The Night Horde SoCal: Shadow And Soul Part 1

SHADOW & SOUL.

The Night Horde SoCal Series.

Susan Fanetti.

All of my books are dedicated to the Freaks, because my books wouldn't exist without them. Some days I think I wouldn't, either.

This story is also dedicated to the children no one looks out for, and to the adults they become.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

~Pablo Neruda, Sonnet XVII.

CHAPTER ONE.

Faith saw Bibi come through the automatic doors into the Emergency Room. She sat and watched as the older woman strode with purpose to the curved reception desk. She was dressed yet, or again, in her signature snug jeans, low boots, and leather jacket, probably with a v-neck sweater underneath, and her bittersweet-chocolate-brown hair was down, just over her shoulders, and perfect. Even at one o'clock in the morning, Bibi Elliott put herself together if she was going to be seen.

Faith Fordham, on the other hand, was wearing ancient UGGs, white sweatpants, and a gigantic black hoodie left behind by some guy or another, and she couldn't remember the last time she'd even brushed her hair.

She couldn't hear the exchange, but she could see in the set of Bibi's back that it was about to get heated, so she stood and took a few steps toward the desk. "Beeb. I'm here."

The receptionist or whatever she was forgotten, Bibi spun on her heel. "Faith! Honey!" Her arms extended, she crossed the waiting room. Faith met her halfway and allowed herself to be hugged hard and enthusiastically. She'd spoken to Bibi regularly over the years, every few months or so, but she hadn't actually seen her in...f.u.c.k. A decade.

"Oh, honey! Oh, I'm so sorry. What a way to come back home. Is your mama okay? Are you okay? What the h.e.l.l happened?"

None of those questions had easy answers, so Faith pulled back and took Bibi's hand. "Let's sit."

As she led her over to the empty row of thinly padded chairs-it was quiet in the ER on this midweek predawn-Bibi asked, "What happened, honey?"

"I don't know much yet. They took her for tests."

"Didn't they let you go with her?"

Faith took a deep breath and met Bibi's eyes. "I couldn't, Beeb. This all is...my head's going a thousand miles a second. And she was yelling, and they had her in restraints, and I just-"

She cut off abruptly, realizing that she was about to burst into tears. Bibi was still clutching her hand. With the other, Faith pinched her arm as hard as she could. She'd learned when she was a kid that doing so would make the tears die where they were. It worked, and there were times in her life that she'd pinched herself black and blue trying to maintain her composure. "I haven't laid eyes on her in almost ten years, Beeb. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do now." She squeezed her mother's best friend's hand. "Thank you for coming."

"Oh, my G.o.d, Faith. Of course I'm here. Of course I am." Then Bibi got a look that Faith remembered vividly from her childhood. It meant that Bibi was on the job, and the relief Faith felt at that almost started the tears again. "Let's start with what happened and work out from there."

"I got a call. I guess when Sera got transferred to Tokyo, she set me up as Mom's emergency contact. I don't know why it wasn't you."

"Has to be kin, honey. Blood kin."

Faith nodded; that made sense. "Okay. Anyway, I got a call that she'd been brought to the ER and they needed me here. She got hit by a car. She ran out in front of it."

"Oh, lord!"

"It's worse, I think. The driver had just left a stop sign, so she has a broken leg and some bruises and sc.r.a.pes, but it's not that bad. The worst part is that she was out on the street naked and completely incoherent. She's still totally raving-or she was until they put her out. And they don't know why. f.u.c.k, it should be Sera dealing with this."

Sera-her full name was Serenity, but she'd decided she was Sera when she was in seventh grade-was the oldest of the two sisters, a Type-A do-gooder. She was their mother's pride and joy. Faith, a rebel from the time she'd learned to say 'no,' had preferred the bike shop to school, or anywhere else, and she'd found her home in her father's heart. Until they'd both torn it all apart. Her mother, too. Maybe her mother most of all. Or maybe not. When Faith thought of that time, she a.s.signed blame variously and had no idea where it truly belonged.

But when the dust had settled, Faith had moved on, alone and away from the rubble of her life and her family.

Bibi gave her a little shake. "Well, it's not Sera. It's you. And me. We'll figure this out together, okay?"

Faith nodded. "Okay. I guess...I guess we wait. Will you stay?"

"I'm not goin' anywhere, baby. I'm right here." Bibi wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. It was the most familial affection Faith had felt in years, and her throat clenched again.

She sat with her head on Bibi's shoulder for a few minutes, finding calm in that motherly embrace. Then she said the thing that had really started her head spinning like a centrifuge. "She didn't recognize me."

Bibi had been rubbing a soothing circle on Faith's arm. At that sentence, she stopped, and they were both momentarily still.

"From what you said, honey, it didn't sound like she knew much about anythin'. Don't wrap yourself around that axle. Your mama knows you. She's been missin' you all this time. I know."

And that didn't make Faith feel better at all.

There was a television on the wall, set to a channel playing back-to-back-to-back episodes of one of the Law and Order shows. The sound wasn't on, but the closed captioning was. Faith leaned on Bibi and stared at the television, not really watching, not really paying attention to the captions, and not really thinking, either. All of her thoughts wanted to be thought at once, so she had put them on time out until they could take turns.

Bibi's hand was back to rubbing her arm, but otherwise they were both quiet and still, except each time the doors back to the treatment rooms opened, when they both swiveled their heads. For a long time, a couple of hours at least, no one she recognized came out, and no one came looking for her.

And then, the doctor who'd invited Faith to follow them up to Radiology or wherever they'd taken her mother came through the doors, scanned the room, and headed for her.

"Miss Fordham."

Bibi had already taken her arm back, probably sensing in Faith's posture that it was time for them to stand, which was what they did.

"Yeah, hi. How is she?"

The doctor seemed young, about Faith's age. He was short and sort of doughy, but he had a kind face and a gentle demeanor. He was probably great at emergency medicine, where people came in frantic and needed a calm, kind presence.

"She's sleeping quietly now. Why don't you come back with me, and we can sit and talk with some privacy."

"Um, okay. Can...can Bibi come back? She's my mom's best friend."

He smiled warmly. "Of course. Right this way."

The doctor-Faith reminded herself to try to read the name embroidered on his coat-led them through the swinging double doors and then off to the side. There was a little room with a comfortable sofa and a couple of upholstered chairs. The color scheme was blue and pale grey, there were quiet seascape prints on the walls, and there were boxes of tissues on all three little tables near the seats.

Jesus, Faith thought. This is the death room. She stopped in her tracks. "Wait. Is she-is...you said she was only sleeping, right?" She had no idea how she'd feel if her mother was dead. And that thought was on a long time out.

The doctor-Reid, no Riedl, was his name-indicated the sofa. "She's sleeping, yes. Please, have a seat."

They sat.

"We'd like to admit your mother. Until we fully sedated her, she was still agitated and disoriented, and the test results we've gotten back so far aren't showing us why. There are no drugs in her system, other than those we've administered. Her vitals are strong, if a little elevated from stress. The only signs of trauma are a result of the accident. Has she been acting oddly lately?"

Faith looked at her feet. The toes on her old suede UGGs had been worn shiny and dark, and she stared at the pattern of wear. Her mind had always sought out patterns and shapes, and she felt a little more centered as the part of her that wanted to turn shapes into things made its attempt to see something on her toes. A bear, she decided. A bear on a sled.

"I don't know," she answered. How could she know?

Bibi spoke up then. "I don't think so, Doctor. I saw her a few weeks back, and she was fine."

"No forgetfulness, or unexplained anger, outbursts of any kind?"

"No." There was something in Bibi's negative that Faith heard, though. She turned and gave her a look, and got a rea.s.suring smile in return. "Nothin' unexplained. She was a little upset. We'll talk later, honey. Don't have anythin' to do with this."

Dr. Riedl looked from Bibi to Faith and then nodded. "Okay. Well, I brought in a neurologist to consult: Dr. Tomiko. She'd like to do a complete workup, so we can see what might have caused this. With no signs of drug or alcohol abuse, then this is either something physiological or psychological. We'd like to rule out any physiological causes before we explore the psychological."

Her mother had always been high strung and dramatic, but she wasn't nuts. "If she's not crazy, then what could it be?"

He shook his head. "Speculation at this point is premature. Let's get some tests done. Dr. Tomiko will talk to you in the morning and walk you through everything. For now, we're going to move her up to Neurology and keep her quiet and comfortable. Visiting hours are obviously long over, but if you'd like to stay with her down here until they take her up, that's fine."

Faith started to shake her head, but at her side, Bibi said, "Yes, thank you, Doctor." The forceful insistence in her voice stopped Faith's refusal and turned it into acceptance. She nodded.

Dr. Riedl smiled and stood. "Of course. She's in Room 3, like before. You can stay as long as she's there. She won't wake, but you can sit with her."

Margot Fordham was still beautiful, even bruised and sc.r.a.ped, her blonde hair matted. She was fifty-six, a few years younger than Bibi, but neither of them was ever going to go grey or get especially wrinkly. Or fat. These were women who intended to keep themselves together all the way to, and probably beyond, the grave.

So it was weird, and difficult, to see her looking pale and frail, in restraints, sleeping on the white hospital linens.

Her leg was set in a cast that went over her knee, and she was in a traction device the lifted it up a bit from the narrow bed or gurney or whatever it was. Faith and Bibi stood side by side and held hands, looking down at Faith's peacefully sleeping mother.

She'd been screaming and cursing and begging when Faith had been led back to the room earlier in the night. They'd tried to calm her by telling her that her daughter was there. She'd calmed for a moment, asking "Sera? Serenity? Where's my baby?"

When she'd seen Faith, she'd said, "That's not my baby!" and gone even more wild.

Faith supposed that was fair. But it made it hard to feel like she should be here, waiting. Sera hadn't even said she'd come home. She wanted Faith to 'keep her posted.' Okey dokey.

"Why was she mad at Christmas?"

"Hmm?" Bibi sounded like she'd been far away in her head.

"You said she was upset but it wasn't unexplained. How come? You said club stuff?"

"Oh." Bibi sighed. "Yeah. The club is...getting into some stuff again. Your mama found out at Christmas, and she was pretty unhappy about it."

Faith had no reaction to the idea that 'the club' was going outlaw again-which, she knew, was what Bibi had meant. 'The club' wasn't the club Faith knew from her childhood. That club had been outlaw her whole life. Her father, whom everyone, including her mom, had called Blue, had been the Sergeant at Arms of the club she'd known. But he was dead, killed doing club business, and that club was dead, too. Now the men who'd been her father's brothers wore a different patch. They were the Night Horde now. And Faith was no part of them. Even if they'd still worn her father's patch, she'd left that life behind the minute she'd turned eighteen.

Literally-she'd been packed and ready at midnight on her birthday. By the time her family had woken that morning, she'd been well on her way to San Francisco.

"Why'd she care?" Blue had been dead more than five years. She didn't see how a club her father hadn't even been a member of factored into her mother's mental state at all.

But Bibi grabbed her shoulder and made her turn so they were face to face. Her expression was pointed, almost angry. "We're your mama's family, Faith Anne. She moved here to Madrone to stay close to us. She's a part of us. So're you and your sister. I know you know that. Deep down, you know you're still part of us, and we're part of you. It's not the shape of the patch that matters. It's the family. And your mama was upset that things could get dicey again for her family."

Faith didn't like the way guilt was making her stomach feel sour. She'd been the wronged party. One of them, anyway. If she didn't want to forgive and forget, that was her prerogative. But Bibi was serving her up a big ol' helping of guilt pie, and, standing at her mother's bedside in the hospital, Faith was lapping it up.

The door opened, and a nurse stepped in. "We're taking her upstairs now. Room 562. Visiting hours start at eight in the morning."

Faith and Bibi stepped aside and watched as her mother was wheeled out. Then they were standing in an empty trauma room, which seemed strangely huge without the bed in it.

And Faith realized she had nowhere to go. Driving all the way back to Venice Beach just to return in the morning seemed insane. She couldn't stay at her mother's house-she didn't even know where that was. And the thought of a motel room tonight made her ache with loneliness.

She turned to Bibi. "Can I come home with you?" Bibi would let her, she knew that for sure.

But the look on her face was uncomfortable and almost panicky. "Oh, honey, I..."

Faith felt panicky then, too. "Please? I'll just crash on the sofa for a couple of hours. I promise I won't be in your way, and I'll clear out right away in the morning." She had not at all expected not to be welcomed at the Elliotts' house.

"It's not that, honey. You know I'd be happy to have you stay, and we have plenty of room. It's just...oh, h.e.l.l. Honey...things are complicated."

Whatever had happened to her mother-that was bad. Being back in the midst of all these family memories and feeling absolutely besieged by them all-that was worse. But having Bibi tell her no-that was unbearable.

But she bore it. She swallowed and tried on a smile. "Hey, no. It's cool. I'll find a room. I saw a motel right by the ramp I took to get here."

Bibi was shaking her head. "Faith, listen. I'm not sayin' no. But you need to know...Demon-Michael-is there. He's stayin' with us. Has been for a few months now."

All at once, all those thoughts that had been wanting to get thought, they all died. Faith's brain was a ghost town. She stared stupidly at Bibi, only one word in her head, rolling through like a tumbleweed. Michael.

Michael.

Michael.

Bibi picked up her hands and held them both. "He's...he's got a little boy, honey. Tucker. He's two. Hooj and I are helpin' 'em out."

Michael. Had a child. Michael was at Bibi and Hoosier's with a child. His child.

Michael was the other injured party in the reason she hadn't seen her parents since she was eighteen years old. More injured than he even knew.

It had been even longer since she'd seen him. Since she was seventeen. And a half.

"Faith?"

She made an effort to pull herself together and put another smile on. "It's been a long time, Bibi. If you're okay with it, I am."

Bibi gave her a long, considering look. Then she sighed. "Okay, then. What the h.e.l.l. We live in interestin' times." She hooked her arm around Faith's and led her back out through the ER.