“Pick up. Please pick up.”

The phone kept ringing. I almost hung up again but then heard her voice.

“What Sean?”

“Charice! Oh thank goodness.”

No response on the other end.

“Hey, listen. Earlier I didn’t mean to be a tool. I messed up. But...uh, something’s wrong. I don’t feel good. Could you come pick me up?”

“Why don’t you have your car?”

“I’ll tell you when you get here. Please hurry though.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the abandoned mill. You know, the one I told you about. Right before we went on our second date and the Sluagh carried you away.”

“Why are you there?”

“I don’t know. I woke up here. I think I blacked out.”

More silence. Then heavy breathing.

After pause Charice said, “Okay Sean we’re coming. Don’t move. Sit down and stay put.”

I let out a sigh of relief. For a moment I was worried that she would not hear me out because of how messed up I’d been to her earlier. But the blacking out part got her attention. I didn’t want to freak her out. But I had to be honest.

“Wait, we? No, don’t bring anyone else. I just need you.”

“That’s sweet. But I don’t want to take any chances.”

“What do you mean?”

I heard her mumble on the other line, deciding how to say what was on her mind. “I’d just feel better if Nehemiah and Rob come along to help you too. They know more about this stuff than me or you.”

My stomach fluttered. “...Okay. Sure. The more the merrier.”

“I’m going to hang up now and make another phone call, then go get Rob. We’ll be there as fast as possible.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Then she hung up.

I heard what she was saying, but I also heard what she wasn’t saying. Charice didn’t want to come alone because she was scared of me. I freaked her out. My palms dampened. I wiped them on my jeans over and over. Oh no. Charice doesn’t like me anymore.

No, that wasn’t true. If she didn’t like me she would not be concerned for me right now. At least not enough to come through for me. But that still didn’t negate the fact that she was wary of me. I’d be wary of me too. I was having weird dreams, seeing doppelgangers of myself, my throat was sore, and I’d been bitten by a vampire. She was probably second guessing if we should even continue dating. I could hear the excuses she might give me, the reasons she would use to soften the blow. It’s me not you. You’ve got a lot going on right now and I don’t want to be a burden. Yatta yatta.

And now she was coming to help me yes, but part of me imagined that this was the perfect time for her to dump me. That’s why she needed Nehemiah and Rob to come along, so they could take over once she left.

The terrible part was that even if I wanted to convince her everything was alright in order to salvage the relationship, I couldn’t. I could not even explain how I got here.

My mind was in a daze so I tried to focus. I let my thoughts drift to my last memory of the abandoned mill. Why had I shown up here? This was a pretty dark spot for me. At the time I thought I was up against one and only one Sluagh. Ha ha. Joke’s on past me. He had no idea what was in store. He had no idea the scope of the world that lay just beyond the rifts and the thresholds.

I’d been foolish enough to believe that I was only fighting one monster, as if life was fair. And in the same way, present me was dealing with the same stupidity. Gee whiz. When would I learn? I guess I didn’t want to believe that I had the potential to turn into a monster, that I had a dark side. It was like none of the good things I did in the past mattered, no matter how much I wanted them to. No matter how many monsters I put down, it didn’t stop me from becoming one.

And ultimately I’d known this would happen all along, to some extent. Nehemiah warned me up front that I was cursed. I was the one that decided I was too busy to research anything to do about the Keening. Now I had to deal with it.

Charice drove up to the abandoned mill in her burgundy ‘01 Corolla along with Nehemiah trailing behind in his purple Datsun pickup truck.

I was relieved that they were there. And that’s when the Keening decided to rear its ugly head. I felt him twisting, turning, crawling in my skin.

A subzero cold submerged my heart.

I realized what I’d become.

The vampire bite did not turn me into a blood sucking man-bat. Instead it set off a chain reaction in my Keening.

I’d become a Ban-he.

A name echoed in my mind.

Asen Scáth.

And with it the memories I shared with my dark half, Asen Scáth, the pale shadow Sean, the Keening brought to life.

I held my palm up to my friends. “No, back,” I whispered. I dare not yell, that would just give him power, put him in control. But my friends took it as a sign that I needed help and moved in closer.

Looking to the sky I understood the detrimental mistake I’d made. The moon rose high in the night and the last of the sunlight died. I’d invited my friends to get slain by Asen Scáth.

Rob floated over to me with my swords. “Hey buddy. I brought these to make you feel better.”

Against my will, my hands shot for my swords and attached the sheaths to my person.

“Back away,” I whispered.

“What is it Sean?” asked Rob, all up in my face.

Charice and Nehemiah drew near. Everyone was too close to me. All up in my space. Underneath the surface shadow Sean wrestled for control.

“Get away.” I tried to shew my friends away, but they grew more concerned.

Rage bubbled up inside me. Didn’t they understand I was trying to protect them? How thick were their skulls? How stupid could they be?

I could not contain fire any longer. I let my friends have it.

“I said... GET AWAY FROM ME.”

A sonic blast exploded from my mouth blasting my friends back.

And just like that, I was back in control. Sean took the back seat as I blasted his friends with Chaotic guttural screams.

Nehemiah was the first to recoup from the blast. He was also the first to decide he could and should take me on.

He struck me with the Dullahan’s whip. I went down for the count. I’m strong, but a whip is a whip. Especially one made from sharp spinal bones.

“Stop! You’re hurting Sean.”

It was Charice. She was concerned for me.

“That’s not Sean anymore. We’ve got to stop him.”

The pain gave me clarity. Asen Scáth was a coward. He retreated whenever pain was present so that I, the real Sean, could experience all of it.

I wanted to tell Charice that it was okay, that I’d be fine. I welcomed the pain if it meant Asen Scáth wouldn’t hurt my friends. But he resurfaced as soon as he left.

My neck twisted at odd angles against my will. Then Asen Scáth spoke through my throat.

“Go ahead wizard. Kill me. Take me out like every other monster you’ve faced. Do what you’ve done before. Destroy me and I’ll take Sean with me.”

Sean’s stupid girlfriend threw her arms over me, hugging me. The power of love was a powerful one though, and I underestimated its impact. Sean almost resurfaced. He gained strength from her touch.

Well, then I’d just have to get rid of her.

Sean’s words escaped my lips. “Get away Charice. He’ll kill you.”

Her eyes stared into mine and I screamed at her, point blank. She flew through the air and smashed into the hood of the wizard’s truck.

The wizard took one look at the fallen girl, then his hand went for his revolver. If he was torn about shooting me and possibly killing Sean in the process, it did not come across in his icy stare.

I was strong, but I could not take eight shots to the chest and walk away from this fight.

I dashed out of the way as he fired off shots. He was fast, but I was faster. This wasn’t my battle. I need to get to the Otherside and find Brigid. But I was nowhere near the threshold.

I was limiting myself to only what Sean could do. I was not Sean, I was Asen Scáth.

I yelled, rending a hole in the fabric of reality to the Otherside. Wind whipped through the hole, beckoning me in. Dashing through the rift, I took one last look at the wizard. His eyes burned amethyst. Something in my gut told me I’d be looking into those eyes very soon.