---=Chapter 67:I Don't Want To See That---=

I ran forward through the light at the end of the tunnel. Unsurprisingly, it led into the hull of my stone ship. More surprisingly, the entrance to that Shadow alcove remained, despite it not being here on my last trip into the hull.

I guessed that it would remain as long as I was aboard the ship. That was my hope, at least. If that shadow passage to the chapel closed, I wasn't sure how I'd return my body to the real world. This was the first time I was on my ship with my real body.

Looking down, I noted that, strictly speaking, this wasn't my 'real' body at all. More accurately, it was neither my wolf body nor my birth body, it was instead the mental self-image I only had in dreams and previous trips to the ether.

I turned, suddenly needing to know if this form would remain if I walked back into the chapel.

Kay was there.

Having come out of the shadows, Kay's body was silhouetted by the light of the chapel. Her figure stuttered as she walked toward me, vanishing and reappearing just as it had the last time I'd faced the creature.

Trying not to hurry, I pulled out one of the pistols. It was tempting to pull them both out, and dual-wield panicked shots. Instead, I took a deep breath and supported one hand with the other. I didn't remember if it was the proper form Jon had taught me or a dubious form I'd stolen from TV. Still, anything was probably better than dual-wielding without aiming at all.

I squeezed the trigger several times but saw no sign that I'd hit Kay's shadow form. For that matter, I didn't see any sparks or chipped concrete to suggest I'd missed. Kay's form, jittery though it was, wasn't twitching at the sound of the gunshots either.

Frowning, I aimed at the floor on just the other side of the entrance and pulled the trigger.

Again, the sound of the gun firing rang out clearly. On the other side of the doorway, though, there was no hole or chip in the cement, no sign I'd hit it at all.

Furrowing my brow further, I shot at the floor on my side of the doorway. Finally, I got a sign I wasn't firing blanks, as the ground cracked and chipped where the bullet struck.

It confirmed for me that the shadow space wasn't really part of my Ship. I turned back to the portal between the two rooms and stepped close enough that the pistol was on the other side of the entryway.

It didn't feel any different than any other doorway, but when I aimed and pulled the trigger, my hands felt the kick, but my ears didn't hear a thing.

Kay's flickering silhouette vanished, reappearing a step to the side and three steps closer to me.

Swearing, I tried to track her as she flicker-stepped closer and closer. Every time I pulled the trigger, she vanished from one spot and reappeared in another. Then, she was at the doorway and grabbed the barrel of the pistol. If she found it hot, she didn't give any indication; she just ripped the thing from my hands.

I stumbled back from the doorway and reached for the other gun when Kay's form appeared past the entryway, and everything froze.

Kay was a beacon of light in a bright room encroached upon by a darkness behind her. Then, my brain suddenly ached like I had an ice cream headache, but in my forehead.

Unexpectedly, I found myself back in the chapel. The pain and pressure were gone. People around me were kneeling in prayer, and my hand was on the back of a crying woman.

The hands, neither furry nor familiar, were not mine. A wedding ring was on her left hand. At a guess, this was Kay's memory, likely a trauma like Hands and I experienced when I entered his Dreamland.

The room and people were utterly quiet to my ears. I could feel myself saying words but couldn't hear them. Suddenly, my head snapped to the door.

Several people looked up from their tearful prayers. Fear was in some eyes, but there was hope in others. I could feel Kay's heart beat wildly in her ears, but I couldn't tell if it was from hope or fear.

Maybe both.

Buck stood and pulled out his gun, and gave me a nod. I nodded back and stepped up to the door to crack it open.

Buck stepped in behind me, ready to shoot.

I took in the eyes and face of Nia and felt Kay's eyes widen as she flung open the door in a hurry. She rushed forward, oblivious to the glowing blue werewolf behind Nia, oblivious to the black wings and dark horns growing from her daughter's form.

Buck's hand fell on her shoulder and pulled her up short. Only then did Kay register the strangeness.

Instead of stepping forward, she took a step back. She began to shake her head, and I could almost hear her begging for an explanation.

Her cheeks flushed, and her breathing was becoming ragged. Tears were making her eyes burn and blur. Nia was also fighting back tears as her body hunched over, her hands trying to hide the horns.

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Then I watched my werewolf self place a hand on Nia's head.

Likely, I was trying to be comforting or protective. I couldn't see Kay's face without a mirror, but she was clearly upset. When my furry hand landed on Nia's head, though, Kay seemed to lose it. Her gestures erupted into large and wild swings. I could feel the shouts straining Kay's throat, and Buck had to hold her back.

Kay abruptly turned and buried her face in Buck's shoulder, but her hand found the gun in its holster and pulled it free.

Whipping around and wiping a tear from her eyes, she unloaded the gun on her daughter and the werewolf from feet away.

This wasn't the memory that Nia had shown me.

Kay collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. Buck and her congregation closed in on her and offered her the support of their hands and prayers as someone closed the door.

*-*--*-*--*-*-

I was back in the chapel. I felt my hand, Kay's hand, on someone's back as they knelt in tearful prayer.

An unheard sound made Kay's head snap to the door.

I don’t want to see that again, I thought into the void, worried I was stuck on a loop.

Kay cracked open the door, and I expected I would see Nia again.

It was wrong. It was a wide and short serpent with eyes that looked just like Nia's.

Kay's eyes widened, and she stepped back, but the serpent's head snapped forward, and long fangs pierced Kay's neck.

I didn't hear Buck fire into the monster, but I saw the bursts of blood splatter from the snake monster.

Kay's world faded.

*-*-*--*-*-*--*-*-*

Kay was speaking behind the podium. Her heart raced, and I could see her glancing at the door as she spoke passionately at her kneeling and praying congregation.

The door began to rattle, and Kay backed away from it. She clenched a bible in her hand and wielded it like a sword.

Buck stood and walked over to stand between Kay and the door. Soon, another stood; it took me a second to realize it was Alice.

Walking over to stand between her stepmom and the monster, Alice looked over her shoulder and said something. I couldn't really read lips, but I still caught the word 'Dad.' and a sadness that made me think she knew Titus was dead. Then others joined the pair, some wiping tears, others opening bibles. Nearly the entire room of people stood between Kay and her trauma.

It was a beautiful and aggravating moment. Kay didn't deserve their protection. All she'd had to do was accept her child unconditionally.

The door caved. The smell of cordite filled the air as Buck opened fire. The cultists shook fists and screamed at the monster, blocking it from Kay's sight as much as they blocked Kay from its sight.

Buck's shots missed or weren't effective. The snake with Nia's pleading eyes struck out and took him in the throat. It threw his body against the cultists and knocked them out of the way, a spray of blood following his limb form.

Alice grabbed one of the stackable metal chairs and swung it at the snake monster, but it tanked the blow and smacked her to the ground with its massive head.

Kay was shaking, and her heart was pounding in her chest. She glared down at the dead and wounded and spat at the ground.

She threw her bible at the snake with her daughter's eyes and started yelling at it.

Alice was trying to drag herself away from the serpent.

The serpent slowly unhinged its jaws, never taking its eyes off Kay. As though daring her to intervene, it casually scooped up the doctor's legs in its mouth. Kay took a step, her fist clenched, and then she closed her eyes, and I felt her squeeze them shut as she took a shuttering breath.

When she opened them up again, she stared expressionlessly at Alice. Alice's hand grabbed Kay's ankle, but Kay kicked it off and spat again, this time on Titus's daughter.

I felt something ease in Kay's chest, and I felt her lips twitch.

And then she was laughing. She was laughing at what had happened.

She collapsed to her knees, wheezing and unable to control her mirth. She wiped a tear from her eyes, saw Alice's arm slip beneath the lip of the snake's mouth, and began laughing even harder.

The short snake crawled up to Kay, and Kay stared deep into its eyes. The eyes were no longer those of Nia's. Instead, they were Kay's own eyes.

I knew what I was watching; this was what set Kay apart. She gave in to the monster.

The serpent drew close and pressed its forehead to Kay's. As though nothing was out of the ordinary, Kay pressed into the contact and stared into the snake's eyes.

Then the monster was gone, vanishing into thin air in a puff of green light; Kay's aura erupted and writhed around her. I felt energy begin to course through her veins as pleasure flooded her, and her mouth broke out in a wide grin.

Kay licked her lips, and her stomach growled as she looked down at her wounded congregation before the world faded again.

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