Grave Danger Read online

  Their home on the island was a massive structure that had required demolishing several old homes and covered ten acres of land. A high cement wall kept intruders out, not for the family’s safety, but theirs. Inside the property lines were a two story main house and three smaller guest houses which were of average size for a standard size home in America. Ambrose and his wife resided in the main house, the brothers and their wives including Chas and Helen took residence in the guest homes.

  Corrigan had asked to stay in the attic of the main house, not needing an entire home just for himself. He explained to them that he was accustomed to cramped small places. And the spacious attic, though smaller than the guest house the family offered to build him, was better than where he usually ended up. Helen could only imagine what he must have meant by that. Corrigan’s past was a terrible burden on his soul, a soul he professed he no longer possessed in this existence.

  “Are you coming out with us, Helen?” Corrigan answered her with a question of his own. Helen usually preferred traveling with the girls. They had their own feeding practices that either irritated the men or bored them. So the women of the family had decided some time ago to venture out on their own. It usually began with an outing to a bar or club, either in town or the surrounding area. Then after an evening of girlish frivolity, they would get down to business.

  “Is that an invitation, Corry?” Helen responded with yet another question. Helen was the first person to refer to Corrigan as Corry, and the only one given the right to do so.

  “Cor doesn’t invite anyone to roam with him.” Chas interjected, stretching his arms over his head, and rotating his upper chest. “I’m just here to see that he keeps the numbers down to a minimum.” That wasn’t entirely true. Chas and Corrigan had been roaming together since he had arrived in their city. At first he had been assigned to follow Corrigan to make sure he abided by the rules the others and his family had agreed upon years before. Later they had struck a bond between them, brothers in heart and mind, if not in blood.

  “But he’ll invite me,” Helen contradicted. “Won’t you, Corry?” Helen smiled over at her brother. Her greenish-blue eyes were like radiant jewels set in a classically beautiful face. Helen’s parentage, like Chas had been of mixed ancestry. But unlike Chas, both her father and mother had adored their daughter.

  “Of course you’re invited, Hell,” Corrigan said, using his nick-name for her. She might appear to others to be a sweet young woman in her mid-twenties, but she was a little demon from hell when she was riled. She was quick and deadly when she was on the hunt for a kill and could take down a grown man twice her size.

  “Well, I’m starving. What are we waiting for?” Helen took her husband’s hand, wrapping it around her as she leaned in to him. “I’ve never been out with you boys before. Do you have a favorite pick-up spot? Margaret Ann and I sometimes like to hang out near the bars on St. George Street.”

  “We’re not scouting women, Helen,” Chas retorted with a frown. “And the first rule if you’re going to roam with us is that Cor and I will find the kill. You stay back until I call you.” He brushed his other hand over her forehead, brushing strands of her dark hair off her forehead. “Is that clear?”

  “I’m not an infant,” Helen groused. “I can make my own kill, thank you very much. But I’m glad to hear you’re not scouting out women. If I did find you doing such a thing I’d have to kill you and I don’t feel inclined to break-in another husband.”

  Chas frowned at first before his face broke into a teasing grin. “So you think you’ve house broken me, do you?” he bantered. “And I didn’t say you were incapable of a kill. I just prefer not to have you do it tonight. We’re not on very good terms with the others and Ambrose is having us take less kills because of it. The whiny souls across the way are having a fit and taking it out on us. Seems they’re reconsidering our contract we made all those years ago, maybe even rescinding it all together. Who knows? But we’re cutting back, so let Corrigan and I take care of tonight’s meal.”

  Helen reached out and touched his face, rubbing his cheek with her graceful fingers. “As long as you don’t make me do the dishes,” she teased him back. Rising on to her tippy toes she kissed his cheek, moving over to take his lips. She breathed against his mouth. “You are so totally house broken, sweetheart. You just don’t realize it.” Then she screamed as he picked her up, swinging her into his arms as he deepened the kiss.

  Corrigan sighed, looking away from the happy couple. Though he had grown accustomed to seeing his adoptive families frequent displays of tender affection for each other he wasn’t as completely unmoved as he would like to be. Since arriving on their doorstep years ago, he had been accepted into the flock, into the family, unconditionally and without mistrust on their part. Being alone for so many decades, he had little memory of what it was like to behave in polite society, to be with others of his kind and not revert back to the animalistic monster he had been reduced to for so long.

  “It’s time,” Corrigan said from his position by the lamp post. “Chas, you lead.” Giving Chas the lead would mean that he could choose the location and the mark without interference from himself or Helen. “I’ll follow behind to take watch and Helen can assist you if she’d like.” Helen nodded her head, looking pleased by the arrangement. Helen could either be used as a distraction or as bait for the target, depending upon the situation. “Are we in agreement then?”

  They both nodded. Making one more stretch of his arms over his head, Chas made an excited growl in the back of his throat before leaping into a run. In the next moment he was gone, headed for downtown and his chosen target.

  “He gets so pumped up before the kill, stalking about the house like a caged animal,” Helen commented as she and Corrigan stood alone on the bridge. “I think that music he listens to is a bad influence.”

  “It’s not the music, Hell, it’s who he is. It’s who we all are.” Corrigan once again turned to look down at the city. Lately Chas had become anxious before they went out for the night, but it was only because they’d had to cut back. Sometimes not going out at all for a night or two and then when they did, he became a little wild. That was the nature of the beast; you couldn’t cage it up forever, not without repercussions.

  Helen felt that well of pity she kept hidden from her brother rise up. Corrigan truly believed that he was only the monster of legend, the flesh-eater, the zombie, the soulless and damned. Helen thought differently. And though their lifestyle was considered abhorrent to the rest of the world, they were not so different from the others. They loved, laughed and had heartache like any human. They just happened to also be the walking dead. To survive they consumed the living, cannibalism. But was it so different from the living who feasted off of the animals and beasts of the land and sea? The only difference was that their meal came with a name attached; call a pig Susan and you might be reluctant to eat it too.

  “You better follow your husband and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.” Corrigan said, interrupting her thoughts.

  “I’ll see you down there, brother.” And in the next moment she too was gone.

  Corrigan stood alone on the old bridge, a strange feeling coming over his senses. Something was different about tonight and he couldn’t begin to put a finger on what it could mean. It was in the air, in the ground, a change had come to the old city bringing with it a new force that he had not felt in many years. Whatever it was, it didn’t bode good news for himself or his adopted family.

  He leaped up onto the bridge railing, gazing down at the dark water below. He wondered if he fell, would the darkness take him back once again. No. It would spit him out, because even Lucifer wouldn’t want him in his domain. Corrigan’s eyes were yet again drawn to watching the city lights. Down there, in the ancient city someone was waiting, a force he had yet to encounter but he knew well enough without introduction.

  In the next instant he was gone from the rail.

  Darkness held the city in its co
ld hands, soothing it into sleep. For the unwary, this night might be the last they saw of this world.

  Chapter 10-

  Clarissa wandered down the darkened streets several blocks from her home. All around her the houses of the cities citizens revealed cold, unlit windows with quiet hushed whispers of dreaming thoughts inside.

  She had been drifting about the city for several hours now, not sure if she should remain longer or give up and return to Mrs. Connors house where Eleanor and Maddy would surely be up and waiting for her turn.

  She had been very nearly close to giving up this idiotic idea of confronting the others when something caught her attention.

  Clarissa had become used to the knowledge that she could penetrate the barriers of the human psyche and see into the souls and minds of the Eidolon and the livings. She was never intentionally intrusive and some of them, she found, could keep themselves from her. But what she encountered and stopped her in the deathly quiet streets of the old city was the sound of voices speaking to each other, not with words of mouth, but of thought.

  It was as if she had accidentally picked up a line of communication that she shouldn’t have otherwise been allowed to hear, but she could. Clarissa hadn’t met anyone who could converse on such a personal level until now. She wondered who they could be and what they were talking about. Having come in on the tail end of the conversation, she couldn’t understand the context of what they were talking about, almost as if they were speaking in code.

  Two males and a female, that was what she guessed from the way the voices were speaking as each held a trace of the essence of the person from which the voice was formed. An internal voice, unlike an auditory voice is distinct and personable and cannot be covered up by an accent or false voice.

  They were together, several blocks over from where she was standing, and as far as she could reason none of them were aware that she had infiltrated their private line. Who were they and what were they doing out so late at night? Didn’t they realize that the others were out as well, roaming the streets for their next meal? Clarissa thought to reach out to them and warn them, but some inner warning system held her back. She didn’t know these people, nor they her. It would be wiser to leave them alone, she told herself.

  Having come to that conclusion, she turned about intending to go home. She was tired and bored with walking the lonely streets. Perhaps she would borrow Maddy’s computer. She had seen it lying on a desk when she had passed the open door of one of the upstairs rooms. She could maybe wile Eleanor into watching a movie with her. Maddy had a few DVD boxes staked next to her television in the back family room. As Clarissa was thinking about which movie Eleanor would agree to watch with her, a shadow crept along the street behind her.

  She felt it more than she saw it, a force of energy bending the atmosphere around her. Clarissa paused, not turning to look at it. It was in her best interest to pretend she wasn’t aware of it yet. She must think of what to do first. But a blanket of fear seemed to cover her, stealing her thoughts as well as the ability to take action. The shadow swept closer, fast, seemingly moving more like a phantom than a human person. It wasn’t human, Clarissa thought. It was a beast.

  Chas darted down the street before his brother or wife could stop him. Moving swiftly through the night, he didn’t pause until he found himself several blocks away from his family. Stalking his prey, he moved like a shadow phantom down the empty street toward his destination.

  He had felt the intruder only a moment ago, a light presence, as it had remained on the fringe of his mind, almost undetected. Then it had almost reached out and touched, its intentions giving it away when it would have otherwise gone undetected by himself and his family. Chas had taken action, not caring that his brother or wife was yelling at him to come back. Whoever it had been, the person would be dead soon enough.

  Searching for the target, Chas paused to see a lone figure of a woman standing in the middle of the street, nearly frozen in place. She was young, looking not much older than he in her stunted existence. Chas had been looking for a man, a strong force of psychic and spiritual awareness, a wielder of strength in the ancient arts, not a woman; a dead ghost woman at that. She couldn’t have been the intruder, this girl who appeared to be scared out of her wits.

  Chas drew closer, coming up to her from behind. She was neither short nor overly tall and she looked soft, not a creature capable of taking down one of his kind or even her own. “What is a little ghost girl doing out on a night like this?” he said, his voice the only sound in the stillness surrounding them. She didn’t turn, but remained immobile staring off in front of her.

  “I thought I would go for a walk as it is such a nice night.” Clarissa answered him without revealing any trembling in her voice. “It will be dawn in a few hours. Don’t you think you should be heading home?”

  Clarissa started to move away, taking a tentative step. She wouldn’t run like a scared little child, but then neither was she planning on sticking around for a little chat with a flesh-eater. She made another move away from him. Clarissa had yet to turn around and look him in the eye. She wasn’t sure she had the nerve to do that yet.

  Chas snatched her arm, pulling her smaller form back and forcing her to turn around to face him. Clarissa gasped both in shock at being touched and in finally getting what she had asked for, a face to face look at the legendary flesh-eaters. She just didn’t expect she would find herself this close to one; a few feet of distance would have been preferable.

  “Do you know what happens to ghosts who don’t stay home at night where they should be?” Chas glared down from his advanced height at the wide eyed ghosts. Her blue eyes stared up him, the dark ring around the fringe of her irises giving them a strange ethereal look.

  Clarissa tried to jerk her arm free from his grasp. His large calloused hands weren’t cold and clammy like she expected, but warm and strong from the blood and flesh he had consumed. Henry had warned her that though a flesh-eater needed the living to survive, a soul would be a tasty treat to fill the empty shell of their beings; at least for a short time. Clarissa wasn’t sure she wanted to be the patsy in order to find out if it were true or not.

  He was too strong, she couldn’t pull herself free from him and he didn’t seem to be in any mood to let her go. His bottle green eyes looked down at her from a face that was surprisingly handsome and not grotesque like she had imagined. If she didn’t know better she would have believed he was human and not the soulless beast she knew him to be.

  Clarissa felt his grip tighten and saw as his mouth parted and he revealed the beast within. Behind his full, perfectly shaped male lips held straight white teeth except for the canines which looked like those of the beasts of the wild; sharp and precise in a jaw that could crush bones into dust. It was in his mouth that the beast resided, waiting to take its next victim. And in a moment Clarissa knew that it would be her.

  Corrigan shouted at his brother, though he knew he was past hearing. He had caught the scent of something and nothing could stop him from going after it. Standing next to a cropping of trees, he watched as his sister hovered over their kill. Corrigan didn’t think to recognize it as the man it had once been. To do so would bring up the consciousness and faint tendrils of humanity he still had left even after all this time. Keeping all that away, suppressed far enough down inside where even he could pretend it no longer existed.

  Finished, she looked up at him, a tiny trace of blood dotting her full lower lip. She licked it with her delicate pink tongue, standing up as she came to stand next to him. “Where has he gone off to now? He’s been running off lately and I don’t know why. Go after him Corry; make sure he doesn’t get himself or us in trouble.”

  Helen seemed deeply concerned for her mate, so he obliged her. Corrigan sprinted off in the same direction his brother had taken moments before, following his trail. Night’s velvet cloak kept much of the world hidden, but he found it easy to travel through it. The night was his companion, his only fr
iend for most of his existence. They were of similar stuff, both mysterious and misunderstood by much of the planet.

  Corrigan found himself several blocks over on a deserted residential street. Only the lamp lights shone against the blackness of the night and he could see two figures farther down in front of him. He recognized the broad back of his brother in an instant, but could not make out the other, smaller figure in front of him.

  Picking up his speed he raced to confront them, hoping to stop whatever his brother intended to do to this other obviously weaker person. Just as he was upon them though he watched as his brother, a deadly threat to anything in his path was flung backwards into the street landing on his back. Chas would have landed on Corrigan if Corrigan hadn’t dodged speedily to the other side of the street. As it was, he just barely escaped from being flung backwards himself by the residual flow of energy from the attack. And there was no mistaking where it had originated from.

  Clarissa stood stunned for a moment, not quite sure what had happened. Several seconds ticked by in her mind before she collected her senses well enough to force her from the comatose stupor. She had escaped, digging deep into the dark well of her subconscious and finding the tools needed to confront the creature who now lay dazed on the street several feet away.

  He recovered quickly, shaking his head as if clearing away the thoughts inside. Then his angry eyes focused once more on her, on his feet in seconds. He came charging at her like a great bull, his head down in aggression. If she had been smart she would have shifted the atmosphere and taken herself out of there. But the simplest answers didn’t always come to mind in the thick of battle.

  Just as she was bracing herself for his attack, she felt another pair of equally strong hands on her person, pulling her up and against its form. It held her cool body against its much warmer one, taking her high above the ground, her legs dangling in the air. She was left suspended in the arms of another creature and she knew that it was not friendly.