Chapter 1
(Chapter song ‘Cry Little Sister’ by Marilyn Manson)
Somewhere
“Shut up!”
‘No! I won’t shut up! Do you know what I’m risking here?’
“I don’t care! Leave me alone! You’re making me look crazy!”
‘Because you are craz—Okay, look. If you don’t help me out, a lot of people are going to die very soon.’
“I don’t even know how to get there!”
‘You’ll have to figure it out. But hurry. They could find this connection at any moment; then I’m dead.’
“That’s not a far trip.”
‘You know what I meant.’
“Okay. I’ll figure it out.”
‘Thank you. And hurry.’
“You’re sure this will work?”
“Do I look like a second-rate hack? I think of all people, you should know.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Now remember. Straight in, grab him, and get out. No sightseeing.”
“Why would I want to sight see?”
“I don’t know what your kinks are. You only need a mouthful, and it will work instantly. Make sure you’re someplace safe. Time works differently there. And whatever you do, don’t go into the light.”
“T-There’s a light?”
“No. I’m joking. Don’t be stupid. Call me tomorrow and tell me how it went.”
“Okay. You’ve done this before, right?”
“Oh yeah! Loads of times. It’s fun.”
“Fun?!”
“Now you know my kink.”
‘EEDDEENNNN!!’
With a huge gasp of air, my eyes bugging out and rapidly sitting up, my mind slams into reality. I whine out panting breaths, then cringe into myself as my skin starts to burn.
“Son of a bitch!” I double over, holding myself tight as the feeling of being locked in a deep freezer hits me like a flash freeze. “W-W-W-What th-th-th-the—” I slowly hold my hand out, and it’s vigorously shaking. I quickly turn around and grab the blanket off the bed I’m on and wrap it around me. I feel frozen to the core; my blood is ice. “H-H-Holy s-s-sh-i-it.” My teeth are clattering, threatening to chip as I look around to confirm where I am.
Bad carpet.
Ugly blue walls.
Cheap double bed.
Broken water heater and brown door still locked.
I nod with acceptance as I wrap the blanket under my chin and try to get this chill off my bones.
“That wasn’t in the instructions.” I breathe. As I look over at my nightstand with the 2 dollar lamp on it, I see the cup I drank from. Next to it is a small apothecary jar, cork still off. I barely remember that part; the rest I do and I’m hoping to find someone to scrub my brain because… fuck.
I wiggle myself in the blanket and turn to the stand. I grab the pillow, stuff it against my stomach, and tighten the blanket. I can feel the chill starting to die and feel relief that I won’t have to go to the ER. My eyes fall on the Dixie cup. I pick up and look into it. A mash of leaves and muddy water steam inside. My brows cinch. It’s still hot?
It’s been a week!
I forget even trying to wrap my mind around it and throw the cup in the light wood wicker trash basket under the table, cork the bottle and stuff it in the inside pocket of my jacket. I curl into myself, hugging the growing warmth like a lifeline.
“It’s okay. They can’t get you. They didn’t see you. You’re fine. You’re safe…”
I whisper the mantra to the inside space where my hands are as the last of the shivers die. I only pray that my pep talk is the truth. I pull out my hand and watch it. The shakes are starting to die down now.
‘I can’t do it!’
‘Keep trying!’
‘No. I’m not strong enough!’
’Yes, you are. I wouldn’t have found you if you weren’t. Come on. If you don’t, we are all dead. Is that what you want?’
‘No.’
‘Then quit being scared. You fucking open this door and get us out of here.’
I rub my temple and close my eyes as my head throbs from the pain of it. I can still feel it all. I need to stop feeling it. And why was I able to smell it? I shouldn’t be able to. Did I do it right?
“They can’t find you. You’re safe, Eden.” I repeat the whispers as I rock on the dirty mattress. “You’re cool. They didn’t see you. You’re—”
‘...ahwwwoooooo…’
The shivers crawl over my skin, but it’s not from the cold. I hold my breath as my eye looks behind me first. The howls from what sounds like a million miles away start to grow.
Hollow, windy… not real.
My entire body starts to tremble as I slowly turn around to the pawn shop TV and dirty bathroom. My pulse thumps in my ears and my eyes widen. Black smoke snakes out of the wall like a bloom of a hundred tentacles and moves along the wall from ceiling to floor. Growls and slobbering barks come from the center as the wall starts to bleed.
“Oh God.” I throw the blanket off, scramble off the bed, and put it between me and the pulsing dark cloud of slithering smoke snakes. Wind comes out of nowhere and the stench of sulfur surrounds me. Lightning and thunder knock out the power as I stumble back and hit the other double bed.
Roars of creatures meld with the dark, snarling growls at the center starts to grow and the tentacles reach across the ceiling.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!!”
‘COME TO ME!’
“FUCK YOU!” I scream to the void that fills with flash fires.
‘FUCKING RUN!’
The voice in my head is so loud that I fall to my knees and clentch my teeth, holding my head to stop the ringing.
‘You can’t hide.’
I snap my head up and my eyes fill with brimstone and fire as anguished screams fill the room through the thunder.
‘EDEN!’
A gigantic roar hits my chest as I scream and a giant black smoke snake shoots out at me from the center. I jump over the bed, run to the door, and throw it open. “HELP ME!!” I don’t dare look as I bolt into the parking lot of the Motel 6. I avoid a car turning in and reach the sidewalk. I look back and see the thick snake slither into the night sky. It roars louder as lightning flashes and I scream.
I run into the road and turn my head soon enough to see two headlights and a blaring horn. As I scream again, the brakes squeal, a car stops just off my thighs, and my hands land on the hood. My eyes connect with the driver of a cab, and horns rise behind him.
Panicked, I can only say one thing, “Help me.” With my heart racing, he’s yelling at me to get out of the road, but I run for his window.
“What are you doing?”
“Please. Is there an airport?” I pant.
“Yeah… 30 minutes.” He answers, pointing up the road.
“Take me.” I run for the back door and jump in. “Please hurry.”
“What’s going on?” He turns in his seat. “You have money, right?”
I reach into my jeans pocket and pull out a crumpled wad of bills and throw it at him. “Drive.”
He fumbles the money and meets my eyes. “Are you okay?”
I swallow as I look to the motel and see the snake make demonic trill noises as it starts to sink back. “I am now.”
It growls darkly, and as if it was put on fast forward, it’s sucked into the room, the door slamming shut right after it. I blow out a breath, sink into the seat, and meet his eyes. “Hurry.”
He puts the cab in gear. “Okay. STL airport. Traffic shouldn’t be too bad.”
“Good.” I pull out my phone and open the internet. After pulling up maps, I type in Vegas. I book the next red eye and put my phone in my pocket. I lean on the door, curling my fingers on my lips as I watch the traffic through the window. It starts to rain, and the sky is as dark as… I shouldn’t have seen what I saw. This isn’t good. I need to get to Vegas and get this over with. My gut is twisting.
This feels wrong.
“He better be what you say he is.”
‘Flight 404 now boarding at gate 10.’
The disembarking area floods with people as I exit the gate and enter Las Vegas Airport. The place smells like bad perfume and cheap fast food. The people waiting to board look miserable… some look broke. I see a man crying in his seat.
Keeping to myself, I walk around people running to check in. A man in jeans and a cheap jacket makes out with a woman in a wedding dress. She breaks the kiss and laughs, and he sucks on her neck. Her veil falls off her short blonde hair, and her gaudy blue and pink makeup is smeared. He grabs her chest and she slaps his hand telling him to stop. “No.” He grins and shoves his hand up her dress.
I shudder and walk on.
“I’ve never been to Vegas,” I whisper as I glance around and join the line for the security check. “I don’t know about this.” I lean out of line just enough to see up front, but not to look suspicious. “Yeah, well. I’ve never done this before, either.” I scowl as the man in front of me looks over his shoulder at me.
I clear my throat and look down.
The line moves forward, and when I see the guns on the agents’ hips, I start to sweat. My heart pumps a little faster, and I clench my fingers in the pockets of my jacket. “I’m trying,” I grit under my breath as I try to keep my voice low and make sure no one is paying attention.
“Arms out.”
When the person a few bodies ahead of me raises their arms to be scanned, the agent in the black uniform runs a wand up his back and down his front.
The scanner beeps.
“You’re clear.”
The man walks through a metal arch, and the next person steps up.
My eyes glue to the badge on the agents arm.
B.A.S.E.
A second agent has his hand on his gun and watching the people around them. My eyes fall to the Kevlar throat guard he’s wearing, and on the backs of their hands is tattoos of a pentagon star inside a circle and Latin words following the outside of the circle. The second agent drums his fingers on his gun, and his eyes catch mine. I take in a silent breath and force a smile. He smiles back, waves with his fingers and goes back to scanning the room.
“Shut up,” I grind as the man in front of me steps up.
I watch him get scanned, and the scanner beeps red. The agent pauses and looks up at the man. “ID.”
“God, you guys are a pain in the ass,” he growls as he pulls out his wallet.
“‘God.’ Interesting word to say for a demon.” The agent takes his pass.
My body freezes, and I stare at his back. He glances back and I nervously smile. He smirks and I feel that cold feeling again.
“Eh. Look at me.”
The man looks forward and the agent compares his face to his pass and grabs another scanner. “If I scan this, there isn’t going to be any unauthorized smoking, is there?”
“You actually expect me to admit it?” The man chuckles.
The agent shakes his head and scans the card. There’s a brief moment of tension, and the agent eyes him. He hands his pass back. “Stay out of trouble.”
“Whatever you say,” the man snorts.
“Let him go.”
The second agent lets the man through, and I watch him carefully.
“Hey. You coming or what?”
The agent snaps me out of my connection to the man, and I meet his brown eyes. “Yes… um… sorry.” I step to the white line taped on the floor.
“Don’t be sorry.” He smiles. He powers up his body scanner, and I stretch out my arms.
I look forward and try to keep my breathing steady as he scans my legs, moves to my hips, scans my waist, and runs it across my chest. My skin breaks out in goosebumps as he rises to my face, hovers, then moves to the back of my head.
Wah-beep.
He stops and looks me over. After resetting, he hovers it over the back of my head, swinging it back and forth.
Wah-beep. Wah-beep.
The second agent looks my way, and the first agent looks at the scanner. “Are you registered?”
I side-eye him. “Registered?”
“Are you classified as SN?” His brows cinch as he drops his scanner and begins to type on a black keyboard.
“No,” I say as steadily as I can.
“Put your arms down.” He orders. “Where are you coming from?”
“Oakland, Missouri.”
“And what was your business there?”
“Family.”
“Ever been to Vegas before?”
“No. First time.”
He glances at his partner, and he nods. He looks back at me watching my mannerisms and behavior. “Have you been to any funerals in the last 30 days?”
I furrow my brow. “No.”
“Any cemeteries at all?”
“No.” I glance at them both. “What’s this about?”
“You glitched my scanner, which means you have an energy reading in your head. And you seem to not know anything about it. Screams possession.” The second agent walks through the x-ray toward me and I flick my eyes between them with surprise on my face.
“No. I’m not possessed. I can explain.”
The second agent lifts a hand to me and crooks his fingers. “Walk through the x-ray, please.”
“No wait.”
“Miss…”
I reach into my jacket. “I want to show you—”
“Just walk through the scanner!” The first agent points to the large, arched metal detector-looking thing.
“Man, just pull her out!”
I look back at the annoyed people behind me.
He points to the guy. “You shut the fuck up!” Then he glares at me. “The X-ray or you’re going to be detained.””Look! Here!” I pull out a small book. “I have a passport. Read it.” I lock with his eyes and hand him the thin red book that says ‘In-Country Passport.’ He looks at the book, takes it, and hands it to the second agent. I watch the agent walk back through the X-ray as he opens it.
“Walk!” The first agent orders again.
I glance at him, the second agent, and the X-ray. My feet move even though I’m screaming for them not to. I see the metal arch light up and I close my eyes. My heart races and I press my lips together as I lift my foot to step over the threshold.
“Let her go.”
My foot drops just as the X-ray powers down and I walk through the dead scanner. He holds up the passport to his partner. “She’s mutized.”
The first agent looks at me. “With what?”
He turns to me, smiles, and hands my passport back. “Psychic?”
I take it and put it in my pocket. “Yeah.”
“Any good?” He crosses his arms.
“I just rose last year.” I swallow.
“Oh cool. I dated a psychic chick once. It was fun. Don’t go cheating the houses.” He winks.
I fake a smile again. “Wouldn’t think it.”
“Have fun.” He waves and I turn into the main hub of the airport. I heave heavy breaths as my steps quicken, and I glance back and walk into the thick of everything.
“That was close… “Yes, I realize the bus would’ve been better, but it’s urgent, right?” I stop and look around the floor. I see the baggage claims. The carousels of bags and suitcases turns slowly as they’re being fed by conveyors. And on the other side are information booths, tables in front of cafes, and secondary customs booths.
A barking growl has me jump and I spin around; my brown hair hits me in the face. A giant crate with two Dobermans inside is pushed out of a hall on a cart. The dogs bark and growl at the man who’s pushing them and I hear the noise I heard at the motel.
As they disappear into the crowd, I calm myself. “I’m fine.” I go back to scanning the room and see a white interactive search panel. I don’t hesitate. I rush to the screen before anyone else can reach it.
I touch the screen, and it lights up with a message: ‘How can I help you?’
“What am I looking up?” I bring up the search screen and a keyboard. “… Spell it.” My fingers type and I watch the letters appear in the search bar. V, A, L, E. “What are the chances it’s still—”
The links appear, and the one I need is the top one. I press it and look for directions. “You sure he’ll help?” I input the address into my GPS. “Oh, great.” I scowl as I put my phone back into my pocket. “No. You look. I had a life. I had a couch, a job. It was a great life.” I twist around bodies as I head for the exit. “Okay, it wasn’t that great, but it was my life!” I growl quietly. “Now I’m walking into God knows what and I don’t even know half of what’s going on!”
I shove the doors open as lines of people walk in and out. I step out into the cold desert air. The breeze flips my hair as I look around. Groups of people are smoking and talking; there are lines of taxis, and people wait for pickups on the sidewalk.
My boots thump on the asphalt as I jog between the cars and run to the end of the park and ride. I look to my left and see an observation area. I slow my pace and walk to the small area that overlooks the valley. I stop and place my hands in my pockets as I look down on Las Vegas burning in neon across the valley floor. Spotlights and giant signs start to slowly die as the sun just crests the mountains behind the city. The smell of dry sand and warm air hits me as the sky turns red, orange, and pink.
“Can I trust him?” My eyes narrow as the sun hits them and I feel the warmth on my face. My eyes fall to the city as it seems to fall asleep. I get lost in the colors of the desert. “I’m trusting you.” I turn around and walk to the road.
“It will mean nothing if he kills me or worse, because of you.”
The thought terrifies me as the dawn rises, but the night swallows me whole.
