Night Falls on the Wicked

TWELVE

They surrounded her, hideous creatures on every side. Darby sucked in a breath and ran, spotting a break through the thick press of bodies and bolting for it.

They followed, running after her at a loping pace, toying with her, letting her stay just ahead of them but within range. Without any real hope.

Still, she ran. She fought to live, struggling with Aimee’s weight in her arms. Her legs burned, lifting high in the snow. She stumbled and fell into a soft drift, the girl still clutched in her arms.

They surrounded her. Their monstrous shapes towering, blocking out anything else as they leaned over her, jaws slavering, dripping the gore from their last kill… from Pam onto the snow-covered earth.

Darby woke with a scream trapped in her throat, her chest heaving with deep, pained breaths as the cry lodged itself inside her like a heavy stone. She swallowed, fighting to keep silent as the vision faded from her mind—but not memory.

She’d learned at an early age to hold back the screams, tired of waking her mother and then, later, her aunts. Sick of facing the worry in their eyes that her gift, her magic, was more than she could handle.

She blinked against the thin blue light of the room. The television still blared loudly, an infomercial. She patted the bed around her, searching for the remote control.

Darby found it and punched the mute button, killing the sound. She listened. No sounds reached them from outside the room. The carnage, evidently, was over.

Aimee was curled against her. She never woke. Amid it all, she had slept and Darby suspected this was God’s gift so she could cope. Darby clicked the television off, instantly drowning them in darkness. The only light came from the bedside clock on the dresser, its red numbers glowing 3:45.

She unwrapped herself from around Aimee, careful not to wake her as she slid off the bed. With silent steps, she approached the door and pressed her ear against it. Nothing. No more screaming. No more growling or howls or crashing furniture. They were gone. Or passed out. Or maybe they’d gone hunting for other victims. Either way, this could be her only chance—hers and Aimee’s. They had to get away.

The fact that they had to escape beneath the lycans’ very noses, creep past sleeping monsters—that one misstep and she and Aimee were both lost, dead—didn’t change her mind. It was now or never. They might see the value in keeping Darby around, but Aimee would never be safe. It was only a matter of time before they went after the girl. Even with a fresh vision hanging over her head, a terrible harbinger she couldn’t quite shake free from her thoughts, she knew she had to take a chance and run for it.

Suddenly a surge of warmth pervaded the room. An unnatural warmth. Like an oven door had been opened and a wave of roasting heat swept free. Shit!

Darby whirled around, her hands clenching into fists, looking, searching, knowing what she would find.

Not now.

But of course, it would happen now. Now when she was her most vulnerable. Now when she most needed help. That’s always when a demon chose to call.

A great shadow slipped beneath the door and crawled along the floor and walls until materializing before her.

She had to tip back her head to meet its dead-eyed stare. This one was a beauty. The head of a serpent but the body of a battle-hardened gladiator. He leaned down toward her, his flicking tongue almost touching her nose.

She braced herself, legs squared.

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?” she demanded, forcing a show of bravado. This demon frightened her more than those lycans outside this room. Lycans could kill her, but this demon could own her soul for eternity.

“There’s been a lot of activity in this area. You’re too hard to resist. Despite the abominable weather, I had to check you out for myself …”

So her visions hadn’t gone undetected, after all. She was a fool to think otherwise. She knew how it worked. The same way it always had. Her visions attracted demons. Especially sucky since she couldn’t control her visions. She had long accepted that—why else was she living all alone here? She might not be able to control her visions, but she could control her environment. Relocating to an environment abhorrent to demons was the responsible thing to do. It beat following in her mother’s footsteps and taking her own life.

“That was unnecessary,” she said.

The demon’s slit eyes surveyed the room, his flat nostrils flaring wide as he lifted his face and scented the area. “Ah, lycans. You’re in a bit of trouble. Couldn’t you use some assistance?”

“No. Get out of here. I don’t need or want anything from you.” Instantly, her mind drifted back to the vision of her and Aimee running through the snow, lycans surrounding them. If it held true, she’d soon need serious assistance.

She shook the thought aside and reminded herself that she’d managed to beat out her visions before. Knowledge was power. Her visions could be averted. She’d simply make sure she didn’t take off on foot through the wilderness with Aimee. Because she knew what would happen if she did.

“No? Not yet. You sure? Maybe I’ll stick around until you do …” At that moment the demon shuddered, fading back to shadow for a moment before managing to regain form.

Darby smiled, knowing he was weakening in this cold. He wasn’t going to stick around much longer. He couldn’t. “I don’t think you’re staying.” She chafed her hands over her arms. “Brrr. My, my, isn’t it cold in here? You’d think they could adjust the thermostat. I think it’s as cold in here as it is out there,” she taunted.

As if her words did the trick, the demon shuddered like rippling water before her eyes. “I’ll find you again.”

“I don’t think so.” She’d managed to stave off visions for the most part these last few years. Once she managed to escape this nightmare, she’d move north again. Another town. Another lonely existence. But safe—she’d have safety again.

With fresh determination feeding her heart, Darby quickly moved to the bed. Looping her arms beneath Aimee, she held her close, inhaling and savoring the child’s sweet scent for a moment. When she turned back around the demon was gone—not even its shadow lingered.

They had to slip out now. The lycans would expect them to stay put—they wouldn’t suspect that she’d dare come out while they were in full shift. She pressed her ear close to the door again, listening for several moments. Her adrenaline rushed, pounding in her veins. Readjusting Aimee in her arms, she carefully unlocked the door, mentally ordering her hands to stop shaking so much.

She stood still for a moment with the door unlocked. She waited, in case they’d heard the faint click, as though she expected the lycans to burst through the unlocked door and pounce upon her.

Nothing. The silence hung as thick as the odor of death on the air. Tightening her single arm around Aimee, she turned the knob and opened the door. She scanned the hall before stepping out, grateful for the runner that deadened her steps.

She moved along the long corridor, easing on silent feet, hardly breathing, praying Aimee made no sounds and that she didn’t see her mother’s corpse.

The coppery scent of blood hit her before she even entered the main living area. Two lycans lay sprawled within the gory mess, their grotesque forms sated, blood glistening crimson on their gray and brown fur. She swallowed back a cry at the remains of Aimee’s mother flung about the room. There wasn’t much left of her. Hardly anything to tell that she had even been a person.

Forcing down the surge of bile that rose in her throat, Darby made her way carefully past the sleeping forms, her eyes darting everywhere, searching for a glimpse of car keys, all the while wondering: Where were the other three? Hopefully they were long gone from here, out for a midnight run or wreaking damage elsewhere.

Still, no sight of the keys. Would they have left them in the vehicle? Did they put them away somewhere?

She opened the front door without a sound. Still, she cast a glance over her shoulder, assuring herself the two lycans slept. Slipping outside, she hoped they didn’t feel the cold she let inside and awake. Once on the porch, she picked up her pace. She went for the car first. It would be easier to maneuver than the van.

Please be in the car, please be in the car.

If the keys weren’t there, they would have to hike it out on foot. At night, in this weather, God knows how they would manage. And then it occurred to her that would be just like in her vision. She couldn’t do that. No matter what, she couldn’t let it come to that.

Crouching beside the car, she spied the keys through the window. With a sharp exhale, she awkwardly opened the back door and secured Aimee on the soft leather of the backseat, buckling her at the waist and letting her slump to the side. As quietly as possible, she shut the car door and got behind the wheel. As she turned the ignition, the car rumbled to life with a quiet purr.

Yes.

Immediately, her eyes flew to the rearview mirror, expecting the sleeping lycans to pour outside after her, but nothing happened as she put the car in drive and rolled away. The road was clearly marked and she followed the path through the trees. Her breathing eased and elation filled her as she put more distance between them and the house.

The narrow road finally ended and they came to a two-lane country road. She hesitated, looking left and right, trying to gauge which one led back to town, wishing she knew the area better.

She turned right, detecting a faint pink tinge to the night sky in that direction and assuming it was the lights from town.

She pushed harder on the accelerator, anxious to reach town and people, safety from the beasts that prowled the moon-soaked night. The image of Niklas filled her mind then. She didn’t know why she thought of him just then except that she suspected he knew about these lycans—that he was here because of them. And that he’d kissed you and touched you and made you feel alive in a way that you haven’t felt in years. Maybe ever.

She shook her head. It didn’t mean anything. She wouldn’t find him waiting for her. So he’d fixed her window and replaced her heater. That didn’t mean anything. Those were just actions of a nice guy who felt sorry for her.

She followed the curve of the road, her hands clenched tightly on the steering wheel, excited in the knowledge that she’d escaped. That her vision hadn’t come to pass.

A shape suddenly jumped in the middle of the road. She cried out as the headlights briefly lit upon the bearlike creature. She swerved to avoid hitting the beast, even knowing it was no bear. She tried to right the vehicle but it was too late. She drove off the road, crashing into a large drift of snow with a jarring thud. Snow slapped against the windshield in a heavy deluge.

Her breath exploded in loud pants from her lips. The car still sputtered with life. She put it in reverse and pressed on the pedal. The tires spun, snow spitting up and covering the windows. They weren’t going anywhere. The car was buried.

She took several even breaths and peeled her fingers free from the steering wheel.

She couldn’t see anything. Snow covered almost all the windows, except the back windshield. She looked through the rearview mirror. No movement. Nothing but a world of white. She tried to back out again even though she knew it was useless. The engine revved pathetically. They weren’t going anywhere.

She looked over her shoulder. Aimee was awake, peering at her with wide, uncertain eyes. The sight made her chest tighten almost painfully.

“Where’s Momma?” she whispered, her small, colorless lips barely moving.

Darby undid her seat belt and climbed into the back with her. Avoiding the question, she said, “I’m going to help you, Aimee. Do you believe me?”

The girl nodded, but repeated her question. “Where’s Momma?”

Darby glanced out the windows, looking for any sign of the lycan she’d seen on the road, the one that made them crash. She hadn’t forgotten about him.

“Remember those bad men?” She flicked her gaze down to Aimee for half a second before looking out the back window again, scanning for movement, knowing they weren’t alone.

“Yes.”

She sucked in a deep breath, knowing Aimee wasn’t going to trust her if she started out lying to her. She locked gazes with her again. “They took your momma, honey. She’s gone.” She waited a moment for this painful information to sink in. Aimee stared at her with wide, uncomprehending eyes. “But we aren’t going to let them take us, okay? You got that?”

“They took Momma?” Her lips quivered. Her small body started to collapse. “I want them to give her back. Tell them to give her back.”

Darby shook her gently and then pulled her into a firm embrace, rubbing her back with quick, firm circles. “I know, I know. But they’re not going to do that. They’re bad men.” Monsters. “Your momma wanted you to be safe. And I’m going to see that you are.”

A long mournful howl floated on the air. Darby quickly weighed their options. Wait here, a sitting duck, or attempt to reach town on foot. Another howl floated on the air, and her decision was made.

It didn’t have to go down as in the vision. She could still avert that fate. A desperate fury rose up inside her. What would be the point of having these visions, if she couldn’t reverse them?

At the moment nothing moved outside. Everything was still.

She quickly adjusted the zipper on Aimee’s coat, pulling it as high as it could go. As if that would be enough to ward off the beasts hunting them. Darby pulled the hoods of their coats over their heads and smiled tremulously at the child. She took Aimee’s hand and gave it a tight squeeze. Holding the little fingers tightly in her own, she swung open the back door and stepped out.