by Jamie Davis
He thought about Jill, in the prison he had created in their storage unit on the outskirts of town. It was the perfect place to do the things to her he wished to do without the screams bothering the neighbors. He had left the summoning idols there, too, for safekeeping. It had been a prudent move on his part.
The misdirection of the hunters from him to her should keep them busy for a while. They would have to follow up on that before they could be sure if he had been lying to them or not. He could be patient when he needed to be, for a little while. In the meantime, he needed to find a way to dispatch the witch. If he could kill her, the spell she cast to mask the last idol would be removed and he could locate it and complete the set, allowing him to come to earth in corporeal form. Once he accomplished this, he would be the first demon lord to manifest on earth in centuries. He would be the envy of his brothers in hell.
The humans of this time had become soft. They no longer believed in the old ways and religions as much. They thought of evil with a lowercase “e” and not as something that could be literal evil personified. He would rule this land and all the people in it.
Graadu planned to go to visit Jill in the storage facility. He could use some of her life force to bring a lesser demon here to track and kill the witch. She would have some protections, but he sensed she was young and impetuous. That would work to his advantage, he was sure.
Chapter 20
Jo had expected to become embroiled in a battle with the demon when her mom knocked on that door. She wanted a little action again. It was hard staying cooped up in her father’s apartment all day. The mousy little man who answered and the subsequent conversation with him had not been all that exciting. Clearly he was not the source of their problems. His wife was the one they were looking for.
She had taken the initiative to pretend to need the bathroom and did a quick search of the bedrooms in the back of the apartment. There had been no sign of the idols there or anything else out of the ordinary. It was a definite bummer.
The Wiccan teen followed her parents back to the SUV parked on the street and wondered what they were going to do next. Jo was sure they were going to ask her to do a scrying spell and search for the wife. She was ready for that. She had found a hairbrush in the bathroom with a few longer brown hairs in the bristles that could not have come from the husband. She had pocketed a few of the strands just in case.
The scrying spell would not be that hard to accomplish if she was given the time to set up the casting correctly. They should be able to track the wife now. It would take some time to put in place but Jo was confident they would find the woman at the root of their problem. The hardest part of what Jo needed to do was to get her parents to spend more time together. She was pretty certain that the reason the spell failed to send her back was because she had changed the timeline somehow so that she no longer fit in the future from whence she came. The reason for that had to do with her parent’s relationship, or lack thereof.
As she climbed into the back of the SUV she looked at them sitting up front. It was strange. She saw the parents she had grown up with and loved more than anything. And yet, they weren’t those people either. Like how they were sitting there, in the front seats as two very separate individuals. Her memory of the two of them had her mother and father always needing to be touching each other, holding hands or shoulder to shoulder. She used to think it was gross, but now that it wasn’t there anymore, she missed it.
Was there something she was supposed to do to spur on the relationship? The two had become friends over the last few weeks, but not anything close to the loving couple she had grown up with. Maybe it was time for some more direct action. She had tried that once before, back in the rescue mission to save Aunt Ashley. Putting the two of them in a situation where they had to be in close physical proximity to each other had been fun to watch, but it had not made them any closer. If anything, it had made them uncomfortable being too close together.
That could mean they felt something during that time when they had to lay next to each other and hide. If she could replicate it, maybe it would bring those feelings to the surface again. It was worth a try. Jo set her mind to coming up with a way to force more physical contact between the two of them. She’d bring them together, somehow, someway.
* * *
———
* * *
Dean looked over at Jaz as he drove the SUV away from the apartment building. He hadn’t known what to expect exactly back there, but it wasn’t the encounter they ended up having. Sam was not the threat they had assumed he was. He stole the idols from the job site, that was for sure. But his wife had been the one who succumbed to their evil influence and now she was on the run. He wondered what the hunter next to him had in store for them next on the list of things they were to do.
He saw Jaz look over her shoulder at Jo in the back seat and Dean checked on her in the rearview mirror. He saw her brow furrow in thought. She’s probably wondering what they would do next too.
“So, Jaz,” Dean said. “What is the plan now? Is there a way to track the idols now that Jill is in the wind?”
“I’m not sure. I was going to ask Jo that question. I know there are some mundane things I can do to track her. I can track her credit cards and ask for access to automated toll booth records, thing like that. There might be a way to magically track her down, though. Jo?”
Dean looked at her in the backseat via the mirror again and saw her startle out of her concentrated expression.
“What? Oh, sorry. I was thinking of something else. What did you ask me, Mom?”
“Is there a way to track Jill magically? She’s using the idols to turn people into Unusuals. There’s got to be a magical signature for something like that.”
“I’m sure there is, but it would be difficult to track even if I knew what to look for.” Jo reached into her pocket and pulled out the strands of hair. “Now, if only someone had something personal or a few strands of hair. Then we could do a proper scrying and search.”
Dean saw the big grin on her face and he was filled with pride. She was resourceful as well as smart. She’d make a good paramedic and she was his daughter.
“Kid, you remind me of me sometimes,” Jaz said. “Good job. How long to get the scrying spell set up?”
“I need a day or so to come up with the supplies. I should be able to get them from the coven. I can do the spell at Dad’s once I have it all in place. If she’s within, say, a hundred miles or so, I’ll be able to locate her.”
Dean thought for a moment and asked the question that had been bothering him most. “Once we find her, then what? She’s possessed or something like it. It’s not her fault so we can’t just run a sword through her and be done with it. That’s murder.”
“Dean, we may not have a choice,” Jaz said and held up a hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to protest. “I don’t want to do that either, but we have to be prepared for the option, even as a last resort.”
“What about some way to save her life and separate the demon from her?” He looked from Jaz to Jo as he pulled to a stop at a traffic light.
“You mean like an exorcism?”
“Yeah, some way to separate the two without killing her,” Dean suggested. “There has got to be a way.”
“Perhaps,” Jo said. “But it would be risky and would require all three of us, working together.”
“I feel like we have to try,” Dean said. He didn’t want to be part of a summary execution. It was not this woman’s fault her husband brought the idols home. It was not her fault that she became possessed by a demon lord.
Jaz turned around and looked at her daughter. “Jo, can you do this, too?”
“It’s a lot of magic to cast. It will take a lot of energy, but yes, I can do it. It’s going to require you two to come up with a part of the solution, too. The demon lord needs to be confronted and distracted, then we need some way to break the physical connection to the body. I’m not sure how to do that. If
we can do it though, I can pull the demon out into corporeal form. Then we can send it back to the netherworld where it belongs.”
“It’s a lot easier to just put a sword through her,” Jaz said.
The simultaneous shouts of “Mom” and “Jaz” had the huntress put her hands up in surrender which made Dean laugh aloud.
“Don’t shoot the messenger. I’m just saying what has been done in these instances in the past,” Jaz explained.
“You know, we make a pretty good team,” Dean said.
“Yes we do.” Jaz looked back at him, smiling.
He had to admit, she was a remarkable woman. She was unlike any woman he had been with before, except for maybe his former partner, Brynne Garvey. When he realized he and Jaz had some sort of destiny together, he wanted to deny it. The fundamental differences in their approach to handling Unusuals was a deal breaker, he had thought. As he had gotten to know her though, he found there was a complexity and depth to her he hadn’t allowed for in his initial assessment.
In the beginning, Dean had assumed all hunters must be assassins and murderers. He saw Jaz as a killing machine, hell-bent on killing anything she thought was a monster. Since some of those monsters were his friends, he was predisposed to disliking her, even hating her.
That had changed as he realized she had a moral code, a strict one, that she followed without fail. Jaz was prepared to kill, but only those who had endangered others through their actions. Usually this was limited to demons from the netherworld, but it could be aimed at anyone who preyed upon the innocent.
He could understand that motivation, and it wasn’t that different from his calling to help those in need as an emergency responder. Their methods were different, but they served the same public need for protection and rescue. Dean had come to admire her for her devotion to her clan’s calling. Could that become more, someday? Perhaps, he thought. Perhaps.
Chapter 21
Jo and her dad got home late that night after they dropped her mom off and switched to Dean’s pickup truck. She was tired but had enjoyed going out. It was exhausting being cooped up in the apartment when her dad wasn’t home. She knew the family protection charm her mother used was a strong ward against evil. It was keeping her safe, she supposed.
Jo thought they were both overreacting. She had proven time and again that she could take care of herself. Maybe she could convince her dad to let her go on a few errands for the supplies she needed for the scrying spell tomorrow afternoon while he was at work.
“Uh, Dad?” she asked when they got to the apartment over the Baxter’s garage.
“Yeah, Jo, what do you need?”
“I was thinking. You’re so busy all day, and you’re tired when you get home. Maybe I could go out tomorrow during the day and pick up the spell supplies I need. I really don’t think anything will happen to me in just a few hours of shopping.” She put on a smile and tried to make it all sound as natural as can be.
“Jo, you know you have to stay here or near me. Your mother explained that to us both very clearly. You don’t receive the protection of the charm without it. You can wait until I get home. We’ll go out after dinner.”
“But if I go out it will be in broad daylight, and most demons are weakest in the day time. Nothing is going to happen. You know it.”
“I don’t know it, Joanna. I don’t know anything of the kind.”
“You and Mom need to stop treating me like a baby, a child. I’ve pulled my load in this family. I came back in time on my own and I can go shopping on my own, too.” She was getting angry and the tone had slipped into her voice. Her father noticed.
“Look, Jo,” he said. “I am not going to argue with you. You need to stay here and sit tight until I get home from work. You can always call your mother and see if she’s available.”
“She’s busy all day with her international security empire.” Jo put air quotes around it. It wasn’t much of an empire anymore since the central part of the family had been killed in the explosion.
“Jaz is doing the best she can. You know she’s barely had a chance to mourn her family’s passing. You and I never got to know them, but these were her parents and cousins. Stop being so selfish, Jo. It’s not a very attractive feature and it doesn’t become you. Go to bed. Get some rest. We’ll go shopping tomorrow evening when I get off work.”
Jo watched him and realized he wasn’t giving in so she nodded and went off to her room. She’d go to bed and get some rest, but only because she wanted to. In the end, she was in charge of herself, no matter what her parents thought. She went into her room and shut the door without saying goodnight. Let him stew on making her upset.
Her dad was gone by the time she got up the next morning. It was nearly noon. She checked her phone and there was a text from Marian.
It’s Saturday. Let’s do something.
She texted back about her shopping plans and asked if Marian wanted to come along. Jo hoped she’d say yes. Marian had a car and Jo didn’t. She’d have to walk to get anywhere without one.
I’ll pick you up in 1 hr.
Jo texted back an enthusiastic yes with a few thumbs up emojis and went back into her room to get showered and dressed for a day out shopping.
* * *
———
* * *
Marian pulled up in a beat up silver Nissan. Its motor made a little more noise than it was supposed to, but it ran and that was all that was important. Jo came down to meet her and jumped in the front seat.
“Hey, thanks for coming to get me. I was getting so tired of being cooped up in there.”
Marian looked over and offered a high five. “No problem, Jo. What are friends for if we can’t rescue each other for a shopping trip? Where are we going, the mall?”
“We can hit the mall later, I have to go to the Coven house first. They will have some of the things I need for this spell I’m working on. The rest we can get around town and then go to the mall for some real shopping.”
“Excellent.”
Marian pulled out of the parking spot and headed down the residential street. Neither she nor Jo saw the other car pull away from the curb and start down the street after them.
* * *
———
* * *
The day was productive. The Coven had some of the things she needed, and Anya told her where to look for the other items on the list she had made. There were a few stops at various shops in the downtown area and then she announced to Marian they were free to hit the mall. All the essential shopping was done.
It was about two thirty in the afternoon when they arrived at the mall parking lot. Marian wanted to shop for a new outfit to wear on a date with her boyfriend later that evening. Jo figured she could use some new clothes, too. Her Mom had given her some cash to use to help with groceries at the apartment. Dean had told her to keep it when she offered to pay and she still had most of it left, even after the earlier purchases.
They decided to shop in one of the bigger department stores first before they hit the smaller mall shops. There were several sales going on and the stores were crowded. They did find some choices that matched what each of them were looking for, and they collected their options to try them on in the changing rooms.
Jo and Marian got checked in with the sales girl to go try their outfits on and went into the small changing area to get started. There was a small hallway with a row of doors along one wall. All the rooms were occupied but two at the very back. Each teen took a separate room. They were too small to share.
Starting with the dress she wanted to try out, Jo stripped down to her underwear, piling her shoes, jeans, t-shirt and jacket with her shoulder holster wrapped up inside on the bench seat. Slipping the dress over her head, she admired herself in the changing room mirror as she straightened the dress. It was simple in cut but looked great on her. She decided to show her friend.
“Hey, Marian, check this out,” Jo said as she exited the changing room. She stopped as she n
oticed the body of the sales girl who had been monitoring the changing rooms. She was laying on the floor in the narrow hallway. Her throat had been slashed open. There was a bloody hand and arm showing from one of the other changing room doors.
She heard a snarling noise from the room next to hers as the door was pushed open and two figures slid out to stand in the hallway. One was Marian. The other, holding a wicked looking hooked blade at her friend’s throat, was dressed in black, wearing a khaki trenchcoat. The face was pale and misshaped with one eye set lower than the other. If the lack of symmetry in the face didn’t clue her in to the true nature of the demon in front of her, the mouth full of needle sharp teeth would have.
“Hello, witch,” the creature snarled. “I’ve been following you all day long. Have you been enjoying your last day on this miserable earth?”
Jo glanced back over her shoulder at the pile of clothes containing her pistol in its shoulder holster. She’d never get to it before the blade finished off Marian.
She thrust her hand in front of her instead, and turned her head so that she was looking right down her arm, aiming at the demon’s head. What she had planned was not something she wanted to miss.
“Let my friend go and I’ll just send you back to hell.” A ball of blazing sunshine the size of a golf ball appeared in front of her outstretched palm. “Otherwise, beast, I’ll end you. You’ll not regenerate, you’ll not be able to return in a hundred years, you’ll just be gone. Your choice.”
The demon met her eyes, then focused on the spinning ball of white hot plasma Jo held in her palm. She wanted it to make up its mind. Holding sunfire like this hurt like hell. She didn’t want to release the spell so close to her friend but she might have no other choice.