Reunion

I feel a moment of pleasant surprise when the car service pulls up—it’s a BMW, and while it’s one of the older, larger sedans, it’s clearly been well-maintained by someone. The window rolls down with a soft whirr and from the shadowy interior I hear a rich, masculine voice calling out my name. It’s said as a question, but more as a courtesy than out of any real need. I’m the only one standing outside the hotel waiting for a ride, after all.

Leaning down, I smile in at the driver. He’s older—probably late forties or early fifties if I had to guess—but very attractive in that comfortable, self-assured way that some men have as they age. When he returns my smile, I can see in his eyes that he’s glad to have a pretty girl for his evening’s fare. Giving a small laugh, I nod.

“Yeah, that’s me. I guess you’re my ride?”

He grins at me. “If you’ll have me, yes. Please, come on in.” There’s a slight flirtation there, and I feel surprised again as I respond to it. Just a slight flush, a minor quickening of the pulse, but it had been some time since I’d felt the pull of real attraction to anyone. It’s pleasant, but also a distraction, so I try to push it aside as I smile wider and get into the back seat.

“So we’re heading to Braselton Road, right?”

I nod. “That’s right. Going to visit an old friend there tonight.”

He caught my eye in the mirror as he pulled away from the hotel. “Good. It’s good to keep in touch with people.”

Smiling, I looked away and gestured at the car. “This really is a nice car. Usually when I get a ride share, it’s someone in a tiny Honda or something. I guess it saves on gas, but the backseats are always kind of small, right?”

The man chuckled. “I know what you mean. I haven’t had this car that long myself, but I picked it out with those things in mind. I like big cars. Older cars. They’re built like tanks, have big trunks and wide seats. Some of these newer ones…it feels like you’re driving a wind-up toy.”

Nodding, I looked out the window. “Yeah, I get that. And if you’re going to drive around for a living, you want to have fun doing it, right?”

His eyes flick up again to the mirror. “Oh yes. I don’t drive for a living, but I do always try to have a good time.”

Swallowing, I glanced down at my phone. Still no response from Mom and Dad. Not a big deal, but a little irritating. You’d think they’d be more excited about me doing this. That they’d want some kind of update beyond me landing last night. But whatever. They were probably still getting into town themselves—Dad still refused to fly, which always meant they were slow doing anything or getting anywhere. Besides, it was nice to finally be trusted enough to take care of things on my own.

“Your folks religious?”

I jumped slightly at the question. “Um, yeah, I guess you could say that. In their way.” I felt slight irritation at the weird question and almost said something, but he was already talking again.

“Don’t mean to pry, of course. It’s just because of your name. That’s why I asked.”

Blinking, I looked at him in confusion. Holding my gaze for a moment, his smile widened. “You know. Them naming you Faith.”

Flushing slightly, I gave a short laugh. “Yeah…I guess that’s a fair point. I…well, you know how it is. When it’s your name, you don’t think about how weird it sounds to other people.”

Putting on his blinker as he turned toward the interstate offramp, the man gave a slight shake of his head. “No, not weird at all. Having faith in something is important. It defines us in a lot of ways. And names? Well, a person’s true name is like seeing their true face, isn’t it?”

I shifted uncomfortably. “What do you mean by…”

“So who’s this friend you’re going to see?” He glanced up at me again, his eyes sparkling in the reflected moonlight. “An old boyfriend, perhaps?”

I needed to quit letting this guy throw me off with his weird questions. I was just jittery about seeing Kyle again, and this guy was oddly hot, and it was all just setting me on edge. I glanced down at my phone again. Almost ten o’clock. I should be done by midnight if all went according to plan.

“Um, no, just a friend. Hey, what time do you think we’re going to get to the address?”

He picked up his phone and tapped at it. “Looks like it’ll be just a few more minutes. We’re right on time.”

Nodding, I looked down again, pretending to play with my phone. I’d planned on making small talk with the driver the entire way—it made everything easier when they were comfortable with you—but I needed a break from this guy. Some peace and quiet to gather my thoughts and make sure that…

“Want me to tell you a little story to pass the time?”

Clenching my teeth, I tried to hide my frustration as I glanced up again. “Um, yeah. Sure.”

Chuckling, I saw him nod in my peripheral vision as I lowered my gaze to my phone again. “I know what you’re thinking. A cabbie telling long, boring old tales. But I promise, this one is quick and I think you’ll find it very interesting.”

Something in the soft timbre of his voice snaked around my spine, tightening the core of me as he spoke. Who was this guy?

“So there was this kid. A nice enough fella as far as I’m aware. Had a family—parents, an older sister, you know how it goes. Had big plans for going to college, I understand. But then something changed. His cousin came to live with them. Her own parents had disappeared under some…well, nefarious circumstances I guess you could say. Now this guy loved his cousin and he knew what a blow all this must be for her, so he did what he could to make her comfortable in her new home. Took up time with her. Tried to make her happy.” He met my eyes in the mirror. “Why he even took her to one of those Halloween corn mazes.”

I saw spittle fly from between my teeth as I leaned forward and spoke in a low tone. “Who the fuck are you?”

The man chuckled again, seemingly unperturbed. “This poor guy…well, he loses a lot that night. And the cousin, the girl he’d loved so much, she promises him that it isn’t over yet. That she’ll see him the next October.”

“Answer me, you fuck, or you’re dead.”

“And the boy takes her at her word. It takes some doing, but he convinces his parents that they need to make themselves scarce the following year. Hide out so the girl and her family can’t find them.” He sighs melodramatically before continuing on, never acknowledging I’ve even spoken. “Of course, that doesn’t really work. They’re not dealing with run of the mill nutjobs. So they get found. The parents, bless them, sacrifice themselves trying to save their only remaining child, and for a wonder, it works. Well, it works long enough that he isn’t found again before the window has closed. And so the cousin has to wait another year. This year.”

Enough of this. Fuck this guy. Whatever the punchline was, I wasn’t waiting to hear it. Reaching out with my mind, I tried to feel the man’s lungs. I’d squeeze them, just enough to get him to shut up and pull the car over. Then I’d rip them…the fuck…what?

The man was snickering at me in the mirror. “Performance issues, Jenny?”

I stared at him in confusion, my heart suddenly pounding like a snare drum. How could he stop me from using Art on him? Did he have a talisman or…

He twirled his hand around vaguely. “Don’t feel bad. It happens to all practitioners of harmful hoodooery from time to time. And it’s not your fault. My niece has done quite a good job of warding this car, and no offense my dear, but I reckon she is exponentially brighter than you are.” His voice was light, but a darkness had come into his eyes that killed my newest threat in my throat. Instead, fear and shame bitter on my tongue, I started to lie.

“Mister…I…I think there’s been some mistake. I…My name is Faith. Faith Langmore. And I don’t know what you’re talking about. If this is a prank or something, well you got me. But…please, if you’ll just let me out here, I can find my own way.”

The man laughed, the sentiment doing little to soften his gaze. “Come now, Jenny. We’re past all of that. I know who you are well-enough, though I guess you might be wondering at who I am.” He glanced back at the road and began to slow the car, his face brightening for a moment. “Look here. We’re at our destination.”

I looked out the window and saw he was telling the truth. The small, rundown house matched the pictures I’d found of the address online. Kyle had been hiding out there for the last six months under a different name, like it would matter, the moron. Turning back to the man, I forced a smile.

“We can work something out…look, what’s your name?”

Putting the car in park, he turned around to face me. “My name is Teddy.”

“Um, okay, Teddy. What do you want?”

A sly smile came onto his face. “That’s not your question. Your question is what do you have that I want.”

Swallowing, I nodded. “Okay, sure. We have money. And power. My parents are very powerful. They’d be terrible enemies to have, but they can be good friends too.”

Teddy frowned at me, a look of mock sadness in his eyes. “Bless your heart. This must all be really hard for you. No doubt you were planning on murdering your poor driver and then going in and doing all manner of unspeakable things to Kyle. And for what? A desperate grab for the Hunter’s attention? It didn’t work two years ago, it didn’t work last year, and it won’t work this time either.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Honestly, I keep waiting for you people to wake up. The Hunter doesn’t play by the rules of your antiquated version of Hell and, for now at least, it is in the power position.”
Puffing out a breath, Teddy shook his head as he held up his hands, one higher than the other and with the lower pointing at me. “The Hunter is VHS. You’re Betamax. The Hunter is streaming. You’re cable t.v.” Frowning at me, he gave a sniff. “Or as Cora might say, ‘The Hunter is a bad bitch. And bitch, you’re basic.’”

“I would never say that.”

Teddy and I both jumped at the voice at the window. Turning, I saw a girl a few years older than me glaring in at him. “Are you done with her in there? We’re ready.”

Shooting her a dark look, he turned back to me. “No, not quite. Jenny here was promi-threatening that we could be frenemies with her family. Weren’t you, sweetie?”

Anger flared in my chest. “That, or you can both die very fucking slowly.”

The girl barked laughter outside. “I like her. Um, well aside from her being really evil and shitty and all. But she’s spunky.”

Teddy’s smile grew cold. “Yes, but her laudable spunk is born out of ignorance. She thinks her family are powerful occultists when they are really parasites whose greatest assets are literacy and a capacity for violence. She thinks she has leverage because they have found one of the Keys of Undoing, unaware that we’ve taken that from them already.”

I let out an involuntary gasp. “You’re a fucking liar! My parents would never let you…”

The man cut me off. “Honey, your parents are in the trunk. Plenty of room, remember?”

He wasn’t lying. Oh fuck, he wasn’t lying. Darting to the side, I reached for the door handle. I had to get…The door didn’t budge. The girl called from outside.

“That won’t work. As soon as you got in, you were bound inside unless we unbind you.”

I felt tears of frustration and terror springing into my eyes. “Let…let me go. I…it was my parents, okay? They made me do it. I didn’t want to hurt Kyle or anybody else. I swear.”

There was no humor in Teddy’s face now. “That’s cute.” Turning, he pointed toward the house. “Maybe you should have expressed your regrets to Kyle there before you murdered his sister or tortured his parents to death. Maybe then he wouldn’t have found his way to us and us to you.” He waved at the figure standing at one of the front windows. “Wave to him! Say ‘hey’!”

I did wave, screaming out to Kyle to help me, to do something, even though he probably couldn’t hear and likely wouldn’t help if he could. Throat raw, I looked back to Teddy. “So what are you going to do to us?”

He raised his eyebrows. “That’s a good question. I know you’re all about pageantry and all with your lame rituals and such, but me and Cora, we’re a bit more pragmatic.” He pointed to the girl, who was now holding up a large red can. “I’m about to get out, she’s going to add more gasoline to what’s already in the trunk along with your folks, and then we’re going to set you on fire.” The man gestured back toward the house. “I offered to do it somewhere else, but Kyle said he wanted to see you burn, and I can respect that.”

I was crying again now, great racking sobs as I tried to reach for the man, only to be stopped by some unseen barrier separating the back from the front. “Please…please don’t do this. I’m so sorry.”

Teddy looked unmoved as he gave me a small smile. “No, don’t waste your time on all that. You need to be thinking of what you’re going to say.”

Sniffling, I gave him a confused look. “S-say?”

He grinned as he opened the driver’s side door. “To your buddy the Hunter. Be thinking about how you’re going to greet the new King of Hell when you see him.” Stepping out, he slammed the door shut as Cora began sloshing gas over the car. When she was done, Teddy took out a wooden match and struck it.

“And don’t worry about finding him. He’ll find you.”

The match arced across the night and struck the window, setting the world ablaze. The fire crept in quickly, and I had just enough time to scream the last of the burning air out of my lungs before there was a shuddering boom and everything was gone…

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…until it wasn’t.

I was lying on hard, frigid ground, surrounded by a stark forest of winter trees and air so cold that it hurt to breathe. It was all made worse by my nakedness and the growing certainty that I knew where I was. In the distant dark, I thought I heard my mother cry out in fear. Standing slowly, I began heading in that direction. Maybe if we were together, we’d stand a better chance of finding a way out of here.

Suddenly, someone stepped out from behind a tree and blocked my path. They…they looked just like me. Terrified and unsure of what to do, I covered my freezing breasts with one hand while waving with the other. The other me returned the wave with a smile and began walking towards me.

I couldn’t trust whatever this creature was, of course, but maybe I could use it long enough to 

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Credits