Possession (12 page)

A sudden realization sent my heart racing. “Luke—if
Dean is awake during the day when Rachel—his mother—comes back…she’ll
see that he’s well, and she’ll take him away…” I could feel the panic rising
inside me. “Take
you
away.”

Luke reached out and touched my cheek. “I promise
you, Colina, I won’t leave you again. Not if I can help it.”

But if Dean was in control, how could he help it? I
moved forward and wrapped my arms around him. He’s with me now, but for how
long?

The next day I went into
the common room. Dean was seated in his wheelchair by the window. For a brief
moment, my heart skipped a beat. Would Luke’s dark eyes greet me?

When Dean turned and faced me, a pair of deep blue
eyes met mine.
That’s not Luke.
He
rose slowly from the chair, holding on to it tightly for balance. He stood
unsteadily for a moment before he slowly walked over and stood in front of me.
“Hello.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, so I went with, “Hi.” His
stride was so sure. Before, he’d taken tentative steps, but now he stood
looking almost healthy and seemed stronger than I would have expected. How is
this even possible?

His hand reached out and his fingers stopped just
short of touching my arm. “The orderly bruised you the other night. When he
forced you into the ice bath.”

His words stunned me. Luke wasn’t aware of
anything when he wasn’t in control—he’d told me as much last night. But
Dean somehow knew about the orderlies torturing me, which meant Dean must have
been able to hear things when Luke was in control. “You know about my ice
bath?”

Dean nodded his head. He put his hand on the back
of a nearby chair and leaned on it heavily, but made no move to sit down.

It was weird, looking into his familiar face and
seeing a stranger staring out of those eyes. I knew almost nothing about Dean,
except that he’d been lost during the second ritual. If he’s been aware this whole
time…then he knew I used his body to bring Luke back.

I suddenly couldn’t meet his eyes. “I didn’t know
you were still around. I mean, I thought you were lost. I thought your body was
an empty—”

He interrupted me. “Vessel. I don’t blame you for
what you tried to do. Even my family didn’t know I was still here. They have
powerful magic. The spells they tried couldn’t release me, but somehow…you
did.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“When you were trying to save my body from
drowning, I heard you crying out Luke’s name, and then I saw a bright orange
flash and suddenly I could rise up from my prison. I could move again. It was
you
, Colina. You did something that set
me free.”

It was weird—his expressions, his gestures,
the way he held himself was so different from Luke. My eyes lingered a moment
on his lips.
Just last night I kissed
those lips
. A blush spread across my cheeks at the thought. Dean had
listened in on the things happening around him. Does that mean he also heard
Luke and me
when we were making out?

Dean started to speak again. His voice was not as
deep and growly as Luke’s. “During the second trial, I remember the ghost
taking me over. I remember trying to free myself, and then I was lost. I could
hear things, sense things around me, but I was somewhere else. I was trapped,
unable to communicate or get out.”

I nodded my head. I remember the place I’d been in
when Wanda took me over—a small, gray piece of oblivion. I’d felt
trapped, helpless. Dean had been lost for a year. How had he not gone raving
mad, cut off from the world like that?

And now he was back. He had woken up and found
himself committed to an insane asylum, surrounded by strangers that were trying
to use his body for their own means. For the first time since I started down the
path of saving Luke, I felt ashamed at what I had tried to do. But the shame
didn’t last more than a heartbeat. I would do it all over again—I would
go to the depths of hell and back to have Luke with me.

I forced my shoulders back and looked Dean
straight in the eye. “Now you’re back.”

His expression turned watchful. “I am.”

“And you know Luke is inside you.”

He nodded his head.

I cleared my throat. “Do you plan to force him
out?”

“What’s the alternative? We live together in
perfect harmony?” He said it like it was a joke.

“You might not be able to force him out even if
you want to. Luke’s a powerful death dealer.” Dean’s eyes narrowed, but he
didn’t respond. This conversation was not going the way I’d hoped. “You never
finished your training.”

He laughed. “Neither did you.”

“
I
made
it through the three rituals.” I couldn’t help it—I sounded defensive.

He stood there silent again, watching me. When he
finally spoke, all the humor had left his voice. “You can help people cross
over. The easiest solution is for you to help Luke cross over into the light.
It would solve all of our problems.”

I looked at him, stunned. “I won’t do it.”

“Even if it’s the right thing to do? The moral
thing to do?” he demanded.

My hands clenched into fists. “I won’t lose him
again. I know I can bring him back.”

“So you’re prepared to break all the laws of man—of
nature—to keep your boyfriend with you?”

We were now standing toe-to-toe, and our voices
had raised a few octaves. One of the orderlies was making a move toward us.

I opened my palms, relaxed my body, and took a few
steps back. “I’m prepared to do whatever it takes to keep Luke with me.”

The orderly stopped mid-room and stood there,
watching us.

Dean took a deep breath and slumped back to lean
on the chair dramatically. He looked over at the orderly and then back at me.
“It wouldn’t be smart to start a scene in here. Not unless you want back in
that straitjacket and padded cell.”

This time I gave him a cold stare.
Is that a threat?

He raised his hand as if in surrender. “Hey, I’m
just trying to be helpful here. I’m the one who told them you tried to save me.
I’m the one who got you out of that hellhole.”

I stared at him in silence for a few moments. When
I spoke again, I tried to keep my voice low and casual. “You were comatose
until I did CPR on you. Until
I
laid
hands on you.” I lowered my voice. “Dean, you didn’t
fall
into that tub. Someone tried to kill you. Did you see the
person who tried to drown you?”

“It doesn’t work like that. When I was inside
myself, I didn’t see anything. I had impressions of things going on. I could
hear conversations going on around me.” He shrugged his shoulders and then
seemed to struggle for words. “I had a sense of someone…someone coming up
behind me. And then…then the wheelchair started rolling. There was a loud
splash of water…there was chanting…someone definitely chanted…or maybe sang.”

Dean was, at the moment, the only one alive who
had been in contact with the killer. He hadn’t seen anything, but he’d heard
something. Maybe it was something that could help us track down the psychopath.
“What kind of chanting? Could you make out any words?”

“It wasn’t Latin. It wasn’t in a language I
recognized.”

Death dealers
use Latin to power their spells. Whoever tried to kill Dean is not one of us
.
I stopped cold at the thought.
One of us.
It was the first time I’d ever thought of myself as a death dealer. Most of the
time I considered myself some kind of abomination, a mythic monster created by
revenge and rituals gone awry. “You know about the killings?”

“I’ve heard you talk about them.”

“It’s almost the end of the month. Someone is
going to be killed in the next few days.”

He answered. “Someone already almost died. If you
hadn’t come along and saved me, I would have been the next victim.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. What’s to stop the
killer from going after you again?”

His eyes narrowed. “You aren’t worried about me…you’re
worried about Luke.”

I didn’t avert my eyes this time—just stared
at him in silence.

“So I guess there’s no point in thanking you for
saving my life.” His expression softened. He reached out and touched my arm.
“Colina, this is an awkward position we find ourselves in. There’s no point in
us being enemies.”

I pulled my arm away. “You want to be
friends
?”

“Why not? Whatever happens…however this plays out…we’re
going to find ourselves thrown together.” He gestured to his body with one hand.
“I’m awake now. I’m not going to be forced back again.” He said it with a smile
on his face, but there was a veiled threat behind his words. “Maybe I’m strong
enough to force Luke out”—I started to say something, but he lifted his
hand and stopped me—“or maybe he’s strong enough to stay put. Either way,
who knows how long we’ll find ourselves entwined in each other’s lives?”

What he said was true. Now that Dean was back, any
hope of finding a spell to give Luke full possession of the body was futile. An
empty
vessel is what I needed, but instead
I was standing here confronting a guy in full possession of his faculties. Luke
could come out at night, but Dean seemed here to stay during the day.

I gave Dean a long look. He was taking this whole
situation surprisingly well…a little
too
well. Why hadn’t he turned us in to the staff? Why was he going along with this
whole crazy scenario? I didn’t know his reasons, but I was thankful nonetheless.
Can I somehow convince Dean not to force Luke out? Dean would probably never go
for that…letting another person stay inside him… It was a crazy notion. But
honestly, what other option was there? If Dean forced Luke out and sent him
back to the in between, and I then tried to bring Luke back again, I was
tempting fate a second time. It was guaranteed to go wrong. Luke has to stay
inside Dean. I have to somehow convince Dean to let Luke stay. I had no idea
how I would do it, but I would do whatever it took to get my way. Starting by
becoming friends with the body that held Luke.

Setting my jaw, I said, “You’re right. This is an
impossible situation. No use making it harder on ourselves.” I stuck out my
hand. “Friends?”

His hand reached out and clasped mine. Those blue
eyes were watching me, and somehow I got the impression that he knew I wasn’t
being sincere.

Whatever it
takes
, I reminded myself. I tightened my grip and gave Dean a wide smile.

Dean looked over my shoulder suddenly and an odd
expression flashed across his face. He slowly moved away from me and sat down
in a nearby chair.

I turned and watched his mother, Rachel, rushing
across the room.

She outstretched her arms as she reached us. “My
boy! You’re back with us!”

I expected Dean to greet her, to embrace her—instead
he just stared back at her in silence.

She kneeled down until her face was level with
his. She leaned forward and whispered. “Dean? Dean, can you hear me?”

When he didn't reply, she looked over at me. “They
said he was talking. I just saw him standing with you! Did he speak to you?”

I nodded my head. Dean sat in the chair, looking
off into space, completely ignoring the fact his mother was now in front of
him. Is Dean gone? Did he somehow slip away again?

She turned to her son and pleaded. “Say something.
Please say something, honey.”

Dean’s right hand slowly reached out and touched
hers.

Rachel cried out and made a grab for it, clutching
it to her chest. “It’s true! You’re back!” Her other hand reached up and touched
his cheek, tears brimming in her eyes. “You’ve finally come back to us.” After
a few moments, she let go of him and stood up. Tears were falling freely down
her face. “I'm going to find the doctor. Can you keep an eye on him? I’ll be
right back.”

Only when she was out of earshot did Dean finally
speak, answering my unspoken question. “If she thinks I'm completely better,
she’ll check me out of this place.”

I jumped at the sound if his voice. He
is
still here. I looked down at him. He
was right. If Rachel thought her son was back, she would quickly whisk him
away. It was my biggest fear—one he’d no doubt heard me tell Luke the
other night. But why did he care? "I thought you’d want to get out of here
as fast as you could.”

“A better idea might be for me to stick around a
bit. The killer will be looking for another target. Maybe if I’m around, I can
help keep that from happening.”

I sat down next to him.
I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“So your plan is to let them
think you’re slowly coming back? That you need the doctor’s help for full
recovery?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t honestly have
a plan. I’m just winging it at the moment.” He watched his mother talking to
the nurse over at the window. “And what about you? You and Luke were planning
on escaping this place.”

“We were. As soon as Luke got stronger.”

“I can walk now, but I don’t know if I’m up to
running or sprinting yet. It shouldn’t take too long until I can. Stick to the
plan. When I’m well enough, we’ll escape.”

Was he serious? He wanted to escape with me? “But
you can walk out right now with your mom!”

“I can, but
you
can’t. You’ve been admitted. It would take a doctor’s clearance to get you out
of here. And from what I’ve overheard nurses saying, your sessions haven’t been
going well with Dr. Barton. I don’t think he’ll be signing your release papers anytime
soon.”

I pressed my lips together and looked away. He
wasn’t wrong. Dr. Barton was not my biggest fan. If the doctor had his way, I
would probably grow old in this place.

But what I couldn’t fathom is why Dean cared. So I
simply asked him outright. “Why do you care what happens to me?”

“I’ve gotten used to having you around.” His
expression was guarded, and when he realized I was watching him he shrugged his
shoulders self-consciously. I’m not leaving you alone in this place with a
lunatic killing people.” He gave me a half smile. “I don’t want to see you get
hurt.”

There was something odd about the way he said it.
The way his eyes suddenly avoided mine. Since I first set eyes on him, I’d done
everything I could to try and help Luke take him over. If we had been
successful, Dean would have been completely forced out. “You want to escape
together? Even though I’ve been trying to help Luke possess your body for
months now?”