Haunted (27 page)

“Now that was entertaining,” Gregory said as he laughed heartily. “Really, Sean, if it was going to be that easy would I have made such a big production of all this, or would I have just killed the girl and been done with it?”

Sean glared at him with a rage unparalleled. Judging by his reaction to his failure, it wasn't something he was used to. He slowly retreated from Gregory, making his way back down to us.

So much for the easy way...

“You may have the power to police us in life, Sean, but you hold no power over the dead. You're useless in this fight,” he informed him happily. “I enjoy seeing this side of you.”

“He's right,” Sean muttered under his breath. “I'm sorry, Ruby, but I can't do anything.”

I looked to Sophie with pleading eyes. “You can commune with the dead. Do something. Peyta is your charge...you can't just leave her to die.”

My words seemed to pain her because she winced at hearing them.

“I can commune with them, but I have no power or authority over them. My active powers are solely healing in nature,” she informed me, sadness reaching her eyes. “I cannot help her. I'm truly sorry.”

“Looks like it's just you and me, kid,” Cooper said, looking down at me.

“This is all very touching, but if you could bring your attention back to me, we could get this over with sooner,” Gregory said, sounding genuinely annoyed. He, like all true egomaniacs, wanted all eyes on him. It was paramount for him to make the whole ordeal a production, the perfect prelude to his aria of destruction. For some reason our attention to his diabolical act was top priority to him, and I wondered if he got it, if that would postpone his plan.

I had an idea that I hoped would buy us time. Knowing how his mind worked, having been subjected to his evil on multiple occasions, I was going to play to his ego. Ever the showman, he loved to talk, which was highly convenient because as much as I wanted time, I also wanted answers.

“Yes, let's bring the attention back to you,” I yelled at him. My companions looked at me like I'd lost my mind. I left them out of the loop; they were going to have to trust me. “You're who I really want to talk about.”

“Are you fucking cracked?” Cooper whispered down at me. I pinched his arm hard in response.

“I'm flattered, Ruby, really I am, but I have things to do here. We can talk later.”

“But that's what I want to know. Your plan has been pure genius thus far, and I'm just curious as to how you pulled it off. None of us can figure it out,” I said, sounding truly impressed by his psychosis. I felt Sean burning a hole in the side of my face with his stare, but I ignored him; he didn't have anything else to bring to the fight.

“Well, Ruby, only true greatness would have been able to accomplish what I have done here,” he told me. “But since you're willing to acknowledge that, I will gladly tell you how this all came to be.”

I smiled at him like a child in awe of her father. The gesture stroked him smoothly, making him sing.

“I already told you about knowing what Peyta is, who she is likely descended from, but not how that factored into the plan,” he said. “Other than killing her, of course.”

“Exactly,” I prompted. “But how did you get close to her? How is it that she didn't know you were a ghost?”

“That was a challenge, Ruby. The day after she moved into your house, I decided to try a little experiment. I knew she was extremely powerful, but I needed to know exactly what she was capable of. I walked past her as she was exiting the store one night and pretended to be interested in something in the window. She saw me immediately and spoke to me. I knew in that instant that she was special,” he said, turning his attention back to her. He stroked her cheek affectionately, as one would stroke a pet they owned, before grabbing a fistful of her hair and violently jerking her head back to plant a forceful kiss on her still duct-taped mouth.

I did a double take as I once again thought I saw the Watchers solidify for a split second. I squeezed Cooper's arm and gave him my “Did you see that?” face as I jerked my head minutely towards the mob. He shot me his “What is your fucking deal?” look in return.

“I'll take that as a 'no',” I whispered, sighing with exasperation.

As Gregory continued, Peyta flashed me a look as though trying to tell me something. She kept shooting her eyes up to Gregory then back to me, but I couldn't figure out what she was trying to piece together for me.

“I could feel that she was attracted to me, and decided that would be how I could get close to her and gain her trust. It's easiest to exploit those closest to us,” he said, flashing some knowing smile at Cooper. I once again felt him tense under my arm. Whatever that statement implied had Cooper worked up, big time.

“So I started showing up when others weren't around, conveniently walking by the store when she was leaving, or slipping in when others were walking out. I hadn't yet learned that I could manipulate objects in her presence. That was an unexpected but pleasant twist.”

“That's why you could hold the knife to stab me,” I said matter-of-factly. I'd wondered that as I lay on the floor bleeding to death in the shop. It's crazy the things you think about when your life is slipping away from you.

“Precisely. It got stronger, too, over the days I was around her. When she mentioned her eighteenth birthday, everything clicked. I knew she had to be a Healer, but with so much more power.”

“So where exactly is all this 'power' coming from?” I asked incredulously. “She's bound and gagged, and hasn't been able to get free from that too easily. She doesn't seem that impressive to me.”

He furrowed his brow at me, looking hostile in an overly dramatic way. “This is where your ignorance fails you, Ruby. You knew the story of Romulus and Remus, but do you know that of Asclepius? It was rumored, in the day, that he was able to raise the dead.”

My stomach did a flip before my heart sank into it. It was painfully clear where his story was going.

“Judging by your pallor, the obvious is not completely lost on you. Peyta is descended from Asclepius; of this I no longer have doubts. Her death will not only re-animate me, but it will also bring back my followers,” he boasted. “Every last one of them….”

And there it was, the coup de gras. He was not only unleashing himself onto the world, he was unleashing all of them. Fan-fucking-tastic.

“This plan sounds foolproof and all, Greggers, but if you're alive again that just means you can be killed. Again,” I told him, wondering how he had managed to drop the ball on that little detail. “Or is the obvious lost on you this time?” We'd gone full circle, bringing me back to the point that I wanted a second shot at him and it looked like I would be getting the chance if we failed Peyta. There was little solace in knowing that I would be able to avenge her death.

“Don't be such a fool, Ruby. Nobody can be fully brought back from the dead. The tales of Asclepius's talents have been long exaggerated over the centuries, as is true of most Greek mythology. He was never capable of restoring life, not fully anyways. What he was capable of doing was restoring their essence. I will be as you see me now, fully visible, able to physically manipulate things around me, though it takes some effort.”

“Then why kill her if it changes nothing?” I yelled, frustrated by all this circular talk.

“Because I need to be in her presence to accomplish these things. I can't very well go carrying around a bound and gagged counterpart while I carry out my master plan, now can I? Besides, the Watchers do not share this ability with me; they lack the power. That will change with her death.”

The four of us stood motionless, absorbing what he had said. In summary, he basically told us that with Peyta's death, he would unleash hundreds of his lackeys into the world, none of whom could be stopped.

A paranormal apocalypse.

“Now, while I do appreciate your attentiveness this evening, I'm afraid that time is of the essence and the natives are getting restless. It's time,” he said, giving an official nod to his people. “Momentarily, you will all be free.”

He pulled Peyta into the ghostly audience that separated her from us. Their collective energies surged and it nearly knocked me to the ground; they could hardly wait to start their campaign of death and destruction. Again I saw them materialize to fully opaque. It lasted longer this time, and thankfully I wasn't the only one to see it.

Peyta again searched my eyes, pleading for me to realize something that I couldn't. Gregory brought her within yards of us, wanting us to have front row seats. I eyed Sean's knife, wishing it could be of some use. Peyta did the same, looking at it, then me, the knife, then me, over and over again.

Gregory turned his back to us for one final snub before addressing his people.

“My children. I have promised you your freedom, and tonight, you shall have it. I offer you the blood of a demigod so that you may once again reign on earth. We will bathe in its power, and once transformed, we ourselves will rule as the great gods of past – willfully and without consequence.”

As he blathered on through his monologue I felt Scarlet rising within me, pacing through my mind as if trying to find a way to break into the forefront and take the wheel. I watched as Peyta was drawn in front of Gregory, her back to his chest before he produced an ancient-looking saber from the leg of his pants and pressed it to her throat. He tossed a glance leisurely over his shoulder to us.

“Anything else you'd like to say before Peyta leaves us?” he asked mockingly.

Scarlet picked up the pace in my mind, churning it; I let it go blank. Then it hit me.

“Kiss her!” I yelled – my voice, Scarlet's sentiment.

A wide smile crossed his sociopathic face. “What an excellent idea, Ruby. A proper farewell is in order, indeed.”

I tuned out the objections that surrounded me and reached for Sean's knife. I grabbed the hilt and drew it only to have the weight of it collapse me to the ground. I was so weak from the night's events that I couldn't even stand. Looking up, I saw Gregory rip the tape from Peyta's mouth before grinding his to it. She eyed me in her periphery, willing me to get up. She could see that I knew what to do.

Cooper was suddenly down at my side, and I pulled his face close to mine.

“Stab him now!” I thundered in a way that no whisper should. “Kill him.”

Cooper, without batting an eyelash, grasped the knife and ran, plunging it low into Gregory's back being careful not to go too far.

He was met with very solid tissue.

Peyta leaned into Gregory with all her weight as Cooper sliced the knife upward until he hit bone before withdrawing it. Gregory's eyes nearly bulged out of his head with disbelief. Apparently Sean's knife wasn't nearly as sharp as the one that flayed me; Gregory’s face contorted with pain while it sliced through him.

Cooper then leaned in dangerously close to Gregory's ear, his mouth nearly touching it as he spoke.

“You will never hurt what's mine again.”

With that said, Cooper reached in through the convenient hole he'd just created and jerked hard, his hand reemerging with Gregory's spine in it. His body went limp and fell to the ground, and Peyta crashed into Cooper's arms as both Gregory and his pack vanished into thin air. She molded herself to Cooper; he was her lifeline and it seemed fair enough given what she had just endured.

I looked over to Sophie, her expression blank as if she could not comprehend what had just happened. I found it odd that she was a part of an institution rooted in violence and yet was still shocked by what had just occurred. It dawned on me that she must normally see only the casualties, never the war. Remembering how shell-shocked I was initially when thrust into a violent way of life, a small part of me felt for her. Scarlet growled at my sentiment; she was far less sympathetic.

Sean made his way cautiously over to me; Sophie was too mentally checked out to object. He eased me to my feet and made sure I was stable enough on them to not require his aid. When I nearly buckled over again, he decided it was necessary to not leave my side. Again, there was no objection from Sophie.

Peyta refused to release Cooper and he seemed all too inclined to oblige her. He'd untied her hands which were quickly thereafter wrapped around his waist – she was shaking uncontrollably. I was worried about where she was mentally as well after everything she'd seen and been threatened with. She'd nearly lost her life and I knew that feeling all too well. She had a long road ahead of her.

Finally, she pulled her head away to survey the scene.

“Jesus, Cooper, you really know how to clear a place, don't you?” she said with a chuckle that bordered on hysterical. The valley was empty, only the five of us remaining. It was eerily quiet in the still of night until my cell phone blared, echoing off the trees, cutting through that silence. Cooper fumbled it out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, not realizing I'd spoken aloud.

“Who is it?” Sean asked, hovering over me.

I looked at Peyta wearily.

“I think this one is for you.”

34

We all packed into the SUV in relative silence with the exception of Peyta. She was attempting to stave off a very angry Ronnie who was none too pleased that she hadn't had her phone calls returned for the past three nights.