by Gary Jonas
“Poor little bunny,” Esther said. “Don’t give me an earful of that hooey. Let me talk.”
“The floor is yours,” I said.
She smiled and clapped her hands. “I helped Reginald move on,” she said. “Isn’t that the cat’s pajamas?”
“You lost me,” I said.
“He’s been stuck here for more than a hundred and fifty years. He just needed someone to listen. Once he told his story, a doorway of light opened up, and he vamoosed right on through it.”
“I thought you were upset with me the other day,” I said.
“You’re all wet,” she said. “I wanted to tell you Reginald loved to beat his gums, but it made him happy, and that was good enough for me, so I wanted to get back to him. You seemed busy. That’s all.”
“Congratulations,” I said. “Reginald seemed like a good man.”
“I wonder if I can help other ghosts move on.”
“I’m sure you can,” I said.
“Maybe they just need to know it’s okay to go.”
“I think if they want to go, they can. But maybe some feel they need permission.”
“Why would they need permission?” Esther asked. “I think they’re mostly stuck in a rut. They want someone to see them, to hear them, and then they know they lived and that they mattered.”
“You know,” I said, and was going to go further, but she put a translucent finger to my lips.
“Don’t you say it, Jonathan. You’re stuck with me until I say otherwise. Deal with it.”
I smiled. “Happily.”
“Is your case finished?”
“Just a few loose ends to tie up,” I said. “Then we can get out of here.”
“Can we go somewhere with lots of ghosts?”
“There are a lot of ghosts here in New Orleans.”
“Sure, but they’re all grummy. I talked to a ghost girl on the fifth floor, who only talked French, and I want to blow this joint before she gives me her stuck-up look again. She probably knows English, too. What a killjoy.”
We went upstairs, got cleaned up, and then I noticed a flashing light on the phone. I had a message.
I picked up the receiver, and listened to Madame Rousseau.
“I hope you’re alive,” she said. “There’s more I want to say, but I want to do it in person. Call John and meet me at my place when you can.”
I called Papa Simon.
“Jonathan Shade,” he said. “Glad you’re gonna live. I’d have ordered you to heal up, but that wouldn’t work on you even if I had that kind of magic.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “I think. How soon can you get to Madame Rousseau’s place?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“You killed me, Jonathan,” Madame Rousseau said when she opened the front door.
Kelly and I stood on the front porch. Esther stood on the walkway.
“Don’t be so melodramatic,” Papa Simon said behind her. “Let them in.”
Madame Rousseau stepped aside, and motioned for us to enter her house. Esther popped inside.
“Hi, Mama,” Esther said.
“Hello, Esther. You seem chipper.”
“I have a new calling. I can help ghosts move on.”
“Delightful,” Madame Rousseau said, and to her credit, she meant it.
“Is Emmanuel here?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Emmanuel, get out here,” Papa Simon called.
Emmanuel’s ghost drifted through the wall. He started when he saw Esther.
“Are you ready to move on?” Esther asked him.
“Uh, move on where?”
“To the afterlife.”
“Isn’t this the afterlife?”
Esther laughed. “Only if you want it to be.”
“I’d rather be alive,” he said.
“Don’t be a sap,” she said. “You only get one go around.”
“Ain’t true of my mother,” he said.
Kelly stood by the door, arms folded.
Madame Rousseau sat on the sofa next to Papa Simon. A coffee table sat before them with a candle on a black placemat with a circled pentagram drawn in red on the front.
“Did you bring the ring?” Papa Simon asked.
“Are you two getting hitched?” Esther asked.
Papa Simon laughed. “Well, it is a wedding ring, but it ain’t for marriage these days.”
I fished it out of my pocket. “I brought it.”
Madame Rousseau closed her eyes. “I don’t want to do this.”
“I’m not going to order you,” Papa Simon said. “You may be undead, but you have agency.”
“Undead?” Esther asked.
“Madame Rousseau has been pushing the boundaries of life for centuries,” I said.
“I wanted to live,” she said. “For the record, I don’t really blame you for my death.”
“You’re not dead yet.”
She laughed. “Honey, I’ve died twelve times.”
“And how many times have you killed someone to make the transition?”
“I always told my kids I brought them into this world, and I could take them out of it.”
“But you meant it literally.”
She shrugged. “Magic has been my life. I made choices. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe I should suffer.”
“Does that mean you’ll live out your days with me?” Papa Simon asked.
She laughed and patted her arm. “You always could make me smile.”
He held her hand. “You know that in spite of everything, I still love you.”
“I used you to make babies so I could have a new body.”
He shrugged. “That was some evil shit, woman. But you won’t hear me complaining about helping you make babies. Especially with that younger body you were sporting at the time.”
“Oh, hush,” she said, and patted his arm again. She grew serious when she looked at me. “You destroy that ring, you destroy me.”
“You captured a dark spirit.”
She nodded. “And I controlled it for many, many years. It broke free after the car wreck, and I used Grady’s life to bind it again, but I tried to use some of the magic to repair my younger body. I took down the mass. I took the body back to the age of my Taraji. I meant it for her. I know you won’t believe me when I say that, but it’s true. But her spirit wouldn’t take hold. I tried to bind it in there, but Taraji rejected the body. So I kept it for myself. I lived in both bodies at the same time as often as I could.”
I turned to Papa Simon. “You knew the whole time.”
He spread his hands. “She kicked my ass out. I guess she thought I’d tell her to destroy the body. And maybe I should have. But I didn’t know it wasn’t Taraji in there. I didn’t figure that out until a few days ago.”
“Madame Rousseau,” I said, and she held up a hand.
“You can call me Mama,” she said. “You’ve earned that.”
“For getting you killed?”
“For making me face reality. I thought I was more important than other people. I could do magic, so I always tried to help people. But I cheated others out of their lives to do it. Hell, that includes Chindra there in the damn ring.”
“That’s the name of the demon?” I asked.
She nodded. “Mmm hmm. You’ll need the name to destroy it.”
“I’ll need you to do it,” I said. “I don’t have any magic of my own. I’m just immune to it.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, honey, nobody told you? You’re perfectly balanced between light and dark magic. You can use any magic you want.”
I shook my head. “No, I really can’t.”
“John?” she said. “Tell him.”
“She’s right. Rather than letting magic roll off you, what you gotta do is let the magic inside you, which takes you off balance, then you can use that magic.”
“You’re not the first to tell me that, but it doesn’t work that way.”
“You just need the right teacher,” Madame Rousseau said
.
“Oh, I see,” I said. “And you’re the right teacher?”
She shook her head. “Sadly, no. We’re just a humble voodoo queen and king. You need to learn from a sorcerer of the highest level.”
“So much for that,” I said.
“There’s a sorcerer who can teach you,” Madame Rousseau said. “His name is Blake Ravenwood, and he runs the Denver branch of DGI. I believe you know him. And I don’t think he knows you killed him.”
“You ought to study with him,” Papa Simon said. “Wait. What did you say? Who killed who?”
“Long story,” I said.
“I’m all for long stories about now,” Madame Rousseau said. “Anything to delay the inevitable.”
“Emmanuel has to go, too,” I said.
She nodded. “I know.”
“Time out,” Emmanuel said. “Go where?”
“Sorry, dude, you killed Paul Tanner, and even though he was an asshole, you shouldn’t have done that. You also killed a couple of investigators.”
“I killed Paul, but I didn’t kill the others. Paul did that. Killed them and sent their bones back to his mom. That guy has issues.”
“Had,” I said.
“Mama, don’t let him kill me,” Emmanuel said.
“You’re already dead,” I said.
“Yeah, but—”
“I don’t want to watch my boy go away,” Madame Rousseau said. “Send me away first.”
“What?” Emmanuel said. “I don’t want to watch you kill Mama.”
“Esther,” I said, “can you please escort Emmanuel to another room?”
Esther guided Emmanuel away. “You heard the man. Get a wiggle on.”
They went through the wall.
“May we have a minute alone?” Papa Simon asked.
I nodded.
Kelly and I stepped out onto the porch to give them some privacy.
“If it’s all right with you,” Kelly said, “I’d like to wait out here while you dispatch that demon. Just in case it tries to jump into me again.”
“Good idea,” I said.
A few minutes later, Papa Simon opened the door.
“She’s ready to go.”
And he led me back into the living room. Maybe it should be called a dying room.
I took out the ring.
Madame Rousseau took a deep breath.
Papa Simon patted me on the back, reached into his pocket and removed a cheap pink disposable lighter.
“Pink?” I asked.
“Only color they had at the gas station,” he said.
“Sit beside me, John.”
Papa Simon moved over and sat down. He put an arm around her, and pulled her close, then kissed her forehead.
“I want you to know I’ll always love you,” he said.
“I won’t be alive to love you back,” she said.
“That’s all right,” he said. He looked up at me. “Since you don’t use magic, I’ll speak the words to the demon once it comes out.”
“I appreciate that,” I said.
“Your warrior woman doesn’t need to be on the porch. The demon won’t be able to get out of the circle.” He pointed at the placemat with the pentagram.
“She’s more comfortable outside right now,” I said.
“Can’t really argue with that. She’d have killed you if not for me.”
“Before you ask, there’s no way I’m not destroying this ring.”
“I know, but I had to try.”
Madame Rousseau shook her head. “Ignore him. I’ve lived longer than anyone should. I’m ready to go.”
“All right,” I said. I placed the ring around the candle wick, took the lighter, and flicked it to life. I lit the candle. Gray smoke swirled.
A horrible scream erupted from the ring and a dark entity burst forth, but Papa Simon was right. It couldn’t escape the circle.
“You can invoke the spell now,” I said.
Papa Simon grinned at me. For a moment, I thought he might not do it, but he leaned forward and said, “Hey, Chindra, you demonic fuckface, Simon says go to hell.”
The demon flashed white and the candle flame went out.
The ring was gone.
Madame Rousseau sat there beside Papa Simon.
“I’m still here,” she said.
“It might take a minute,” Papa Simon said.
Ten minutes later, she was still there.
“Did something go wrong?” she asked.
“The demon is gone,” Papa Simon said. “I thought you were gonna crumble to dust.” He reached behind the sofa and pulled out a Black and Decker Dustbuster. “I was ready to vacuum you right up in this.”
“Well, aren’t you the thoughtful one?” she said.
“Looks like you may just have to live out your natural life,” I said.
“But Emmanuel?” she asked.
“He’s gotta go.”
She nodded.
Papa Simon pointed to a Walmart bag by the front door. “His gris-gris bag is in there.”
I took the bag and went into the next room. Esther sat on the bed.
“Where’s Emmanuel?” I asked.
Esther stood and walked past me. “I talked him into going through the doorway.”
“So…”
“I did your job for you,” she said.
“Thank you, Esther,” I said.
But I burned the gris-gris bag, just in case.
***
We said our goodbyes, and a few hours later, Kelly, Esther, and I arrived at the airport.
“Well,” I said, “here we are.”
“Ticket counter is over there,” Kelly said, pointing.
“Where to?” I asked.
“Might I suggest Denver?” Kelly said. “It’s the closest thing to home we have.”
“We?”
“Of course we,” she said. “We’re a team.”
Part of me felt nervous about going back to Denver. I had old friends there who thought I was dead, and there was an ancient sorcerer I once killed, and there was another Kelly Chan.
But I liked the other Kelly Chan just as much as the Kelly Chan I was with. If the ancient sorcerer gave me any gruff, I’d just kill his sorry ass again. And as for my friends, well, me coming back from the dead was not the weirdest shit they’d ever seen.
I stepped up to the counter. “Two tickets to Denver, please,” I said, thankful that ghosts could fly for free.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gary Jonas grew up in a military family, so he moved a lot as a child. His original plan was to be a comic book artist, but in college things changed. He took a creative writing class for the easy A, and found that when he wrote stories, people were affected emotionally by them in ways they weren’t by his artwork. He switched from art to writing without ever looking back. Well, he might have looked back a few times, but by then it was too late. He sold his first short story to Marion Zimmer Bradley for the anthology Sword and Sorceress VII. Many short story sales followed to various magazines and anthologies including Robert Bloch’s Psychos, It Came from the Drive-In, 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, Prom Night, and many more.
His first novel, One-Way Ticket to Midnight, was published in 2002, It made the preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Award. While the novel was well-reviewed, it didn’t sell diddly squat, so Gary turned to writing screenplays for a few years. A couple of Hollywood options led to nothing, and the notes from producers, while sometimes spot-on, were also sometimes way out in left field (if they were even in the ballpark). Gary returned to novel writing with Modern Sorcery. You can visit him online at www.garyjonasbooks.com, and sign up for his mailing list on his rarely updated blog. Or you can follow him
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Cover design by Robin Ludwig at www.gobookcoverdesign.com
Edited by Rebecca Hodgkins
Books by Gary Jonas
The Jonathan Shade series
Modern Sorcery
Acheron Highway
Dragon Gate
Anubis Nights
Sunset Specters
Wizard’s Nocturne
Razor Dreams
Vertigo Effect
Club Eternity
Timeless Gods
Immortal Ascendant
Undead Agent
Forbidden Shadows (coming soon)
Spirited Christmas (a holiday novelette)
Jonathan Shade box sets
The Jonathan Shade Series Books 1-3
The Jonathan Shade Series Books 4-6
The Kelly Chan series
Vampire Midnight
Werewolf Samurai
Subhuman Resources (w/Rebecca Hodgkins)
Zombie Rising (w/Rebecca Hodgkins)
Vendetta Blues (w/Rebecca Hodgkins)
The Half-Assed Wizard series
The Half-Assed Wizard
The Big-Ass Witch
The Dumbass Demon
The Lame-Assed Doppelganger
The Half-Assed Wizard Box Set
The Half-Assed Wizard Books 1-4
Novels
One-Way Ticket to Midnight
Pirates of the Outrigger Rift (w/Bill D. Allen)
Guardians of the Sky
A Bullet for My Brother (as Dan Winchester)
Riding with Barefoot Bob (as Dan Winchester)
Novellas
Night Marshal: A Tale of the Undead West
Retribution Trail (as Dan Winchester)
The Tombstone Jack series (as Dan Winchester)
Tombstone Jack
Tombstone Jack and the Redwing Saloon
Tombstone Jack and the Wyoming Raiders
Collections
Curse of the Magazine Killers
Quick Shots
The Hitman Stories
The Adventures of Tombstone Jack (as Dan Winchester)