The Sorceress (36 page)

“Catherine,” Eris said, reading the name that appeared on the screen of the small phone.

“I tried to warn you,” the boy said grimly. “Should I fetch my ailing nanny?” he asked with a smirk.

Eris ignored his sarcasm. She flipped the phone open. “Hello, how are you Ms. Provost?” she said, using a voice that was identical to Jen's. “Oh, Ethan is fine.”

She flung the boy a triumphant smile and continued talking to his mother. “The new nanny is great. Ethan seems to really
like her. She's with him right now. Reading to him while he's sitting in front of his computer…you know…looking at those bridges.” Eris's words were followed with a nervous giggle, giving an uncanny impersonation of Jen.

“Wicked One,” he whispered, impressed.

Eris shot a smug look in his direction.

Gesturing, he gave her performance an enthusiastic thumbsup.

“
B
aby, you got me stalking you. What's up? Why you avoiding me? Pick up the phone.” Rome put laughter in his tone, trying to use humor to hide the hurt that he was feeling in his heart. “I got my Obama look tonight…a black cashmere coat…a fly suit—I'm looking all GQ for you, baby,” he continued, sounding playful and lighthearted, though inside he was anxious and confused.

He gave another burst of nervous laughter. The sound rang so false, Rome couldn't go on pretending. “Look, I have to keep it real. I'm sitting in my truck, not too far from your house. I've been waiting for a couple of hours. I guess I should take a hint and recognize that I've been stood up. I can't understand it. Why didn't you call and tell me something?”

He sighed. “I don't know what I could have said or done that pissed you off like this. I mean, damn…you won't even take my calls. Listen, whatever I did, I apologize. Okay, Pretty Red? Another thing, I don't care whether you're mad at me or not, I'm not giving up on us.” He paused again, his mind racing for something else to say.

“So…um…I'm about to turn around and head on home. I'll be in the crib if you decide you want to talk. Bye, baby.”

Rome backed up and made a U-turn. Instead of zipping onto
Germantown Avenue, which would be a speedy route home, he drove slowly, taking a scenic tree-lined winding road with bubbling brooks and a picturesque autumn landscape.

Normally, the beauty of nature both soothed and mesmerized him. Sometimes he marveled at the majesty of a red maple tree or gazed in awe at a sturdy oak that stood at least fifty feet tall and could well be one hundred years old or more. But tonight the beautiful scenery was meaningless.

Rome's cell was set up in the cup holder next to his seat. He kept picking up the phone and checking to make sure he hadn't mistakenly turned the volume too low. Jen's call was important; he didn't want to miss it.

Acting like this wasn't cool at all. For so long, he'd guarded his heart. He was probably a classic example of a male all messed up in the head with an Oedipus complex. Yeah, he'd had a childhood crush on his mom, he admitted to himself. The way she danced in her old videos, that look in her big doe eyes made her every young boy's dream.

He couldn't honestly exclude himself. But after she'd rejected him, acting like she forgot she was his mother, he grew into manhood keeping a close watch on his heart, never opening up or allowing himself to be vulnerable. Never letting another woman get close enough to break his heart.

Jen was different. So wholesome and sweet. Nothing city slick about Jen.
So what went wrong?
he wondered, anguished. Damn, he missed his baby. He wanted to see her pretty face; hear her laugh; hold her again. He swallowed. He wanted to feel her skin against his, even if she told him it would be the last time.

The night that held so much promise. Rome patted his coat pocket and felt the square box that contained a ring. He shook his head. Wrong move. Jumped the gun; moving too fast. Only
a love-struck sucker would think it was a good idea to buy an engagement ring in this early stage of the game.

Good guys always lose,
he told himself. Still, too stubborn to admit defeat, Rome continued cruising down the long, winding road. Wasting time, lingering around Chestnut Hill, hoping Jen would return his call.

“What the fuck!” Something big leapt from a tree and shot across the sky. He screeched to a stop, lowered the window, stuck his head out, and craned his neck upward.

“Oh, shit!” He flinched as he gawked at the huge, shadowy figure that was leaping from one treetop to the next, in pursuit of something. It was happening so fast, the creature was a blur, but from what Rome could make out, the thing looked like a flying ape or a soaring Sasquatch.

He threw the truck into park and grabbed the gun he kept under his seat. Standing outside his truck, he walked a few paces, his head upturned as he scanned the tall trees. There was no movement and he didn't see a thing except the dark sky, the stars, and the eerie light of the half-moon.

Was it some sort of high-tech Halloween prank? There were a group of Goth teens in the area. Known troublemakers. Rome had to haul a few of their asses into the station on more than one occasion for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and other misdemeanors. He doubted if those zombie-looking kids were capable of pulling such an elaborate stunt.

That flying Sasquatch was some serious, supernatural shit.
I'm trippin.' I'm starting to see bizarre, horror-movie scenes. It's time to get off this dark, lonely road and take my ass home.
Rome tugged the handle of his truck, but rustling sounds made him whirl around, gun drawn.

He looked up. The top of a maple tree swayed in the moonlight.

Something had definitely jumped off of that tree. What? A wild animal? And where had it gone? Hell if he knew. He'd better call the station and let the officers know that there was some mysterious activity—

A woman's distant scream interrupted his thought. Rome knew the area well and the only home in this remote area was the Abramson home, a gorgeous colonial about fifty yards past the bend in the road. Ms. Abramson, a recent widow, lived alone.

A sudden sweat dampened his brow. Acting on instinct, he quickly climbed back inside the truck, and got behind the wheel. Without mulling it over or devising any kind of plan, he tore off in the direction of the Abramson home.

The front of the house was dark. He parked the truck, got out, looking up, scanning the treetops. Nothing going on up there. Maybe he'd imagined it all. Breathing more easily, he started to walk up the steps to the house and ring the doorbell and ask Ms. Abramson if everything was all right; perhaps warn her to keep the house locked up tight. Just in case.

But an odd sound coming from the back of the house disturbed the quiet. On high alert, he crept toward the back of the house, weapon in hand.

Concerned that the moonlight might illuminate his approach, Rome dropped to a crouch, hoping to blend in with the dark shrubbery and trees surrounding the house as he advanced toward the sound that was a groaning roar, a beastly echo of the past. Like listening to a soundtrack of
Jurassic Park
.

He would have fired his weapon immediately if he didn't think his eyes were deceiving him and, for a few terrible moments, he stood frozen watching an inconceivable sight. He looked away from the atrocious scene for a few seconds. He surveyed an overturned trash can, and its lid that had been flung a few feet
away. In an attempt to comprehend the sight that his brain refused to grasp, he continued focusing on inanimate objects, like the stuffed green trash bag with red handles, that slowly rolled back and forth near the toppled trash can.

Steeling himself, Rome forced his eyes to zoom in on what appeared to be the wide V-shape of a woman's outspread legs. There was something on top of her. Something vicious, inhuman, and unafraid. The thing didn't jump up in shock; it didn't dart off into the night after being caught in the act of rape.

Unapologetically, it humped, growled and clawed the ground as it ferociously thrust itself in and out of Ms. Abramson. The widow didn't move. Her body was still. Lifeless. The poor woman was better off dead, Rome decided as he finally steadied his hand, aimed, and fired.

The gunshot was loud. The creature's pained howl was louder. The big hairy thing rose up, revealing an angry face with furtufted ears, cheeks, and forehead. Rome froze, unsure of what he was looking at. The thing was hideously ugly, with its mouth agape, roaring mad and dripping thick saliva.

While Rome stood, momentarily transfixed, the creature bounded up the trunk of a tree, swung from its branches, raced to the top, and then launched itself across the abyss between trees, hurtling through treetops like nothing Rome had ever seen.

Rome fired off wild, badly aimed blasts in rapid succession, splintering bark, shooting off limbs and branches, while the beast ran free. Determined, Rome dashed between trees, tripping and stumbling, arms stretched skyward as he continued to fire shots.

There was a sudden thump of something hitting the ground. Thinking he'd most likely toppled one of the smaller trees, he moved forward to investigate. Rome stopped cold. The creature, big and animalistic, lay on its back, groaning in pain. Rome
stepped closer, forcing himself to look at the monstrous thing. It twisted and panted and foam bubbled at the corner of its mouth. Its growl was weak, yet laden with menace.

Standing at close range, Rome fired over and over into the beast's snarling face until he'd emptied the clip.

Unbelievably, the maniac's bullet-ridden face ignited and became enflamed. Nanoseconds later, the fire raged down its hairy body. A sudden whoosh and the creature became a dark swirl of thick smoke that swiftly tunneled deep into the earth, as if hell bound.

There wasn't much left to identify the killer; just a few smoldering clumps that quickly turned into a pile of ashes.

The crime scene indicated that the widow was taking out the trash when the beast attacked her. Rome knelt down to look for a pulse, but didn't expect to find one on the poor ravaged woman. His eyes involuntarily swept downward, settling on the gaping, bloody hole in the crotch of her pants. He cringed.

As an officer of the law, Rome should have secured the crime scene at the Abramson home and reported the murder. But what could he say about the assailant? That it looked like Sasquatch and had burst into flames after being riddled with bullets?

Would anyone believe that the perpetrator had gone poof? It was a preposterous story, and Rome knew that he'd be considered a suspect, taken into custody, and labeled a maniac cop.

At the top of their long list of questions, the investigators would want to know why Rome had been prowling around Chestnut Hill while off duty. Mentioning his planned date with Jen would inevitably bring up the names of her high-profile employers. Jen wouldn't appreciate him dragging the Provosts into this mess.

It was too late to save Ms. Abramson, and there was no point in voluntarily surrendering himself to an interrogation that could last for hours. At least not now. He'd deal with the interrogation and possible arrest after he knew for certain that Jen was all right.

Of course, DNA found on Ms. Abramson would eventually exonerate him, but in the meantime, wild horses couldn't stop him from getting to Jen.

Leaving the dead woman lying on the ground, he raced to his truck. A beastly murderer had been on the loose in Chestnut Hill. Jen and the little boy she took care of were most likely at home all alone, and Rome's single-minded thought was to make sure Jen was unharmed.

C
onfident that her looks mesmerized, Eris admitted the dashing young man inside, sizing him up with an unmistakable glimmer of approval in her eyes. She'd seen him before, sitting in an automobile gawking up at her during her precarious attempts to cross a bridge that would evaporate in the blink of an eye if she dared to dawdle.

During those distressful times, she didn't have a moment to spare and had never appraised the gentleman. Now she realized that he was a fine looking male specimen, elegant, and garbed in high-quality finery. His physical qualities appealed to her. This human male looked worthy enough to be her mate. It was a pity his life would have to end tonight.