The Light of the World (9 page)

My arm hair stands on end and my low lip
trembles. "Are you going to kill me?" My stomach drops into my
bowels.

He kisses my hands and shakes his head, "I'm
going to find a way. I'm going to fix this."

His face is devastating me, just as it's
confusing me. "Like taking meds?" He laughs bitterly, "If only it
were that simple." He points at the counter where he has jogging
pants and a t-shirt folded for me. "I brought you those."

He leaves me alone. I look at myself in the
mirror. My hair looks almost black against my ghastly white skin.
My tan is gone. I sleep too much.

My gray eyes glow in the light. They're the only
things about me that aren't weak and sick looking.

I look deep into my eyes and realize how cruel I
need to be with myself. I need the cold hard truth.

I look into my gray eyes and whisper, "We can
never be together. He's insane. It's not just regular crazy
boyfriend stuff. This is full-fledged four alarm bad."

It's breaking my heart but he's shit-house rat
crazy.

He's probably poisoning me to keep me with him,
weak and sickly. It's probably why I've been sleeping so much. I
saw a special on 60-Minutes once where parents did that.

I dress quickly. I need a plan.

His bathroom has nothing I can use to hit him
with and make a run for it. The idea of smashing him in the head
makes me feel ill again, but I need to get away. My phone isn’t
here. I stand at the bathroom door plotting nervously, but he opens
it and takes my hand. He drags me from the room. My stomach is
worse instantly. His touches and kisses make sparks.

"I think I have stomach cancer or
something."

He ignores me. The pain becomes too intense. My
legs buckle and he picks me up. I gag and he starts to run. His
running doesn't make my stomach feel better.

He places me down when we get outside and walks
away from me. I bend and heave into the garden next to his house.
There is nothing in my stomach. It's burning from emptiness.

"I need a doctor. Please, please let me go to
the hospital." I cough.

He is pacing beside me. He looks stressed. He's
going to kill me now. I can see it in his eyes. He grabs my hand
and pulls me along the greens. I can feel anger building inside of
me.

"Stop pulling me. I'm sick. I need a doctor." I
jerk my hand. Fire builds inside of me and he lets me go. He runs
to a guy walking on the greens and smashes him in the face. I
scream and fall to my knees. He drags the guy to me and places him
on the ground in front of me.
"GET AWAY FROM ME! GET AWAY! YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY! LEAVE ME
ALONE!"

I swat at him, but he grabs my hands and puts
them on the bare forearm of the unconscious guy. Wyatt's stronger
than I am. I am trying to scream but I can't. My throat is hoarse
from all the throwing up.

Wyatt backs away and watches me. I can smell the
cologne on the guy and something else. Something musty. I stop
fighting it. I feel the injured man and let my senses take over.
Something shifts inside of me. I hear a growling noise and realize
it's coming from me.

I sniff the air around the guy's face and
breathe it in. I feel a pull in my lungs. Like they are screaming
for the air I'm breathing coming off the guy. My fingers shake and
dig in and I don’t know what's happening to me. I don’t know where
I am. I just know my fingers are kneading him like a cat. My
fingers are squeezing and twitching into the warmth of his flesh. I
bend my face over his and inhale, like it's the first time
breathing after being under water my whole life. My lungs expand
and the air that hits them is sweet. I growl on the exhale and suck
in again. My fingers are warm and sticky, but I can't stop them
from gripping him. I inhale a third time and my body convulses. I
twitch and moan and it feels like I've had an orgasm, on the grass.
Gross.

I shiver and open my eyes. The world is
different. There is more color and the wind tickles me with
whispers and promises. I feel a power coming off of me. It's
intense and amazing. I can hear the dead instantly. No matter how
hard I try to not hear them, they are everywhere. The air sparkles
with them.

My eyes dart to where Wyatt stands and I see
something different about him. I see the thing I saw the night I
was scared of him. The magic in my tummy becomes anger. His face
looks more pronounced. His eyes are striking. They can see through
me. They can see every thought I've ever had. I'm sure of it.

"What?" I snap at him.

He shakes his head and sighs, "Rayne, we need to
go now."

I look down at the man in front of me on the
grass. He's pale and his eyes are closed.

Wyatt looks around and grabs my hand. His skin
burns mine, like a shock has jolted between us. I scream out but he
drags me across the greens. We run until we reach his car. My skin
is smoking where he touches me. He drops my hand. I hold it up and
cry.

"What have you done to me?"

He opens the door and shoves me inside.

He gets in and starts the car. He drives the way
I imagined he would. He's fast and out of control but in a way that
seems like he's in control. I would bet his skills are unmatched,
by even racecar drivers.

"What are you?"

"Sit as far away from me as you can. Don’t get
too close. I'm making you sick. Press against the window."

I lean against the cold window and put my hand
on it. The burn is feeling better but it still hurts.

"What are you?"

He looks at me as we race along the winding
road, "The better question is, what are you Rayne? What has she
told you?"

I shake my head, "I don’t know what you
mean."

He sneers, "Your mother. She keeps it at bay
with a macrobiotic diet and intense yoga but she can't keep it at
bay all the time. She must do nightclubs for the mini sucks. Let me
guess she never has sex? Never dates?"

I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want him to
tell me things about her. "You know nothing about her or me."

He looks at me and his eyes burn a hole in me,
"I know you. I know all about you." For the first time I'm able to
fear him properly. My lust for him has intensified but I can feel
the fake pull he's giving off. He's making me attracted to him.
He's making me want him. I'm not crazy. It's not real love.

After a while I ask, "Where are we going?"

"Home."

"Where's home?"

"Your house."

I scowl, "You can't meet Willow. She's going to
hate you."

He grins his cocky smile, it makes my skin
crawl, "Your kind always hate me."

"My kind? You're a dick. Why did you need to see
my mom Wyatt? You heard how hot she was, didn’t you? Look, she's
not like that."

He rolls his eyes, "I don’t need to force myself
on cougars Rayne. Jesus. Thanks though. You're always so full of
nice things and compliments."

"Why do you want to go to my house?"

"We need to find out what you are and why you
make me, uncomfortable."

I laugh bitterly and cry a little bit, "I make
you uncomfortable. You're burning me and made me hurt that man.
Trust me, you make me far more uncomfortable."

He glances at me as he takes a sharp corner, "I
doubt that."

"Why did you beat me? Do you like hitting
girls?"

His eyes look dead and his lips fight the
emotions he refuses for me to see. "I needed to see. Violence makes
the change pronounce itself. When I hit you the rage filled you and
you couldn’t hide it from me."

"What do you think I'm hiding from you? I never
changed. I'm the same. You're the one that's gotten crazier and
crazier."

He clenches his jaw and says nothing. Maybe
nothing is better at this point. He's fucking nuts. I'm not sure
what that makes me. I need a plan.

I lean back against the window and watch the
road. He's driving me home. He's going to kill me or Willow or both
of us. He's unstable and my cell phone is at school still. I can
see it on my bedside table. I feel the panic starting to increase
with every mile we get closer to home. I'm getting antsy.

I'm not hungry the same way I was before. I
think about the man. I don’t know what to think. It doesn’t make
sense in my rational brain.

"What did I do to him? The man." Tears stream
down my cheeks. Everything feels messy. I look down at the dried
blood on my fingers and feel dirty.

He sighs. I think he's annoyed with my question.
He runs his hands through his dark hair, "You sucked him dry. I
think you're a succubus. But you seem different. You might only be
half. I've never seen eyes glow like that on a succubus. Like the
light is coming from inside. Witches eyes glow and angels. But you
would know if you were either of those things. Your eyes really
glow."

I scoff, "You should have seen the
waitress's."

He looks sharply, "What waitress? That’s why you
ran? Shit, I thought she told you about how she kept trying to
sleep with me last year."

"Gross. No. She was nice, she just knew my
dreams and her eyes were like fire."

"Fire Witch. Fuck. How…?" He clenches his jaw
again.

My questions and confusion are overwhelming.

The rest of the short drive is silent.

I don’t want any more answers.

The welcome sign to Plattsburg is not a welcome
sight. I feel dread so thick in my belly I feel like I might
explode. I wonder what my chances are of getting away from him. My
brain is formulating plans but they all suck.

"Where is it?"

I stare straight ahead.

"Rayne, I can find her on my own. I can smell
her out. She has left a trail all over the town, I guarantee
it."

"You can smell vegan yoga instructors? Fine go
ahead. Sniff her out."

He grabs my hand and fire burns into me again,
"Where?"

I jerk my hand from him, "Promise you won't hurt
her? Please just take me where ever you want to take me and I
promise I'll do whatever you want me to."

He looks disgusted, "Rayne." He grabs my
shoulders and burns me, through my shirt. "I am not going to hurt
you. She has some questions to answer though. She owes you
answers." His eyes burn.

He's crazed.

My voice cracks from the pain and trauma,
"Promise you won't hurt her."

"No. Where is it?" His voice is filled with
regret and emotion.

I press my lips into each other.

Fuck him. "Fuck you."

My eyes burn and tears flow down my cheeks in
steady streams.

He revs the engine and makes a hard turn. He
sticks his face out the window and drives. He makes another hard
turn, sharp. It throws me against him. I lean into him and wince
from the contact.

He drives for half an hour and then pulls up in
front of our house.

I am stumped.

He climbs out of the car and walks up to our
small house.

I don’t get out. I'm shaking. The blood on my
fingers is the tip of the iceberg of shit that's wrong. I can't let
her see me like this. Maybe she won't answer the door.

He looks back at me and climbs the front steps.
He bangs on the door with intensity.

The door doesn’t open. I look up and see Willow
in the window on the second story. She sees me in the car. She is
staring at me with terror across her face. Her strawberry blonde
hair is pulled up in a bun. I can see her pulling out the knitting
needle she has in there, holding it up. She wants me to see it. She
bites her lip and puts a hand against the windowpane. I cry and
look up at her. I'm ashamed my love of some freak is about to
escalate.

I look at him banging on the door. He looks
savage. He left the keys in the car. I press the door lock.

He glances at me and steps back from the door.
She watches me from the window. He kicks the door open and walks
into my house.

Her eyes never leave mine. I motion for her to
run. I'm a coward. I should have gone in with him. I should be
protecting her right now.

Why isn’t she calling the police?

After a few tense minutes, I see him walking
around behind her. He's feeling with his hands. He is calling. He
doesn’t see her. I don’t know how, but he doesn’t. She takes a step
to the side. He comes to the window and looks down on me. She's in
the window, right beside him. Her face turns psychotic and she
raises the knitting needle. She drives it down on his throat. Her
mouth opens, just as mine does. We scream at the exact same moment,
for completely different reasons. Crimson blood sprays across my
bedroom window.

Panic and pain and confusion are superceded by
shock. I fumble with the door handle. The lock I clicked.

Panicking and sobbing, I push the lock and leap
from the car. Her hand is still coming down on him. Slicing in the
air. He's trying to fight her.

My legs push hard. I scream as I enter the
house, "MOM NOOOOOO!"

I run up the stairs inside, skipping stairs. I
can't breathe, I can't get the air. Tears and sobs are blocking my
airways. I burst into my room, which is now covered in blood spray.
I slide along the floor to him. He clutches his throat wide eyed.
She licks the needle and glares at me.

"A fucking Van Helsing, Nene? Really?"

Her eyes are bright green. I've never seen them
look so alive. She growls at him and slides the needle into his
throat again.

I push her aside and hold his bleeding throat.
My fingers press into the wounds. He gasps for air, but sounds like
he is drowning. My tears are mixing with his blood. His skin is
burning mine.

I'm holding him and rocking and she is watching
me. He growls and her eyes widen in fear.

He watches me from the corner of the room. His
needle marks are filling in. My burns on my hands are healing.
Willow is pacing like a savage.

He is still alive and that is the least weird
thing I've seen all morning.