Grave Danger (18 page)

“
It’s time,” Corrigan said from his position
by the lamp post. “Chas, you lead.” Giving Chas the lead would mean
that he could choose the location and the mark without interference
from himself or Helen. “I’ll follow behind to take watch and Helen
can assist you if she’d like.” Helen nodded her head, looking
pleased by the arrangement. Helen could either be used as a
distraction or as bait for the target, depending upon the
situation. “Are we in agreement then?”

They both nodded. Making one more stretch of his
arms over his head, Chas made an excited growl in the back of his
throat before leaping into a run. In the next moment he was gone,
headed for downtown and his chosen target.

“
He gets so pumped up before the kill,
stalking about the house like a caged animal,” Helen commented as
she and Corrigan stood alone on the bridge. “I think that music he
listens to is a bad influence.”

“
It’s not the music, Hell, it’s who he is.
It’s who we all are.” Corrigan once again turned to look down at
the city. Lately Chas had become anxious before they went out for
the night, but it was only because they’d had to cut back.
Sometimes not going out at all for a night or two and then when
they did, he became a little wild. That was the nature of the
beast; you couldn’t cage it up forever, not without
repercussions.

Helen felt that well of pity she kept hidden from
her brother rise up. Corrigan truly believed that he was only the
monster of legend, the flesh-eater, the zombie, the soulless and
damned. Helen thought differently. And though their lifestyle was
considered abhorrent to the rest of the world, they were not so
different from the others. They loved, laughed and had heartache
like any human. They just happened to also be the walking dead. To
survive they consumed the living, cannibalism. But was it so
different from the living who feasted off of the animals and beasts
of the land and sea? The only difference was that their meal came
with a name attached; call a pig Susan and you might be reluctant
to eat it too.

“
You better follow your husband and make sure
he doesn’t get into trouble.” Corrigan said, interrupting her
thoughts.

“
I’ll see you down there, brother.” And in the
next moment she too was gone.

Corrigan stood alone on the old bridge, a strange
feeling coming over his senses. Something was different about
tonight and he couldn’t begin to put a finger on what it could
mean. It was in the air, in the ground, a change had come to the
old city bringing with it a new force that he had not felt in many
years. Whatever it was, it didn’t bode good news for himself or his
adopted family.

He leaped up onto the bridge railing, gazing down at
the dark water below. He wondered if he fell, would the darkness
take him back once again. No. It would spit him out, because even
Lucifer wouldn’t want him in his domain. Corrigan’s eyes were yet
again drawn to watching the city lights. Down there, in the ancient
city someone was waiting, a force he had yet to encounter but he
knew well enough without introduction.

In the next instant he was gone from the rail.

Darkness held the city in its cold hands, soothing
it into sleep. For the unwary, this night might be the last they
saw of this world.

Chapter 10-

Clarissa wandered down the darkened streets several
blocks from her home. All around her the houses of the cities
citizens revealed cold, unlit windows with quiet hushed whispers of
dreaming thoughts inside.

She had been drifting about the city for several
hours now, not sure if she should remain longer or give up and
return to Mrs. Connors house where Eleanor and Maddy would surely
be up and waiting for her turn.

She had been very nearly close to giving up this
idiotic idea of confronting the others when something caught her
attention.

Clarissa had become used to the knowledge that she
could penetrate the barriers of the human psyche and see into the
souls and minds of the Eidolon and the livings. She was never
intentionally intrusive and some of them, she found, could keep
themselves from her. But what she encountered and stopped her in
the deathly quiet streets of the old city was the sound of voices
speaking to each other, not with words of mouth, but of
thought.

It was as if she had accidentally picked up a line
of communication that she shouldn’t have otherwise been allowed to
hear, but she could. Clarissa hadn’t met anyone who could converse
on such a personal level until now. She wondered who they could be
and what they were talking about. Having come in on the tail end of
the conversation, she couldn’t understand the context of what they
were talking about, almost as if they were speaking in code.

Two males and a female, that was what she guessed
from the way the voices were speaking as each held a trace of the
essence of the person from which the voice was formed. An internal
voice, unlike an auditory voice is distinct and personable and
cannot be covered up by an accent or false voice.

They were together, several blocks over from where
she was standing, and as far as she could reason none of them were
aware that she had infiltrated their private line. Who were they
and what were they doing out so late at night? Didn’t they realize
that the others were out as well, roaming the streets for their
next meal? Clarissa thought to reach out to them and warn them, but
some inner warning system held her back. She didn’t know these
people, nor they her. It would be wiser to leave them alone, she
told herself.

Having come to that conclusion, she turned about
intending to go home. She was tired and bored with walking the
lonely streets. Perhaps she would borrow Maddy’s computer. She had
seen it lying on a desk when she had passed the open door of one of
the upstairs rooms. She could maybe wile Eleanor into watching a
movie with her. Maddy had a few DVD boxes staked next to her
television in the back family room. As Clarissa was thinking about
which movie Eleanor would agree to watch with her, a shadow crept
along the street behind her.

She felt it more than she saw it, a force of energy
bending the atmosphere around her. Clarissa paused, not turning to
look at it. It was in her best interest to pretend she wasn’t aware
of it yet. She must think of what to do first. But a blanket of
fear seemed to cover her, stealing her thoughts as well as the
ability to take action. The shadow swept closer, fast, seemingly
moving more like a phantom than a human person. It wasn’t human,
Clarissa thought. It was a beast.

Chas darted down the street before his brother or
wife could stop him. Moving swiftly through the night, he didn’t
pause until he found himself several blocks away from his family.
Stalking his prey, he moved like a shadow phantom down the empty
street toward his destination.

He had felt the intruder only a moment ago, a light
presence, as it had remained on the fringe of his mind, almost
undetected. Then it had almost reached out and touched, its
intentions giving it away when it would have otherwise gone
undetected by himself and his family. Chas had taken action, not
caring that his brother or wife was yelling at him to come back.
Whoever it had been, the person would be dead soon enough.

Searching for the target, Chas paused to see a lone
figure of a woman standing in the middle of the street, nearly
frozen in place. She was young, looking not much older than he in
her stunted existence. Chas had been looking for a man, a strong
force of psychic and spiritual awareness, a wielder of strength in
the ancient arts, not a woman; a dead ghost woman at that. She
couldn’t have been the intruder, this girl who appeared to be
scared out of her wits.

Chas drew closer, coming up to her from behind. She
was neither short nor overly tall and she looked soft, not a
creature capable of taking down one of his kind or even her own.
“What is a little ghost girl doing out on a night like this?” he
said, his voice the only sound in the stillness surrounding them.
She didn’t turn, but remained immobile staring off in front of
her.

“
I thought I would go for a walk as it is such
a nice night.” Clarissa answered him without revealing any
trembling in her voice. “It will be dawn in a few hours. Don’t you
think you should be heading home?”

Clarissa started to move away, taking a tentative
step. She wouldn’t run like a scared little child, but then neither
was she planning on sticking around for a little chat with a
flesh-eater. She made another move away from him. Clarissa had yet
to turn around and look him in the eye. She wasn’t sure she had the
nerve to do that yet.

Chas snatched her arm, pulling her smaller form back
and forcing her to turn around to face him. Clarissa gasped both in
shock at being touched and in finally getting what she had asked
for, a face to face look at the legendary flesh-eaters. She just
didn’t expect she would find herself this close to one; a few feet
of distance would have been preferable.

“
Do you know what happens to ghosts who don’t
stay home at night where they should be?” Chas glared down from his
advanced height at the wide eyed ghosts. Her blue eyes stared up
him, the dark ring around the fringe of her irises giving them a
strange ethereal look.

Clarissa tried to jerk her arm free from his grasp.
His large calloused hands weren’t cold and clammy like she
expected, but warm and strong from the blood and flesh he had
consumed. Henry had warned her that though a flesh-eater needed the
living to survive, a soul would be a tasty treat to fill the empty
shell of their beings; at least for a short time. Clarissa wasn’t
sure she wanted to be the patsy in order to find out if it were
true or not.

He was too strong, she couldn’t pull herself free
from him and he didn’t seem to be in any mood to let her go. His
bottle green eyes looked down at her from a face that was
surprisingly handsome and not grotesque like she had imagined. If
she didn’t know better she would have believed he was human and not
the soulless beast she knew him to be.

Clarissa felt his grip tighten and saw as his mouth
parted and he revealed the beast within. Behind his full, perfectly
shaped male lips held straight white teeth except for the canines
which looked like those of the beasts of the wild; sharp and
precise in a jaw that could crush bones into dust. It was in his
mouth that the beast resided, waiting to take its next victim. And
in a moment Clarissa knew that it would be her.

Corrigan shouted at his brother, though he knew he
was past hearing. He had caught the scent of something and nothing
could stop him from going after it. Standing next to a cropping of
trees, he watched as his sister hovered over their kill. Corrigan
didn’t think to recognize it as the man it had once been. To do so
would bring up the consciousness and faint tendrils of humanity he
still had left even after all this time. Keeping all that away,
suppressed far enough down inside where even he could pretend it no
longer existed.

Finished, she looked up at him, a tiny trace of
blood dotting her full lower lip. She licked it with her delicate
pink tongue, standing up as she came to stand next to him. “Where
has he gone off to now? He’s been running off lately and I don’t
know why. Go after him Corry; make sure he doesn’t get himself or
us in trouble.”

Helen seemed deeply concerned for her mate, so he
obliged her. Corrigan sprinted off in the same direction his
brother had taken moments before, following his trail. Night’s
velvet cloak kept much of the world hidden, but he found it easy to
travel through it. The night was his companion, his only friend for
most of his existence. They were of similar stuff, both mysterious
and misunderstood by much of the planet.

Corrigan found himself several blocks over on a
deserted residential street. Only the lamp lights shone against the
blackness of the night and he could see two figures farther down in
front of him. He recognized the broad back of his brother in an
instant, but could not make out the other, smaller figure in front
of him.

Picking up his speed he raced to confront them,
hoping to stop whatever his brother intended to do to this other
obviously weaker person. Just as he was upon them though he watched
as his brother, a deadly threat to anything in his path was flung
backwards into the street landing on his back. Chas would have
landed on Corrigan if Corrigan hadn’t dodged speedily to the other
side of the street. As it was, he just barely escaped from being
flung backwards himself by the residual flow of energy from the
attack. And there was no mistaking where it had originated
from.

Clarissa stood stunned for a moment, not quite sure
what had happened. Several seconds ticked by in her mind before she
collected her senses well enough to force her from the comatose
stupor. She had escaped, digging deep into the dark well of her
subconscious and finding the tools needed to confront the creature
who now lay dazed on the street several feet away.

He recovered quickly, shaking his head as if
clearing away the thoughts inside. Then his angry eyes focused once
more on her, on his feet in seconds. He came charging at her like a
great bull, his head down in aggression. If she had been smart she
would have shifted the atmosphere and taken herself out of there.
But the simplest answers didn’t always come to mind in the thick of
battle.

Just as she was bracing herself for his attack, she
felt another pair of equally strong hands on her person, pulling
her up and against its form. It held her cool body against its much
warmer one, taking her high above the ground, her legs dangling in
the air. She was left suspended in the arms of another creature and
she knew that it was not friendly.