So this is what it feels like to die. Some part of him rebelled against it. He could just lie there, true, and hope to go peacefully. But he wanted something more than that. He wanted to hurt this bastard, maybe stop him for good.
He decided he would settle for just surprising him-stopping that sanctimonious laugh of his. Janus didn’t have to be the victim that got away. He would settle for being the one who helped even the score-just a little.
“You were the icing on the cake, you know what I mean, good buddy?” the man said. “I’ve been looking for a way to win back your friends’ attention. When I heard you were heading out to see old Buzz… man, it was perfect. Today is ripe with blessings, Janus old boy. Not for you, of course, but you don’t matter.”
Janus could feel the car moving at a more reasonable speed now. He felt it turn left at some stage and wondered where they were headed. Somewhere remote, he thought. Somewhere nobody would hear Janus screaming.
He held the lighter, moving his hands to the switch that would turn it on. He had always been proud of this little silver thing, engraved on the back with his initials. His uncle had given it to him for his 18 ^th birthday. His parents had hardly approved, but that made it even better. It was a real smoker’s lighter, the kind that you lit once and stayed burning until you capped it. For him, the acrid smell of the burning oil had been nearly as addictive as the smoking.
“They’re going to talk about this for ages, you know,” the man said. “I’ve got big plans. I’ll take care of your little cronies on Halloween or before, and once I do, I’ve got a show-stopping number planned. Little kids in a row. I can’t say much, but I can say crucifixion is involved.”
“You’re insane,” Janus managed, not sure if he should just stay quiet or not.
“Oh, you’re awake, are you?” the man said and turned to look at him. His look was one of pure disgust. For a moment, Janus worried that he would see the lighter and know what Janus had planned. But he turned back around again.
“God, I’m disappointed in you. Thought you would put up a fight. But you are such a dumb ass, you didn’t even know your brakes were cut.”
He laughed a dry chuckle, more to himself.
“I’m thinking I will save your buddy Quinn for last. You know his girl and I go way back, don’t you? I should have gutted her after I killed her mom, but I thought it would be more fun to come back later. I stand by that decision. I really do. She’s had years to think about what I will do to her.”
Janus grimaced and started to feel some strength come back as cold fury rose in him. They had trusted this guy, called him one of their own, and instead he was cutting them down one by one. And in his mind he could see Quinn hanging on a cross.
With tremendous effort and nearly crying out in pain, Janus pushed himself up slowly, gripping the lighter in his hand.
“Maybe he will fight a little better than you,” the man continued. “I’m a little worried I drove him crazy. Him and his little girlfriend. What was that obtaining power on Halloween? But it ends on Nov. 1? Well, that is inconvenient, isn’t it?”
Silently, begging the man not to look in the rearview mirror, Janus sat up. His head felt like it weighed a million pounds. All he wanted was to lay back down and fall asleep. But he had a feeling that if he did, it would be forever.
Instead, he brought the lighter up with his right hand. For the last time in his life, he lit it, hearing the satisfying hiss as a small flame sprang to life. Janus could smell the oil burning and he breathed it in.
“Your ending won’t be smooth,” the man said. “I’ll keep you alive long enough that you’ll wish you had died in that car crash.”
The man laughed again.
Janus slowly brought himself forward, holding the small flame in his right hand.
“Hey wanker, don’t you ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?” Janus said and as he hoped, the man turned his head to face him.
Moving quickly, Janus stuck the flame of his lighter into the man’s face, shoving it into his right eye.
The man tried to ward it off at the last minute, but was too late. The blow connected and he screamed as he felt a searing pain on his face.
The man reeled, taking his hands off the wheel. The car spun out of control, knocking Janus back.
“Happy fucking Halloween,” Janus said, before everything went black.
Kate and Quinn kept driving while looking for anything that might help them. When they came to a four-way stop two miles past the accident, Kate stopped.
“Where do we go?” Kate asked.
Quinn shook his head.
“I have no idea,” he said.
Kate tried to reach out with her mind, but it felt like she was running into a brick wall.
“Do you have a scanner?” Quinn asked.
“I should have thought of it before,” she said and reached behind her seat to pull it out.
It had been the first thing she bought in town. Somehow being attuned to police movements was comforting. It could tip you off to a story and tell you what was going on in the world.
He turned it on now, plugging it into the cigarette lighter. They both listened.
They heard reports of an accident and Quinn prayed for something else-a speeding car, somebody yelling somewhere, anything unusual that might tip them off.
Two minutes later it came.
A report of another overturned car, this one off Houseur Road-only two miles away from where they were.
Kate shoved the car back into gear, turned left and sped off.
The pain in Quinn’s leg was gradually subsiding, the bloody T-shirt still wrapped around it. Still, he thought it felt better and wondered briefly what that meant.
In a few minutes, they saw it. A beat up BMW lay on the side of the road, having run straight into a tree.
Kate pulled over beside it and she jumped out with her gun in hand. Flipping the front door open, she saw nothing except some blood on the side window.
But in the back…
“Quinn,” she said.
Quinn was out of the car, limping with severe pain, over to the BMW.
“Oh God,” he said.
In the back was Janus. Quinn opened the door, even as Kate was on the cell phone. She kept her eyes peeled out nervously as well. She could almost sense that he was here, the one who had haunted her half of her lifetime. The one she desperately wanted dead.
But she saw nothing in the woods by the road. She told the police there was an injured passenger and where, knowing they must already be on their way. She wondered who had spotted the accident and called it in.
Quinn was leaning over Janus.
“Will he be alright?” Kate asked, guessing what the answer would be.
But instead Quinn pulled his head out of the car.
“No,” he said quietly. “He’s dead.”
Kate passed him the gun and stuck her head in, but it was no use. There was blood all over his clothes and it looked like Janus had a bad wound on his head. Janus was dead and no amount of CPR was going to bring him back.
Quinn was staring at the tree line. All he felt inside was a blind hatred. All he wanted was to make that bastard pay.
“I know you’re out there,” Quinn screamed finally. “And I’ll bet this wasn’t part of your sorry little plan. I’ll bet he got you good.”
Kate looked again at the blood on the window. A glint of sunlight off something silver caught her eye on the front seat and she stuck her head in the car again. Janus’ silver lighter lay open but extinguished on the seat. She
