by L. L. Wright
Collin: I’ll add humor to my ‘Clark List’
Collin: I hope this is you, and I haven’t forgotten meeting a girl named Sonya...
Collin: I’m a little worried now.
Emmie: My name is Emmie.
Collin: *sigh of relief*
Collin: So, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m really not a bad guy. Let’s start over.
Emmie: I’d say yes, but I don’t have short term memory loss, so one first impression is all you get.
Collin: Fair enough. When do you want to work on this project?
Emmie: I’m busy until around 5 tomorrow.
Collin: Meet me at St. Joseph’s church at 6:30
Emmie: You want to do our writing assignment in a Catholic church?
Emmie: Collin??
Emmie: Collin???
This kid is so weird, she rolled her eyes and slid her phone into her pocket as her mother came out of the bedroom and said, "Are you ready?”
"Yep," Emmie replied, pushing up from the sofa and following her mother out of the suite.
They walked down the busy street past couples and professionals on phones who were clearly in a rush.
"How do you know this area so well, mom? Do you come here for work," Emmie asked.
"Yes, sometimes if we're hosting a large meeting, for a merger or a complicated bankruptcy we come here, and some of the office parties and dinners over the years have been here as well," her mother explained as she stopped and opened an ornate metalwork door. "Well, here we are."
By the time their hunger pulled them out of the store they carried five fabric shopping bags between them. Emmie was in love with the sweaters she had found and her mother had even managed to find a handful of office blouses she was excited about.
When the hostess at the hotel restaurant told them there would be a forty-five-minute wait to be seated she asked if they would like to order room service instead. Emmie eagerly nodded at her mother who reluctantly agreed.
They sat on the living room sofa situated between the two bedrooms in their suite flipping through the hotel's movie channels.
"Sweet Home Alabama," Emmie suggested.
Her mother scrunched her nose and shook her head and said, "Practical Magic."
"No way. Nothing witchy. I have enough of those problems as it is," Emmie sighed.
"You know, Em, I've been thinking," her mother said, putting the remote down and shifting on the sofa. "When I was a kid I had some troubles with my magic too. After my parents passed away my aunt took me to see someone who helped settle my magic. She was a strange old woman without powers of her own. She had to siphon a bit of my magic to fuel her spell. To this day I don't know what she did, but whatever it was, it worked."
"Why didn’t you ever mention this before?"
"You were too young. It's very dangerous to meddle in new magic. It’s unpredictable, and honestly I don't know if that old woman is still alive or if what she did could have been the result of my powers fading away. I didn't keep track of her and now, as far as I know, it's just us."
"Mom, if there's a chance she's still alive and can help me we have to try," Emmie said, feeling hopeful about her powers for the first time.
"I'll see what I can find out. Now, what about Sleepless in Seattle?"
Emmie reached for the remote and said, "No way, You've Got Mail is so much better."
"They're the same movie," her mother insisted, and they both laughed until a knock at the door interrupted the moment.
When their food arrived they shared off of each other's plates like they always did as they discussed what was new between them. Melody explained some staffing changes that were being made at her firm due to a large corporate restructuring program. The program was designed to give existing employees more room for advancement while still bringing in interns and fresh talent in various departments to replace the now vacant entry-level positions. Emmie decided on a whim to confide in her mother about the drama she had experienced this past week with Lisa.
“Her name is Jenny. She's from Canada, and her dog speaks french,” she said, hoping not to sound too jealous.
“Oh, Em, I’m sorry. I know how hard that must be,” her mother said. “But, listen, you and Lisa have been friends your whole lives. A new friend can’t erase that kind of history and all of those memories,” she reassured. “Things will go back to normal. Right now Jenny is new and exciting, but once that fades away you and Lisa will still have a strong bond, even if Jenny is sticking around,” she finished. How do moms do that? Emmie wondered. They say something completely obvious, but somehow overlooked and suddenly everything feels better. Maybe I should tell her about Leo. She might have some mom-insight that will help me figure out all of these feelings, she thought. Emmie couldn’t quite explain it, but she had a nagging feeling that she shouldn't tell her mother about Leo. Not yet. She had never kept any of her friends a secret before, but there was something about their friendship that she just wanted to keep to herself, for now at least, she told herself.
13
Leo
They met in the West Creek Cemetery again, the only place they knew of where their words were safe from the prying ears of both angels and demons. Humans had a tendency to keep away from burial grounds after dark, making consecrated catholic cemeteries a favorite meeting place for angels seeking privacy. This time Leo found Collin sitting on top of a massive family plot stone. He shook his head, bewildered.
"What did you find out?" he asked as he approached the weathered gravestone.
"She's not human, that much I'm sure of. I can smell the magic running through her veins, but I’ve never encountered anything like it before." Leo ran a palm over his face.
"Where is she now?" he asked, unsure if he even wanted to know the answer to his question. When it came to the hunt, Collin was by the book. For him the lines were black and white, and he had yet to meet a line he had an interest in blurring.
"Beats me. She's not home though."
"You let her go?" Leo asked, his brow furrowed.
Collin shrugged innocently, still perched on top of the headstone and said, "We're here to hunt demons. Soulless abominations that threaten human existence. I don't know what this girl is, but I didn't sense evil and she doesn’t smell like any demon I’ve had the displeasure of meeting before."
"So that's it? She's probably not a demon, so you’re just going to stamp her metaphorical passport and send her on her way," Leo asked, fuming at his partner's lack of interest in the girl that had compromised his judgment and crawled under his skin in less than a week.
"Of course not," Collin said, hopping down to the ground. "I asked her to meet me at St. Joseph's church tomorrow for Saturday evening mass, to work on that school project."
Leo groaned and threw his head back. "You didn't."
Collin chuckled. "What's the big deal? If she is a demon, either entering the church or touching the holy water will ship her right back to hell with a toasty send-off."
"And what if nothing happens?" Leo asked curiously.
"That's your problem. I'm just here to rid the world of evil, not deal with your weird girl problems. That reminds me, I gotta go, I have a date."
"It's one o'clock in the morning," Leo said, raising an eyebrow. "How many codes are you breaking?"
"No more than you," Collin said with a mischievous smile and a wink.
14
Emmeline
Emmie took her time pulling half of her long auburn hair up into a clip. She used some hair spray to give the hair on top a bit of extra volume and left the bottom half draped naturally over her shoulders in its usual wavy fashion. She wore plain dark jeans, and a khaki wrap sweater, an ensemble she hoped was conservative enough for an evening mass. She added a bit of mascara to her eyes and finishing powder to keep her face matte, and then grabbed her dark brown boots and headed downstairs.
“Where are you off to?” her mother asked from the kitchen when she sat down on the bottom step t
o slip into her quilted leather riding boots.
“I have a partner assignment for my creative writing class. We’re going to meet at the library,” Emmie lied.
“I’d offer to drive you, but the office just called and I have to head into work for a few hours. Can you book a ride on that app you use sometimes?”
“Already done. I didn’t want to bother you,” Emmie said. The second lie slipped out even easier than the first.
“Perfect. Well, I shouldn’t be too late, but if you get home before me order something good. I’m sure I’ll be starving when I get back.”
“Will do, Mom,” Emmie said. Her phone buzzed letting her know the car was out front. She grabbed her school bag and keys and kissed her mother on the cheek before leaving the house.
As she sat in the back seat of the SUV that had responded to her ride request Emmie couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty about lying to her mother. Since she was a little girl her mother had made her feelings about organized religion very clear. On one particular occasion, she had referred to all Christian churches as ‘clever cults,’ and for five years in a row when Emmie had been invited to Lisa’s Sunday school Christmas play, her mother had sincerely apologized and refused to let her attend. She was insistent that Christianity was a smokescreen for a myriad of schemes, and was unwilling to discuss anything that had any connection or affiliation with a church. So, attending Saturday evening service at St. Joseph’s Church, would have been out of the question, school project or not.
Emmie paid for the ride through the app and then climbed out of the SUV in front of the church's massive double doors. She looked around, taking in the sheer size and beauty of the building. Though the church was old, it had been well cared for and maintained, and Emmie noticed that the grounds were immaculate. Statues and flowerbeds broke up the lush lawn and solar lights made the entire property glow.
“You came,” a voice spoke from the opposite side of the property and Emmie spun around, startled. She took a deep breath and raised her hand to her heart when she saw Collin standing on the stone walkway leading to the church entrance.
“Of course I came. We have a project to do, and I’m not going to let your weird choice of locale affect my grade,” Emmie huffed.
“I take it you don’t attend church then,” Collin asked, sliding his hands into his front pockets. Emmie noticed that his hair was slicked back neatly and he was wearing black dress pants and a button-down shirt. Am I underdressed for this, Emmie wondered, I didn’t realize church was a formal thing.
“No, I don’t,” Emmie admitted.
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, feeling annoyed and confused by Collin’s interest in her faith, or lack thereof.
“What are you?” he asked, taking slow steps toward her.
“Uhm, I guess you could say I’m agnostic. I’ve just never really given religion much thought,” Emmie said, shrugging again as Collin narrowed his eyes. His face returned to the glare he had given her the day before and she said, “Should we go in, it's almost 6:30.”
“Sure,” Collin said, leading the way to the ornate double doors. The wood appeared to be hand-carved and the top of either side featured gorgeous stained glass that caught Emmie’s eye as she got closer. Collin paused with his hand on the door, his thumb tapping on the handle.
“Are we going in,” Emmie asked. She tilted her head to see his expression. He looked deep in thought, like he was working through a silent riddle he needed to answer before opening the door.
“Maybe this was a bad idea,” he said quietly, looking into her eyes with more emotion than she had thought he was capable of. He let go of the handle and took two steps backward before looking up at the stained glass. There were three panels, one showed Jesus, sitting on his heavenly throne, surrounded by angels. The second scene depicted the battle of heaven, and the third was the fall of the rebel angels. Emmie turned and followed his eyes to the stained glass, and then she turned back to the doors.
She walked toward the door, and grabbed the handle, pressing down on the top of it, and said, “Collin, we’re already here. We might as well just stay.”
“Emmie, stop,” he shouted as he lunged forward, grabbing for her arm. She pulled herself free and threw the door open swiftly, stepping inside in one movement. She stared at him and waved her free arm, gesturing for him to join her in the church lobby.
Collin stood outside, staring back at her with a look of silent bewilderment.
“You’re acting really weird,” Emmie huffed. “This was your idea, and I’m kind of interested in seeing what a catholic service is like so can we just go in?” she asked impatiently.
“Uh, yeah, sorry,” Collin said as he walked into the lobby and led her toward the sanctuary. He stopped outside, dipping his fingers into the holy water.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Emmie whispered, “I read an article in a health journal that said almost all holy water contains traces of fecal matter.”
Collin snorted and then began laughing uncontrollably, doubling over. A few people in the last row turned around, staring at them, and Emmie elbowed him in the side.
“Stop it,” she seethed. “You’re so immature. It's strictly a fact. Do with it what you want, but stop laughing.”
They took a seat at the end of the back row and Emmie pulled her notebook out of her bag. She took notes throughout the service that she could use later for the assignment. After the priest ended the sermon they walked back outside, and Emmie took out her phone to call for a ride.
“Let’s grab a coffee,” Collin said as he pulled his keys out of his pocket, and walked toward the parking lot.
“Uh, ok,” Emmie said following him around the side of the church to his car. Am I like the youngest person at West Creek high or something, she wondered as she opened the passenger side door and climbed into Collin’s pristine sports car.
The drive to the coffee house was short and silent, and if Emmie hadn’t known that Collin and Leo were best friends she would have misread his frequent looks in her direction. When they walked inside Collin said, “Why don’t you grab a table and I'll grab the coffee.” So Emmie climbed onto a barstool at an empty high top table, draping her bag over the back and taking out her phone to kill the time. She looked up from her screen as Collin walked over to the cream and sugar station with two iced coffees in his hand. She watched as he poured sugar and cream into one, poked a straw through the top and took a long sip. Then he pulled a small bottle out of his pocket and dumped it into the second cup. Emmie’s eyes widened and her skin chilled, what the hell was that, she wondered. Panic set in at the thought of this boy she barely knew pouring some kind of drug into her coffee. She watched as he began opening packets of sugar and adding those to the second cup too. While his back was turned she slid off the stool, grabbed her bag and phone and hurried out the door.
Emmie turned right and walked quickly down Mainstreet. She felt the panic rising in her chest as it tightened and her breaths became shallow. Her eyes stung with tears that she blinked away as she thought of how differently the night could have ended. She felt her hands grow warm and looked down to see the familiar glow of magic at her fingertips. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself as she turned a corner, leaving Mainstreet and stepping onto the West Creek jogging path that ran through the center of the town. She could take the path almost all the way home, only having to walk the final two blocks through neighborhoods. I just want to go home, Emmie thought as tears began to stream down her cheeks and her whole body shook. Her hands grew hotter as the magic intensified, feeding off of her panic and pain. She sped up when she heard footfalls behind her. She peeked over her shoulder but couldn’t see anyone through the darkness. You’re just imagining things, she told herself, but her heart raced faster and she heard the footsteps getting louder, closer. She felt something, someone, grab her arm, but when she opened her mouth to scream everything went black.
15
Leo
He stood under the showerhead, leaning against the wall until the water ran cold. When he finally stepped out of the shower and onto the bath mat he shook his head, sending water flying from his thick hair before he reached for a towel, wrapping it around his waist. When his phone lit up on the bathroom counter he practically dove for it. Leo knew what Collin was planning, and the thought of Emmie not making it out of that church tightened every muscle in his chest in a way he had forgotten was possible. Collin’s name flashed on the screen and he swiped to accept the call.
“What happened?” he asked quickly.
“She’s fine. Nothing happened,” Collin said, sounding out of breath.
Leo braced himself with one hand on the bathroom wall. He took a deep breath and pressed his eyes shut tightly.
“But we have a new problem,” Collin continued.
Leo's head shot up and he opened his eyes, “What kind of problem?”
“Uh, I think she saw me pour some holy water into her drink, and she probably thinks I was trying to drug her.”
“You did what,” Leo snapped.
“She has a lot of magic coursing through her, and I was just trying to rule some things out.”
“Are you sure she saw you?”
“Yeah, pretty sure. When I went back to the table she was gone. I followed her and she seemed pretty freaked. Then she disappeared,” Collin said.
Shit, Leo thought, clenching his jaw.
“Where was she heading,” he asked as he stormed into his room, put his phone on speaker and got dressed. He had no idea what he could do, but he knew he needed to do something.
“No, you’re not hearing me. She actually disappeared. One minute she was there and the next she was just gone.”
“How is that possible? Only demons can do that, and she’s not a demon. You said so yourself,” Leo said, sitting on the foot of his bed.
“I have no idea, man. But if she is some kind of demon she’s something we've never seen before. A demon that can hide its scent, walk on holy ground and has enough humanity to not massacre humans that cross her path. I think we need to tell The Faction about her.”