Unquiet Souls

by Christine Pope

  “I understand,” Audrey said. Her worry must have shown on her face, because he seemed to put his scruples aside and came closer, pulling her against him. She laid her head against his chest, was reassured by the slow, steady beating of his heart. Fiercely, she wished they could stay here like this, just the two of them, safe in his house. Unfortunately, they had a date with a bunch of demons.

  Michael ran his hand over her hair, his touch gentle and yet firm. “You can do this. We will do this. You’ve already faced challenges that would have sent most people running for the next state, so I have no doubt that you’ll be able to handle this one as well. And it won’t be the two of us, either — Colin will be filming, and Susan will take care of the sound.”

  “Are they going to be draped in crosses and black tourmaline, too?” Audrey asked wryly.

  “Actually, yes. That is, I gave Colin a key chain with a cross set with black tourmaline, so he carries it all the time. Susan has a pendant that’s very similar. She knows to wear it into situations like this.”

  To be honest, Audrey hadn’t seen a cross around Susan’s neck, but it wasn’t as though she’d been looking for one, either. She could have had it tucked inside the neckline of her T-shirt; Audrey thought she’d glimpsed the gleam of a silver chain around her neck, but the pendant would have fallen inside her shirt and been invisible to the casual onlooker.

  “It sounds like you’ve thought of everything,” she remarked, and Michael gave a sad shake of his head.

  “Unfortunately, when it comes to dealing with demons, it’s almost impossible to think of ‘everything.’”

  Audrey stared up at him, and fervently hoped he was wrong.

  Chapter 13

  They didn’t eat any lunch; Michael said it was better to be light and lean when going into a confrontation like this. Besides, they’d had breakfast late enough that skipping a meal wouldn’t make that big a difference.

  “If everything goes well,” he said as the two of them got into his Land Cruiser, “then Colin and I will take the crew out to celebrate. That’s one thing I can say for him — he’s not afraid to spend money on a party.”

  “I thought wrap parties were for the end of a season,” Audrey remarked. She decided she wouldn’t comment on his “if everything goes well” remark, because she was feeling nervous enough as it was and didn’t need to hear all the reasons why today’s shoot could head south in a hurry.

  “Well, this isn’t exactly an ordinary show. But I have a feeling Colin will want to have another party once we’ve wrapped the season.”

  Which meant she’d have to go through all this five more times. About all she could do was hope that the other places they were called to investigate wouldn’t be quite as intense. She had a feeling that five weeks of this sort of thing would leave her a nervous wreck.

  Although….

  Audrey glanced over at Michael, his expression intent as he eased his SUV into the heavy traffic on Lake Avenue, and reflected that this job did have its perks. A few days earlier, she would have scoffed at the notion that she and Michael Covenant could ever be romantically involved. And now…now she just wanted this to be over with so he could kiss her again. He was awfully good at it.

  They’d given themselves plenty of time to get to the Whitcomb mansion, since traffic eastbound on the 210 Freeway was nightmarish starting at about two in the afternoon and didn’t let up until almost eight. Even in the carpool lane, they inched along, but this time Audrey wasn’t impatient with the traffic the way she might otherwise have been. At least it was keeping them from getting to their destination too quickly.

  Eventually, though, they reached Glendora and the Grand Avenue exit. Surface street traffic was pretty thick, too, but at last they made it to Sierra Madre Boulevard and went right. A few more blocks, and they were turning down the side street where the Whitcomb mansion was located.

  Seeing its tall pale shape, the palm trees that marched along the borders of the property, was enough to start Audrey’s heart pounding again. On its surface, the house looked gracious and mellow, revealing nothing of the horrors she and Michael had experienced within. Goosebumps lifted on her arms, even though nothing had happened yet.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Michael said, then pulled up into the driveway and parked behind a sleek black Porsche Cayenne SUV.

  She didn’t have to guess whose vehicle it was, because she saw Colin Turner standing in front of the open lift gate and fussing with what looked like a brand-new, extremely complicated video camera mounted on some sort of Steadicam system. He glanced up as the two of them got out of the Land Cruiser and approached him.

  “Nice rig,” Michael commented.

  “Yeah, it had better be — damn thing cost me thirty thousand quid,” Colin groused, fiddling with the controls on one side of the camera.

  Thirty thousand dollars? Well, more than that, because a pound was worth more than a dollar. Audrey tried to imagine having the kind of cash lying around where she could just casually scoop up a camera costing that much, and failed miserably.

  “Tax write-off,” Michael said with a grin. If he was at all worried about what they were about to face in the very near future, he didn’t show it. “Everyone else here?”

  “If you mean Susan and Kathleen and Daniela, then yeah. Brooke got spooked, too, so Daniela is going to cover for her on P.A. duties.” For the first time, Colin looked directly at Audrey. “You’d better go ahead and get worked on, darling — it looks like you could use a bit of extra help.”

  What the hell was that supposed to mean? All right, she hadn’t spent as much time on her hair this morning as she usually did — for obvious reasons — but she’d thought she was looking decent enough, especially if one took into consideration the way she’d been run through the wringer the past few days.

  However, she realized it probably wasn’t a good idea to get into an argument with the man who signed the checks, so she sent Michael a significant look and then simply said, “Sure. I’ll meet you back here when I’m ready.”

  The guest house they were using for hair, makeup, and wardrobe looked much the same as it had the last time she was there. Kathleen approached Audrey at once, saying for this shoot she wanted her in a tunic and skinny jeans and ankle boots.

  Audrey looked at the footwear the wardrobe manager was holding up and shook her head. “Not those heels. This is probably going to get pretty physical. Let’s just do jeans and a T-shirt and a leather jacket again…and nothing with more than an inch heel. Otherwise, I could be in trouble.”

  Kathleen clicked her tongue against the back of her teeth in annoyance. However, after a good look at Audrey’s face, she must have realized she was serious, because she didn’t offer any arguments, only went back to the rack of clothing she’d brought with her and selected a new set of garments.

  “Better?” she asked.

  Much better. The jacket wasn’t black, but an interesting dark steel blue, the T-shirt a simple pale gray top with a scoop neckline. And the boots had low heels and laced up, sort of like combat boots except more streamlined. Just like the last time, everything fit beautifully.

  Time for hair and makeup next, with Daniela once again transforming a blank canvas into something that looked like Audrey, only about twenty times better. She knew it was all for the cameras, for the people who would one day have Project Demon Hunters streaming into their homes, but she still felt better once Daniela was done, stronger, more confident.

  “I heard you’re taking over P.A. duty today,” Audrey said to Daniela as she began to put the makeup brushes back in her kit.

  “Yeah, Brooke got freaked out over what Chris told her happened. She said dealing with that kind of thing wasn’t worth twenty bucks an hour, and she’s probably right.” A shrug, and Daniela zipped up the little roll of makeup brushes and bent down to put it in the large rolling case she used to stow all her makeup supplies.

  “I hope they’re paying you more than that,” Audrey remarked,
and she grinned.

  “Oh, yeah, I told Colin the only way I’d do it was if he paid me my regular hourly rate and a half, and he was desperate enough to say okay.” She flipped her long, jet-black ponytail over her shoulders as she straightened up.

  “You’re not frightened?”

  Her fingers went to the gold crucifix she wore on a thin leather cord around her neck. “Sure, a little. But it’s not like I have to go inside the house with you. I just have to be up here to fetch and carry stuff. I don’t know how the rest of you can do it.”

  Audrey really didn’t know, either, but there wasn’t much she could do about it at this point. “I guess it’s not quite as scary when it’s all of us. I honestly don’t think I could go in that house by myself.”

  “No way…not for a million dollars.” Her dark eyes twinkled as she added, “Not that Colin is offering me that much.”

  No, not Audrey, either. She was willing to risk life and limb for a much smaller amount.

  Michael poked his head in the door. “Ready, Audrey?”

  Her stomach performed a somersault, but she nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”

  Daniela looked at him and said, “You’re not going on camera with your hair looking like that. And you need some makeup.”

  “No, I don’t,” he said as Audrey waited off to one side and did her best to smother a smile, despite her jumpy stomach. “And my hair is fine.”

  In answer, Daniela crossed the room, comb in hand. Before he could protest, she’d somehow managed to smooth his hair while still allowing it to maintain a certain casual messiness. From a pocket in the smock-like jacket she wore, she produced a big, fluffy makeup brush and some powder, which she dusted on his face. He frowned, but she only raised her eyebrows at him.

  “At least you’re not so shiny now,” she said.

  As Michael opened his mouth to speak, Colin appeared behind him, looking annoyed. “If you lot are done messing around, we’ve got work to do.”

  “Just coming to find you,” Michael said smoothly. “We’re all ready here.”

  This reply didn’t seem to mollify the producer too much, because the irritated expression never left his face. However, he only said, “All right — let’s go. I want to get some exterior shots before we go in the house.”

  As much as Audrey wanted to get this over with, she was still relieved to hear she wouldn’t have to go inside right away. They all trooped into the garden area, with Colin positioning her and Michael in various spots — in front of a palm tree, near the fountain in the courtyard, on the front steps of the house itself. He seemed to shoot everything looking upward, as if he wanted to make the mansion seem even larger and more imposing than it already was. The one thing that did seem to please him was the way some clouds had moved in, making the day look dark and somewhat foreboding. The wind had begun to pick up as well, and Audrey was glad for her borrowed leather jacket.

  Eventually, they moved inside the house. Colin set his expensive camera down on a long side table in the entryway and said, “I went ahead and had someone come in and do part of the floor demolition in the basement. Otherwise, it would’ve taken you two far too long to get it out of there. You’re demon hunters, not a bloody home improvement show.”

  Audrey looked at him in some surprise. “People went down there, and they didn’t get attacked?”

  “No, they were fine,” Colin replied, looking completely unsurprised by this development.

  Michael said, “Demon attacks aren’t always consistent. One person might suffer a great deal, while others in the house might not notice anything wrong. They probably left the workmen alone because they didn’t disturb what was under the floor.”

  “Right,” Colin said. “They loosened one section but didn’t remove it, so that’s where you’ll work, and that’s what we’ll film. Then you can go ahead with — well, whatever it is that you plan to do.”

  Voice grim, Michael said, “We’re going to remove those sigils. You got me the paint remover I asked for?”

  “Yeah, the stuff they use to get rid of graffiti. Just spray it on.”

  And work fast, Audrey thought. She had a feeling the demons weren’t going to be too thrilled when they saw what she and Michael were up to.

  “All right, then,” Michael said. He looked over at her, and the hard set of his mouth softened a bit. She got the impression that he would have liked to come over and take her hands, give her the encouragement she needed so desperately right then, but of course he couldn’t do that in front of Colin and Susan. She looked tense but not frightened, whereas Audrey could already feel her hands starting to shake.

  “I’m going to film you going down the hall toward the kitchen,” Colin said, addressing her and Michael. “And also you opening the door to the basement, and walking down the stairs. After that, we’re going to take a small break to reposition ourselves so I can put the part of the floor the workmen already tore up behind me, out of camera range. Got it?”

  They both nodded, although Audrey had to wonder whether the demons would be so obliging as to wait until Colin had the shot properly framed before they started wreaking havoc. Well, that was what the editing process was for, she supposed.

  She and Michael took their positions, while Colin backed away and fiddled with the camera for a few seconds. “Okay,” he said in a low murmur. “Action.”

  “We’re going to descend into the heart of darkness, so to speak,” Michael announced as he faced the camera. Audrey stood next to him, trying to look calm and confident, and not as though she wanted to drop everything and run as fast as she could out of there. “Further investigation showed that someone painted symbols and signs of summoning on the floor of the basement, opening a gateway into our world. That gateway is the source of the phenomena that have been observed in this house. Once the gateway is closed, the house can be cleansed.”

  His gaze flickered toward Audrey for the barest second, and she picked up on his cue. “At this time, we don’t know for sure who painted the symbols on the basement floor, although the original owner and builder of the house, Jeffrey Whitcomb, is the most likely culprit. It’s possible that this deal with the devil he made — literally — was the source of his wealth. For now, the important thing is for us to do whatever we can to make sure the house is freed from these demonic presences so it can be inhabited again.”

  Michael turned to face her. “Are you ready?”

  “Ready,” she said, her voice calm. Oddly, she didn’t feel quite as nervous right then, possibly because having the camera trained on the two of them — and sharing these not-quite-rehearsed exchanges — lent an air of unreality to the situation.

  He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it, then flicked the light switch just inside the doorway. At once, the overhead fixtures came on, illuminating the plain wooden staircase, the scuffed wall next to it. The whole scene appeared completely ordinary, but Audrey knew better.

  She knew what lurked down there.

  They slowly descended the stairs, Colin and Susan a few steps behind them. As she neared the bottom, Audrey could see that nearly two-thirds of the shabby carpet and wood floor beneath had already been torn up, although the workmen hadn’t hauled away the debris. She supposed it would have looked strange to have all the old carpet and wood floorboards gone as if they’d never been there. Now she and Michael could add to the pile, and presumably Colin would be able to splice everything together to make it seem as though they’d been able to tear up the floor in record time.

  A couple of pry bars were leaning up against the walls, and next to them on the floor were several spray cans — of graffiti remover, Audrey assumed.

  “All right, then,” Colin said. He had the camera held on its Steadicam in front of him, but she assumed he wasn’t filming yet, was trying to set up the shot. “You two go over to that section that hasn’t been torn up yet and start working on it. I’ll cut in to make it seem as though you’ve been doing this for some time.”

  Mic
hael and Audrey both nodded and made their way over to the intact section of flooring. The whole time, she kept expecting cold to descend, or for that terrible odor of mildew to surround her, but the basement seemed completely calm right then. She didn’t trust it, though…she wasn’t about to let the demons lull her into a false sense of security.

  As Colin pushed the button to start the camera again, Michael spoke.

  “We got permission from the current owner to remove the flooring, so we’re going to tear it up and reveal the spell symbols painted on the concrete underneath.”

  While he was speaking, Audrey took a breath to steady herself, then went over to the corner, grabbed hold of the ugly vomit-green carpet, and began to pull it away from the wall. She didn’t know whether the workmen had helped out a little over here as well, or whether the ancient tack strips had long since given up the ghost. Whatever the case, the nasty shag came right up, and within a few minutes, she had a small section exposed.

  “Nothing to it,” she said with a grin.

  Michael smiled back at her, then grabbed one of the pry bars for himself and handed the other one to her. “Let’s see what we have under here.”

  The wood flooring came up almost as easily as the carpet, exposing stained concrete covered with the circles Audrey had caught a glimpse of before, all of them with strange runes and symbols painted around them. With Colin filming the entire time, she and Michael cleared the final section of floor, then tossed the broken floorboards, tack strips, and shredded carpet off to one side, adding to the pile the workmen had started.

  Looking grimly satisfied, Michael retrieved one of the cans of graffiti remover, while Audrey bent and got the other one.

  “Where do you want to start?” she asked. Part of her wanted to send him a big, toothy grin because this had all been so easy so far, but she knew she needed to look properly serious for the camera.

  “With the big circle in the center,” he replied. “It’s the heart of the gateway.”