“Would you hurry up and die already?” Walter’s voice sounded weak, “I would like to finish this.”
Turning away from the sight before him, Jake was certain he would die, but he was determined to not die looking at his murderer or the demon that had stolen Roland from him. His eyes landed instead on the concrete wall to his left that had a large spider web of cracks running across it. He was wondering if the cracks were from Roland’s attempt to break through with the sledgehammer when he felt a strange static in the air.
Brow furrowing as a deep rumbling sound arose; Jake closed his eyes just in time to avoid having them impaled by concrete shards as the wall that led into the third floor hallway exploded inwards. Choking as the dust and debris in the air settled, Jake wasn’t sure what had happened as he was now looking into the empty hallway beyond the room.
Staring into the lights above, Jake watched as they started to blink on and off as they had done when the demon had taken him. In the flickering light, Jake could make out the form of Devon who was half-solidified in the doorway and looking furious.
“You will not win, Walter Riley!”
As he spoke, the lights on the entire floor went out completely. The candlelight cast an ominous glow as shadows started to appear behind Devon in numbers that were staggering to Jake’s mind. One by one, each of the spirits that the man’s curse had trapped inside the walls of the Moorsfield Hotel sucked enough electricity out of the building to solidify in the same manner as Devon had.
“You will pay for your sins!” A second, clean cut man stepped up behind Devon with his arms wrapped around what appeared to be his wife, “Now release this man from your demon’s hold!”
Jake found himself struggling to sit up as he desperately wanted to see what was happening, but found that he no longer had the strength. As his head dropped back to the floor, he noticed that a nearly albino spirit was now sitting next to him.
“You are going to be okay, Sugar.” She knelt down and cradled Jake’s head in her now solid lap, “There is an ambulance downstairs and the men are coming up so you just hold on for me, okay?”
Nodding weakly, Jake turned back to see how Devon and his hoard of angry spirits were fairing.
The crowd was so thick at this point that Jake couldn’t make out Roland or Walter through the mass of half-solid bodies. Blinking to focus his eyes, Jake couldn’t help but feel some semblance of relief as he watched the crowd start ripping up the floorboards that held parts of the pentagram, led by an oily looking blonde man in a hideous red and black, zebra-striped trench coat.
Gasping as he looked up to the woman, she smiled and appeared to read his mind.
“That’s right. They can not complete the ceremony without this blood pentacle. You are not going to Hell,” a bright smile crossed her face, “and neither am I!”
Devon’s voice rose over the crowd, “Now command your demon to leave Roland and fix up Jake or your death will be as gruesome as all sixty-four of ours put together!”
“Will you let me go if I do?” Walter’s voice was trembling and meek now.
“You did not give us that kindness and we will not give it to you,” the crowd parted to reveal Devon glaring at the man, “but this is your last chance to leave the world with one good deed on your conscience. Maybe your maker will lessen your eternal torture for it. I do not know how it works on the other side, but I do know that none of use will speak a single word in your favor if you refuse to do this now!”
Walter looked into the faces of his victims one by one before turning to Roland, “Demon, get out of him and fix the other.”
A growl arose from Roland’s throat.
“I am your master until the moment my heart stops beating and I COMMAND you to leave this man and fix the other!”
Roland’s head rolled back as the black mist forcefully ejected from his chest and flew forward into Jake. Screaming in absolute agony at the intrusion, Jake felt all of his broken bones and ruptured organs start to shift around as they forced themselves back into place. Seconds seemed like hours as Jake could feel the sickening, pure evil writhing around inside his body. Just as he thought the agony would never end, the feeling lifted from him in the blink of an eye.
Standing up as his body now felt better than it ever had before, Jake looked around the room. Nearly all of the candles had been blown out during the commotion, but enough remained that he could see the conflict still happening in the corner.
“Do you have any last words?” Devon’s voice was calm, yet somehow incredibly intimidating, as he looked into the eyes of the man who had not only caused his death, but had tried to send him to Hell.
Walter’s mouth opened and then shut again before he lowered his eyes and shook his head no.
Nodding, Devon reached forward and pulled the ancient man into a headlock. Flexing just slightly, the maintenance man appeared to no more than twitch as he twisted and snapped the man’s neck in a smooth, rapid motion. As he dropped Walter’s limp body to the floor, the black mist of the demon sank and vanished from sight.
Now on his feet, Jake was walking around the holes left behind by the torn-out floorboards and over to Roland who hadn’t moved since the demon had left his body. As he managed to stand next to Roland, the blonde was momentarily distracted as the wispy spirit of Walter rose from the body on the floor to stand before the crowd of spirits before him.
“What now?”
“You can choose to move on, on your own, or you can wait around for guidance that will surely come.” Devon looked around the room, “You all have this choice.”
One by one, the translucent forms started to dissipate as they finally left what had been their prison for so many years. Turning back to Walter, Jake watched as the man looked directly at him before shaking his head and vanishing.
“Are you okay, Jake?” Devon’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts as the lights in the hallway flickered back into life.
“Yeah…” Jake turned to face Roland who was now paler than Jake had ever seen another living human, “Oh gods, Roland!”
Roland seemed to snap out of a trance as he heard Jake’s voice.
“Jake?”
“Yes!” Jake looked into the once again brown eyes that he had fallen so hard for, “I’m okay.”
“You’re not another ghost pullin’ one over on me?”
“No, I’m still alive.” Jake wanted to both laugh and cry at the question.
“Good.” The corner of Roland’s mouth twitched before he looked down to his arms, “This is bad.”
“Yes, yes it is.” Jake felt tears welling up in his eyes.
Roland stumbled backward as the pain finally started to overpower the shock.
“Shit! Devon!!!”
“I got it.” Devon helped lower Roland to the ground gracefully as he fully fainted, “Jenna,” he looked to the pale blonde that had held Jake in the pentacle, “Do you think you’ve got enough energy left to lure some EMTs up here?”
“Of course.” The woman vanished as she presumably went to the ground floor.
“How are we going to explain this to the police?” Jake’s hands were shaking as he held up Roland’s body that had slumped sideways onto his torso.
“You tell them that this Walter asshole was a dark occultist who was sacrificing people to Satan. You tell them that he told you both everything about his plans while torturing you both in a ceremony and that will cover all of the weird information you know like the freezer and stuff. When they ask how he died, you tell them that both of you killed him in self defense to save your very lives.” Devon had placed a hand on Jake’s shoulder, “Any other missing pieces you can explain away with shock, trauma, and in Roland’s case, passing out.”
Jake nodded, “A-are you going to move on?”
“If you promise me you will come back after you check out of the hospital, I will stay and wait for you. I would very much like to see you both once more before I move on.”
“Are you sure?”
Jake found himself crying once again.
“Of course!” Devon patted Jake’s hair which still contained a fair amount of blood, “I don’t want you to be so gross the last time I see you. I would prefer a better smelling memory.”
Jake chuckled, “You’re a jerk.”
“I know.” Devon smirked, “You take care of Roland, alright? Skin grafts are going to suck, but he is going to be just fine. I need to go before I get spotted by the cops.”
“Alright…” Jake watched as Devon vanished from sight.
Looking down, Jake noticed that Roland had come to and was now looking up at him with the most innocently bewildered look on his face.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“You fainted like a maiden.” Jake hoped that humor would distract Roland from the missing skin on his arms.
“Ah, shut up, you are totally the maiden in this story.”
“Dude, you’re the one with the bun in his hair.” Jake flicked the back of Roland’s head as he wrapped an arm around the man’s shoulders.
“Baah.” Roland let his head rest on Jake’s shoulder.
“Excellent comeback.” Jake rested his cheek on the top of the other man’s head, “The professionals are taking a really long time to get up here.”
“Maybe we should get them gym memberships too.” Roland hissed as one of his arms shifted.
“Perhaps.” Jake swiveled his head around to look Roland in the eyes, “Though I might leave this part out of the book.”
“Yeah, it is a little anticlimactic.”
“No, it’s not.”
Jake pressed his lips into Roland’s before the next retort could come out of his mouth. Humming as he felt Roland lean into the kiss, Jake’s heart soared. A strong feeling of invincibility washed over him as he deepened the kiss to the sounds of the EMTs running down the hallway in his direction; uncaring as to how many witnesses his intensely private moment now had.
9
It was dark. Roland felt as if he had been ejected violently off of a tilt-a-whirl and sent out into space where his body was now floating in a vacuum. His chest felt heavy and his head spun as he noticed an obnoxious, rhythmic beeping noise somewhere in the distance.
Sighing, Roland forced his eyes open only to be half-blinded by the sunlight that streamed through the open windows of the white room. Cursing, he tried to lift his arms to rub away what felt like sand in his eyes, only to find he couldn’t.
“Hey there, handsome.”
Roland blinked and turned his head to see who had spoken. Standing over him was Jake who looked ethereal in a white shirt with his hair perfectly tousled to reflect the light in what appeared to be a halo. Allowing a smile to grace his features, Roland finally spoke in a dry, croaky voice.
“Are we in Heaven?”
Jake snorted, “I’m afraid not. We are in a hospital. You did try to go to Heaven a few times, though. I’ve been worried sick.”
“My bad.” Roland cleared his throat, “Did we beat the demon?”
“We did.” Jake smiled, “I’ll let you read the book first so you can fill in the blanks before the rest of the world knows.”
“Cool.” Roland tried to move his arms again and found himself afraid to look down as, once again, he could not, “Do I still have arms?”
Jake released a ringing laugh, “Yes, beautiful, but you’re on a buttload of painkillers because the demon burned most of the skin off of your arms. You’re going to be fine once the grafts heal though.”
“Ouch.” Roland vaguely remembered his encounter with the Satan-spawn, “He was a dick.”
“He was.” Jake smiled and ran a hand over Roland’s hair.
The sound of shuffling paper distracted Roland. Turning his head to the right, he noticed that there was a second bed in the room and that it was occupied. The other person was sitting up and reading a newspaper that covered their face.
Blinking once again to focus his eyes, Roland’s brow furrowed, “Is that a picture of… me?”
“Yes! We made the front page of the newspaper. I’d let you see it, but your roommate is kind of a jerk and I don’t know if she’d part with it.” Jake spoke in a mock whisper, “I think she has a crush on you.”
“Would you shut up already?” The woman in the second bed lowered the newspaper to reveal her pleasantly round face that held up a pair of cracked, rectangular glasses.
Roland gasped as tears sprang up in his eyes, “Jake, I thought you said we weren’t in Heaven!”
“As if they would let any of us into Heaven after that fiasco.” Janette teased casually.
“But, how?” Roland shifted as he tried to hold back his oncoming emotional breakdown.
“I only fell three floors, Roland. I slid down the wall which slowed my velocity. I broke my leg and a few ribs at the bottom, but I had plenty of time to drag myself out before the elevator crushed me.” Janette flipped the blanket off her lap to reveal a cast that covered the entirety of her left leg and foot, “You’re also a complete asshole for not even looking for me.”
“I…” Roland looked to Jake, “I don’t even know.” He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, “I’m sorry, Jan.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry too.”
“For what?” Roland turned back to look at his oldest friend.
“I’m sorry for not realizing how easy it would be for a powerful demon to rid you of your protective tattoos.” Janette looked genuinely remorseful, “I will definitely get the word out to stop that particular practice before more people lose skin over it.”
“Better late than never I suppose.”
Roland yawned as a soft knock sounded at the door to the room. Moments later, an elderly nurse came in and smiled down to her patient.
“It is good to see you awake.”
“It’s good to be awake.” Roland replied as the nurse started to take his vitals.
~~~
“Are you sure you’re ready to go back in here?” Jake and Roland were standing in the early morning sunlight outside the revolving door of the Moorsfield Hotel.
“I’m sure. Janette and Father Smith checked up on the place before they went back to Connecticut and it’s clean.”
“Alright.” Jake tucked a newspaper under his arm as he pushed the door forward.
Roland continued to speak as the two walked up to the front desk and rang the bell to call Vanhousen in, “Are you sure you don’t want to just take a massive dump on his desk instead? He deserves it.”
“Oh, Roland,” Jake pinched the bridge of his own nose, “your really are vindictive on pain-killers. It is adorable and all, but I think decorum is the better route in this case.”
“Fine.” Roland muttered as Mr. Vanhousen entered the room.
“Roland! It is so good to see you up and about! I was starting to worry about you. What’s it been; two weeks now?”
“Five.” Jake narrowed his eyes and reconsidered Roland’s prompt after being ignored, “We’re just here to collect the last of our things and leave.”
“Oh, you won’t be staying, miss?” Mr. Vanhousen wasn’t even trying to hide his glee at this point.
“No, I won’t be. I am a sir, by the way.”
“Pardon, miss, but I…”
“Sir.”
Vanhousen looked appalled that someone would speak to him in such a way, “Any business is allowed to choose whether or not to serve and respect…”
“You won’t be staying either.” Jake cut in.
The hotel manager faltered, “W-what?!”
“I’ve brought you a gift.” Jake handed over the newspaper he was holding, “You see, as I am a writer and all, the editor of the paper was just thrilled to have a meeting with me over what Roland and I found during our investigation of this establishment. She was just dying to put one of my stories on the front page.”
“I can’t be fired for working under a psychotic employer! I didn’t even know!”
“No, you can’t. You also can not, unfortuna
tely, be let go for disrespecting your clientele,” Jake’s grin spread even wider, “but you do have an appointment with the St. Louis PD over some interesting photos we took of one particular book in your office.”
The man’s face went ashen as his eyes skimmed over the article, “This room was locked!”
“Roland has this incredible talent of meeting people who can walk through walls, you know.” Jake fibbed as he enjoyed watching Vanhousen squirm, “Your ex-maintenance man, Devon; the one who died in the walls while you were already working here… He was more than happy to talk to both of us about your dirty little secrets. It wasn’t hard at all to acquire your accounting book and you, sir, have some sins of your own to answer to.”
“But… this doesn’t affect you!” The man threw the newspaper to the floor, “Why do you care if I underpay some pathetic slobs?!”
“First off, because it’s just wrong. Those people work hard in an understaffed building and deserve a fair wage. Secondly, I may have vouched for you to get a slap on the wrist instead of arrested if you had ever shown me one ounce of decency in my stay here, but as you have not…” Jake turned to the stairs as Mr. Vanhousen pleaded.
“Please, Sir! I’ll do anything! I will even pay you to speak on my behalf!”
“Too little, too late.” Jake continued to walk as he waved over his shoulder, “Take a closer look at the article. You’ll never work in this town again you bigoted asshat. Ta-ta!”
“That was so brutal!” A familiar, tenor voice arose from just beyond Jake’s line of sight, “I can die happy now.”
“Oh, Devon!” Roland grinned, “I hate to tell you this, but you’ve already died.”
The dark skinned man in question phased into the physical realm, “Ah, but now I can be happy about it. Well, content at least.” Devon looked Roland up and down, “You look rough, buddy.”
The Moorsfield Hotel Page 13