Dark of Night - Flesh and Fire (34 page)

Her left knee knocked against the passenger side door. Being confined together like this made it perfect. It was as if they were in a small room that belonged only to them and when they were in it, attached to each other this way, they were safe from everything. She wanted it to last forever, but knew it couldn’t.

He squeezed her tightly and cried out as he came. She collapsed against him. The aroma of passion filled the car’s interior. As they held each other, she thought of how she never expected to make love again, or even feel love again. But she felt it now and it was as if the feeling had never gone away, that it had only been lying dormant all these years waiting to be awakened by contacting the one she loved once again. A crazy part of her wanted to stay. She didn’t care that she’d always be looking over her shoulder, so long as she could be here with Todd.

“God, I’ve missed you,” she whispered into his neck.

He nodded and she knew it meant he'd missed her too.

“You still have to let me go.”

“No. No fucking way.”

Chloe flinched at his surge of emotion. They remained connected. He stopped softening.

“You can’t just come back into my life and expect me to pretend you’re still dead.”

“What about Anna?”

He blinked and seemed to lose focus for a moment. He regained it just as quickly. “I can’t do anything until I know you’re safe.”

She shook her head. “We’re all damned, Todd. I told you about Hell.”

“You can't know for sure that's all there is. There has to be another way.”

“Sure there is. I run forever, and I won’t put you through that.”

“I couldn’t live with myself if I left you. I already let you die once.”

“Todd, I…”

“Why didn’t staying in your house work?”

“I…” She bit her lip.

“How did he find you there?”

“I don’t know. I guess it’s like I said; it was never truly home for me. I always knew that I belonged somewhere else.”

“Where have you ever felt at home?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would it be?”

“Right here. Right now." She kissed him and tightened her sex around his. "What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking… what if you went somewhere else that you’d been in your mortal life, somewhere you were happy. Do you think you could be safe there?”

“I don’t know. It’s…”

“Worth a shot, don’t you think?”

She crawled off of him and nodded.

“Any ideas?”

The silence that hung between them was more than a pregnant pause; it was a pause in its third trimester, swollen so that it could burst at any given time and give birth to crying, bloody, but hopeful, possibilities. An idea came to her. She settled back into the driver's seat, put the car back in drive and made a U-turn.

“I know just the place."

~Samael~

Samael awoke. The jarring pain in his limbs and torso had been reduced to a series of dull throbs. Something wailed in the distance. Sirens, coming closer. He opened his eyes. Several people were standing around him.

One of them, a middle-aged man wearing a bandana in his hair, gasped. “Holy shit, he’s fucking awake.”

Some of the others grumbled amongst themselves. Samael glared at the man and started to sit up.

“Hey, don’t move, Mister. You don’t know if anything’s broken.”

Samael ignored him and got up to his knees. He locked eyes with the bandana man. “Everything in me is broken.”

He got to his feet. Several of the onlookers gasped. One lady spat a string of obscenities. He started to walk away.

“Come back here, you need a doctor,” someone said.

Samael continued walking. He heard the sirens approaching, but as his mobility returned, his strength wasn’t far behind. He’d get to Farnsworth’s car before those vehicles arrived to take him away. The temptation to stay behind and wreak havoc on the people who’d been standing over him as he'd lain unconscious was strong, but the urge to pursue was much stronger. What little pain remained turned to rage. Every time she escaped him, every bit of punishment she inflicted on him would make it that much worse for her when he caught her.

Opening the door to Farnsworth’s car, he thought back to when he touched Todd. They’d shared something then, an intimacy greater than any lover could ever hope to achieve, greater than any killer could wrench out of his victim. Samael had felt this intimacy before, with many before Todd. With a touch, he could reach into someone’s deepest self, know their stories, hear their most hidden thoughts, and know the people who’ve meant the most to them.

As Samael had touched Todd, he had seen a home in an unremarkable, but quaint neighborhood. Behind the door, a tall young woman with almond hair styled in bangs that fell to the side had stood in the foyer. She was beautiful in that young and energetic sort of way. From Todd’s thoughts, Samael had known that she was Todd’s daughter.

Up the staircase and into a large bedroom, he had seen another woman. Her dirty blond hair fell across her shoulders in subtle waves. A deep sadness had haunted her blue eyes, like she’d spent much time staring into some black, unforgiving abyss. Like Todd, she was old enough to know, to really know, she was going to die and that she had more years behind her than she did ahead of her. Despite this, or maybe even because of this, Samael desired her. At another time, he would’ve maybe even fallen for her, back when he was alive, back when he was human.

He mined the memories he’d gleaned from Todd to see how he could find this house and these two women. The most important thing he gained from reaching inside Todd was that the bastard was still very much attached to this world. Samael expected that if he hung the pieces of this world that meant the most to Todd in the balance…

He grinned. The pain disappeared. His confidence returned.

~Katie~

Katie was curled up on the sofa with Jake watching
Ancient Aliens
when she heard the front door open. The high from the marijuana had mostly worn off and now she just felt sleepy. With her hand locked with Jake’s and her head on his shoulder, neither of them spoke but said so much. It was her idea of contentment. She didn’t think about marriage much. Her studies consumed most of her time, but moments like this, where time seemed to stand blessedly still, when she and Jake could forgo all deadlines and agendas and just
be
, the idea of spending the rest of her life with someone, Jake specifically, seemed like the most wonderful thing in the world.

She had her reservations, sure. Seeing how her parents’ marriage had spiraled into a relationship of non-communication and shameless dishonesty made her wonder if committing to someone was even worth it. Was it always bound to come undone? Had the era of true love gone by?

The door closed and soft footsteps that she recognized as her mother’s reminded her that she had a conversation ahead of her. As a bag of luggage dropped to the floor, Katie sat up and looked behind her.

Anna walked into the living room, her eyes red as if she’d been crying and her shoulders slumped in despair. The hair that had been so well-manicured earlier was now a tangled mess.

“Mom?”

“Hi, Katie… Jake. How are you guys?”

Jake stood up, surprising Katie. “Good. I’m actually about to get going. I gotta get up early.”

He leaned down and kissed Katie on the cheek. “Want to walk me out?”

Katie looked from him to her mother. Anna forced a smile.

She and Jake left the living room after exchanging goodbyes with Anna. At the door, Jake faced her.

“I want to leave you guys alone. You’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“What do I say?”

“Just like we said.” He silenced her anxieties with a kiss and a hug that made her feel secure, but once he shut the door and she rejoined her mother in the living room her courage melted away. They stared at each other, the fallout of their earlier confrontation still weighing heavily on them both.

“Do you want a drink?” Anna asked.

Katie opened her mouth to reply, then closed it and nodded. She couldn’t recall ever having a drink with her mother. Now the idea seemed to cement something for her. They were both adults now, about to have a truly grown-up conversation.

Once the wine was poured, they sat across from each other at the kitchen island. Katie tried several times to start, but the words didn’t come. She forgot all the practicing she’d done with Jake and even felt regret for being so harsh with her mother earlier. She sank deeper into herself, practically seeing the mental and emotional walls that rose around her.

“Katie.” Her mother’s voice came out scratchy and weak.

“Yes, Mom?”

“Where’s your father?”

“I… dunno.”

For a moment, Anna looked like she was going to cry again. “I have to tell you something.”

Katie almost said, “me too,” but decided to let her mother talk.

Anna finished half of the glass of merlot in one gulp. She wasn’t much of a drinker. Katie could count the amount of times her mother had had a drink in the past five years pretty easily. Most of them were on birthdays. Katie guessed the bottle was there to make things easier.

“Oh, Katie, I’m so sorry.”

“Mom…”

“No, I am, I… your father and I…”

Katie looked at the wear and tear on her mother’s face. She wondered how long her mother had been crying. From the looks of it, she’d been crying for hours. From the suitcase she’d dropped in the hallway, Katie figured that whatever trip she'd planned to go on with the other man had been cut short. Maybe her mother had broken it off with him. Maybe there was something left of their family.

She took Anna’s hand and squeezed. “Look, whatever happened is over and done with. You’re my mother and I love you no matter what.” She gulped, finding it hard to speak. While her words were true, she was still deeply hurt and felt like not expressing that was letting her mother get off too easily. On the other hand, the woman before her, the woman that, for better or worse, had raised her into who she was today, looked now as if she needed nothing more than a friend.

“I appreciate that, Katie.” She looked around, suddenly seeming frantic. “Has your father come home at all?”

“No.” Katie looked behind her mother at the digital clock on the stove. It was almost eleven in the evening. She released her mother’s hand and felt whatever relaxation was left over from the marijuana she’d smoked that day siphoned out of her. Where the hell was
he
now?

“Christ, I guess now I know what I put him through.”

Katie flashed Anna a look, no longer feeling that sense of compassion. “Why’d you do it?”

Anna slammed the rest of the wine and refilled her glass. Katie hadn’t touched hers.

“I was selfish.” Anna sniffed. “I had needs and your father wasn’t available. He never was. He was always so wrapped up in work.”

Katie pounded a hand against the island. “Yeah, he was trying to support us.”

“And I wasn’t? We both worked very hard. I guess I’m partially to blame. Neither of us made any time for each other, but he was just so…” She wiped her eyes, and relaxed her shoulders. “Either way, I was wrong. He was always so distant, even early on but I guess I let him be that way.”

Katie mulled it over. She hated to admit her mother was right. Her father had been distant. She felt like maybe it went beyond just being immersed in work. He’d always had a look in his eyes as if he were focused on something far away. His distance deepened severely after his father had died. After that, even work seemed to be of little interest to him.

“Katie, it’s all over now. I’m ready to come home and work things out. There still has to be something left to repair, right?”

“Hey, we’re family. Family’s always worth fixing.”

Anna smiled and it looked genuine, brightening her face and making her look ten years younger. “You’re sweet. You always were.”

“Maybe we should call Dad, see where he is.”

Anna nodded.

“This weekend we should all do something,” Katie said. “Maybe we can all go out to dinner on Saturday and Skype Dale together when we get home.”

“I’d like that. Hopefully your father and Dale will too.” Her face darkened. “I guess this all depends on what happens when we call your father.”

Katie got to her feet. “I’ll do it. You relax.”

Katie crossed the kitchen and dug into her purse. She came up empty handed. “Shit. I left my phone upstairs.”

“You can use the landline.”

Katie nodded and shuffled from the kitchen to the living room where the nearest phone hung on the wall. She took the phone off of its cradle and turned to face one of the large bay windows that overlooked the back yard.

Before she could dial a single digit, she screamed.

~Chloe~

Chloe turned on the windshield wipers and stared ahead, hypnotized by the filthy rain that washed off the hood of the car. One of the wipers made a squeaking sound as it dragged itself across the glass. She had taken them on a back road in the hope that the more loops and detours she made, the harder it would be for Samael to pinpoint her exact location. At the very least she hoped that it would buy her enough time to find her way home.

Since Todd had asked her about a place that had really felt like home, she tried to recreate memories from that time and place: sitting on the carpeted floor of the bare apartment with Todd, eating Lo Mein; the way they frantically kissed each other as if not doing so would kill them; and making sweet music with her DX7, his Gibson, and the sounds of their voices. She wanted to close her eyes and let the memories lull her into perfect, eternal sleep. Let them become dreams that would never end.

Shadows filled the car. The squeak of the windshield wiper cut through the monotonous drone of the engine and the light drizzle of rain. She thought about making love on the side of the road, their bodies entwined in a dance of flesh and fire, and smiled. She tried not to think about his face as Samael held him by the hair, holding him in limbo between life and death. She hummed the melody of “Blissfully Damaged,” and willed the nightmarish image away.