Mystic Warriors

Chapter 4: Giant Bat

A woman screamed and, at first, Sabrina thought it was because of the dropped tray, because no one seemed to feel the same chilling presence she did.

"The window, my God there's glowing red eyes staring right at me." There was something beyond hysteria in the woman's voice, a primal fear.

Mark stood with his arm around Jo, his hand resting intimately low on her hip. His eyes narrowed on the woman behind Sabrina who'd screamed. The other guests either laughed or discreetly turned away from the hysterical woman. Mark seemed deadly serious. He followed the woman's terrified gaze to the long windows.

"It's a bat, a giant bat," the woman screamed. "It's staring right at me."

Letting go of Jo, Mark came over to Sabrina, Jo shadowing him. Sabrina faltered. His eyes glowed white hot, nearly no blue visible, backlit like a cellphone.

Sabrina looked around, but no one seemed to think anything strange was going on. Maybe she was schizophrenic? Did she see glowing eyes where none existed? No one took notice of the hysterical woman, her husband leading her off while she still insisted she saw a bat as big as a man. If it wasn't for that strange moment of recognition, Sabrina might have thought the woman was hysterical over nothing.

"Are you all right?"

She couldn't break the hold that glowing gaze had on her. Slowly, so slowly, the white fire dimmed until he looked at her with intense, but normal blue eyes. Normal for him, anyway. The strange hold he had over her lessened as his eyes dimmed.

"I'm fine, I'm afraid the glasses didn't fare that well."

How could they have this inane discussion while Jo gazed up at him with an unblinking adoring gaze, as if he was a single man?

"Do you have an injury? I noticed you stumbling before," Jo asked.

She didn't seem aware of the woman who was still hysterically crying over the giant bat that stared at her through the window. Sabrina shuddered. Jo sounded like an animated corpse. Sabrina had the impression she only showed concern toward her to get Mark's attention again. Sabrina wanted to push her away from Mark, and not only because he was her husband. She had the strangest feeling that she had to get him away from Jo, that she was transmitting some evil to him. More than that, she sounded dead.

"My wife sustained a knee injury during a car accident," Mark said. Such simple words to describe the horrific events.

She'd lost her only living relative, her cousin Jennifer. She'd even lost her cousin's fiancé Christopher who'd been heartbroken and lost after the accident. Sabrina had woken one morning, and he'd disappeared from his home. It was as if he never existed, never loved her cousin. It had been a betrayal, him leaving as if he could leave Jennifer's memory behind.

"I have to powder my nose," Sabrina murmured.

She had to get away from her husband who had glowing eyes, moved faster than any human could, and still had his arm around another woman. Mark nodded, but didn't look away from Jo. A look of such contempt flashed over his face, Sabrina faltered, but Jo didn't react.

What was going on here? Why would he zone in on Jo and then look at her with such contempt? He'd done the same at the other functions they'd attended this last month. Honed in on women, but almost immediately moved on. This time, he didn't move on, seemed intent on getting something from Jo. That look disturbed Sabrina greatly. Again, she had this sense of danger simmering under the surface of this polite gathering. Something so evil, her creepometer was screaming.

No matter what this was about, when they got home they'd have a serious discussion. About the future of their marriage. I'm not like my mother, she reminded herself again. I won't try to seal over the cracks in my marriage by looking the other way. It was almost a relief not to have to wait for the moment when he realized he didn't love her and left her.

"You've got the right idea," Michaela said behind her.

Sabrina smiled and carefully turned. She didn't need to kill any more champagne glasses with sudden movements. "When did you get back?" She hugged Mikaela who pulled a face.

"Yesterday. I was going to phone you, but I fell asleep."

They'd kept in contact via What's Up and Skype while Mikaela was abroad, but it was wonderful to have her back.

"I'm just glad you're back at last, I've missed you," Sabrina told her best friend. She didn't begrudge her friend the job in London, but her leaving after the accident had felt like a betrayal. Sabrina had to work hard at not resenting her friend going off to London when she needed her the most.

Mikaela rubbed her tired-looking eyes. "I missed you too, I can't believe I gave up all this sunshine to live in a lonely rainy city for two years." She didn't sound happy at all, didn't look like the optimistic and perpetually smiling woman who left two years ago.

"You sounded as if you enjoyed London when we spoke over the phone."

Mikaela shrugged, and there was something different in that shrug. Something Sabrina couldn't put her finger on. "I'm just tired. It was great and good experience for when I start my own business." Her smile was forced. "Enough about me, you're married, girl."

In spite of her words, Sabrina saw the sharp look Mikaela gave her.

"Sometimes I can't believe I'm actually married." And sometimes, when she saw Mark move faster than her eyes could follow, when he brought out evil in a young woman, she feared for her marriage. For her very soul.

An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Mikaela must've seen Mark hone in on Jo, and Sabrina didn't know what to say.

"So, what do you think that woman saw that made her scream like that? My mother would kill me if I acted like that," Mikaela rushed to say, obviously trying to fill the uncomfortable silence, both of them aware of Mark standing much too close to Jo, not far from them.

"Introduce me to your friend," Mark said and put his arm around Sabrina.

She stiffened, but leaned against him, her knee aching from standing so much. She hated that she enjoyed the feel of him against her when she was so mad.

Mikaela smiled her wide friendly smile. "You must be Mark, I'm glad to meet you at last."

Did he tense slightly?

He nodded at Mikaela, shook her hand, and gave her a measuring look. The same look he gave every young woman he met. "I'm glad to finally meet the woman who once walked backward with my wife for a whole three months."

Jo stood looking at Mark, seeming unaware of anyone else in the room.

"We were ten years old, we thought we'd discover the world from a different viewpoint," Mikaela said. She widened her eyes at Sabrina, the way she always did when she saw a handsome man and couldn't tell Sabrina in words.

"Instead, we got aching necks from looking over our shoulders to be able to see where we were going," Sabrina said.

They all laughed while Jo stared up at Mark with an eerie unblinking gaze, not reacting to the conversation. After a while, he and Jo moved away.

"Is it just me or is Jo acting odd," Sabrina asked her friend.

"I used to go to school with her. She didn't used to be like this," Mikaela said.

Sabrina merely shrugged. She used to tell Mikaela everything, but she couldn't tell Mikaela that she suspected her husband was a vampire, that Jo was probably his next meal, and that he'd hold her in t****l until he'd drunk his fill.

An hour later, her knee aching, Mark found her still chatting with Mikaela. Sabrina expected him to put his arm around her, the way he usually did when he'd been chatting up all the beautiful women in the room. This time, she was ready with her elbow if he tried, but he stood a distance from her.

Mark looked down at Sabrina, his face expressionless. "I won't come home with you."

Her heart missed a beat and then she could literally feel the muscles around it contract. Her breath left her with a soft whoosh without her volition. She was so sure he had no interest in Jo. That his actions had something to do with his strange abilities. Never did she think he was capable of humiliating her like this in front of her friend.

"What?" she tried to say, but no sound emerged.

She'd thought they'd go home and have an epic fight they'd tell their grandchildren about one day. He'd apologize and make love to her, and she'd forget that sometimes his eyes glowed and he appeared and reappeared in different places. That he'd looked at Jo with that disturbing mixture of distaste and intent. Deep inside, she'd feared he'd pack his bags and leave.

"You heard me." No inflection, no guilt or discomfort.

"How can you do this?" The words escaped her before she could stop them. She was relieved to see Mikaela had withdrawn a polite distance.

Ice cold gaze, his face expressionless, Sabrina couldn't believe this was the same charming man she married.

"Samuel will take you home. He's waiting for you at the door."

"How can you do this?" she asked again and blinked angry tears away.

"He'll stay with you until I'm back." Again, he ignored he question, the hurt he had to see in her eyes.

She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and thought she saw admiration flash briefly in his eyes. She didn't care. He sent her home alone so that he could be with another woman. "Don't bother ever coming home," she said through clenched teeth. Dismissing him, she turned to Mikaela. "I'm going. I'll phone you tomorrow."

Ignoring the sympathy in Mikaela's eyes, Sabrina went in search of her hosts.

She found the Greylings saying goodbye to departing guests and quietly took her leave of them. Samuel waited for her at the door and escorted her to the car parked at the bottom of the imposing stairs. She would've preferred not to go home with Mark's henchman, but she wanted to go home. She needed to be in her workroom, maybe the lingering presence of her Ouma will soothe her.

The pity in Mikaela's eyes, the concern on the Greylings' faces, stung her pride.

Samuel held open the car door for her and she got in, her fists balled, jaw clenched so tight her teeth ached. Married three months and it was over already. She hurt so much, it manifested physically. When he got home, she'd have a thing or two to say to him. Before she kicked him out of her house.