Authors: Marc Buhmann
“Like our Heaven and Hell,” Stavic offered, sounding proud of himself.
At least he’d been listening,
Willem thought.
“Please!” scoffed DeMarcus. “Would you believe in a talking lamb? No… that’s too archaic. A human construct to understand a complex realization you are not yet ready for. We were that way too, for a long time, but then we found…” He inhaled, the air whistling through his lips. “There is no word to describe it. But then we found you, and we watched you like you might a colony of ants. We began to understand where we came from and where we were going to. The knowledge there was life before drove us to explore life after. We had tasted the past, now we longed for what came after.
“You see, while we come from your level we don’t remember it, much like you don’t remember what came before you. We were curious, and in our curiosity we broke down the barrier to understand. But the expeditions we sent never came back, and we learned that there was a failsafe in place that prevented it. But, anything that is a failsafe has a probability of failing itself.
“While we looked for a way to bring our people back, others came up with the idea of using your plane as a sort of prison—a place to send the exiled. The other thing we learned is that the flesh is destroyed, that their memories are wiped out, competing souls in a single body. Usually it all balances out becoming harmonious, but on occasion conflict emerges. And on the rarest of the rare—and it’s only been documented a handful of times—a person doesn’t forget about Turmoore at all.” His smile grew. “Being exiled here…” He shook his head gravely.
Willem wondered if there was a way to reach his father, to have him help. He couldn’t believe his father would allow his own son to be killed at the hands of DeMarcus. But if he’d been corrupted maybe he wouldn’t think twice?
What was it Lilly had told David? That when a Turmoorian presence descended and entered a host that the casual observer wouldn’t notice. But sometimes some people
did.
His father must have been one of them; he must have sensed something had changed in Willem.
“How is it you haven’t aged?” Stavic asked.
“You assume time is as you perceive it; it’s not. In here, time does not exist.” He paused, eyed each one. “I assume David told you of me? What did he say?”
“That you led a revolution. That you wanted to marry Lilly.”
DeMarcus nodded, said, “Everything was ruined when they went into hiding. When we found her parents Lilly was gone, and it took considerable effort to learn where she’d been taken. They robbed me of her, so I came looking, damning myself to your existence.
“When I got here I didn’t know where she was, though I could sense her.” He cocked his head, eyes danced. “I stepped onto your plane once. I felt dirty, violated, and I dreaded having to further contaminate myself in your filth. I was lucky to have found a shell to traverse your plane, and I used him to track Lilly down. Her foster parents were strong, but they cracked as I knew they would, just like Lilly’s parents.”
“So it was you,” Stavic mumbled. “You killed the Shaw’s. Back in ‘57, it was you.”
DeMarcus shrugged. “Indirectly. The pain they suffered is nothing to what I endured. Not only did I learn of her accident, that she lay dying in your archaic hospital, but that she also married him. She was almost lost until I stepped in.” A slight head tilt to David. “Ironic now that he is as she was.”
“Why didn’t you just kill him too?”
“I’m not a monster. Had I done that then there’d be no way of convincing her to return to me, to honor our agreement. No… I needed to find another way. I knew if I just bided my time then maybe I could change her mind.
“After she returned home I paid her a visit to try and convince her to come back with me, but it was futile. She refused, and I was powerless to force her.”
“I was lost. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go on nor could I go back, and as much as Lilly was lost to me I was lost to myself.” He paused, looked at each in turn. “So here I was stuck in your world, and a world I’d conquered left crumbling. And then it hit me. I knew the affection she had toward a young neighbor girl, the daughter she’d never had.” DeMarcus looked at Claire. “I knew then I had what I needed to convince her.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go according to plan. Lilly betrayed me a second time and I ended up imprisoned in there.” He gestured to an old wooden door
.
“She probably didn’t expect me to survive but, well…” He looked at Willem. “I have your father to thank for that.”
“He released you?” Willem asked.
“I didn’t have a way of unlocking the door between
belere
and this place like Lilly did. He stumbled in here seeking refuge and opened the door allowing me to pass through
.
For that I released him of his pain and confusion and promised he could return to Turmoore with me. He was also there when David and Lilly came and was knocked unconscious but, thankfully, came to and released me again. I am forever in debt to him.”
“If Lilly is gone,” Claire said, “then why are you after my daughter? What has Emily got to do with this?”
“Because she’s not gone.” His lips curled. “It confused me to say the least. First I found David and then you. Her presence in two places. How surprised I was to find that little neighbor girl Lilly adored. But it wasn’t you she was a part of but your daughter; somehow she managed to transfer herself to her. And to him,” he said, acknowledging David with a glance.
“I don’t know where she is, but I’ll never let you get your hands on her,” Claire said.
“It’s unfortunate you say that. You see I already have her.”
“Where!” Claire roared.
“She’s safe, and I will give her the most wonderful gift imaginable. Not only will she help me return to Turmoore, she will also be at my side. And, with the ability to move between planes, we will be gods. We will learn all there is to know, who created the realms and orchestrated our existence, and join them.”
“No!” Claire screamed and charged DeMarcus.
Then she stood frozen, unmoving. Willem tried to go to her but was unable. All he could do was stand motionless, eyes ahead, watching the grinning DeMarcus.
“The necklace… who has it?” His eyes darted between the three of them before landing on Stavic. “Bring it to me.”
Stavic glided toward DeMarcus. Willem was sure Stavic was fighting DeMarcus’ control but was powerless to stop it. He came to a standstill in front of DeMarcus and reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace.
“Beautiful. Just beautiful,” cooed DeMarcus.
A scream erupted from within the picture. High pitched, terrified. It echoed through the room. DeMarcus joined in, screaming a deep baritone. Together the screams faded out as the air left their lungs. Emily emerged in the frame, looking around aimlessly, scared. She looked right at them—
through
them—yet did not see.
DeMarcus grasped the necklace, and the world began to darken and burn like newspaper in a fire. Pieces broke free and floated away, orange embers burning out high above. The white room dissolved around them leaving the underlying cabin.
And then Emily appeared, opaque at first, then solid, DeMarcus’ red capped man behind her.
Dad!
Willem wanted to shout. All this time he thought his father had run off or died, but here he was working with DeMarcus. He looked the same he did the last time he saw him all those years ago, the day he’d walked out after saying those terrible things.
She looked around. “Mom!” she screamed, pulling herself free from Willem’s father’s grasp. DeMarcus signaled to Willem’s father to stay as Emily ran to Claire and threw her arms around her. Yet Claire didn’t move.
Must be killing her not being able to embrace her daughter.
“Come out, come out Lilly. I know you’re here,” DeMarcus sing-songed, his eyes searching the room. “I can’t believe you’re going to stay hidden away like this. Are you truly going to sacrifice these people?”
“Why are you doing this? What did you do to her?” Emily screamed.
“I don’t have time for your petty games. If you need convincing then I best start with the man you love.”
Stavic approached David, pulled out his gun, and aimed it.
* * *
It was the strangest sensation. She could feel but couldn’t move. When she heard the screaming she knew instantly who it was. She wanted to cry out, run for her daughter, protect her. Then when she saw Emily in that picture her heart sank. She felt powerless. Then, when she appeared right in front of her, ran to her and hugged her, she felt even more so. She couldn’t even wrap her arms around her.
Claire watched as Stavic moved to the side of David’s bed, pulled out his gun, and pointed it at his face.
No! Don’t do it!
she wanted to scream.
She felt Emily stiffen and pull back, saw a glimmer in her eye. Her demeanor hardened. This wasn’t her daughter; these eyes were that of aged experience. Emily’s jaw set.
Not Emily. Lilly.
“Wait,” Lilly said, the word commanding and unflinching. She turned from Claire, faced down DeMarcus. “Enough.”
“That’s a neat trick you pulled,” DeMarcus said, “entering Claire and then Emily as you have. Though I have to admit I’m perplexed how you achieved it.”
“As am I regarding how you escaped
belere
.”
DeMarcus stepped towards Lilly, eyed her up. “I have to admit that you choose well. You’re even more stunning now.”
“And you’re a lecher.”
A shrug. “I have good taste.” Another step; Lilly held her ground. “So, Lilly, will you deny our original agreement?”
“After killing my parents? I think the agreement is void.”
“That was only because they hid you from me.”
“Can you blame them?”
“I can blame them for a great many things.”
“You
think
you can, but—really—it boils down to madness.”
DeMarcus’ grin dropped ever so slightly. Must have hit a nerve. Claire wanted to know what Willem and Stavic were thinking.
“I’m not mad.”
“You waged a war.”
“A revolution.”
“Call it what you will. You attacked us. You attacked the people. Turmoore hadn’t seen such blight in over a millennium.”
DeMarcus chuckled. “I see what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to convince me that I was wrong.” Another step. In a mocking tone, he said, “Please take me back and put me away. You were right!” For the first time his smile dropped, eyes hardened. It caused a shiver to run through Claire.
“You could have ruled, could have run Turmoore as you saw fit. No one would have stopped you.”
“You would have.”
She nodded. “I would have tried. Out of curiosity, why didn’t you go back to Turmoore? Surely you could have.”
“It requires the two of us. You and me. Of this I’m sure.” He stepped closer. “Why did you stay? Your father, before I cut out his tongue, told me you were supposed to return when you were twenty.”
Her eyes flicked to David lying helpless in his bed. DeMarcus did not miss it.
“Are you kidding me? You stayed for him? Is that why you didn’t transcend when your body gave out?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Lilly said with a hint of sadness.
DeMarcus exploded, spit flying. “I came here for you! Don’t you dare claim I don’t understand!” And as suddenly as his anger flared, he regained his composure, eyeing her. “Do you have any idea what your staying here has cost Turmoore? Death. A plague across the entire plane that is wiping out all.”
Lilly’s brows furrowed. “You lie.”
“Did your parents never tell you who you really were? Why you were supposed to return at twenty?”
What was that? The sensation of pins and needles in her extremities. Claire tried to wiggle her fingers, thought she saw one move ever so slightly, but not again. Shit!
DeMarcus chuckled, and then it turned into a hearty laugh. Claire wasn’t sure if he actually thought it was funny, or was provoking her, trying to get under her skin. Once the laugher died away, he said, “You are the embodiment of Turmoore, the physical representation of all existence on our plane. When you stayed here, the realm perished.”
“You lie,” Lilly said again, a tremor in her voice.
“Believe me, don’t believe me, I care not. When you return you’ll see for yourself.”
She couldn’t tell if he was lying—the desperate ramblings of a madman—or if he was telling the truth. One thing had to be said, he was convincing. She could almost appreciate his plight.
Almost.
Lilly glanced at Claire. “Release her.”
“You’ll come with me?”
Lilly looked at DeMarcus. “Release them all.” Her voice was firm and commanding, a degree of defiance she’d never heard in her daughter’s voice.
And without warning Claire could move.
* * *
David was having an out of body experience. He could see and hear what was happening, not from his frail shell, but instead as a specter. He could move about the room freely. His heart hurt seeing Lilly superimposed over Emily.