The Blood Witch Saga

4. Remember Me-2

I was alone then when it happened. Out of nowhere, hands grabbed me and pulled me backward between the pumps and I could feel the sharp edge of a bladed weapon against the skin on my neck. I held up both hands in surrender and stilled my instinct to try to run.

“My wallet is in the car,” I said, though part of me was quite sure no thief was brazen enough to strike in broad daylight in full view of the security cameras like that.

“We don"t want your money, Thanátou.” The voice was gruff and even without seeing my assailant, I could tell he was angry.

Thanátou“Okay, what do you want?”

“To bleed you dry and end your blasphemous life.”

That escalated quickly. “Here?” I have no idea why that was my response. He pulled me back, one hand fisting in my hair. We turned, and I could see where he was taking me. This wasn"t happening. The corral that hid the station"s trash was in front of us. Sure, I thought, that seems a much more likely place to be stabbed.

“Hey!”

Two men were coming toward us, and they started running when my assailant flashed the knife in their direction. “Stay out of this.”

“Not today, pal.” The first of them was within striking distance and I was whirled to the side, into the fencing of the corral. His hand was firm, pressing my face into the fencing while he brandished his weapon at my would-be saviors. I squirmed, but all it accomplished was the fencing embedding itself in my skin. I heard sirens in the distance and wondered if someone had called the cops.

I would hope so. It was the middle of the day after all. The sound of a punch landing intruded on my thought and the man holding me fell back against me.

“Knife.”

“Yeah, I see it.”

I tried to turn to see, but all it showed me was the back of the man"s head. Then he shuddered, and the knife clattered to the ground. His hand left my head and I pushed off the fence and away from him. I could see police cars now, at least two of them closing on us. My assailant growled and shoved my rescuers off of him before he fled. Several of the arriving officers gave chase. I got a good look as he dodged around a car. He was my age maybe, with a shaved head and dark skin, wearing a black suit.

Somehow, I wasn"t surprised when he vanished.

I was trying to catch my breath when the taller of the two men who came to my aid touched my arm. “Are you okay, ma"am?”

“Thanks to you, yes.”

He was at least six feet tall and built like a linebacker. His friend was a few inches shorter and wiry, but he was the one who had apparently knocked the knife away. “That"s some kind of knife.” He squatted next to the blade, keeping his hands away, but giving it a good once over. “You see this, Jerry?”

Jerry was clearly the taller guy who leaned over to see. Before I could learn the name of my second rescuer, police officers were approaching, and we were sectioned off to answer their questions.

The woman who guided me back to my car had a nice face, her red hair pulled into a neat bun at the back of her head. She introduced herself as Officer Simmons and asked me to tell her what happened.

My heart was still racing as I told her the story, my eyes skipping to the spot where I"d been standing when he grabbed me. She stopped me a few times and asked me questions. My hands were mostly done shaking when I was finished. I gave her my cell phone number and thanked her for the quick response.

Merry was coming back to the car now, her eyes wide as she registered the scene. I shook my head at her and went to thank Jerry and his friend once more before I took my turn to go inside and use the bathroom, then grab a couple of sandwiches for us to eat on the road.

As I paid at the register, my eyes swept the faces around me. My heart skipped when I spotted a bald head, but that man’s skin was much lighter, and he had a bottle of water in his hands, not a knife. I tried to tell myself to settle down, but when his eyes met mine, I knew that he was one of them. Chills ran down my back as I took my sandwiches and burst through the door, all but running for the car. My eye skipped to the rearview mirror as I tossed the sandwiches in Merry’s lap and started the car, pulling out quickly as I spotted the man moving toward us, even if he didn’t seem like he was in a hurry.

knew“You okay?” she asked when I pulled us out of the truck stop.

“Yeah, just a little shook up,” I responded, still glancing behind us. “It was close. And I think there was another one of them in the store.”

“They"re getting desperate. They know their window is closing.”

“Window?” I got us back out on the freeway, wanting to put as much distance as I could between me and the men who wanted me dead.

“By tomorrow, they have to cross back through whatever portal they forced open or be stuck here until they can capture a permanent portal or until the next time the veil thins. Their next opportunity to cross with a temporary portal will be six months away. A lot can happen in six months.”

I shook my head, still not understanding half of what the woman said. She unwrapped my sandwich and handed it to me. I took a bite and firmly determined that once we got to the other end of this drive, I was going to make her sit down and explain everything or tell her to get out and leave me alone.