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 A Prophecy of Shadows

Chapter 10

Callie had planned on downloading the pictures from the camera as soon as she got home, but a call from the source of her side job derailed that plan. Instead, the next few days found her busy doing what she did best, making money to pay the bills. She even had time to set up a little personal ritual before one of the jobs, and had a few rousing rounds out of that one. The guy had even paid her extra, he was so impressed. She had been very good lately, and felt it was payback for her being a faithful servant, so to speak. With business taken care of, she made an entry in her laptop journal before pulling out the USB cable and hooking up the camera. A few clicks of the mouse, and the pictures started to download.

While the camera was doing its thing, Callie went into the kitchen and poured a stiff shot of bourbon into a glass, adding just enough Coke to take the edge off. She wanted to get into the right frame of mind…there were three rituals she wanted to do, and knew from experience it was going to take a lot out of her. But that was okay; in the end she was going to get exactly what she wanted, and it would all be worth it.

Going back upstairs, she saw that the camera had finished downloading. Disconnecting the USB, she turned the camera off and set it aside, switched the printer on before turning her attention to the Canon ZoomBrowser program. A couple of weeks worth of pics popped up on the screen, so she opened up the very first one and then flipped through each subsequent frame. ‘Oh, spare me,’ Callie thought as she viewed the pics, jealousy gnawing at her. The first few were of Cam, then it was Jessie laughing, another was of them embracing, though she couldn’t see both their faces clearly in that one. Callie refused to acknowledge what was so blatantly obvious in front of her—two people in love. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on Jessie, clicking the mouse.

‘What the fuck does he see in her? I am WAY hotter than that! Hell, I outshine her by far on every level as far as I’m concerned.’ She thought back over what little she did know about Jessica.

‘Prudish little bitch, from what I remember. Probably fucks with the lights off. I know there’s no way in hell she’s ever fucked a woman. At least I’ve actually been with members of my own sex. I bet that little non-imaginative piss-ant can’t say the same, huh? Probably too damned chicken shit. I tell you what, I'd do it with much zest, inspiration and passion. Oh yeah! Baby, get the video camera ready cuz you would not want to miss this all-nighter!’

Clicking the button, she quickly flipped through several photos before her whole body froze, the image of what had just flickered past searing itself into her brain. Hand beginning to shake, she clicked the back button, returning to the prior photo, her eyes glued to the one thing she hadn’t noticed before.

The ring.

The shaking soon spread to her entire body, rage flowing through her, evidenced by the distended veins in her neck, the flushing of her face, and the tightening of her throat before she gave in to the scream that was building exponentially with her fury. Grabbing the first thing she touched, she hurled the green hobnail glass vase against the wall where it exploded into a thousand pieces. Callie stood up, her eyes still locked on the image on the screen in front of her. "NOOOOOO!!!!!!" It sounded more like a cry from a wounded, enraged animal than a human being. Picking up the glass she had been drinking from, it followed the path of the vase, the bourbon and shards of glass raining down on the floor. The next scream was absolutely blood curdling.

"NO! You promised me, you said he was MINE! I did everything you wanted, everything you asked. You PROMISED!"

A tantrum thrown by an adult is never attractive…a tantrum thrown by someone who’s insane is downright chilling. Especially when they start responding to ‘it’. Callie immediately quieted, oblivious to the spittle running down her chin. Her chest was heaving from her exertions, but her mind turned inward, eyes focused on something only she could see.

"Yes," she hissed, her head tilted slightly to the right. "That might work." She nodded, listening to…something. "Get her out of the picture…uh huh. He’ll be distraught, but I’ll comfort him. He’ll realize what a huge mistake he made…he’ll be grateful for second chances." Still engaged in her mental conversation, Callie walked over to the makeshift altar, taking a moment to light the single candle at the back edge, caressing the marble statue. She then began to pull items from the apothecary cabinet, lining them up in a neat little row. Retrieving Jessie’s brush, she pulled several strands from the bristles before placing them in the small ceramic cup. Grabbing a pair of scissors, she pulled out Cam’s t-shirt, carefully cutting a strip from the thin cotton fabric, laying it on the altar next to the cup. Callie’s head bobbed in agreement as she continued to converse with whatever it was that was directing her actions. In her mind it was her patron, her guide, the thing that made her feel like she was in control—in reality, it was something very different that had only taken on that form. If she had the ability to see what ‘it’ really was, she would’ve run screaming in the other direction.

Jessie had spent little time at home, unless Cam was with her. If she wasn’t at work, she was at his apartment, or with Casey or Sam. There had been a few notifications from the Zoneminder program, but for the most part it had been an animal or the mailman that had activated the motion sensor. Friday came around, and Casey had invited everyone over for dinner after work. Three times before Casey actually had the food on the table they had received notifications from Jessie’s cameras, but logging onto the computer had revealed only a large bird in the vicinity each time.

Sam cycled between the video feeds. "What the hell is that? Looks too big to be a hawk."

Jack watched the bird walk across the field of view. "That’s a turkey vulture." He pointed to the screen. "See the red head? It resembles a wild turkey, so they call it a turkey vulture, or turkey buzzard."

"Maybe it smells something dead," Sam replied.

Jessie shrugged. "It’s a possibility, especially with those wooded lots to the side of the house. There’s always some sort of creature roaming through there."

"Well, let him find his own dinner," Cam said. "Right now I want to dig into some of Casey’s lasagna!"

They were in the midst of the meal, Casey bringing in two fresh loaves of Italian bread and a crock of real butter, when the notifier went off again. "Don’t worry about it," Jessie said as she cut a slice from the loaf and then passed it down. "It’s just that stupid vulture again. We can watch his antics later." With that, they turned their attention to enjoying the food and company, as well as discussing the events leading up to Cam asking Jessie to marry him. The news had spread like wildfire at work, and everyone was genuinely excited for the newly engaged couple.

Callie’s mood vacillated wildly that evening. On the one hand, she had completed several rituals directed specifically at breaking up Cam and Jessie, as well as those binding herself and Cam together. Realizing that they were engaged, her desperation had driven her to extraordinary measures. All thoughts of caution thrown to the wind, she had gone to Jessie’s house at dusk. A hastily crafted talisman in hand, made with the visualization of removing her from the picture permanently, she crept onto the property. Needing to place the charm somewhere relevant, she decided upon Jessie’s car. Working her way over to the vehicle, she dropped down on her hands and knees with every intention of slipping the talisman into the rim of the tire. At that moment, however, she had an overwhelming urge. Flattening herself on the ground and flipping onto her back, she shimmied beneath the car. The small Swiss army blade came in handy, as well as knowledge gained from a prior mechanic boyfriend. ‘In for a penny, in for a pound,’ she thought as she finished her task, not one ounce of remorse registering in her. Just as quickly got up and headed back to her house, certain the darkness had masked her movements.

Standing in front of her altar now with a small dagger in hand, she cut off a lock of her hair, about a dozen strands or so, six inches in length. She took the small amount of hair she had retrieved from Cam’s shower drain, compressing and lengthening the wad slightly. Laying it at a 90-degree angle across the lock of her hair, she took hers and tied it around Cam’s, effectively knotting the two pieces together. Anger coursed through her at the thought of him giving Jessie an engagement ring…asking her to marry him. Her movements became more jerky as her mood darkened.

"Stupid asshole…led around by his fucking dick." Pushing the hair aside, she grabbed the oil and poured a stream in her hand, spilling some onto the wooden surface as she did so. Clutching the candle in a stranglehold, she rubbed the oil onto it with harsh strokes. "Sure, everyone wants someone to fuck, but to settle on that worthless piece of pussy when he has prime grade-A right in front of him is un-fucking-believable." Her movements became so rough she actually cracked the candle, which pissed her off even more. Throwing it across the room, she yanked open the drawer and grabbed another one. Took a deep breath as she tried to control the rage flowing through her veins. "Lame brained son of a bitch," she muttered as she started with the new candle. Shoved it roughly into the candleholder and lit it, slapping the knotted hair down on the altar in front of the candle. She slammed the candle drawer shut, audibly rattling the bottles as she did so. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at the candle. "Maybe this will get the ring off his dick so he can pull his head out of his ass!"

A few hours later Cam and Jessie took their leave, heading back to Jessie’s house. She was almost expecting to see the vulture waiting for them, but the large bird was nowhere in sight as Cam parked his car behind Jessie’s. Walking up the driveway, Jessie fished her keys out of her purse, but ended up dropping them onto the concrete next to her car.

"Darn it," she said as she bent down, trying to see where they had landed. Catching a glint off one of the keys from the porch light, she reached for them, realizing as she picked them up that they felt wet. Quickly switching her grasp on them to holding them between her thumb and forefinger, she held them up. "What the hell is that?" she asked, considering the fact it wasn’t raining.

"What?"

"They fell into something wet."

Pulling out his keys, Cam used the miniature flashlight on the key ring to illuminate Jessie’s keys. Sure enough, something was on them, as well as Jessie’s hand. Shining the light down, he saw a puddle coming from beneath her car. Squatting down Cam touched the liquid, feeling the consistency between his fingers before smelling it. "Come on," he said as he ushered her up onto the porch, using the key Jessie had given him to open the front door. "Go wash your hands, and the keys."

Jessie went straight into the kitchen, turning on the water to wash off what appeared to be a slightly amber colored fluid. Cam rinsed his fingers and dried them before pulling out his cell phone.

"What is it?" she asked.

Just then he said, "Sam, it’s Cam. I need you to pull up the recordings from the video feed this evening at Jessie’s. Yeah. She’s got brake fluid leaking out from under her car, and we’re not talking about a drip, either. No, we’re inside…both doors were locked when we got here. Sure…hang on a minute." Cam motioned to Jessie. "They’re still over with Daniel and Casey. Sam said to turn on your monitor. She’s going to pull up the recording and have it play on your computer at the same time she’s looking at it."

Jessie did as Sam requested, and they put both cell phones on speakerphone so they all could hear the conversation. A few minutes later Sam’s voice came over the phone. "You ought to be seeing the prior recording…now."

Just then the monitor flickered, and the feed from the first motion sensor activation started playing. The turkey vulture was landing in the yard. "I’m going to fast forward it slowly…yell if you see anything out of the ordinary." The video played on, the vulture’s movements speeded up to almost a comical level, but nothing else appeared in the field of view.

"Were the other cameras recording at the same time?" Jessie asked.

"Only if their motion sensor was tripped," Sam replied.

Coming to the end of the first recording, Sam subsequently loaded up the next two activations, once again watching the antics of the vulture, and what might have been a raccoon or opossum appearing briefly towards the end of the recording.

"Hang on. There’s one more." They could hear Sam typing on the computer right before the screen flickered to life once again.

"Bottom right corner," Teal’c said stoically as a figure came into view, skirting along the edge of the bushes near the side yard.

"Got it," Sam said, and more typing ensued. "We have three camera activations on this one. I’ll stream them together."

For the first few minutes, they could only make out the figure of a person since they were only at the perimeter of the camera’s view. The feed switched from the side yard camera to the window camera as the person made their way across the property, trying to stay away from the visible light.

"That looks like a female, or a really small man," Casey observed, watching the screen closely.

"I believe you are right," Teal’c replied as he followed the figure’s movements.

The feed switched to the driveway camera. This time there was no doubt—it was a woman.

"I’m seeing a ponytail," Jack said.

"Yep. And look at the height in relation to the top of Jessie’s car…she’s not very tall," Casey added.

Up until this time the person had not turned to face the camera, and suddenly she dropped out of view.

"Damn it," Sam muttered as she scanned the feed. "I should have pointed that camera lower." Seconds ticked by as they watched the screen, waiting for the figure to reappear. "C’mon," Sam muttered as she tapped her foot in a nervous rhythm.

"There!" Casey said as the figure reappeared, the movements clearly of someone getting up off the ground, brushing debris from their pants.

"That’s right there by the car," Cam pointed out. Just then the figure turned toward the camera.

The silence over both phones was deafening, their shock finally broken by Casey’s exclamation. "Holy shit…that’s Calandra Jones!"

Given the evidence they had, especially once it was determined Jessie’s brake line had been cut, it didn’t take long to have the MP’s track down Callie and bring her in. Because of her bizarre behavior when they picked her up, they initiated an emergency detention along with a psychiatric evaluation at a military facility. It was quickly determined they were dealing with a multitude of psychiatric problems. With a promise to contact Dr. Fraiser with a report as soon as it was available, Calandra Jones was officially declared a risk to herself and others, and was held pending further consultation, treatment and disposition.

Janet sat alone in her office, finishing the paperwork on the physicals she had performed that day. The rest of the medical personnel were either on break or had gone home, which allowed Janet to get a lot more accomplished since there were no distractions. That was, until the telephone rang.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is Dr. Caballero. I need to speak with a Dr. Janet Fraiser, please."

"This is Dr. Fraiser."

"Thank goodness; I was afraid you might have gone home already."

"What can I do for you?" Janet asked, frowning as she tried to place the name of the person on the other end of the line.

"I’m the psychiatrist doing the initial evaluation on Calandra Jones. I was told you needed a report of the impression and recommendations. I can fax the report over to you, but I thought I’d give you a verbal assessment of my findings thus far."

Janet double-checked to make sure the fax machine was on. "You have the fax number?"

"Yes. My assistant will be sending the six page report in a few minutes."

Her eyebrows went up. "Six pages?"

"Let’s just say this is a…complex case."

"Well, I’m not in the middle of anything at the moment. What have you got?"

Dr. Caballero sighed. "I’ve got a laundry list of psychiatric disorders, that’s what I’ve got. It’s going to take a while to sort it all out since some of the diagnoses overlap, plus trying to figure out the right combination of pharmacological treatment along with individual and group psychotherapy."

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea. I’ve seen definitive passive-aggressive behavior, combined with features of manic depressive episodes…schizophrenia, which may be LSD-induced." Janet could hear the rustling of papers. "Make that paranoid schizophrenia. There are obvious homicidal tendencies, given her history of cutting the brake line on that young woman’s car. There’s a history of self-mutilation, as evidenced by old and new scars from cutting along the forearm, hand and fingers on the left side. Depending on how clearly we elucidate the above features, there might be a diagnosis of bipolar disorder." More rustling of papers. "Also post traumatic stress disorder, a history of substance abuse, sexual and psychological abuse issues. Strong possibility of rape, and features of a paternal incestuous relationship."

Janet rubbed her eyes. "My God." Sorted through that mental list in the silence of her office. "What behaviors is she exhibiting?"

"Well, in the week I’ve observed her, I’ve seen evidence of lying and obstructionism, resentment, making excuses, blaming others, fostering chaos. Going by information we’ve obtained from the patient and prior military employment records, she resists suggestions from others, avoids responsibility by claiming forgetfulness, complains incessantly, but doesn’t express anger or hostility in a direct fashion. She fears competition, loses things, willfully withholds understanding and exhibits intentional inefficiency. She’s also showing signs of auditory hallucinations."

"That’s quite a list."

"Wait until you read the report."

"So, given your findings, what’s the plan of treatment and prognosis?"

"We’ll work to stabilize her initially in the acute care environment. Afterward, she’ll be confined to a long term facility in order to address several psychiatric disorders, including but not limited to drug use, PTSD and prolonged abuse situations…some self-inflicted, others not."

The fax machine started beeping. "Do you know which psychiatrist her care will be transferred to once she’s committed to the long term facility?"

"That would be Dr. Bailey."

Janet nodded. "She has a good record of being able to turn patients around. Although this case will most likely pose a challenge for her." The pages began to print out. "I appreciate you taking the time to contact me, Dr. Caballero."

"Not a problem. If I can be of any further assistance, please give me a call."

Janet hung up the phone, turning her attention to the fax machine. The first piece of paper was the cover page; the rest comprised the actual report. Flipping through the pages, she found the assessment summary.

Oh boy. Janet actually considered it short of a miracle someone hadn’t been hurt by this woman before now, given the mental problems she was exhibiting. Looking at the time, she made a note to call a meeting in the morning and fill everyone in on the latest assessment.

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