Chapter 15 #2
They rushed from the apartment and into Jake’s car. Tearing down the deserted road, Jake broke every speed limit between his apartment and the lake house. Theo, unable to sit still, kept trying to call her, growling in frustration when there was no answer.
When they finally pulled up outside Olivia’s house, Theo was out of the car before Jake had even put the parking brake on.
Throwing open the door, Jake climbed out and headed up the front steps of her porch.
Even in the dead of night, and from a distance, he could see the front door stood wide open, and the house was in complete darkness.
Drawing his weapon, Jake edged cautiously up the steps.
Theo glanced briefly at Jake, but he barely paid attention.
He knew she wasn’t in the house. His gaze, instead, scanned the tree line at the edge of the woods where thick, smog spilled out between the tree trunks like ghostly tentacles.
Not waiting for Jake, he took off across the open grass toward the woods, calling out Olivia’s name in desperation and praying to God they weren’t too late.
* * *
Olivia breached the surface of the water, coughing as she dragged in a deep lungful of air.
Her body began to shake, the water was freezing, and it was becoming harder to control her limbs.
They felt as if they were made of lead. She knew she didn’t have long.
She couldn’t stay in the water; at this temperature, she only had minutes before hypothermia set in.
She fought her way back toward the bank with none of her usual finesse.
She had been the star of the swim team in high school and college, but her body temperature was too low, she was exhausted and hurt, and the thing that was chasing her still prowled the banks somewhere.
The jagged roots of a tree hung over the bank, and she grasped on with numb fingers, unable to feel anything as the bark dug into her already torn palms. Resting her throbbing head against her hands, she held on.
She was so tired, barely able to feel her body, and all she wanted to do was close her eyes.
Knowing she had to keep moving, she fought the drowsiness, forcing herself to lift her head and reach for the bank. It was like trying to swim through clay as she clawed her way toward solid ground. Taking a chance and letting go of the roots, she made a grab for the bank and dug in.
Hauling her battered body out of the icy water was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do.
Her nails dug into the soil as she dragged her body slowly and painfully up the bank, back toward the woods.
She pushed herself shakily to her hands and knees, but as she took a breath and tried to stand, she collapsed in a heap.
Her ankle wouldn’t take her weight, and her body felt too numb and heavy.
Instead, she dragged herself along the ground inch by painful inch toward the nearest tree.
She rolled over, and her breath expelled from her lips as a fine mist. She could barely feel anything now.
Her eyes drifted closed, leaving her unaware of the sentient-like fog draping itself over her body in the grotesque parody of a lover’s caress.
She vaguely thought she heard someone in the distance calling her name, but then the darkness claimed her.
* * *
“Olivia!” Theo shouted again and again. Panic gripped him by the throat now. He could barely see a foot in front of him. He was aware Jake had followed him into the woods and was behind him somewhere, but he couldn’t see him either.
He stumbled blindly onward. She was here somewhere; he could feel her. Stopping for a moment, he strained to hear a sound, any sound, that might give away her location, but there was nothing but an eerie silence shrouded by thick fog.
Suddenly, out the corner of his eye, he caught a flutter of light, but as he turned toward it, it disappeared into the mist. It came again, a faint red glow hovering in the air, before a roll of fog covered it once again.
He quickened his pace but the next time the mist parted he realized the strange light was moving toward him.
Skidding to a halt he watched as it buzzed back and forth through the fog, dancing on the air.
Suddenly, it shot toward him, pausing barely two feet in front of him.
He sucked in a sharp breath at the wonder before him.
A huge dragonfly entirely composed of flames, it’s delicate wings blurred with sparks of gold and flecks of red, hovered in the air.
He couldn’t say how he knew with such certainty but something deep down inside him told him that this was Olivia’s magic, and it was reaching out to him.
“Take me to her,” he whispered urgently.
The dragonfly circled him twice before shooting off into the woods.
He took off after it, racing to keep up, dodging trees and branches.
Suddenly, it stopped and plummeted to the ground.
At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at.
All he could see was a pale, dirty, crumpled heap splayed out on the cold, damp ground.
But when the dragonfly dove toward it, the heap twitched.
Theo’s stomach turned over in horror as he realized just what he was looking at.
Olivia’s spine arched sharply as the dragonfly plunged into her chest, glowing beneath her ribs as it was absorbed into her body.
Then she slumped lifelessly back to the ground.
Her nightgown was soaked and plastered to her skin, covered in mud and blood.
Her hair hung in thick, wet ropes against her chalky white skin.
Blood trailed the side of her face from a cut at her temple, and her lips were turning blue.
“No!” He rushed forward and dropped to his knees. Pulling off his jacket, he wrapped it around her as best he could. Her skin was like ice; he needed to get her inside quickly. “Jake,” he shouted into the fog.
“I’m coming,” a muffled voice replied.
“Olivia.” Theo stroked her face, then grasped her chin, shaking her gently. “Olivia, open your eyes.”
She stirred, her eyes rolling.
“Olivia,” he repeated more firmly. “Stay with me.”
Her eyes met his, her gaze unfocused as she tried to speak, her voice barely more than a croaky whisper. He leaned forward to move his ear closer to her lips.
Before he could puzzle out what she was saying, he heard a sharp growl, and his head snapped up. It sounded too close and too big to be a stray dog. Sliding his arms around Olivia’s back and under her knees, he lifted her carefully.
“Jake!” he called again.
Jake burst through the fog, weapon drawn.
His eyes widened as they fell on Olivia sagged in Theo’s arms. His mouth opened to speak when the growl came again, low and menacing.
Jake raised his weapon and pointed it at the fog, his eyes sweeping back and forth as he placed Theo and Olivia protectively behind him.
This time when the growl came, it was accompanied by an angry snarl.
“Run!” he shouted.
Theo turned and bolted through the trees, cradling Olivia in his arms. He heard Jake fire and then take off right behind them, shouting directions as they cut through the fog.
It was gaining on them, whatever it was.
Breathing heavily they broke through the edge of the tree line.
The mist had now spilled out of the woods and across the grassy expanse between them and Olivia’s house.
“What the hell?” Jake hissed.
Silver-colored rings rose up in the mist, pale and ghostly, surrounding Olivia’s property.
They would have been mesmerizing if not for the ominous snapping and snarling coming from behind them.
They caught vague glimpses as the fog writhed and shifted.
It was hard to get a sense of the creature without actually seeing it.
“They must be Olivia’s protective wards.” Theo started toward the silver rings. “We need to get her inside them.”
Behind him, he could hear Jake fire again as they both ran flat out for the shining silver rings that rose to form a column. The creature was snapping at their heels, but they didn’t dare look back.
Theo gripped Olivia tighter. He felt Jake stumble next to him, but he just about managed to stay upright.
They were almost there. With a final burst of speed and a rush of adrenaline, he leaped through the ethereal light, closely followed by Jake.
They spun around just in time to see the creature, in all its terrifying glory, leap behind them.
The creature crashed against the silvery light of Olivia’s wards with a sickening thud and fell to the ground hissing.
It climbed to its feet, its dead-looking eyes glaring at them hatefully as it paced back and forth, growling deep in its throat.
Theo had never seen anything like it. It was huge, almost as tall as a small horse, and its form was black and corpse-like with patches of mangy fur hanging from it in filthy-looking clumps. Drool hung from open jaws, that revealed rows of tiny needle-pointed teeth.
Suddenly, it rushed forward, hurling its skeletal body against the silvery shield.
Its growl became louder and angrier as a large patch of burned flesh smoked at its shoulder, raw and angry.
It rushed the shield again and again. Each time it burned and singed its body, but the creature didn’t seem to care.
It kept on battering relentlessly at the shield as it tried to reach them.
One of the protective rings suddenly shattered, crashing to the ground like shards of glass.
Olivia stirred as both Theo and Jake took an involuntary step back as the creature charged the rings again.
Its skin was torn at its shoulder and across its muzzle.
The wounds oozed sickly blackened blood, revealing bleached white patches of bone, yet it continued to hack away at the shield, trying to get to Olivia.
“Theo,” she croaked weakly. “Put me down.”
“No.” He glanced down at her.