Chapter Fifteen

Oh hail yeah

We hit 240 kilometres per hour. Impressive for a hearse to say the least. We must look like the world's fastest funeral procession, RIP Sonic the Hedgehog. You feel?
"What. The. F**k." Stammers Coral from the back seat. "T-this is impossible."
"It's like Torture Porn Tuesdays on a Wednesday. " I say breathlessly, wiping the froth from my mouth.
They look at me in the wrong way. The way my parents look at me. I try not to think about it. Not with my bffs.
"Are they still following us?" Coral asks shakily.
"Lemme check." I slink to the front seat and hang myself out the left window.
I see a few shadows flitting in the field beside us, but we seem to have left the majority at the burning motel. Inhaling deeply, with my palms facing the asphalt of the road I invoke a thick fog to cover us. Then I squirm back into the cab and take note of our condition. Coral and Fabian avoided the brunt of the attack so they're relatively unscathed, Blaze is semi-conscious and bleeding from her skull, and Mark is battered up like a bridesmaid and just as bruised. Overall, our little clique is exhausted, exasperated and apparently, not sharing my excitement. But they must have felt it too. The rush. Letting in to all those urges guilt-free. I guess I shouldn't say guilt-free, that's redundant.
Is it because they're a different type of demon? Or is this not a demon thing...No....No that doesn't make sense... Of course it is...it has to be.
Ripping into those malleable bodies was- The shivers nestled in my spine explode over my body -euphoric.
The fallen weren't the way I imagined as a kid. Some had almost human faces, others were skeletal. Skin so pale and thin it was almost translucent. Their limbs elongated and agile.
I'd woken at the sound of scratches on our motel door and sprung up immediately to investigate, dragging Mark with me, since I can't trust him with anyone else here (they're all kind of irresponsible dingbats if you haven't caught that). They were all over the parking lot, crouched as if on all fours. Fast but fragile as I discovered when I began electrocuting the s**t out of them. Blaze was already outside and helped me get the job done. Soon those dozen spindly b******s were nothing but scorches on tarmac. But what we didn't know was they were just scouts.
Then the cavalry came. That's when things got real juicy. Now I could relish every memory, the sweet sound of snapping bones and aroma of fried brain-stems but the air around me is already starting to condense and I don't want to cause my hair any more trouble.
Instead I approach Blaze and taking a sock from one of our bags, press it into her bleeding scalp.
"Whatrudoing?"
"Stopping the bleeding. Y'know you were super-" useful- "brave out there tonight."
She struggles to sit up and moves to the small back window. Her blood is tacky enough to keep the sock on (score). She stares at the Seaside Inn as it burns ferociously. I try to imagine what she's thinking right now. I can't.
So I tune into what Corals chattering on about. "They're so fast. So many. What the f**k." The small blonde drops her head into her hands.
"We are not in any way prepared for this." Fabian murmurs, staring vacantly.
"Yeah, no s**t Sherlock. We need to leave this f*****g island already." Blaze growls. She punctuates her words by slamming her hand on the window. A weak smoke trails from her fingertips.
I hop up and down in my seat, "Send me in coach. I know I can take 'em. Send me in." I insist, stripping off my v-neck.
"Can you be serious about this for one second?!" Blaze yells.
"Just let him go." Fabian waves at me dismissively.
"Yeah! I'll catch up with you guys!" I begin tugging down the hips of my skin-tight, rhinestone-encrusted, zebra-print pants.
"Whoah whoah whoah!"
"What? Our powers work best when we're nude. I raise an eyebrow and fold my arms over my chest. "You guys didn't know this?"
"I am 100% positive you just made that up." Fabian mutters, moving to sit beside our catatonic little hostage.
"We've had to haul around your enormous god damn bag of god damn pants so you better keep them on your god damn body," Blaze snaps.
I tense up and say sharply "You know what, I changed my mind. There's plenty of meat right here." I glare at her unblinkingly, wondering if she could still set fires without any hands.
She ignores me and tugs at her hair distressedly. "How did they even track us? We've only been driving on backroads since we left."
"Oh, I know." I smirk.
"How?" Blaze asks fiercely.
I twist around and flop onto the floor. "You have to really want to know."
"Spit it out."
I tilt my head up and stare at her chest "What do I get-"
"For f***s sake!" She grabs a shoe and throws it at me.
I deflect it with a wind that accidentally pushes open the back doors and sends our luggage flying.
Fabian, who has been silent since now closes the doors with a sharp bang before our bags can escape. "No powers in the hearse." He says his expression stony.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" I holler.
"I have to admit it makes sense Ri-"
"F*****G HYPOCRISY! WHY DOES HE GET TO USE HIS POWERS?!"
"What?"
"YOUR POWERS OF SHITTYASS MAKEUP."
Our Romanian drags his finger across the corner of his eyelid and looks at the black residue.
"Savage." Coral whispers.
Blaze almost laughs but her amusement is quickly swallowed by anger. "Alright. What the hell were you saying before?"
I roll my eyes at her obvious ploy to get me to show my hand. "Someone was ordering ham."
"I swear to God-"
I pull Coral's phone out of my pants and wiggle it incriminatingly. "Ta-da." I toss it to her. "You so owe me."
I crawl into the passenger seat, leaving them to scrap it out and me to bask in my metaphorical mic drop.
"Bonjour Marc mon petit croissant."
He doesn't respond. Huh, must not speak french.
"Earth to Mark, we have a situation."
Nothing.
"Hey Mark, seriously buddy, you gotta talk to me."
Zip.
"S**t Mark lookout!" I wave my arms frantically.
Nada.
I slide right up to his ear and scream. He cringes and clenches his jaw but doesn't acknowledge me. Since he's leaving me no choice I jump on him and sprawl over his lap. The hearse jerks violently and he manages to throw me off him in time to swerve around a red van.
"Stop stop stop!" He shouts hysterically.
"You're all sweaty," I giggle. "Wanna like...open a window or-"
"This isn't real. This isn't real. This can't be real. It's all in my head."
I notice we're slowing down. "Eyy Markskie, big no no." He makes an abrupt U-turn and begins driving the opposite way.
"Hey, what's going on up there?" Blaze demands to know.
"Yeah, why are we going towards the things that want to kill us?" Coral asks.
"They're in your head. They can't hurt you. You can control them. They're in your head," he mutters.
"Oh sweetie." I coo. "As if," and punch him in the face, aiming specifically for his temple and jawline. Dragging his unconscious, trembling body from behind the steering wheel, I switch spots with him. "Alright where are we going gang?" I sing spinning the vehicle around suddenly.
"Holy s**t did you just kill that guy?" Coral exclaims.
"Uhm excuse you. His name is Mark."
There's a silence I don't understand.
"And?" They prod.
"He's a total...knockout." The lack of laughtrack is astounding. They must not have gotten that, bunch of doorknobs. "Oh my god. He's breathing if that's what you all have sticks up your asses about. Lighten up."
Blaze clears her throat, "Okay. Well, let's go to Confederation Bridge, that way we can get to New Brunswick by morning. How much cash is left?"
"Well considering we didn't pay for the last hotel or the one before that," Fabian says snarkily, "Pretty much all of it."
"Okay, tolls gonna be like what? Fifty bucks? Count out what we got."
"Oh yes, make the European count the Canadian money...genius."
"You're still bitter about the makeup thing aren't you."
"What?...no."
I hear the rustling of crumpled bills, then Blazes voice, "Okay. That should just about cover it."
"Roger roger, Confederation Bridge full speed ahead." I stamp one platform boot down one of the pedals down there and accelerate rapidly. Nailed it on the first try, f**k yeah. I'm like f*****g Vin Diesel. Hmm f*****g Vin Diesel.... Oh yes...
A solid 10 minutes later I come out of that fantasy long enough to add, "So...where the f**k is this bridge."
"Jesus Christ, go to Borden-Carleton."
"Right." I nod curtly.
"You just missed the exit."
"Right." I double back and with some additional directions reach the city within the next half hour and signs lead me to the bridge.
"That was fast," remarks Fabian.
"Well this is kind of a minuscule island. It takes like three hours to drive from one end to the other I don't know what we've been doing the past two days to be honest."
"Maybe we shouldn't have let the schizophrenic kid drive."
There's a resounding agreement.
"Now play nice kids." I grin at them pointedly in the rear-view mirror as we pull up to the tollbooth. "Because I will drive this hearse into the sea with locked doors and no hesitations."
Sustaining my plastered grin, I roll down my window, "Herro there, one drive o'er bridge please." I say in my best pseudo-Chinese accent.
The zombie toll booth worker nods listlessly. "That'll be $46 for the first two axles and $7.50 for each additional axle." It states obviously not giving a s**t about why an Asian tourist is driving a hearse to New Brunswick in the middle of the night.
"Okaayy!" I nod enthusiastically giving a thumbs up and hand four twenties over. I can see it's tempted to rip me off. The gate lifts in from of us and when I get the change back I see I'm $10 short. Storm clouds roll in over the moon and my anger flexes beneath my skin.
"Enjoy your- is that guy ok?"
I glance at Mark's bleeding, unconscious body and give another thumbs up,"Okaayy!" And speed off. I watch the booth recede into the horizon and struggle to keep control of the clouds overhead. Drawback of lightning: it's basically a huge we are here arrow. I hear a crack and thunder rumble in the distance, but I don't know if it's from me or nature herself. Honestly I usually have no clue what I'm responsible for and what's the actual weather. I decide to speed up anyways.
Everyone seems to be asleep, and I monitor the sounds of their breathing to be sure. It's just me and the ocean beneath me. The familiar presence comforts me. My abilities are water based, I've always admired the power of the sea. Whether I'm by the Atlantic or the Arctic it's the same strength, the same depth, the same apathy. The Vuntut Gwitchin is the tribe that lives in my old town, their name translates as People of the Lakes. Can't say my folks don't have a sense of humour.
The unappealingly concrete bridge stretches on into an equally unappealing city. I stay on the road for a couple hours to maximize the distance between us and our pursuers.
Mark stretches and mumbles something inaudible in his sleep. Sometime during the night he ended up leaning on my shoulder. Even when he's asleep his aura exudes an outer shell of innocence and social ineptitude with an underlying core unfathomable sexual energy. Like the smell of sizzling bacon slathered in maple syrup. Alluring to the point where it's nearly painful to be in such close proximity to him and still behave.
As we cruise into the city of Moncton, neon signs shine through the windshield, illuminating him in coloured streaks. Eventually it wakes him.
"Oh my god, I just had the worst-" His eyes go wide and he scrambles away from me. Then unsuredly he lurches my way and grabs the steering wheel. "This doesn't make any sense, if I haven't been driving how..."
I clasp my hands behind my head and recline in my seat. "Doubting my navigation skills are you? Actually that's fair."
His grip on the wheel is shaky and at an awkward angle and he keeps looking from me to the road, afraid to take his eyes off either. Gently but firmly I remove his hands and take the wheel back. One part romantic gesture, two parts self preservation.
"Hey listen to me tiger. I'm real. I'm really f*****g real Mark. I don't know what happened in your life before now but you have to trust me when I say, you're sane. In this moment there is nothing wrong with you. In fact, I don't believe there ever was." He leans back reluctantly and I point out, "No offense but I doubt your brain can come up with pants as illustrious as these." I extend one leg onto his lap. "I mean look at your jeans. What are those like...three sizes too big?"
I get a small smile from that which fades almost immediately. "I'm just scared. Scared someone's going get hurt, because of me. Because I was stupid enough to believe I'm on a road trip with magical demons running from angels." He curls up into his seat once again.
"You're safe Mark. I'm gonna keep you safe ok? You're mine now." I tell him earnestly. "And I'm never letting you go." He goes silent, I'll take it.
My adrenaline kick has worn off and I can feel the fatigue burrowing into my skull. Also that laceration on my arm is really starting to burn. I park our vehicle in the shadow of an underpass and cut the engine, shoving the keys into my mouth. Then I kick off my shoes and stretch my legs over the dashboard. I listen to the symphony of soft breathing and watch the headlights wax and wane until sleep takes me.
* * * * *
"Ripper...Ripper!"
My eyes shoot open. It's raining heavily over our seats.
"I think you were having a bad dream." It's Mark and by the sound of his voice he hasn't slept since our last conversation.
Slowly I reduce the amount of rain until it's gone but for some reason I can't disperse the mist surrounding us. Too tired to flirt I reach over the wall of suitcases he's built between us and slip a hand under his shirt. I feel him sit up and carefully pry my touch away. When I open my eyes he's peering at me from behind the suitcase barrier. All I can see is his ragged fringe and vibrant green eyes.
"Shmellooo."
"Rippir?"
"Waaat."
"Who's Annie?"
My heart skips a beat and suddenly I'm wide awake. "Y'know the little orphan chick-" Wait that sounds fake. Of all the musicals to dream of, Annie is one of the last on my list. " I mean Annie Lennox. You wanna talk glam power-"
"Oh..."
"What!" I hiss. "What do you want from me!? Why is this so f*****g important!?"
"N-Nothing nothing. You were saying her name in your sleep."
Then it makes sense. "Annie isn't my girlfriend Mark." I mumble, "Don't be jealous champ. Sights are locked 100% on the Mark. Shoot to destroy that a-"
"Who is she then?" His jade eyes are fixed on me, brimming with curiosity for a split second before he turns away shyly. I melt.
"She was my cataclyst."
He's waiting expectantly for more and I wonder when he became the one with a hold over me. Of course the answer is, since I met him.
"Let's take it outside." I throw on a shirt and my boots.
Tentatively he follows me through the dark and the cold to the cement pillar of the overpass.
"I've never told anyone this so I'm trusting you now Mark. Y'see my parents were very close with Councilor Tizya before she died. They'd always tell me about her granddaughter, Annie who was about my age. So one day I took it into my hands to go see her. I came by her house on my own. She didn't even know me but she let me in, I was very persuasive. She had on an orange sweater and unflattering jeans but she was the most compelling thing I'd ever seen. Her hair was in two long, dark, braids. And her eyes..." The memory tries to swallow me and I kick the pavement.
"Hey uhm nevermind. It's fine. It doesn't matter."
"AHAHAHA" I grab him by the shirt collar and pin him against the wall. "You asked the question so here's the answer. Maybe you should shut up and let me finish before telling me it doesn't matter."
"I didn't mean-"
"We went into the kitchen. She and her family where preparing food for a potlatch. They'd left to get more groceries. It was just us. It was just me and her eyes..." I wet my lips. "Y'see Marky I'd never met anyone my own age. Can you imagine. It stimulated parts of my self I didn't even know I had. The storm covered the sounds we made." I tilt my head and feel my teeth grind in the back of my head. "Can you imagine? The sensations. The softness of her calves. The way she smelt before during and after. The taste of her breath. I wanted it all." I find myself leaning towards Make and lowering my voice. "I pretended not to remember what I did but I do, I remember all of it ,so clearly. My parents knew from the start. They knew when they found me out on the ice without any clothes. They knew when I threw up her braid later that night. They knew the next day when the Tizya family announced their daughter had been killed by a rabid wolf. But they pretended they didn't. And so did I. Y'see Marky I was eight years old, and I loved playing pretend. It wasn't til I was older that I learned how to pretend to feel guilty about it." I tilt my head to the other side and grind my teeth. "And I've been playing games of pretend ever since." I let go of him and step backwards. I run a hand through my hair and try to regulate my pulse. Images are racing through my head. Past memories with current company superimposed into them. Fantasies in such great detail they're more like plans. No this isn't helpful. I turn away from him and stalk off with the car keys in my possession, on the hunt for something soft and underage.
"Rippir?" Comes a wavering voice.
"What?" I bark over my shoulder. Is he really trying to get my attention right now?
"W-what colour were her eyes?"
A cruel smile crawls onto my lips. "Green."
I glance back at him farther down, shivering in his T-Shirt. I wonder how long it'll take him to realize no Native girl has green eyes.