkled as Badger offered Liv a hand up. "Thank you, Badger."
He bowed gallantly at the waist just as Brody had done earlier in the week causing Kayla to roll her eyes dramatically. Being with Liv was like walking around with a life-sized sample of catnip.
Liv folded up the blanket Kayla had tossed aside and set it down on the cushion. When she was finished, she dusted off her hands, wondering what she’d do if someone hurt Kayla like that. Even if her lover had stupidly been the one to ask for it. "So how many teeth did Will lose, Badger?"
Badger chuckled and winked at Liv. "Only one. But it was Katie and her rolling pin that were responsible for the concussion."
L
IV PEERED OVER Kayla’s shoulder at the laptop that was perched on the darker woman’s knees. She rested her chin on a broad shoulder and yawned. It was almost 10:00 PM. "Ever notice how tired you can get from sitting around doing nothing like we did this afternoon? That’s so weird."
Kayla was too absorbed in what she was doing to do more than grunt.
Liv rolled her eyes.
An intense blue gaze flickered from place to place on the screen as Kayla watched over twenty-four hours’ worth of surveillance recordings taken in Mr. Keith’s bedroom.
No blood gushing out of the walls, big surprise.
She was sitting uncomfortably on the hard wood floor of the bedroom in question, watching studiously as the laptop’s digital recording whizzed by at a startling rate. To her left was a small stack of DVDs. The women’s damp coats had been laid out in the corner of the room next to a pile of take-out cartons, empty soda cans, and Styrofoam cups that had once held hot, black coffee. And as per Liv’s doing, every light in the house was shining brightly.
"How can you watch that so fast?"
"Whaddya mean?" Kayla answered absently, pausing the picture for a split second before clicking a button and starting it up again.
"Won’t you miss something with it playing that fast?" she asked patiently, waiting for Kayla to come out of her trance. The only indication that time was passing on the screen was the eerie movement of shadows as they moved across the room’s floors and walls and a digital time display in the lower left hand corner.
"Nah." Kayla paused the display again then frowned and pressed play. "I know what I’m looking for."
"Carrie in her prom dress?"
Kayla smiled wryly. "That would make for a nice change of pace. Actually, I’m looking for anything out of the ordinary and for light balls." She looked at the screen as she spoke. "There seems to be an association between light balls and hauntings."
"Light balls?" Liv rubbed her cheek affectionately against Kayla’s before dropping down alongside her on the floor.
Kayla paused her computer. "Tiny focal points of radiant energy." She cocked her head to the side. "That’s what I hypothesize they are, anyway." The tall woman paused the playback and set the machine on the floor next to her. Then she went over to her equipment trunk and dug down to the bottom, not stopping until her hands hit something smooth that felt like paper. "Ah. Here we go." She padded back over to her lover. As she sat down, she handed Liv a ragged Manila envelope that contained a single photograph. "They sort of look like little stars or like those pen-light pointers people use for presentations."