A VERY DARK tale (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 40

The smell of cheap motel coffee woke me up. I reached for my face with my hand and rubbed my eyes, getting rid of leftovers of my dreams. It felt like I slept for a long time, but I knew it was only a few hours. My hair was still dumped from the shower I took before going to bed. The pillow soaked all the moisture in. I could feel unpleasant wet spot under my cheek, and the foul odor was coming from old poorly washed pillowcase. Not that it bothered me.

I sat up slowly feeling my body buzzing with electricity. My eyes found the figure standing by the window facing the other way. He was looking through the window blinds, holding them open with two fingers. His broad shoulders looked relaxed, but posture stiffed. He brought a steaming paper cup to his lips and made a sip. Judging by the noise he made, the coffee tasted as bitter and unpleasant as it smelled.

"You know what our problem is, Stacy?" Oengus let go of the blinds and turned around to look at me. His face was hidden in the shadows of the dark room and a dark halo was illuminating his figure from the light that penetrated through the holes in the blinds. "Our problem is that we are on the defensive, and we need to be on the offensive."

I raised my eyebrow keeping my face straight. I knew what he was thinking. I didn't like to be a victim. Oengus's blood made me as dominate as him. However, I had no clue as to what our next step should be.

We both healed after the car crash. It took us seven hours to get to this motel and have a small rest. And only a short rest we could afford. I felt the pressure of something grand approaching us. It was still a day away, but it was nearing.

"We don't have allies," I voiced. "We are on our own." I stood up from the bed and went to stand by Oengus side not sure why I even bothered myself relocating my tired body from one side of the room to another.

The blinds were dirty and old, but they hid miserable scenery that outstretched outside the window. There wasn't one thing for my eyes to rest upon so I leaned on the wall and set my gaze at Oengus studying his profile.

Oengus threw the rest of stinky coffee into his mouth cringing and sent the cup into a bin at a foot of his bed.

"Then we'll have to deal with each problem one at a time," he glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. "Bam...bam...bam..." he trailed off. "But first, let's go visit an old friend of mine," he said departing. Right outside the bathroom door he paused, "and get a car."

"You have friends?" I asked doubtfully.

"No," Oengus barked and shut the bathroom door behind him.

"Thought so," I calmly retorted and went to dress for the road.

***

The eyes of the old woman in front of us flashed with greed as Oengus put a stack of dollar bills in front of her. Her hand twitched willing to grab the money, but he quickly retrieved them back.

"Uh...uh...uh..." he teased.

Her nostrils flared in annoyance, and she slowly slipped her hand under the counter and withdrew the keys. Carelessly, she threw them at Oengus, and he caught them easily, satisfied with the transaction.

Still annoyed the woman opened her wrinkly dry hand palm up, silently demanding the compensation.

Oengus put the keys into the pocket of his jeans and separated the stack of cash into two piles. One he gave her at once and another he raised above her teasingly.

"This is for that death trap you call your car," he said and smirked as she started counting the money on the spot glancing up repeatedly at the money that was in Oengus's grip. "I gave you more than that piece of junk costs." She only made a nasal sound and kept tossing the bills moving her mouth as she counted to herself. Then he dropped the rest of the money on the counter and drew closer to her face. "And this is for your silence. You didn't see us."

The woman looked up prepared to scoff, but once she made an eye contact with Oengus, she stilled in some sort of trance.

"What do we look like?" Oengus waved his hand in front of her face. "We're two young girls on the run. One brunette and one blonde. About sixteen. Wanted by police. We've stayed here for three days and then ran away not paying for the damage we've done to your property."

"You're two..." the woman started mumbling the words.

Meanwhile, Oengus grabbed the money from the counter and shoved them into my hands. I took them without questions, and realizing that our job here was done I turned towards the exit and started making my way out.

The door squawked as I pushed it open. Feeling suffocated in a small, smelly room I welcomed the fresh air that immediately blew into my face.

As I stepped on the sidewalk, I narrowed my eyes at the morning sun and looked around, trying to find the car that Oengus just purchased. He did some scouting around before making a deal with the woman. Her car was the only means of escape from here. At this point, anything that could get us out of this deserted and perfect for targeting place unnoticed was of great value.

There was not a soul in the yard as I walked farther the pathway. This roadside motel did not have many visitors, and I couldn't blame people for wanting better accommodations. In our case, we were that person that didn't have much choice in the matter.

"The trick is," Oengus sounded out behind my back following me. "to make a very appealing and highly desirable offer. And then the person is yours to deal as you please."

"Interesting," I said not interested at all in the subject.

"And it's not a total lie. She's sure now that she saw two young girls," he continued gushing like a little girl himself.

"Amazing," I said spotting a rusty old Buick parked around the corner from the front office building or rather the front office shed. Next to it stood even older and rustier pickup truck.

"Just look at this beauty," Oengus faked excitement. "The plates are local. The outlook's dated. We're going to blend perfectly well with the country tune."

He approached the Buick with pursed lips and patted its body not so gently. Then he walked around the car towards the driver side and using the keys opened the door. Giving me a questioning look he threw his stuff on the back seat and jumped in locking the door behind him with a loud thud.

In a few seconds, the car roared to life. It appeared that it was recently used, as Oengus didn't have troubles starting it. I watched in amusement as he reached for the passenger side door and manually rolled down the window.

"Do you need a special invitation, Stacy?" he cried out.

"Nope," I replied and started walking towards the car.

While I was settling in, Oengus rolled down the window from his side. There were a few coffee cups and some plastic wraps stuffed into a portable cup holder. He grabbed the entire stack along with the cup holder and threw it all through the window, getting some leftovers of coffee from the top cup on the pickup truck.

"Disgusting," he muttered and pulled the car in reverse.

"We could always go on foot," I offered.

"Of course, we could," he snapped and jolted the car ahead. "But for what I have in mind we need to act quickly."

Oengus wheeled us on a narrow two-sided road nearly bumping into a tree. I clutched into my seat steadying myself. Then, he stepped on a gas pedal and sent the car forward.

"What do you have in mind, then," I asked him as I rolled my window up.

"Something tremendous and very exciting," he said in a chirpy voice. "Tyr is not as powerful as you think he is. He is intelligent and determined." He smiled. "Although, it's quite a typical trace of character for a demonic offspring. He is just up there in the hierarchy. But he has one little thing that can bring him down." His smile turned sinister. "He thinks that he's invincible."

With all the smugness that Oengus possessed, he turned to look at me in the eyes as if trying to hypnotize me. "And that, my dear," he whispered, "is the greatest weakness."