by Jamie Davis
“Don’t hand it to me. Just set it down on the table, quickly. You shouldn’t touch it at all.” Jaz looked at Jo. “Do you have any protection magic that will counter that?”
“Just a normal ward against evil. It might work.”
“Cast it. Now.”
Dean was confused but set the figurine down. Jo closed her eyes and started chanting under her breath. He looked at the jade figurine. It was about the size of his fist and portrayed a short, squat man-shaped figure holding a sword. It appeared to be smiling, but as he looked closer he saw there were double rows of sharp teeth in the figure’s mouth that made the smile more of a grimace.
The hair stood up on the back of Dean’s neck as Jo’s chanting got louder. He didn’t understand the language, but knew that many spells were spoken in Latin, Greek, or even other, more ancient languages. She finished and opened her eyes. Looking at Dean and the figurine, she nodded.
“That should do it, Mom.”
Jaz stood up and looked in the box Dean had been unpacking. He looked inside, too. It was empty except for a few scraps of paper.
“Crap, where are the other two?”
Jo looked alarmed. Dean looked from one to the other, still not understanding.
“There were three?” He asked.
“Yes, a matched set of three that were kept in a specially warded box. The wooden box must have burned in the fire, but the jade would have survived, as we’ve seen.”
“Will someone please explain to me what is going on?” Dean asked, careful to stand very still. He had been afraid to move and touch anything.
“It’s a summoner, Dean, and Jo’s spell should serve to contain it for now. They are meant to be used to summon the presence of a demon lord to earth. They work when all three are set at three of five points of a pentagram scribed in a warding circle.”
“They can also cause really bad luck to those who hold them, Dad. Like evil sorts of bad luck! I think I cleansed the effects from you with my spell. You only held it for an instant.”
“Why would your family have a way to summon demons, Jaz? You’re demon hunters after all.”
“Dean, we didn’t use them, we kept them safe from others using them. My clan captured them centuries ago when we wiped out a ring of demon worshipers back in the old country, if I remember the family lore correctly.”
“Wow, Mom. I know you can’t see it but the aura radiating off that thing is disgusting and really powerful. If I look at it for too long it makes me queasy. I can’t imagine what it would be like with all three of them in one place. We need to see if we can find the other two. If someone else picked them up in the rubble of the fire and ran off with them, we could have a big problem on our hands.”
“So it causes bad luck. So what?” Dean asked.
“So what, you say? The problem, Dean, is that this is evil associated directly with bad luck,” Jaz said. “Like Jo said, it won’t just be stubbing-your-toe, or tripping-over-a-fallen-branch-on-the-sidewalk kind of bad luck. This will be run-out-of-gas-in-the-middle-of-a-railroad-crossing-while-a-train-is-coming bad luck. This is the kind of bad luck that brings down fully loaded passenger airliner while you’re on board.”
“And it will get worse unless it can be contained. There could be other effects on an unprotected person, as well,” Jo said.
“Well, let’s head over to what’s left of the building,” Dean suggested. “There’s a construction crew there. Maybe they have seen something or someone. If not, we’ll see if we can find the other figurines in the rubble. Jo, you can see the glow of the figurine’s aura, so if we get there and the other figurines are there, you should be able to find them, right?”
“In theory, Dad, yes.”
“Good. Then let’s go before some homeless guy decorates his cardboard box with a new knickknack and brings down an asteroid on the city.”
* * *
———
* * *
“Look honey,” Sam said. “Today was my lucky day. I found these cool bookends on my demolition job. I thought we could use them on our bookshelf.”
The matching figurines he held were set on the shelf and turned so they looked out over the construction worker’s small apartment. Sam didn’t see the eyes flare with an internal light for an instant, glowing and pulsing a sickly green before they faded.
Chapter 3
Dean, Jaz and Jo left the apartment building and started the short, two-block walk to the burned out remains of the former Errington Security headquarters. They had just gotten to the intersection across the street from the site when a delivery truck swerved out of passing traffic. It hopped the curb heading straight for Dean. He wasn’t paying attention. He was going through some emails on his phone and looked up, startled by the noise and shouts, to see the truck barreling towards him. He couldn’t move. He just froze in place.
He tried to move out of the way, but felt like he was mired in glue. Then he felt an iron grip clamp onto the collar of his uniform jacket and yank him backwards out of the path of the out of control vehicle. He fell backward as he lost his balance, and landed on top of whoever had rescued him. He realized after a moment of struggle that it was Jaz.
“You can get off me now,” she said.
“Oh, sorry.” Dean rolled off of her onto the sidewalk and got back to his feet. He extended his hand to help her up, and after looking up from the ground for a moment, she took it and he helped her back to her feet. “Thanks for that. I couldn’t move. It was all going in slow motion, kind of like one of those dreams where you can’t get away, no matter how hard you try.”
“Dean you need to be more careful. I mean seriously, Jo and I told you that you’ve touched a demonic idol that will bring you bad luck. You would think that you’d be more aware of your surroundings when you know your luck is compromised.”
“I thought Jo’s spell solved that problem.” Dean looked at his daughter. “What was all that mumbo jumbo back in the apartment about if it wasn’t to protect me?”
“It was a protection spell, Dad, and it worked. Mom grabbed you and saved your life. You were lucky. That truck could have splattered you all over the sidewalk.”
Dean turned to look at where the truck had come to a stop just before crashing into one of the shops that lined the street. The store owner had come out and was shouting at the driver. Dean looked around to make sure no one else was injured. There didn’t appear to be any other casualties, just his own pride.
“Come on, Dean, we need to get over there and find the other two figurines before it’s too late,” Jaz said.
Dean joined the two women and together, after carefully checking that all oncoming traffic was stopped by the light, crossed the street to the newly erected construction fence that surrounded the remains of the Errington Security building. The three of them had to walk halfway down the block to get to the construction entrance where trucks and workers were coming and going from the site.
“Let me talk to the construction foreman when we get inside. They are pretty careful about anyone but their demolition workers coming on the site,” Jaz said once they got inside. She walked up to an office trailer nearby and went inside.
While she was inside, Dean and Joanna looked around as the workers went about their work knocking down the remaining brick walls. A front end loader was scooping up rubble and filling a dump truck nearby.
“Do you see anything, Jo? Any sign of the other figurines?”
“No. They could be covered by the rubble and wouldn’t show as easily, but I think I would still see the aura emanating from where they were.”
Jaz came out of the trailer, followed by a tall man in work khakis and a blue button-down shirt. He was wearing a white hard hat and carried two others. Jaz was putting a similar hard hat on, adjusting it for her ponytail.
“Guys, this is Joe Anderson, the construction foreman.”
Dean shook his hand and took the offered helmet, putting it on. Jo did the same.
“Yeah, we ne
ed to be careful,” the foreman said. “I’ve had three guys injured in the last three days by fluke accidents and the insurance inspectors are due here any minute. Everyone on the site has to wear their helmets and I have to ask you three to stay back from the work. I know you are looking for some personal effects and I’ve had my guys keeping an eye out. We’ve been putting whatever we find over in that storage trailer over there. If you’ll follow me.”
The three of them filled in behind him as he walked over to storage container trailer nearby. Dean brought up the rear and leaned forward so that his companions could hear him over the machinery. “Fluke accidents sounds like we have a confirmation that the other idols were here, right?”
“I was thinking the same thing, Dean. Jo, keep your eyes open.”
“I am, Mom. Nothing pops out to me so far.”
Joe unlocked a padlock and opened the other trailer. There were a few boxes and dusty items set on tables inside. There was no light in the trailer, just what streamed in the door.
“I’ll be outside if you need anything. I’ve got to keep an eye out for that inspector,” Joe said. He stepped outside the trailer and left the three of them to look through the piles of stuff.
Jaz went in first. To Dean, it seemed as if her steps were tentative, as if she didn’t want to be there. He knew this must be tough for her. Jo followed her and stayed close to her mom.
Dean kept back a few steps to give the two of them some space. This was all that was left of her family. To Jaz and Jo this was something like visiting a grave site. Jo had grown up hearing about this in the future.
After a bit of searching, Jo let out a squeal of delight and rushed forward past her mother to one of the tables. Dean thought they had found what they were looking for. He craned his neck to look past Jaz in the dim light streaming through the open trailer door. He saw Jo pick up something and turn around holding it out in triumph.
“Look, Mom. It’s Grandma’s sword. My sword. You gave this to me when I turned thirteen.”
Jaz stepped forward and took the katana in its scabbard from her daughter. She held it in front of her, brushing her fingers across the pattern on the lacquered wood of the scabbard. Then she reached out and pulled Jo into an embrace. Dean could see Jaz’s shoulders shaking from the sobs and saw tears streaming down Jo’s face over her mother’s shoulder.
He turned around and gave them some room while he looked at the scattered items on the table next to him. Most of it appeared to be junk, or the items were ruined enough in the fire and building collapse that they would not be usable anymore. Dean looked through all the items on the table in front of him and looked over at the other two tables in the trailer. A thought occurred to him.
“Jaz, what happened to all the guns? I know your family had to have a lot of guns and ammunition in the building.”
Jaz pulled away from her embrace with Jo and wiped at her eyes. “We did. Most of them were in the building’s armory which largely survived the explosion and fire. It was built with additional structural and security support. There is a large gun dealer we know outside of the city that has taken possession of them until I can get some place secure to store them again.”
Dean knew that the Erringtons’ national security business had an arrangement with the FBI and U.S. Marshal’s office that gave the qualified team members nationwide carry permits. Jaz had once mentioned that the close relationship with the Marshals carried back to just after the U.S. Civil War.
“I still have all the gear from my personal SUV, so I have my full load out. I don’t need the rest right now. The other weapons will have to wait for me to go over them. I can’t do that until we get local offices set up again. Right now the remaining staff is stretched pretty thin covering all of our existing contracts.”
“I know your parents and two cousins died in the blast,” Dean said. “Were there many staff members lost in the fire as well?”
“No. Luckily, it happened after regular business hours and all the staff had left. Now I have some new offices rented in a building on the outskirts of town. I have stopped in but haven’t set up an office there for myself yet.”
“I’m sure it’s hard, Mom. You have to take over for everything that both your mom and dad did. Maybe Dad and I can help in some way.”
Dean cringed. He didn’t know anything about security work and was still uncomfortable with many of the ways that the hunter clan looked at some Unusuals. He realized that Jaz noticed his reaction.
“Sorry, Jaz, I just think that me working there part-time would not be a good fit. I feel like it would be a conflict of interest.”
“Actually, Dean, I could use your expertise if you’ll give it. We were in the process of refitting our medic bags and gear. Now all of those supplies were destroyed inside the building. None of it is salvageable and I have no idea what my Dad was doing with the project. I could use your help fitting out an updated tactical EMS bag equipment list.”
“Oh, I could help with that certainly.”
“What about me, Mom? It is a family business after all.”
“I didn’t have anything planned for you, Jo. I thought that Dean and I were going to find a way to send you back to your own time. You need to go back to the future time frame. I’m concerned that you being here in the past too long could mess up something in the future.”
“Nah, the Coven told me before they sent me back it was unlikely that I could do anything to change the timeline as long as I returned before I was actually born. It seems that if I interact with myself at all, even as a baby, I could change something in myself which could really mess up both me and the timeline. They had a huge discussion about it before they sent me back. Some of the members didn’t agree because of the risk if I couldn’t come back.”
“So there is some risk to the timeline?” Dean asked. He was thinking about how Marty McFly started to disappear in “Back to the Future” when he screwed up his parents getting together in the past. “I think we need to focus on getting you back sooner rather than later. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“But I want to stay here. I like you guys as your younger selves. You’re not all parenty and stuff.”
Dean and Jaz shared a look. Jaz stepped in.
“Dean’s right, Jo. We don’t know how many things might get shifted in time, even just a little bit, just by you staying any longer than is necessary. Dean will contact the coven right away, and see when they can send you back.”
“But, don’t you need my help to find the other idols? Who is going to cast your protection spells?”
“There are other Wiccans around, Jo,” Dean said. He hated to be more ‘parenty’ as she put it, but this was important. “No more argument. You have to go back.”
Jaz looked around at the tables one more time. “We know the idols are not here and there’s nothing else of value beside my mother’s sword. Let’s go and head back to the apartment. I need to show up at the office today and I have that conference call coming up. They need to see my face and know that everything will be alright.” She saw Jo’s pouting face. “Jo, you can carry the sword if you want. I promise that when the time comes in the future, it will be yours.”
That seemed to perk the teen up a bit, but Dean could see she was still disappointed and her shoulders had sagged a bit as they left the storage trailer. Dean collected the helmets when they got to the gate and took them over to the foreman. Joe waved to Jaz as he took them back, and then returned to his work directing the demolition of the building.
The three of them headed out to the street and started walking back to Jaz’s apartment. Dean wondered aloud where the other two idols could be.
“Someone must have picked them up,” Jaz replied. “Either it was one of the firefighters, investigators, or one of the construction workers. It should be a small list. I’ll have one of the staff at the new office put together a list. Once we have that, we can take some time to track each of them down. These things are powerful enough that we
should see some signs of their presence if we end up with the right person.”
Dean hoped so, he worried about how some poor, unsuspecting person might react to supernatural bad luck in their life.
Chapter 4
Sam continued his search for the perfect, creepy magic words to use in the weekly Dungeon Masters game with his friends. They had been participating in this role-playing game campaign with him as the Dungeon Leader for the last five years. He, his wife, and a few of his old high-school buds had been playing off and on for years, but this was the longest running game any of them had been involved with.
They had each invested a lot into their characters, and Sam worked hard to make each week’s adventure special in some way. This week, he had them invading the lair of a Lich, a supernatural being of the undead variety. This particular Lich he had designed was a real bastard and he was going to enjoy playing his part in the upcoming gaming encounter.
The Google search had turned up several options for old incantations and it was hard to choose from them. He wanted something that was not English and would lend a dark tone to the pretend spell-casting he had planned. In the end, he let random choice make the decision for him, closing his eyes and stabbing at the screen with a finger to pick one of the search engine’s choices.
Sam opened his eyes and saw a link to ancient transformation curses. Perfect, he thought. Sam clicked the link and hit the print icon on his computer screen to print out the strange and alien words that came up. He got up to start setting up the dinner table for the game in the small apartment he and his wife leased. A black table cloth went on the table first, followed by the three electric candles from the bookshelf. On a whim, Sam brought the two jade idols over, too. They would add a nice supernatural touch to the Lich’s lair.
His friends would be arriving soon, and he went back into the bedroom to see what was keeping his wife from coming out to help set up for so long. He didn’t see the faint glow in the eyes of the two green figurines on the dinner table, or the shifting text on the printed paper nearby.