Scarlet Rain Part 21

Dread clawed Eva's chest as she opened the door and crept into her house. The sight of her mom curled on the couch in the fetal position sucked the air from her lungs and pinned her feet to the floor. Defeat and malady had drained the color from Lori's face, and her pasty skin glistened in the candlelight. Broken capillaries colored the whites of her eyes, and her breath came in ragged whistles.

"Mom." The whisper barely snuck past Eva's lips.

"Eva, you're back," her mother wheezed, the corners of her eyes wrinkling as she smiled weakly. "I knew you'd come home."

"I'm so sorry I didn't come sooner." She knelt next to her mom and warmed her cold, limp hand between her palms. "I just wanted to get everything figured out first. I didn't want to drag you into this craziness. I was only trying to protect you."

"Silly girl, I don't need protecting. I need my daughter." Spittle flew from her lips as she coughed. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I have no idea where I could have caught this horrible thing. I felt fine until earlier today."

Eva offered her best attempt at a smile as she brushed the damp, matted hair from Lori's eyes. "I am always telling you to get your flu shot."

"This isn't the flu, Eva. I've never felt anything like this. I have all of this anger. I think there's something seriously wrong."

"Not for long, Ms. K." Bridget squatted on the floor next to Eva and held out a steaming cup. "I made tea." She fanned the hot liquid, and gave a toothy smile before leaning into Eva. "This is bad news bears. I'm glad you got my note."

"I hear talking," Lori whispered.

Bridget and Eva exchanged confused looks.

"In my head," Lori added. "It's scaring me."

"You probably have a fever," Bridget said, sliding the mug onto the coffee table.

Eva gently felt her mom's forehead. Heat tingled against her fingertips and her stomach clenched with terrible foreboding. "Yeah, we're taking you to the hospital."

Lori lifted her head. A wet ring of tiny ruby specks stippled the fabric. Her face morphed as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. A sly smile lifted her damp, pale lips. "There is no need. We will stay with you mortals. We have much to fix before this realm can be ours."

Despair froze Eva's heart. "Mom?"

"She is here. She is fighting. She is strong. We like them strong. More power to use and to take." Lori seemed to deflate as she fell against the couch, her body rattling with coughs.

Bridget recoiled. "That stuff on the pillow. Those red dots. It's them, isn't it? Those things from the video and the book."

"Get Alek and call James. Then stay outside. When James shows up, tell him to do the same," Eva commanded. "I don't know what this is capable of, but I know we need all the help we can get."

Bridget scrambled toward the door.

"Something's wrong. Something's very wrong," Lori whimpered.

"I know. I know. It's fine. Everything's going to be okay." Tears bit at Eva's eyes as she stroked her mom's sweat-streaked hair. "We know someone who will help. And I'm here. I can help too."

"They're inside me, Eva. I can feel them. I can hear them talking. They want me to do horrible things." Blood trickled out of Lori's nose as she again erupted into body-shaking coughs.

"No!" Eva shouted, wiping at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "This is not happening. I've already given up so much. They're not taking you too. Do you hear that, Nosoi? You can't have my mom! I'm not letting you win!"

Like wax transforming the skin of a dripping candle, Lori's expression s.h.i.+vered, s.h.i.+fted, and became a stranger's.

"You know us? Mortals do not call us by name. They say we are plague, pestilence, death. How do you know our true t.i.tle?"

"I know a lot more than you think. Come out and see."

Like a curious bird, Lori's head twitched from side to side. "You are strong. Like this one. Stronger even. We sense it in you."

"That's right." Eva stood and glared down at the evil infecting her mother. "So let her go. Take me. I can help you. I'll give you more power than she ever could."

"But with the taking of this one, we will be full. Almost whole. The queen will come. Then our reign will begin. No one will escape the Nosoi. No one will escape this," they said, Lori's neck swiveling robotically, "pandemic."

"You don't need her. Let her go!" Panic raged within Eva's chest as she screamed the words.

"You wish to be the vessel for our queen?"

"Yes! Anything! Just give me back my mom."

"The honor is yours, mortal." Lori's eyes rolled back, and with a grotesque, full-body contortion, she flopped back against the cus.h.i.+ons.

"Stop! Let her go!" Eva pressed her weight against her mother and cradled her head between her hands. "Please." She let the tears spill from her eyes as she pleaded. "Use me instead."

Lori's mouth opened wide and the swarm erupted from her throat. They charged at Eva, and she didn't resist as they forced themselves between her lips.

Oracle! Their word bit at the insides of her ears. You are with him. The immortal.

Alek's strong hand squeezed hers. "I'm here, Eva!" His words were a faint echo above the screeching within her head.

His kind trapped our queen. Not again. Never again!

Eva's body spasmed horribly. Heat tore through her chest as the Nosoi clawed their way back to freedom and tore out of the open door. Sobbing and gasping for air, Eva collapsed against her mom.

"Shh, shh. Don't cry. Don't cry. Momma's back. It's quiet. They're gone now," Lori murmured. She raised her arms weakly, trying to hold Eva.

Still crying, Eva rested her head against her mother's damp shoulder. Like a wounded bird, Lori's hand fluttered across her daughter's face. "Shh," she repeated, her voice beginning to fade. "Momma's here.... Momma's here. You'll be fine, honey. Everything will be fine."

Scarlet spray painted Lori's face and chest. Eva couldn't stop the tide of sadness coursing through her as she watched the light begin to dim in her mother's familiar, loving gaze.

"Momma, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Eva sobbed.

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You're here now. You saved me, Eva. You made them leave. We got through it. Just us. Like always." Pink foam flecked Lori's lips as she smiled at her daughter. "If I could have chosen from all the little girls in the world, I would have picked you and only you as my daughter."

Eva choked back more tears and made herself smile. "You're the best mom ever, Lori. I'm glad it was just us."

"Remember that you're stronger than you think you are, Eva. Believe in yourself as much as I've always believed in you." Lori's eyelids started to close.

"Momma, please don't leave me!"

For a moment Lori's eyes opened, and her gaze was clear and calm. "I'll never leave you, Eva. I'll always be right here." Lori's hand trembled as she touched Eva's chest, just over her heart. "I love you, Eva. Always."

Then, with a gentle sigh, Eva's mom breathed her last breath, and her head tilted to rest against her daughter's.

Thirty.

Alek lingered next to Eva while her body trembled. She noiselessly sobbed against her mother's still form. He hadn't lost anyone before, not anyone he cared about, and, unless he and the Oracle failed, he wouldn't lose any of his mothers anytime soon. Even then, he knew he would see them again. After all, if they possessed magic, spirits were free to travel to and from Elysium. Stiffly and awkwardly, he placed his hand between Eva's heaving shoulders and patted the back of her wrinkled s.h.i.+rt.

A hushed yet familiar buzzing drifted into the living room from the open front door, and Alek strained to see out the windows into the front yard.

"Alek!" Wide-eyed, Bridget stood in the open doorway motioning for him to come over. "You have to see this."

Guilt tugged at his stomach as he rubbed Eva's back a few more times before stepping onto the porch.

"Is she okay?" Bridget asked.

"No." He jumped off the edge of the porch and gazed up at the buzzing swarm hovering above the yard.

"Can't say that's not what I expected." She took a deep, shaky sigh and continued. "I want to be in there with her, but we have to fix this first, right?"

"You are correct."

"We have called our brethren to us for the arrival of the queen. She is near!" the scarlet cloud shrieked.

"What will become of your queen with no vessel?" Alek shouted at the undulating cloud.

"We will take a mortal as we have done for centuries. You will not stop Her. You will not stop the Nosoi."

"That's it!" Bridget said, charging to Alek's side. "Hey! Hey, Nosoi!"

Alek grabbed her wildly flailing arms and pinned them to her sides. "I will hurt you if it means keeping you from them," he snarled.

"Direct your bad att.i.tude at them. I have an idea. A way to end this without someone else's mom turning up dead."

"Do not trouble yourself with these humans. Their species is a scourge upon this realm."

Alek loosened his grip, and Bridget leaned in and whispered her strategy.

"Do you think it'll work?" she asked.

"Yes, but it may also end your life."

"Totally worth it. Just don't tell Eva." She charged into the middle of the yard. "You need a vessel for your skeevy queen?" she bellowed at the scarlet swarm. "Use me!"

Bridget's shouts reached Eva's ears, and she looked around the still living room for her friend. The candles' flames cast pulsating shadows, playing tricks on her vision. Her swollen eyes burned. Time was paralyzed as she stared down at her mother. Worlds of unsaid words and unrealized memories tumbled within her. "Momma." She gingerly extended her hand and smoothed back Lori's hair. "I'm sorry."

Electricity crackled outside, stealing Eva's attention. Bridget's blurry form bounced up and down in the front yard as she shouted, "Hey! I'm right here! I'll be the vessel! Take me! End this!"

"No, Bridget! Not you too!" Eva sprinted out the door, but froze as she came to the edge of the patio.

The threatening cloud of buzzing scarlet specks churned in the air above Bridget while crimson sparks of electricity crackled around them. "An ally of the Oracle. She will do nicely," they hissed through the growing winds.

"Eva, you mustn't interfere." Alek grabbed her hand and pulled her into the shadows.

"I have to!"

"Oracle, wait. There is something you don't know."

"I'm not interested in explanations! This plague ripped my mother away from me. I won't let it do the same to Bridget. Don't you understand, Alek? She's the only family I have left." Eva tore her arm away from Alek and bounded off the porch.

"Bridget!" Eva's arms blanketed her best friend. Exhaustion swept over her and she gave in, letting her body sag and her tears leak into Bridget's blonde curls. "Don't do this. Don't offer yourself to them. Please. I can't-I can't lose you too."

Bridget wrapped her arms around Eva and spoke against her ear. "It'll take a lot more than some nasty bug creatures to get rid of me. We're stuck together for the long haul, and I've got a pretty solid plan to destroy these f.u.c.kers, so trust me."

Eva pushed away and glared up at the Nosoi. "You hear that? You're not taking her!"

Alek snagged her wrist, forcing her to face him. "Think, Eva! Their numbers have grown. The death of your mom and the others they've killed have made them stronger."

Numbness coated Eva's body as she looked up to see tendrils of scarlet snaking through the sky, all converging above Bridget. "Oh, G.o.d, no. They can't be winning."

"They can, and they will if you stop Bridget."

"Told you!" Bridget shouted. "And you know how much I love being right."

"I'm ignoring you." Eva held up her hand. "Alek, you have to help me. Bridget doesn't know what she's up against. They'll kill her, Alek. And I'll die too."

"Eva." He lowered his voice, pulling her away from Bridget. "She's your best friend, but she is also the last chance your realm and Tartarus have. You're the Oracle. You must choose."

"But I didn't choose this, and my mom is..." Her voice cracked as she struggled to utter the word. "Dead." Even after she said it, it didn't feel real. Nothing felt real.

"And I am sorry. The Underworld is a powerful realm. You will see her again. I give you my word. Until then, you must face what is happening now, and Bridget does indeed have a plan."

"Will it work?"

"It must. It's our only option."

"But will it work, and will she be safe?"

Alek hesitated.

"Your silence tells me everything. I'm stopping this. And this time, don't pull me away."

Thunder crashed, and the cool fall breeze turned thick and hot as she turned back to Bridget, whose wide-eyed stare was fixed on the converging cloud.

"The queen is coming! The queen is coming! The queen is coming!" the Nosoi's shrill, whistling voices chanted emphatically.

"Bridget, I'm not letting you do this!" Eva shouted, but slivers of crackling scarlet lightning engulfed her words.