Mengliad (The Mengliad Series Book 1) Page 2

  Chapter Two

  “Are you sure this is gonna work?” Josiah asked, fidgeting. “This is a group of people I do not want pissed off at me.”

  “Relax, Joe,” Craddock placated him. “Lilith went home for the day, Bibi looks just like her. . . no one will think twice about her asking stupid questions, ‘cause, let’s face it, Lilith is brain dead.”

  “Hasn’t she been in there too long?” he fussed, checking his watch again for the umpteenth time.

  “It’s only been ten minutes, Joe. Would you relax, please?”

  “Got it,” Bibi reported, as she exited the restaurant and approached. “Her name is Jessica Mitchell, and she lives somewhere near Java Village. They said she went home early ‘cause she was sick, and she called in just a few minutes ago to say she wouldn’t be in tomorrow.”

  “Okay. . .” Craddock stood tall, taking charge. “I say we go to Java Village and ask if they know her. I think that’s a good place to start.”

  “We could also try the phone book,” Josiah suggested.

  “She might be unlisted,” Bibi countered. “We could always just start knocking on doors in the area. Would you know her if you saw her?” she asked Craddock.

  “Yeah. And the scent is unmistakable.”

  ****

  The coffeehouse had a welcoming feel to it, almost like someone’s home, inviting people to enter and make themselves comfortable as they enjoyed a warm beverage or muffin. It immediately brought a smile to Bibi’s face.

  “What a fun place,” she said to Craddock as the three of them, Josiah included, headed for the counter. “I’ll have to remember it next time I’m in the area.”

  Craddock nodded in agreement, and then approached the first person with an apron he saw. “Excuse me, I was wondering if you could help us.” He gestured to Bibi and Josiah in explanation of the word ‘us’. “We’re looking for someone—”

  “Lilith?” the blond asked, pointing at Bibi. “Stacy,” she said, pointing back to herself. “I’m Jessica’s friend, remember? I’ve seen you at the restaurant a bunch of times.”

  Bibi glanced at the guys before smiling at the stranger. “Oh, right! Yeah! I do remember you!” Shaking the woman’s non-coffeepot-bearing hand, she asked, “Do you happen to know where she lives? Jessica, I mean. She left early today, ‘cause she was sick, and I wanted to make sure she was okay.”

  “Of course I know where she lives,” Stacy answered with a laugh. “I’m her roommate!”

  Bibi forced a laugh to match. “And I knew that, didn’t I? Sorry,” she apologized, smacking herself in the head. “I’m a ditz!”

  Stacy’s smile turned a little uncomfortable. “We live across the street, third floor, apartment C5.”

  Josiah and Craddock shared looks as Bibi smiled kindly in return for the information. “Thanks, Stacy. See’ya next time you come in, ‘kay?”

  Stacy nodded, but the smile she wore faded as she watched the three visitors leave the building. Something about how they acted just didn’t seem quite right, so to err on the side of caution, she decided to call Jessica.

  ****

  “Hey, Jess, just so you know, and this is probably no big deal, but Lilith was just in here with two guys, and she was acting really weird. She’s on her way over to see you.”

  “Well, it’s weird that Lilith would come here, for starters,” Jessica muttered.

  “She said it was to see how you were feeling.”

  “She’s not really the type to care much about a co-worker’s health,” Jessica mused. “How was she acting weird? Weird in general, or weird for Lilith?”

  “Well, you would know better, but, just, ditzy, I guess.”

  “That’s normal for her.” Jessica chuckled, but she stopped abruptly when a sharp sound caught her off guard. “Hey, hang on, there’s a knock at the door.”

  “Is it her?” Stacy waited as Jessica presumably looked through the peephole.

  “Oh my God.” She stepped back and away from the door. “It’s her,” she said to Stacy, whispering so she wouldn’t be overheard, “and one of the guys with her is that cute nutcase from the park I was telling you about!”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “Small world, huh? So much makes sense about his behavior now.” She laughed softly. “He hangs out with Lilith! She sucks the brain cells right out of you, if you’re ever in the same room with her for too long!”

  “So it’s okay then?”

  Jessica could hear the worry in her friend’s tone. “Yeah,” she assured her, “she’s harmless enough. And I’m sure he is, too. Didn’t strike me as the ax murderer type.”

  “Okay, then, it’s just me being paranoid again, huh?”

  Jessica nodded, not that Stacy could see. “Yep. Go back to work,” she ordered jokingly, “and don’t forget, you’re staying at Shea’s for the next few days, till I get over this.”

  ****

  “Maybe she’s not home,” Josiah whispered as they waited for someone to answer the door.

  “She’s home,” Bibi said, concentrating. “I can hear her, speaking softly. Maybe on the phone.”

  “Should we knock again?” Craddock raised his hand, poised at the ready, but Bibi shook her head, putting hers over his fist.

  “She’s coming.”

  “Lilith, hi.” Jessica’s greeting was polite as she opened the door, but her smile was forced. “What’s up?”

  Bibi hesitated for a moment, staring back at the woman in front of her. Craddock was right, she reeked of Enyoh. There was no way she wasn’t a new convert. If she had to guess, she’d say only hours old. She smiled in return. “Just checking on you, is all. Can we come in?”

  Eventually, though somewhat reluctant to do so, Jessica nodded and stood aside, allowing her and the two silent men with her to enter.

  “These are my friends, Craddock and Josiah.” Bibi gestured to each as she introduced them.

  The odd name caught Jessica by surprise. “Craddock?”

  Shrugging, Craddock replied with a hint of humor. “My mom has issues.”

  Not wanting to appear rude, Jessica smiled and nodded, but she fought to remain standing as she did. Steadying herself, her attention then moved to the man introduced as Josiah.

  He almost looked like he could be a younger brother of Craddock’s, with his thin stature and pale complexion, though his hair was a sandy brown color rather than jet black. Also, his eyes were darker. Hazel, it seemed, though she couldn’t be certain without staring.

  “Do you remember me?” Craddock asked with his hand to his chest, interrupting her thoughts. “I helped you up, out in the park?”

  “Yeah, I remember you. Sorry if I seemed so out of it. This flu bug is kicking my butt.”

  All but Jessica smiled uncomfortably at her statement, sharing looks, which seemed odd to her.

  “What?” she asked.

  That simple one word question opened the gate to a world she knew nothing about.

  “It’s not the flu. You’re incapable of catching that now.”

  Jessica looked back at the woman she thought she knew, but in that moment, there was something very different about her.

  “What are you talking about, Lilith?”

  “I’m not Lilith,” she confessed. “I’m her twin sister, Bibi.”

  Unnerved, Jessica took a step backwards, but Craddock matched it with a step forward.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Josiah soothed, “we mean you no harm.”

  “We mean you no harm?” Craddock repeated, mocking his friend. “What, are we in a bad sci-fi B-rated movie now?”

  Josiah scowled. “It seemed appropriate, okay?”

  “You’re freaking her out,” Bibi scolded them. She then turned her attention back to Jessica. “Look, it’s all way too complex to go into here. We need you to come with us, okay?”

  The request was met by an exaggerated scoff.

  “You have to,” Josiah insisted urgently, off Jessica’s non-verbal response. “You
’re not safe here!”

  “Josiah!” Bibi snapped in a harsh whisper.

  Distressed, Jessica took several steps away from them. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave now.”

  “Jessica,” Craddock tried again, “I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but you need our help. Changes are taking place, and you don’t know what to do about them.”

  “I might not get sick often, but I’m sure I can manage just fine, thank you very much.” Irritation edged out the fear in her tone. “Now, please leave, before I call the police.”

  Craddock held his hands up in surrender. “We’ll go, okay? We’ll go.” He could sense Josiah was about to protest, so he waved him down. “Can you please just do one quick easy thing?”

  Eyeing him warily, she said, “Depends on what it is.”

  “Let her take your pulse?” he asked of her as he pointed to Bibi.

  “Why?”

  “It’s important. Please? One minute. Like this,” he added, touching his fingers to his wrist.

  Hesitantly, Jessica extended her arm, pulling the sleeve of her robe up just enough to expose her wrist. Bibi moved slowly, as if approaching a caged wild animal, and then gently touched her to locate her pulse.

  After nearly a minute, she stepped away from her. “She’s going to need nutrition soon,” she whispered at Craddock.

  “We can’t force her,” he whispered back, though his eyes remained on Jessica. “We’ll go, if you want,” he told her. “We’re not here to upset you. We’re trying to help you.” Reaching into his pocket, he removed his hand slowly, showing her what he had retrieved. “I’m gonna leave you my card, okay? I’ll stay home from work tomorrow, in case you need to call me. I have a feeling you will. My home number is on the back. I’m also leaving these for you.” He pulled a pair of glasses from his coat pocket.

  “Your spare pair?” Josiah whispered anxiously.

  Craddock waved him down again, keeping his eyes on Jessica. “In the morning, your head is going to hurt like it’s never hurt before, and your eyes are going to do something they have never done before. When it happens, you’ll know. Don’t panic, okay? Put these glasses on,” he set them on her dining room table, “and call me. I’ll come over as quick as I can.”

  “Maybe we should just explain it to her here,” Josiah suggested, avoiding Jessica’s stare.

  Craddock shook his head. “She’s not ready to listen yet. She thinks we’re nuts. After tomorrow, she’ll be more apt to listen.”

  “She’s just gonna get weaker,” Josiah reminded him.

  “Can’t be helped.” Craddock pointed at the door, indicating that they needed to leave. Taking the hint, Josiah headed for it, with Bibi right behind him. “We’re not crazy, okay? And what’s happening to you can be explained.” As he started to back up towards his friends, he added, “Don’t leave tomorrow, or tonight. You don’t understand the kind of danger you could be in if you do. Trust my word on this, okay?”

  Not responding at all, in any way, Jessica just stood cemented in place, hugging herself as she watched the man cautiously. When he was through the door and closed it, she walked towards it, slowly, half-expecting them to burst back through and kidnap her or something. Upon reaching it, she quickly started latching all the locks, feeling safer with an obstacle between her and them.

  Shaking from the odd encounter, she took a deep breath to settle her nerves before taking the card he’d left from off the table.

  As she stared down at the embossed name, a thought occurred to her, promptly solidifying into a full-fledged idea. Lilith was playing some kind of game with her, probably in retaliation for some supposed wrong she had committed.

  Whatever the reason, Jessica was determined to get to the bottom of it. Plucking the cordless phone off its base, she punched the number in she knew by heart, waiting through several rings for the pick-up.

  “Hello?”

  “Marcy?” she asked, even though she recognized her voice. “It’s Jessica. I need a favor.”

  “Sure! What’s up?”

  “Your boyfriend is a private dick, right?”

  “Yeah. . .?” Her inflection questioned why the inquiry was made.

  “Could you have him look up a name for me?”

  “Um, yeah. Okay. What’s the name?”

  Jessica looked at the card again as she answered. “Craddock Daniels.”

  ****

  “I still say we should deal with this now,” Josiah complained. “It’s too dangerous to have her running around, unaware.”

  “We can’t very well kidnap her,” Craddock countered. “We can’t take her back to my apartment and force food down her throat!” Frustration had caused his voice to raise a level. Before continuing, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. “Tomorrow, she’ll realize something is very different, and she’ll come to us. Less traumatic that way.”

  “I agree with Doc on this,” Bibi interjected as they started down the stairs. “Do me a favor though.” The request was aimed at Craddock. “When she calls, call me straight away. I want to be there to help explain.”

  “You got it.”

  ****

  Jessica bit at her lip as Marcy’s boyfriend recounted everything he knew, which was essentially nothing.

  “So, he has no record at all?” she asked, amazed. “Not even for, like, jaywalking or something?”

  “He’s as clean as clean can be,” he replied with a smile in his voice. “If all my targets were this squeaky, I’d be out of a job.”

  “Okay,” she muttered, somewhat disappointed. “Thanks anyway.”

  “If you want me to follow him for a few days, I can, but I would have to charge you for that.”

  “No, that’s okay.”

  “Would help if I knew what it was you were looking for,” he said.

  “I don’t even know,” she admitted. “For all I know, he’s an innocent in whatever game she’s playing.”

  “In what game who’s playing?”

  Jessica sighed. “Long story.”

  “Okay. Well, if you need my help again, just give me a call, okay?”

  “Yeah, okay, thanks.”

  She hung up the phone, still staring at the card and the glasses that the strange man had left for her. Curiosity getting the better of her, she put the glasses on, but didn’t really see much of a difference. They didn’t seem to be a prescription pair, but the lenses definitely weren’t cheap.

  Whatever they were for, the one guy, Josiah, seemed to be upset that Craddock was leaving them behind, even though he had been wearing an identical pair.

  Come to think of it, she thought to herself, all three of them were wearing very similar glasses. Sure, the frames were slightly different, but the lenses had that same tinted glass look to them.

  Absently, she brushed her hand down her arm, but winced when she felt a twinge of pain. Hiking up her sleeve, she noticed the mosquito bite looked even angrier than before.

  “I bet it is infected,” she mumbled to herself, pushing out of her seat, heading for the bathroom to put more antibiotic ointment on it.

  After treating the wound, she wandered tiredly into her bedroom, leaving the card and glasses Craddock had left for her on the coffee table as she climbed into bed for the night.

  Chapter Three

  She was still a little tired, but Jessica actually felt better, come morning.

  Not quite ready to wake up yet, she snuggled deeper into her pillow, a sigh escaping as she realized she would have the whole day to lounge around, since she’d had the foresight to call in sick the night before.

  With a satisfied yawn, she stretched and kicked the blanket off her feet, running her hand through her hair to tame it and pull the strays from her face, all before opening her eyes to greet the day.

  Instantly, a blinding pain shot through her head, starting at her eyes, and she yelped as she slammed them shut—a reflex reaction.

  Fear washed over her when the pain didn’t subside. She tried ag
ain to open them, but the pain just became more intense. Then a milky-colored substance slid over her eyes, making her vision blurry. She felt like she was going to hyperventilate as she stumbled out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, her panic growing as she splashed water on her face and tried to see her reflection in the mirror.

  It was hard to make out, but it looked like something was covering her eyes. When she tried to move or remove whatever it was with her finger, the effort was met with resistance. The more she fought it, the more intense the pain.

  She yelled out, in pain and in frustration, putting her hand over her eyes as she cautiously headed for the couch to sit down. As she bumped into the coffee table, she let a few curse words fly, before bending down to feel her way past and around it.

  “What’s happening to me?” she cried out, her brain unable to think straight due to the pain. She’d had migraines before. This was not a typical migraine.

  When she turned to sit, still feeling her way to where she wanted to be, her hand made contact with something. She grabbed it, using touch to determine that it was the glasses Craddock had left for her.

  Suddenly, she remembered. He said she would be in pain. He said her eyes would do something weird. He left the glasses because he said she would need to wear them.

  Without looking, she fumbled as she put them on, her eyes still closed tight out of fear that she would be met with more pain if she opened them. Then, blindly, she reached out, trying to feel around for the card she knew was there.

  Hours before, when the three strange people stood in her living room, she never dreamt it possible that she would be seeking them out. But at that moment, all she knew was that something she didn’t understand was happening to her. Something weird, and frightening, and way beyond her realm of comprehension. Even if they were nutcases, they seemed to be her best bet for answers.

  Card in hand, she opened her eyes, cautiously, expecting to be bombarded by more extreme pain and the milky blindness that impeded her vision. Instead, her vision seemed clearer and the pain didn’t intensify. The glasses seemed darker than they were the night before, almost like sunglasses, but she didn’t dare remove them. Whatever was going on with her, the glasses seemed to be helping.