“Positive. And the time of death was yesterday evening, an entire day after I had the vision. That’s not astral projection. That’s…”
“A premonition.”
“Adam’s dad wasn’t able to identify the symbols they found, but he thought maybe you could. Have you seen these before?”
Reese grimaced at the photo, and I didn’t blame him. The poor girl was sprawled out on the mud, her once white nightgown caked in muck and filth and blood. Vacant eyes bore up at the sky, still widened in a primitive state of sheer and utter terror. He took a long drag, trying to focus his attention on the one particular symbol drawn up around her.
It appeared to have been constructed from a bunch of pale rocks and some loose tree branches, making up a weird twisted symbol inside a star-encrusted pentagram.
“It’s a dark sigil of some sort. You can’t really make out the engravings,” he said, zooming in the photo as far as he could. “Looks like a…diamond, maybe.”
“There’s something else.” I took out the folded missing person’s flyer from my pocket and handed it over. “He look familiar?”
“Travis Freeman?” he read.
“Another student from the Hersey bus disappearance.”
Reese studied the picture for a long minute, only to shrug.
“Imagine him with blonde hair.”
The paper fell from his limp fingers. “The Hellhound from the alley.”
“There’s still eighteen of those students missing, and seven more of them I recognized from my vision in the woods. If the rest have been turned…” I couldn’t finish the thought.
More questions clawed at my insides, begging me to voice them. It felt like playing mental double-dutch. I kept waiting for the opportunity to jump in and ask, but I just couldn’t find the right moment.
“What happened between you and the guy outside the theater?” I suddenly blurted.
Reese’s left brow arched in its trademark fashion, as if a hook pulled it up whilst his other brow remained perfectly flat. “I’m sorry?”
“The night we met…or I guess the morning after,” I clarified. “And don’t play dumb. What was he?”
He ran a hand over his face before ruffling it through his hair. I’d clearly struck a chord. “Hellhound.”
“Did you kill him?” I murmured, happy that no one else was in ear shot.
Reese nodded. “Right after I left you.”
“What happened between…us?”
His back stiffened.
“It’s not like I expected for you and me to become besties overnight, and I know you don’t like my friends. But that shouldn’t have stopped us from at least hanging out. I mean, you pulled a complete 180 on me. You went from being the nicest guy in town, only to turn into the Abominable Asshat. Why?”
He backed away until his back rested against the wall, his features hardening. “When I followed that thing into the alley, I learned a little too late that he wasn’t alone. If there’s one thing demons and Hellhounds alike enjoy more than anything, it’s killing and torturing their prey. And doing so to someone like me is pretty much their equivalent to Christmas morning. It’s not just about causing the victim physical pain. They want to make you suffer in every way imaginable. And the guy that saw us together outside the theater thought it would be particularly amusing if he went back and snatched you up. I won’t go into further detail about what they all planned to do next.”
The lump in my throat expanded to the size of a softball. “But you killed them…”
“I’m scrappier than I look.” Reese tried to smile, but the effort never made it past his lips. “Despite my good fortune, that morning still served as a sour reminder. When you’re like us, anyone you care about becomes a potential target. It doesn’t matter if they’re your friend or even just the sweet old lady next door. If you care about their wellbeing, they’ll have a bull’s-eye on their back.
“And you were the first person I’d met in a long time that was genuinely nice. Everyone else around here is either afraid of me or they just think I’m a freak. Talking to you was easy. And that’s exactly why I knew I needed to keep my distance. We wouldn’t have just been casual acquaintances. I wanted more than that. And it would’ve been really selfish of me. You didn’t deserve to be hurt like that, so I did what I could to stay away.”
“And the reason for being such an ass…?”
“When it was obvious I couldn’t avoid you completely, I figured I needed a different game plan. You were still really nice, and I knew I’d end up in the same problem if I didn’t do something to keep you at arm’s length. It felt really shitty saying the things I said to you, but it had to be done.” Reese slumped back, half laughing at himself. “But what the hell do I know? You were with Reynolds for how long, and nothing happened to you…at least not until after you broke up.”