Blood Ties (39 page)

Julie and I were in the living room going through Hari’s clothes. We pushed aside all the shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and flip-flops to get to the BDUs.

“Grace, do you think it’s necessary for us to dress up in soldier clothes?” Julie asked.

“What would combat specialist Hari do? We would honor him by wearing these,” I said.

Julie nodded in agreement. “Hari wouldn’t allow us to wear anything else. BDUs it is then.”

We both grabbed some camouflage pants and T-shirts. Julie found some grease paint—green and brown. She smeared it on her cheek with a determined stroke.

“Really?” I said, smiling.

“Hey, if we’re going to soldier up, we might as well go all the way.”

I followed suit. When Julie and I looked in the mirror, we saw a couple of tough chicks. We fist bumped, slapped hands, and snapped our fingers.

“Let’s do this,” I said.

We jumped into the minivan, remarking how hilarious it must have looked for two supernatural fighters to hop out of a Dodge Caravan. But the superficial lightheartedness didn’t last long. Following the minivan’s navigation system, we found Tunglemans Court. We did a drive-by creep and opted to park one street over. Covertly, Julie and I made our way on foot back over to Tunglemans. We stayed at the entrance of the culde-sac, doing surveillance with the newly fallen night acting as our cover. We were on our bellies, lying low under a bloom of tree limbs that were writhing in the wind.

There were only two houses on the street, and a woman dressed in scrubs came out of one. She looked frazzled and was in a hurry. Some older, power-walking woman was trying to talk to the younger one as she got into the car. The scrubbedecked woman furiously backed out and took off, getting as far away from the old woman as fast as she could. Meanwhile Julie and I hid our eyes so the driver couldn’t see the whites as she passed. The older woman was oblivious to the fact that she had just gotten checked, and left the cul-de-sac with a speedwalking stride.

I whispered, “Unless Catherine has aged forty years and taken an interest in aerobics, she must be in the other house.”

Julie and I skulked over to the foreclosed home. I cringed with every cracked twig I accidently stepped on.

We crouched outside the house, near a hibiscus bush. “Okay, we need to find weak spots and points of easy entry. You go that way. I’ll go this way,” I said. We briefly clutched hands in a sign of solidarity.

I walked around the house, waving my hand to softly light up weak spots on the house. I could tell Catherine had covered it with a protection spell at some point. But she must have lifted the veil in anticipation of my arrival. I continued to survey the front, and bent down to look into a dirty basement window. As I tried to survey the dark room, I could see the specter reflection of someone coming up behind me. In a nanosecond Nick swept me up from behind.

“What are you doing, little girl?” Nick said. As he turned me around, I quickly used charisma. When he saw my face, I looked like the subject of his favorite wet dream. He put my feet back on the ground while keeping his arms firmly wrapped around me. I could sense his predatory sexuality rising up. The more aroused he became, the tighter he held me. I noticed he had actually gotten stronger since the attack at the reservation.

I could see Nick was thoroughly entranced. This gave me the chance to dig into my pocket and grab a handful of pixie dust. I flung my hand out, though my arms were still pinned down at my sides.

Slowly the dust rose from the grass and started taking shape. Nick’s attention was divided between the pixie dust and me. Growing, growing, the dust manifested as a hyperdemonic version of Catherine. Nick let go of me and fell to his knees.

“I’m sorry. It’s not what it looks like. I didn’t want the girl. I was only keeping her for you. I love only you,” Nick said. He looked back at me. The charisma had worn off, and my true identity was revealed. He looked back at “Catherine” as she disintegrated. Nick yelled, and swiftly came after me with a profound vengeance.

Oh, shit
.

I held up my hand and screamed the first thing that came to my mind: “Freeze!” Nick abruptly stopped, and all of his movements ceased. He then turned into an ice statue of himself. I looked at my hand in amazement.

“Not what I intended, but it’ll do,” I said. I found a tree branch, picked it up, and positioned myself behind Nick like a player going up to bat. “Here goes nothing.”

I swung back wide, and struck him as hard as I could. Nick broke up into thousands of ice cubes. I had a sense of relief, a feeling that maybe it would not be so hard killing Catherine after all.

Now, unbeknownst to me, Julie—being brave and hardheaded as usual—had somehow made her way inside the house. She knew we were not to go in separately, but she felt confident that she’d be okay. And her guilty conscience compelled her to clear the path for me as penance for how she had treated me.

The house was filled with a strange hum, like the resonating frequency right after a gong has been hit. Catherine’s maniacal energy was thick in there. Moreover, the house’s musty odor was accented by something that smelled like an overcharged battery.

Julie edged forward on noisy floorboards. The fur started growing on her skin as she sensed someone was there with her. Covering herself, she turned in a circle as she walked. What she didn’t know was that Tamara was watching her from the infinite blackness. Julie stopped turning and walked forward into the unknown.

Tamara, however, scaled the wall and crawled stealthily behind her. Tamara smiled; she enjoyed stalking Julie as a hunter does its prey. She wanted to take her time and play. Tamara blew lightly in Julie’s direction. Julie felt it and jumped into a defensive posture, and then decided to move on to a side room.

The streetlight streaming into the tiny window illuminated the room with a grayish light. Julie stepped in with Tamara following. Julie looked around, but she failed to look up at the ceiling. Not seeing anything of interest, she started out of the room, but Tamara jumped down on her. Julie reeled around and transformed into the shape-shifter.

Tamara piggybacked Julie, choking her. Whirling around, Julie futilely grabbed at Tamara. Julie’s ever-increasing momentum sent both of them crashing into a hallway wall. As Julie continued to try to get Tamara’s strong arms from around her, they crashed into the walls and floor. They moved erratically down the hall and dove into the dining room. They fell to the floor, with Tamara rolling off Julie. They both turned their heads and looked at each other. Julie now recognized her assailant as the woman who had killed Hari. She sprung to her feet, as did Tamara.

“What a treat. I get to kill you like I killed your brother,” Tamara gloated.

Julie didn’t take the bait, and kept a cool head. They both sized each other up as they circled.

“Oh, you look like you want to cry,” said Tamara. She lunged at Julie in a game of chicken. But Julie was focused, strategizing.

“Even though I prefer lobster, your brother was delicious. Mighty fine dining,” Tamara went on.

That was it. Julie lost it. She charged with brutal animal instinct. She delivered a high kick to Tamara’s head. Julie didn’t give her anytime to recover, and jerked her up by the neck. She raised Tamara up overhead and slammed her back to the floor. Then Julie crouched down and delivered blows to her kidneys. Every punch broke one of Tamara’s ribs. One went straight though her body. Julie flipped her over.

Tamara was beginning to succumb to her injuries. She laughed with an open mouth, showing the empty space where the tooth Grace had found had come from. “Fuck you.”

“How about I fist fuck you instead?” Julie said. She then pulled her fist back and drove it into Tamara’s mouth, going all the way back to her spinal column, severing it. As Julie tried to pull her fist back out, it got caught behind Tamara’s teeth. She had to yank her hand out, and took more of Tamara’s teeth with it. Julie stood up and gave the corpse a kick for good measure.

Then she stepped into the hall. She looked back at Tamara and smiled with satisfaction. Unfortunately, she turned right back around into Catherine, who punched her on the side of the head, and Julie dropped.

“You killed my baby. That will never do,” Catherine said.

Julie was disoriented by the abnormally powerful blow. Catherine pushed up her sleeves and took Julie’s knee.

“It’s time to fix the dog.” Catherine twisted. Julie screamed bloody murder as her knee popped out of the joint. Catherine started whistling as Julie’s lower leg twisted backward.

Meanwhile, I entered the house and whispered, “Julie.” Catherine’s supersonic hearing caught this, and she instantly became more interested in me.

I carefully made my way through the house. “Julie, where are you?”

Up ahead I could see only one of her legs sticking straight out. I tiptoed over to her as quickly as I could. “Julie, you weren’t supposed to go in without me,” I said. But I stopped my chastisement when I saw her other leg bent backward at a most atrocious angle. “Dear God, what happened?”

“Catherine,” Julie said, trying to not wail.

“Where is she?”

Julie pointed at a door leading to the basement. “Down there.”

I was about to storm down when Julie grabbed my pants leg. “Don’t go. It’s a trap.”

“It’s not a trap if you know it’s there.”

Julie reached up and gave my hand a squeeze for encouragement. I made my way to the door and flung it open. I held out my wand, pointing into the darkness. Moving into the basement, I made sure to stay low and slow.

I made it to the floor and found myself stepping over what felt like piles of fat sticks. I conjured the tip of my wand to light, and pointed it down. I was stepping on bones. The basement was filled with them.

Suddenly I heard James’s distant screams. He sounded like he was in horrific pain. I listened closely, and followed the sound. It took me to a door. At first I thought it was a closet, but when I opened it I saw that it led down into an empty stairwell. I walked down and entered a subbasement. I had read about these in history class. The original owner of this house must have gotten caught up in the pandemonium of the Red Scare and built this as some sort of fallout shelter. Instead of focusing on life in a newly developing suburb with dreams of backyard barbeques, this guy was waiting for an atomic bomb to drop. Funny how
now
a war was taking place within the confines of the house instead. Got to love the irony.

There was a narrow door directly at the bottom of the stairwell. I didn’t know what waited on other side, and took a deep breath to prepare myself.

“Oh, fuck it.”

I went for broke and rushed the door. I burst through, and had to make an abrupt stop before I hit a concrete wall directly in front of me. I looked around and discovered I was in a tight tunnel. I could only go right or left. On a hunch I went right.

The subbasement was more like a cinderblock catacomb. Following naked, lit lightbulbs, I walked through what seemed like endless tunnels with small recesses dotted throughout. There was very little ventilation, and the smell of battery acid filled what little air there was.

I finally entered some sort of enchanted chamber. In its center a gigantic, blue pentagram blazed on the floor with an unearthly glow. On the other side of it, I could see James. I ran as fast as I could to him. He was bound with an etheric cord. He had been charred by battery acid and had third-degree burns all over his body. He had lost so much blood, he was nearly drained.

“James,” I said, squatting down. I kissed him. His mouth was full of blood, but I didn’t care.

“Hey, stranger,” he said. He used the last energy he had to say those words. I tried to remove the cord, but it was hot as boiling water.

“I can’t get it off,” I said. While I still tried, James slowly pointed, indicating that something was behind me. I whipped around and heard something move away from me. I could see it standing in a dark corner. I moved toward it and, with no hesitation, shot my wand. It emitted crackly light and lit up the corner. The thing was revealed: it was a coat tree covered in plastic. Alas, I didn’t notice the outline of something
else
coming at me from the darkness.

It was Catherine.

I backed away from the coat tree, right into Catherine’s frigid body. I flailed around, and she disappeared. I remembered a trick Aunt Evelyn and James had done many times. I waved my hand and hazed the room like they had done. Against the darkness, the outline of Catherine’s shrouded body glinted in response. I immediately threw magic at her. She jumped up like a cat and, with extremely fast speed, blurred past me. She was laughing—more like cackling. She
really
cackled. I tried to use telekinesis to throw her off her feet, but the power sputtered out on me.

“Why don’t you face me instead of running like a wuss?” I taunted. This burned Catherine the fuck up. She was no longer merry. It was on.

Out of nowhere she plunged down on me. She picked me up and threw me to the corner of the ceiling. As I came back down, the back of my head barely missed a hook hanging on the wall. Though dazed, I picked myself up immediately.

I flicked my wand and sent a wave of liquid crystal toward Catherine. It landed on her like glue, dripped to the floor, and stuck her in place.

I pitched toward her; however, she broke free and threw magic at me. An orb resembling a smoke ring hit my stomach and went in me like a shotgun shell. I doubled over as her hocus pocus bounced off my insides, doing major damage to my organs.

“You! You are what has stood between me and greatness,” Catherine said, sending another smoke ring of devilry into me. I could feel myself withering from the inside out. She grabbed me by the hair and took me down, then hauled me across the floor.

“Don’t worry about what’s inside of you. It’s just going to rip you up. But it won’t kill you before I get a chance to. When I get you in that pentagram, I’m going to take your blood and eat you. And I swear there will be nothing left to say you even existed—except your soul and powers inside of me.”