Eternal (23 page)

Bertel kept the gun pointed at Julia’s face. His jaw was clenched, which belied a hint of softness in his eyes. “That was a long time ago. And she never loved me. One little bullet won’t change that, either way.”

Nadia pushed Austin outside. Julia hoped that once they were outside, he might escape. He was a cop trained in self-defense, after all—surely he could escape from a woman with a knife. But then she realized that as long as Bertel had her, Austin would never try anything risky.
No,
she thought dejectedly,
this is far from over.

The music drifting in from outside seemed to grow louder, the firelight redder.

Jack jumped up and staggered after his partner. Julia thought Bertel might fire at him, which would give her a chance to make a run for it. But he kept the barrel aimed at her and smiled grimly. “There are few pleasures left to me, but I think keeping you from what you want most may be my greatest.”

“They’re gone now,” Julia said. “It’s over. You’ve won, Uncle.”

“I hope you realize how true that is,” he said. “Marry me, and you can live. Otherwise, well, we will end it here, now.”

Julia searched the face of Caleb Bertel. His eyes were hard, determined, but wounded, as well. She sighed, resigned. Then she stepped back and smiled. “I’d say marriage to my friend Dr. Bertel is preferable to death, wouldn’t you?” She approached him slowly, stood on her tiptoes, and pressed her lips to his. As their mouths parted, she felt a thousand years of hurt, pride, and longing give way to vulnerability. And in that moment, Bertel’s soul fought back.

Bertel released himself from the kiss and, in an instant, grabbed the Taser from the floor and turned it on himself. With a giant jolt of electricity, Dr. Caleb Bertel fell to the floor, motionless. Julia picked up the inhaler from the floor. She sprayed it into Bertel’s mouth, then tased Bertel again. Julia watched Bertel’s body jolt fiercely again, then lie still.

Julia crouched over Bertel, searching frantically for a pulse. It was faint, but it was still there. She breathed a sigh of relief and crumpled into a ball of exhaustion.

T
WENTY-
S
EVEN

J
ulia heard the doorknob turn. She aimed her Super Taser in the direction of the office door. The door flew open, and Jack burst into the room.

“I lost Austin and that psycho woman!” he said.

She continued to point the Super Taser at him, not daring to believe her drug cocktail was truly successful. “Did you see which direction their metal carriage went?”

“Their
what?
Are you okay, Julia?” Jack couldn’t have looked more confused.

She lowered her weapon. “Sorry, I just needed to be sure.”

“Sure of what? What the hell’s going on?” He looked at Bertel’s body. “Is he—”

She shook her head. “He’s just unconscious. What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I was following you to that church, when I saw him crossing an intersection.” He nodded at Bertel. “I pulled over, got out, and followed Bertel into an alley.”

“It wasn’t Bertel.”

“I’m sure it was him.”

“No, what I mean is, for a while he wasn’t himself. He wasn’t Bertel.”

“What, you mean that’s not his real identity?”

Julia sighed. “Never mind. So you don’t remember anything since the alley.”

Jack looked puzzled. “That’s the weird thing. I do, but I don’t. It’s like I was floating around watching myself in a dream. Only it wasn’t me. It was someone else in my body, acting psychotic, like that girl. In this dream, I kidnapped you. None of it makes sense, and I remember only bits and pieces. Maybe Bertel drugged me, gave me some sort of hallucinogen.”

“You could say that.”

“You know what he gave me?”

“It’s a long story.”

“No time for long stories. I need to find Austin. I put out a BOLO on the woman’s license plate, but by the time anyone spots her it could be too late. That woman was screaming
Fatal Attraction
B.S. at him: ‘You can live or die. Be my lover or my slave,’ weird stuff like that.”

Bertel started to stir, moaning. He opened his eyes.

“Julia?”

“Dr. Bertel! Can you sit up?” She helped him to a seated position.

He winced. “I’m a little dizzy.” He turned to the side and, without warning, threw up on the parquet floor. He wiped his hand across his lips and turned back to Julia. “I’m so sorry.”

“You couldn’t help it.”

“I’m not talking about throwing up.”

“I know.”

“I could see everything, Julia, but I couldn’t get control.”

“Dr. Bertel, it wasn’t your fault. You were trapped.”

“What the—?” Jack said in disbelief. “Okay everyone, can we come back to Planet Earth for a minute and talk about what happened to Austin and Single

White Female?”

Dr. Bertel gripped Julia’s arm. “Nadia told me—I mean she told Fulbert, but she thought it was me—that she had a favorite place on the beach. Do you think she might have put the thought in Genevieve’s head?”

Julia leaped to her feet. “The pier! That makes sense. Nadia always was pushy, so let’s just hope she’s still in there somewhere calling the shots. Jack, let’s go!”

Bertel pulled himself up on wobbly legs. “Let me come. I spent a lot of time in Fulbert’s weird little netherworld, and I might be able to help.”

“Fulbert?” Jack said, his gaze turning inward. “That sounds familiar.”

“No time,” Julia said. “We need to go.”

“Okay, right!” Jack started to lead them out the door, then stopped and leaned over to mutter in Julia’s ear. “Just one problem: do you remember where I parked my car?”

Since Julia was the only one in their trio who hadn’t had a demonic soul bounced out of their pineal gland that day, she drove. It wasn’t unusual for her to be chasing down Nadia in the wee hours. Nadia was a little too fond of partying and often found herself in hot water as a result. The fact that it was really Genevieve who was in control and not Nadia was of little comfort. Nadia was still out there somewhere; and if Julia couldn’t find her, there would be no coming back. She would never see her friend again.

Not long ago they’d been hanging out at Nadia’s apartment, shopping bags strewn everywhere, while Nadia put on a fashion show. She’d posed and preened in front of her mirror, modeling a paisley silk blouse, leather skirt, and lace-up boots she’d bought for a hot date. Giving her own reflection a seductive smile, she’d said, “To die for.”

“Love yourself much?” Julia grinned.

“Hey, don’t knock self-love. It takes a lot of turned-down cheesecake and pumped-up Pilates to look like this.”

Nadia had always been the more confident of the two of them. And Julia was certain her friend wouldn’t give up her hard-earned body to evil without a serious

The pier wasn’t far, but when they stopped at a red light, the car’s engine wheezed, sputtered, and died. Julia tried to start it again, but none of her repeated attempts worked. She looked at the gas gauge. Empty.

“No!” She gripped the steering wheel and shook herself.

“I’m sure I filled it,” Jack said.

“I think Fulbert had someone siphon it,” Bertel said. “Just in case.”

“Just in case of what?” Jack said.

“We’ll have to hoof it from here!” Julia said. “Come on!”

As she opened her door, a motorcycle pulled alongside her. “Julia, is that you?” said a familiar voice. The girl with her arms wrapped around this week’s boyfriend was Kate. Kate leapt off the bike and ran to her bloodied friend.

“Are you alright?” she asked Julia, mouth agape. She spared an odd look for Jack and Dr. Bertel as they emerged from the small car, unsteady on their feet. Dr. Bertel promptly fell to the ground, and Jack leaned against the car for support. “More to the point, are your friends alright?”

“Thank God it’s you, Kate! I don’t have time to explain, but do you think your friend would give me a ride to the pier? If I don’t get there fast, Austin’s going to die!”

“Austin? Oh yes.” She turned to the boy on the bike. “Bertrand, it appears something is wrong with her metal carriage.”

“My …” Julia’s eyes widened.

The varsity letterman held out a hand. “I’ll be delighted to give you a ride.”

“Not yet,” Kate said. “First she desires to find her friend.”

“I can take you there too.” He gave her an overenthusiastic smile, all teeth.

Julia gave him an equally toothy grin back. “Thank you. I just need to grab something from my metal carriage.” As she leaned into her car, she reached her hand into her shoulder bag and found her Super Taser and an inhaler. She wheeled around on her heels and tased both Kate and her date, one after the other. She then administered the drug and tased them again. While the pair lay in the street twitching, the boy’s right leg pinned under his motorcycle, Julia helped Bertel to his feet.

Kate opened her eyes and stood up staggering. “Julia?” she mumbled.

“You’ll be okay,” Julia said. “No time to explain. Gotta motor.”

She lifted the still-rumbling bike off the boy’s leg, kicked her own leg over the seat, and took off like a jockey on a thundering black horse. Julia’s hair blew behind her, her bag bounced against her back, and her Super Taser sat tucked into her belt where she could quickly grab it. If her father could see her, speeding down the street after midnight on a motorcycle, wearing no helmet, she’d never hear the end of it. Normally she wouldn’t blame him—one wrong move and her brains would be scrambled eggs on the pavement. But for now she let herself feel the rush of freedom.

The breeze blew the sweat from her face. She took a deep breath of damp, salty air. She leaned over her steed and felt her nerve endings tingle, alive to the sensation of dozens of untethered souls floating through the night, unattached to the world, waiting for rescue.

Julia dumped the bike at the place where asphalt met sand. She’d been going on adrenaline for hours, but the effects were starting to wear thin. She could feel her body about to hit a wall. For a moment the pavement spun, rising toward her.
Hang on. You’re almost there.

She sprinted through the dark, stumbling on sharp rocks that bit into her feet, ignoring the shooting pain from the deep gash in her right hip. A thick stream of blood ran down her torn knee and mingled with her sweat. A woman’s body holds about eight to ten pints of blood. How much could she lose before she blacked out? Her heart beat uncontrollably. She was on the verge of hyperventilation, and blood loss was making her dizzy. But she could not stop—she
must
not stop. Sweat dripped into her eyes, but she couldn’t spare the energy to wipe it away. Every extremity throbbed. She wanted nothing more than to sink into oblivion, to succumb to the weariness in her bones.

Ocean waves crashed at her feet, urging her to pick up her pace.
Almost there.
As her legs pumped harder, the blood that oozed from both her hip and her knee pulsed faster, leaving a distinct trail in the sand. Big splotch, little splotch, big splotch, little splotch. With luck, they’d be able to follow it to find her body.
Don’t you dare pass out before you get there!
The moonlight blurred and faded—or was that her dimming sight? She could just make out the rough outline of the pier in the darkness. Her final destination.

In desperation, she cried out, “Nadia!” Her voice was so cracked with fear and fatigue that she didn’t recognize it as her own. She stumbled and fell. She’d lost too much blood. She couldn’t go any further. The world turned gray.

Then, she saw an angelic face, not in her mind—but standing right in front of her in the sand.

“Mom?”