Title: Death in White
    Author: L
    Rating:NC-17 (language, violence, sexual situations)
    Disclaimer: 2002- I do not hold copyright on any of the characters from the
    movie The Fast and The Furious. I do, however, own the rights to all
    original characters as well as the plot of this fic.

    NOTE: This was a lyric wheel fic challenge. I hope everyone enjoys it.
     
    Part1
    *************
     
    And her hallway
    Moves
    Like the ocean
    Moves
     
    He watched them so closely, watched them as if he were there with them, as
    if they could actually still be a part of them. That wasn't possible no matter how hard he wished, how hard he yearned to be back there. He was restless, ill at ease being neither here nor there. The limbo of his eternal rest wore thin on him and slowly began to eat away at his resolve to remain forever a memory.
     
    At the head of the river
    At the source of the sea
     
    He owned this world, this place that couldn't be called heaven or hell. It
    was simply there, in between. He could do whatever he pleased, whenever he
    pleased and that was the well from which his pleasure sprang. But even as a
    king has boundaries to his kingdom so does a earth bound spirit. Rage and
    pain mix hard in a soul without a body, anchoring in time and space the
    transition that is death.
     
     
    ******************
     
    Down the river there's a ship will carry you
    Down river, down stream
    Down the river there's a ship will carry the
    Dream
     
    Mia sprang upright in her bed, a scream poised on her trembling lips. The
    same thing night after sleepless night, she woke dreaming of Jesse. Every
    dream was the same, reliving his death - the shots that ripped through his
    body. It had been months since Tran shot him dead in front of them, months
    since he died in Dom's arms with his blood spilling out over the hot summer
    sidewalk. But to Mia it was as fresh as the day it happened, having to
    relive it every night.
     
    As her breathing slowed, she swung her legs over the edge of her bed and
    stood, realizing that she couldn't quite shake the trembling in her limbs.
    Silently, she padded to her door and down the hall to the bathroom. Flipping
    on the light, she automatically tip-toed towards the shower and with a sweep of her arm knocked the shower curtain back. There was a sigh of relief as she half expected some nightmarish specter to appear before her. With a nervous laugh, she turned to the sink.
     
    "Mia?"
     
    Dom's concern filled voice practically boomed in the small silent
    bathroom.
     
    "Shit!"
     
    Mia screeched, jumping inches off the floor in her fright. Turning, she
    stared wide eyed at her brother, her heart hammering wildly inside her chest
    yet again. The night was quickly proving more exhausting than any two
    days of her life.
     
    "Christ, Dominic, don't sneak up on me like that!"
     
    Her words were a hiss that rolled quickly off her tongue, striking out at
    him.
     
    "Sorry, Mia, just wanted to make sure you were okay. I thought I heard
    something down stairs..."
     
    He met her troubled eyes, something he was seeing more and more in her, once
     again before he turned with a shrug and headed for the stairs.
     
    Mia sighed out her anxiety resting her hands against the smooth porcelain of
    the sink. Slowly, she reached for the tap and turned on the water. Her eyes
    locked with the smooth, soothing rush. There was something about the sight,
    the sound, of running water that reminded her of Jesse. The water reminded
    her of her nightmare, reminded her of something he'd been trying to tell her
     Just as she was about to dismiss the tiny river that disappeared down
    the drain to her left, the toilet suddenly flushed.Swinging, she prayed she'd see Dom there but there was no one there and as she stood watching it happened again. Her eyes locked on the swirl of clear water in the bowl. Giving the possessed toilet a wide berth, she stepped out into the hall trembling wildly, her back connecting with the opposite wall. There was no
    hesitating, no waiting for big brother to check of the boogey man, she
    sprinted the few short feet back to her room. With a wild leap from the
    middle of her room, she landed with a sagging bounce in the middle of her bed
     
     
    "Go away, Jesse."
     
    ****************
     
    Below in the kitchen, Dom stood with his arms crossed over his smooth mocha
    chest, a less than pleased look capturing his features. His eyes remained
    locked on the pool of white that took up the floor outside the open fridge
    door.
     
    "Ungrateful, disrespectful, shits!" Dom growled as he turned and reached for
    the roll of paper towels on the counter. If he didn't know it was impossible,
    he would have thought Jesse had been raiding the milk. It was his thing. It was seldom that Mia didn't find an empty gallon of milk taking up space in the fridge and now with Jesse gone it seem that no one wanted to touch the stuff
     
    He bent and began mopping up the mess and happen to catch movement from the corner of his eyes. A streak of gray or a shadow, maybe.
     
    "Thanks man...."
     
    He pivoted on the balls of his feet and found the room serene, found it quite and undisturbed. He was sure he'd heard Jesse's voice, heard it as if the other man was standing right beside him. .
     
    "Ain't no such thing as ghosts, Toretto"


     
     
    Part 2
    **************
     
    Sitting here now in this bar for hours
    Trying to write it down
    Fitting in hard with harder to come
    Trying to fight it
     
    Lifting the have drank Corona to his lips Vince starred down at the ink smudged napkin, a pen held loosely in his fingers. He'd come here to this dark place where he didn't have to be a part of anything, where he could find peace from the team and the months upon months of shit that had followed him like a bad dream. He remembered only bits and piece of that day, the day that Dom had monumentally fucked up. But he was clear on a couple of things, he was real clear about the indescribable pain that ripped at his left arm, and the paralyzing fear of being stuck to a semi like a bug in the grill. That had been bad, harder than anything he'd gone through. It had taken a week for the pain killers to leave his system enough to understand what happened, understand what happened to him and the youngest of their team. The only thing that eased Jesse's death at all for him was knowing Johnny Tran was dead. He knew he would have hunted down the bastard himself if Brian hadn't stolen that glory. But like most things, that day had slowly started to fade, healing had happened, and the team had gotten on with their lives.
     
    Holding the pen a little more firmly, he jotted down another line or two and lifted his head. He took a moment to meet the curious eyes of the blonde at the end of the bar. With a inward sigh, he knew it was time to leave. He wasn't here for this, not tonight and most likely not any of the other nights he would return. Folding the napkin carefully, he pushed it into his pocket and stood then with a parting glance he moved towards the door and out into the dry California night.
     
    "Shit," he hissed as he stretched his arms over his head,  the creak from his spine signaled he'd been idle for far too long.
     
    He ambled across the parking lot, in no particular hurry to be anywhere, and reached for the handle of the Maxima. He paused as a tingle raced along his scalp and down his back, raising goose bumps in its path. Taking a step away from the car, he peered carefully in the window, his eyes traveling the interior. Seeing nothing amiss he shrugged and jerked the door open. He slid behind the wheel of the car and sat there while seconds ticked by as he took breath after breath filling his lungs. Slowly the dizziness, the disorientation began to creep in and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it was the NOS, that there had to be a leak.
     
    Just as he would have reached for the key, his vapor filled mind forgetting the dangers of compressed NOS, a chilled hand clamped onto his shoulder.
     
    "Can't kill me, Vince but can't say the same for you."
     
    Tran's voice came floating through the fog to him. Instantly he sobered, glancing in the mirror as the dead man hung just over his shoulder.
     
    "Sonofabitch!" he shouted, instantly grasping frantically at the door's handle. And as he shoved at the door, he knew it was locked - locked and there was no way in hell that he was unlocking it.
     
    Light, menacing laughter filled the car lending more urgency to Vince's bid for freedom. Lifting his his elbow, he applied it brutally to the side window, not once, not twice, but he was rewarded on the third strike as the glass burst outwards. With a graceless twist and heave of his body, he slithered out of the window and scrabbled to catch his footing. As he sprinted away from the car, he heard the loud percussion of the explosion a fraction of a second before the rolling heat licked along his skin.
     
    Wasn't Tran...Just seeing things...
     
    *************
     
    Push the glass, stain the glass
    Push the writer to the wall
    It may come but it will pass
    Some say we will fall
     

     
    Leon strode purposefully into the office laying the last work order of the day on the desk. He was tired, working longer and longer hours at the garage was starting to catch up with him. He was seeing things here and there, hearing things and each time he would excuse it as exhaustion. Turning, he was about to make his way back out into the large garage bay when his eyes fell for the tenth time that day, the hundredth time that week, on the computer that Jesse was always typing away on. Seeing it there, covered with a thick coat of dust, was a constant reminder of their missing team member, of his friend.
     
    He changed his direction and moved to the far side of the office retrieving a roomy cardboard box. His chest constricted at the idea of what he was about to do.
     
    "Awww, dawg, I don't wanna do it but it's time," he soulfully mumbled, his words were merely meant for his own comfort and not to be heard, but they were and very clearly.
     
    Leon reached for the monitor, his hand slipping behind the screen towards the plug. Jerking the thick cord from the outlet, he drew back and automatically felt a searing pain across his fingers.
     
    "Shit!" he hissed.
     
    Lifting his hand from behind the monitor, crimson beads dripped from his fingertips across the screen running downwards in two thick rivulets. Green turbulent orbs locked onto the deep lacerations, watching thick blood spilling over the jagged edges of torn flesh. Leon watched until a faint flickering caught his attention. Slowly he drug his eyes upwards and took a involuntary step backwards. Across the now active monitor scrolled line after line, words from another time and place.
     
    Go fetch my car.
    Go fetch my car.
    Go fetch my car.
     
    His mind froze at what he was seeing, at what he knew wasn't possible. He moved to check the outlet again, second guessing himself. Had he really unplugged it? Had he imagined it? But no, laying there clearly below the edge of the monitor was the three pronged plug. Shaking his head, he took another step away from the bloodied screen.
     
    This ain't happenin...He's dead and he can't touch us.

    Part 3
    *********
     
    I'll be picking up your petals in another few hours
    In the metal and blood, in the scent and mascara
    On a backcloth of lashes and stars
    In a flood of your tears, in sackcloth
     
    Dom sighed and rolled away from her, putting some space between their nude bodies as she stared up at the ceiling. His chest heaved with frustration and confusion. Letty had never lost interest in him before, especially not in bed, and he wasn't sure how to react. Did I do something? Did I not do something?
     
    With another heavy sigh, Dom rolled back to her, his knuckles brushing along her arm. He decided to tackle the problem head on, no beating around the bush, no more wondering. "What's wrong, Let?"
     
    "Noth..." She started to deny her sudden frigidness but she knew that he wouldn't let it go. He would keep at her until she broke and told him anyway. Shifting away from his touch, she sat up at the edge of the bed, running her hand through her thick sable hair tugging it ruthlessly.
     
    "I don't know, Dom...I think I'm loosing it or somethin." Her voice shook with the thick thread of fear that wound through her, that gripped her stomach making her feel sick.
     
    "What'd ya mean losing it?" he questioned, shoving up onto the bank of pillows behind him. His eyes tracked each and every one of her movements, right down to the familiar squaring of her shoulders. Always strong...
     
    "I... Shit! Things have been happenin and I thought it was all in my head at first, ya know? I would see things, hear things - in the house, the garage." She stood from the bed, pacing in the confine space beside the bed.
     
    "What kinda things, baby?"
     
    "Things like.... Like... Jesse, Dom!" she sputtered, her face paling at the revelation. "But that's not all... There've been times that other shit's happened. Times when I was sleepin...or at least I thought I was sleepin and there would be touches. Like when you touch me, the places you touch me." She fell back onto the bed with a pained hiss, trembling as she allowed herself to think about it, to really think about the touches.
     
    "I couldn't stop it, Dominic. I tried and I couldn't stop it."
     
    "What the fuck are you sayin? That you were... Were damn near raped by a ghost or somethin?" he growled, shoving from the bed, afraid to believe her and afraid not too.
     
    "I told you I was losing it. I just don't know anymore."
     
    "How many times has this happened, Letty? Once? Twice?" he shouted, his big hands sliding over his dampened scalp. Fear or anger, Dom couldn't decided which he was feeling, he couldn't decided which was dictating his reactions.
     
    "I don't know. Four maybe," she replied, dropping her head to hide the tear that trailed from the corner of her eye along her cheek.
     
    "You don't..." The sentence went unfinished as the front door below was slammed with such a force Dom was sure he heard the entire house groan in protest.
     
    **************
     
    Vince stalked into the living room of the Toretto house, dazed and completely confused. His mind reeled with the nights happenings, with what he was sure he'd seen. He stood there like a victim strait from a war zone, pale and trembling.
     
    Mia was off the couch in an instant, her eyes wide and frightened. He'd woke her from another dream and for a fraction of a second she had been sure it was Jesse standing there in front of her.
     
    "V, what's wrong?" She lay a gentle hand against his bicep, only to have it shrugged away.
     
    "Tran."
     
    "What?"
     
    He repeated the name, not knowing what else to say, not knowing how to explain it to her.
     
    "Lance?" Mia asked, her eyes dropping to the small slit like wounds at Vince's elbow and still more at his palm. "Lance Tran did this?"
     
    "Fuck! NO!" he yelled, stepping away from her, his feet instantly in motion towards the kitchen.
     
    "What the hell is goin on down here?" Dom's voice boomed from the stairway, his gaze  narrowing on Vince. He took the last couple of stairs and stormed across the room after the other man. "I asked you somethin, man!"
     
    Stopping in his tracks, Vince turned to Dom. "My car's a smoldering heap of shit and I saw Tran tonight," he hissed, his eyes staring past Dom to Letty and the horrified look on her face. She knows... She's seen him too.
     
    "Lan..."
     
    "No! Not fuckin Lance," he growled, his face twisting with frustrated anger.
     
    "V, Johnny's dead."

    Part 4
    *******
     
    Down the river there's a ship will carry you
    Down river, down stream
    Down the river there's a ship will carry the
    Dream

     
    Dom shook his head, his eyes falling on each of the team scattered around the kitchen, his body feeling the first subtile strains of exhaustion.  He hadn't planned or anticipated spending the night listening to over active imaginations, listening to ghost stories. He would certainly admit he couldn't explain everything that had been happening but he couldn't just give into the idea that his house was being haunted, that ghosts were running around trying to kill Vince and do god only knew what to Letty.
     
    "I'm not convinced," he announced, folding his arms over his chest as the counter supported his weight.  "But if this...this...ghost hunter or whatever the hell she is will fix this shit then lets do it."
     
    There was a round of mumbled responses that came from the other's, none wanting to add to the tension that filled the room.
     
    Letty cut her eyes to Dom, shrugging as his eyes met hers. "She's good... My aunt knows her and says she's gotten rid of evil spirts before."
     
    "Good. Cause much more of this and its gonna be me you have to worry about instead of some ghost." He pushed off the counter as the doorbell rang at the front door. He pulled in a deep breath as he prepared to open his mind, at least in part, to some sort of solution to their problem.
     
    With a brutal yank, Dom opened the front door and was greeted with a attractive middle aged woman. She smiled warmly and stepped past him into the house.
     
    "Hello, Dominic Toretto." She spoke with a slightly Cuban accent as she swept her long  inky hair from her shoulder. "I'm Ana." She introduced herself extending her hand in the process. Dom accepted the hand shaking it as he stared. He couldn't shake the shiver of recognition, she looked so much like his mother. Her cocoa dark eyes lit with understanding and she moved closer patting him on the shoulder. "She's in a good place, Dom."
     
    Letty was quick to move around him and take Ana's hand, leading her further into the room. "Thanks for comin. My aunt said you'd know how to help us, what to do."  The rest of the team had gathered around the room, watching cautiously.
     
    "Show me the house, Mija?" Ana leaned in and gently hugged Letty, trying to calm the obviously unnerved girl.
     
    *********
    Half an hour later Ana was seated at the kitchen table, her eyes falling on each and every one of the team. Taking a deep breath, she fingered a beaded choker of Jesse's.
     
    "You've all been through a very difficult time in the last few months. You lost a very good friend..." she announced, her voice sure and certain of what she was saying. "There was also the death of an enemy."
     
    "Yeah. That was...." Mia began but was silenced as Ana raised her hand.
     
    "Both are here. In your house, in your lives. Jesse and Johnny."
     
    "Yeah. No shit!" Vince growled and shot to his feet stalking towards the fridge for a Corona, remembering the face of Tran as he was nearly barbecued in his car.
     
    "So, how do we get rid of 'em?" Leon asked in his usual calm, level monotoned voice. He cut a concerned glance over his shoulder at Vince.
     
    "LEON! It's Jesse!" Mia hissed, narrowing her dark eyes on him.
     
    Dom looped his arm around his sister's shoulder protectively, pulling her against his side. "That's not what he meant and you know it. Settle down."
     
    Ana waited for the tension to dull in the room, waiting for a wave of calming energy and surprisingly it came from the skeptic, came from Dominic. "There was a event, a moment that linked them before their deaths. I moment of trauma that, in a sense, trapped them here. Whatever it was trapped them between this world and the other." There was another tension filled moment as she watched her meaning dawn on each of them. "There's a car, white. You should get rid of it."
     
    Dom shrugged releasing Mia and pushing away from the door frame . "Fine. I'll do the repairs and sell it. No more problem."
     
    "It's not that easy, Dominic. You can't simply sell it and expect that all will settle peacefully. As long as that car remains in one piece the pain it created will keep your house and your life filled with these two spirits."
     
    "So your saying I gotta strip the car? Haul it out piece by piece?"
     
    She nodded, her eyes locked in a silent entreaty for understanding with his. "It's the only way."
     
    "Damn, that's a lot of work for something that hasn't bothered me in the least."
     
    "Hasn't it?" Ana turned a pointed glance on Letty.

    Part 5
    *********
     
    And ashes and ashes
    And ashes and ashes
    And ashes and ashes

     
    Days passed and the disturbances dulled to a muted roar, nothing catastrophic loomed over the Toretto house. Simple things took the place of exploding cars and forbidden touches. Rings disappeared, dishes broke, the water seemed to come and go from the facets as it pleased. It was unnerving but nothing that the Toretto household wasn't getting use to.

    Dom had decided to take Ana's advise after one particular night he woke to Letty crying and whimpering beside him, her body withering almost spasmodically. He watched as bruises formed where unseen hands had roamed and it had finally been enough for him.
     
    He worked with a determination that was wholly Dom, worked with a need to protect what was his - his family. The car came apart quickly, part after part came from the Jetta readied for the salvage yard. Leon and Vince would lend a hand, when and only when, Dom asked for it otherwise they stayed out of his way and watched. They watched the car that Jesse had took such pride in, the car he'd lost to Tran on an impulse, desovle into a memory.
     
    "That the last of it?" Vince asked, moving beside Leon in the garage his eyes narrowing at the flicker of the acetylene torch Dom applied to the last of the car's frame.
     
    "Yeah, can't say I'm sorry to see it go, dawg." Leon responded, shifting the wooden spike held between his lips from one side of his mouth to the other.
     
    "Maybe we'll all get some peace around here now."
     
    ************
     
    At the head of the river
    At the source of the sea

     
    Letty yawned, stretching her arms over her head with feline like grace. A contented smile lined her lips as warm sunlight filled the bedroom. Cutting her eyes to the bed beside her, she realized Dom had already left, no doubt for the garage. She glided near bonelessly from the comfort of the bed, padding across the room to the bathroom.
     
    Turning on the tap, water ran cool and fast into the sink. Dipping her hand into the current, she brought the soothing liquid to her lips and drank. A soft sigh filled the room as she lifted her head to stare at her reflection in the mirror, fingers coming up to scrub at the smugged mascara under her eyes.
     
    "Free. No more spooks," she whispered, her smile returning. Whirling, she pushed the shower curtain open and sent a spray of water into the tub. The shower ran hot and filled the room with moist steam, trendles slipping over the top of the smooth steel rod, clinging to the rooms cooler surfaces.
     
    Her dark thong slipped down her thighs and landed silently on the white tile floor. Kicking the underwear away, she lifted her foot and stepped under the cascade of water. Instantly, her head dropped back as the water massaged her scalp. With the relaxation claiming her from head to toe, her lips pressed together and she began humming the strains of a song she'd heard the night before with Dom.
     
    When the chill invaded the bathroom, she wasn't sure, but slowly it began to wrap its icy talons around her nude body, clawing below the surface of her skin to chill her to the bone. Lifting her head, she wrapped her arms around her, certain that Dom had come home.
     
    Goddamn, can't he ever close the door!
     
    "Shit, Dom, it's freezing in....." The words died on her lips as she pushed the vinyl curtain aside, eye jumping to the mirror across from her. There scrawled on the surface, disturbing the thick dewy film, were words meant just for her.
     
    Go fetch my car!
     
     
    Fini
     

     
     Home|Back