L EVI PASSED BY Charles’s bar on the way home. The
snow was getting thick and the warmth of the bar and
a round of free drinks began to sound like a good plan.
Not to mention, he could tell Charles that he was
finally ready to accept the offer. But Levi kept on
walking, right past the entrance. His legs carried him,
as if they had a mind of their own, down the snow-
capped sidewalk all the way to his apartment. He
breathed a sigh of relief when he made it home.
Before he’d left work, Jenny had rushed down and
given him a plate of leftover pasta to take home with
him. It was a sweet gesture, he thought, especially
after she’d basically called him certifiably insane a few
hours earlier.
“Maybe I have taken too many shots to the head,” he
whispered to himself, shoving the small casserole dish
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into the oven. His eyes moved to the lamp, which
rested atop a small table that had become its home
over time. The table was almost sacred by now since it
was the preferred location where K.S. chose to leave
his messages. And although Levi was grateful to have
those message, there were too may gaps for his liking
and the Shadow Lurker comic book hadn’t given him
much insight into his situation. If anything, it made
him more perplexed. So either he was terrible at
putting clues together or the comic was just a useless
distraction. After all, K.S. could stand for anything and
the one who stalked him didn’t exactly hide in the
shadows or dress like a ninja. His enemy deposited
cryptic graffiti on doors and burned innocent people
alive. He could probably do worse than that, if pushed.
Levi wondered about K.S.’s relationship to the lamp.
Where’d he find it? Where was he from? What did he,
or she, look like? Did K.S. have impressive
supernatural powers too? The last item on that list of
questions seemed almost a given to him. But then
again, Dev also seemed preternaturally gifted. Whoever
Dev was, he could move faster than a twitch. Levi
wondered if he should’ve tried to physically confront
Dev that first night, knocking him into next week with
a flurry of punches.
“Would it have mattered?” he wondered. Maybe.
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K.S. sure didn’t think it would be wise, for whatever
reason.
Levi finished off his dinner with a glass of cheap
wine, looking out over white streets that bounced light
in every direction. Urban snow could be quite
beautiful, he mused. Not as beautiful as white sand on
a tropical beach, though.
Take the deal, Levi. Get out of this city.
The cell phone rang out loudly in the stillness of the
apartment. Levi reset his stopped heartbeat and
grabbed it right away. If this phone is ringing, it can’t be
good news.
“Levi!” came the frantic voice on the other end. “It’s
Jenny.”
“What’s wrong?” Levi stood quickly. “Is it Dev?”
“No,” she said, rushing her words. “It’s Violet. I don’t
know what to do… she’s not responding.”
Levi’s heart pounded as nervous waves of heat
rushed over his body. “What happened, Jenny? Is she
conscious?”
“Just barely. She’s been vomiting blood and I can’t
get her to stop. I called 911 so we’re here waiting on
the ambulance.”
“Where are you?”
“We’re here at home. Levi, I don’t know what to do.
I’m so scared right now. She’s in bad shape.”
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“I’m on my way.”
He hung up the phone and glanced at the lamp.
Courage and hope shot through his veins as he
grabbed the relic and took off for Jenny’s place.
• • •
The streets were slippery as an ambulance turned
down McEwen and navigated through empty streets,
abandoned due to the cold wintry night. Its siren rang
loudly, jarring a couple of stray dogs who were busy
feasting on a dead sewer rat. The paramedics had
received the dispatch just moments earlier, something
about a sick teenager who was experiencing violent
stomach pain. The driver didn’t need his GPS to
navigate the icy streets since he’d passed that
apartment building many times on his commute; he’d
even thought about putting in an application with
them to get out of his crappy lease across the tracks.
The road narrowed but it didn’t bother him; he’d
known that it would.
“Shouldn’t you stay on McEwen?” his partner asked
incredulously from the passenger seat.
“This is quicker. Trust me, rookie.”
The ambulance turned the corner onto a side street
and the driver saw smoke. Ahead of him, a car was
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burning in the middle of the street. There was nowhere
to turn off of this road and the fiery vehicle blocked the
way entirely. The driver narrowed his gaze and saw a
body lying in front of the engulfed vehicle. He grabbed
the radio.
“A-27 to dispatch. We’ve got a car on fire, blocking
Rose Avenue. There’s a body on the ground, unmoving.
Looks to be unconscious. Send a couple of engines out
here as soon as possible.”
The ambulance crawled to a stop and the driver
slapped the gear into park before popping the door
open. His timid partner felt uneasy about getting closer
since he knew the car might explode. But he followed
the driver out anyway since there was a body and he
was, after all, trained to deal with bodies.
The ambulance driver approached the male in the
black coat and hoodie lying prone on the pavement,
then stopped when he saw movement.
“Sir, don’t move — you’ve been injured in a car
accident,” the driver admonished. Turning to his
partner, he said, “Get the board.”
His partner had turned back toward the ambulance
when the driver was startled by the injured man, who
was now somehow standing erect on two legs. The
figure was tall and wore a sinister grin on his pale face.
His eyes engaged the ambulance driver.
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“Sir, please don’t move. You may have injuries.”
Dev raised his right arm and extended his index
finger, then curled it toward himself, urging the driver
to come forward. The driver couldn’t take his eyes off
the tall man who — he now noticed — was standing a
little too close to the burning car. His feet carried him
forward as his partner returned with the spinal board.
“Chuck?” his partner called out.
“Stay back Richie,” came the quick reply.
Chuck had no time to react to the grip clamped
around his throat, which lifted him clear off the
ground. The ambulance driver gurgled briefly, trying to
speak, trying to plead for mercy. Dev easily swung him
over his shoulder and into the fire. Richie threw the
board at Dev and raced back to the ambulance. He
slammed the door closed and locked it, then reached
over to the passenger side to lock it too. Dev was close
now. The engine was still running so Richie slapped it
into reverse and pounded the throttle. Within a short
distance, the ambulance hit an icy patch and spun out
of control, colliding violently with a telephone pole.
Richie’s head whipped sideways and crashed against
the side window, splitting his ear open. Groggy and
confused, he still managed to turn on the loud sirens.
A moment of painful calm passed as Richie struggled
to catch his breath. Dev passed by inches from his
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window, a creepy grin hanging from his face, staring at
Richie the whole way.
And dev kept walking. Richie heard the fire engines
howling in the distance, which began to console his
racing mind.
• • •
Levi ran as fast as his legs could carry him, up the
stairs and onto the landing. He was out of breath but
alive. And most importantly of all, he had the lamp.
The door swung open after a single knock and Jenny
rushed him into the bedroom in a panic. Violet was on
her back, twitching and grabbing her stomach,
writhing in intense agony. Spots of thick, dark blood
dotted the floor and sheets. The girl appeared to be
moments from death.
“The ambulance isn’t here yet?” Levi asked.
“I’ve been on the phone with the operator. She said
there’s been a major accident blocking traffic.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “She’s going to be all
right.”
Levi set the lamp beside the sick girl with a measure
of confidence and stepped away, bracing for the
explosion of intense brightness and shockwaves. He
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used his arm to gently push Jenny back as well,
knowing that its power could knock a person down.
A couple of minutes passed. Nothing happened.
Levi waited for a moment before coming forward
hesitantly. He took Violet’s shivering, tiny arm and
wrapped it around the base of the lamp. She clung to it
tightly. He then staggered back to his post and braced
again for the explosion.
“Levi, what’s going on?” Jenny asked.
“Just hang on. Trust me here. Make sure you don’t
look right into it or it’ll blind you.”
But that wouldn’t be a problem because her eyes
were locked on him. She was confused. What was he
expecting to happen?
“Just give it a minute,” he explained. “Trust me.”
She worked up the nerve and said, “I do. I trust you,
Levi.”
Then they both steered their worried faces to the
nineteen-year-old girl on her bed, dying from an
excruciatingly painful hole in her stomach. The ulcer
that tormented her body was ripping her young life
away and there was nothing they could do but watch.
The pain medications were no longer effective. Her life
was dripping into the dark abyss with each passing
minute.
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Levi now had to force himself to wait and found it
nearly impossible. He had a sinking, dreadful feeling in
his gut: the lamp had failed. He had failed.
Still clinging to hope, he locked hands with Jenny
and they watched. A stream of tears ran down Jenny’s
troubled face and it was becoming difficult for her to
catch her breath between sobs. Nothing. No explosion
of dazzling light. No amazing supernatural power being
unleashed. No sick girl suddenly sitting up completely
well. Nothing. Just a young woman named Violet who
was exiting the world through extremely slow torture.
And that pissed Levi off.
He snatched the lamp and threw it into his bag
before slinging it over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Jenny said.
“How far’s the nearest hospital?” he asked, while
bending over to lift Violet’s shivering frame into his
arms. “HOW FAR!?”
This time there was anger in his voice.
“It’s like thirty blocks, Levi. You know I don’t have a
car.”
Levi’s arms felt weak as he carried her toward the
door. Jenny ran behind him, still in disbelief. “Thirty
blocks? There’s no way he can carry her that far,” she
thought.
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• • •
The snow had halted but the streets were covered in
a mixture of powder and ice. Levi couldn’t get his
footing steady as he trudged onward with the precious
package in his arms. Jenny was right there with him,
directing him down vacated streets and through
intersections. Cabs had stopped roaming the city for
the night, due to the inclement weather. But excuses
wouldn’t save the girl, and Levi knew it. As long as his
grip held steady and his legs carried him forward, he
could make it. Though his arms were powerful from
years of weight-training, the dodgy terrain made every
step a challenge, and he had to fight hard to keep from
dropping her each time his foot slipped. Violet was no
longer awake so she sagged into his arms, becoming
dead weight. He was essentially forced to use his
fingers to constantly keep her one-hundred-pound
frame from toppling over.
Forty minutes later, the three of them made it to the
hospital entrance. Stepping inside, Levi dropped Violet
into a chair just as his grip finally gave out. He had no
more steam left in him; the tank was empty. He fell
beside her into another chair as Jenny literally grabbed
a few random medical staff and demanded that they
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see her daughter right away. In order to prevent a
scene, they followed her out into the lobby.
Jenny nearly crumbled when she saw the look in
their eyes. A man in a white coat winced when he
beheld the girl. She was unconscious and looked like
she’d been run over by a truck. Levi slouched beside
her, fighting exhaustion and rubbing his frozen,
itching, purple hands.
Violet was taken away on a wheeled gurney and the
team exited through the E.R. doors. Jenny sat down
beside Levi. She opened her coat so he could place his
hands inside and rest them on her warm abdomen.
“Here, you need to keep warm. You have no color in
your hands.”
Levi began to be filled with anger toward K.S. It was
his lamp that had failed to deliver. And now Violet was
most certainly dead because of him and his capricious
games. Jenny sensed that Levi was tensing up.
“It’ll be all right,” she said. “You did well to get her
here. I’m proud of you.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he shot back. “Whether she dies in
a hospital room or at home — doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t talk like that. She could still pull through.”
“Yeah…” he scoffed, standing up.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
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“Well, I’m not going to just wait around here while
they stitch up a corpse.”
He grabbed his utility bag with fury.
“Levi, wait…”
“I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT HER!” he shouted.
Heads turned. The front desk attendant shot a nasty
glare at them but neither seemed to care. The anger in
his soul had boiled over.
“I failed! The stupid, ridiculous lamp failed! It’s over.
I’m done. I’m done living like this.”
“You didn’t fail,” she pleaded. “What more could you
have done?”
“You don’t understand, Jenny. Since the day I met
that girl, I knew something terrible would happen. I
knew she was in trouble.”
“Please… don’t be like this. Just sit down, let’s talk
about this.” More tears sprang from Jenny’s already
worn-out eyes.
“No,” he said gently. “I’m done with all this. With
being stalked, with carrying all this responsibility, with
watching everyone die. All I wanted was a simple life,
Jenny. Honestly, I wish I were back in prison. I’m so
tired of dealing with all this.”
“Please…” she said.
“I’m signing that contract.”
“Levi…”
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“Goodbye, Jenny.”
He left the hospital with angry, brooding steps and
walked home with that contemptible lamp jostling him
with every stride. He felt like throwing it into the river.
Levi’s anger had risen to a level at which he was
begging to run into Dev. Yeah, let me see that bastard
on this night. We’ll see who’s locking his door now. I’ll
send that piece of shit scrambling!
Reaching his apartment, Levi flung the door open
and dropped the lamp right in the middle of the floor,
not caring if the thing broke in half. He left the door
standing open behind him and slammed his fist into
the wall, cracking the brick. A stream of blood spilled
from his knuckles as he lowered them, turned and
kicked the door shut. His rage-filled eyes scanned the
room for things to break, things to smash. Instead they
landed on a note, neatly folded on the sacred table.
Levi kicked the table over, not even wanting to look
at it.
“I don’t care what you have to say anymore! You are
useless to me! I want nothing to do with you!”
Levi reached down with scorn and snatched up the
note just to mock its contents. Folding it open, he saw:
I didn’t tell you to bring the lamp to her. After all this
time, you still don’t trust me? Baffled, K.S.
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“Oh, I bet you’re baffled, mighty one! You have no
problem bringing some gang banger back from the
dead or an old rich guy but a girl like Violet should
suffer and die, right? That’s some idea of justice you’ve
got there, King of Sickos! Good riddance!”
Levi threw the note down into the pile he’d made
with all the others he’d received from K.S. and picked
up the lamp disdainfully. Ripping open the front door,
he launched the lamp outside like a shot put. It landed
with a loud clank and rolled into the middle of the
street.
“Hey, Dev! It’s all yours! Take the damn thing!”
Levi slammed the door shut behind him.
“How could you do this to Violet?” Levi demanded to
an empty room. “How could you let that girl suffer like
this? I know what that lamp can do! You chose this! I
don’t want your notes any more. I want no part of this
jacked-up world of yours!”
Levi ended his rant and within moments, the room
became very still. He turned toward the door and a
dreadful, heavy fear passed over him. He was filled
with the knowledge that he was alone. Unprotected.
Then a chill slowly crept up his arms.
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