Chapter 29

Hours later, Aaron, Liam and the two Vivier sisters where well on the run. A gentle, warm breeze blew in through the open windows of the car, allowing city noises to fill in the space of the newly acquired Camaro. Life moving at its usual pace for everyone else but for the two sisters; their whole world fraying at the edges. The farther away they drove from the hospital’s crime scene, the more undone their realities became.

Raine caught her sister’s reflection in the side mirror and reached over from the backseat, touched Willow’s shoulder and asked. “Are you okay Sis?”

Willow turned her gaze from looking out the front window, her head heavy as she slowly turned it to face her sister in the back, giving her a small nod. Her sedation was slowly wearing off, but it wasn’t the meds as much as the trauma of events past that left her spent. When Willow registered the sight of blood on her sister her brows furrowed.

“You’re Hurt?” she felt her tongue drag as the words came out.

Raine stroked her sister’s head. “I’ll be alright. We both will.” She winced at the pain the small movement caused her shoulder.

Willow’s eyelids fluttered, she lay her head back on the front seat, briefly took in the blood caked on her own hands, and reluctantly drifted back into a sedated sleep.

Raine sighed, “Will we really be okay?” she looked to Aaron sharing the backseat with her.

He gave her a look, unsure how to answer that, then shifted forward when she winced holding her injured shoulder.

“Does it bad?” Aaron asked Raine.

She pinched her eyes shut. “Which part?” asked Raine.

Aaron gave a weak smile before he said, “Your shoulder.” Then he cocked his head. “Your throat. Well,” he offered a small smile. His eyes briefly bouncing to the rearview mirror where his brother Liam studied them. Liam’s eyes darted back to the road, giving Aaron chance to answer honestly. “Both are nasty, but you’ll live. I’ll need to inject the wounds with some…”

“Please,” Raine urged.

“At this point I just want the pain to stop. I can’t even tell you which hurts more. Being shot or being cut…” her big amber eyes begged for relief. “Just make it stop so I am able to think clearly.”

Aaron helped her slip out of her jacket, carefully pulled her shirt over her head, exposing her injury and lacy bra. Aaron felt a sliver of warmth, an uncomfortable feeling he hadn’t had with a woman in forever, spiked through him. Even over the soft hum of the tires on road, the swoosh of cars speeding past and the soft shallow sounds of the music playing in the background, Aaron could still hear his brother Liam flare his nostrils.

“Yeah I don’t mean to look but,” he flipped his palm over, “the wound is well on your front…” He made sure to speak up so Liam could hear, not wanting to cause conflict, should Liam and Raine have anything between them.

“It’s okay.” Raine pursed her lips. “, but thanks for being a gentleman.”

Raine distracted herself from the unbearable pain by taking in his features—from his soft full lips to his strong nose, thick eyelashes, and the mole on his left cheek. Despite his stunning features, she didn’t find him overwhelmingly attractive. Her eyes flicked to Liam where she could see the slight resemblance, and felt her stomach churn, wondering if it was Liam or everything else the universe piled on her plate that caused the reaction in her. And in the moments of Aaron working on her, deft hands moving swiftly and gently to clean her wounds, she could almost hear his thoughts. Raine could tell by his stiff silence that he was trying to work out where she fit in to all of this chaos: whether she was a victim or a villain. And in truth, she didn’t really know the answer to that.

She gave a faint smile before saying, “I can see something is on your mind, so why not just come out and say it?”

“I’m just trying to figure you out.” His eyes looked over her bloodied neck, and her eyes flicked to the bloody gauze on the seat between them.

He pulled a needle from his kit and her eyes flashed.

“It’s to numb the wound.”

“If it’s going to numb anything else other than the wound, I don’t want it.”

“You have nothing to worry about.”

Her eyebrows cocked so Liam answered for him. “He is saying that it will cause an isolated numbness, yes.’

Raine thanked Liam with a smile.

Just as the needle was about to go in, she pinched her eyes shut and the car jerked.

“Dammit Liam.” Aaron huffed.

“It’s not me it’s the road!”

“Can we stop?” Raine pleaded.

“No.” both the brothers answered.

She winced as the needle went in, pinched her eyes shut and grabbed the seat beneath her as the burn of the medication flowed through her veins.

“Your neck will be a bit tricky; you will need to keep very still.”

She swallowed and held her breath. Again pinching her eyes shut as the needle went in. She winched and made a croaking sound as the needle was pulled out and left behind the sting of the medicine.

When she opened her eyes, Agent Anderson was busy cleaning up the mess on the seat between them, her eyes studied him as he took out some gut and a needle. Her eyes flickered to the road ahead. The highway had narrowed to two lanes now, more dense trees dotted along the road, and the sky was finally wide and clear of city signs before them.

She looked back to Agent Anderson, questions still lingering in his deep blue gaze. “What do you need to know?”

“How did you get yourself into this mess?” he answered so quickly.

She took a deep breath before answering. “What would you do out of desperation to save someone you loved?”

“Does that person deserve to be saved?” he asked solemnly while threading the needle.

“Everyone deserves to be saved,” she replied.

Her eyes took in the files in his bag laying on the floor by his feet.

He touched the skin where the bullet had grazed her, testing the effects of the anesthetics.

She shook her head, “Can’t feel it.”

Closing her eyes, her fingers dug into the leather seat before her as Aaron came closer to her with that shiny, silver sharp needle.

“Why don’t you tell me the parts you don’t know?” She said to him, eyes still shut. She couldn’t feel the needle go in, only the soft tugging of what she imagined to be her skin.

His voice was soft as he spoke. “What is your connection to The Devils breath Killings, I assume you have seen the news.”

Then he asked, “Why are you smiling.”

She wasn’t aware she was smiling. “Out of all the hundreds of questions, that was not what I thought your first question would be.”

Aaron sat back in his seat after rearranging his medic kit.

“You can open your eyes now. “Liam called from the front.”

When she opened her eyes, Aaron was holding out a clean t-shirt for her. She nodded thanks and carefully he helped her slip her injured arm into it. It only felt tight as she moved and was thankful it was painless, even if for just a while. By his feet where he placed the medic kit back into his big black rug sack, she glimpsed a photo of the face of a young woman sticking out of one of the folders. His eyes followed hers to the image of Lorel Palmer - blonde, green eyes and vibrant before her life was tragically cut short.

Raine stared back up at him, recognizing the image from the news. “You need us for something, don’t you?”

Aaron looked away, feeling the weight of his guilt like the crush of a tidal wave. Was he only helping these sisters because of Makayla, and ultimately because of revenge for Heather. Was he that far twisted in his remorse?

Not a word was uttered between Aaron, Raine and Liam while Willow slept for a while longer. It was just a very unusual situation. Where the four of them needed each other, but all too damaged and scared to admit their mistakes was the cause of all of the death, violence, and shame.

They sat in silence as the car made its way through a small town. Another hour into the drive, Willow began to stir.

“Where am I?” she asked, trying to take in the situation. All at once memories came to her. “Bertha!” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “Bertha!”

Raine reached over, taking her sister’s hand, “Hey it’s going to be okay.” Knowing it was far from okay.

Willow looked down at her blanket pulled over her lap, still stained with blood. “They think I did it?”

“Ssh, no they don’t, Willow. No one thinks you did it.” Raine moved even closer, her arm holding her sisters around the seat.

Willow’s eyes focused on Liam’s face beside her in the driver’s seat, and asked, “Why are you helping us?”

No one answered her.

“Somebody speak, please.”

Liam veered off the main road, the sun hitting his dark eyes and lightening them the color of hot amber. His gaze shifted to the rearview mirror where it touched Raine’s.

“Are you going to tell her?” he asked.

Willow turned from Liam to her sister, and Raine knew it was time to come clean. There was no sugar coating it.

Taking a deep breath she began, “I bought your heart, and they are most likely going to arrest me for it, well once the bad guys trying to kill us are behind bars. I hope.” Then Raine’s gaze eyes flicked to Aaron. “Right Agent Anderson?”

“No wait,” Aaron said as the same time willow said, “Wait what!”

Willow stared straight ahead and started to cry. “My grace.” Willow said, wanting to cover her face with her hands, but on seeing the blood dropped them back into her lap.

“I’m sorry, Willow. We were running out of time, and there was no other way but to just come out with it all.”

Willow slammed her palm into her head over and over.

“Stop that,” Raine demanded.

Willow cried, “Stop the car, I’m going to be sick!”

Liam pulled the car into a dirt road beneath the cover of a tree, where Willow fumbled with the handle, when Liam leaned over to assist she slapped him away and jumped from the car. Raine was about to follow when Aaron pulled her back, “Liam go.” He said sternly.

Liam nodded and bolted after Willow.

Raine shot Aaron a glare that could send the wolves running. “You need to let go of me.” When she tried to jump from the car, he cuffed her to him. “You need to listen to me.”

She glared at him as he continued.

“There is someone trying to kill you both. I need to know how this is related to my missing partner. That nurse who was killed in your sister's room, was a message.” He took a breath, cleared his throat. “Long story short, it ties with a murder at my previous crime scene where my partner was last seen at.” Aaron swallowed, the urgency furling inside his gut.

“Whoever is after the two of you has answers that can save lives.”

Raine stared at him, her lips drawn into a thin line. She tried to turn to face her sister and Liam, but Aaron gently tugged on the cuffs, grabbing her full attention.

“Did you get a close look at the man who attacked you in the hospital, specifically his tattoos?” He flared his nostrils when she didn’t answer. “Do you want to save your sister?”

She gave him a solid stare.

And he probed, “Well tell me about him, everything.”

Raine closed her eyes and described something similar to a serpent with wings on her attacker’s forearm.

“I’ve seen this kind of thing before and taking in account all of the coincidences lining up, we have stumbled upon something really nasty.” Aaron said with a far look in his eyes.

“What is it?”

“I found a report on Nurse Benson’s body, and something on her phone, the last email your doctor friend received from the ‘transporter’ of his special organ donor list.” He paused trying to put it into words civilians would use. “It appears Doctor Vermaak has involuntarily switched suppliers.” He continued at the sight of the confusion on her face. “Someone was after the heart your sister received. There must have been some kind of mix up, and all I can think of as to how and why this can happen is that it’s a set-up.”

Raine swallowed. “Why?”

“I don’t know.” Aaron wiped the back of his neck. “It’s such a mess right now.” He swallowed and stared down at their hands cuffed together. “If it is a gang involved they might be trafficking organs and a rival gang has taken what was theirs and deliberately made sure it was given away.”

“Will they,” Raine’s eyes started to water, a thick ache in her throat as tears battled words. “They want the heart back, and they are going to kill my sister, slice her open and take it, aren’t they?”

Aaron just stared at her; it was exactly what he was thinking.

“You can’t let them.” Her big brown—green eyes pleading.

Suddenly the front door of the car opened, and Willow got back in, startling them both. Her hands were shaking, nose watering but s seemed to have stopped crying. As Liam got into the car, he noticed the cuffs on Raine and shot his brother a glare with the shake of the head.

Aaron shrugged. “She’s committed a crime, Liam.”

Slowly, Liam pulled the car back onto the road. Willow laid her head on the cold surface of the window before she finally said. “What does all this have to do with Lorel Palmer’s murder?”

“How did you…?” Aaron stared at Willow, then at Raine for an explanation.

Liam turned his head slightly. “Raine,” he gripped the steering wheel tighter, “If you get upset, I will stop talking immediately. We need you both to listen—even if it sounds insane.”

Raine leant her head back against the headrest. “I’m all ears,” she said, sighing.

“We suspect your sister is the recipient of The Devil’s Breath killer’s heart.”

Raine laughed, “That is ridiculous.”

Liam continued regardless, “Your sister has drawn sketches of his tattoo, and of the scene where Lorel Palmer was killed.”

“No,” Willow said, surprising everyone in the car with her sudden lucid interjection. “No,” she said with rising agitation. “I can feel her.”

“What do you mean?” Raine asked.

“I can feel Lorel inside me.”

Sensing the rising emotion, Liam continued. “The Devil’s Breath Killer consumed Lorel Palmer’s heart—as crazy as this is going to sound, we think that somehow a part of her imprinted itself on his spirit and heart.”

Raine sat up, “What? Yes, that does sound crazy! Too crazy!”

Aaron interrupted, backing his brother. “Willow drew the room Lorel Palmer was murdered in. And in so much detail, it looked like the crime scene photos, exactly.”

Liam added before the girls could interrupt again, “The scary part is in the sketch there is a blue dress that Aaron himself had found at Lorel’s crime scene—but someone had removed it before any pictures of it was taken.”

Aaron continued, “How could Willow have known those details?”

The car fell silent, questions and no answers reeled though their minds.

The road stretched out before them in tall creeping shadows. After the extended silence Willow spoke up, her voice soft at first, “I’ve been seeing things—things linked to the murder. I thought I was losing my mind,” Willow explained, a little more force behind her tone. “I need to know more. I need to know what’s happening to me.” She turned to face Agent Anderson.

“That’s what we plan to find out,” Aaron said. “Everything you can tell us is going to help us do that. No matter how insane you think it sounds.”

Willow shifted in her seat. There was something but it was clearly difficult for her to put into words.

“What is it Willow?” Raine coaxed. “Just say what’s on your mind. There’s no judgement here.”

Willow breathed in deeply. “Okay… Lorel—I think she offered herself to him.”

Liam exchanged a steely look with his brother. This had not been what either of them had been expecting—not that they knew what to expect anymore. There was a pause, each of them reluctant to take their minds to the dark places it needed to go to solve these mysteries. Once again it was Willow’s small voice that broke the silence.

“Is it true, Raine? Could my heart really be that killer’s?”

Raine couldn’t say no and so said nothing instead.

“Surely they don’t do that—take organs from prisoners?” Raine shot Liam a look as his gaze studied her in the rear-view mirror.

When Willow caught the look that Aaron and Liam exchanged a realization dawned on her.

“Oh, my god! That’s what you meant when you said, she’d committed a crime. You got my heart on the black market, didn’t you, Raine?”

Raine began to explain but Willow stopped her by raising her hand. “You’ve had so much time to discuss this with me, and you didn’t, and now, there’s nothing I can do about it. You just went ahead and made this choice for me.”

“You would have stopped me.”

“Hell yes I would have. Why do get to sacrifice yourself for me but I can’t step in to stop you. Why can’t I save you for once? You never ever let me decide on shit.” Her voice croaked at the end. She coughed.

“Are you okay?” Raine moved to help her sister.

“Don’t speak to me.” Willow shot her a look.

Raine thought she sounded just like their father in that moment. Of course, Willow finding out had been inevitable, but this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Next to Raine, Aaron shifted in the uncomfortable climate.

“I know this is really difficult for you, Willow, and we know there are a lot of questions still to be answered, but we need your help.” He asked as gently as he could force himself to be.

He’d been accused of being aloof with victims’ loved ones, before. And that was why Makayla and Aaron made such a great team. She was good with people, and he was great at getting information out of perps.

Willow nodded reluctantly for them to continue.

Liam took over. “The Devil’s Breath killer is more than one person. We think it’s potentially a new, emerging cult.”

“You think I might be able to see things from The Devil’s Breath Killer’s point of view and help you find the missing links?” Willow offered.

Aaron bent down and retrieved Willow’s sketches from the bag between his legs. When Raine shot him a glare, he answered with a shrug. “Liam went back for them.”

“To my house?” her voice peaked and Raine reached wanting to slap Liam, but her restraints kept her hands in check. She shot Aaron a look instead.

“It’s not like I am going to go anywhere.” She coked her head to the vast nature scenery outside the moving car.

Ignoring her Aaron handed the sketches out to Raine and her sister. “There is a picture of a face of a man that is not Valmer. He gave it to Willow to look at. They’re incomplete, but do you know who he is?”

Raine shook her head at Aaron.

He shrugged in turn, “I’m not sure how your,”

“Let’s call them visions.” Liam interjected from behind the wheel.

“Visions work Willow, but can you access them willingly?” Aaron probed.

“Valmer protects him from me, but I catch glimpses.” Willow stared at her sketches; they were familiar yet not. Like someone else had drawn them. There she caught it, almost in each of the sketches she started noting the strange face, and it was not the face in the mirror she’d been seeing either. It indeed was not Valmer, Valmer was broader, older, very gray hair, and tiny eyes. The outline of this man was of a slender man, black curly hair.

“It’s his son,” Willow said with a knowledge not belonging to her, but through her.

Aaron and Liam looked at each other.

“But Valmer hasn’t got a family,” Aaron said.

Willow shrugged. “When I see that man through Valmer’s eyes, he is his son.”

“A foster child?” Aaron asked, recalling the conversation he had with his father and Maureen.

Silence filled the car once more.

Raine finally spoke up. “You think my sister can lead you to this man?” She pointed to the sketch of a man whose features were incomplete.

“We believe so.”

Raine stared at Liam, who sat quietly steering the car into the night. “What else?” she could sense it. “You’re running too. Why?”

Aaron sighed before answering. My partner, Makayla, has gone missing,” he said, with a heavy heart full of meaning as he pulled a folder from his bag.

“I warn you, it’s not pretty. But at least you’ll know what we’re really dealing with.”

Raine took it and opened the folder to see the details of the recent Devil’s Breath killing. She’d heard about it in the news. The body of the woman had been underground in what looked like some kind of crypt. She gasped as she took in the photos and fought the wave of queasiness.

“Let me see,” Willow demanded.

Raine shook her head.

“Let. Me. See,” Willow said, her tone hardening. “I’m not a child anymore, Raine.”

Raine still did not want to expose her, too much had already passed, why add to the trauma.

“You are responsible for this thing inside of me, “Willow stopped talking regretting her tone and implications immediately.

Reluctantly, Raine showed her sister the image. Willow gasped. “It’s just like Bertha!”

“Not quite, no. See this body is staged, it has meaning, ritualistic. The nurse is a sloppy, message. No time and care taken in the killing.” Aaron shrugged like it was the naturalist thing in the world to know.

Willow turned to face Aaron who vowed, “I will find this devil for you.”

Willow nodded, reinforcing the notion, fighting back another surge of tears. All she could hope was that when they solved the case, it would put to rest the ghosts of Valmer and Lorel battling inside of her.