Chapter 35
Exhausted from his attempts to physically exercise the stupid out of his body all day, Vaughn settled on taking a cold shower that evening. Maybe he could finish the purge by scouring the bad decision-making off of his skin. Then he'd figure out what to do about Mariah.
What he had done to her went beyond wrong. He thunked his head against the tile and stayed in that position for several minutes, the chilly spray pinging off his back.
He would crawl back to her, but that was no guarantee of success.
First, though, he needed to check on Dad. Then he could confront his mistakes head on.
After drying off, he pulled on clean clothes and went down to the kitchen. With Ruth and Odie hovering nearby, Dad leaned on his walker as he cooked a simple dinner. Vaughn didn't care if they called the activity "occupational therapy"—he called it a damned miracle.
Zach, Garrison's son, flitted around them like a deranged hummingbird. The running monologue from the kid numbed Vaughn's brain.
"Hi, Uncle Vaughn!" His nephew waved.
Vaughn gave a half-hearted wave and surreptitiously studied Zach. No evidence of strange behavior. Maybe Garrison would get his wish and the development of an ability would skip a generation.
"Where's your dad?" He tousled Zach's dark red hair.
"In the living room, reading with Ms. Lopez."
If Sara had returned, then Garrison must have eaten a bucketful of crow.
Vaughn could take some lessons.
"Hi, son." One side of his dad's mouth didn't move, so the smile came out crooked, but happiness glowed in his watery blue eyes. Vaughn wanted to hug him but didn't want to break his dad's concentration.
"How's it going?"
Dad clanked a plate. "Pretty good." His voice came out slurred but understandable. Improved, even, over the past few days. Amazing.
"I'll say. He's doing great." Odie waggled his brows. "We'll have him cooking proper gumbo soon. I don't know how you people can live without okra here at the end of the Earth."
Vaughn squeezed his dad's shoulder. "Way to go. Dinner smells great."
"It's because I'm helping!" Zach reminded him.
"Sssecret ingredient." Dad pointed a spatula toward his grandson.
"What's the time for dinner?" Vaughn asked, unwilling to examine the knot that had formed in his throat.
Ruth leaned a hip against the counter but kept his dad in her line of sight. "Soon. Around seven, give or take. Your brothers and sister are waiting for you in the living room."
Family meeting. Great. Just what he didn't want.
"Shouldn't you go as well, chérie?" Odie asked.
"Shush," she said.
Yes, why would Ruth want to attend a family meeting? "Do you have something to add regarding the creature we're up against?" Vaughn asked.
She flicked a glance at Odie and shook her head. "As I mentioned yesterday, we've heard stories over the years."
"Stories?"
"People experiencing... similar things as you have described."
Now if that wasn't an evasive answer. "If you know anything that might help..."
"I'll be along in a few minutes," she mumbled.
With no energy left to crack the enigma that was Ruth, Vaughn turned and headed to the living room.
Shelby sat in the recliner, her feet up. An elastic bandage wound over her lower leg and around the metal posts that joined a vertical rod holding her fractured leg together. God, what she'd gone through. If only he'd gotten there sooner.
Eric hovered next to the chair, arms crossed over his chest like some oversized bouncer.
Garrison sat on the couch next to Sara. When she made a move to get up, he asked her to stay. Guess she was part of the family now. Whatever spat those two had was long forgotten, given the sappy expressions they shot each other.
And then there was Kerr, perched in the reading chair, back straight, staring into space like his nightmares danced right in front of him.
Vaughn tucked himself next to the other end of the fireplace mantel and settled in for an unpleasant evening.
"Thought we weren't supposed to be in the same place at the same time?" Vaughn muttered.
Shelby nodded. "We're leaving as soon as our family conference is done."
Garrison raised his hand. "Here's the deal."
Way to command the stage.
His brother rubbed his jaw. "We have crazy neighbors who are clearly becoming more unstable. Hank Brand tried to kill members of our family, and has since gone missing. No one has any leads where he went." His jaw muscle jumped until Sara twined her fingers with his. "Wyatt Brand then stepped up to fill the shoes Hank left behind. And creepy cousin Linc who, from Vaughn's description, is as nutty as the rest of them, dangerous, and a loose cannon to boot, may be part of the mix."
"And what about that creature out there?" Vaughn asked.
"That, too. What's worked against that thing thus far?" Garrison asked.
"We're having a meeting about how to beat it, so obviously nothing has worked yet." Vaughn's nerves prickled. His power reached out beyond the ranch, searching. Like it wanted to draw his attention. Not this time. He'd had enough of his damned power altering his brain waves.
"Garrison and I yelled at it and it went away," Shelby offered. "Then when it tried to kill Eric, I somehow turned my ability into a heat shield and held it off."
"But you almost died," Eric growled.
Vaughn rubbed a palm against his chin. "Garrison shot it. And I pushed that thing away when my power shifted. Not sure if I have another gear, but I'm willing to try." Vaughn flinched like he'd been slapped by an invisible hand. "Damn it."
"What?" Kerr asked.
"No idea. Weird," he said, rubbing his cheek. "Must be because I'm tired." He rolled his neck, an ache in his head increasing.
"So what, then? We have a black blob that wants to kill us." Garrison shook his head. "Anywhere else, that would be ridiculous, but in our world, when added to the neighbors who are sabotaging us, that thing really becomes the cherry on top of a shit sundae." He put his arm around Sara, tucking her in closer to him.
"Shouldn't we focus on the neighbors?" Kerr asked.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Garrison snapped. "A certain neighbor, maybe?"
Kerr flushed red, then lifted his hands. "Bro. Easy, there. Throwing stones in glass houses and crap like that."
"Come on, guys, back off." Shelby pinched the bridge of her nose while Eric glowered at all of them. "My filter is still not 100 percent. I can't stop all the emotions smacking into me."
"Sorry," they mumbled.
"Son of a bitch," Garrison cursed. "So what do we do with that fire-breathing cloud monster that wants to destroy all of us?"
Silence.
"You either stand together and take the risk of failure or success. Or try to survive, but remain apart." Ruth stood at the doorway to the living room. Her face appeared sculpted from stone. Odie hovered behind her shoulder.
"Speak clearly," Garrison snapped.
"The thing wants the four of you together." Her eyes seemed to sink into her head, giving her a tired, haunted expression. "I've... heard of such things before."
Vaughn studied her poker face until her gaze wavered. First time the façade had cracked. "You've more than heard of these things, haven't you?" A twinge flitted across his temple. Damn it.
She blinked. "Doesn't matter. What matters is that you must be at your strongest and in control of your powers when you confront that thing. That time isn't now. Not yet."
Garrison whipped his head around. "How do you know details about our powers?"
"Truly, I don't know all that you are able to do," Ruth said. "But I'm convinced that if you pool your gifts, when the time is right, you can destroy the creature."
"If we can't?" Shelby asked.
"Your destruction will provide the foundation, the fuel, for something truly evil."
Kerr rubbed his leg. "Well, that's super good news."
"Until you are all strong enough," she flicked her eyes to Shelby, "you need to stay separate. That thing will wait to attack when you're all together."
Garrison glared at her. "Seriously, I'm done with the oracle act. Spill." He thunked a fist on his palm. "I've had enough. You're not leaving until you explain how you know these things."
Silence. The wind blew. A shutter creaked.
No one exhaled.
Ruth and Odie could have been carved in marble, so still did they stand.
She bit her lip and glanced at Odie. "We are very old."
"Like in your forties?" Kerr quipped.
No one laughed.
Ruth swallowed. "I'm actually your great-great many times great-grandmother."
"—the fuck?" Vaughn said.
Everyone started talking at once.
Garrison barked, "Wait a minute. Hold on. Just hold on." He stared at Ruth.
"Don't, Gar. You promised," Shelby breathed.
He stood and faced Ruth across the room. His hands rolled into fists as he stared at her.
Odie stepped in front of his wife. "Don't what?"
With a hoarse cry, Ruth rubbed her temples.
"Quit it, my friend." Odie physically held up his wife for a solid twenty seconds.
Garrison winced. "It's done." Tight lines formed next to his grim mouth. "I don't know how it's true, but she's not lying."
"You would doubt her?" The Cajun didn't let go.
"He needed to do it," Ruth murmured, no longer sagging against her husband. "You know it's true. We're hundreds of years old."
No reason to doubt it. Lie-detecting brother had checked.
"Distant relative, why are you here? And how is it possible for you to be this old?" Garrison asked.
A weird echo, like a scream in the distance, made Vaughn wince and whip his head to the side. He checked the room. No one else appeared to hear anything. He rubbed his temples again to try to sweep away the growing headache. The back of his head prickled. Was his power activating? Shit. Why? He tried to relax by taking a few slow breaths.
"It's a really long story. But I'm here now to help you all," Ruth said.
Shelby stared at the door. "Help us defeat that thing? Then you know what it is."
"Not exactly. We have some guesses. And we're not yet certain how you can destroy it. We've never seen anything quite like what you've described."
Kerr leaned back in his seat. "That's remarkably unhelpful. Could you go back to the centuries-old part?"
"Yes, in a moment." She sighed. "I know that this information is not helpful. That's why we didn't want to say anything until we had more details."
Garrison snorted. "Still don't buy the story. And it would have made more sense at the interview last week to lead with the part about centuries-old distant relations—not to mention information on a monster stalking the family."
"Well, the monster part did come later. And I'm sorry to have withheld that background. All I know for sure is that you do not yet want to be together. You're not ready. Once you can all fight, then..."
"Then what? We become bait—" Vaughn grabbed his head and leaned against the mantel, his legs wobbling beneath him. What the hell? Without his consciously releasing it, his power had popped out like a damn parachute from his mind, then collapsed inward into infinite gravity, sucking him in.
Then exploded outward again.
"What's going—oh, no!" Shelby cried, holding up her hands to defend herself.
Eric leaned in front of her, as if he could protect her from the bad emotions flying out of Vaughn's exploding head.
"Man, dude," Kerr leaned back in the chair. "I even felt that through my connection with Shelby."
Shelby tucked deeper into Eric's arms.
Something familiar and horrible rained back down on Vaughn's conscious brain. His power pulsed, searching, desperate to surround...
Mariah.
Oh, shit.