Strega (Strega Series) (12 page)

"I mean, Shaun would be a great contact to have down here on the marina if we ever want to go out for a sail," she said, failing to hide her amusement and chuckling at her own obviousness. I looked up at Shaun and his captivating, tiger-like eyes were focused on me. Then, a coy smile spread across his charming face.

"I'd be happy to take you out," he said. His hand gently rested on my back as he guided us out, and my desire to kill Rena slowly began to fade. Before we left, Shaun handed me his uncle's business card with his own cell phone number written on the back, and we said our goodbyes. Before we could get far enough away, Rena was already jumping up and down with excitement.

"Will you please control yourself until we're out of sight!"

From that day on, she was at me every day, handing me the phone and threatening to dial his number for me. I told her I would call him, but honestly I had no intention. I felt way too awkward. It didn't matter anyway. In the end she got her way. The next time I saw Shaun at The Waterside, he asked me to dinner and I said yes.

Rena and I had been friends for more than two years, and from the day we met she never stopped worrying about me. It was like she could sense the cavernous hole inside me, even though I was convinced my cheerful disposition masked it. She pushed me toward Shaun and every other distraction, as if the ground would swallow me whole if I stood still for just one second.

After Gram died, Rena's worrying only got worse. She went into overdrive, trying to help me through the emotional fallout. We went shopping for bright, colorful new clothes and fun, fancy shoes. We went to the movies to see every comedy that was released
—even the lousy ones. She did anything she could to distract me. And though her efforts were often annoying, I knew I needed her.

The night I found Gram, Rena was the first person I called. She came immediately. When she found me on the floor holding Gram's body in my arms, she pulled me up right away and brought me into the bathroom. She wiped the blood from my arms and helped me wash my hands and my face. She called the police and helped me through the long night of questions. For the next few days, she helped Ruth and Celia handle every phone call, arrange all the services, and hold me together. Rena packed up some of my things and brought me to Max's apartment, where I stayed for the first week until I was ready to take on the process of moving in with Ruth.

Rena was afraid. I'd already been through so much. Lost so much. Now Gram. It was beyond what anyone should ever have to deal with.

"Some people don't bounce back from stuff like this, Jay. I'm worried about you. I need you to take care of yourself. I need you to bounce back."

Rena and I sat at a table close to the stage where Max set up his equipment. The music was so loud I could hardly hear my own terrifying thoughts. Rena dragged us out to dance, and I tried to lose myself in the welcome distraction, ignoring my fears and pretending to be normal even if just for a few short hours. The floor buzzed under our bare feet, and we laughed and twirled each other around through the growing crowd. But this small reprieve didn't last.

Across the room, his face appeared out of nowhere. It was like the last thing you see in a dream. The sobering thing that pulls you through the depths of your subconscious and back to reality. His eyes, so intense, cut through the sea of people around us and hit me like a bullet. His tall, solid body towered over everyone as he parted the crowd. His dark leather jacket was more worn than the last time I'd seen it, and a dark, bristly beard dusted his face as if he'd been trapped for days in the wilderness and had only just emerged. He stopped me in my tracks. It was Vince.

His eyes fixed on me like a predator on the hunt. As he approached, the intense ache that had gripped my heart since he left began to ease, but a new twinge of fear twisted in the pit of my stomach. Rena grabbed my arm, and I spun my head around in a panic. She was pointing to Max, who was throwing t-shirts and other radio station merchandise into the crowd from the stage.

"Come on!" she shouted as she ran toward the stage. I turned back to find Vince in the crowd, but he was nowhere in sight. Rena finally caught a t-shirt and ran off to our table to put it in her purse. She grabbed our drinks and brought them out on the dance floor, and continued dancing wildly to whatever song was playing.

People around me became a blur as my delirium returned. Just then, strong arms wrapped around me from behind and pulled me up off the floor. I screamed in sheer terror and Rena's face went white as she saw my body lift into the air. But her fear quickly diminished as my feet returned to the ground.

"Baby, it's me."

I spun around and let out a relieved and embarrassed exhale. It was Shaun.

"Oh my god, you scared me!" I shouted between deep breaths. "What are you doing here? When did you get back?"

Shaun nodded and kissed me.

"I couldn't stay away from you too long," he said. "Hey, I just got your message. I guess you made it home okay last night, right?"

"Yes. More or less," I mumbled, hoping to avoid having to explain it all. No luck.

"She was followed home last night," Rena blurted out. I wanted to punch her.

As expected, Shaun asked for the whole story. I exhaustedly recalled it again and answered his endless questions as my eyes wandered for Vince.

"Jay, come away with me!" The words suddenly spouted out of Shaun's mouth.

"That's why I came back early. I want to take you back with me. I found the most beautiful spot just south of Rhode Island. It is so peaceful. You will love it."

I gave him an emphatic "NO," but the look on his face told me he was not going to give up. He kept pressing me, hoping that I would cave. I gave Rena a desperate cue, and finally she came to the rescue. She whisked me off to the bathroom, and as we stood in line waiting our turn, she turned to me with mischievous eyes.

"Shaun is looking fine," she said, contorting her body in ecstasy as her imagination ran wild.

I forced out a laugh, but inside I was a wreck. Seeing Vince churned up a sea of emotion and it was tossing me around like a toy boat. Rena sensed it. With no warning, the conversation turned.

"Seriously, Jay, let yourself have fun with him. Shaun is a great guy."

"I know..." I said reluctantly. Rena frowned as if she sensed the
but
coming.

Shaun was handsome. Compassionate. Everything about him was perfect
—almost too perfect. I had nothing negative to say about him. He was nothing but a gentleman. But...

In all the time I was with Shaun, I never stopped thinking about Vince. I tried to ignore my feelings, suppress my thoughts about him, but I couldn't. And a part of me didn't want to. It did prevent me from getting close to Shaun. Sometimes I felt myself starting to open up to Shaun, but a hesitation always squeaked inside of me and I'd pull away. This hesitation grew louder with time, and I couldn't ignore it anymore.

"I just saw Vince," I said bluntly.

"Oh Jay, please," Rena said, not even acknowledging the fact that he was back. "After all this time, I can't believe you still have feelings for him. He's a jerk. He blew you off. You need to forget him."

"You're not even curious about where he's been or why he's back? What if he has a perfectly good reason?"

"I couldn't care less," she said. "Even if he falls at your feet telling you how much he loves you, begging you to forgive him, he doesn't deserve you."

It was our turn. The bathroom was too small for both of us, so I pushed Rena ahead to go first. As the door closed behind her, I rested against the wall and let out a huge breath I'd been unconsciously holding in. I couldn't stop thinking about Vince. And I couldn't stop the door from closing on Shaun.

A light flickered at the far end of the long dark hallway ahead of me. It was coming from a back room or office in the recesses of the club. Suddenly, a tall, broad figure stepped out of the shadows. I recognized the outline of his dark leather jacket.

"Vince!" I shouted, wanting more than anything to talk to him before he disappeared again. The two women standing beside me in line stopped their conversation and stared at me in annoyance. I flashed them a fake smile, and when I looked back, Vince was gone. I stared down the dark hallway, hoping that he would reemerge before Rena opened the door, but then everything went black.

I reached for my phone to cast its light around me, but my purse was gone. I reached blindly for the girls standing beside me, but they weren't there. I felt around for the bathroom door but I couldn't find the handle. I yelled for Rena but she didn't answer. Then I noticed the silence. Surely chaos would have ensued amongst a bunch of strangers trapped in the dark together. But even the shuffling of feet and the mindless chatter from behind me in line had stopped. There was no music. There was not a sound.

In the dark, I imagined the worst. Vince was after me. He was a demon. He had to be. His disappearance was so strange and unexpected by everyone that knew him. And he returned just when everything in my life had begun to fall apart. He was standing in front of me, ready to kill me, I convinced myself. A scene of total carnage surrounded me, I just couldn't see it. Everyone was silent because they were all dead.

Suddenly a light at the end of the hallway flickered again and illuminated my surroundings. What I saw was not what I feared, but it was just as jarring. I was completely alone. Everyone was gone. And where the long, dark hallway had stretched on just moments before, an underground passageway lay before me, illuminated by flickering lights from blazing torches hanging high on stone walls.

Behind me was an abyss of darkness that no light could penetrate. I faced the dank, earthy corridor that seemed to go on forever, and I was compelled to follow it.

As I passed the great torches on the wall, they blazed bigger and brighter than they appeared from a distance, and they gave off tremendous heat. One by one, I passed entrances to dark, empty rooms, fearing what might reach out and pull me in. But beyond them, there was one room that was not dark. In that room, a soft light flickered.

A tall, threatening figure suddenly appeared ahead in the distance. She moved so swiftly she seemed to float above the ground. A long, heavy black cloak swished around her as she walked. Her face was intimidatingly beautiful. Blood red lips. Black, flowing hair. Eyes as dark as night. I clutched the wall, tucking myself in as tightly as I could, hoping she would not see me. Then she disappeared into the room with the flickering light.

When I got close, I clung to the cold stone threshold where whispers drifted out and reached my ears. I cautiously peered around the corner until the words were sharp and clear.

"The signs have come to pass. She lives," the woman declared. Her voice was cold. Harsh. Threatening. "Find her. And kill her."

"Yes, Invidia," a deep, mangled voice replied from a horrific mouth.

Standing before the woman was a beast so
vile, so hideous. His gigantic form was grotesque. His flesh was blue and spotted with darkened blotches and festering sores. From the threshold, the smell of rot and decay overwhelmed me. His face was that of a frighteningly disfigured dog. His teeth were long and sharp, and could have torn the flesh from my bones.

Despite his intimidating appearance, he was meek in her presence. Her hand rose from the folds of her cloak, and the flickering torch flames on the far wall illuminated the sharp edge of a familiar blade in her hand. She rested its tip against his throat before she whispered one final order.

"Do not fail."

I drew in a sharp breath that echoed through the emptiness, and instantly I wished I could take it back. Both faces turned toward me with eyes that seemed to pierce my skin. Before I could blink, I turned and ran as quickly as my legs could carry me, but it was too late. They were coming for me. The hallway stretched on forever and I would never reach the end of it in time.

As I passed each blazing torch, his horrible growl grew closer until I felt his fuming breath against my back. His claws tore through the air and into my shoulders, and I tumbled beneath him. My head hit the ground and the light faded from my eyes.

I woke up to the sunlight pouring into my room. The last thing I remembered was being at the club, waiting for Rena to come out of the bathroom. And then being attacked in this bizarre, terrifying dream. I had no idea how I got home.

I shot out of bed and ran to the bathroom to get ready. I was going to be late for my meeting with Mr. Whitmore. Right after that, I had to go straight to The Waterside for my shift at eleven. And at some point I had to pick up my latest assignment at the paper
—it was due to the editor the next day. I tossed my Waterside apron and clothes into my bag. Despite the chaos that had begun to consume my life, I wanted to keep my jobs. They were among the only things in my life that still made me feel normal.

This dream ended like all the others
—with me running for my life. But the blue-skinned beast was more terrifying than anything I'd ever seen. And the strange woman in the underground tunnel was not completely foreign to me. She seemed oddly familiar like I'd seen her before, though I couldn't imagine where. And the man called her by a name I couldn't place, but somehow I knew it. Invidia. The blade in her hand was similar to the athame, except it didn't shimmer. It was dull, tarnished from wear. And the stone at its center was black as coal. The most strange and unexplainable thing of all was the language she spoke. It was foreign to me, but like Mr. Whitmore's experience months before, in the dream I understood every word.