Free The Banshee's Embrace by Victoria Richards Page B

aware of the cool tile beneath her and the splitting headache digging its way into the back of her head.
                  "Wake up!"
                  Someone slapped both sides of her cheek.
                  "Stop," she moaned and opened her eyes fully. "My head…"
                  "I bet it hurts like a son of a bitch! That was a real humdinger of a fall you took."
                  Jacqueline sat up and focused on the woman squatting down next to her.
                  "Matilda? From Merlyn's Bar?" Jacqueline stared. "What are you doing here? What happened?"
                  "I was looking for Toby." Matilda gave a deep, raspy cough. "I need him to open up shop."
                  "So you came here?"
                  "Well, yeah. I followed his smell."
                  Jacqueline rubbed her head, confused. Smell?
                  "What are you? A dog or something?" Jacqueline joked and managed to stand up with the help of the kitchen chair.              
                  "Yeah."
                  Before Jacqueline could respond, she spotted Toby's body on the floor.
                  "Oh my god!" Jacqueline rushed to his side, disturbed by the lifeless blue eyes that stared up at her.
                  "Oh, he's dead," Matilda called out, unconcerned. "You killed him pretty good."
                  You killed him .
                  The words ripped at Jacqueline's heart, and she tried to remember what had happened before she blacked out. Her gaze went to the silver box on the table.
                  "Don't open that," Matilda advised. "It's bad for your health."
                  "We should call 911."
                  "Wouldn't do a bit of good. He's dead."
                  "Don't say that!"
                  "Honey, I'm just telling it like it is. At my age, you have to." Matilda coughed again, the hacking noise of a long time smoker. "Besides, you didn't mean to do it. It was an accident, right? How are you supposed to know what the Box of Souls can do? It's not like it comes with instructions."
                  "How do you know about it?" Jacqueline touched Toby's face.
                  Cold. His cheek was cold. Her fingers trembled.
                  "You hang out at Merlyn's Bar long enough, you hear things. I've been a regular patron there since Toby's father owned the joint back in 1963."
                  Matilda's words barely registered. Jacqueline couldn't believe that Toby was dead or that she'd killed him. She had a memory though, a memory of on overwhelming power rushing through her. It had come from that silver box. How had it opened? 
                  "So like I was sayin' I came to get Toby because I need a drink." Matilda walked over to Toby's body. "You think he has the key to the bar on him? Sometimes when I get desperate I go to his house and he lets me open the bar up myself."
                  "Don't you touch him!" Jacqueline said, her voice full of warning as Matilda reached forward to search for the key. "He's dead and all you can think about is the damn key to the bar?"
                  "He ain't completely dead," Matilda told her with a small smile. "I can smell life in him and it's getting stronger."
                  "You're crazy," Jacqueline whispered. "You're a drunk and you've lost your mind."
                  "Hey, now. Let's not go naming calling, sweetheart. I may drink a little, but I never get drunk! And I sure as hell haven't lost my mind!" Matilda tapped on her nose. "This honker never lets me down. I tell you that I smell life, then there must be life in him!"
                  "And what," Jacqueline gritted her teeth, "does life smell