Midnight Rider

by D V Wolfe

  He nodded and then cocked his head to the side. “Ninety, well maybe seventy-five percent sure.”

  I glared at him. “Well, which is it? Ninety or seventy-five?”

  “Somewhere in that range,” Festus said.

  I continued to glare at Festus. “Well if Mr. Intel over here is correct, we could just take 255 and bypass the station. It doesn’t merge with fifty-five until five or six miles later. And if we’re moving at a good clip, they might miss us altogether.”

  “Ok,” Stacks said, following the road into St. Louis with his eyes and then pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looking up at me. “Then what?”

  I blew out a sigh. I didn’t know “then what”.

  “Well, once we hit town, we find a safe house to hole up in. Then... Festus and I do some scouting to find out where the demon spring fling is being held and then we wait for Rosetta and Tags to catch up with us, I guess,” I said.

  We all stared dumbly at the map.

  “This is a shit plan,” Stacks said. I couldn’t argue. We were going to need a full planet alignment, perfect storm, mojo bag full of miracles to pull this off.

  I noticed Noah hadn’t said anything and I turned to see he had moved away from Lucy to sit on the curb a few feet away.

  “I need to find a john,” Stacks said, looking up and down the street.

  Festus flicked open the top of his cigarette pack, forgetting it was empty and said, “Well there’s probably a lady or two a few blocks down that might be able to help you with that.”

  “Not that kind of john, smart ass,” Stacks said. “We passed a 7-Eleven a couple of blocks back. I’m heading down there.”

  “I’ll join you,” Festus said. “I need to procure a new pack.”

  The two of them stalked away down the sidewalk and I closed the map atlas, tossed it back into the cab through Lucy’s open window, and sat down on the curb next to Noah. We were quiet for a moment and I just looked at him.

  “How’s your arm and your side?” Noah asked, without looking at me.

  “Huh,” I said. “I’d forgotten about them.” I sat up straight and lifted my shirt to look at the stitches in my side. They were crusty but the area wasn’t red. “No infection and they look like they’re healing.” I turned my head to look down at the black scab on my arm. It already looked a lot better. “It looks pretty good,” I said. Noah glanced over at my arm and I continued. “And I will have a bitching scar when it does. Thanks for fixing me up.” He didn’t say anything. I sighed. “So, do you want to talk about whatever is chafing your nethers?”

  Noah ran a hand through his mop-top, getting his fingers caught in a snarl and pulling them out so the snarl and curls stood straight up. “It wouldn’t matter if we did. You would just keep me in the dark anyway.”

  I dragged my eyes away from his hair and tried to study the look on his face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He picked up a bottle cap at his feet and pitched it out into the road. “Just what I said. All this ‘I can download into a new body’, ‘gotta kill this demon, no matter the collateral damage’, bullshit,” Noah said. “I’m not a part of the super-secret clubhouse so I just have to listen to all this code crap and hope that you’re not going to get me killed.”

  I felt heat climbing up the back of my neck and my eyebrows shot up my forehead. “I gave you an out multiple times, Noah. You could have hopped a Greyhound and headed anywhere. You didn’t have to come with me. I thought after the Rawhead you’d understand that this isn’t playtime.”

  Noah finally turned to look at me. “That’s just it, Bane!” He was trying not to shout and I could see the muscles in his jaw constricting with the effort of keeping his teeth clenched. “When I met you and saw what you did, I wanted to come with you. It was the first ray of hope I’d felt since,” he looked down at his hands, “this shit started. I thought, finally, I could use this to do something good. Even if it was just to patch you up. But, you’re so sarcastic and blasé about everything, I never know when you’re being serious. You know the odds but you’re not sharing. What do I have to fucking do for you to let me into the clubhouse?!” And now he was shouting.

  “There is no clubhouse!” I shouted back before I could hold it in. “Look, I didn’t want a partner. I didn’t need a partner. This shit storm is my shit storm.”

  “It doesn’t fricking seem like it!” Noah shouted. “This feels like a team and everyone knows what’s really at stake, except for me.”

  “Yeah, well maybe it’s better that way,” I growled, getting to my feet. “Then you don’t have to walk around with this clock pounding in your ears every second, every breath, every screw-up, worrying that not only will you fail, but your failure will get people killed and damned.” I’d had it. Something was wavering inside of me, threatening to topple. My heartbeat was pounding so loud in my ears that I almost didn’t hear Noah get up and come after me. I was at the corner of the block when he caught up to me and grabbed the back of my shirt.

  “Stop walking away from me!” Noah snapped. I felt heat rushing up my back and I smelled burning. “Shit.” Then I was being slapped on the back as Noah tried to put the flames out. I pulled the shirt off over my head, trying to get the fire off of me. I was sucker-punched in the stomach by the memory of the townsfolk of Ashley trying to do the same thing as the flames consumed them. This was going to be our eternity, for them and for me. “Why won’t you just be honest and tell me what this is all about?!” Noah yelled, thrusting the shirt back at me.

  The wobbling tower inside of me toppled. “Because I’m fucking terrified!” I shouted. “I’m scared, alright? I’m going to Hell and I can’t stop it. I’m going to be in a burning pit with the demons and every evil thing I’ve hunted, as company. Forever. And if that’s not bad enough, almost seven hundred innocent people are going with me, because of me. Excuse me for not wanting to dwell on this over and over every time I pick up a hitchhiker.” I moved away from him and held up my shirt. The bottom of the shirt at the back was singed off. I pulled it over my head and almost ripped it when it got caught in the strap of my sports bra. Finally, I turned to look at him. “There’s no ‘club’. The others have just known me long enough to know the score.” I felt the burning at the corner of my eyes and tears threatening to fall.

  Noah looked like I had slapped him. “I guess that’s all I’ll ever be to you, huh? A hitchhiker? A freak with firey hands. I’m sorry about what you’re going through and I’m sorry for being insensitive.” He looked up at me and there was raw sadness and hurt in his eyes. “But, fuck you, Bane, for thinking you’re the only one who’s going through something terrible.”

  We glared at each other for a moment. Noah never blinked or backed down. The kid had moxie. Finally, when I felt the tower rebuilding itself inside of me and I knew my voice wouldn’t crack when I spoke, I said, “You’re right.”

  “Damn it Bane,” Noah said. “I’m being serious.”

  I glared at him. “So am I.”

  “Well it’s hard to tell with you sometimes,” He said.

  I nodded. “That’s fair.” I started walking back down the block towards Lucy.

  “So,” Noah said, coming up behind me. “How did all this happen to you?” His voice was softer now.

  I opened the toolbox and dug out another a-shirt. It was stained, but it was whole. I pulled it on and sat back down on the curb. Noah dropped down next to me and I looked over at him. “Do you really want to know the whole story?”

  “Yes,” Noah said.

  “Ok,” I said. “A lot of years ago, I made a deal.” I paused, expecting Noah to rant and rave like Rosetta had when I had first told her. He just stared at me, blank-faced. “A deal, Noah,” I said. “You know, with the devil?”

  “Shit,” Noah said. “That stuff is real?”

  I shrugged. “Apparently it’s more commonplace than any of us thought. It happens a lot. And those deal demons are sneaky bastards.”

  “
What did you deal for?” Noah asked.

  “A good crop,” I said quietly. “And my dad’s life.”

  Noah scooted towards me. “Was he sick?”

  “Not physically,” I said. “My ma had died and the bank had taken the farm and that crop was our last hope.”

  “Why was your dad’s life in danger…” Noah started to ask.

  I held up a hand. “That part isn’t important right now. The fact is, I made a deal. I didn’t realize at the time that’s what I was doing, but I signed a contract with a stranger to make it happen. The problem was, I got the sneakiest snake oil salesman that they had downstairs. He apparently was low on his quota that month or something and he snuck in a clause that ended up roping in the souls of everyone in the town along with mine.”

  “That can’t be legal,” Noah said, turning to fully face me. “How could you deal with their souls too?”

  I hung my head. “My ma’s family was the last family left out of the original railroad workers that had settled in the county. And I was the only child left in my ma’s line. So the way the contract was apparently phrased, I “owned” the town and could consign all the souls in it to Hell along with me. Apparently, it’s something that has been outlawed since the middle ages when kings used to do this stuff to their serfs. Anyway, when I was dragged to Hell, all the townsfolk were too. Every last one of them.”

  “Nightmares,” Noah said. I looked up at him. “That’s why you try not to sleep at night, right?” Noah asked. “I have them about Amy. Almost every night. Reliving it, over and over.”

  I nodded. “Yeah...nightmares.”

  “So if you were all dragged to hell,” Noah asked. “What are you doing here?”

  “Well, all those jokes about lawyers and Hell aren’t too far off point,” I said. “I ended up bunking with a lawyer in purgatory. He was a good man. He’d also made a deal to get a client off in exchange for his soul.”

  “Wow,” Noah said. “Was it like a woman he was in love with or something?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. Old guy, with a lot of money.” Noah looked appalled. “Hey, I said he was a good guy, not a saint. He got ten years though to enjoy a pretty awesome fortune in those days before they dragged him downstairs. When I told him about what I had done, he appealed to the Celestial and Infernal courts on my behalf.”

  “Celestial and Infernal courts?” Noah asked, trying not to smile.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I know how it sounds. But that’s what those winged monkeys and the red-eyed douchebags call themselves.”

  Noah raised an eyebrow. “What, you mean angels and demons?” I nodded and he shook his head. “Now you’re just messing with me, Bane.”

  “Nope,” I said, nudging his knee with mine. “My credibility is already shot with you. Why would I make this crap up?” When he didn’t say anything, I continued. “So they set up a court date and my bunkmate tells me what’s happening and I’m hopeful that maybe they’ll at least let the souls of the rest of the town go since they didn’t make the deal, but we go before the court and it becomes this pissing match between the demons and angels and I remember just sitting there for years, listening to them argue and smite each other and finally, finally a deal was made.”

  “Years?” Noah said. “Kind of melodramatic, don’t you think?”

  “You’d think so,” I said. “But it turns out the trial lasted fifty-eight years in topside time.”

  Noah’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair. “You had a trial that lasted fifty-eight years?!”

  I nodded. “Of course, I only knew that it had been that long when I got back. Downstairs, time is different. Anyways, they upheld the demon’s deal with me. He got to keep the contract and as long as it’s intact, I’m hell’s bitch. However, the demons and angels decided that they would release the souls of the other townsfolk if I could replace them.”

  “Replace them?” Noah asked.

  I sighed and nodded. “So imagine Hell is this big engine, and it needs fuel. Apparently human souls are like ‘regular unleaded’, but the life forces of supernatural beings are like ‘premium’. Of course, human souls are much easier to come by because well, we’re mortal and pretty prone to make deals so that our mortal lives can be more comfortable or enjoyable or whatever. But, it's a pain in the ass for hell to get supernatural life forces unless hunters send them downstairs. So human souls are cheaper than supernaturals to use as fuel for the engine. Now, almost seven hundred souls in a single contract isn’t anything to scoff at so Hell wasn’t willing to let them go without getting a return with interest. So, I hunt and kill supernaturals, their life force or power is worth a certain number of souls in some fucked up version of an exchange rate and when I’ve killed enough supernaturals to be an even exchange for the souls, they’ll let them go.”

  “Man,” Noah said.

  I looked at him. “What?”

  “Soul Exchange Rate would be an awesome name for a metal band.” I sighed and Noah gave me a half-smile. His expression turned serious again and he looked down at the pavement. “So what’s the magic number?”

  “Six hundred and seventy-nine,” I said.

  “So you’ve been at this for? What? Two or three years?” He asked.

  I shook my head. “I’ve been doing this for nine years and almost seven months.”

  Noah gaped at me. “What!? And you aren’t done yet?” I opened my mouth to answer him, but he interrupted. “Wait,” he looked me up and down. “There’s no way that you’re that old.”

  I shook my head. “You want me to finish the story or not?”

  “Sorry,” he grumbled.

  “So they put a timer on me,” I continued. “They turned me loose up here on November 1st, 2010. I had ten years to save all six hundred and seventy-nine souls. They let me have one possession that I could use to help me and they told me that there would be fail-safes, though with a consequence.”

  “How close are you? Why was it ten years? What are the…” Noah started but snapped his mouth shut at the look I gave him.

  “I have about four hundred and eighty more souls to save at the moment and about five months to do it in.” I said, “Of course, I picked Lucy, my truck, as my one possession. Thanks to my lawyer, I got a few things with her to help me do the job and keep out of Johnny Law’s hair for the most part. There are special cases as you know,” I said. “Old Orville knows my face and my name, so it doesn’t keep me out of trouble in Messina.”

  “So in nine years you’ve only managed to kill two hundred and nine souls worth of evil?” Noah asked.

  I shook my head. “No, it turns out the Celestial court of angels plays as dirty as the demons. The ‘fail-safes’ they had in mind would let me continue if I happened to die.”

  “How…” Noah started and then looked down and waited.

  “If a baddie gets me, I go back downstairs and get in line. Once I get to the front of the line, they move me into an Empty House.”

  “A what?” He asked.

  “Empty Houses are human bodies that a soul has already vacated. You know, like long-term coma patients, and sometimes just ordinary folks who are going through the motions but their souls have already gotten bored and left.” I turned to face Noah and folded my left ear forward. “See, all Empty Houses are branded so that they can be inhabited by another soul.” Noah leaned forward so that he could see the pentagon-shaped brand behind my ear.

  Noah leaned back from me, “It kind of looks like a house.”

  I nodded, letting go of my ear and facing the street again. “I think that’s one of the reasons they came up with the name, ‘Empty Houses’ for the ‘vessels’.”