4

Rising. More like levitating above the ground. Panting, Stephen tried to push his way down on the ground, but there was no point. The more he pushed the higher he went. His pendent was glowing blue. Shining like the freshest diamonds from the sea. So light blue, but the black spot in the middle seemed to grow a bit. Getting tighter and tighter around his neck, Stephen couldn’t breathe. There was a slight sharpness in his neck… Like claws orchestrating the event.

As if there were claws, he felt an actual scratch every few seconds. Wounds and blood appeared on his cheeks, running down his face. Finding one more breath difficult, Stephen strained for it as best he could. As he did, the necklace felt as if it was being yanked against him. It pulled and threw him against a tree, the grip releasing his neck at last.

Exhaling with coughing, Stephen’s eyes began to water. Desperate to keep his breath against the cold, he tried searching for the culprit of this catastrophe. Right in front of him, only five feet away, stood a light shadowy figure. Pale skin, long, silver hair, blue jeans, black coat, stood about 6’ tall. It looked like a man and walked like a man, but Stephen knew better. Its eyes had blackness where the sclera and iris were supposed to be. They just stared at him for seconds at a time. Stephen was so cold, by then, he was more of a fresh ice cube.

“You have something of mine,” it called. It curled its index finger toward him, motioning Stephen to move forward.

Jaw dropped, Stephen didn’t dare move. He knew who this thing was, sure enough. It must have known that he wouldn’t move, because the necklace began to rise, pulling on his neck. It twirled like shoelaces as the hole became smaller. Finding it difficult to breathe, once more, Stephen collapsed to his knees. Never taking his eyes off of the creature, it began to move closer to him… Or rather, drift closer to him.

Smiling at him, eyes still full of blackness, he spoke once more. “You know who I am, young Williams. That bulldog of yours thought he could keep you, or her, away from me… But I will get what’s mine… One way, or another.”

He snapped his fingers and black smoke began to surround them. Stephen could only look around as everything around him faded into the blackness. Feeling a headache coming on, he closed his eyes, wanting to wish this moment away. But he knew that wouldn’t happen any time soon. Wishful thinking is useless.

Through the smoke, he could hear screams of people… Of children… Of Kailie and James… All around him. His father’s voice came through the thickness, his mother’s following, only seconds apart. He saw clouds showing things like a television set. The scenery was made like an old-fashioned cartoon. Children were scattering through what looked like a giant hole. There was a, small, black cauldron in the hole. Liquid that was also black began to rise out of the cauldron. Kailie and James were being drenched in the liquid, so red it looked more like blood. Bodies were being piled up in a city junkyard… Kailie, James, and Stephen being three of them. Her grandfather and her parents were right behind them. The sky was then as red as the blood in his veins. Red drops began falling from the sky. The liquid was warm and sticky on his hands.

As quickly as it appeared, the smoke vanished. There was no trace of it left around him or anywhere else. He was there, still, staring at Stephen, his eyes of a normal human’s. But his skin was rotted, from head to toe. His hair was gray and thinning and he looked older than Joseph Hartman. Smiling like he would to a small child, he knelt next to Stephen.

“Now, you see me as I really am: old, ill, feeble. Your father was too much for me. Even with me in him, he couldn’t resist that filthy poison… Drained me out.”

His voice was raspy and weak. All the while, Stephen couldn’t remember the last time he inhaled. This creature’s skin looked like paper… So thin, it could tear if anyone got too close. His skin was pruned like the way skin gets after being in the water for too long. Hanging off what he considered a skeleton, the skin was coming off of his body.

To his left, Stephen saw his father’s body. It was completely drained of blood and intestines. Only skin and bone remained on him, but they weren’t really attached. They hung in the trees around him like decorations. Pale, Stephen felt acid coming up his throat. His mother’s head was picketed on one of the branches next to his father’s skin.

“Since that body is done, I need a fresh one, or I will wither away for another one hundred years. My blood has been drained and spilled far too many times in this millennium. Your people have no respect for others. Your drunk for a father, and harlot for a mother, thought keeping themselves, and you, locked up would protect them. Fools! I need an ancestor to live upon, young Williams. The possession I will take will destroy the blood of the man who failed to isolate what was precious of me, so long ago. All who step in my blood will writhe, young Williams. And that includes your precious keepsake.”

“No!” Stephen screamed. He started running like he never did before. Not going for Kailie or James. Not going for them!

Black smoke, once more, surrounded his pathway. His home seemed a lot farther away than he figured. It was so thick, all he could see was the light inside his home. As he ran, the light seemed to drift further away from him. The smoke shaped into the children’s faces as the screams grew louder and more demanding. They didn’t say anything. It was more like a baby’s cry for attention. A smoke head was near each ear as Stephen continued running, bumping into a tree at last.

The smoke was gone and the sky was blue. Not one cloud was showing where Stephen lay in the dirt. The being that tormented him disappeared, with no evidence that he was ever there at all. Birds chirped and squirrels ran up and down random trees. In the distance, he could hear dogs barking, but he didn’t any people responding.

As he made his way to his feet, Stephen froze as his eyes turned to the sky. It was no longer blue, but red. Red as blood. When he looked at the trees, they were no longer filled with life. Everything, including the animals, was dead. No leaves hung near, and the bark was bitter, hard, and dry. When he took a closer look at the animals, he realized they were merely in pieces. Cut open and drained of their blood and intestines, a few of them painfully crawled to random destinations.

“This is what I live on day in, day out,” it told him. “Don’t tell me you don’t know me, now, young Williams. Your father is eager for you down there. When he sees you, he’s going to rip you apart, piece by piece, and feed you to the dogs… Over and over and over.”

His smile was wide, showing his teeth… They were more like fangs, poking his lips. As he stared, Stephen’s face became pale, his stomach twisting.

“As you know, I can’t survive for too long out of a body, human or animal. But then, I’m never given the honor to permanently consume what’s mine, and have my own life.” He chuckled loudly, shaking his head. “The stories are a killer, aren’t they? I only went to your father to find you, young Williams. I knew from the start, he wouldn’t last. What sane human wants to be a permanent drunk?! You know what I want. I will give you time to discuss it with any possible loved ones…”

With that, he vanished into the smoke he created. The sky went back to its original midnight blue and his home was only five yards behind him. A dim candlelight stood in one of the windows. Kailie’s area, he guessed. The moon was a Cheshire cat smile tonight, gleaming over his home.

Oh, the irony of that, he thought. He walked slowly back to his hut, looking from left to right to make sure all was still. It was quiet… A little too quiet for his liking. Usually, there’s at least one dog to come near the homes, late at night.

“This is what I live on, day in, day out.”

Those were the words that came out of that thing’s mouth. Walked like a man, talked like a man, but definitely was not a man. Eyes: just gaping black holes. Replicas of his father’s look when Kana overshadowed him. No soul…

Of course not, he thought. The devil keeps souls… Doesn’t mean he has one of his own.

What was it about the pendent that he wanted, then? Not a lover’s soul… Certainly, not anyone Stephen was aware of. Trying to move quickly, his feet felt like wet cement. Every step was a struggle. He felt, once again, that the house was slowly being pulled out of his reach, and he couldn’t stop it. When he made it up to the doorway, he gripped onto the sides to make sure nothing more would happen tonight.

James and Kailie were fast asleep, next to each other. Stephen figured he wouldn’t leave her side, any time soon. Sleep wasn’t coming for him, tonight, anyway. Watching them sleep, he figured they were already in their own worlds. No need to wake them. No need to frighten them, when Kailie already had one attack tonight. Stephen humbly thought that was more than enough for one night.

That wasn’t even intentional!

The morning seemed to creep by. Somehow, Stephen managed to get a couple hours in for slumber. He didn’t remember when and how he fell asleep, but it made no difference. Dead animals and ghost children surrounded his subconscious, and when his eyes opened, it took all his energy not to scream.

Wouldn’t really call that sleep, anyway.

Looking over at the sundial, he found it was seven thirty in the morning. The birds were chirping and he could smell the fresh grass from outside, creeping in. No sunlight near them, though. It seemed… out of reach, somehow. As he stretched his legs, James was rising from his place.

Yawning and scratching his head, he waved a good morning to Stephen. Waving back, he asked how James slept.

James shook his head. “Not too well. Opened my eyes, thought I was run over by a truck.”

Stephen snickered at that. “That’s how I felt when I first slept here… You get used to it.”

In the corner of his eye, Stephen noticed Kailie stirring. He found it miraculous that she could sleep at all after he told her the night before. Still thinking about what that creature said, Stephen kept wondering how he would possibly bring it up to them. Not “that creature”, he figured. His name is Kana. Kana… Saying his name over and over in his head, a part of Stephen thought that he would go away, soon enough.

That’s not going to happen. Kana knows what he wants and he won’t rest until he gets it.

Yes, that’s right, a voice crept.

Stephen looked around. There was a slight whisper that just spoke. Not seeing anything, he closed his eyes and began mentally counting off. Nothing in particular, just meditation, it seemed. Feeling a sharp pain in the back of his head made Stephen jump forward, groaning.

James looked over, concerned. “Are you all right?”

Stephen tried to shake the nervous behavior away and gave James a small grin. By then, Kailie was waking up. Rubbing her eyes, she gave both of them a greeting smile. James waved and Stephen nodded, politely. Rubbing his neck, he felt a strange mass. Jerking his hand away, he checked to see if there was an insect in his hand. When there wasn’t, he rubbed his neck one more time. It was smooth once again.

“Are you sure?” James wondered. Kailie was stretching her legs, looking over toward them as he spoke. When Stephen nodded, stubbornly shaking his hands away, James went to check on Kailie.

“We need to get out of here,” Kailie insisted. “I need to talk to my grandfather.” She realized it had only been a full day since the last time she spoke to or saw him at all. It felt more like a month had passed.

Straining, Stephen shook his head. The lump had moved to his throat by then, making it difficult to speak. The lump was going down to his stomach without his control. The pain was blinding, and when he opened his eyes, everything was a blur… Except his fingers… They began to slowly grow… Not stretch, but grow.

Slamming his hands down, they returned to normal. He looked at Kailie and James, and then, back at his hands. Trying to scan the rest of his body, no abnormalities were seen. Shaking his head, he closed his eyes. Tired… I must be exhausted… All the while, he only received hints of his guests’ conversation.

“…damn well, it’s not safe,” James replied.

“Assuming what Stephen says is true about Kana,” Kailie insisted. “I have to find out the truth, James.”

The pain was becoming greater. His hands were now stretching, his nails growing… They started to look more like…claws… claws of a mythical devil. His arms were delicately stretching as his feet also increased in size. He felt like he was being ripped apart, literally, from the inside, out. Like his veins and arteries were also stretching and tearing.

Groaning, Stephen landed on his hands and knees as the stretching continued. Gooseflesh crept its way up and down his arms and legs as his skin slightly began to tear. His vision went completely black as a scream slipped through his lips. Not blurry, black. He couldn’t see Kailie or James anywhere. No light, no help of any kind. However, he could still hear. Kailie was shouting at him, his eyes remaining closed. A loud ringing in his ears made her shouts to be more like mumbles. Red was everywhere as he screwed his eyes closed.

Panting, Kailie attempted to keep Stephen upright and calm. She felt moisture through his clothes, his eyes remaining closed. Gently tapping his cheeks, she begged him to say something… Anything… When she saw his hands, she nearly jumped out of her own skin.

“James, look at this!” she motioned her hand quickly for him to come closer.

Stephen’s hands nearly doubled in size. His nails mutated into, what seemed to them, claws. His skin was breaking around his knuckles and he began tearing at his clothes. His skin kept tearing along his body as he continued screaming for his life. Tears moving down her cheeks, Kailie never felt so helpless. His veins were becoming visible on his neck and arms. But they weren’t red or blue. They were black.

Exhaling painfully, Stephen’s eyes slowly turned to their original blue color. Panting, he pushed Kailie and James away from his space. James was annoyed a bit, but Kailie didn’t buy into the act. She slowly put her hands on his cheeks, looking into his eyes. She stroked his cheeks, never leaving his eyes.

“Stephen,” she whispered. “Look at me. It’s Kailie.”

Staring at her, Stephen gripped her arms, the nails scratching at her skin.

“Kailie…” he begged. “Get away from me!” Tears streamed down his face as it, too, began to stretch. Slamming his hands on the ground, he looked like he was bowing in front of them. His screams pierced the air. Blood poured from his mouth like a waterfall.

A growl came from Stephen that wasn’t his own. A deep, low growl, crawling its way through Stephen’s throat. His eyes were slowly turning black, and the pendent was glowing into a bright white. Kailie couldn’t keep her eyes open for too long, as she stared. Kailie saw that the back of his shirt was torn, fully exposing his back. There were years-old bruises next to his spinal cord and on his right scapula. But what made Kailie gasp was that his spinal cord, alone, had fresh bruises on it, up and down. They only looked, at most, a day old.

Not possible, she thought. She soon realized her first thought was correct. They weren’t bruises at all. A thick, black liquid was oozing out of the spaces in his spinal cord. The pendent kept shining its whiteness around his neck, so Kailie see the ooze perfectly. It wasn’t blood, she immediately knew. Something was crawling and eating its way through this man.

Kailie felt a hand reach for her arm. Turning around, she realized it was James.

“We have to go,” he said. “I’m not going to leave you here.”

“He needs help!” Kailie screamed. “We have to do something!” Staring at Stephen, she rubbed her eyes as he continued to suffer.

After a few minutes, the screaming stopped. It was silent all around the home and outside of it. Kailie turned from James to Stephen, and back and forth like something was to be expected. Stephen’s eyes were closed and the look on his face was vanished of emotions. The pendent returned to its original color, Stephen’s hands massaging it against his chest. Slowly, his eyes began to open, revealing nothing but blackness. A wide grin rose on his face.

“Kailie Hartman,” it said.

It wasn’t Stephen’s voice at all. It was mellow and raspy.

“At last, we meet.” The smile grew across his face, revealing fangs for teeth. “I’ve been waiting for you since the day you were born. Do you know who I am?”

His words were clean, sober, and organized. It was as though he had prepared this greeting a long time ago… The same way a professional prepares for a speech. Looking around, Kailie could only nod in front of this…creature in her friend. As she nodded, she noticed blood streaming down Stephen’s nose.

It wasn’t an average nosebleed, but a waterfall. Kailie never saw a nosebleed that serious before. Her fingers wouldn’t move, though, to point it out. All she could do was stare, her jaw dropping.

When he tasted the blood, Stephen’s, or Kana’s, tongue licked it up like it was chocolate syrup… laughing the whole time.

“These damn humans,” he growled. “Too much liquid in them for their own good! He’ll bleed from every orifice he has by the time I’m through with him.” He snickered at that.

He grabbed her throat while the snickering continued. Kailie knew James would see it, for he jumped at her side.

“Get your hands off her!” he screamed.

Kana started laughing more hysterically at James’s reaction. “Or?!” The grip focused on her trachea, rather than the whole set of her neck. He fingered and played with it as he kept laughing. His eyes were covered in blackness as he stared at James firmly. He dropped Kailie as he kept eyeing James, up and down.

“Her friend, here, has something of mine, and I intend to use it to my advantage.”

In the corner of her eye, Kailie saw James being lifted from the ground. Kana’s head was following his direction, James choking the whole time. When Kailie could finally inhale, she yanked on James’s hands.

“Let him go!” she screamed. James’s face was turning red.

#

Kana, in Stephen’s body, walked out of the hut, still carrying James, with his right hand, up in the air. His hand never physically touched him, but his illusion never left. He started walking up the trees like they were stairs. He walked upside down across many branches, never losing his grip on James. The branches responded to his movements, giving him a clear path to walk on. Waving his left hand, the branches on other trees began waving, once more, like snakes in the desert.

Water started rising from the little creek around the road. It steadied itself in midair, forming a ring around them. It never splashed as Kana calmed Stephen’s hands. James’s face was getting purple by now, making Kailie scream.

“Please let him go!” she begged.

As if under attack, Kana screamed so loud, Kailie had to cover her ears. When she looked back at him, she noticed the pendent was gone and James dropped to the ground. Inhaling and coughing, his face slowly turned back to normal, as Kailie ran to him. Kana’s screams were deafening, sounding more like the banshee she read about, years ago. It were coming to life with that scream. James’s knuckles were completely white, even when he could breathe again. Kailie thought the pendent was his ticket to a free life.

Stephen’s body started shaking on the ground. Kailie held his head as steady as she could, whispering in his ear.

“Come back, Stephen. Come back.”

As she whispered, the shaking only became more violent. His arms and legs slammed on the ground and the blood flow outside his mouth increased. The blood from his nose began to decelerate, but kept moving. Holding his hands down, James could only stare back at Kailie in horror.

Suddenly, the shaking stopped. Stephen was laid out in an “x” shape. A terrifying roar erupted from his lips and a bright blue light flashed out of his mouth. Before Kailie knew what it was, it drifted away into the wind, as quickly as it appeared…. Stephen was still, lifeless. Still gripping the pendent, James turned Stephen’s head straight so he could breathe.

Everything was quiet. Bloody and quiet. The trees and grass were still, and the water calmed to its original form. Kailie and James stared at each other, then, back at Stephen. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. His look was blank and confused. Staring back at Kailie, he had questions in his eyes, she was sure of it.

“What happened?” he asked groggily. His head couldn’t stop twirling.

Blinking back tears, Kailie stroked his head. She couldn’t find the words to tell him exactly what went on, so James interceded.

“You need to come with us,” he concluded. He pulled Stephen by the hands and raised him to his feet, keeping a close eye on him.