Chapter 11 - A Gray Sunset
A Gray Sunset
Grace
Muscles still shaking from such an intense release, I groan as I rise to look around. “Sepher?”
I shift onto my hands and knees and peek out the door and into the bedroom.
Empty.
“Sepher?” I call out louder and slowly get to my feet. Snatching the sodden, wrinkled dress off the floor, I shake it out as I turn around, eyeing every corner once more. “Sepher?” I say his name more softly.
He’s gone.
Rubbing my head with my palm, my shoulders sink, staring at the place he had been.
With a quiet sigh, I pull the ruined dress over my shoulders, and straighten it over my breasts, already missing my undergarments. By the time I’m done, the bathroom is still empty and Sepher hasn’t returned.
The room has gotten too quiet for my comfort, my mood growing more wistful by the second.
I refold the towels, drain the tub, and straighten out the decor.
After one final, thorough check, I lock up the house and head out to the dock with my new book in hand.
Setting it on one of the deck chairs alongside my sandals, clothes, and keys, I walk down the remaining steps and out onto the water.
The sky has grown dark since I was last outside, the clouds choosing to fill in the gaps rather than dissipating like they usually would.
There isn’t going to be a gorgeous sunset tonight.
The breeze is a little colder over the lake and I curl my arms around my middle as I sit down at the end of the dock.
Resting my elbows on my knees and dipping my feet into the water, I lean over, searching the shadowy bottom for fish.
After a moment, I give up. All I can see are small choppy waves and darkness.
He’s gone.
I don’t think he’s coming back.
Why would he?
I sway my feet in the chilly water, relaxing into the beauty and familiarity of Cobbin Lake right before sunset, even a gloomy one.
With clouds blocking the sun, a golden gray has taken over the water’s surface all the way out to the far shore and the houses there.
I kick my foot, sending a small spray of water outward.
Did I kill him?
I finally let myself think the thought I’ve been dreading.
I nearly killed Zack’s father all those years ago.
But then again, he said demons can’t be killed. I don’t believe I killed him. At least I hope I didn’t. I pray I didn’t even hurt him.
I did warn him.
I sigh.
The problem is, I don’t really know what happened.
I thought electricity had ignited from me, but the bathroom was fine…
I hadn’t set anything on fire this time.
Rubbing my head again, I lean back on my other hand, wondering if Sepher and the last few hours happened at all, if I didn’t just slip and hit my skull really hard.
It’s plausible. When he vanished, I fell and banged my temple, and when I opened my eyes, I was alone. Perhaps what I had thought to be reality was all a dream.
I’ve been feeling lonely lately.
No… I’ve been lonely for a while.
Since returning from college and not knowing what to do next in my life…
back living around my hometown and helping my parents for money…
It’s been hard not to dwell on the past and all the good and bad times.
Coming back to Cobbin Lake was supposed to help me.
Instead, it has put me in an uncomfortable suspended limbo.
I’ve avoided my past as best I can, but it’s hard when the place of my trauma is literally next door.
Shifting my eyes across the water to the dock to my left, I’m relieved to find it empty, and the boat tied to it covered. I didn’t want to see Zack’s parents, not even a glimpse of them.
I didn’t want to see Zack’s dad.
Water hits my shin, and I glance to my other side. Realizing the waves aren’t strong enough to splash me, I frown, quickly searching the water for the source. A fish? I wipe the water off my shin.
The world abruptly grows hazy around me, and a blanket of fog descends. No longer gray or golden, everything is dark and murky as the lake at night, when the sun is long gone and the only source of light is a flashlight. But the sun had just been setting…
Alarmed, I go to pull my legs out of the water, but a black hand shoots out and grabs my ankle.
A scream tears from my throat as I’m dragged into the lake. Quickly submerged, I struggle, thrashing wildly until hands catch me against a hard chest. The water wooshes around me and I emerge from it with another scream, elbowing blindly to fight off my attacker, though I’m already aware who it is.
Dark laughter fills my ears, and I whirl to face him, blinking the rest of the water out of my eyes. When they clear, Sepher’s haughty grinning face is staring back at me, his fangs on full display, his hair wet and gleaming around his shoulders.
“Did you think I would be gotten rid of so easily? You surprise me again, Grace.”
“Sepher,” I spit his name like it’s a curse and push at his chest. “I hate being scared! Why did you have to do that? Anyone can see us—you—and now I’m wet again!
” I try to stay angry, but relief floods me at his return, knowing he’s all right.
“Surprise you? What do you mean? How are you out here? What happened?” Questions fall from my mouth in disarray.
“Are you hurt?” I stop pushing away as his tail comes up to support me in the water.
In fact, I ease closer to him, unnerved by the change in scenery around us now that I’m looking around.
The shores have disappeared, and the dock is merely a shadow in the distance. “Where are we?”
“So many questions,” he drawls, clearly amused, his eyes unwavering from my face. “To answer the most important one, we are in my home, in the dark waters of my rightful domain.”
What?
Home? “I’m in Hell?” I squeak, pressing my entire body against him as he wraps his arms around me.
Suddenly I’m unable to see anything in the distance, or into the black waters immediately around us.
The breeze has stopped, and even the sky has gone a dark, churning gray.
There are no golden traces of the sun shining behind them anymore.
Stormy and wild, yet eerily silent—we are not in Cobbin Lake.
This is Hell.
I press deeper into Sepher’s arms, sliding my legs around his waist and locking my feet behind him. One of his tentacles comes up to caress the exposed skin of my upper back.
“Yes, but do not worry, little witch.” He seems to relish my tight grip on him. “You are safe with me.” Eyes hooded, he runs his finger down my cheek. “I will keep you safe from those who’d like nothing more than to possess your soul and rend your body in two.”
“Rend me in two? Take me home,” I beg. “Please!” I practically shriek, clasping my arms around his neck and pushing my face into the crook of his shoulder.
I’ve never wanted to be back in Cobbin Lake more in my entire life. Fuck the rest!
“Sweet, innocent Grace. I already have.”