The Grasp of Nighttide (19 page)

She bent to pick up the phone which was partly under the couch. Under the couch, her hand brushed against something cool. Alice pulled it out along with the tape. A big key. Alice knew at the back of her head, where it fit. 

She studied the keyhole of the tower door before pushing the key in. To her horror the key fit perfectly. She left it there. Alice didn’t want to enter the tower, ever. 

After driving for what felt entirely too long, Stephanie finally arrived at her destination. Peering out of the window, the word ‘Splendor’ topped the huge fancy hotel in large, red letters. Parking her car and climbing out, she walked casually to the entrance, glad that she was wearing her best outfit- a navy blue gown. She had worn this particular dress to Jacob’s wedding last month. Almost everyone that she was introduced to was charmed that day, and she simply felt that the dress brought out the confident socialite inside of her. She had no intention of charming Derek tonight, she just didn’t know if she would get a chance to flaunt it again. 

Gold glinted off the walls and long pillars, giving the place a sense of royalty and excess. Expensive was the first word that came to her mind but she brushed it off- after all, Derek called her. 

“Excuse me,” she waited for the attention of the front desk clerk. “I am supposed to be meeting Mr. Lawson. Can you tell me which room number he is in?” 

“Ms. Frost?” the man asked without taking his eyes off the computer. 

“Yes.” 

“Room 229.” He told her, glancing at her for a moment before doing a double take. Steph realized what a strange woman in evening attire must look like heading towards a rich client’s room, and grew slightly embarrassed by the insinuation. Still, a part of her enjoyed knowing how well she was pulling off the look tonight. 

“Thanks.” She muttered, and turned to go. 

 “Ms. Frost?” A voice from across the lobby held her back 

Steph cast a long look at the man standing behind her in a tuxedo that carried a rich look. 

“Have you come to meet your boyfriend?” 

He had no business asking, but Steph replied anyway, “My brother actually.” 

“Great. What say meet me up at the bar later?” 

By the time the receptionist lifted his head to look. Both men had their eyes fixed on her. 

“Maybe,” Steph said, eying him in return. He wasn’t bad looking, but she had more pressing matters to attend to tonight. She felt the eyes of the men she passed on her as she strode into the elevator, and with each step she became more confident, exuding a sexiness that she hadn’t felt in a long time.

The door to room 229 was ajar, and Steph walked in without knocking. Derek was looking out the window with both hands shoved in his pockets. Though he wasn’t dressed in formals, he still possessed a business man quality in his posture. 

He clearly didn’t realize that she was even there until Steph closed the door. 

“Oh, hello Steph.” He said, turning to face her. 

“Why did you call me here?” She couldn’t’ keep the impatience from her voice. Instead of replying right away, Derek moved over to the bed and motioned her to sit. 

“I wanted to talk to you. About us, about what happened with us. I know you have never forgiven me completely.” He stared at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

“Well, I don’t want to talk about it,” Steph snapped, annoyed at his presumption. 

 It looked like a typical Derek plan. Pull her into a grand place, try to overwhelm her with excess and then pry her with his charm into forgiving him. 

“I want to,” Derek squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry for the things that upset you. You know I didn’t intend to have Rosalie’s attention drift to me. You know I wouldn’t steal your mother from you. You know that I had to be accepted by her, I couldn’t make a bad impression on Rosalie, or I was afraid that they would send me away to live with my own mother. I’ve told you how mom would treat me; I couldn’t go back to that. We were young, Steph. I had no idea what we were doing to you at the time. I only knew that I had to be accepted, I had to be wanted.” 

Steph rolled her eyes. 

“I want you to know that you and Rosalie were family to me. You both treated me like one of your own even though I had different blood. When I got a chance though, I escaped and stayed with Franny and I never looked back- I hardly ever even spoke to Rosalie because she might’ve asked me to come by. I didn’t talk to my parents more than a couple of minutes every few months, and I would never have given them another chance if not for...” Derek shook his head. “What I mean is, you know how my life was. In fact, we both had problems. We were there and we got through it.” 

Steph and Derek sat in silence, Derek’s hand still holding onto Steph’s. A volcano of regret erupted within Steph. She was overlooking all that they both had for something very minor. Derek was the only person she’d turn to for support. She secretly blamed John for passing the unforgiveable nature to her and Rosalie for bringing differences between them. But she could forgive Derek now, she was surprised with it. She sensed something different in her; it was so unlike her… it was good. The window that had shut all good times and memories with Derek opened wide, filling her brain. 

“You remember the first day you came to school and didn’t interact with other kids?” Steph broke the silence. 

“You came to me to ask if I was copying you,” he chuckled. “You even punched a boy in the nose once and he was bleeding….” 

“He had said that we were lovers turned brother and sister,” Steph interrupted to recall the bitter sentence from the boy- Fred Barnes- three days after Derek and Rosalie’s wedding. “And you were very puny back then.”

“I turned out to be okay.” Derek playfully flexed his arms, showing off their definition. “Maybe a little out of shape from the past months now, I’m catching up though. But still not as strong as the karate master.” 

Steph laughed, imitating Derek. 

"Besides I wouldn't even be alright now if not for you." 

"What are you saying?" 

"We both know what I mean. You healed me when dad had brought you to meet me. That explained how I felt better all of a sudden. I can’t imagine how much that would’ve pained you." His face hardened.

The pain had been really too much to bear that time. She had never healed anyone to that extent than she had Derek. She fell down, literally yelling and taking down the glass and flowers on the table with her. And then Jacob and his ex-wife, Janice, came running inside. There was some more staff that rushed to Steph, inspecting if she’d been hurt. They started asking her questions, and she was not in a position to say a word. But they couldn’t understand, it pained from inside- more than any injury could cause her. It felt like the end of the world. But before being helped outside, she saw that the commotion hadn’t woken up Derek.

"How could you be so sure? You were asleep." 

"You confessed it yourself now. Dad had told me about what happened later someday. You couldn't see me down." 

"I healed you for mom. She loved you and she would be happy that I did it for you, though it was Grasp's powers." she started to think if really that was all on her mind right then. "And yes, I was also feeling bad for you." 

“Hey, you’re keeping away from... uh, bad stuff right?” 

 “Yeah. What makes you say that?” Steph doubted whether Alice told him something. Apart from mom, Derek was the only one who knew about the evil things Steph’s dad was involved in. She had told him everything years ago in a moment of quiet confidence. 

“Never mind.” Derek said. “Close your eyes.” 

“Why?” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. 

“I said close your eyes.” 

Steph closed her eyes and resisted the urge to peek until Derek said “Take a look.” 

He held open a jewelry box, with a glittering diamond necklace. “Remember I had promised to buy you a beautiful necklace one day?” 

Steph remembered that but still it was very long ago
,
the Friday of the first week of fifth grade. “But we were just kids. You didn’t have to; we said lots of things back then.” 

“Well, it’s my money, so you can’t give it back.” he slipped the necklace around her neck. “So do you like it?” 

He turned on the front camera of his iPhone and let her take a look. 

“It’s beautiful,” Steph said. Though Jacob had lots of money, she never felt like buying herself anything expensive, Jacob had done so much for them already. And Jacob never bought anything for her or Derek; he just gave them money when they asked for it. Steph didn’t want anything more from him, maybe which was another thing that proved she wasn’t totally evil. 

“Oh, Alice texted me,” he said, pulling his phone back to himself. “She’s asking me to accompany her to Kansas tomorrow. To meet her mom.” 

“Oh, she got info on her then?” Steph asked casually. “By the way, what is her real name?” 

“I’ll tell you when we’re back. You two should meet,” he said engrossed in the phone. 

If she lives that long.
 Steph thought. 

But this time she felt bad about wanting to kill Alice. She didn’t want to break his heart now that their friendship was restored. But Steph couldn’t back out from her mission for Derek. Alice had to die. Tomorrow. 

The phone slipped from Derek’s hand, Steph caught it on her boot. 

“Still the same butter fingers,” she laughed picking it up. “I’m surprised your phone survived this long.” 

“I dropped the necklace too at the store. Every person there had their eyes fixed on me,” he said sheepishly. 

Though Steph had prompted for him to tell what help he wanted from her, he refused saying that he’d tell her next time. Steph tried her best to get the matter out of him, because this time she doubted that there would be a next time for them to meet. She’d elope like a criminal did, never to be seen again. After a long chat and dinner, Derek got up to leave. He let Steph stay, saying that there were a lot of guys if she wanted to hook up with someone. She agreed with a laugh, remembering all of the eyes that were on her on the way through the lobby. 

After Derek left, Steph lingered for a moment in the room and watching him walking to Cloud in the parking lot from the window. It took effort not to cry, knowing that she might not see him again. Then the feeling was replaced by a totally different one, one never felt before- sort of overpowering. She had gotten used to sensing one or two Grasp at a time but she could be confident that there were at least fifteen now. Their presence wasn’t even entirely Grasp.

She was filled with fear as she realized what was happening. She knew that Grasp weren’t supposed to flock in big groups outside Mortegrath. But the tomb demons could. Tomb demons were demons trapped in human bodies. Unlike Grasp- the tomb demon’s physical aging couldn’t be lowered- letting the queen find young hosts for them every few years. In true form- John had mentioned- their appearance was terrifying even in Grasp’s eyes. The queen only summoned those tomb demons rarely- mainly to bring a Grasp member to the tomb where they would be tortured. Okay, torture wasn’t the right word to describe it- especially when there was no escape from the tomb and worse it would continue for eternity. Steph knew she had been ignored but now her time had come. Even though she hadn’t officially joined the Grasp, it was sealed in her blood. And that was enough for the queen to use her power over Steph. 

“Get out,” she ordered herself. 

With trembling feet, she reached the door but it was a moment too late. All the demons were equally spaced throughout the building, and she could feel one very close- right outside. 

“Stephanie Frost,” A voice along with a civilized knock. “I need you to come with me.” 

As fierce as these demons were described, John had said they were very civilized in the world. It wasn’t only Grasp who refrained from gaining a lot of attention on Earth, these demons did too. The behavior wasn’t because they were weak because they could single-handedly wipe out a crowd of people. It was more on how Grasp emerged into being- from a secret to a world- and exposing themselves would prove a problem. The bodies picked for the tomb demons were of dead people from the grave, and the least thing Grasp wanted was to get on news and families performing rituals for dead souls. A particular holy ritual- Steph hadn’t known the name of it- could destroy the demon in the host. But by far nothing of that sort occurred. They camouflaged as humans, imitating gestures when on Earth and gained insight on technology. No one could sense them besides a Grasp member. And no Grasp members could escape from them. 

“Never,” Steph shouted back. 

“Have it your way.” 

Steph braced for whatever was coming. But what came was a lot more than she had expected. A loud jarring noise appeared to be coming from everywhere. Steph covered her ears to block it out, but the deafening sound was coming from inside her own head. 

“Aagh!” Steph let out a wail, before falling to the floor. Please stop!” 

“I will stop if you agree to come with me,” The voice continued politely. 

Steph knew going with them would make her their captive forever. Once she would step into the tomb she had no way of setting herself free and this noise and pain would kill her- not literally. She’d be forced to accept lives and grow young and stay in the torture cell for eternity. But at present Steph felt she could do anything for a moment’s silence. She tried to stand but her feet shook uncontrollably and got her back to the floor, before her hand could even try opening the door. Her energy was beginning to drain. Before she’d go crazy, she opened the door with her mind. Something that reminded her of John. John had said that at the time of Grasp formation, the Grasp had asked for power to move all physical objects that blocked their path- those were boulders and similar stuff then, but in modern times the aspect focused mainly on doors
.
But just as then the door closed again. And the noise vanished, clearing her mind. She could sense another familiar figure outside. Not a demon but a Grasp. The one that she had sensed around Castle Pines these days.