Obsession (The Talisman series) (22 page)

“Welcome back.” He sounded grim. “I told them you had an upset stomach. I thought it would be easier than telling everyone you were drunk.”

I lifted my head, a wave of nausea smacking into me.
“Feel sick,” I mumbled.

“
Oh, for Chrissake.” He snapped at the driver. The cab immediately lurched to a stop and Gabe propelled me outside. I stood by the side of the road, shivering in the darkness and leaning against the cab with one hand while I tried to calm my stomach. It was no use. I vomited onto the pavement, retching harshly, feeling my stomach cramping as I did so. Gabe watched silently, and then passed me another tissue when he judged I’d finished. I wiped my mouth, dropped the soiled tissue onto the ground and stepped carefully around the steaming puddle, then climbed back into the cab.

“
You shouldn’t have drunk all that champagne, not after taking your pills.”

“
Pills?” I tried to focus on his face. “I didn’t take them.” My voice slurred badly.

“
Yes, you did.” He sighed, annoyed. “You took two just before we came out. Did you forget?”

I hadn’t. I’m sure. I managed a shrug.
“Dunno.”

Everything seemed to be shimmering in front of me, so I closed my eyes and drifted again.

11.4 Josh

Carrying a heavy-duty 4-cell Maglite torch, I made my way down the path towards the gate. It was no longer locked and I eased through silently, closing it behind me. A jolt of common sense made me pause. Why was I so bothered about someone being inside the house? In the same way as I’d felt drawn to it earlier, I now felt compelled to go back inside. I kept the torch off, allowing my eyes to adjust to the low levels of natural light, and worked my way towards the door. From here, hunched on the back doorstep, I was confident the light came from the kitchen area.

With one hand gripping the Maglite, I turned the handle and pushed gently on the door—not locked—sliding it open just far enough to slip through easily, then closed it behind me. Again I paused, waiting until I felt comfortable with the light available and reminding myself of the downstairs layout. Down the corridor, the kitchen would open out on my left. Creeping closer, I hesitated and held my breath. I could hear a noise, it sounded like someone humming a monotone tune. I guessed the person or people were in the kitchen. There was a sweet smell, slightly woody and fragrant. I drew the scent into my lungs and held it a moment. Sage. It reminded me of the herb, but overlaid with a smokiness. Burning sage leaves? I frowned and inched closer until I stood next to the open doorway.

I prepared to peer into the dimly lit room, the humming louder now, and froze.

“
Hello. I know you’re here.” It was a male voice, soft and young sounding, followed again by more monotone humming. “Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm.”

As I considered whether it was a bluff, the voice spoke again. This time my heart almost stopped.

“Raphael. Please show yourself to me.”
What the fuck?
How did he know the name inscribed on my Talisman? Who the fuck was this?

All attempts at hiding forgotten, I stepped into the doorway, rapidly scanning the kitchen. One occupant, a man sitting cross-legged on the floor, his head bowed. I frowned. Five tea light candles were arranged across the floor, the guy sitting in the centre. I found it difficult to contain my surprise. The grubby kitchen floor had been swept and a five-pointed star was marked out in white with the candles at each point.

He didn’t appear to be carrying any kind of weapon and I could see his hands resting lightly on his knees. Apart from the pentagram and the candles, you would think he was indulging in a spot of meditation.

I spoke curtly.
“Who are you?”

His head jerked up, a look of surprise flashed across his face followed by an excited grin.
“My name is Dante. I thank you for appearing.” He spoke slowly, courteously, his eyes gleaming in the candlelight as they raked me up and down. While he didn’t look like a threat, I wasn’t taking any chances. I slapped the Maglite casually against my palm, once, twice, three times. His eyes opened wide. As I opened my mouth to speak, he did some more of the humming. “Hmmm. Hmmm.” That was really annoying.

“
Quit the humming. Who are you and how do you think you know me?” I moved a step closer.

He swallowed and bobbed his head.
“I am Dante and I summoned you.”

Summoned me
? Maybe that sweet smell was some kind of obscure marijuana, one I hadn’t come across before. “You summoned me?” I struggled to keep the amusement from my voice. “And just why did you want to do that?” I moved closer again, standing inches away from the pentagram. I could see it was created with a fine white powder, rather than the chalk lines I’d first assumed. “What the fuck is going on?”

This time, there was a flicker of uncertainty on his face.
“You look different this time, Raphael. Younger. I thank you for—”

“
—appearing,” I finished for him. “Yeah, you already said that. Now why don’t you tell me who you are and what you want.” I slapped the Maglite some more, knowing it came off as threatening.

He swallowed again.
“I have called upon you to help me.” That was a definite quiver in his voice, but he kept his position, staring at me with wide anxious eyes.

I snorted, amused by the bizarreness of the situation.
“Help you? Who the fuck are you?” I moved to the edge of the white lines, leaning down over him. He was young alright, possibly even in his teens. “And what are you doing in here?”

“
You cannot break the salt barrier,” he intoned, “I would ask you to answer my questions and then…”

A
salt barrier?
Now I knew he was off his head. A wicked sense of devilment caught me and I slid my right foot forwards as he spoke, nudging at his line of salt. He hesitated, and then spoke more quickly. “I will release you when you answer my questions.”

I moved my foot again, scuffing at his line, breaking it and putting one foot inside his pentagram.

“Holy
fuck
.” He scrambled in a panic, scuttling backwards away from my foot. I would have laughed at his consternation, except the trailing edge of his shirt wafted through one of the tea lights. A thread of flame danced along the edge of the fabric.

“
Fuuuck
.” He was torn between getting out of my reach and putting out his burning clothes, so I solved the problem for him. Grabbing him by the shoulders, I rolled him to the floor to extinguish the flame before it could take hold. He sprawled, staring at me in total incredulity. “
Fuck me,”
he breathed, his vocabulary suddenly reduced. “You’re fucking real this time.”

11.5 Suki

It was dark when I opened my eyes. I lifted heavy, crusty lashes and tried to figure out where I was and why I couldn’t move. With painful slowness, my brain chugged into gear. It felt soft beneath me; perhaps I was in bed. I forced myself to open my eyes wide, to focus. I started to make out dim shapes in the darkness, the vague outline of a window, a gap in the middle where the curtains didn’t meet properly. I tried to flex my arms, I thought they’d gone to sleep, but I did have some sensation in them. They just wouldn’t move. 

Oh, God
.
Oh, my dear God
. I couldn’t move my arms because they’d been fastened down. My heart began to race as I processed this idea. I jerked my wrists, tried to jiggle them—there was a tiny amount of movement, but hardly any. I craned my neck, tried to lift my head and felt another wave of nausea sweeping up from my stomach. I couldn’t be sick here, lying down on my back—I’d choke. I gulped in air, tried to breathe. I didn’t seem to be wearing anything. This must be home. I must be in bed.

Tied down?
My mind screamed at me. “Gabe.” I coughed as I tried to call his name, the vomit had left a burning sensation in the back of my throat. “Gabe,
Gabe
.” I coughed again, fighting the urge to retch. Unbidden, tears sprang to my eyes. I tried not to give in to them.

“
Gabe, where are you?” I couldn’t stop the plaintive note in my voice. “
Ga-abe
,” I wailed as loud as I could. The pressure was building in my chest, the panicky tendrils wrapping around me. “
Please
, Gabe.”

“
Please, what?”

His voice boomed out of the darkness, just behind my head. I screamed, twisting and writhing to try and see him, my heart now dancing a tango inside my chest.
“Gabe, you scared me. What have you done?”

“
What have
I
done?” He sounded surprised. “I’m not the one who got blind drunk and passed out at the theatre, then puked by the side of the road.”

I gulped. He sounded hard and uncompromising, somebody I should fear.
“Have you tied me down?” My voice was still slurred, I had a hard time speaking clearly.

“
I thought I’d do you a favour.”

“
Please Gabe, come where I can see you. Please put the light on, darling. I don’t like being in the dark.”

“
I know.” The bastard chuckled. I shivered, nausea twisting again in my guts. “I thought I’d give you a taste of what it might be like.”

I desperately wanted to pant, to drag the air in quicker. I tried to focus, to use the visualization technique that Babs had taught me. I kept my breaths shallow, forced them to come slowly. When I was confident I could speak, I whispered into the darkness.
“A taste of what?”

Fingers trailed across my forehead. I jerked and grunted in shock.

“If you were locked away like your mother.” His voice silky smooth. “If you had to be tied down to the bed.” He moved, I felt him brush against my side. “If you were kept under sedation.” He moved again, standing somewhere near my feet. A fingernail scratched against the sensitive underside of my foot. I twitched in response and whimpered. He laughed softly. “You don’t want this do you?”

“
Nuh –” My voice abandoned me.

“
Say that again. I didn’t hear you.”

Tears flooded my eyes. He was only playing with me. He wouldn’t hurt me. He would
not
hurt me. “I duh—don’t want this.”

“
So are you going to be a good girl, Suki?” Moving around the bed again, he nudged my knee on the way past. “Well?”

“
Yes—
Yes
, Gabe.” I didn’t care what he wanted, I’d say yes to pretty much anything at that moment.

“
You’ll take your pills?”

I swallowed back the nausea. I prayed he let me go before I choked on my own vomit.
“Yes.”

“
You’ll come with me to Spa? You won’t see the Craigowans again?”

“
Yes—and no.”

Another chuckle. Fingers tugged my hair softly, I jerked my head away from him.
“Are you sure about that?”

“
Yes, Gabe,” I couldn’t hold back the sob this time.

“
Shout if you need me.” I heard a footstep, the click of the door, saw the briefest sliver of light from the landing and then darkness. The footsteps were moving away, going downstairs. Leaving me alone. In the dark.

11.6 Josh

“
What d’you mean, this time?”

Dante stared at my Maglite. I figured he was already scared enough, so I stepped back and watched as he scooted away to lean against the wall, long legs sprawling in front of him.

“You didn’t have a corporeal form the other times.” He gazed at me, a dazed expression on his thin face. I shrugged and gestured for him to continue. “You came from the spirit world.”

“
The spirit world?”

“
I see spirits.”

“
Huh?” To say I was baffled would be an understatement.

“
I see dead people.” He pulled a face at me.

“
You’ll be seeing fucking stars, if you carry on like this.”

“
Come on, man. You’ve seen
The Sixth Sense
? I see dead people. That’s what I do.”

“
You don’t look like Bruce Willis,” I quipped, trying to make some sense of his rambling.

“
Bruce Willis played the spirit.” He shuddered. “That’s you. You’re
usually
a spirit.”

It had become obvious this wouldn’t be a short conversation. With a sigh, I sank to the floor a few feet away from him.
“I hate to break it to you,” I drawled, “but I’m not dead. Not when I last checked.”

“
But you’re here. I summoned you, Raphael.” He leaned forward, excited again.