The Shepard's Agony (20 page)

After some seconds, when the
rabbit
was a skeletal, wretched, stretched thing, Garrett forcefully pulled it out of his mouth and threw it to the ground with an angry roar. Staring at it hatefully, his body shook.

“I’m a monster!”

Andrew took a step back into the door and raised his hands. Somehow, having the man angry and yelling was much worse than seeing him in the state he was in now.

“Everything’s okay, we can fix this—”

“
How
?”

Andrew was off his feet and held in the air by a steel-grip around his neck. His father’s eyes were glaring into his own, glowing a hungry red, teeth bared and snarling.

Garrett
saw the fear in his son’s eyes, could hear his pulse in his neck, and found that he enjoyed it. He wanted nothing more than to sink his fangs into that pulsing neck and feed until the painful hunger and thirst went away. At this
realization
, he panicked. He forced his hand open to drop him and back away, horrified that he’d just had thoughts of drinking the blood of his own son.

“I’m-I’m sorry. It must be the change.”

Gasping on his knees, Andrew nodded his head, accepting without question.

Garrett
reached out to touch his shoulder
and
, without intending to, Andrew flinched away.

Garrett
was shocked and drew his hand back, looking down at it in wonder. His skin was pale now, pale enough for the blue and purple veins to stand out, and his nails had grown into long points overnight.

He clenched his hand into a fist, the sharp sting of his nails piercing his flash just an annoyance in the back of his head.

“
Normally,” he started
, “normally, I’d have you stake me –don’t shake your head like that, we’ve talked about this before.”

It was true, they had talked about it, but whenever the subject came up, Andrew suddenly found himself ashamed to admit that he’d only been listening with half an ear. The idea that anyone in his family could be turned was laughable, the memory of little David who’d died on the farm was all but forgotten at the
time
. Yet, there he was, one brother dead, two
missing
, one of them a traitor, and his father was a vampire. The Shepards really weren’t invincible.

Still, Andrew heard a “but” somewhere in his father’s words, and this time he listened intently.

“Now
, though, I can’t rest until we find your brothers. Those
Were
s, I don’t know how they did it but they brainwashed him, and we’re going to get him back.” He reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, pleased when Andrew didn’t flinch away this time. “
And
, I don’t want to leave you alone when I’m gone. I don’t want to leave any of you alone.”

Andrew nodded and understood. A fresh energy to fight returning to him. “What’s the plan?”

Garrett
’s eyes flashed again, his grip on Andrew’s shoulder becoming hard. “Get me the book.”

***

An out of body experience. That was the spell Gwen inv
oked while sitting against her pine tree out in the woods.

It wasn’t considered dangerous or very difficult to perform compared to some of the other
spells Evey had told her about. It was the type of majick that anyone could learn, even people who weren’t born with special abilities.
But
, because Gwen was so untrained in the art, it was a huge mental strain.

The last time
she’d done this also happened to be the first
time
and she’d only managed to stay outside of her body for
a mere
ten minutes before she was forcefully pulled back. The little amount of time she had was precious.

She located the cabin by the lake and concentrated on lowering herself. While Gwen didn’t have her body, her
mind
was still working and she could feel the wind caress her face as she came closer and closer to the earth. Out of sheer habit
alone
, she entered by floating right through the front door, her body tingling with the act. Her ears immediately perked and picked up conversations from around the cabin, slight sounds, footsteps, and light
breathing
; things she wouldn’t be able to hear even on a normal day as a
Were
.

She bounced toward the
center
of the kitchen, like she imagined an astronaut would do with no gravity, idly listening to the buzz of talk and noise around
her
. She checked the stove, horrified to see that she’d left her potion sitting on it with the burner turned off, no doubt it had cooled by now and was losing its potency.

She forced herself to perk up. That was alright, no problem. She could make another
batch
, she had plenty of
hair
. Right
now
, she had to concentrate on why she was there.

Just as she went to sink through the floor
and into the basement, she heard John, angry and arguing with her father. What he was saying stopped her from going anywhere. “I can’t believe I let him sneak up on me! Let me down there, please!”

“
I’m not letting you start another fight for no good reason! For God’s sake, I know getting th
unked in the head was—”

“
Humiliating? D
egrading? Completely out of character?”

Out of character was right. Gwen had never heard him
as full of spite and anger as she had in the last twenty-four hours, but now he seemed to have reached his boiling point.

“
Regardless, leave him alone. Elaine just went down there, she said he’s going through the stages of his change now, more
aggressively than before. Getting back at someone for a lousy punch is one thing, on any other day I’d escort you down there to watch, him being a hunter and all.”

Gwen gasped, completely surprised at hearing her own father saying such things.

“
But?” John sounded impati
ent.

Larry sighed. “
But
, there are other people to consider.
Elaine
, for instance, and Bill’s going to be here in a few hours.”

“
This isn’t about Elaine or even what Bill wants, don’t say it
is
,” John ground
out
. Before Gwen could hear anything else, another conversation floated in and took over.

“Please
, Angela, forgive me!”

It was Jacob, his voice was high and
strained
. While Gwen was dying to know about the mystery of Angela, she didn’t have time for it now. What was her father about to say to John’s accusation? And what was this about Bill coming back from the hospital? He couldn’t be healing that quickly.

“
I don’t know if I
can
,” Evey replied
quietly
.
Suddenly
, Gwen’s curiosity was back on the Angela mystery. She was Angela? Was it a nickname that Jacob was calling her? And what did he do to her to make him beg like he was?

Another voice floated in and took over. “What’s happening to me?”

It was David’s voice
. Its pained sound made her breath hitch. He was gasping for air.

Gwen hadn’t moved from the kitchen since she entered the cabin, but all it took was a little concentration and she was floating down through the floorboards and into the basement. Like she should have been doing the moment she got there.

She could hardly wait to see him. She felt
that
, somehow, if she was
there
, then he couldn’t become anymore hurt than he already
was
.
But
, if she wasn’t there to watch over him … she didn’t want to think about that.

She expected to come in and find him curled up on the cot he’d been sleeping on when she gave him his
potion
.
Instead
, he was standing by the window above the cot that used to be Jimmy’s, with the blinds thrown open and one hand clutching one of the bars while the other was fisted against his stomach, his eyes screwed shut in
pain
. Oh, how she ached for him.

Elaine was there, trying to coax him down with a glass of some strange concoction and a gentle voice. “Please, you need your
rest
and you need to take
this
. It’s the only thing that will help.”

“
What I need is to get out of
here
,” he muttered through clenched teeth, his grip on the bar tightening.

Gwen’s heart ached for them both. She hated seeing David in such
pain
. The memory of her own first transformation was but a distant memory for her, she had no idea what he was going through. And Elaine, this was her son talking to her like that! How was she handling all this?

She floated over to inspect the steaming cup in her hands and was delighted with what she found.

“That’s my potion!”

Naturally
, she didn’t expect anyone to hear her
outburst
. Elaine certainly didn’t blink an eyelash her way and there was no indication that Eric had heard her, so when she looked up and saw David staring into her face, mouth open and sputtering, she could almost bet that she had the same look on her face.

Just in case, she turned to look behind her and found nothing there. There was no mistaking it, he really could see her.

“
G
-Gwen?”

“
Gwen’s n
ot here, sweetheart, she’s gone,” Elaine said, taking a step closer.

“She’s dead!?” David screamed, which made Elaine jump back as David’s eyes went from one visible woman to one invisible woman.

“
I’m not dead!” Gwen
yelled
. David blinked at her. He could hear
her
, too? How was that possible?

“Who’s dead?” Eric rushed in when he heard all the noise, staring up at David accusingly and sticking close to Elaine.

“If you hurt her—”

“
No! I’m not hurt and no one is dead!” Elaine cried, her face turning red as she fought back her emotions. “
Please
, calm down.”

Gwen wasn’t sure if Elaine was talking to herself or David.

“
You’re not dead?” David asked her, ignoring everyone else with the enormous swell of relief he felt. Even the pain of his upcoming change was forgotten
. For
now
, at
least
. That still didn’t explain how he could look right through her.

Eric bristled. “Do I look dead to you?” He was standing right behind her, but Eric couldn’t see Gwen there and naturally thought that David was looking at him.

So that was it, she didn’t know how he could see her, but he could, and to give him such a scare meant he was seeing her as a transparent figure of sorts.

Well, all the better
.
If he could see her then she could do a lot more than just check up on him. Floating up to where he stood, Gwen touched his cheek that was rough with stubble. He shivered when they made contact. He could he feel her touch as well? Amazing.

“
Take w
hat Elaine’s trying to give you,” she said softly.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t know what it is.”

“Who are you talking to?” Elaine was searching around for the mystery guest while Eric crossed his arms.

“He’s faking it, he has to be, hallucinations aren’t part of the change.”

Gwen sneered at him over her shoulder but quickly went back to the matter at hand. “It’s a potion I made for you, it’ll make your change easier if you take
it
.
Please
?” she begged. “You’ve already had a dose while you were sleeping, I gave it to you before you …” she hesitated and couldn’t help the giggle. “Before you knocked John out cold.”

David couldn’t stop the smirk from appearing on his face before he became serious again. “There’s nothing in it that’ll
weaken me?”

“
Who
are
you talking to?” Eric demanded.

Gwen sighed, caressing his face with both hands
now
. He made no move to touch her, worried that if he
tried
, his hand would slip through her face and she would
disappear
. “You’ll have to trust
me
.
And
eventually her, too,” she added, wanting to be sure that Elaine was thought of in all of this.

She was apparently his
mother
, after all.

There was some hesitation before he nodded. “Alright.” But he didn’t take his eyes away from her or attempt to move. He had a feeling that if he turned his head away from her, even for a second, she would
disappear
and he would discover that he really was having hallucinations.

Luckily
, Elaine did the work for him and put the mug in his
hand
. In the shock of feeling something there, he took his eyes away from Gwen to have a look. When he looked back, she was still there, smiling at him.

He smiled back and drank down the hot contents in two gulps, grimac
ing at the taste.

“
I was out col
d the last time I drank this?” he asked, scowling into the empty mug.

Gwen and Elaine both nodded.

“
Thank God for
that
,” Shepard
said
. Eric shook his head, still wondering if he was putting on an act for sympathy’s
sake
.