Night Terrors (32 page)

“It’s okay,” Tara said, not even realizing she was crying. “I got him. I got Jeremy for what he did to my parents. For what he did to your sister.”

Katie nodded and tears slipped from her eyes.

“Woods!!” Tara shouted. She needed Woods’ help – she couldn’t do this without him.

Lorie untied the ropes from Mike’s wrists and ankles. She pulled the tape off of his mouth and tried to wake him up. His face had been so red, almost purple, and his breathing was ragged.

But he seemed to be coming back to consciousness now. He opened his eyes and stared up at her like he was confused for a moment.

“Mike,” she said. “Can you stand up? We have to get out of here.”

She glanced at the open door of the garage, and then around the garage, looking for a place to hide. But she couldn’t drag Mike with her. He was too big and her body ached too badly from holding on to the post for so long.

If that monster came back …

But Woods said he was going to kill him. And she prayed he would.

And then her heart jumped and her eyes darted towards the open garage door again. She heard a sound in the distance … a car pulling up.

“You wait right here,” she told Mike and she was on her feet and running towards the open garage door with more strength and speed than she thought she had, her muscles functioning on the last of her adrenaline now. She got to the edge of the door and peeked out and what she saw almost made her cry out with joy.

A police car.

Lorie rushed out of the garage to the car as the officer got out.

“There’s a killer in the house!” she screamed at the cop. “He’s trying to kill us!”

The officer didn’t even try to calm her down or show any disbelief, he pushed a button on his shoulder mic and called for backup.

“Where is he?” the cop yelled at Lorie after he called it in.

Lorie looked towards the house and she saw the smoke coming from the other side, black smoke spiraling up towards the blue sky. “Oh God, what has he done?”

“You wait right here, ma’am,” the older officer told Lorie as he pulled out his gun. “Paramedics and backup are on the way.”

Woods rushed into the office. He began untying Aunt Katie’s hands while Tara held on to her legs.

“Hurry,” she whispered.

Woods reached up for the noose around Katie’s neck, but he couldn’t quite get enough leverage to loosen the knot. He could go back into the burning dining room and get a chair, but he didn’t think he had time for that. Smoke had filled the dining room, and now it was filling up the living room, and drifting into the office.

“Hold this chair as steady as you can,” Woods told Tara. “Try to find something to block the wheels with.”

Woods climbed up on the chair beside Aunt Katie, very close to her body, both of their feet on the seat of the chair. The chair wanted to spin, but Tara held on to it, with her feet lodged in front of the wheels on the chair. Her muscles ached from the position she was in, but there was no way she was letting go.

Woods grabbed the knot on the rope at the back of Katie’s neck, the noose was tight, and he had to get his sore fingers dug into the knot and pull, but he also had to move as slowly as possible and not make any sudden movements. If the chair moved, he wasn’t going to be able to hold her up. He tried to reach up to the rafter, but it was too high above him. He wished he had something to cut the rope with.

He finally got the noose loosened and he pulled it up over Katie’s head. She ripped the tape off her mouth and pulled out the saliva-soaked rag.

And then they all heard a voice.

“Hold it right there!”

Woods and Katie were still standing on the chair together, with Tara on the floor beside them, hugging on to her aunt’s legs. They all turned as one to the doorway and saw the older police officer standing there with his gun aimed right at them.

“What the hell are you doing!?” the officer yelled at them.

“Wait a minute,” Woods said in a slow and even tone, trying to keep the police officer calm. “I’m not the killer.”

“You two get down off that chair very slowly.”

“I’ll go first,” Woods told Tara. “Hold on to her.”

Woods got down off the chair as Tara held on to her aunt’s legs which were shaking even worse now.

“Just take it easy,” Woods said. “We’re not the bad guy. He’s in the dining room.”

“That guy who’s burnt to death is the killer?” the officer smirked, and it didn’t seem like he was convinced.

Tara was about to tell the police officer that Woods was telling the truth when Jeremy materialized out of the smoke – he tackled the older police officer, knocking him to the ground, knocking the gun out of his hand.

Jeremy was burnt, much of his skin black and smoking. His eyes were wild, like he couldn’t even feel the pain, like he’d moved beyond the pain and the only thing he felt now was rage. He pounded his fists down into the police officer’s face and knocked him out. And then he went for the gun on the floor.

Woods bolted from the chair out into the living room, knocking Katie backwards off the chair. She let out a small scream, trying to keep her balance as best she could.

Tara managed to break her aunt’s fall and then she spun around on the floor and watched as Jeremy grabbed the gun from the floor with his burnt hands, he stuck a blackened finger through the trigger guard. He turned towards Woods.

Woods slammed into Jeremy like a linebacker sacking a quarterback. They both fell down onto the floor, Jeremy’s body making a sickening crunching sound.

The gun went flying.

Even though Jeremy seemed supernaturally strong with rage, Woods was just as possessed. He squirmed around and was on top of Jeremy in a second, straddling his torso with his legs.

Woods punched Jeremy in the face.

He punched him again and again.

Jeremy raised his hands, trying to protect himself from the flurry of punches pounding his face, but there were too many.

“Your brother,” Jeremy said so low that only Woods heard it.

Woods stopped punching the monster, and he stared down at Jeremy’s burnt face as he heaved with quick breaths.

“What did you say?” Woods growled.

“Your brother screamed and screamed when I killed him. He begged for his life. He cried like a little baby.”

Woods hit Jeremy again. And again.

“Woods!” Tara yelled. She was already on her feet, standing in the doorway. The room was filling up with smoke from the fire in the dining room. They needed to grab the police officer and get out of here.

Jeremy lay on the wood floor underneath of Woods who still had him pinned down with his knees like an MMA fighter. Jeremy was only seconds away from passing out.

Woods looked at Tara with tears in his eyes.

“It’s enough,” Tara said. “It’s over. We have to get my aunt and that cop out of here.”

Woods nodded.

Aunt Katie bolted out of the office past Tara and ran to the kitchen.

“Where are you going?!” Tara shouted at her.

Aunt Katie didn’t have time to answer. She searched the cabinets in the kitchen until she found what she was looking for underneath the sink – a fire extinguisher.

She ran back to the fire that was consuming one wall and beginning to spread to another. The smoke was thick, but a lot of the smoke was pouring out of the sliding glass door which was still wide open. Katie sprayed the extinguisher all over the wall, dousing a lot of the flames, but not all of them.

Woods helped the cop up to a sitting position. He was coming back around and Woods handed him his gun back. Tara helped Woods get the officer to his feet.

They heard the sirens in the distance getting closer and closer.

The fire fighters had the fire out in minutes and the cops and paramedics had Jeremy’s body strapped down and handcuffed to a gurney while several police officers watched with their guns ready. But it didn’t look like Jeremy was going to fight back anymore.

Another crew of paramedics worked on Mike who was still in the garage. He had come back to consciousness, but he needed some medical attention and they loaded him onto a stretcher bound for a different ambulance.

Woods, Tara, and Aunt Katie huddled together, breathing in the fresh air, letting the charred smell of the smoke leave their lungs with each breath.

Lorie was at Mike’s side as they wheeled him into the ambulance. But she had to let his hand go. She promised him that she would meet him at the hospital. Then she hurried over to Tara as the back doors of the ambulance closed and the vehicle took off across the grass towards the dirt driveway that ran through the woods.

“I don’t know what to say,” Lorie said as she stared at Tara. “Thank you so much.”

Tara just nodded and she couldn’t help crying. “It’s my fault he was here in the first place,” she said through choked sobs.

Lorie held on to her. “It’s
not
your fault. Don’t make excuses for that sick monster.”

Tara’s vision was blurry with tears as she held on to Lorie. She watched as the paramedics wheeled Jeremy to the other ambulance.

Jeremy stared right at Tara. He smiled – and then he winked at her. One white eye winking in his charred face. The Shadow Man. The Monster from her nightmares all these years.

It was finally over.

Tara felt her skin crawl and she forced herself to look away from him.

Lorie let Tara go. She was crying, too. She wiped at her eyes.

A plain squad car roared down the dirt driveway passing the ambulances as they left. The car skidded to a stop on the grass and Detective Perry jumped out and ran towards Lorie.

“Uncle Ronald! How did you know?”

He grabbed Lorie and bear-hugged her. “I’m sorry I doubted Tara,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Lorie broke down into sobs and let her uncle hold her.

After a moment, they let go of each other and walked over to Woods, Tara, and Aunt Katie.

“Can you give me a ride to the hospital?” Lorie asked her uncle.

Perry nodded, but then he turned his ice blue eyes on Woods. “You know I’m going to have to arrest you for impersonating an FBI agent.”

Woods nodded – he understood.

“Isn’t there some other way?” Lorie begged her uncle.

“I’ll do my best to vouch for him,” Perry said as he stared at Woods. “But the arrest can wait until tomorrow. Go on and give your statements to the sheriff, and I hope to see you tomorrow afternoon at the station.”

Woods nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be there.”

Perry and Lorie walked back to his car, Perry with his arm around his niece.

Tara watched them walk away, and then she looked at Woods. “Will you stay the night with us?”

Woods smiled at Aunt Katie, and then at Tara. “Of course.”

Woods spent the night with Tara and her aunt in Tara’s apartment. He and Tara slept in the same bed and talked until three o’clock in the morning. Woods wanted to try a relationship and Tara was willing as long as Woods could cope with her night terrors. He pulled her close to him and kissed her. He promised he could deal with anything just to be with her.

As promised, Woods turned himself over to Detective Perry the next day. Tara hugged him before Perry snapped a pair of handcuffs on him and led him away.

Woods did three months in the county jail while his court case pended. Tara visited him as much as she was allowed. When he went to court, he got time served from Judge Whalen because of Detective Perry’s influence.

Aunt Katie went back to Boston, but she only stayed long enough to pack. She moved back down to Tampa to be closer to Tara, and she rented an apartment not too far away from Tara’s home. Tara spent a lot of time with her aunt, and less and less time with Lorie. Lorie and Mike grew closer together, but Lorie always kept in touch at least twice a week.

Jeremy had been indicted on several murder charges, but his case hadn’t even started yet. He’d been in the prison infirmary the whole time on suicide watch. His burns were healing slowly, but he would be scarred for life.

The case was already a media circus as more and more details of satanic rituals leaked out to the press. And it was only going to get worse once it went to court. Tara and Woods knew they had a lot of time on the stand and meetings with lawyers in their future. Tara wished she could put the whole thing behind her and move on with her life, but she wanted to do everything she could to make sure that Jeremy was either executed for his crimes, or at least spent the rest of his life behind walls where he couldn’t hurt anyone anymore.

As soon as Woods was released from jail, he moved in with Tara. He already had a job lined up and he promised he would to take care of her.

“We’ll take care of each other,” Tara told him.

A week after Woods moved in, he and Tara lay in bed watching the news, cuddled up close to each other, and of course the news reporters were talking about the case. The bedroom was dark; the only light came from the TV. They had shared a bottle of wine earlier with a dinner that Tara had prepared. They were full, slightly buzzed, and relaxed. Comfortable.

Tara felt safe beside Woods, safer than she ever had in her whole life. She’d had a few nightmares over the last few months, but nothing too bad. The dark presence that had suffocated her for much of her life was still there sometimes, Jeremy could still get to her that way, even from jail, but she no longer feared him finding her.

She felt good.

She felt safe.

She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Hours later Tara woke up in her bathtub with a drawing tablet on her lap and a pencil clenched in one hand. Woods shook her awake.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Tara nodded and glanced down at the drawing on the tablet. She handed the tablet to Woods.

He looked at the sketch of a pretty woman.

“I saw that woman in my dreams,” Tara whispered. “She’s going to be murdered soon. We have to help her.”