Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance (40 page)

Sapphire seemed to
finally notice the fact that Jesse was there.  Her face softened a bit and she
looked at him in a kind way.  She moved closer to him.  Jimmy could not help
but feel a bit jealous of the way she moved and the look she was giving Jesse.

"I'm sorry,
Jesse," she said.  "I guess I kind of ruined the dance for you, as
well."

Jesse smiled, his
grip on the steering wheel relaxing a bit.  "It's OK.  You can make it up
to me."

He turned and
smiled at Sapphire.  Sapphire smiled back, and then she leaned in and planted a
small kiss on Jesse's cheek.

"Where are we
going?" Sapphire asked.

Jesse shrugged. 
"I thought we could find a place to be alone for a bit.  Maybe talk or
something, until we can figure out some other place to go."

Sapphire smiled
and settled back into the seat.  Jimmy looked up and recognized the stretch of
road that they were on.  They were approaching the bridge and the river.  The
road was dark on either side, the headlights of the car cutting through the
darkness like twin blades, pushing back the blackness.

They drove for a
while.  Neither of them talked, but Sapphire seemed like she was no longer
angry, or at least not as angry as she had been.  She stared out into the
darkness and there was the hint of a smile on her face.

"They'll
probably talk about what happened there for years," she said with a
laugh.  "The day Devlin Little got what he had coming."

Jesse laughed, but
there was a hardness to it that Jimmy didn't like.

"We should do
this kind of thing more often," Sapphire said.  "We should push those
idiots every chance we get.  If we all stood up to them more, maybe they
wouldn't be such jerks all the time.  There's no reason that the football
idiots should rule the school."

Jesse shrugged,
but he also smiled and nodded.

The car slowed and
Jesse turned the wheel to the right.  They were close to the bridge.  Jimmy
could see it up ahead, but there was a short dirt road that seemed to disappear
into a copse of trees that was no longer there in Jimmy's time.  Jesse turned
right and darted down the dirt road.  Now the darkness was like a living thing,
pressing up against the windows.

"Down
here?" Sapphire asked.  "Why, Jesse? Just what do you have in
mind?"

Jesse smiled
sheepishly and guided the car to a spot that was shrouded in darkness and
trees.  Then he turned on the radio, shifted into park, and turned the engine
off so that the car was running on battery power.  There was a strange light in
Jesse's eyes, and they were very wide.  His breathing was heavy.

The next few
moments were agony for Jimmy. Jesse leaned in and, as he watched from his seat
in the back, the two of them began making out heavily.  Their mouths locked
together and Sapphire pressed close to Jesse, both of them heaving and
breathing and groaning and kissing.  It seemed to go on and on forever.

Then, as things
went on, Jesse seemed to get more eager.  His hands began to wander over her
chest and clothing.  Sapphire moaned, and Jesse seemed to take that as
compliance.  Jimmy, however, could tell that she was getting uncomfortable. 
Her hand pushed his away, but it came right back.  He got closer, his other
hand drifting, as well, and Sapphire let out another groan and pushed that hand
away. 

"Jesse,"
Sapphire whispered, breaking the kiss.

"Yes,"
Jesse whispered and he leaned in closer, pushing Sapphire onto her back on the
long front seat.

"No, Jesse,
no," Sapphire whispered and she put both of her hands on his chest and
pushed.  "Stop."

Instead Jesse
pushed forward, almost shoving her back, and his hands went to her dress,
groping, fumbling, tearing.  Sapphire reached out and pushed harder this time;
Jesse was thrown against the driver's side door.  He was panting, out of
breath, his face flushed and his eyes so wide that Jimmy thought that they
might pop right out of his skull.

"Dammit,
Jesse, I said no!" Sapphire yelled, and she reached out and slapped Jesse
across the face.  The slap was amazingly loud in the car, like a bone snapping
in half.

Jesse was shocked
at first.  His head snapped to the right and then shot back to the center, so
he was gazing intently—and with anger—at Sapphire.  His eyes seemed to blazed,
and Jimmy could sense the rage that flooded Jesse.

"You little
witch," he hissed.

Jesse lunged.  He
leaped like an animal, shooting across the wide front seat and tackling
Sapphire.  She let out a scream and tried to fight him, but he had her pinned. 
There was the sound of tearing fabric.  Sapphire screamed again and there was
more tearing.  Jesse reared back, his right hand balled into a fist, and he
struck Sapphire across the face.  Sapphire let out a sound that was a
combination of a groan and a scream, and she seemed dazed.  And when that
happened, Jesse attacked again.

Jimmy put his head
down, shaking it, unable to watch what was happening.  Sapphire let out more
moans and screams, but they were now mixed with the sounds that Jesse was
making.  Then, suddenly, there was another scream, and Jimmy looked up.

Jesse was sitting
in the driver's seat, his shirt almost off, his suit coat gone, and he was
holding his face.  Blood ran from between his fingers.  His glasses were gone. 
Sapphire was sitting up, both of her hands formed into claws.  Blood ran from
her mouth and her dress was torn, but she had rage etched upon her face.

They stared at
each other for a moment, and then Sapphire scrambled for the passenger door. 
She managed to get it open and fell from the car.  When she hit the ground, she
screamed.  It was a scream of pure animal rage and desperation.  She staggered
to her feet and began to run back toward the road from.

Jesse got out of
the car and staggered to his feet.  Sapphire had a lead on him, but he was now
filled with even more rage than before.  Blood ran in three rivers from just
beneath his left eye and down his chin.  His mouth was torn backwards in a
sneer that was pure animal.  He charged after her.

Sapphire screamed
again and began running faster. All around them was darkness, and the trees
seemed like creatures made of shadow, reaching for them, their branches like
long fingers tipped with sharp claws.

Sapphire stumbled
once, but did not fall.  However, it was enough for Jesse to catch up with her
and grab her, turning her around.  They were near the edge of the road.

"You ruined
it!" Jesse screamed.  "You ruined my entire night, you little bitch!
Now pay up!  Pay up!"

Sapphire let out a
wail that pierced Jimmy's heart as she clawed at Jesse again, raking the wounds
she had already created. Jesse screamed.  Then, in a rage, he pushed her. Both
of Jesse’s hands hit her squarely in the chest and she flew backwards, her feet
nearly leaving the ground.  She staggered out into the road.

It was then that a
car carrying Devlin Little and his friends slammed into her going full speed. 
Sapphire let out a sound that was drowned out by the sound of flesh on solid
steel, followed by the
crunch
of her body destroying the windshield. 
Then she went up and over the vehicle as the car swerved and the tires screamed
along the asphalt.  Sapphire's body hit the pavement with a sickening
crunch
,
and then rolled for what seemed like a hundred yards, her limbs limp and wild
and pointing in all directions.  The car came to a halt near the bridge, smoke
rising from the tail pipe.  Sapphire came to a halt across the street, her body
facedown, her legs at odd angles and her arms splayed.  She was not moving.

All of the people
in the car began to pile out into the road.  Devlin Little climbed out of the
driver's seat, and his face was utterly pale.  He took several steps toward
Sapphire's body and then stopped, bent over, and vomited onto the road.  One of
his friends let out a scream that was ridiculously high-pitched and shrill. 
Jesse, his clothes rumpled and his fly undone, staggered out into the road,
approached Sapphire, and then let out a kind of moan, holding his hand up to
his mouth to stifle a scream. 

What came next was
a rush of sounds and conversation.  It came from all of them, sometimes all at
once.  Jimmy could barely keep up with it and the shock of it all made the
entire scene change.  It was like watching a movie.  In his mind their
conversation was like reading a movie script, with names and bits of
conversation.

Devlin: "What
the hell happened?  What did you do?"

Jesse: "I-I…
W-we… I-I-was…"

Devlin's friend:
"Oh Jesus!  Oh Jesus, she's dead!"

Jesse: "No,
no, no, no.  She's not dead.  She's not dead."

Devlin: "What
were you doing, Jesse?  Jesus H. Christ, what happened?  She just flew out into
the road."

Jesse knelt down
beside Sapphire.  He put his hand to her face and then her neck.  His hand came
away slick with blood, and he held it up in front of his face.  Slowly, he
backed away, staring at the blood as it ran down his hand.

Jesse: "Oh
no.  No, no, no, no."

Devlin's friend:
"What do we do, Dev?  What the hell do we do?"

Devlin's other
friend: "Oh, Jesus, we are all going to jail.  We are going to jail.  Oh
my God!"

Devlin: "Shut
up!  All of you shut up!"

Jesse turned and
looked at all of them. He still held his hand up in front of him, covered in
blood.

Jesse: "You
have to help me."

Devlin: "You
pushed her.  You pushed her in front of us, you little bastard.  Why should we
help you?"

Jesse: "I'll
tell everyone that I can that it was you, Devlin.  The whole school saw you at
the dance.  Everyone will believe me, won't they?  Everyone will think that you
killed her.  So you can help me get rid of her body, or you can go to
jail."

Devlin's face
contorted—at first with rage, and then with fear.  He chewed on his lower lip
and then paced back and forth for a bit.  Then he stomped back over to stand
right in front of Jesse, balling his fists and holding them at his side.

Devlin: "OK. 
What do we do?"

Jesse: "OK,
give me a minute.  Give me a minute."

Devlin:
"Hurry up!  There's going to be more cars coming through here any
minute."

Devlin's friend: 
"Oh, this cannot be happening.  This cannot be happening.  Why is this
happening?  Jesus, Dev, you cannot be serious about this."

Devlin whirled on
the young man—perhaps the same man who would become a senator in the future;
Jimmy could not be sure.  He grabbed the young man by the shoulders and shook
him.

Devlin:
"Listen, you little piss ant!  Shut up!  I cannot go to jail.  Do you
understand?  My father is important, and I'm going to inherit everything that
he has. And the only way that happens without any problems is if I am not in
jail.  Do you understand?  Now, you are going to help us with this, or so help
me God, you are going to end up buried right next to her."

The young man shut
up and nodded.  The other passenger was kneeling in the middle of the road
weeping.

Devlin: "Get
up!  Get over here and help."

The other
passenger got to his feet, wiping his eyes, snot running from his nose, and
shuffled over.

Jesse: "OK. 
We pick her up and bring her over there. We can bury her in the soft earth just
beneath the bridge."

Jesse pointed to
the bridge.  Jimmy could hear water running beneath the bridge.

Devlin agreed and
instructed his two friends to grab Sapphire's legs.  Devlin and Jesse each
grabbed an arm and they hauled her across the road over to where the car was. 
They paused to rest only once, when they reached the front of the car, and then
they picked her back up and dragged her down the embankment.  They moved until
they came to the spot where Tabitha and Jimmy had found Sapphire's skull, and
then all of them got down on their knees and began moving the mud and dirt
around.  When they had a hole dug, they all stood up and paused, looking at
each other, panting.

That was when
Sapphire coughed and let out a moan.

Devlin's friend:
"Oh Jesus, she ain't dead, Dev!  She ain't dead!"

Devlin backed away
for a moment.  Jesse stepped forward and grabbed him.  Despite the fact that
Jesse was much shorter than Devlin, the manic look in his eyes seemed to stop
Devlin cold.

Jesse:
"Devlin, we have to bury her.  We have to.  If we call someone and she
lives, she'll accuse all of us.  You'll go to jail.  I'll go to jail.  They
will go to jail, and you will lose everything.  Your father will disown you. 
You won't go to college.  You won't get anything.  You could end up spending
the rest of your life in prison."

Devlin reached out
and grabbed Jesse.  He leaned down until he was staring Jesse right in the
face.

Devlin: "What
did you do to her?"

Jesse: "Never
mind what I did.  I wasn't the one driving the car."

Jesse and Devlin
stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.  Behind them Sapphire
was moving a bit and groaning again.  The one who had been kneeling in the
street was now kneeling in the mud, and he appeared to be praying.