Eventide

fall longer, the wood around the path grows denser.

“Are you afraid?” he asks. We stop. He rounds on me, facing me.

“Of what?” I return.

His hands ease to my hips, skim my bare back, and pull me close. I feel weird, as if I can’t really help my reaction to him. Even when his head lowers, I’m unable to pull away.

“Of loving me more than you love him,” he answers, his lips brushing close to mine, yet not touching them. “I think you are.”

Of him? Who? I can’t seem to help myself. I turn my mouth to his, and immediately he groans and covers my lips with his. The kiss is slow, erotic, and he takes his time to explore my mouth thoroughly, as if this is the only chance he’ll have. It feels like he’s waited for this moment a long, long time. I find myself kissing him back, and my hands thread around his neck and hold him tightly. Again he groans, and his kiss heightens. His hands slide down my bare back, over my ass, until he finds the slit in the dress and grazes the exposed skin of my thigh.

Then, he stills. For a moment, we’re both suspended there, in the dense wood, on a stone path. His hand leaves my thigh and cups my face. With a gentleness that surprises me, he strokes my lips with his thumb, then brushes a kiss there.

“You’ve no idea how long I’ve waited for this,” he says, his accent thicker. He kisses me again, then moves his mouth to my ear. He says something in a language I don’t understand. “Forever,” he whispers. “And it’s exactly how I imagined.”

I’m looking at him, his face half cast in shadow, and I can’t remember who he is. Familiar? Yes. Attractive? Totally. But there’s something missing here. Something absolutely not right…

“Riley, didn’t you hear what I said?”

I jerk, and again, my vision is blurry. Slowly, I focus. I’m confused. I’m pissed. And I don’t like either.

Woman staring at me. Auburn hair pulled into high pigtails. Bright red lipstick. Who the hell is she? Her eyes are wide and frightened as she stares hard at me. Her lips are moving but I don’t know what the hell she’s saying. There is no sound coming out.

All I can hear is her heart beating. Fast. Maybe I feel it more than hear it.

I turn to leave, to escape, and I then feel a hand close around my arm. I react. I turn and jack the woman up against the wall, holding her there by her throat. Although I’m staring dead at her face, I don’t really see her. Her features are a fuzzy blur. Her body begins to jerk, and she’s gasping for air, clawing at my hand with pale white fingers. Long legs clad in ridiculous-looking striped stockings kick the wall. I smile at her.

All at once I’m tackled and I hit the floor. Frantic voices, swearing, shouting surround me, and I start to struggle. A weight, almost unbearable, pins me down. Not for long, though, because I find my strength.

“Goddamn, Riley, hold still!” the voice warns, and straddles me in a way that I can’t move my arms or legs. I don’t recognize the voice, but it’s deep, accented, and threatening. All I want to do is escape. Get away. But I can barely breathe, much less run away. Whoever is on top of me is one strong fuck.

“Nyx, call Mrs. Dupre,” the same voice yells. “Now! And get Ms. Estelle over here, too.”

I thrash some more. “Get the fuck off me!” I growl. I buck, begin to pull one of my knees up under me. The body atop me grunts, mutters something in a foreign language, and holds me tighter.

“Hold her, Zetty,” a female voice warns. “You’ve got to get a better grip on her legs or she’ll kick right out from under you. I’ve seen her do it.”

More weight, distributed over my legs and arms, and no matter how hard I pitch, I’m stuck. My face is pushed into the floor. I don’t know who Zetty is, or Nyx, but they’re both dead when I get free.

“Call, Nyx,” the Zetty person says. “I can’t hold her forever.”

I hear the Nyx person speaking in an excited voice to someone, then she moves into my line of sight. Same stupid stockings. Must be the heartbeat I had by the throat. She comes closer, bends down, and looks at me. I’m so filled with rage I want to gnash out with my teeth and grab her.

“Riley, it’s going to be okay,” she says. Her eyes are wide and fearful, but there’s pity in her voice. “I promise, it will be. And I’m so sorry.”

I do nothing but stare at her and growl.

Her hand goes to her throat and she quickly backs away.

“Yeah, stay back, Nyx,” the male says. “She’s strong.”

In the next instant, a small dark woman is suddenly there. She bends over at the waist and looks at me, the crinkles at the corners of her eyes deeply engrained into her skin. I try to lunge, but I’m trapped beneath the human. Her ebony face frowns at me, unafraid.

“Girl, we gonna git you right,” she says, shakes a bony finger at me, then looks at the male. “You stay put on her dere, boy. She git loose an’ we’ll be in trouble.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the male says. He holds me tighter still.

I gather all of my strength, buck hard and scream.

The male, Zetty, has a tight enough hold that I barely move an inch.

The dark woman smiles and nods. “Good. I’ll be back.”

“Riley!” another male yells. “Zetty, what’s happening?”

“No, Seth,” another says, this time a small, petite woman. No, not a woman. She’s pulseless. There are two without pulses in this room. With my vision cloudy, I seek them out. Short, compact, eyes aglow.

“Get away from me,” I growl, squinting to make my vision clear. The younger male, human, edges closer.

“Riley, no,” he says quietly. His face is pinched in pain, and I can’t understand why.

“She doesn’t recognize you, Seth,” the young pulseless female says. “You’d better step back.”

“No,” he says, unbending. “She’s my sister.” This he says so soft only I can hear.

Not that I understand it.

The dark woman returns, and everything spins out of control at that point. I’m lost, suffocating, drowning, fighting. I feel like I’m dying, like I’m more thirsty than I’ve ever been in my entire life. No, not thirsty. It’s hunger. Hunger and thirst combined. I need…something. A light-headed feeling comes over me, and now I’m dizzy. Something is forced down my throat, and although I thrash back and forth, I’m overpowered. Someone with very small but strong hands holds my head, and something disgusting is jammed past my lips. I cough, spit, but those same steely hands now grip my jaw closed. I have to swallow. I hear yells, cries, and what I can only assume is my own voice moaning in agony. My body goes limp. Feet shuffle around me. I hear the sounds, and the whispers, but nothing more. I can’t understand any words. I can’t see faces. I see only darkness, hear only whispers. They’re frightening me now, the whispers, and I try to hide but my body won’t move. They’re after me. They want to kill me.

They want to eat me.

Soon, though, the voices, whispers, shuffling feet, all become muffled. Then, they disappear.

I am now in total silent darkness.

Part Five Carpathians

I’ve never seen Riley like this. I was so little when she was messed up before, I remember almost nothing. I do remember my mom crying a lot, and Riley stumbling in at four in the morning, high as a kite. What I recall most is how she changed her life. Now? To see her like this again? It makes my stomach hurt to watch her. She’s like a wild animal, and she recognizes none of us. And to know it’s nothing as simple as crack or cocaine scares the hell out of me. She’s turning. My big sister, who’s always taken care of me, is in the throes of a dual-venomed quickening. I might not be so worried if Preacher and Mr. Dupre weren’t so worried. But they are. So, I am. I can only pray what we’re doing to her works. It’s tortuous to watch—way worse than Da Isle and Gullah cleansing. I feel helpless. I…love my sister more than anything. I want her back. And I’ll do anything to get that.