Chapter 23
New Feelings
Maybe she wouldn't need to wear it anymore at some point during the afternoon, but while today's temperature was going to remain rather chilly thanks to the rain shower that had lasted until the morning had come to an official end, Cora was planning on wearing her denim jacket, of which thankfully none of the colorful designs had been ruined during last night's mission, for the time being; the black beanie that almost felt like it had become a natural part of her head also helped to provide a little bit more warmth until she would eventually decide to take it off.
This had been the third morning in her brand-new career as a ghost huntress where she didn't have the luxury of starting the day with a nutritious, tasty breakfast coming straight out of a diner's kitchen, sharing a few waffles that came out of a box and two small cartons of semi-skimmed milk with Darby in their motel room. Not that she was complaining, oh no, not at all. In fact, there was something oddly peaceful about eating a breakfast consisting of this simple but enjoyable food on a queen-sized bed with someone you consider a good friend while listening to the rain outside, occasionally hitting the window when a hard gust of wind just so happened to roll across Cedar Hill's parking lot. Around the same time where they had finished eating, the raining had ceased at last.
Darby had been the one to come up with the plan for today while occasionally taking a bite from his waffle. As soon as the sun would go down, they would head off to Blackthrone Asylum, home to many ghosts who had been roaming behind the walls (and perhaps outside as well, but still helplessly chained to the place where they were unfortunate enough to perish nonetheless) for God knows how long and a very likely spot where Malakai could be hiding out, most definitely planning his next move. They weren't going to start out by immediately barging in, Darby pointed out, stating that there was a chance that their new pal might anticipate this and set up a trap for them to fall head-first in, said trap most likely being a whole swarm of freshly recruited Infected lunging at them as soon as they would set one foot inside their dark, cold, dusty domain, unnaturally enlarged hands reaching out to the duo to viciously tear Cora apart and drag Darby off into the abandoned facility's pitch-black depths and to their 'master' who would be waiting for him in the shadows. No, that wasn't going to work. What they needed to do was to explore the surrounding area first, trying to find any trace that could indicate Malakai's presence, or at least the grotesquely mutated ghosts he had under his full control. It did seem like more of a logical plan than recklessly kicking down the massive doors that had kept these tormented souls inside the neglected but thick walls for many years after taking off the chains that were meant to keep them out and risk having countless Infected swarm down upon them before they could even have a sliver of a chance of fighting back, so Cora had nodded and agreed to the plan. So… what were they going to do in the meanwhile? There were still plenty of hours between the afternoon and sundown, after all. Well, Blackthrone Asylum just happened to be on the outskirts of a nearby town called as Oakheart, known to be an absolute must for those who wished to explore the country (mainly Michigan) during the summer holidays in their RV, ranging from families to couples to lone travelers, visiting memorable hotspots during the day and spend the night underneath the starry skies at one of the many spots in the vast woods located around Oakheart, complete with a campfire, bag of marshmallows, choir of crickets playing their hearts out and the occasional hooting of an owl in the far distance, amongst other sounds of the local wildlife. Not only that, but according to the dust-gathering pamphlets that were available for free at the Cedar Hills Motel's main office that none of the permanent 'residents' or and most of the brave (or perhaps more befitting, foolish) suckers who were desperate enough for a warm bed to sleep in for the night during their trip on the road couldn't have possibly given two shits about, this place was also worth visiting if you just so happened to possess a curiosity for the morbid history of a certain, nearby facility that had been abandoned years ago. By all means, Oakheart was a rather small town despite being popular amongst tourists with just about as many residents that occupied Green Pines many, many miles away, but hey, spending the day in an area surrounded by nothing else but pure, relatively untouched nature and check out what else it had to offer sounded way more festive than staying inside a mildly dingy motel room that most definitely had been the scene of one, two or multiple deaths by overdose and waiting until the sun would finally set to finally set out on their investigation. Needless to say, Cora had agreed on Darby's suggestion of hanging out there for the time being.
So with no need to stay here for any longer than they should, the ghost hunting duo gathered their belongings and exited Room 304, taking the stairs down to the parking lot. Cora was pretty sure than Darby was smelling it too, but to her, it was one of the best kinds of smells that could ever exist. Asides from cleansing the worn concrete of any sort of filth, the rain that had ceased moments ago brought along that unique but pleasant odor that seemed to fully complete a summer season, spreading all across the parking lot like a thick but comfortable blanket and it had always made the ghost huntress associate it with the concept of cleanliness and satisfaction, ever since she had been a kid. Another result of the rain shower was the drastic drop in temperature, which felt even colder now that they were outside and Cora was absolutely certain that it wasn't going to be much warmer once they would get inside the edgy edition of the Mystery Machine, so she wasn't planning on taking off her beloved custom jacket anytime soon.
The assumption of them driving away from the parking lot and leaving the formerly haunted Cedar Hills Motel far behind in the rearview mirror was promptly chucked out of the window when Darby twisted the key, which instead of the sound of a normally revving engine, caused a strange, noise that could only be described as clicking to emerge from underneath the hood. Cora saw Darby's eyes slightly widen at this. He let go of the key, which instantly silenced the engine. He twisted it again in an attempt to activate the engine, now holding onto the key for a few more seconds, only for the same sound to be heard again.
'Are you fucking kidding me…?' the blonde ghost hunter groaned when he repeated this over and over again, each attempt proving to be in vain; at the fifth attempt, the 'clicking' had dissolved into loud sputtering. Cora didn't really consider herself as someone who had a vast knowledge of car engines, but she could safely consider that this didn't sound good at all. This was bad. This was really bad. Really freaking bad.
'What's going on?' she asked.
'I'm gonna have to check this out, hold on a minute. It won't last long.' her traveling companion responded. He finally let go of the key, opened the door and darted outside, heading to the back of the van. It took a few minutes for him to find it, but eventually Cora saw him walking around the vehicle holding an iron, blue toolbox decorated with many scratches of variable sizes and the sole, slightly worn sticker of the logo of a punk band that had been especially popular in the mid-2000's. He briefly leaned back into the van to look for a button hidden underneath the driving wheel, causing the hood to pop open with a loud click. Cora watched the blonde ghost hunter walking to the front, pushing the hood up further to gain better access to the engine and other parts that could be found in there, securing it in place with a long, iron pin. The tool box was opened, and even though Cora couldn't really see what exactly what he was grabbing, but soon enough she could hear clinking, creaking and clanking noises that went on for a couple of minutes. Some tools were switched every now and then. That's when something new about Darby Allin was revealed to Cora, something which only made perfect sense, if you'd ask her. If you were going to live your life on the road, it would be more than useful to be skilled in tinkering with your car when it was needed; it would definitely spare you an expensive trip to the mechanic if you knew exactly which bolts to twist and wires to fix to make your vehicle start properly working again when you were unlucky enough to be stranded next to the road. It could easily be assumed that Darby had done this many times before during the time he had been traveling alone, so Cora fully trusted him to fix this in a couple of minutes, maybe an hour at most. Roughly fifteen minutes after he had pulled out the tool box, the blonde ghost hunter closed the hood with a loud click and headed back to the driver's side, his fingers quickly finding the key that had been left in the switch. Cora noticed that she was absolutely positive about the engine revving as usual again as soon as he would twist it; instead of the familiar roaring of an activated engine, the sputtering came back with a vengeance, its volume even louder than earlier.
'Oh God fucking damn it!' the blonde ghost hunter angrily exclaimed. 'Why? Why now?'
'Do we… need to call somebody?' Cora asked. 'I'm pretty sure there's a phone in the office, I can go there if you want.'
'Nope, not happening, princess. I can fix this, this ain't the first time a van has broken down on me. Although I have always been able to fix it after one try…' He paused to let out an annoyed groan. 'This… This might take a while. Fuck.'
'Is there anything I can do?'
'Nah, don't bother. You can go hang out at the pool for a bit if you want, I'll give you a call when I get this thing working.'
Well, Darby certainly was right about this impromptu repair going to take a while, because it took a long freaking while. One and a half hour, to be precise. And meanwhile, Cora had decided to make the best of it and spend it in a somewhat useful manner, trying her hand at polishing her skateboarding skills at the abandoned pool that had been their private skatepark the night before. She was proud to say that she had only lost her balance when rolling down the pool's edge only once, but that was only mere minutes after she had hopped over the tall but ultimately useless fence with even more ease than last night; lucky for her, she had landed on her behind instead of her hand, which had its makeshift bandage replaced before breakfast (it thankfully was way less painful compared to last night, but she figured that it wasn't going to be a hot idea to use it for her fire-wielding abilities for now). Her second attempt proved to be more successful, albeit anything but impressive, given that she was carefully rolling across the pool on her skateboard with low speed, nowhere near enough to launch herself over the edge to pull off a trick. The ghost huntress had taken a moment to find her balance and hold onto it, carefully moving her legs to change directions when needed. Soon enough, she noticed that she no longer needed Darby's arm to keep her in place, now being perfectly capable of keeping her balance by herself… that is, if she wasn't going any faster. But she was planning on doing something about that. The ghost huntress soon felt comfortable enough to pick up some more speed, rolling across the bottom and over the edges with relative ease, having grown so confident with this at some point to tuck her hands inside the pockets of her shorts as she rolled over the edges.
Not long after that, she thought it was finally time to try pulling off some stunts that were at the very least half as impressive as the ones Darby was capable of; and as long as he wasn't coming to the fence to tell her to haul ass back to the van, she was going to have plenty of time for this. And her first try at this was… well, anything but a successful one, because she landed right on her knees a little over the pool's edge before she could make a tumble down to the bottom, though luckily not hard enough to leave two bloody scrapes on her skin. The second attempt to make a turn with her skateboard in the air wasn't that much of a success either, barely managing to protect her bandaged hand before she slid down the curved edge on her side. But from the third try on, it slowly but surely got better. It had taken a little while, but eventually, she was able to launch herself up in the air high enough to make a full turn and flawlessly land back down without even coming close to losing her balance; the ghost huntress even felt her heart making a little jump in joy the first time she pulled this off, and that same joyous feeling remained as many more successful attempts followed afterwards.
By the time Cora eventually decided to get out of the empty pool and hop off her skateboard, she was happy to say that she brushed off a good portion of the rust that he accumulated on her skateboarding skills throughout the years; sure, she was still nowhere near as impressive as Darby, but hell, she was going to get there one day, she was absolutely confident about this.
Looking in the distance, she saw that there had been no time whatsoever for the blonde ghost hunter to come over and behold her improved skills on the skateboard, for he was still completely preoccupied with trying to fix the van's engine, often emitting a string of colorful words that could even be heard all the way from here when the same sputtering noise emitted from the vehicle after tinkering on the parts for minutes on end. Now that he was busy trying to fix whatever was making the engine act up this way, he had been pretty silent, or maybe at least muttering something that was too soft for Cora to hear. How long has he been working on it by now? Not that the ghost huntress was getting impatient or anything, but she was wondering this more so out of admiration of the amount of patience Darby possessed to not throw down whatever wrench he had retrieved from his toolbox, shout yet another four-letter word and head off to the motel's main office with slumped shoulders to make a call to a nearby mechanic in complete and utter defeat. But that wasn't the only thing that Cora was admiring about him, though…
Her fingers hooked into the chain-linked fence as she quietly stared at the blonde young man who had managed to make such a difference in her life in the best way possible. Perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised by this by the stoic attitude he had always put up during all of this, but still, it was something that definitely made her wonder how the hell he could pull this off. Nothing during this morning even merely indicated that he was shaken up by the revelation of Malakai Black having plans for him, going as far as turning every single ghost in his proximity into ravenous, bloodthirsty monsters to get what he wanted. What could he possibly want from Darby to do all of this? What role did he have? Nothing good, that was for certain, and she was convinced that Darby was aware of this as well. And yet, he remained as stoic, calm and collected as ever, as if this wasn't the first time he was forced to deal with a mystery man with dark, supernatural powers who wished to capture him for his sinister agenda. Cora found herself more than eager, or rather, curious to find out more about what Malakai was planning for her traveling companion, and she knew that the only way to find out about this was to head to Blackthrone Asylum tonight with the hopes of finding him there, or at the very least some clues about him. It was absolutely not her intention and she wasn't planning for one second to hop back over to the other side of the fence to tell him this, but she dearly hoped that Darby would get the van running soon enough so that they could go after him. She wanted to stop Malakai just as much as Darby did. Whatever he had in mind for him, there was no way in hell she was going to let him go through with it, not when she was around to launch a flamethrower in his face. Everything inside her was telling her that Malakai's intentions were anything but good, downright diabolical even; being capable of infecting ghosts with his powers, turning them into vicious abominations that blindly followed his commands and kicking her over the edge of the roof like she was nothing without even blinking his eyes was all she needed to support this suspicion.
But still…
Cora could agree that it was absolutely nuts to even think about this after all the horrors he had put them through at the Cedar Hills, after he would have succeeded in killing her if she hadn't grabbed onto the roof's ledge on time. Darby would definitely say this to her face if she would tell him about this, seeing little to no logic in it and maybe even threatening to leave her at Blackthrone Asylum for much-needed treatment (of course with a joking undertone, but it was still something that he would tell her for sure). And yet it couldn't be ignored. There was no point in trying to deny the possibility. But she had seen it herself. A vicious cycle of getting involved in violent, vicious, bloody brawls, arrest, serving prison time and release had been broken because of one person who showed up in Malakai's life, that one person who was able to make such a huge impact that it made him change his destructive ways, giving him the strength to break the cycle. Zelina had made him happy for those three years, she must have made him realize that he was worthy of being loved, made him realize that he was capable of loving someone in return. After all, Cora had seen the soul-crushing pain in Malakai's reddened eyes during that interview. Zelina had been everything to him. To lose the one you love like this, at the hands of some scumbag with a gun and looking for a quick buck by roaming the streets at night and attacking unsuspecting women… no one in this world deserved to go through such ungodly pain. He had become a different person because of her, or at least, a more caring one, and nothing like the ruthless, cold-hearted half ghost they had encountered on Cedar Hill's rooftop.
Cora wasn't going to say this out loud, but… she could genuinely say that she felt pity for Malakai Black.
She hadn't realized it at this moment, but it had taken Darby nearly two hours for the engine to finally properly function, the sound of the vrooming echoing all over the parking lot and causing her to snap out of her thoughts.
'Holy crap, you have done it!' the ghost huntress cheerfully exclaimed as she approached her companion after she had successfully jumped back over the fence, skateboard pinned between her side and arm.
'Took me a little longer than I would have liked, though.' Darby mumbled while somewhat pensively staring at the roaring vehicle. 'If it's going to keep up doing this, I'm going to have start looking for a new van… Makes sense, I guess. I've been driving this baby around ever since I started ghost hunting.'
'Which is going to be pretty damn expensive, huh?'
'Not if we can buy one secondhand. Way cheaper and they also last a good while. Believe me, this one also had been on the road many times before I bought it.'
'Well, when it will eventually get to that…' The ghost huntress let out a little chuckle as she curled her mouth into a playful smile. 'Then I, the most badass traveling companion in the world, would also like to have a say in how you're going to decorate the back. Since we're gonna stick together for a long time and thus have to share your van, I'd say it's only fair, no?'
'Eh, I guess so. So what do you have in mind? But I'll tell you right now Cora, if you're going to hang a crapload of those 'live, laugh, love' prints on the walls with gold frames, place plants in rose gold vases everywhere and insist on buying ivory-white pillows and sheets, I will burn down the van with you in it.'
'Um, nope. Because I could just vomit if I'd think of an interior like that. I got something way better in mind than that.' Just then, it looked like bright twinkles appeared in the corners of her eyes. 'Fairy lights.'
'What now?'
'You heard me. Fairy lights. All over the walls. Trust me, it's going to look so damn pretty!'
The blonde ghost hunter loudly sighed and shook his head. 'I can already tell that we're going to bicker like there's no tomorrow when we're gonna decorate that new van.'
'Oh really? Well, then I'd like to hear what you have in mind, Mr. Number One Interior Designer Of America!'
'Pretty much the same as this.' Darby replied while gesturing at the back. 'But definitely with a much bigger mattress. And larger sheets. And an extra pillow.'
The ghost huntress couldn't help but rapidly blink her eyes for a second upon hearing this, instantly taken back to that one moment last night where she had found herself sleeping in the same bed with the person she was happy to call her friend. She had felt the exact same way as he did; she wouldn't deny the fact that it felt so damn awkward at first, especially after remembering the moment where they had been staring a little too long at each other back at the empty pool. But then, after some time, it began to feel normal for her. Comfortable. It was so weird, but just to know that he was lying a few inches away from her, that one guy who she had grown to care for, more than she probably could even realize, the same guy who had trusted her enough to lower his walls and reveal his former life to her, who she had gone through so much with within the span of a few days, who thought she was worth coming back for… It was just…
Darby…
Just thinking about all the nights that would follow where would be sleeping next to her made her cheeks visibility color red.
Feeling like he was making things awkward for her again and that this was the main reason of why he was seeing such a gentle shade of red on her cheeks, Darby felt like he had to clarify it, trying to say something to take that away. 'Just so you don't have to sleep on the passenger's seat anymore, you know?' he said. 'Figured it would be much more comfortable for you if you'd sleep on a proper mattress.'
The blonde ghost hunter wasn't going to deny it anymore though, knowing how damn crazy it sounded to him; but he no longer would have any qualms with Cora Jade sleeping right next to him.
'Y-Yeah, of course. Makes sense. That would be great.'
By the time they were getting close to Oakheart, the Cedar Hills Motel had thankfully already become nothing more but a distant memory, having been left behind many miles away, out of the view or all mirrors that could be found on their van. No trace of the rain shower in the morning had been left here, with no grey cloud whatsoever in the bright blue sky to obscure the delightfully warm sunlight that peeked through the countless leaves of the endless rows of trees on the sides of the road, doing the perfect job at bringing out the natural beauty that the woods around Oakheart had to offer. Cora, who had eventually decided to take off her jacket but not feeling like taking her beanie off just yet, had felt the brief urge to lower the window so she could stick out her arm to fully enjoy the wind rushing past them and breathe in the earthy smell of the surrounding forest, but felt like this was just fine as well; looking at the trees passing them by, pulling her knees up close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and simply taking in the peaceful atmosphere behind the window, enjoying that feeling of serenity it brought along. She wondered if Darby was sensing the same thing too, since he too had been pretty quiet this whole time as well.
Luckily the van had been functioning properly again during this drive, with no concerning clicking noises to be heard for one moment. But since it had taken her ghost hunting buddy a long time for the engine to be fixed, they were bound to be in for a late afternoon lunch, something their stomachs clearly weren't used to, because every now and then a low rumbling noise could be heard growling in the pits of their abdominal area, almost humorously loud. Their silent wishes for something to eat soon enough were answered at last when they saw a building on the right side of the road appearing in the distance, which turned out to be a moderately modern-looking diner when they got closer. And it appeared to be a diner to be pretty popular amongst vacationing folk, judging by the number of RVs that were parking amongst the regular cars on the small parking lot at the front of the building. Lucky for the ghost hunting duo, it just happened that there were still a few spots left that were free for the taking, and less than a minute later, Darby steered the van into the direction of one of these free spots, egged on by his empty stomach. Immediately when he and Cora set foot inside the diner, they were greeted with the smell of warm grease and melting cheese, accompanied by the sound of meat sizzling on the hot stove and French fries bubbling in the piping hot oil in the back of the neatly organized, relatively clean kitchen. Whoever was running this diner was sure to earn whole cartwheels full of money by the time the summer would be over, judging by the fact that almost the whole place was packed, mostly occupied by families with young children of which some of the younger ones were kept busy while waiting for their lunch by covering the coloring pages handed out by the diner's waitresses to its youngest visitors along with a small package of crayons (which made a nice free little souvenir, a whole lot of parents in this diner could agree on) with colorful scribbles. Backpackers could also be spotted on some of the diner's seats. The ghost hunting duo found a seat near the front window, granting them a view on the parking lot with the dense tree line in the back. Waiting for their orders to be brought to their table during those following fifteen minutes could have been considered as a torture to them, but hell, the wait was absolutely worth it when two plates full of delicious-looking food were put in front of them by a waitress donning glasses with a red frame and her long, blonde hair tied into a neat, low bun. Both Darby and Cora had ordered a cheeseburger with enough fries on the side that could last them for the rest of the afternoon; the blonde ghost hunter had ordered a large glass of water to go with it, his companion orange soda.
'So good, so damn good.' Darby mumbled in between mouthfuls of burger. 'One more minute of waiting and I would have starved to death.'
He had expected an immediate reply from Cora, but instead of that, she remained oddly quiet. Looking up, he realized that this wasn't because she was too occupied with enjoying her late afternoon lunch. Sure, she had taken a few bites of her food, but now she was just staring at the world behind the window, as if she was deeply lost in thought about something.
'Hey, is everything fine?' the blonde ghost hunter asked. 'Your burger's gonna get cold, you know?'
'Oh, uh… Yeah, I'm good.' Cora replied, looking up. As she decided to speak out her thought, she made sure to keep her voice low to not draw the unwanted attention from the diner's other costumers. 'It's just that… I'm wondering about what we're going to do if we don't find Malakai there at the asylum, you know?'
'Simple, we keep on searching then. But I'm willing to put all my money on finding him at Blackthrone Asylum, though. That just has to be it. If I'm that damn important to him, he would probably make sure to stay close.'
There it was again, that same calmness he had shown in the morning despite knowing that someone like Malakai Black couldn't be up to any good, whatever the plan he wanted him to have a role in could be, like this was simply just another part of the ghost hunting lifestyle that he had learned to live with a long time ago… Cora let out a soft sigh.
'You're just so calm about all of this, Darby…' she said. 'I don't know, if I were in your shoes, knowing that some madman has it out for me for whatever reason… I wouldn't be chill with it, especially after seeing what he has been capable of so far. He is dangerous, really freaking dangerous. Powerful, too. I… I wish I could be just as calm about this as you are.'
'Don't forget that you can pack a punch as well, Cora. You don't need to be afraid of that fucker, have you forgotten about that flamethrower you blew straight in his face? Strong enough to make him run off with his tail between his legs.' Perhaps realizing that this is not something you should be saying in a packed diner, wanting to reassure her or most likely a combination of both, Darby curled the left corner of his mouth into a smirk. 'And you can do it again, I'm absolutely sure about that.'
'Well, he did deserve it at that moment. It had to be done.' the ghost huntress replied, remembering that one heart-stopping moment where the neatly dressed half ghost had been this close to doing something horrible to her traveling companion. Now it was her mouth's turn to turn into a smirk while she looked at the blonde ghost hunter. 'Do you really think I would him do anything to my ghost hunting buddy?'
As she resumed eating what was left of her meal after saying this, Darby couldn't help but silently wonder if this was truly all she saw him as; if so, then… well, that would suck.
But as he stared at Cora Jade, the young woman who had managed to make him feel things he had never felt for anyone else, he knew one thing that was for certain.
If Malakai would even dare to put a finger on her, he would fucking kill him.
