The Fifth Portal: a supernatural urban fantasy action adventure (Cards of Death book 5)

by Tamara Geraeds

  “You’re still wearing a suit,” Charlie comments.

  “Yes,” the old ghost answers in his own voice, sitting down again, “but I’ve never worn anything other than black, so this feels a bit strange.” He strokes the fabric of his dark blue jacket.

  “You look great,” Mona tells him, raking her fingers through his brown hair. “You’re like a cross between Jude Law and Bradley Cooper.”

  D’Maeo rubs his bare chin and cheeks. “Really? I feel so… bald.”

  “It looks great,” Asian Gisella assures him.

  “Sure,” D’Maeo huffs. “On this face.”

  While they chat, I take a look at the person sitting in Maël’s chair. “No way!”

  Everyone falls silent and Charlie chuckles. “Donna did a great job with Maël, didn’t she?”

  My head is spinning from trying to take in all these changes. By now, I’m afraid to look at Vicky. She’s the only one I don’t want to change. I don’t care what the others look like, and as long as I don’t look too bad myself, I’m fine with it, but Vicky is a different story. I love the way she looks, feels and smells. I love everything about her. She’s my dream girl. I don’t want to kiss or hold anyone else.

  Which is why I’m glad there’s one more transformation for me to admire before turning to the girl sitting to my right. I try to block out any glimpse I pick up from the corner of my eye while I take in Maël.

  She’s turned into a blonde, white thirty-something woman wearing a navy colored two-piece suit with a tight skirt around her small hips. Her hair is wound into a neat bun at the back of her head.

  I want to burst into laughter, but I can’t do that, so instead I ask her, “How do you feel?”

  I can’t help but laugh when she answers in her own deep, dark voice. The combination makes me think of an alien.

  “I’m sorry,” I say, swallowing hard. “It takes some getting used to your new look. But what do you think?”

  “Honestly,” she says, “it is a wonderful disguise, but I think fighting in this skirt will be difficult.” She shoots Donna an apologetic look.

  “You’re right,” the fairy godmother says with a nod. She waves her hand and orange sparks wrap around Maël’s waist. In the blink of an eye, a pair of navy pants replace the skirt.

  “Thank you,” the blonde woman says, “that is much better.”

  “What do you think of my new look?” Vicky whispers in my ear.

  “I’m not sure I’m ready to see it.”

  “Sure you are,” she says, grabbing my face with two hands and turning my head.

  My mouth falls open when a woman in her mid-forties smiles at me. She’s got a head full of short, blonde curls and dark brown eyes that are almost as mesmerizing as Vicky’s own blue ones.

  “Well?” she asks.

  When I don’t answer, Charlie laughs. “I think you still make a pretty couple.”

  Flora and Hanna glow. “We thought you’d like it.”

  “Right, so you’ve made everyone handsome, except for me,” Taylar pouts.

  Mona gives him a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, but we have to keep it realistic. Not everyone is good-looking. We’re not in the movies after all.”

  “We can switch,” Vicky offers. “I don’t mind looking like that.”

  The godmother with the black bob cut shakes her head. “We can’t do that. It’s too risky to change genders. We want you to blend in.”

  Taylar shrugs. “It’s okay really, I was just being sarcastic. I like being solid.” He grins. “It just didn’t have to be this solid.”

  “Oh right!” I call out. “You’re all no longer transparent. That’s amazing!”

  The fairy godmothers give a small bow.

  “Well, darlings,” Mona claps to get everyone’s attention, “I think we’re done!”

  “There’s something I wanted to ask before you all leave,” Asian Charlie says.

  All the godmothers turn their perfect faces toward him. “Yes?”

  “Dante and his Mom have a fairy godmother, but apparently Gisella and I do not. Why is that? Why doesn’t everyone have a fairy godmother?”

  The godmother with the long black curls, Kara I think, gives him a wide smile. “That’s a good question.”

  Mona waves her friends away. “You girls go back to your charges. I’ll explain it to them. Thanks for your help, darlings!”

  “You’re welcome!” they say in cheery voices and whirl by whirl they vanish into colorful sparks.

  I shift my attention to Mona, curious about her answer.

  “Fairy godmothers are assigned to people who need help making the world a better place.”

  Charlie’s forehead wrinkles up, reminding me of what Jackie Chan looked like every time he was about to start a fight. “Gisella and I can also make the world a better place!”

  “I never said you couldn’t,” Mona answers calmly.

  Taylar leans back in his chair. “I think it’s a compliment that you don’t have one, Charlie. It means you don’t need help saving the world.”

  I press my lips together when I realize what that means for me.

  “No, Dante,” Mona says, shaking her head. “It doesn’t mean you’re weak. It just means you’re getting more trouble in life than anyone could handle on their own. And so does your mother.”

  “Never mind,” I say, shaking my head to lose the voice telling me I’m a failure. “It’s fine.”

  Vicky grabs my hand. “You’re just as brave as the rest of us.”

  I snort. “No, I’m not.”

  “You keep going, don’t you?” Her brown eyes staring into mine makes me itchy. They don’t match her voice. And the solid hand holding mine feels weird too. Still I resist pulling back. Instead, I force a smile on my face. “Let’s get to work, shall we?”

  Vicky’s curls jump up and down as she nods. “That’s the spirit. Where do you want to start?”

  I yawn. “By going to bed?” I hold up my hand when she frowns. “I’m kidding. Sleep will have to wait until we’ve found the soul. We can’t risk these spells wearing off.” I glance through the back door. “I’m hoping to find all of the souls from Purgatory before dark. I don’t know what time it…”

  The last words get caught in my throat as something approaches in the dim light of the rainy afternoon–or morning, I’m not sure. “What’s that?”

  CHAPTER 30

  All heads turn, and everyone goes silent.

  “It looks like a man,” office-guy Taylar says quietly. “I think he’s wounded.”

  Our brand-new blue-suited manager turns in his chair. “That man is not wounded. He’s dead.”

  We all jump from our seats at the same time and pull out our weapons.

  “It doesn’t look hostile,” blonde Maël comments as the corpse stumbles closer.

  As bad as the guy looks─covered in blood, his bones bent at awkward angles, his clothes torn and his hair a mess of dirt and leaves–I have to admit, he looks more like he’s trying to find help than someone to kill. But I’m pretty confident he’s beyond help, and I’m also pretty sure he didn’t stumble into my garden by accident.

  He reaches the door and knocks. I’m serious, he doesn’t bang on it, he knocks.

  “We’re not letting him in, are we?” Charlie asks, moving his head to shake the blond locks he no longer has over his shoulder.

  “Of course not.” I walk to the door and hesitate. “Should I open it and see what he wants?”

  The zombie takes a step back and waits patiently. Very strange behavior for a dead guy.

  “Maybe Jeep sent it?” Gisella’s words sound hesitant, but they give me a sudden boast of hope.

  With one quick move, I press down the door handle and swing the door open.

  “What do you want?” I ask, raising my athame in case the zombie tries something.

  From up close, I can see large scratches across his cheeks and forehead. H
e looks as if he’s been tortured to death. Blood is dripping from his right hand, and he leans on his ankles instead of on his feet. He doesn’t speak, but that’s not a surprise. Most zombies don’t.

  My patience is running out as the man stares at me in silence. I’m about to shoo him away when he walks to the wall next to the back door and starts writing words with his bloodied finger.

  Carefully, I move around him and try to make out what he’s writing.

  The others step outside too, weapons at the ready.

  Charlie is the one who breaks the silence. “It’s a message from the Devil.”

  I grit my teeth while I take in the words.

  My offer expires in two minutes. We will make a good team. Think hard and choose wisely.

  L.

  Slowly, I shake my head. “I thought the Devil was supposed to be smart? Did he really think I was going to work with him?”

  What is your answer? the zombie writes.

  “The answer is no, of course! We will beat you no matter what.”

  More words in blood appear on the wall as the zombie moves his finger slowly and deliberately.

  Don’t be so hasty. Your decision has consequences for your loved ones. I’ve already captured two of you, and the rest will follow if you don’t agree to work with me. They will all suffer.

  “You have no one!” I yell. “No one!”

  The zombie doesn’t even flinch. He just takes two steps to his right and keeps writing.

  I have your mother. She’s such a lovely lady. So much fighting spirit. And for my other prisoner… how do you think I found my messenger?

  Rage and despair build up inside me until my head explodes. My jaws ache with the effort to keep myself from screaming. My eyes burn from the tears I hold back. If I grab my weapon any tighter, the bones in my hand will snap.

  The zombie waits patiently while I steady my breathing and search for the right words.

  “If you think grabbing the people I care about will force me to join you, you’re way off. It will only force me to fight harder. And I can promise you this…” I point my finger at the zombie as if he’s the Devil himself. “I will fight you until my death if I have to, and if you’re not defeated then, I will find you from beyond the grave. I will build my own army in Heaven and hunt you until you beg for mercy. And I will never give you any.”

  “And we’ll fight with you!” Charlie calls out. The others let out a battle cry that can probably be heard on the other side of Blackford.

  Without warning, the zombie turns and leaps at me faster than I presumed possible. Thankfully my reflexes are as fast as they were before I lost my memory. Besides, I was expecting the guy to attack, so with one quick move, I raise my arm, and he walks straight into the blade of my dagger. I pull it out before he gets the change to wrap his bloody hands around my neck. With one swipe, I take off his head. Then I kick the body until all the bones are split into little pieces. I pick up the head and fling it with all my might at the message on the wall.

  “Dante…” Vicky’s voice says softly.

  Panting loudly, I kick the body some more. Blood stains my new leather shoes.

  “Dante? Babe?” Her hand is on my arm. “Look at me.”

  My head is pounding so hard I squeeze my eyes shut. “He’s got them, Vick!”

  “No, he doesn’t.” She pulls me into a hug, and I rest my head on her solid shoulder. “He’s bluffing, babe. He’s just bluffing.”

  Tears force themselves out of the corners of my eyes, and I no longer hold them back.

  My new determination to stop sulking and be positive kicks in soon. I check my weapons and straighten my back before raising my hand to ask for silence. “There’s something I want to say before we go hunting.” My eyes glide over the unfamiliar faces. “We’ve been through a lot already, but I have a feeling that things will get a lot harder before the end. But we cannot lose faith.” I ball my hand into a fist and raise it. “There’s no reason to lose faith, no matter how bad things look. We cannot let Lucifer win, and we won’t. We’re strong, and we’ve got each other, even when we’re not together. We’ll keep fighting no matter what and for the right reasons. And that is why we will win this.”

  They all take out their weapons and raise them with a loud cheer. I almost laugh out loud at the sight of them. They look like a bunch of office clerks cheering on a company merger. If only that was all we had to worry about.

  The woman with the short curls steps up to me and gives me a cheeky grin that doesn’t really fit her looks. “Where to, boss?” she asks with Vicky’s voice.

  “Do you have a map of the United States?”

  “Of course.”

  She digs into the back pocket of her pants and hands me a folded map. “Here you go, Jason.”

  I snort. “My name is not Jason.”

  “Well, it isn’t Dante either now. We’d better think of something to call each other while we look like this. We can’t go around calling each other by our real names.”

  I give her a quick kiss on the lips. “You’re so smart.” I turn to the others. “I’m going to scry for a soul I saw in Purgatory. It was one of the souls that was sent here by Trevor to collect the fairy soul. It should lead us to the fairy or at least somewhere near it.” I hate how insecure I sound, so I try to make up for it with a broad smile. “While I scry, you guys can think of some names to match our new bodies. Try to pick something that’s easy to remember.”

  “No problem!” Vicky says cheerily, and they gather around D’Maeo while I unfold the map at my end of the kitchen table and take the pendant in the form of my athame from the cupboard.

  It’s not hard to bring up the woman’s face in my head. I focused on her hard when I saw her, knowing I might need to find her later, and I chose her because she stood out between the other souls. I knew she’d be easy to remember even with the short time I had to study every detail of her face. Her eyes were small and upturned, her cheekbones high. Her skin was a beautiful light brown, her nose small and her lips thin. The fear coursing through her couldn’t hide her elegance as she stepped through the portal back to Earth.

  With her face in mind, I release my pendant, my hand high above the map to make sure the pendant can reach any corner of the country. It scans the map with wide circles and spins until my hand gets heavy.

  With clenched teeth, I wonder if I need a map of the world instead. Curly Vicky pops up next to me and shakes her head. “Looks like your soul isn’t in this country.”

  “Yes, that had just occurred to me too. Do you have a map of─”

  I cut off my question when she slams another map onto the table.

  “Thanks.” I pull up the pendant, fold the US map and unfold the new one.

  Vicky rejoins the others, and I start again.

  This time, the pendant slows down fast and drops down on… “New Zealand?”

  Vicky looks up with a wide smile. “We’re going to New Zealand? I’ve always wanted to go there.”

  I lift the pendant and bend over the map. “Looks like our destination is Goblin Forest, in the west.”

  “Great!” Vicky says, making a little jump for joy.

  “Awesome,” I reply dryly. “Except we don’t have a clue how to get there.”

  “Sure we do,” she says. “We can cast a spell. Or ask Quinn to take us.”

  There’s a brush of air on my neck, followed by a familiar voice. “Did somebody call?”

  Vicky’s smile widens even more. “Quinn! Just the angel we were looking for.”

  “Hi V… What do I call you now?”

  “Valery,” she answers proudly.

  Quinn’s heavy footsteps pass me. He takes in the new faces and finally rests his gaze on me. “Dante.”

  I can’t say I’m surprised he recognizes us. Our souls probably shine through our disguises.

  “Mona’s friends disguised us so we can save the next soul without the risk of losin
g my mother,” I explain.

  He scratches his short curls. “Looks like I missed something.”

  “You missed a lot, but that’s okay,” I say, and I mean it. “We can use your help now though.” I point at the tiny hole the pendant made in the map. “We have to go to New Zealand. We can probably get there on our own, but it’ll be much faster if you take us.”

  “No problem,” he says without hesitation. He narrows his eyes and takes us in one by one once more. “Where’s Jeep?”

  I pull back my shoulders. “We don’t know. He’s the next to do on our list, along with my mother.”

  “I knew I should’ve kept her in Heaven,” Quinn mumbles.

  “What?”

  He shakes his head sadly. “She’s Lucifer’s best leverage. She’s one of the most important people in your life, and she can’t defend herself. I should’ve kept her in Heaven where she would’ve been safe.”

  “You can do that?”

  “If I have a good reason, yes. And I do.”

  The tall manager in the blue suit steps forward and places a hand on Quinn’s arm while staring at me hard. “It’s too late for that now, and to be honest, I think Susan has a role to play in all this, just like we do. She’s not just your weak spot, Dante, but also Trevor’s.”

  I give D’Maeo an appreciative nod. “You’re right. And my mom might not have any magical powers, but she does have a strong will. She lived with those fits for years, remember?”

  Vicky drops into a chair. “And that’s not easy.”

  Quinn’s lips curl up. “Sounds like I underestimated her.” He spreads his arms. “Are you all ready for a trip to New Zealand?”

  “Almost,” Vicky says, pushing herself to her feet again. “First, we need to remember our new names. We cannot use our real ones for a while. For Susan’s sake.”

  “Agreed,” I say. “So what did you come up with?”

  They fall back in line, and Vicky points at everyone. “From now on we will no longer be knows as Vicky, Taylar, Charlie, Gisella, D’Maeo, Maël and Dante, but as Valery, Ted, Chung, Grace, David, Mabel and Dean.”