Bait

Jack tried to keep awake, the throbbing ache in his broken arm actually seemed to help, sending a fresh stab of agony whenever he started to nod. Every time the snake shifted or moved he was on alert, not that he believed he actually stood a chance against the serpent, or the twig he found would stop the monster, but by fuck he wasn’t going to go down without some kind of fight.

The lower part of his left arm began to tingle and itch as the sigil began to glow white. A second design appeared, different than the first, almost seemingly under the first. And it glowed a faint green, he frowned as the itching sensation intensified. The second pattern began to expand up and off his skin, the tendrils of light drifting out as it adopted an odd three dimensional geometric shape.

Medusa moved, he raised his twig defensively between them, still the design grew, out of the aquarium, filling the room in eerie spectral light. There was a brief flash and the design suddenly vanished.

“That was fucking weird,” he said, looking back down at his arm and frowning. He looked over to the coiled snake, eyes narrowed.

From somewhere in the darkness beyond the tank, he heard the rustling sound of fabric. He moved closer to the glass, trying to squint, as if it might help him attune his eyes to the dark interior of the room beyond his confinement. A flicker of movement, nothing distinct, a shadow amongst shadows.

Suddenly a face materialized face right in front of the glass where he standing, startling him that he actually fell over backward. Face would be a misnomer, it was only a set of eyes. The rest of the face was covered by dark material as was the top of the head, like some type of ninja hood. The eyes, almond shaped, long lashes, seemed to regard him a moment. The figure brought a gloved hand to the material covering its mouth, placing a single finger where the lips should be, as if to suggest quiet.

Cradling his arm, he nodded and retrieved his little stick, completely baffled by what was happening. The figure seemed to be doing something on the floor, crouched over and moving around in a circle. He couldn’t see and then the figure merged with the darkness and was gone.

He scowled, unable to penetrate the midnight shroud filling the room.

There was a crashing sound near the aquarium causing Jack to jump, spinning he brought his twig up.

Light filled the room, stabbing his eyes, as a completely nude Lily swept into the room, “What is the commotion out here Smudge?” she asked, voice displeased and irritated, but completely oblivious to the much shorter figure sheathed entirely in black against the wall behind her.

In the split second that followed, several things seemed to occur simultaneously and everything moved in slow motion, like being in a car accident as every second elongated into an eternity, by Lily’s third step, the expression on her face was changing from annoyed to something else as she noticed something on the floor and began to pivot. The dark dressed figure stepped forward from the wall and snapped a kick directly into the small of Lily’s back, pushing the taller woman forward. On the floor there was a flare of light from materials in a circle around Lily, then there was an explosion of yellow light blinding the room followed by a tremendous whooshing sound, and Lily was gone. Vapors of smoke moved through the air before dissipating into nothingness.

The dark clad figure, Jack would have guessed based on the size disparity between it and Lily was maybe 5’2” approached ghost quiet and crouched down, near the glass, evaluating him. In the light he could now see the eyes were the color of polished jade.

A hand appeared, and the hood was pulled away. It was an oriental woman, beautiful beyond description.

“Who are you?” he asked.

The figure remained quiet, evaluating him, appraising him. Her pink plump lips formed a smile as she stood and reached into the tank toward him. He swung his twig defiantly at her approaching hand.

She paused, “You would prefer to remain with the snake?” she asked, voice sweet, eyes smiling.

He looked at her, then the snake before dropping the twig to the ground. “You didn’t answer my question,” he said.

She smiled, bringing a gloved hand to her face and blowing him a kiss.

He snorted, then passed out, falling face first into the sand lining the bottom of Medusa’s habitat.

Serah’s Pin

Jimmy prowled around the kitchen table, mumbling absently to himself, no means of getting down, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He been around some crazy characters in his time, but this white haired girl made his blood run cold. He chuckled, she was smoking hot, probably one of the prettiest dames he had ever seen, but man, those eyes, chipped ice.

On his second circuit around the table, he was startled, he didn’t see her standing there, watching him. He paused, making eye contact for a moment before feeling intimidated and looking away.

She moved forward without a sound, holding her hand down to him. He nodded and climbed into her palm, swallowing hard. Was this the end?

“Did you hear the one,” he started.

“Silence,” she said smartly, in no mood for his levity.

He ducked his head and remained quiet.

“We are going to your old neighborhood, you will show me Jack’s house,” she stated.

He nodded mutely.

She seemed to look around a moment, he didn’t know for what. Sighing, she placed him inside the cup of her bra, leaving his upper torso and head visible so he might see.

“That’s the one, up there on the right,” he said, pointing.

Pulling the vehicle over, she looked at the house. The building was a single story dwelling, run down, metal bars near the windows and a security door across the front entrance.

Climbing out of the jeep, she crossed the sidewalk to stand on the front lawn, although early in the season already an unhealthy brown and in desperate need of watering.

A group of juveniles were assembled on the front veranda two doors down, several sets of eyes followed her and she moved.

Standing up from his lawn chair, one of the young men sniggered, saying something base and suggestive to his comrades before descending the front stairs and walking in her direction. “Yo, hey there sweet lady, what you doing up here in this neighborhood?” he asked, an exaggerated swagger in his walk as he approached. She cocked her head slightly to the side, evaluating him, his potential as a threat, seeing none. The other couple of young men lagged behind, similarly, no threat.

“Neighborhood has gone for shit,” Jimmy commented, sliding down some in his confinement to shield himself.

Turning away, she continued to examine the house, as if looking for something only visible to her eyes.

“I was talking to you darling, don’t you know how dangerous this hood can be? Fortunate for you, TK is here to protect you from all the bad men round about,” he said with a boisterous chuckle, stopping only a few feet away, head bobbing slowly, a feigned hard look on his young face.

Turning, she looked him in the eyes. “You should go now TK,” she instructed, voice emotionless, without compassion or pity.

The young thug took an involuntary step backward, some instinctive hard wired process in his brain urged him to flee, to run away as fast as he could.

“Crash and burn!” said another one of the young delinquents coming up behind TK.

“W-we should go,” mumbled TK, voice low, taking another step back, eyes incredibly wide.

“What son? This snowy haired bitch put the run on you? Travis King just growed himself a pussy,” jibed a white muscle shirt wearing youth.

TK shook his head, a few more steps separating him from her.

Serah continued to look at him, no expression on her flawless face. She moved her eyes over to the vocal youth. “You should go with TK, Lawrence,” she advised, same neutral tone.

“Bitch fuck that! You don’t come rolling in here issuing orders like that,” Lawrence said, left hand spread wide, right hand pulling up his muscle T to show the pistol tucked into the waist of his jeans.

Serah looked at the gun, then back to Lawrence’s eyes, a smile touched her mouth. “What about you Sully? You going to stick around or you going to follow TK?” she asked without bothering to look at the other boy.

“Bitch how the fuck you know our names?” demanded Lawrence, hand curling around the handle of his weapon.

“Yeah?” added Sully, a heavier set youth dressed almost identically to Lawrence. TK turned and started to run.

Serah nodded slowly. “Two it is.” She moved faster than either boy could possibly follow, efficiency in motion, a split second later, there were two empty sets of clothes lying on the grass. Both boys were gone, vanished from the world down her throat.

“Jesus,” mumbled Jimmy, a mixture of terror and admiration, feeling for a moment like a goldfish swimming with a great white shark.

She turned back to the house, nodding slowly, as it the event had never even happened. Moving around the side of the house, she reached her hand out and touched the stucco wall, a symbol in light began to glow bright enough to be visible despite the bright sun overhead.

“What is that?” Jimmy asked.

“A sigil, like a ward,” she replied.

Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t know what that means,” he said.

“It means someone was watching over this house, the sigil is old, faded. Divine,” she said, slowly removing her hand, the sigil faded until it was no longer visible.

“Divine? Like from god?”

“A divine entity, but the complexity of the design is unlike any I’ve ever seen before,” she answered, “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Um, those two you just ate, are they still alive?” he inquired, voice small.

“You would like to go down there and see?” she asked.

“No,” he answered.

Returning to the front of the house, she push Jimmy down inside the cup, completely hiding him from view, climbed the front stairs and knocked on the door.

A man in his late thirties answered the door, opening the interior door but leaving the metal mesh door locked.

“Whooee, look at you,” he said, can of beer in his hand.

“I’m looking for Jack Dalton’s mother, see used to live here,” she said directly.

The man shook his head, “Don’t know no Dalton,” he said, taking a swig from the can.

“Is there someone else here to speak to?” she asked.

The man frowned. Turning his head, he hollered, “Louise!”

A woman of similar age to the man appeared at the door beside him.

“This girl here is looking for Jack Dalton’s mother,” he said.

“Darla?” said Louise, face warming.

“If that’s her name,” Serah replied.

“Gosh, she moved up the coast some years back,” Louise supplied.

“Do you have an address?”

Louise smiled, “Matter of fact I do, but I don’t know how much good it will do you. Give me a sec, I go see if I can find it for you,” she said, before vanishing back in the house.

“You maybe want to come wait inside, maybe have a beer?” the man asked, waggling the near empty can in his hand.

She locked her eyes on his a moment.

“Or not,” he babbled, taking a few steps backward.

Louise returned, and address scrawled on a piece of paper. Handing the paper through the slot in the security door, she said, “I hope you find her, she was such a nice lady.”

Serah nodded, noting the address and committing it to memory. “Thank you,” she said, moving down the stairs and climbing into her jeep.

Putting the vehicle in gear, she crossed the city and made her way to the address supplied by Louise. It was a small cottage in an outlying community north of the city.

Getting out of the vehicle, she said “Remain quiet and hidden,” she instructed before ringing the doorbell.

The woman who answered the door was in her late forties but could easily have passed for much younger. She smiled warmly. “Yes, may I help you?” she asked.

“Are you Jack Dalton’s mother?” she inquired.

The woman frowned, lines appearing at the corners of her eyes. “Why do you ask?”

Serah studied the woman, a slight smile on her face. Waving her hand through the space between them, a mark appeared on the woman’s arm, just visible beneath the skin, faintly luminescent.

A puzzled expression crept over the woman’s face as she looked from her arm to Serah. “You knew about my mark?” she asked.

Serah nodded slowly, “May I come in?”

The woman back up to allow Serah access.

“My name is Serah, I was curious about you and your son,” said the white haired woman.

“Darla,” replied the other woman. “Please, come in, have a seat,” she offered.

Serah walked into the living room, pictures of her and Jack, many of Jack himself, framed and hanging on the wall and on top of a table under the bay window. She paused to study the pictures, a smile coming over her face.

“Would you like something to drink?” Darla asked.

Serah shook her head. Turning, she asked, “You bore Jack naturally?”

Darla nodded.

“I see no pictures of his father,” Serah said, pointing to the wall.

Darla frowned and shook her head. “Jack so resembles his father, they might be twins.”

Serah nodded, understanding now the link between Jack and her lost love, they were undoubtedly sons of the same man, separated by nearly two thousand years and half a world. Looking at the pictures on the wall, she could feel emotional turmoil within herself as ancient memories were dredged up, the pain of losing him to Lily and her callous disregard for his life. She wondered how alike Jack and Tius might be?

Darla pursed her mouth, “Are you okay?” she asked, placing a comforting hand on Serah’s shoulder.

Serah nodded slowly, a weak smile on her face. “May I have this picture?” she asked, indicating one of Jack by himself.

Darla smiled, “Of course.”

Back out in the Jeep, Serah closed her eyes and choked a sob.

Squirming inside her bra to pull himself up and see her, Jimmy scowled. “Why you got it so bad for Jack?” he asked.

She lowered her head slowly, her eyes boring into his soul. He saw his death reflected in the icy blue there. He swallowed hard and looked away, desperately trying not to wet himself.