AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She narrowed her eyes at him. Chances were, she’d come face to face with yet another trick. Then again, her fatherhadgotten involved with black magic. He wasn’t an immortal like Mom or Kingsley, so dying wouldn’t be the end of him. He’d become a dark master—albeit a weak one—so it remainedpossiblehis soul might have somehow ended up being attracted to a place as twisted and dark as he became. Also, as she’d grown older, she came to understand how cruel he’d been to Mom. If this place thought she’d start crying and run to save her ‘daddy’ without thinking, it sorely messed up.
“Whoa,” said Allison once she climbed up next to her. “Is that who I think it is?”
“Maybe.”
“It isn’t,” said Maple.
“Tam,” rasped Dad. “Your little friend is wrong. It’s really me. Got pulled in here after all the stupid crap I did. You gotta help me get out of this mess before it dissolves me.”
“I should let it eat you.” Tammy finished climbing up to stand on top of the huge root. The entire area walled in by the enormous root appeared to be covered in the tarlike slime. Jumping down into it seemed like a bad idea. She decided to walk atop the root to the other side of the slime pool.
Dad bowed his head, grunting as he fought the tentacles. “You have every right to be angry with me, Tam Tam, but what would Anthony say if you let this thing kill me?”
Okay, wow. For some weird reason, that got to her. Her dad and Ant had a special relationship. Heck, Dad had straight possessed Anthony for a year or two. She sighed. “Okay, fine.”
“No!” yelled Maple—but too late to stop Tammy.
She summoned an arm-thick root to sprout from the big one she walked on, threading it down toward her father so he could grab on and pull himself out. Seemed safe enough. She wouldn’t go near him or into the murk. Perhaps giving him one vine to use to get himself out of the pit counted as ‘minimum effort,’ but after what he did to their family, and Mom especially, over the years, she felt it more than he truly deserved.
“Stupid!” roared Maple.
Tammy blinked, shocked at herself for lowering her guard. She frowned. As far as she knew, her father’s spirit remained in an alternate reality with a child-vampire version of Anthony. This place loved to play tricks. The entity she tried to help couldn’t possibly be Dad.
The instant the rapidly growing root reached Dad, his body exploded into a tangle of black thorny vines whirling about in the most basic approximation of a human shape. In under a second, the fiend grew from man-sized to nearly twenty feet tall—and grabbed Tammy in a prickly ‘hand’ like an angry child seizing a doll.
The root creature yanked her into the air, swung her across the slime bog, and hammered her hard into the dirt on the far side. Impact knocked the wind out of her lungs. Hundreds of thorns dug into her everywhere as the roots constricted, squeezing and crushing her.
Tammy stared up past the lattice of thorny vines across her face and muttered, “It was at that moment, she knew she messed up.”
Chapter Eleven
The Crime Scene is Cold
So, there I am sitting in my mobile office—also known as the Momvan—about to call Detective Sherbet about a license plate when a random urge to call my daughter hits me. So, I do.
Without even ringing, I get a message informing me the cellular subscriber is no longer present in this dimensional reality. To connect this call, I’d need to accept a roaming charge of $350,000. Of course, I recognize Tammy’s voice. It’s not a phone company message; it’s her voicemail greeting. Her friends would think she’s telling a nerdy joke. I know she’s serious… well, serious about everything but the $350,000.
Oh, that’s right. She’s going after Annie today. Tammy had been nervous all morning. I should be, too. Okay, I am. But… there isn’t much I can do about it. Somehow, she’s gone to a place I can’t go. Maybe this twinge of unease I got happened because she’s just left our world. At least, Maple seems to think immortals can’t exist there. I’m thinking we can, but the consequences of us going there would be far more disastrous than worth it. Either way, I’m not capable of teleporting between dimensions. I’d need Maple to open the door for me and she’s not here.
Grr.
Hopefully, this is just me having idle mom worries about my kid doing something dangerous. I think I’d be less wound up if she told me she was going skydiving.
Sitting here thinking about her is only going to drive me nuts. I need to distract myself and it just so happens there’s a case to be solved. It takes me a few seconds to refocus my thoughts, then I call Sherbet.
“Hey, Sammy. Calling to pick my brain about that missing person case, or are you looking to order some rainbow cakes?”
I pause. “Rainbow cakes?”
“Guess you didn’t see your email yet.” He chuckles. “Zayn is participating in a fundraising event for an LGBT youth group. Hey, you think Paxton would be interested?”
“Heh. No doubt. There aren’t too many things that girl loves more than rainbows and baking. Maybe unicorns… or anything that sparkles.”
“Even the vampires in that one movie?”
“Especially those movies—and the books. Says she became obsessed with all things vampires thanks to moi.”
“I don’t blame her. I did a deep dive into vamps and weres after meeting you and your friends.”
