The Twilight Before Christmas (18 page)

Kate was grateful to the three men. She took another breath and pulled away from Matt, deliberately yanking open the door and slipping outside before her courage failed her. At once she felt the malevolence, a bitter, twisted emotion beating at her. The dark fog wrapped around her body, and twice she actually felt the brush of something alive sliding over her skin. She pressed her teeth together to keep them from chattering. Strength was already flowing into her—her sisters, reaching out from a distance, calling to her with encouraging words.

Matt joined her outside, slipping behind her, circling her waist with his arms, drawing her back against his hard, comforting body so that she had an anchor. Jonas took up a position on her right side, and Jackson was at her left. Three big men, all seasoned warriors, all ready to defend her with their lives. It was impossible not to find the courage and the strength she needed when it was pouring into her from every direction.

Kate faced the dark, boiling fog, lifting her arms to signal to Hannah, to signal to bring in the wind. She began to speak softly, calmly, using the gift of her soothing voice in an attempt to bring peace to the swelling malevolence in the fog. She spoke of peace, of love, of redemption and forgiveness. Gathering every vestige of courage she possessed, Kate made no attempt to drive it away. Rather she summoned it to her, trying to find a way to pierce the veil between reality and the shadow world where she could see into the soul of what was left behind and, hopefully, find a way to heal the broken spirit.

The fog spun and roiled in a terrible frenzy, a reaction to the sound of her voice. Her sisters protested for a moment, frightened by what she was trying, but joining with her when they recognized her determination. Jonas made a small sound of dissent and moved closer to her, ready to jerk her back into reality.

Moans assaulted her ears. The shadow world was vague and gray, a bleak hazy place where nothing was what it seemed. She chanted softly, her voice spreading through the world with little effort, stilling the moans and alerting whatever lived there to her presence. Kate felt the impact when the entity realized she’d once again joined him in his world. She could feel his blazing rage, the fierce anger, and the intensity of his guilt and sorrow. The thing turned toward her, a tall skeleton of a man, blurred so that he was nearly indistinct in the gray vapors surrounding him. He wore a long coat and shapeless hat, and he shook his head and pressed his bony hands over his ears to stop the enchantment of her voice. Flesh sagged from the bones, a loose fit in some places, stretched tight in others.

Kate whispered softly to him, calling, beckoning, trying to coax him to reveal the pain he suffered, the torment of his existence. She used her voice shamelessly, cajoling him to find peace. The shadowy figure took a few steps toward her. Kate held out her hand to him, a gesture of camaraderie.
There is peace. Let yourself feel it surround you.

The being took another cautious step toward her. Her heart pounded. Her mouth was dry, but she kept whispering. Speaking to him. Promising him rest. He was only a few feet from her, his arm stretching out toward her hand. The bony fingers were close. Inches away from her flesh. She remembered the feel of the finger bones closing around her throat, but she stood her ground and kept enticing him.

Something slithered around his boots. Snakelike vines wrapped around bony ankles. Out of the barren rocks bounded a huge creature with matted fur and yellow eyes. In the cold of the shadow world, she could see the creature’s vaporous breath mingling with the fog. The eyes fixed on her, an intruder in their world.

The tips of her fingers touched the bony ends of the skeleton as it reached toward her. The creature howled, sending a shiver of fear down Kate’s spine. Her sisters held their collective breath. Jonas stiffened, communicating his apprehension to Matt and Jackson.

Kate continued to whisper of peace, of aid, of a place to rest. The being took more shape, the pitiless eyes swimming with tears, extending its hand as far as the snakelike vines allowed. Abruptly the skeleton threw back its head and roared, rejecting her. Rejecting the idea of redemption and forgiveness. She glimpsed a raging hatred of self, of everything symbolizing Christmas, of peace itself.
There can be no peace.
She caught that as the being began to whirl around, furious, using the vortex of its wild spinning to hurl objects at her. The moans rose to shrieks. The huge creature bounded toward Kate, breathing as loudly as any bull. Kate made one last grab for the hand of the skeleton, but it had turned on her completely, rushing at her along with the beast.

“Get her out of there!” Jonas shouted, catching the collective fear that ran through the Drake family. He gripped Kate’s arm hard, shaking her. “Matt, pull her back to us!”

“Kate,” her sisters cried out, “leave him, leave him there.”

“Hannah!” Jonas cried the name desperately. “The wind, Hannah, bring in the wind.”

Kate stared at the terrible figure coming straight at her, fury in its every line. The eyes glowed red through the dark fog; the face was made of bones, not flesh. The mouth gaped open in a silent scream. She was trapped there in the world of shadows, real, yet not, unable to find her way back. The worst of it was, she caught sight of a second insubstantial figure coming at her from the left.

“Kate.” Matt whispered her name, lifted her into his arms. Her body was an empty shell, her mind caught somewhere else. “Kate, darling, go with the other one, he’ll lead you out.” Elle’s soft voice pushed everything else away.

The dark demon was almost upon her. Kate felt a hand on her arm. She looked down and saw Jackson’s fingers circling her wrist like a vise. She didn’t have time to go voluntarily; he yanked her out of the shadows, back into the light. She heard a roar of rage, shuddered when she felt bones brush against her skin. Matt was real and solid, and she gripped him hard, needing to feel grounded. She felt physically ill, her stomach a churning knot. She closed eyes, sliding into a dead faint.

The wind swept in from the sea, a strong tempest of retaliation. Hannah’s fear added to the strength of the storm. Rain burst down on them. The dark fog swirled and fought, not wanting to give ground. For a brief moment there was a confrontation between the entity and the Drake sisters, sticks and debris flying in the wind. The three men could hear the desperate cries of seagulls. And then it was over, the fog retreating to the sea, leaving behind silence and the rushing wind and rain. Matt stood there on the sidewalk, Kate, safe in his arms, staring in shock at the mess left behind.

Clouds overhead obscured the sun, the day overcast and gloomy. Christmas lights twinkled on and off where they hung over the buildings in rows of vivid colors, a terrible contrast to the scene left behind in the town square. Feathers were everywhere and in the pristine white snow by the manger there was a bright red pool of blood.

Chapter
9

A star burns hot in the dead of the night,

As the bell tolls it’s now midnight

“Never again. Never again.” Matt shoved both hands through his hair and glared at the Drake sisters. “I swear, Kate, you are never doing that again.” He paced restlessly back and forth across the living room floor.

Sarah, Kate’s older sister, rested her head against her fiancé’s knee, and watched Matt in silence. Abbey sat on the couch, Joley’s head resting in her lap. Joley lay stretched out, her eyes closed, appearing to be asleep in spite of his tirade. Hannah lay on the couch closest to the window, lines of exhaustion visible on her young face.

“It doesn’t do any good to get upset,” Jonas said. “They do whatever they want to do without a thought for the consequences.”

Sarah sighed loudly. “Don’t start, Jonas. That’s not true, and you know it. If you were the one trying to get rid of this thing, you wouldn’t worry about your own safety, and you know it. You’d just do whatever had to be done.”

“That’s different, Sarah,” Jonas snarled back. “Dammit anyway. Look at Hannah. She can’t even move. I think she needs a doctor. Where the hell is Libby when we need her?”

“Are you ever going to stop swearing at us?” Sarah asked. She rubbed her face against Damon’s knee. “Hannah needs rest and maybe some tea.”

“I’ll make tea,” Damon offered. “I think all of you could use it.”

“Damon, you are a darling,” Sarah said. “The kettle’s boiling.”

Matt glanced into the kitchen, and, sure enough, the kettle was steaming. He knew very well it hadn’t even been turned on minutes earlier.

Damon leaned down to brush a kiss across Sarah’s temple before making his way into the kitchen. “This feels like old times,” he called out, reaching for the tea kept for just such occasions.

“We could use a little more festive atmosphere,” Abigail decided. She stared at the row of candles on the mantel until they spluttered to life, flames leaping and flickering for a moment, then taking hold. At once the aroma of cinnamon and spice scented the air.

“Good idea,” Sarah agreed and focused on the CD player. Instantly Joley’s voice filled the room with a popular Christmas carol.

“Not that one,” Joley protested. “Something else.”

“Are you all insane?” Jonas demanded. “Kate could have been killed. Are we going to pretend it didn’t happen and have a little Christmas get-together?”

“Jonas, it does no good yelling at them. What do you want them to do?” Damon returned, carrying a tray with several cups of tea on it. He distributed them among the Drake sisters.

“And you were the one asking me, no, telling me to get out there and stop the fog,” Kate pointed out.

Jonas muttered something ugly under his breath and reached down for Hannah’s limp wrist to take her pulse. As he did a breeze swirled around the room, and his hat sailed from the chair where he’d placed it and landed in the middle of the room. Jonas straightened and glared down at Hannah, who didn’t stir.

“Jonas, we didn’t know the entity was going to try to hurt Kate,” Abbey pointed out. “We have to know what his motivation is.”

Sarah shoved a heavy book across the floor. “Trying to read this thing without Elle is impossible. She’s the only one that can read the language our ancestors used. The writing is in that strange hieroglyphic language we were all supposed to study back when we were teens. Mom told us to learn it, but we kept putting it off, wondering why we needed to delve that far back into the past. With the little bit we know, it’s impossible to find a single entry in all of this.”

Matt stopped pacing, coming to a halt beside Kate, his hand resting on the nape of her neck. “Elle’s on the way home, isn’t she? It shouldn’t be long. How come she learned the language when the rest of you only know a little?”

Abbey blew on her tea. “She learned it in order to teach the next generation, just as our mother did.”

“Speaking of Elle, how did she connect with you, Jackson? How did she know you were able to go into the shadows and bring Kate out?” Sarah asked.

There was a sudden silence, and all eyes turned to regard the man sitting in absolute stillness just to the side of the window. His cool dark eyes moved over their faces, a brooding perusal. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t even know Elle.”