...
Ben floated on a dark cloud courtesy of Charles' drug supply as well as the influence of the darkest powers of the house. It was a delirious place to be. The world swam around him in slow motion, a dizzy ride that would suddenly rocket forward at random moments only to slow abruptly to a hazy crawl again. Furtive whispers crowded his thoughts, indistinct and chaotic and as beautiful as an industrial melody.
He felt on fire from the inside, an overheated machine ready to blow. At one point he thought he should fight the storm of feelings and sensations. But trying to do so only made his head feel like it would explode. It felt so much better just to go with the flow. And that midnight tide was sweeping him forward, propelling him to action.
He could feel the others beneath the house, inside it and around it; they were waiting to emerge and reclaim the territory from the forces trying to take it over. And he would spearhead the movement. He knew what to do.
...
Violet was lying on her bed, poking around on one of the laptops when Tate showed up outside her room. She knew he was there even before he pushed the door open. She shut the laptop and shoved it to the end of the bed before pushing herself upright with a smile.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey. That priest guy's coming over later," he said, coming over to where she was. He stopped at the foot of her bed. "Constance thinks he can bless my room to keep it safe."
Violet made a face. "Great," she said. "This is what we're reduced to: Hokey exorcisms. Just great. You know, those haven't worked out well for us in the past." She meant the Croatoan nonsense. That had been an embarrassing exercise in failure that Chad loved to tease her about occasionally.
Tate sat down beside her and clasped his hands between his knees to keep them still. "I know. But what else can we do? You know?"
She sighed and shifted so she was sitting cross-legged. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I really don't think blessing this hell-hole is going to do anything."
He shrugged. "Can't hurt though."
She shrugged too, not convinced but not inclined to argue.
"Violet?"
She raised her eyebrows and tipped her head, silently inviting him to go on.
"I never stopped loving you."
"I love you too," said Violet. "But please: No more crazy shit like Westfield. Or… well. Anything."
"I had to go," said Tate. A tear slid down one cheek. "You said you couldn't forgive me. And I get why you couldn't. I do. That's why I went. It's why I've done everything. Therapy. This thing with Chad and Patrick. The exterminator guy. Everything."
"Exterminator guy?" she asked.
"Long story," he said. "The point is I wanted to make things right so- so you could love me again."
She smiled then, crooked and resigned. She reached over and brushed the lone tear from his skin. "I never stopped loving you, Tate. I just… couldn't be with you. I couldn't be- I didn't want to be the girl who loved a murderer."
Tate turned away, sagging into the mustard yellow sweater he wore. He was a murderer. He had killed more than one person over the years and he knew he'd kill again if the reasons were right. He'd come close to doing just that a few hours ago when the new owner of the house was causing problems for his mother. As it was, on her whim he handed the man over to a crazy ghost to have his brain carved up.
"I can't help what I am," he said quietly, looking down at his hands. "I don't even really know what I am anymore. I just know…" He looked at her then and tried to smile through the tears. It was a fragile expression. "I don't want you to ever tell me to 'go away' again." The smile failed and his expression crumbled into a mournful one. He pulled his knees up and hugged them in a way that mostly hid his face.
His vulnerability pierced Violet's heart and made her want to hug him. She scooted closer and put an arm over his hunched-up shoulders.
"I don't really know what I am anymore either," she said after a moment. "Billie Dean said that the more we act like we're still living, the closer we are to being human. I was thinking about it… If I want to, I can move from here to the living room just by shifting a little. Fact is… I can walk up and downstairs all day like a human but it's not going to change the fact that I can do shit no human can."
Tate turned his head a little and peeked at her through his barricade of arms, knees and messy blond hair. "So are you saying we should try and be more like humans? Or embrace the evolution?"
"I don't know," she admitted with a small smile.
Violet wanted to keep leaning on him like that because it felt good to be close to someone in such a way again. It had been a long, long time since she'd had physical contact like that. But there was something bothering her that she had to address. She straightened and let her arm drop to her side.
"What… what about my mom?" she said at last.
He looked pained and retreated into his knee fortress again. "I… I don't know. I can't… decide what to do. There's no real way to… I mean, I could apologize but…"
"How could you do that to her anyway?" Violet said.
He fidgeted with the snake ring on his thumb, twisting it around and around in the shadows created by the curve of his body. "It's… it's like I told your dad. I don't even remember putting on the rubber suit but it was on me. The suit… it makes you think and act different. It's like you're riding outside of yourself. I've seen it move by itself. It's like some kind of monster. I don't know. I just know I was in it and I walked in the bedroom and she was putting on some lotion and… and when she saw me there she was like: 'Hey, you're totally hot.'"
He lifted his head a little to make eye contact so she'd know his next words weren't kidding around. "And - I shit you not - she pulled me into bed with her. I don't know if the house was making her or us be like that or what but I just kind of went with it. I never wanted to hurt her."
It all came out in rush. He wasn't trying to upset Violet or mock her. He just wanted her to understand things the way he saw it. She stared at him, trying to process his story. It was still repulsive but it sounded credible. The girl just didn't know whether she really could trust what he said.
"I think… I understand," said Violet carefully. Part of her still wanted to be grossed out and angry but she knew that she was at a point where she would either have to make herself let go or else wrestle with it forever. "But I think- I think you should talk to my mother. If she wants to talk to you. She deserves closure."
"I can't do that," he hedged immediately, uncurling a little to eye her warily. "She already hates me. She wouldn't want to talk to me."
"She doesn't hate you," Violet said. "My mom doesn't hate. She wouldn't waste the energy."
"She'll hate me," Tate said with dead certainty.
"She deserves to know," insisted Violet. "If she decides she hates you after, well... That's something you'll have to deal with. But she should know and you should be the one to tell her. Not me or my dad."
Tate looked at her helplessly. He knew she was right though he wished she wasn't. He had a strange fear of speaking directly to Vivien. He had never appeared directly to her, before or after that one night, and he could happily go on forever not doing so. He wasn't afraid she would hurt him. He couldn't put a name to what he it was that he was afraid of, which only heightened his reluctance to face her.
"I'll talk to her after the priest-guy does his thing," he said at last.
...
Vivien rocked Joshua gently back and forth and hummed his favorite lullaby. It was a wordless song she'd made up during his many fussy bouts and it was one that almost never failed to soothe him. It was simple; sometimes she would fill it in with ad-libbed words about whatever they were doing at the time but mostly it was just a tune to pacify the restless little spirit.
She paced the length of the nursery slowly, her eyes on the tiny soul bundled in her arms. She knew that it had been years since she bore him but since he never seemed to change, it didn't feel like it had been that long. With as busy as Vivien and Ben had been when their first child was born, Violet seemed to have sped through infancy into early childhood practically overnight. Then, before Vivien was prepared for it, suddenly the girl was a teenager and the tot Vivien had loved so dearly seemed to vanish. Every once in a while she saw a remnant of the child inside the young woman but the baby she'd had for too short a time was gone forever, more dead than dead.
Joshua would never do that to her. It was a selfish feeling and she wouldn't wish such a state on any living being but she couldn't lie to herself. The side of her that wanted a child to mother was privately glad that she had a baby who would never vanish. He would never race away from her into adulthood, leaving her with empty arms and a hole in her heart.
She barely felt the gloved hand on her shoulder before the needle jabbed into her neck. The drug entered her system. She turned, pulling away too late to avoid taking the full dose. The only thing she saw before the fast-acting sedative knocked her out was a blur of black rubber.
.. ..
Rubber Man caught her and the baby in a swift embrace. He gently lowered Vivien's unconscious form to the floor then he scooped up the infant. Joshua stirred and frowned in his sleep, aware that things were not right. He mewled softly.
Ben stripped off the hood so he could speak to his son. "Shh," he said quietly. He rocked the baby gently. "It's just daddy. Shh."
Familiar with his voice, Joshua quieted. He didn't relax but he didn't cry either. Silent, the baby wouldn't alert Nora. Ben stared at the infant's tiny, expressive face through the haze of drugs and supernatural persuasion. Then he carried the ghost baby into the shadows with him.
...
Author's Note:
So I had to head out of town to help my dad settled into hospice so I was a little late with my updates thanks to the fact that his house had no internet. All is as well as can be expected and I thank the folks who've already heard and wrote me little notes of encouragement. I appreciate it.
Next chapter: Jeremiah schools the ghosts on what they're dealing with. And what'll happen when Violet finds out Rubber Man took her little brother?
