The Light of the World (22 page)

I steal a look at her. She is fidgeting.
Michelle would freak.

She looks at me and watches my face, "What
happened?"

I need to get rid of her. She is in danger with
me.

"I remember the last time I lived."

"In the dark ages?"

I shake my head, "This is my fourth time being
born I think. They were all wrong. Besides the first time, I was
born in the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages. The last time was the
late fifteen hundreds. I was a girl named Ellie. I had a mother and
father and they were very rich. They bought a plantation in the New
World. I was to take a ship to meet up with them. Traveling with my
fiancé and my maids."

She grimaces, "Fiancé?"

The burn behind my eyes threatens me. I focus on
the dark road, "Constantine. He was a Romania Prince." I feel a
smile cross my lips, I can't fight it. "We met at dinner party in
the winter. We went on a sleigh ride."

She laughs, "All vampires must be Romanian
Princes."

"Anyway he was to marry me when we arrived in
the New World. I was upset about it. I didn’t want to go. I wanted
my wedding in England with my friends. I was in a shop buying some
supplies to take with us, when I smelled something. It was the best
smell in the whole world. I ended up in an alley killing a man.
They never told me what I was. My parents never even knew. I was in
a heap, sobbing, when Constantine found me. He saved me and showed
his true nature to me. He, of course, knew what I was. His plan was
to help me kill the devils. The seven devils. The five Sin Eaters
and my real parents. He brought me to America. He married me and we
lived in an amazing house, where his house now is. We plotted and
then one day he betrayed me. He let the Van Helsings take me. I was
tortured and starved in the same tower you found me in. I died in
that room. Crucified and rotting from the evil of the world."

Her face looks how my heart feels, "Gross. You
for real remember this shit?"

I nod, and sniffle. A lone tear slips down my
cheek.

She sighs, "What the hell do we do now."

I shake my head and wipe my eye, "Not we. Me. I
can't bring you into this. I remember how to fight and how to kill
the devils. I remember who I am. It's too dangerous."

She laughs, "I'm coming. Before you say no hear
me out. Firstly, I can guarantee either the Van Helsings or
Constantine will come for me and use me as bait against you. It
always happens that way in the movies. You drop me at school and in
the middle of the night they come for me and dangle me like bait
for you to come rescue. Bad idea." I nod. I can't argue with
that.

"Secondly after everything we've been through I
am completely certain I won't last like, a day. I will be pulling
my hair out and squirming in my seat. School is like a distant
memory. This life rocks. As scary as this shit is, and believe me
it's scary, it's also exciting."

I laugh.

"Thirdly you're not as smart as I am. You may
like languages and all that shit, but I am actually smarter than
you. You need me. Everyone needs someone. Even if I have to sit in
the car all the time, you need someone."

She sits back and that is that. She is coming.
Mostly because I don’t want her to be bait.

"Constantine is hot. You have the two hottest
guys I've ever seen, in my life, trying to kill you and sleep with
you."

I sigh, "Yeah. I wish it was just a battle over
who to pick for sleeping with, and not for who gets to murder me,
slowly."

We look at each other and both shout,
"Constantine." And laugh.

We drive to Mona's parents house in New Haven,
Connecticut. I am stunned when we drive into the town. My heart
leaps a little bit. It's my dream life. My dream town. Her mom and
step dad are wealthy, obviously. Her house is on a circle street
next to the country club. It's stunning and breaks my heart. I
don’t mean to be envious but I have always wanted it. Always. The
plan was to get my Linguistics degree from Vermont, with honors,
and then get into Yale to get my PhD. New Haven is a painful place
for me. Her mom is a specialist and her step dad is a professor at
Yale.

I know she too had dreams of attending there for
her PhD. Instead we will be failing out of Vermont, more than
likely due to lack of attendance.

Her mother greets us coldly and I instantly
understand the headband and perfection. It wasn’t a choice, it was
the expectation.

Her mother is perfect. She doesn’t look a day
over thirty and her step dad has an obvious roving eye. I'm
uncomfortable around him. He licks his lips and hugs both of us for
too long.

"Darling, it's fabulous to see you of course but
what about classes?" I hold my glass of red wine and look around.
The room is portentous. It matches them. Their life suddenly
doesn’t seem as appealing. My home with Willow always felt like a
home. This feels like a museum. Their life is obviously minus love.
Love is what makes a home from a house. Willow and I lacked so many
other things, but love was never one of them.

"So linguistics?" She says it though her
teeth.

I nod, "Yes. I suppose Mona's father will be my
professor next year." I leave out the part where I might not be
alive then. And that Mona might not be either.

She smiles like she wants to cut me. "I suppose
he will. How interesting." It doesn’t sound interesting the way she
says it. It sounds like I'm offering poison instead of
conversation.

Richard watches me like a predator. His evil is
so thick, I can feel the low burn in my belly every time I make eye
contact with him.

He watches me. I know exactly what he will taste
like. I know why he is a professor in a university. He is a bad
man. The dead whisper things about him. Not good things.

Her mother takes her into the kitchen to get
another bottle of wine, also known as lecture her for cutting
classes no doubt.

Richard's eyes sparkle when we are alone. He
sits back and spreads his legs. He looks like he's daring me to
look between his legs. Testing me.

"So is that a roadster I saw you pull up
in?"

"I have no idea." I shrug, "My boyfriend's
car."

"It must haul. Is it the twelve cylinder
one?"

I laugh, "I wouldn’t know. It drives very fast
and uses a ton a gas."

He laughs, "I think I did see it was. Wow,
that's an impressive car for someone so young. What does his family
do?"

I shake my head, "Blood sucking leeches I think.
Fanged and evil."

He smiles and tilts his head, "Must be
acquisitions and mergers or something like that. Investment
lawyers."

It makes me laugh, he assumes I was talking
about lawyers.

I drink from my near empty glass and take the
opportunity to lean over to Richard and smile, "I know your secret
Dick. I know what you makes you tick. I know what you are." His
dark blue eyes flare. He attempts a sneer but I suck him from the
one-foot distance. It's just enough of a suck to weaken his
spirit.

Mona walks in to the room with a new bottle of
wine and a frustrated face, hidden behind the plastic smile that
matches her mother's. Richard gets his own plastic smile and we
play pretend for the evening. Richard seems to be a daze for the
rest of the night.

I sleep like the dead with Mona by my side. In
case Richard gets any funny ideas.

Before we leave Mona steals bags of shit from
the house. Extras of soap and conditioner and shampoo. We each pack
an ass ton of clothes and coats. Unfortunately the car doesn’t have
a large trunk. But what it has, we stuff with warm clothes, kitchen
knives, food, water, Gatorade, toiletries and boots and
runners.

Her mother walks us to the car. She looks
different in the light of the day. "Cold up there is it?"

Mona nods, "More expensive too. Everything costs
more. It's cheaper for me to steal it from here."

Her mom rubs her arms. It's the first motherly
act I've seen yet. "You take care of yourself okay. You're looking
thinner and more tired than I've seen in a while."

Mona kisses her cheek and hugs her. "I
will."

Richard watches us from the front window. I wave
to him. He just watches.

"Thank you Dr. Watts."

She blushes, "Felicia. I told you. Take care of
my girl for me Rayne." She says my name like it tastes bad.

"I will. Thanks for dinner and the bed."

"No thank you for bringing her for a visit. It
was nice. See you in a few weeks for Christmas darling. Hopefully
not sooner."

Mona just smiles. She has no intention of coming
back for Christmas. We have devils to kill.

We get into the car.

She gives me the death stare, "What did you do
to Richard? He seemed weird last night."

I frown, "Who, Dick? We got on famously."

She rolls her eyes, "He didn’t perve on you did
he?"

I laugh, "He didn’t get the chance." The car
leaps forward when I press the gas.

"You know if we had been smart we would have
taken the SUV and left him this stupid car."

I smile, "I know right. This damn thing is
ridiculous. I don’t understand the need for something so
impractical. It guzzles gas and holds nothing. Not practical for
questing."

She glances at me, "So let's just say you
succeeded and killed them all and can live a normal life, what do
you think you'll do?"

I shake my head, "I don’t know." When I look at
her I see the panic and worry. Her mom got to her.

"You want to go back to school?"

She swallows hard, "Can we do classes and do the
demon killing part time?"

I am relieved. "I want that too, but I'm
terrified of the way things have turned out. I have Constantine and
Wyatt trying to kill me or abduct me and my father to contend with.
Every minute on campus I will be looking behind my back. I'll be a
sitting target."

She shakes her head, "We can do this. I know we
can. I just don’t want you to succeed and then we have to start
college all over again."

I agree, "I know. I want my life still. Maybe
not linguistics but I want something more than working at Target
and stressing over what I will be. I can't keep stealing cars and
money and food."

"Our future is school."

I agree. I bite my lip, "We need to go get
Michelle."

Mona laughs, "I tried calling her and some
bitchy nun said Sister Rosaline wasn’t allowed to take calls. Then
like an hour later Michelle sent me a text. Listen I'll read it to
you. She is nuts."

She pulls out her cell and reads, "Miss you tons
kick Rayne in the arse for me. Make sure she doesn’t wear rubber
boots all winter for the love of god. Oops I mean God. So I'm
staying. I think this is my shit. This God business is making me
feel whole. I rock the nun outfit. I'm a sexy nun. I'll have my own
rich Viscount in no time and we'll be running in the hills and
singing with his four little rug rats. Peace bitches, Sister
Rosaline."

I furrow my brow, "God has no idea what has hit
him. His followers will be running for the hills alright."

She snorts.

I shrug, "She's safe."

"No one would predict that’s where she would
hide. I bet Wyatt walked right past her and never had a clue."

"Sister Rosaline. She probably picked it because
of the Da Vinci Code. What a weirdo."

We drive the coast back. I put the top down a
few times but it's freezing.

We get close to home and I find myself taking a
detour.

She is asleep. I drive up close to the mansion.
The air sparkles and the dead try to convince me it's a bad idea
but I need to. I need to see him. I don’t know why. I know he'll
sense me, but my car can out run his car. Hopefully.

From the highway I can see the slightest glimpse
of the house through the trees. The white mansion is lit up.
They're having a party. I slow the car down and unroll Mona's
window. I can hear the party.

She wakes and looks at me, "Where are we." She
stretches and rubs her eyes.

I point, "Wyatt's parents house. The epicenter
of sin, as far as the Van Helsing's are concerned."

She looks at me confusedly, "You have a death
wish?"

"Yup. Think we should go see what that party is
all about?"

"No. No I absolutely do not."

I look at her, my mind is made up. "I do. I
think it's about me. Let's go peek. Just a peek."

She sighs, "No. No this is a bad idea. We need
to go back to school."

I turn onto the gravel road just before the
house and drive down it. I turn the headlights off but the running
lights still shine. I turn the car off and hope no one saw me.

I climb out and flip the trunk. In the dark I
can see perfectly. Everyone at the house is coming in the front
door, dressed to the nines and shaking his mother's hand. There is
a man beside her. He must be Wyatt's father. He looks like the man
from the boat the day I met the Nixie.

I pull a black coat and some runners out of the
trunk. I pull them on and zip up the jacket.
"I'll wait here. If there is trouble I'll honk and drive to get you
okay?"

I nod.

I'm faster without her anyway. My body isn’t fit
like it was my memories but, I know I have some push inside of
me.

I run through the woods silently. Not as
silently as Ellie could, but silent enough. I run past the house,
down near the beach. The lights are lit in every room. The mansion
shines brightly against the gray seas and cloudy night.

I can watch them and see everything in the
windows.

I see the little girl. She walks around looking
bored. She seems to stand out amongst the rest. She is in a dress,
but she looks like she would kill for her skinny jeans and hoodie.
She might kill just because. She has a dangerous look on her face.
I remember it well.

I sneak along the grass and trees, closer to the
house. When I get close enough to look up into the whole back of
the house I slide my body against a tree. It's amazing what I
instantly know how to do, thanks to Ellie. Looking in the windows
is painful for Ellie. Her hatred is thick and her memories are
vivid. It's like she, we remember things but can't see them. Not
completely. One thing I remember without doubt is Wyatt's
mother.