I clutched the phone in my hand, almost breaking it, while Caleb announced, “I'm coming over! Stay where you are!”
“Samara, run! Go and call the police.” Mom crept toward the door, never taking her eyes off the body.
“Sam, I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't move,” Caleb said.
“Get out of here now!” Mom screamed at the same time Caleb ordered, “Stay there!”
“Will you two make up your minds!” I yelled to both of them.
Meanwhile, the dark substance pooled around the man's head. On and on, it poured out of his mouth, spilling over his face and bleeding into the carpet. After what felt like twenty-four hours, the last of the eerie mist left the man's mouth and proceeded to move on its own. This living mist danced over surrounding objects before crawling up the wall toward the window's ledge.
“Sam!! Tell me what's going on!” Caleb continued to scream through the phone.
The air moved fast in the room and papers and debris fluttered around us. My throat closed up as I watched this thing slither up my window. It hovered on the sill for a long moment, blending in with the scenery and consuming all light and matter within reach. The thing itself was the total absence of light, a portal that had punched its way into our dimension. It swirled and rolled into itself in the way a black hole robbed a galaxy of its stars. Planted deep in the eye of this storm was a tiny point of ocher light breaking through the darkness, a beating heart pulsing in an uneven rhythm.
This thing, wondrous and terrifying as any dream, appeared to be breathing and taking up space in a plane it had no business occupying. Beautiful as it was, I had no doubt that what stood in front of me contained a whole lot of evil, and anyone who looked directly into it would be swallowed. Yet I couldn't look away, I couldn't move, and I could barely speak. I wasn't the only one, because Mom stood in a daze in the middle of the room.
“Tobias,” I whispered.
It wasn't an earthly creature that owned ears, but it heard me and understood its name. It wasn't a human that possessed a mouth or a tongue, yet it spoke with the voice of many people. Thousands of them, mostly female, blended together to create one unified cry of torment. It was whisper-soft at first, but quickly grew louder as the golden speck of light operated as its voice box and trembled with each flux of sound. Of all that had happened within these few frightening minutes, those voices were what made my blood run cold. So many lives. So many victims.
“Find me,” it had said over and over, the low vibration of its voice shaking the floor beneath us. In an eruption of sound and broken glass, it disappeared into the night, taking half of my window and any hope of a sound sleep with it. I soon realized that that wasn't all it took.
The room was quiet again. Mom and I stared at the broken glass and the man lying motionless on the floor. He lay at an odd angle, legs bent and joints all wrong, an abused life-sized doll that had been tossed in the corner. His eyes were closed and I could tell he was no longer breathing. His pale cheeks and eyes were hollow, his skin as dry and delicate as the sheddings left behind from a snake. Every last sliver of energy had been snatched from this man's body and in seconds it began to show signs of decay.
“What . . . the hell . . . was that?” Mom asked, still unable to move.
I didn't answer right away; I was still trying to figure it out, or rather convince myself that what I'd seen and heard had really happened. It was many things, actually: a warning, a distress call, and a glimpse into my future if I didn't get Lilith under control. It was the corruption of something sacred, a crime against nature and humanity, all for the sake of immortality.
I didn't notice I was crying until the tears were halfway down my cheek. Wiping my face with the back of my hand, I said, “That was Tobias's soul, Mom.”
6
“O
kay, let's just pause a minute to take stock of how many people have died in this house,” Mom began, holding a mug of herbal tea in her trembling hands.
“First, there was Nadine in our living room.” She gestured to the sitting area across the hall. “Then there was Caleb's father in my bedroom, and now a total stranger in your room. All we have left is the dining room and perhaps the kitchen and we'll have a full set, like a game of
Clue
. Who done it, and with what weapon? Will it be Miss Scarlet in the library with the lead pipe, or Colonel Mustard in the laundry room with a lint roller?”
I sat across from her at the dining room table and watched the nervous breakdown unfold before my eyes. It was bound to happen eventually and I was surprised it hadn't come sooner. To her credit, this was the first death she'd seen live and in person, and she was handling it pretty well. Though only by extension, she was part of the Cambion world now, and finding the occasional dead body came with the lifetime membership.
Needless to say, the past four hours had been a mad house. The police had done crowd control while the paramedics tried in vain to revive the victim, who we discovered was a tourist from out of town. They had attributed his cause of death to a heart attack or stroke, as was the effect of too much life energy taken from our donors. However, the fact that the man's skin looked like he'd been dead for days instead of hours went beyond the realm of forensic science and straight into
The Twilight Zone
.
I'd seen many faces of death this year, a few by the hands of Cambions, but this method of consumption wasâfor a lack of a better wordâoverkill. Someone had drained that dude dry to the point of mummification, and only Mom and I knew who that someone was.
The police had taped off the house, and I was once again the star of another crime scene. There had been no evidence to prove any foul play outside of self-defense, but there were too many weird coincidences to overlook in the once quiet town of Williamsburg. Knowing the drill, I had kept my answers precise while Lilith worked her “mojo” on the young officer who took my statement. The mere sight of me had him fumbling through the interview, and the conversation had veered off topic more than I would've liked.
“So, what are you doing later? Did you need someone to watch the house tonight, just to be on the safe side?” he had asked in a low, husky tone so only I could hear.
The question hadn't surprised me at all. Only the strong-willed and chaste were immune to the Cambion allure, but the lovelorn or emotionally bankrupt didn't have a prayer. Cute as he might've been, now wasn't the time for romantic pursuits, not with the local coroner wheeling a body bag through the foyer.
“Um, sir, just so you know, I'm seventeen and have plenty of people looking out for me. My
boyfriend
will make sure I'm safe.” I tipped my head to Caleb, who stood in the kitchen entryway, looking ready to commit capital murder.
He had arrived around the same time the police did, but it was best that he stayed clear while the investigation was in full swing. Caleb already had a reputation for being at the wrong place at the wrong time and he didn't want more suspicion drawn to him by interfering. Seeing Officer Pedo Bear make a move on me could very well ruin that plan. It was hard not to find his jealousy adorable. I had to deal with women practically hump his leg every day at work, and it seemed fair to turned the tables on him for a change.
As soon as the parade of emergency teams left, we had settled in the dining room for some tea and some much-needed reflection. Somehow, perhaps by divine intervention, I made it through the ordeal without a complete meltdown. But I was sure it had something to do with my other half refusing to leave my side.
Caleb rested his elbow on the table, listening to Mom's rant as he stroked my back. He had said very little in the past hour, but I could tell his brain was working behind the scenes. I was sure his legs had fallen asleep by now, but he wouldn't let me move off his lap, and I could tell that it was more for his benefit than my own.
“A lot of household accidents happen in the kitchen,” Mom continued. “Or maybe the stairs. Someone could easily fall and break their neck or even slip in the showerâthe tiles can be pretty slippery. Better yet, the house could catch fire. It's the holiday season and there are Christmas lights and wires everywhere.”
“Mom, maybe you should take some of your anxiety medication,” I suggested.
Mom's head shake looked like a twitch. “It makes me drowsy and I need to make sure the house is secure. Someone could try to break in again. There's no telling if that . . .
thing
is watching the house. And I need to go to the store and get more olive oil. The house is tainted now. Didn't you say a corpse will nullify anointing oil? We need to purify your room and board up the window, but you might not want to sleep there tonight. You need to get to bed soon. You have school in the morning. Oh gosh, I need to give you a ride tomorrow, don't I?”
I watched her warily. “Uh, no. I just got my new car today, remember?”
Mom rubbed her face with her hands. “Oh right, right. Well, I should probably call Evangeline. She'll want to know what's happening.”
“I'm sure Ruiz told her by now.” I looked to the living room where the detective paced the floor and talked on his cell phone.
“You don't have to leave, Ms. Marshall. I have olive oil in my car. I don't go anywhere without it these days,” Caleb offered.
“That's the thing. I don't think olive oil works anymore,” I said. “The house was secure before, but that didn't stop him. The intruder was human; he could pass through the barrier just like we can. Tobias can't, though, not with his own body.”
“But you said anointing oil worked as a deterrent for your kind,” Mom spoke up.
“It still is, but only if a Cambion drinks it. It'll harm the spirit inside. A demon body can't even touch it or enter a house covered with it. But Tobias wasn't using his own body.”
“I don't think it's him.” Caleb pressed his fingers to his temple and stared off in deep concentration.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I just do,” he said quickly. “It could be another Cambion in town. I'll have my brothers look into it.”
“How can you be so sure that it's not Tobias? He told me things only he would know about. He called me Flower. No one else calls me that, and Lilith recognized himâsort of. She didn't seem happy to see him.”
“Flower? Is that code for something?” Caleb asked.
Not wanting Mom to hear, I whispered the meaning in his ear. This did not improve his mood; the stiffness in his posture and the cold disconnection to his eyes made that point clear.
“Why couldn't Lilith sense him before? You're linked to him too; he wouldn't have made it up the block without Lilith knowing,” he asked in a calm voice that was not only misleading, but unsettling.
Angry as he was, he brought up a good point. My connection with Tobias would always give his identity away whenever he went incognito. That power didn't seem to be working too well tonight. But I knew what I saw. I wasn't crazy. Not completely.
“How should I know? Maybe Lilith's blocking him,” I answered. “Nadine made her do it once before; that's how she hid from Tobias all these years. But when I fed from him at school, Lilith recognized his energy and that must've broken the barrier. It's like the connection is reinforced by the energy the two shared.”
I didn't like the look Caleb was giving me, so I decided on redirection. “All I'm saying is I'm just as confused as you are. Something bad happened to Tobias, and I need to find him before he hurts any more people. If his body is really missing or trapped, then he's using possession as an outlet. Yes, he can do thatâhe's a demon,” I said before Caleb could interrupt me. “He told me he can shed off his body like a coat and possess human men at will. That's how incubi can reproduce. They're sterile or biologically incompatible or something so they need to do it through a human if they want offspring. Anyway, I think he's more interested in using that body snatching talent to warn me. He said he needed me to find him.”
Mom got up from the table and went to the kitchen for more tea. She was hitting it hard tonight and I wondered if her drink was spiked with rum. I wouldn't blame her if it wasâknowing this much about the netherworld would drive anyone to drink.
Alone in the room, Caleb continued to hold me close and caress my back. “Look, try not to worry aboutâ”
“Are you serious? I saw a man die in my room and you want me to brush that off?” I snapped. “You're not even in the least bit curious what happened to Tobias? Why I can't sense him, better yet, why you can't either? Why everything in my life has been turned upside down in a matter of hours, hours that, by the way, Lilith won't tell me about?” I rubbed my throbbing temple. “I can't shake the feeling that it's all connected somehow.”
“Sorry his well-being isn't one of my top priorities. I'm more concerned about what you're dealing with. Are you sure there's no way you can get Lilith to open up?” Caleb pressed.
Before I could reply, Lilith took that particular time to make her presence known. A jolt of electricity zapped my back. If Caleb weren't holding me, I would have fallen out of the seat.
Capturing my waist in his hands, he pulled me up straight and settled me back on his lap. “Whoa. What was that about?”
“I don't think Lilith likes that idea. I guess I'm on my own. With or without her, I'm gonna find Tobias before it's too late.”
“You're not putting yourself in danger,” Caleb said, sounding all hard and authoritative, like I was going to listen to him. Perhaps knowing me way too well, he added, “Don't try anything foolish, Sam. You're hot-headed and trouble knows your name, address, and phone number.”
I gasped. “You've. Got. Some. Nerve.”
The side of his lips curled in a delicious smile. “And then some. Promise me you'll wait until we learn more. We can't run in guns blazing. We'll need to plan.”
It took a minute to get my temper in check, but I nodded. “Fine. But I'm telling you now, when we do, the gloves come off.”
Â
As promised, Caleb went to his Jeep and grabbed some olive oil and covered all the entrances and windows, then disappeared upstairs to do the same. Though we both knew that it might not do any good, I was sure he needed to keep busy.
Ruiz also stayed behind to talk Mom off the ledge, but his bedside manner needed work. I walked in on them speaking in hushed tones in the kitchen. Instead of pointing the finger at Caleb as usual, his suspicion was aimed at me.
“I just spoke to Evangeline and she said she's coming next week. It's the earliest that she can arrive. We agree that it's a good idea that you have a Cambion elder around for counsel.”
Mom turned and leaned her hip against the counter. “What does that mean?”
“Samara is a young Cambion with little knowledge of her power and even less discipline. Men are naturally attracted to her. For them to resort to violence is a sign of something off balance with her spirit.”
“Are you saying that what happened tonight was
her
fault?”
“That man seemed pretty desperate to get to her. Had you not intervened, there's no telling what could've happened. Is there any other explanation for his heart to stop, for his body to look like that? Self-defense or not, his life energy was taken, by a Cambion. The police in this town aren't stupid, Julie. Bodies are popping up like crazy. This is creating more attention on this town and Samara, the wrong kind of attention.”
“She's my daughter, David. A man came into our home and tried to hurt my child. What would you do in my position? I'm sure Evangeline will understand. She's a mother, too. I'll talk to her.”
“I'm sure she already understands. She's concerned for the both of you.”
Mom turned and saw me standing in the entryway. She ducked her face behind Ruiz's shoulder, hiding her tears from me, but I already saw them. I hated being the cause of those tears, but I was willing to take the full blame for this screw-up, just as long as Ruiz didn't find out about Tobias. That would be a death warrant for all of us.
“Is there a problem?” I asked, glaring at Ruiz.
“No problem, sweetie. Everything's fine,” Mom answered in a weak voice. “Go ahead to bed. You can sleep in my room. I don't plan on going to bed tonight. I need to clean up.”
I kept staring at the detective as a soft green tint coated my vision. Lilith didn't like the situation either. Ruiz kept his android posture, but I could tell he understood the silent threat: You hurt my mom; your ass is mine.
I left the two downstairs and followed the sound of banging to my room. It was the first time I'd entered the room since the attack, and though the place was a wreck, I was relieved to find no blood or chalk outlines on my floor. In the middle of a pile of shredded cardboard, Caleb stood, wielding a box cutter in his hand.