S.P.I.R.I.T (21 page)

We have to end this, we have to work together. Fire and electricity,
I whispered, and watched him shake his head.

You don’t know what my powers will do to you.
He answered with total conviction in his voice.
I’m not going to risk losing you!

Together, Zander, we’re stronger than he is!
He thought about it for only a moment, taking a deep breath, and he closed his eyes, nodding.
Look at me; concentrate on me.

His eyes opened wide, locking directly into my own and I watched the storm clouds brew behind the brown eyes. He breathed in deeply and smiled. I could feel his pulse begin to vibrate through my body, taking away the numbness as my own fire grew. The bright light and warmth that surrounded us was like a firestorm, and I could see the glow as if standing outside myself.

He grinned, not feeling the burn from the flames that encased us, and suddenly released the power that he held inside. Lightening flashed in every direction, coursing between us like a conduit, and then he looked up, directly at the monster on the other side of the burn line.

You won’t harm anyone any more,
he stated and then let loose the fury of the elements. The men around us ducked, as he held me tightly, and lightening rained down upon the creature. I felt it more than heard it, as he turned towards the others in the group. “Fire away, boys!”

The next sounds I heard were the M4A1’s discharging, and the rounds whizzing passed us into the creature. Slowly, I turned in Zander’s arms, the fire still surrounding us, and the lightening still striking its target, and watched as the creature began to writher in pain. The firing ceased, and silence filled the cavern for only a moment as all of us watched and waited for the end.

He stood straight, his glowing eyes locked on each one of us. Suddenly he began to convulse, light and electricity breaking through the taut, brittle skin. He opened his mouth to release one last dying scream, one that brought the team to its knees. My mind went out, blocking the boys from any damage that his death rattle might bring, and slowly they rose to their feet.

Harris stepped forward, placing the butt of his gun against his hip and fired away, sending rounds of the special ammunition into the spook one more time, but the ghoul turned, focusing his attention on the gun-happy Army boy. Before we could move, the monster had Harris by the throat, lifting him off the ground. He turned his bright red eyes on me and grinned evilly.

You may have the power I need, but now I have his soul!
He stared down into the frightened face of the man he held captive and I watched as Harris stopped struggling against him, his expression and his face going limp against the power of the demon.

“
NO!
” I screamed and stepped away from the safety of my protector’s arms and held up both hands, shaking as I tried to concentrate on the spook and hoping to avoid Harris at all cost. I sent out the fire with everything I had, but the creature laughed at me and shook his head.

The fire had no effect on the laughing ghost, and I could feel the life force being drained from Harris’s body. Zander stepped up beside me, directing his lightening directly at the gray ghoul, but still there was no change. I glanced at him, as he shook his head, and then closed my eyes.

I have an idea. The others need to get ready, once the two of us concentrate on him, he’ll be too busy to notice the guns, and he can’t deflect everything,
I whispered and watched Zander nod. He raised his hand, glancing at the others, and with some sort of private sign language, relayed the plan to Daniels, who passed it on to the rest of the group.

With his hand in mine, the two of us raised as much power as we could, and then focused it on the demon. Harris’s head had dropped back and the ghoul shook him like a rag doll, his evil laugh penetrated my thoughts as he swung his gaze towards us. Fire and lightening erupted between us, aimed directly for the creature, and swallowed him in a blast of light and flames.

I could feel Zander weakening as he pressed himself harder, but his hand gripped mine tightly. I knew my nose was bleeding, the thick, sticky liquid dripped down my chin, and I could feel the coolness of the dirt below me creeping up from my feet.

Now, Zander, while the two of us are still conscious.

As bullets ricocheted off the stone walls, sending small fragments of the pyrite sailing in every direction and the sounds of casings falling against one another bombarded my ears, I released the final bit of power that I held, before my legs gave out from underneath me.

I watched the men as they moved closer to the ghoul, all very careful to avoid Harris as their bullets began to strike the creature. With a cry of pure anger, he tossed the limp body aside and turned in our direction. I raised my hand, too weak to physically move my body, and aimed for the bastard’s heart. But as my own raced I found that I didn’t have the energy to conjure up the fire.

He was almost on top of me, bearing down with his ghoulish face, and then I saw the flash of light as Zander stood and tackled the demon. His lightening erupted around him in a firestorm, encasing the two of them as they wrestled for control. Zander flung him off and as the ghoul stood, Zander watched Daniel’s raise the gun and pull the trigger. Bullets blasted into the gray and flaky skin, and the demon screamed in anger, the ammunition sparking just as it was meant to do, light emanating from the holes. He looked towards me one last time, and with an evil grin across the skeletal face, he burst into a cloud of dust that sent out shockwaves like a nuclear bomb.

The explosion rocked the cavern and I ducked to ground to avoid the falling rocks and stalagmites that fell around us. Once the rumbling stopped, and the dust began to clear, the noise of human coughing filled the quiet cavern. I could hear several people moan and I turned quickly and moved to the man who had protected me.

I turned him over, wiped the dust and grime from his face and waited for any sign of movement. Gently, I touched his cheek and watched the smile slowly form across his lips and those brown eyes opened to look up at me.

I grinned back, taking in a deep breath of relief, and kissed him warmly on the lips. Slowly, the two of us sat up and looked over the damage around us. We made our way over to where the still body of Harris lay, unsure of what condition he might be in. His skin was pale and cold and his lips quivered as he looked up at us with blue-gray eyes, the kind that the dead have, and I couldn’t help but shake. Zander took my hand as Daniels moved to assess his situation, and when he looked up at us and gave a slight nod, I felt my heart skip.

“We need to get him out of here and to a hospital as soon as possible,” Daniels whispered, placing his hands on either side of Harris’s head.

“Let’s go then, no need to waste time,” he replied and watched Walters take his feet and Rodriguez gathered the equipment around us, before helping Zander with the black bag that lay on the ground.

Once out in the warm light of day, Zander wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly as the sounds of army machines drew closer. Everett was, of course, right on time to avoid the danger and to order the clean up of the area, but there was something that I decided only I was going to be able to do. Zander kissed my temple as I dug out the necklace from my pocket and wiped a tear from my cheek. This wasn’t going to be the easiest of tasks either.

21

One week later

Zander stepped out of the hospital room, his hat in hand, and turned it around in his fingers before looking up at the others and me as we stood in the hallway waiting for answers as to exactly how Harris would fare. He took a deep breath and stepped towards me, standing at my side as he addressed the men in front of him. All were dressed in uniforms, all within their ranks and I felt quite out of place in my jeans and tee shirt, but honestly didn’t miss the fatigues that I had worn.

“His sight is coming back, but it’s taking longer than the doctors expected, the same with the strength in his muscles.” Zander sighed, rubbing his eyes. “He doesn’t remember much after the spook got to him, except the feeling of being drawn out of his body. He said it was like a vacuum sucking the life out of him.”

“He was trying to take his soul; I couldn’t ever imagine how that would feel,” I whispered quietly, hugging my chest. I could feel Zander’s hand against my back, rubbing gently as he continued to face the others.

“There isn’t much more we can do here,” he added, and gestured for the group to move down the hallway.

It was Walters that turned, midway down the corridor, and looked back and forth between us. “It gave in way too easily, sir, why would it have done that?”

“I’m not sure, private,” Zander admitted and shook his head.

“It’s not gone,” I answered and looked up at the men that stood around me. Each one stared as if waiting for the explanation to my statement and I sighed. “It’s been around for way too long, just to turn into a pile of dust and disappear. No, this one will be back. In fact, like I said, I’m not so sure it’s gone.”

“Neither am I,” Zander replied and reached out, pressing the elevator button. I glanced up at him, and noticed the storm that brewed behind his eyes.

Later that afternoon, with the knowledge that the fiend was not completely out of our lives, Zander and I headed off to the small cemetery that was placed on the side of a very peaceful county road, just before the town line, on the opposite side of Wilton. We rode in silence, thinking of the events of the past few weeks and his hand reached out to grasp mine. I could feel the pulse of his power beneath the gentleness of his hold and I took in a deep breath before giving him a halfhearted smile.

I love you, baby.
His voice whispered as it tingled against my mind and the smile widened as I glanced at him once again.

“I love you too, I’m just thinking about the future,” I replied and watched him as he drove. “I wonder if he jumps from town to town, from one Wilton to the other.”

“I honestly don’t know, Sam.” He sighed and glanced over at me. I nodded and turned back to the scenery before me.

The funeral had taken time to plan, my parents had taken it upon themselves to inform Zander’s relatives of the discovery of his body and the note that had surprisingly ended up tucked in his belongings, requesting that he be buried with Samantha no matter where that was or when it happened.

He and I, of course, were unable to attend the wake or the funeral but shortly after everyone had left the plot site, the two of us walked up, joining my mother and father as they stood looking over the burial site.

They smiled at us, looking down at the two freshly buried graves, as we approached. Sam was unearthed once again so that the engagement ring could be placed on her finger where it belonged, and Zander was buried with the cross that he had used to guide us to where he was.

It was then that the phone in my Zander’s pocket rang. He glanced at me as he pulled it out and flipped the cell phone open.

“Smith,” he said sternly. He listened for a moment, his eyes drawing together as if confused and then he sighed. “Right, we’ll be right there.” Once he hung up, he turned to look at the three of us. “You’re not going to believe what they found on the lake road.”

“Wonderful.” I sighed, rolling my eyes and the four of us moved to climb into our car.

Military vehicles, construction equipment and a large vehicle that belonged to an excavation company crowded the lake road site. The four of us walked carefully down the path that lead to where the others were waiting, and Everett glanced over our formal attire.

“Not exactly the right kind of clothing to go tramping through the dirt with,” he mumbled passed the cigar. With annoyance, I ripped it out of his mouth and tucked it in his pocket. He scowled at me, cleared his throat and turned towards the tunnel without another word. “There’s something inside you might want to see.”

Holding my dress shoes in my hand, I moved inside the dimly lit cave. I was getting tired of being underground no matter what the reason, until I came upon the spot where Everett had stopped. There on the wall before us, was a drawing, depicting a figure with electricity surrounding them, and one with fire, both battling some strange looking demon, a body on the floor between the three.

“What the hell?” I whispered, reaching out to touch the painting. Zander grabbed my wrist, holding me back from making contact, and he shook his head. He seemed to be getting the same strange pulse that I was and I took a step back. “If we leave here, does that mean that we lose them?”

“We had them before we came here,” he whispered, pulling me back into his arms. “Remember when we were younger, we both used them.”

“What does this mean?” I questioned, shaking my head.

“There’s more.” Everett sighed. “I’m not going to take you all the way there, especially given the way you’re dressed, but look.” He pointed a flashlight to a tunnel carved into the pyrite of the mountain, a tunnel that wasn’t made by modern machines. “It goes directly to the house on Miller’s Point.”

“That would explain all the activity.” My father nodded, acknowledging the paranormal influences that something like this may have. “An Indian burial ground right below the house, even if not directly beneath, but connected too, would stir up a lot of strange sensations, voices, apparitions, and certainly would create a portal to the other side. I would like to study this more, if I could, Captain.”

“If you feel the need to tear up your own basement, Mr. Ricketts, please don’t let me stop you,” Everett said, shaking his head.

I glanced at Zander, wondering if he could feel the draw the tunnel entrance was giving off, making it completely impossible to ignore the urge to explore. Something was up there, something that needed to be seen and quickly. I handed my mother my dress shoes and took the flashlight from Everett’s hand.

“Sam! Wait!” Zander begged as I took off into the darkness of the tunnel by myself. I could hear him cursing in my mind but he never broke our connection and then he was right behind me. “What are you doing, woman?”