Demon Wind (5 page)

The breeze quickly became a wind. There was no mistaking the sensation as it appeared to wrap her in a cocoon of sensation. "What the…?" The fight or flight impulse urged her get up and run from the cottage. Whether from fear, fascination, or something else, Jayden couldn’t move.

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The mouse moved, clicking on the search engine. Computer keys were compressed by unseen hands.

Jayden sucked in a breath and forgot how to exhale. The letters typed on to the search line spelled out newspaper, then the name of the town in which she lived. The mouse moved again. The search key depressed. The screen flashed, up came the website for the local newspaper. The curser moved to Archives and clicked. At the date prompt, October 25, 2001, was entered. Classifieds was entered in the section prompt. The curser moved to search, then clicked.

Feeling lightheaded, Jayden realized she was still holding her breath, which she expelled in a whoosh as the requested page came up. The scroll key at the bottom of the page moved to the right, the key to the right moved downward, then stopped. The classified ad in the center of the screen seemed to jump out at Jayden.

AUTHOR RESEARCHING BOOK

Local author, researching new book on

the origins of legends and superstitions

wishes to include the local Demon Wind

legend. Any information you can supply

regarding the phenomenon would be

appreciated. All names will be treated

with absolute confidentiality. You can

send information anonymously to the

newspaper _ Robert Morrison, or by

phone. The number is listed.

All movement in the room stilled for barely an instant. Jayden could almost swear she felt hands on her shoulders. Then as quickly as the wind blew in, it was gone.

While online, her computer tended to be slow at responding to commands, yet at the prompts from the unseen user, it had functioned at hyper speed. The entire incident played itself out in a matter of minutes and during those few minutes, Jayden felt as if time stood still. Released from her temporary paralysis, frightened as she was, she still had the presence of mind to grab not only her cell phone, but also the file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...-Books/Demon%20Wind%20Kay%20Wilde%20NCP.htm (23 of 32) [8/28/2005 7:16:39 PM]

business card lying on the table beside it, before she ran for the front door, not stopping until she was a good twenty yards from the cottage. Bending forward at the waist, her free hand holding onto her knee for support, Jayden attempted to catch her breath and slow her heart rate to a less alarming level. Anyone who said they would have stayed in the cottage for a possible encore performance was either a liar or out of their mind.

Feeling slightly more in control, she sank down onto the sand and checked the card Tyce had given her for a number to call. This being Saturday, Jayden knew the office would be closed, so she decided to try his home number first. Her hands were shaking so badly she had to start over several times before the call went through. Receiving no answer, she tried his cell number.

"Dr. Cantrell," he answered on the third ring.

"It’s Jay. Where are you?"

"I ran to the hospital to check on my patients and I’m on my way home. In fact I’m just about to turn down the side road." he answered. "What’s up?"

"I can’t believe I’m saying this," Jayden said as much for her benefit as for Tyce’s. "I just had another encounter with the Demon Wind."

"Where are you?"

"On the beach in front of my cottage."

Jayden heard an unmistakable intake of breath, then there was a pause as if he were choosing his words carefully. "Are you alone?"

Realizing what he must be thinking, she was quick to correct his very reasonable assumption. "It wasn’t like the other night. This time it was inside the cottage. I was wide awake, acutely aware of everything that was going on, and I was alone."

"I’ll be right there," was all he said before he disconnected.

As soon as he disconnected, Tyce tossed his cell phone into the passenger seat. Thanking God that he’d turned down an invitation from a colleague at the hospital to visit the new health club, Tyce floored the accelerator. There was no mistaking the quiver in Jayden’s voice when she spoke. She was genuinely frightened. Even as close to home as he was, he couldn’t get to her fast enough to suit him.

He no doubt laid rubber on the pavement when he hit the brake to slow him enough to allow him to turn into Jayden’s drive. Coming to a screeching, dust-raising halt behind her cottage, Tyce literally jammed the gear into park and switched off the ignition at the same time. Jumping from the vehicle, he hit the file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/custo...-Books/Demon%20Wind%20Kay%20Wilde%20NCP.htm (24 of 32) [8/28/2005 7:16:39 PM]

sand running.

Tyce found Jayden sitting on the beach in almost the exact spot where they had made love that first night.

Was it just the night before last? He felt as if he’d known her so much longer than that. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms were wrapped around them and she was shivering as if she were freezing. Dropping to his knees beside her, Tyce pulled her into his arms. He didn’t speak, didn’t ask any questions, just held her quietly until the shivering subsided and she was ready to talk.

"You must think I’m a terrible wimp," Jayden muttered against his chest.

"What I think, is that something happened that frightened you badly."

"That’s an understatement," she said with a self-deprecating laugh. As comforting as it felt to be in Tyce’s arms, Jayden pulled back and struggled to regain her composure. Now was not a time to give in to feminine hysterics. She needed to get a grip.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Tyce asked when the color began to return to her previously ashen features.

After taking several deep, calming breaths and releasing them slowly, Jayden relayed the details of the incident exactly as they happened. "What’s really strange is that I didn’t feel like they were there to harm me or even frighten me. It was the incident itself that scared me witless. When it was over, the only thing I could think of was to get out of there as fast as I could."

As crazy as Jayden’s story sounded, it didn’t even occur to Tyce to question the validity of her words.

"Good Lord, under those circumstances, anyone would have done exactly the same thing," Tyce insisted.

While Tyce would by no means consider himself to be a coward, he couldn’t imagine himself sticking around to see what would happen next. Something Jayden said suddenly registered. "Wait a minute. Did you say ... they?"

"After what I’ve already said, what’s one more buckle on the straight jacket," Jayden responded, making a lame attempt at a joke, when neither of them were in a laughing mood. "When it felt like there were hands on my shoulders, one felt fairly large and firm, the other smaller, almost gentle. I had the distinct impression of male and female. As if rather than frighten me, they were attempting to reassure me. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Sweetheart, nothing that has happened the past few days makes sense. But it’s time that we get to the bottom of it before anything else happens."

* * * *

Seated in Emma Morrison’s cozy kitchen, Jayden and Tyce tried to be patient while the lady poured tea from her china tea pot into matching cups and heaped homemade cookies onto corresponding cake plates.

"Thank you for agreeing to see us on such short notice, Emma," Jayden, said as she accepted her tea and cookies.

"No need for thanks, dear. I don’t get out as much as I used to, so I love having guests," Emma Morrison insisted. "How is your grandmother feeling these days, Jayden?"

"She’s doing really well. Stubborn as always and resisting the restrictions her doctor put on her after the heart attack."

Emma chuckled and looked at Tyce. "You’re going to have your hands full with that one, young man.

Don’t think I’ve ever known a stronger willed woman than Theresa Parrish."

"I figured that out on her first visit," Tyce answered, as he tried to figure out how to get his finger through the handle of the delicate, china cup.

"Speaking of my grandmother, Emma, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention anything to her about…."

"Don’t you worry yourself about it, dear," Emma answered before Jayden could voice her request. "No need for anyone else to know you were here, or the reason for your visit. No point in getting her upset over something she doesn’t understand."

"I wish we did," Jayden couldn’t resist.

"That’s why you came to me, isn’t it? Your encounter with the so called ... Demon Wind."

Jayden’s eyes immediately met Tyce’s.

"I thought so," Emma said, noting their reaction to her question. "It’s unsettling, in the beginning, until you know exactly what happened. Even then, it might take a little time for you to figure out how you personally feel about the experience."

"Exactly what do we need to come to terms with, Emma?" Jayden asked.

"My Robert and I, God rest his soul, preferred to call it, temporarily sharing your body with spirits.

Possession sounds so evil, when we didn’t see it that way at all. The Demon Wind label was never applied to the experience by those touched by it. It was labeled the Demon Wind by family members and I suspect a good number of jilted suitors."

Her words left Jayden and Tyce speechless. Fully understanding their shock, Emma turned in her chair, leaned down to open the door to the hutch, and retrieved a crystal decanter of brandy. Pulling the stopper from the bottle, she pushed it in Tyce’s direction. "You might want to strengthen your tea a bit."

"Are you telling us that we were possessed by spirits?" Jayden asked once her power of speech returned.

Tyce poured a small amount of Brandy in Jayden’s cup, then hearing the tone of her voice added more.

"Drink up, it’s a long story," Emma suggested.

"We have all night," Tyce said, then settled back in his chair. He was a doctor, a man of science, so to speak. He relied on documented facts with substantiated data. As such, he was still in a state of disbelief from everything that had happened in the past few days. If Emma Morrison could help them make sense of it all, no matter how farfetched her story might be, he was prepared to listen with an open mind.

Emma tipped the iced-tea-colored liquor from the decanter into her own cup. "As near as Robert could pinpoint, it all started back in the early 1800's, with a young woman by the name of Rachel Connor, and her Spanish lover Nicolo. We were never able to discover Nicolo’s last name. Rachel was the only daughter of a local merchant who had arranged a marriage for her with the son of a wealthy ship builder.

While taking her usual morning walk on the beach, Rachel met Nicolo, an Italian sailor, who, according to the rigid class distinctions of the time, was far beneath her social standing in the community. Soon Rachel and Nicolo were walking together every day and as you might expect, they fell in love. Knowing her father would never stand for their romance, the young lovers took to meeting secretly and as her arranged marriage approached, Nicolo and Rachel began making plans to run away together. When offered the opportunity to make some quick money by helping to crew a ship making a delivery up the coast, Nicolo accepted. The ship was to return within a week. Unfortunately, it returned without Nicolo.

The captain claimed he had been swept overboard during a freak storm, but Rachel suspected that her father had discovered their relationship and had paid the captain to murder her lover."

"The night the ship docked, servants spoke of a violent quarrel between father and daughter, after which Rachel ran from the house. Her shawl was found on the beach where Rachel and Nicolo first met. She was never seen again. It’s believed that Rachel loved Nicolo so deeply that she couldn’t bear living without him, nor the thought of being forced to marry the man chosen for her by her father, so she walked into the ocean to join the man she loved."

Jayden wasn’t aware that she was crying until Tyce put a handkerchief into her hand. "That’s an incredibly sad and tragic story, Emma," she said after she wiped her eyes. "But how does it relate to the Demon Wind legend?"

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"I’m getting to that," Emma told them, then proceeded to pour fresh tea into their cups. "What is commonly called the Demon Wind by the local legend, is in fact, Rachel and Nicolo. The conclusion Robert and I reached was based upon excerpts from diaries, journals, and interviews with couples who claim to have encountered the Demon Wind."

"And that conclusion was?" Tyce prompted.

"That where ever Rachel and Nicolo are, they seem to be able to recognize soulmates, and have taken it upon themselves to bring those people together. To give others the happiness that was taken from them.

After years of research, Robert was unable to find a single incident where the couple brought together by Rachel and Nicolo were not married as a result, nor of a single divorce from the union. In every case, the couple reported only one possession type encounter. It was as if once they brought a couple together, the rest was up to them. I know that I loved my Robert as much the day the Good Lord took him home, as I did the day I married him, more than sixty years ago. We figured compared to all the happy years we had together, sharing that first night we were together with the spirits of Rachel and Nicolo was a small price to pay. And if sharing our bodies that night allowed them to also experience what we felt, I couldn’t be happier."

Jayden looked at Tyce, who responded with a "beats-the-hell-out-of-me" shake of his head.

"Assuming everything you said is true, Emma, how can you be so sure that it is Rachel and Nicolo?"

Jayden asked.

Emma’s response was an almost girlish chuckle. "We asked ourselves that same question. Robert and I were sitting in the living room discussing it, when we heard his typewriter in the den. Robert used an old electric typewriter when he wrote, said he was too old to learn computers. Anyway, when we went in the den to investigate, typed at the bottom of the page Robert had left in the typewriter was: RACHEL