Chapter 16 – Thirty Seconds
Alice’s
vision didn’t last long. Only thirty seconds from the beginning to the very
end. As I’ve mentioned in previous remarks, Alice was both a witch and a Seer. She
had always been able to see (and hear, smell, etc.) different types of magic. The
ability had seemed natural to her, even though she didn’t always find her
experiences pleasant. She had been able to do this from an early age, and at
the age of four, she was astonished to find out that most other people weren’t
like her and many were unaware that magic even existed.
But the
act of Seeing, or having visions of the future, was a newly acquired talent and
this was her second glimpse beyond the veil of the present. It was Dorthy that
first noticed that there was something wrong with Alice. The little woman
attempted to catch Alice as she lost control of her legs. Dorthy, small in
stature, only managed to body-check Alice out of the way minutes before the intruders burst
through our front door. I managed to catch her head before she smacked it on
the hardwood floor. Annie, sensing trouble, immediately started growling and moved protectively between
Alice and doorway.
Naydene came
into the living room through the dining area. Peck flew in a second later and
landed on the back of my couch.
Alice
moaned. Her vision was a combination of events that compressed both the past,
present and future. Although she had never before laid eyes on the Twins, she
saw them as they were drinking in the Pair O’ Dice club and then heard them singing
Hank Williams songs. She saw one of them flick open a switch blade knife and
then the other kick in the front door of our Old Victorian home. She saw one of
them stab Petey in the stomach repeatedly. She heard Peck banter with the Twins,
she heard Dana scream and furniture being demolished, she saw Annie charge one
of the Twins who was pointing a gun at me. Then she saw one of the Twins fire a
gun at Annie. She told me later that she had seen one of the intruders fly
backwards out of the same front door they had entered and then she heard Dorthy’s
voice telling her to “sit up”. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. The vision was
over in a mere thirty seconds. Alice was groggy for several minutes. Then, suddenly
Alice screamed, “Doc, Vampires! They’re going to kick in the front door!” I helped her and then Dorthy up off the
hardwood floor. I felt a slight tickle at the base of my neck.
* * *
The Twins
approached my old two-story home. The white with blue trim house seemed serene
and quiet a few blocks away. Then, a large shadow moved on the roof. As they were in sight of the front porch Lukus
grabbed Lucian by the sleeve of his expensive sport coat. He had a worried look
on his face.
“Did you
just see that?” He said in a hushed voice.
“Did I see
what? Lucian replied, rather annoyed at the distraction.
“There was
a monkey over on the roof of that motel next to the big white house…but it had
horns.”
“How drunk
are you anyway? I can’t to this alone so if you’re not up to the task tell me
now.”
“No, I
swear I saw it. It is on the house now. It didn’t jump or climb over. It just
blinked and suddenly it was on the other roof. I’m not that inebriated. It was
sitting on the first roof as plain as day and then it vanished. Just winked out
of sight and appeared on the other roof. This neighborhood is haunted!”
Lucian
stopped and regarded his brother. “First, monkeys aren’t native to Colorado,
and the carnival isn’t traveling with any either. Second, monkeys don’t have
horns, and finally, they don’t just appear and disappear. Got it?”
“Yeah,
but…” Lukus said in a dejected manner.
“But
nothing. I need you to focus right now.” Lucian urged.
Just then
a man came shuffling down oak street from the direction of the Old Baily house.
He was clutching a letter close to his dirty green bathrobe which had become
unbelted. Ralph Greene looked as if he was sleepwalking. He was moving in the
direction of Jerry Paloma’s house across the street and to the north of mine.
Ralph
shuffled right in front of the Twins violating Lucian’s body space and sense of
self-importance. Lucian shoved Ralph, almost knocking him off his feet.
“Watch it!”
Lucian said with a rehearsed evil edge to his voice. He blustered like a
practiced bully for a minute or so.
Then, something
seemed to change in Ralph Greene’s demeanor. He straightened his back and
turned towards the two. Now, his face was different. It was contorted a bit. Now,
Ralph looked angry at being interrupted. Like a soldier that had been stopped
from completing an important mission. Suddenly, the spirit of Arnie Foster, who
had been possessing Ralph’s body, shoved Lucian back. It was not in any mood to
be pushed or otherwise interfered with.
“Who the
hell are you buddy?” Arnie demanded as he threw off his bathrobe and rotated
Ralph’s shoulders and neck which made nasty popping sounds. Arnie, now in
control of Ralph’s body, raised his hands in a relaxed manner that looked like
a person that had been in quite a few fights. “You wanta go pretty boy?” Ralph’s
normally placid face looked rabid. His upper lip was curled viciously. He
sprayed spittle as he yelled at Lucian.
“Um,
Lucian. He’s loosening up to take a swing at you. And whatever else he might be,
he isn’t drunk like we are.” Lukus observed.
Lucian
opened his coat, letting his opponent see he was armed and dangerous.
“Oh, dear
me! A gun. Gee, I’ve never seen one of those before. “Are you that much of a
coward? Why don’t you give that ‘piece’ to your girlfriend and then you and I
will settle this the ‘old school’ way.” Arnie was psychically radiating anger.
It was contagious.
“Girlfriend!”
Lukus screamed. “I’m his brother.”
“Sorry to
hear that.” Arnie said with Ralph’s voice. I thought with the long hair and
matching outfits that you might be on a date, going to the prom or something.”
Then he hit Lucian on the temple. He really clocked him. It was a solid blow.
Unfortunately, Ralph’s hands were not conditioned for fighting. They were
mostly used to filling out office forms. Arnie, who was in control of Ralph’s
body, managed to ignore the pain for the moment. The same could not be said for
Lucian.
“Son-of-a-bitch”
Lucian screamed as he grabbed his bleeding ear and drew his gun.
“Um, I
feel it necessary at this point to remind you that if you discharge your weapon,
which would be understandable at this point, you will attract unwanted
attention. Perhaps even unwanted attention from the Dusk Thorne Sheriff’s
Department. If the Boss sends Bell into town to bail us out of jail, it could
be ugly.” Lukus blurted. “Focus, stay on mission.” He reminded his brother.
“Point
taken.” Said Lucian. He gestured obscenely at the body of Ralph Greene which
had already lapsed back into a near comatose state. Ralph’s body, still possessed
by Arnie Foster, shuffled off towards Jerry Paloma’s house, swollen hand holding
a letter.
*
* *
The home
invasion incident lasted slightly longer than thirty seconds, but not much. We
had a heads-up from Alice, but when they came to the house there was no stealth
involved whatsoever. They literally stomped up the stairs, sending Annie into a
frenzy of barking. This didn’t detour them one bit. They kicked open my front
door. It exploded with a splintering crack. One of them was already bleeding
from the ear. I still don’t know what that was about.
The Twins
rushed into the house. They froze for dramatic effect brandishing their
weapons. Both reeked of alcohol and adrenaline.
I didn’t
summon “The Change” this time. It just happened as I moved to confront them, and
I never noticed. It was nearly instantaneous, painless and completed from the
top of my shaggy ears to the bottom of my ripped out sneakers. I saw Dorthy’s
eyes widen and I tried to ask her what was wrong. I couldn’t speak. I looked at
my hands. They were the hands of a retired college professor a second ago. Now
they were furry clawed weapons.
The Twins
looked at each other in momentary surprise, then they hissed at me baring their
fangs. Peck flew off the couch and landed on my shoulder. I snarled, showing
them my fangs, my killing teeth. They got a close up look at what the dental
profile of a Homo Lycan looked like.
“Sorry
boys, his are bigger.” Peck quipped.”
It wasn’t
just my teeth. Indeed, I was bigger. A good three inches bigger. This sort of
thing just doesn’t happen during “The Change”. What the hell was going on with
my transformation?
The
intruder’s eyes grew wide when they saw the bird.
Peck flew
up to a China cabinet. “I see you remember me. Dorthy, these are the guys that
drugged my food seventeen years ago and “bird-napped” me. They sold me to that bastard Frank.” Peck squawked
accusingly.
The
intruder with the gun reached Alice’s arm. Annie lunged and bit him. He pulled
the trigger of the semiautomatic multiple times. Two shots just missed Annie
and the bullets landed in the hardwood floor in front of her. Alice pulled Annie
back towards Dorthy and the coffee table. Naydene had just entered the living room
with a ball bat. She swung it vigorously but rather blindly, cracking the
coffee table and demolishing a leg of the China cabinet. She nearly crippled
Alice, who quickly gave her more room. When the shooting began again, she
ducked and rolled back into the next room. Now the intruder with the gun was
firing wild. I had to stop him.
But the
guy with the knife made a wild swipe at me. I shoved him across the room. My
whole body was bigger now I noticed. How had I changed from a size medium to
jumbo? I wondered. I was bigger and stronger but slower. The assailant with the
switchbalde ducked around me the next time I swung at him and went for Petey.
Billy must have known Petey was in the basement and told him there was trouble.
But Petey was also moving rather slowly. He seemed to be lugging something.
I heard
Alice scream. I could see the knife wielding intruder from the back looking
into the kitchen from the living room The albino (or whatever these fanged
intruders are…were they vampires as Alice proclaimed?) was closing with Petey.
He was stabbing
Petey multiple times in the stomach. I roared. It rocked my old house like
thunder.
The noise
caused the albino with the gun to freeze for a moment. Alice let go of Annie. She
ran over and grabbed his gun hand. Annie bit the pale-skinned pistolero on the
calf and wouldn’t let go of the guy for love or money. Nadyne came out of the next room and started to work
him over with the bat. He screamed like
five-year-old girl with every thud.
The other
intruder came flying out of the kitchen. I found out later Petey had been
holding a heavy leather bag full of old prohibition currency in front of
himself while the albino had been trying to knife him.
I thought he was being stabbed in the stomach.
Instead, the knife repeatedly penetrated the bag that Petey was holding close
to his center mass. He was completely unharmed but pissed off. Petey finally hit the intruder in the head
with the heavy leather ruck sack.
I grabbed
the gunman by the throat (by now, a signature move for me, apparently) and
heaved him back out of the front door. He landed on his back.
To my
surprise, Knuckle Butt hadn’t gone home. He was in the back yard when the
trouble started turning over the soil for a fall garden. Now he stood over the
intruder armed with a large shovel. He put the blade of the shovel to the intruder’s
throat.
“You boys
with the carnival?” he said with a smile.
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