Redemption (9 page)

Isaac stared
down at Rebecca with a look of abject horror on his handsome face.  “What are
you doing?!”

She shook her
head, her gaze still on her sweet Cloe.  “Shh… did he scare you sweetheart?”

Isaac snorted. 
“
Sweetheart?
  Rebecca, look at that thing!”  His voice gentled, and
there was a bit of anguish there.  “What is…what is it doing to you?”  He sank
to his knees, still keeping that careful distance between them.

Rebecca finally spared
him more than just a casual glance.  She was starting to get mad.  “This
thing
is my daughter.  What in the world is wrong with you?”

He made a choked
noise.  How could he describe it?  It was fairly obvious that Rebecca wasn’t
seeing the same thing he was.  She smoothed a hand over the thing’s head, then
jiggled it a bit more, murmuring snatches of an old kid’s song.  The beast
fisted its tiny hands in her shirt and wriggled down closer in her arms. 

Isaac shuddered
as his eyes ranged from the thing’s human torso to its long, green serpentine
tail.  The tail was coiled around Rebecca’s right side, under her arm and up
over her shoulder, where a pair of barbs, like those of a giant scorpion, were
embedded in her flesh.  She didn’t seem to care, didn’t even notice that the
thing was stinging her, pumping her full of poison.

Isaac didn’t
know what to do.  He was afraid that getting her to snap out of it would make
the thing angry and make the situation worse.  But he couldn’t just let this go
on.  He saw the look of tenderness on Rebecca’s face as she gazed down at what
she thought was the baby she had lost, and his insides squeezed painfully. 
This just wasn’t fair.

He took a deep
breath and let it out.  Then, as gently as he could, he said, “Rebecca, look at
me sweetheart.”

She reluctantly
pulled her attention away from the baby.  Her big brown eyes met his, but they
were hazy.  “Good girl,” he breathed.  He held out a hand to her.  “I need you
to put the baby down, just for a minute.”

Her arms
tightened around the bundle, and she gave him a panicked look.  “I’m not
leaving her.”

He forced a
soothing smile on his face, as if leaving the little monster would be absurd. 
“Of course not.  I just need you to put her down for a few seconds.”  Maybe if
she wasn’t holding the thing, she would be able to see it. 

But the thing
moved, fussing and squirming.  He watched in horror as it opened its mouth,
revealing a set of long, wicked fangs.  It reared back and sank its teeth into
the swell of her left breast, near her heart.  Isaac gasped and reached
forward, but Rebecca only chuckled and cradled the thing closer to her breast. 
“Oops!  I guess she’s hungry.”

Blood was
staining her t-shirt where the thing clung to her.  Isaac stared at her for one
desperate moment, thinking he had finally lost her.  This thing was going to
suck the life out of her right before his eyes. 

Rebecca looked
at Isaac in surprise.  His blue eyes were snapping with anger and he crouched
low like a dangerous animal.  She clutched the defenseless baby while she
nursed.  Was he so mad about her betrayal that he would harm her?  The
insidious thought worked its way into her head and wouldn’t leave.  How well
did she really know this stranger?  He was a drug user, admittedly a liar and
an untrustworthy person.  Why should she trust him?

At that precise
moment, he sprang at her.  She tried to shelter the baby with her body, to
protect her from this madman.  He crouched over her, straddling her legs,
pinning her down as his big hands pushed hers aside, tearing at the baby. 
Rebecca kicked and struggled.  “No!  Let her go!”

He got a firm
grip on the tiny little body and pulled.  Rebecca screamed, then sank her teeth
into his hand.  She felt the soft flesh give, and blood filled her mouth.  He
grunted in pain, but wouldn’t let go. 

He shifted his
weight to get a better grip on Cloe, and Rebecca was finally able to get a leg
free.  She used what leverage she could to twist her hips.  Isaac was
unbalanced and fell forward onto them.  His forehead smashed into hers and she
saw stars, but she managed to use her weight to send them rolling across the
ground.  She had hoped to fling him off, but he wrapped his long arms around
her and hung on.

Rebecca felt a
searing pain in her right shoulder as they rolled.  It lanced up her neck and
made her head pound.  She was on top of Isaac now, clutched to him, and she
struggled to push herself up and away.  He wrapped a leg around her to keep her
from escaping, one big hand still grasping at the baby, who had begun to emit
little shrieks of fear.

The sound raised
a feeling of complete desperation in Rebecca.  He was going to take her baby
away.  She was going to lose her, again.  The thought was jarring.  Had she
ever lost her before?  Isaac nearly succeeded in prizing the bundle from her
arms.  Rebecca shrieked and kneed him hard in the crotch. 

He twisted at
the last minute, taking a bruising blow to the thigh, but saving his more
important parts.  He’d let go of her for a minute though, and Rebecca surged to
her feet, headed for the shelter of the forest. 

She hadn’t made
it more than a few steps when he hit her from behind, tackling her and knocking
her to the ground.  She struggled, but she was tiring.  Isaac might look all
lean and graceful, but he was whipcord strong and she was no match for his long
arms and strong hands.  It was as if he had sprouted more appendages.  Every
time she fought off one attack, there was another.  Tears streamed down her
face. 

“Please,” she panted. 
“Please don’t do this to me.”  She sobbed when he worked a hand in between
herself and the baby, forcing the child’s little face away from Rebecca’s
chest.  Tears fell on his hand, and his beautiful face looked grim.

“This isn’t your
baby,” he insisted.  Pulling, wrenching the child from her arms.  

She gasped in
pain as the warm bundle was torn from her arms, leaving behind a deep chill. 
Pain blossomed in her chest, spread through her being, and she was wracked with
it.  She let out a hoarse scream as Isaac turned and
threw
her baby. 
The little bundle landed six feet away with a dull thud.  He knelt over her
looking triumphant.  

Rebecca launched
herself at his smug face, her fingers curled into claws, trying to scratch out
those icy blue eyes.  He caught her easily, wrapping a big hand around each
wrist and holding her against him as she struggled with the pain that was
washing over her- a grief so profound that she thought she would die from it. 
She lost what little strength she had left and sagged weakly in his grip,
shaking with silent sobs, tears flowing like a river, pouring out of her with
the endless hurt.

“She’s gone,”
she moaned.

Isaac enfolded
her in his arms and held her against his broad chest.  One big hand stroked her
hair over and over, soothing, gentling her as she turned herself inside out. 
The hands that had been so ruthless just moments before were now holding her
together while she fell apart.

The pain felt
like it would go on forever, but eventually it began to ebb.  Rebecca had
stopped crying, but Isaac still cradled her, his big, warm hand stroking from
the top of her head and down her back.

Finally, she
pushed herself away.  Isaac stood and offered her a hand up, and she saw that
he was still bleeding where she had bitten him.  She refused the hand, not
wanting to hurt him any more than she already had, and pushed herself awkwardly
to her feet.

The thing that
had preyed on her weakness was watching them from the edge of the clearing.  It
stood on its coiled tail, its little hands wrapped around a sapling for
support.  When they turned to look at it, it hissed, revealing its long,
pointed fangs.

Rebecca squared
her shoulders.  “You are not my child.”  She said loudly.  “She’s gone and
she’s never coming back.”

The creature
grimaced unpleasantly, then slowly faded, disappearing before her eyes.

Isaac had come
to stand beside her, and he ruffled her hair with his undamaged hand.  “You
alright?”  His deep voice was hesitant.

Rebecca nodded,
still staring at the place where the monster had vanished.  “That was…really
important, I think.”

Isaac was
silent.  She turned to him and took his injured hand in hers.  Her bumps,
bruises, and scratches were gone.  But his injury remained.  The bleeding had
finally stopped, but he had a nice crescent-shaped wound right in the web space
between his thumb and index finger.  She remembered how he had hung on, even
after that and refused to let her have her way.

“Thank you,” she
said softly.  They had both had so much of their emotional baggage revealed
that she was past feeling embarrassed or ashamed of her behavior.  But he had
fought for her, and that was worth acknowledging.

Isaac flexed his
fingers and removed his hand from her grasp, replacing it with his uninjured
one.  He twined his fingers in hers and turned back toward the path.  “Just
repaying the favor,” he said lightly.  Then his sharp eyes met hers.  “I need
you.  I can’t do this alone.”

There was an
unfamiliar sensation in Rebecca’s stomach as she gazed into his eyes.  She
looked away and he gave her hand a light squeeze as they headed back toward the
path.    

“Have you ever
seen anything so strange,” she said, desperate to distract herself from the
churning sensation in her stomach.  “What
was
that thing anyway?”

Isaac answered
without hesitation.  “I think it was a lamia.”

Rebecca stared
at him.  They continued to hold hands as they walked, and for some reason she
couldn’t bring herself to let go.  “Lamia?”

He nodded and
became a bit more animated.  “Sure, it’s something I read about in a book
once.  It’s a child-eating demon with a snake tail.”

Rebecca’s
eyebrows rose.  He had identified the succubus too.  “You seem to know a lot
about mythical creatures…”

He shrugged, but
his dark eyebrows drew together.  “Yeah, I guess I do- from books and artwork
and stuff.”

They shared a
look.  Rebecca took a deep breath.  Isaac was an artist.  And his mind was
filled with vivid images of fantastic things.  Rebecca herself had done a lot
of reading.  “How about we try not to let our imaginations run wild?”

He nodded and
gave her hand a squeeze.  “Probably a good idea.”

~~~~~

Rebecca was
hoping they wouldn’t encounter another challenge for a while, but that hope was
soon put to rest.  A thrashing in the underbrush behind them heralded the
arrival of the Zombie.  The abhorrent thing must have kept following them this
whole time, gaining on them while they slept or stopped to rest.  It shuffled
toward Rebecca, gibbering something nonsensical.  She thought it looked worse
for the wear.  Its dirty pants were ripped and there were long, bloodless
scratches on its chest and arms from fighting its way through the undergrowth.

She backed away
as the old fear blossomed in her chest.  But this time there was something else
there… pity maybe?  Whatever it was, it was almost immediately overpowered by
stronger emotions.  Rebecca clenched her fists and stood rigid, her feet spread
as if bracing herself for battle.  “Go away!”

The thing didn’t
respond.  It simply shuffled faster.  Her face was hot and she felt a little
faint.  “Stop following us!  Leave me alone.  I hate you!” 

Rebecca stumbled
back away from the thing as it drew near.  She bit her lip to hide the
trembling there.  Her vision swam and she dashed a hand across her eyes, wiping
away the wetness.  She whirled and nearly plowed into Isaac, pushing past him
as she ran. 

There were
footsteps on the path behind her, and she knew Isaac was following.  But she
didn’t know how to answer the questions she’d seen in his eyes a moment before,
so she kept running.  She pounded on and on until her chest ached and her legs
were numb.  Then she collapsed onto the side of the path, drawing in ragged,
sobbing breaths.

A pair of worn
sneakers came into her view and Isaac squatted down beside her.  He reached out
a hand, hesitated, then patted her on the head like a child.  “You wanna tell
me what’s going on?”

She gulped in
the air that burned her lungs.  How could every sensation feel so real when it
was only a dream- a nightmare?  “My…my ex-husband.  He’s my ex-husband.  He’s a
monster!” 

She dropped her
head on her knees and covered her face with her arms.  “He never loved me.  Not
really.  He never cared about c…cl…Cloe.”  She was balling in earnest now.  “I
don’t know why he keeps following me.  Maybe he wants me to die too.”

Isaac didn’t say
anything.  He just patted her back and let her sob it out. 

~~~~~

As they climbed,
the lightly wooded hillside grew denser and the path steeper.  Rebecca was now
certain that the path was leading them toward the long, low mountain.  Clouds
obscured the peak, and soon even that view was lost to them as the forest
closed in.

“It’s really
quiet all of a sudden,” Rebecca said in a soft voice.  She had just realized
that the constant birdsong that had accompanied them for so long had faded. 
Nothing called in the trees or scurried in the underbrush.