The Marradith Ryder Series Part 2

The man shook his head. His eyes pleaded with her. “Look, I’ll tell you what you want to know, but please…if you beat me you’re not going to get any information. Marradith, we don’t have a lot of time.  You heard me talking to someone on the phone. I am not the only one who knows you’re here.  You need to accept what I am about to tell you. I am Justin Granthem. You‘ve already seen what I am.”

She took a step back. “How do you know me?”

“I know of you and your family. Your parents are Paul and Nora Ryder. You have two brothers, Scott and Danny. Scott is away at college. Your younger brother Danny is with your parents.”

She felt a chill down her spine. It hadn’t occurred to her that something might be wrong with Danny and her parents. They were supposed to be in California visiting her Grandmother.

She wasn’t expecting them back for another week.

“Where are they? What did you do to my family?”

“Nothing has been done to them, they are safe. We have them in protection. This did not go the way it was supposed to. The man that I spoke to earlier is expecting me to call back in. If they don’t hear back from me within five minutes, you’re going to have more than one werewolf on you hands.”

She shook her head. “I don’t care what you say, I want to know my family is alright.”

Justin sighed. “I don’t even know where they are exactly, but I have a number. You can call them.”

“Give me the number.”

“We don’t have much time. And you can’t stay on the phone for more than two minutes.”

“Yeah, whatever, you’re going to give me the number.” She picked up the receiver. With the other hand, she pressed her bat against his thigh, applying just enough pressure to make him uncomfortable. “Come on.”

“If you talk to them will you believe me?”

“I am not making you any promises.”

He recited the number. She dialed, holding her breath. It rang twice before there was an answer.

“Honey?” Nora’s voice flowed over the line.

“Mom! Are you okay? Are Dad and Danny alright?”

“Yes. You must have met Justin by now, right?”

“This man… this thing says he’s Justin. You know him?”

There was a pause before she continued. “Yes. Marradith, we were going to  explain everything, but they came for you early. This is something that we’re all going to have to deal with right now, and you should know that Dad and I are sorry that we can’t be there with you. You have to do exactly what he tells you to do.”

“Mom! He’s a were…”

“You’re not going to say that word over the telephone,” Nora Ryder replied sharply. “I know what he is. Justin is there to protect and teach you, and you’re going to follow him to the letter.”

“What…?” Marradith had never come so close to cussing out her own mother. “Are you serious?”

“This is more serious than anything we’ve ever talked about. Do what he says, Marradith.”

“Someone is making you say these things. This can’t be right.”

“Listen here. You stubborn girl. I love you but for once in your life you’re going to have to go along with someone else’s plan. I can’t stay on this line. We’re fine, but if you don’t do what Justin says things might not stay that way. You understand?”

“Mom…!”

“I love you. Remember what I said.”

She hung up.

Marradith held the phone.

Justin stomped his foot. “Well?”

She got a knife from one of the drawers, and he flinched when she came near him. She cut through the ropes. He stood slowly, not backing away. He was a good six inches taller than her, but she still gripped the bat in her left hand, and the knife was in her right.

He picked up the phone from the counter and made his call. A male voice answered.

“She is compliant,” he said. “Call off the men.”

Justin hung up. He stretched, relieved to be free of the ropes, though he was still aching and sore. If  Marradith was fearful before, she looked like she was in shock now.  “Like I said before,”  he said softly, “this was not supposed to happen this way. But there isn’t time to explain now. We need to get out of here.”

“Where? For how long?”

“That depends.”

“I’ll need to pack.”

“No you don’t. Go and get your jacket. If your parents left some cash here, we’ll need that, too.”

She rolled her wide eyes at him. Marradith was only sixteen, and he guessed that she could pass for younger if she tried. Her heart shaped face reminded him of a cat. Her black hair was in a ponytail, but strands had gotten loose and now hung around her face like a dark halo.

“Get your jacket, and come on. We need to make this quick.”

She ran upstairs. For a moment, she stood in her room, looking around.  She thought about trying to escape. She could climb out onto the roof and shimmy her way down the side of the house. She could make it outside into the night before Justin knew she was gone. But if she did that, how long would it take for him to realize she was gone? How long before he (or the other werewolves ) would find her?  What price would her family pay for her disobedience?

She remembered her Mother’s voice over the phone.

For now, she’d have to go along with it.

She pulled out her favorite jacket and put on socks and sneakers.

She scrawled words across her bathroom mirror, and shoved her cell phone into her jeans pocket before she ran back downstairs to join Justin.

Under what circumstances, she wondered, does any parent turn over their teenage daughter to a werewolf?

***

(If you missed it, you can read Part 1 here.)

___

© 2009 Lori Titus

Lori Titus’s The Marradith Ryder Series appears in episodes on Flashes in the Dark. Many of her short stories appear on MicroHorror.com, DemonMinds.com, and Shadeworks.org. An upcoming story will also be featured as a pod cast on SFZine.org. For more information see her at http://www.myspace.com/talesforthedark.

Artwork by: Raul Faria of Faria Graphics.

George was nervous. He had never played ’seven minutes in heaven’ before. He knew what it was. You got to do whatever you wanted with the other person in a dark closet for exactly seven minutes.

He was to go in there with Angie. He didn’t know much about her but she was better than average looking for a freshman. He had seen her around the hallways at school and had thought about her before.

She didn’t seem as nervous, as she smiled, grabbed his hand and pulled him into the large pitch black closet. The door clicked shut and all was silent except for the muffled hoots and hollers of the party-goers on the other side of the door.

Angie giggled and grabbed both of George’s sweaty hands, then pulled him closer so that their bodies were touching. He could feel himself growing against her abdomen and he began to kiss her.

The kiss was fine at first. Her lips were soft and their tongues danced about playfully; teasing each other. Then, she bit his tongue. Hard.

“Ow, what the fuck?” George grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away, then touched his fingertips to his tongue and felt blood gushing out. She had ripped his tongue open with her teeth.

Angie giggled again. Louder this time. “Sorry about that cowboy, I just can’t help myself sometimes. It just tastes so good!”

“Crazy fucking bitch!” George reached for the door but Angie’s hand grabbed his arm and twisted it back her direction. Her grip was more powerful than George could have ever conceived. In one swift motion, she kicked his legs out from under him and pinned him to the ground with her hands and knees.

Blood continued to pour from the fresh wound. George felt it trickling down his face and he began to gag  as it bubbled in his throat. Angie greedily slurped up the blood from his mouth and face then took a large bite out of his cheek and chewed ravenously on his flesh; giggling and slurping.

George screamed in terror at the top of his lungs. Blood splattered out of his ravaged mouth as the scream escaped it. He thrashed about, managed to get a leg free and kneed Angie in the side. She rocked to one side of his body so that his arm was free and he punched her in the chin with all the strength he could muster. She yelped and retreated towards the back of the closet.

George jumped up, bewildered, and grabbed the handle of the door. He twisted the handle and pushed, but was met with resistance. The party-goers were holding the door shut.

Someone whooped with laughter. “Aw shit, someone is tryin’ to get out before their time is up! You got about 4 minutes left there, lovey-birds!”

Several people were laughing wildly now.

“Let me the fuck out of here this bitch is crazy she’s gonna kill me!” George yelled as loud as he could.

“Pussy!” Someone teased from the other side of the door.

“Yeah, nut up Georgy-boy! Whattaya a homo?!”

More laughter. George panicked and backed up a step with the intent of slamming the door open by forcefully kicking it. When he backed up he felt two cold hands grip his shoulders. Angie giggled and bit into his left shoulder, tearing away a large chunk of skin and ligaments. He could hear a disgusting tearing noise as the flesh was separating from his body. His eyes bugged open with shock and his body began to convulse violently. He kicked at the door as hard as he could but it didn’t budge.

“Whoa, nelly! George is totally pussin’ out!” Someone shrieked with glee. “Help me keep him in there!”

George twisted away from Angie’s grip and heaved his body towards the closet door with every ounce of his waning strength he could draw upon. It was no use; there had to be at least three people on the other side helping to keep the door shut. He slumped to the floor and put a hand over his shoulder to try and slow the bleeding. Angie grabbed his leg and bit hard into George’s Achilles heel. He heard a crunch and felt something snap, followed by the most excruciating pain he had ever experienced. He let out a high pitched scream.

Someone opened the door and George looked up. Adam Randall was there looking down at him. Adam looked different. George tried to stand but the pain was too severe. He started crawling away from the closet towards the front door.

“Keep that fucking bitch away from me!” George pleaded as he scurried hopefully towards the exit. The words gurgled out from his bloody throat.

Several people approached George and grabbed him, then held him in place. The people all looked different than they had before. They almost looked like zombies from a horror movie. George wondered if he was dreaming, or in hell.

“She was gonna kill me!” George managed to say. Nobody seemed to hear what he said so he said it again.

“Not sweet Angie.” Adam said as he approached George. “She just wants to finish the game with you.”

“What?” George was astonished. Did they not see what she had done to him? “Look at me! Look at what she did to me!” He had trouble speaking with his mangled mouth. He was losing a lot of blood and the pain was very bad.

Adam grabbed George off the floor and brought him over towards the closet. “You can’t come out until your time is up.” Adam said in a monotone voice.

Angie slowly opened her eyes and turned her head toward George.

“You owe me 3 minutes.” She said, then giggled. The deranged party-goers eased George back into the dark closet.

—
© 2009 Jeff Mount