Awakening (10 page)

I looked around at the wreckage.
Furniture had been overturned and smashed--there were burn marks on
the floor and rug. “Do we do the rituals here?”

“
No. We need to leave here
and go somewhere safe. Somewhere where we can get rested and ready
for tomorrow night.” He reached out and grabbed me and hugged me
tight again. “Darla will be okay. We’ll get her back. Everything
will be okay.”

I wanted to believe it, I really did,
but in the depths of my soul I knew I didn’t.

Chapter Five

Luke decided it was too
dangerous to travel at night. We didn’t want to risk running into
the Triads, so we’d spent the night sitting upstairs, wrapped in
blankets, waiting with trepidation for the bad guys to show up. In
theory, we were to sleep in shifts, ready to flee out the window
and down the fire escape at the slightest sign of danger. But in
reality I couldn’t sleep, I just stared out into the dark playing
the events of the day over and over in my head. Was Darla still
alive? I prayed she was. The rituals--would I, could I survive
them? And if I did what would I become? There had never been a
healer turned death dealer before. My parents would have thought
such a thing an abomination. But here I was, willingly walking down
this path, turning myself into who knows what. And once I become
this mythic being, this abomination would anyone accept me? Or
would I be feared worse than Luke’s kind? The woman in the alley
had tried to stab him just because his people communed with the
dead. Once I became one of Luke’s kind, what would the
superstitious populous try to do to me? The thought sent a chill
down my back.

* * * *

The sun came up. We’d
survived the night. We started gathering together what we could so
we could high-tail it out of there. Luke stuffed an old green army
duffel bag full of clothes and whatever items he could find for his
spells that weren’t smashed into bits on the floor of the shop. His
face looked like a dark storm about to break loose as he wandered
around the torn up shop.

I grabbed some of Darla’s clothes and
packed them into a pink suitcase I found at the bottom of her
closet.

We headed out into the street and
hailed a taxi cab.

I slid into the seat next to him.
“Where are we going?”

He reached out and took my
hand in his. “My cousin Pagan’s place. Pagan won’t mind under the
circumstances, and I know she’ll have everything I need for the
rituals.”

I realized we’d taken a cab
to the healer’s place. “Don’t you own a car?”

“
One of my cousins borrowed
my truck for the trip. They take a lot of tents and camping
equipment. I’m the only one with a truck in the family. My uncle
took his car, and Darla isn’t driving yet. Uncle says he’s going to
get her something old, built like a tank but reliable for her
sixteenth birthday.” At the mention of his sister's name, his eyes
filled with an incredible sadness. He looked at me and seemed to
shake himself out of the moment. He gave me a small smile. “So it’s
hoofing it or cabs. Unless you want to take the bus?”

“
Cab works for me.” He was
distracted and worried about Darla. When he talked to me, I could
see the lines of worry etched on his face. He might be talking to
me, but his thoughts were clearly with his sister. I squeezed his
hand trying to offer what little comfort I could. I knew there was
nothing I could say to make the situation better.

My hand slid down to the
seat, and my fingers grazed across something sticky. I had a moment
of regret about leaving my car behind. It was possible that people
after me knew my car by sight, and I hadn’t wanted to make the job
of tracking me down any easier. I turned and watched the passing
landscape through the window. We were heading out of town, past the
suburbs and into the country.

“
Your cousin, she doesn’t
live in town?” I asked my voice full of surprise.

“
No, she refuses to be a
city girl. She’s an architect. She converts old barns into
houses.”

We drove and drove some
more. I lost track of time, but the further we went the more rural
the countryside got. Fences lined the road, cows grazed in
pastures, and farmhouses and barns riddled the landscape. It was
beautiful country. At another time, I would have enjoyed exploring
the countryside, but at the moment I was bruised, scared and tired.
I tried to keep my mind focused on the passing landscape, but
thoughts of the rituals kept searing across my brain. Would I
survive the first ritual? And if I did what were the other rituals
I would have to endure? A part of me wanted to demand more details
from Luke, but knowing brought fear, and I didn’t want to be
afraid. I wanted to have the courage to go through with them. The
cab turned off the main highway and headed down a dirt road. We
passed a creek and a few rolling hills until finally the cab came
to a stop in front of a large red barn.

I grabbed my stuff, and we
got out. Luke paid the cab driver and the cab took off.

“
Pagan keeps a key in a
fake rock for emergencies. She’s absent minded. She loses her keys
a lot.” Luke gave me a ghost of a smile. “Pagan left her car. The
keys for it have to be inside somewhere.”

I nodded my head and followed him up a
gray brick path.

Luke retrieved the key to
the house, and we walked to the large white framed door. When he
opened the door, and we walked in I was speechless. The place was
breathtaking.

The barn looked like the
others we’d passed on the road, but someone had converted it from a
place holding animals and hay, into a luxurious living area. It was
a big wide-open space with high ceilings.

My eyes wandered around the
living room. A large gray carpet filled the area, and the biggest
leather L shaped couch I had ever seen dominated the room. Antiques
were scattered around the room. A humongous stone fireplace covered
one wall. On the other side of the room a rustic dining table that
looked to seat twenty sat next to an old-fashioned kitchen with a
large red stove.

“
This is unbelievable,” I
said.

Luke looked around the
place a look of pride on his face. “One day I plan to have her
convert one for me. When I’m older, settled and
married.”

“
And this older you, is he
going to run the magic shop?”

His voice was serious when
he answered, “No, it’s my uncle’s place. He doesn’t have any kids,
and I know he’d like to leave it to one of us, but it’s not the
kind of thing I can see myself doing forever. Darla, she loves the
shop. I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up running it one
day.”

“
If not running the shop,
what’ll you do?”

“
This older me? I’m not
sure.” He gave me a smile. “How about the older you? What plans do
you have for her?”

The words,
be a healer
had started
to come out of my mouth, but I stopped them. I had lost my dream,
and I honestly had no goal now but revenge. And what would I do if
I fulfilled that one destiny? There would be no going back to the
clan once I became a death dealer. No one would be welcoming me
with open arms once I was part of the phoenix guild and that was
assuming the guild let me in. Would the phoenix guild even want me?
Even if they wanted me, could they accept me? And if they did, what
kind of wrath would having me around bring down upon
them?

Healers lived by the
mantra, ‘do no harm.’ It was part of the sacred oath, and once you
were a healer you were one for your entire lifetime, no one ever
turned their back on the profession. I knew for sure none of my
kind had ever dared to do something stupid like ask to be trained
in the dark arts. And what would my clan’s reaction be once they
found out what I had done, the lengths I had gone to for my
revenge? I would be shunned at the least, most likely
imprisoned.

I could change my name and
go underground, but what did I know of living on the fringe of
society. I had always had a stable, loving home. My family was not
rich, but I had never gone without food or a roof over my head.
What would I do once this was all over? I had no idea. And maybe I
wouldn’t have to worry about it, because maybe I wouldn’t make it.
If the first ritual didn’t kill me, the men after me just might. I
shivered at the thought.

Luke saw me shiver. “It’s cold in
here, I’ll get a fire going.”

All I knew for sure was,
right now at this moment, I was glad to be by Luke’s side. I took
comfort in the sight of him. Maybe together we could pull it off
and save his sister and survive. What other choice did we have but
to try?

“
Are you hungry?” he
asked.

“
Starved.”

“
I’ll work on the fire. Can
you see if there’s any food in the house?” Luke pointed across the
room. “Try the cupboards and see if you can find us anything to
eat.”

The fridge was empty except for a
large container of ketchup and mustard. The cupboards were mostly
bare, but I found a dozen tins of ravioli and jars of green olives
in the pantry.

Luke joined me in the
kitchen. “I got the fire started. It should start to warm up soon.
There’s no central heat, and it looks to be a chilly night.” He
reached around me and opened the nearest drawer. He pulled out a
can opener. “The plates are in the cabinet next to the
stove.”

I nuked the ravioli in the microwave
while he set out dishes on the long polished wood dining
table.

I walked over and set down a plate
piled high with ravioli in front of him.

He took the plate and
nodded his head in thanks. “Pagan’s been out of state doing some
work. I don’t think she was expecting company. I found the keys to
her car on a nail by the phone, so tomorrow morning we can drive to
the local market and get some supplies.”

I sat down and started
eating. I finished the last bite on my plate and asked, “Are we
doing the ritual here?”

“
Not the first one. We have
to do it in a place just over the pasture on the other side of the
creek.”

Pastures and creeks. We
were definitely in the boondocks.

“
And we do it at the
witching hour?” Outside in the cold at night, I was not looking
forward to whatever was going to happen.

He didn’t meet my gaze.
“After midnight. I know you didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.
Neither did I. I think we should try to get some sleep now. It’s
going to be a tough night.”

I asked the question uppermost on my
mind, “The rituals, are they really that bad?”

His expression was grim. “I never
wanted to get you into this situation.” Luke reached across the
table and grabbed my hand. “They’re not easy, but my family has
been doing it for centuries.”

“
And they’ve lived to talk
about it?” My voice trembled as I asked the question.

“
Most have.”

Most have. I didn’t like the sound of
that. “You did it,” I whispered.

He turned his face away and
said in a quiet voice, “I did.” He picked up our plates and headed
toward the kitchen. “We should get some sleep. You’re going to need
all your strength for tonight.”

“
I’d like to take a hot
shower.”

He motioned toward the
other side of the room. “The bathrooms over there. We never looked
after your scrapes. I know Pagan has some bandages around here
somewhere. When you’re done showering, I’ll see what I can find to
bandage them up.”

* * * *

I took a long shower,
allowing the hot water to run down my body. I changed into a pair
of red jeans and a red and black flannel shirt. When I came out of
the bathroom, Luke was sitting in the living room with a box of
bandages,
hydrogen peroxide
and cotton balls on the table in front of
him.

“
Sit down. Let get
something on those deeper cuts.” He reached out and grabbed the
cotton balls and peroxide.

I sat down next to him and held out my
arm. He dabbed some of the peroxide on my elbow. I
winced.

“
Does it hurt?”

“
It stings.”

He nodded his head and gently put a
bandage across the gash.

He put six bandages on
various places on my calves and arms and then motioned toward my
shirt. “Your shirt was torn last night. Is that scrape on your left
shoulder bad?”

Self-conscious, I slowly unbuttoned my
shirt and lowered it off my shoulder.

His fingers slid across my skin, and
at his touch, I shivered.

“
Does that hurt?” he asked,
his voice low.

“
No.” The problem was it
felt too good. I could feel a blush spreading across my
cheeks.

He put a bandage across the
gash and abruptly stood up. “All done.” Without looking at me, he
motioned toward the bedroom. “You take the bed I’ll take the couch.
I’ll get some blankets and be right back.”

“
Okay.” I watched him walk
away and realized my fingers were trembling.

I made my way across the living room
and started opening up doors. I found a closet, another bathroom
and the last door I tried opened into a bedroom.