by J. P. Rice
Jonathan answered on the fifth or sixth ring. “Hello, how did you like the gift?”
“Jonathan, thank you. It’s amazing. I’m blown away by your generosity. I can’t thank you enough.”
The elder spoke calmly, “Hopefully, we can bury the hatchet now.”
“For the most part, but your delivery men were rude and accusatory to me in my own house. Things got out of hand at your place last time, but that wasn’t on my accord. If you had been cornered like I was, you would have done the same.”
He said, “I understand. Some men are too aggressive. They think it breeds an air of confidence when in reality it’s only false bravado. Two men are about to fight. One is talking non-stop and the other is quiet. Take the silent assassin every time.”
“I’m with you on that. Maybe you could put a scare into the fellas for not upholding the ideals of proper etiquette. I have to run, but thank you a million times over. You really shouldn’t have done this.”
He said, “It was my pleasure.” He hung up the phone and I did the same.
No. He really shouldn’t have done this. I now felt indebted to the vampire, which wasn’t a good place to be. The painting was priceless to me and I would never sell it. Here’s hoping he wouldn’t hold it over my head.
Time was running out. Without Felix’s help, I’d like to wait for the showdown but the Sendals are getting too much power. And now, they are coming after me since I turned down the offer to join them. They got my father, but I have morals, much to their dismay.
I still needed Jonathan to help trap the escaped spirits back into those Dybbuk Boxes. Hopefully, that would occur before I have to go to war with the spirits, but the clock was ticking. The unexpected visit from the Men in Black ramped up the pressure level, but I didn’t care.
That meant it would probably be me, Reg, Felix and Carolyn against an army of Stone Men, Men in Black, Sendals Spirits and my father. That didn’t seem like a fair fight, but I wasn’t backing down. I needed to stop my father before he killed again.
At this point, I was just waiting on the word from the Red Cavern of demons about the whereabouts of the Spirits. Then, it’s time for some action. As long as there aren’t any more surprises, I should be fine.
I went into the kitchen. “That was close. If you two had come in that door a minute sooner, it would have been ugly up in here. Roydell and Timson are a couple of jagoffs.” Jagoff had quickly become one of my favorite Pittsburgh terms.
Carolyn’s happy face shifted to sudden anger. “They are the worst. I hope they come back.” She blew on her killer nails.
I warned her, “If they do come back, we take it outside. I can’t have my apartment getting wrecked like my office is right now. Reg, you’re rocking the Steelers polka-style scarf today. Styling and profiling over there.”
“You talking noise?” He lowered one eye brow.
“I am not. I like it. What are you guys up to?”
Carolyn spoke for the couple, “Not much. Just got finished having some fun. Why do you have that crazy look in your eyes right now?”
I rambled with excitement, “Because I’ve pretty much figured it out. The Sendals are controlling my father, the men in black and the stone men that are rising up from the graves. I just need to find out where they are hiding out and we go to battle. You two ready?”
Reg’s eyes lit up. “You know I am. Been practicing up a storm lately.”
Carolyn agreed, “I’m always ready for a good scrap. I’ve just got to be careful I don’t draw any more attention to your party.”
I said, “I completely understand. You two should see the weapons I got.”
I pulled my runed arsenal out and introduced them to my friends. Then I showed and told (good old show and tell) them about the tattoos. I was proud to have been marked by the Gods.
After all my bragging, Carolyn said, “I’m going to jump in the shower. Is that all right?”
I nodded. “Sure. I’m pretty sure we have some clean towels left in that closet in the hall.”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, kissed Reg on the cheek, and went upstairs.
I turned to Reg. “Don’t get too attached, big fella. She’s leaving in a week.”
He grinned and lowered his head. “Just having fun. Why don’t you sit down so we can talk for a little bit?”
I sat down on the couch and wondered what this could be about. I got a strange feeling Reg was going to follow Carolyn to her mystery destination. “What’s up, man?”
“So you know that I’m an old man. I told you how the doctor’s saying things haven’t been looking that good for me lately. About that—I got something to show you. It’s easier than telling you.” He removed his scarf to expose two fang marks.
My heart dropped into my shoe. “She infected you. I’ll send her back to the Purple House for betraying you, Reg. Or maybe I’ll go upstairs right now and kill her myself.”
Reg grabbed me by the arm. “Relax, it’s nothing like that at all.”
I didn’t quite understand. “Then what could it be? During sex? When you were sleeping?”
Reg relinquished his hawkish grip and lowered his head again. “I asked her to do it.”
I really didn’t understand. “What? Why would you do that?”
“I just told you. I was coming to the end of the line. Immortality is a pretty sweet deal compared to having a chat with the Grim Reaper.” He flashed a toothy smile. No fangs hanging from his dentures.
Tears welled up in my eyes and my breathing became erratic. “Yeah but, you have to join a clan now. I mean, you’re one of them now. No offense.” I felt like someone just kicked me in the heart and stole my best friend.
He announced, “I’m probably going to go talk to the Purple Clan.”
I warned him, “You can’t do that. What are you going to say? Hey I’ve been hanging out with that person whom you want to kill more than anyone. Is it cool if I stay here, by the way?”
Reg rolled his eyes. “Ha ha. No. I was planning to make you look good in the process. I’m gonna tell them that you asked me to keep an eye out for the girl and I found her. I’ll say that I tried to bring her back alive, but she got to me and infected me before I could do anything about it.”
That was very honorable. “You’re just a sanguinarian right now, but I’m not sure I can still trust you around my dog and girlfriend anymore. We not going to get to hang out very much if you do this. What am I talking about, you’ve already done it. I’m not mad, Reg. I completely understand why you would do this. I’m just sad. You’re my best fucking friend, Reg.” I leaned down and hugged him.
He tapped me on the shoulder with a firm fist. “Let’s cool it with the girlie stuff. I’ll be running with a new crowd, but we can still get together to wreck shop whenever you want. I’m still a free man, even though I will have a certain loyalty.”
“You tell Ronald?” I laughed.
Reg shook his head with a smile on his face. “Not yet. Not sure what to tell him. He won’t believe me if I tell him the truth. Can’t say as I blame him. Not every day that your father announces he’s a vampire. Now I will have access to a lot of supernatural information that goes around the city. You know I’ll never hold out on you.”
I said, “I wish I could say the same, but you know me too well. I have trouble trusting vampires.”
Reg gave me a friendly punch to the chest. “I got a feeling I will be able to change your mind on that. Ha ha. We’re still gonna be friends, we just won’t see each other as much.”
I wanted to know, “Do you feel different?”
He nodded in confirmation. “Yep. Feeling some crazy urges I’ve never felt before. We been drinking each other’s blood for the past two days. I crave it now. It’s like an animal is running around inside me. I’m quicker too.” His giant hand streaked toward my face, stopping a quarter-inch from contact. It was lightning quick.
He continued, “It’s definitely different, feeling that vampire blood running
through me. And I can feel it that’s for sure.”
I pounded my fist on the kitchen table, scaring my dog. “Damn man. The end of an era. Who the hell am I going to hang out with now?”
Reg said, “Come on. I been slowing you down for the past few years. I know we got along well, but it’s time for you to find a crew closer to your own age.”
I supposed he was right. “Considering my other best friend is a thousand-year-old faerie, I don’t really like people my own age. But I do see what you are saying. Going to the vamps, you’re going to be considered a young man. Hell, Jonathan is six hundred.” I laughed.
He scratched his salt-and-pepper goatee. “Yeah, I’m just a little nervous. I don’t know if the Purple House is wheelchair accessible. Ha ha.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
His eyes lit up, the silver flecks shining. “No doubt. Carolyn’s been telling me that they might be able to help me walk again. I’m not holding my breath on that one, but it would be a nice perk.”
They had so much more than I could never offer him. “I really hope they can make that happen for you, Reg.”
I was floored. I just lost my best friend to the vampires. My father figure. A man I looked up to for inspiration. I’d never realized it before, but Reg was a hero to me. The sacrifices he had made for the benefit of others, touched my heart. They made me want to be a better man, strive for greatness. I was losing my inspiration.
I had to stop being selfish and realize that this was the best move for Reg. Now he could live much longer and all his pain will probably go away. He would likely outlive me now.
I went to sleep that night with a heavy heart, hoping everything would magically get better the next day.
I woke up and received more bad news. Of course. Gretchen informed me that there had been fifty uprisings last night and the murdering of young Japanese women continued.
My partner on the Pittsburgh Police had also received a hand-written death threat on her door. It said that if she continued to talk to me that she would be dead before tomorrow arrived.
Whoever had written it (I suspect my father from the misspelled words.) didn’t know Gretchen very well if they thought that she would be afraid of an empty threat. I couldn’t help but feel totally responsible for everything. If I hadn’t opened that Dark Artistry box and released that red spirit, none of this would have occurred. But then I wouldn’t have been able to defeat the Jersey Devil and rescue Mabon.
If I can’t defeat the spirits in the next few days, I can kiss my new city goodbye. Even if all the benevolent underworlds joined together, the Sendals might have too much power by then.
I needed to go back into the office to assess the damage and make an insurance claim.
Carolyn was still sleeping on the couch with Colossus. I decided it would be a good idea to leave a meal for the vamp, so I extracted some blood, put it in the busted unicorn sippy cup, wrapped it in plastic, and left a note on the coffee table for Carolyn.
I got cleaned up, dressed, and went into the office. The damage was worse than I had originally expected. I wrote a comprehensive list and took a lot of pictures, but wavered on what I could claim as the cause of the damage.
I would have to say that someone broke in and did all this. No claims adjuster would believe the truth. I fought against the awful stench and tried to complete the task in as little time as possible. A powerful revving engine caught my attention. I turned and looked out the glass window on my front door.
A Hummer limousine pulled up in front of my office.
Chapter 25
When the werewolf chauffeur jumped out of the driver’s seat and walked to the door in the back of the vehicle, my suspicions of who this might be were confirmed. The driver pulled out a red carpet and dragged it up to my front door.
A freakin’ metaphor for the Red Cavern. How did I miss that? Oh yeah, scrambled brain.
I wondered what form the demon would choose today as Socrates emerged from the vehicle with the help of the werewolf because of the height of the limo. It’d be so sweet if the Greeks were rolling by right now and saw this poser.
The wolf opened my front door and the demon shifter walked through the jamb. I waited for the immediate comment about the funky odor, but he only said hello, and waved. I assumed the mainland of the Red Cavern probably wasn’t the most hygienic place around.
I skipped a greeting and got right down to it, “I hope you have good news.”
“I wouldn’t show up to this hole of an office if I weren’t bringing pertinent information. Excuse me.” He shifted into Aka Manah, the demon with a bull skull for a head.
“And I don’t like hanging out with demons, so we might as well get on with it.”
He announced, “We found out where the Sendals are staying.”
A rush of energy swirled through my body. “Where?”
I stood by the door and Aka Manah leaned back against my desk. I wasn’t thrilled that his buttcheeks were invading my work space. He said, “They have been inhabiting the U.S Steel Tower after hours. Apparently, they plan on going big.”
The U.S. Steel Tower was the tallest building in the city. It had a triangular shape and housed some of the biggest businesses in Pittsburgh. “Why would they pick something right in the heart of the city?”
He shifted around, trying to get comfortable. “As I said, they aren’t messing around. Going right for the jugular to show that no one should mess with them.”
“I still don’t understand why a spirit that can’t even hold a material possession would be doing all of this. It just doesn’t make sense.”
He stared at the stains on the carpet with his haunting eyes. “They want power, same as most people. If they wanted, the Sendals could inhabit someone’s body or they could just be the ultimate puppet masters, using humans or supernatural creatures to do their bidding. Or maybe they just want to cause mayhem. There’s a cause I can get behind.”
I asked, “How did you find out where they were?”
“Someone that used to be loyal to the Red Cavern is helping us. He joined the Sendals but we can still track him. This information is as good as gold.”
Hmm. Were the demons at the Red Cavern setting me up? It seemed too good to be true that they were relaying information to me in good faith.
It was in their best interest to eliminate the Sendals considering the Spirits were a direct threat to everyone. However, trusting a devil or demon still didn’t seem like a good practice to start.
I warned him, “I better not find out you are lying.”
“If I’m lying, the entire city is in danger. And don’t think they will stop at that. Humans will be driven out of all the cities eventually. People will become dependent on the Sendals to keep them alive. A starving man will do just about anything for a morsel of food even if it tastes like shit. They will turn the human race into slaves. There is no reason for me to lie to you.”
“You must have a lot of faith in me. Why would you depend on me? It might be a good idea to give me some help.”
He shook his skull. “The devils aren’t prepared to lose anyone over this. They are poised to move to another city.”
I argued, “But you just said that the Sendals will just go to the next city, and the next after that. Here’s the deal. I’m going down there tonight. I will have a small crew joining me, but we very well might lose. It would be wise for the Cavern to throw us some expendables. If not, you might as well go back to your underworld and get comfortable.”
He stood up tall, puffed his big chest out, and straightened his pinstripe suit jacket. “I will give this message to the devils. I know the devils and would instruct you not to hold your breath on the matter. I’ve never wished a human good luck in a fight before, because I’m usually the one fighting them. Good luck, kid, because you’re going to need it.”
Kind of a backhanded compliment. I didn’t want to believe the truth and face reality. My ragtag crew was no match for the Sendals. I
didn’t want to put anyone else’s life in danger and thought about going alone.
Aka Manah shifted back into Socrates and waddled up my steps, shivering in his burgundy robes, and jumped into the back of the Hummer limo with a helpful push on the backside from the werewolf chauffeur.
Two vamps, a wizard, a mage and a Normal. We didn’t walk into a bar, but we were clearly outclassed by a group of ancient spirits. Then I tried to figure out what we would do with Satoku during the battle. I couldn’t leave her alone or take her with us. Both were too dangerous.
I debated whether I should call Gretchen for backup from the po po. Considering none of their conventional weapons had worked on the stone men, they would be useless against the spirits. I now had issues with my father, my girlfriend and my best friend. Not a good mental place for a wizard who’s about to go into battle.
I needed to go somewhere to get my head in a better place. I settled on a spot that I had been neglecting since I’d moved to Pittsburgh. Life moved so fast, it seemed like I had only blinked once, and a year disappeared off the calendar.
I finished making the insurance claim and went back home to get ready for my little trip.
A few hours later, I dropped down to my right knee, staring at the tiny gravestone at the cemetery in West Virginia. Tears welled up in my eyes. I didn’t peruse the area to make sure I was alone. At this point, I didn’t care who heard me.
The two-foot rectangular stone was succumbing to the elements and chipping in certain areas. The dull gray marker only had a few fading words etched in to it.
In Loving Memory
Brighid Parker Boyle Merlino
Mother. Wife.
That was it. My mother deserved better.
“I know it’s been a while since my last visit. I wish I could come more. I’m lying, I probably could come more, but I convince myself that I’m too busy to do it. I feel like a terrible son. You raised me better than that. I love you. Miss you like crazy too. If you don’t know by now, dad busted out of jail. He’s running with some dark spirits right now and he’s on a quest to kill me. But he’s not going to. I hate to say it, but I have to put a stop to him. He’s gone past the point of no return. He sold his soul, probably a good deal for him.” I chuckled, knowing my mother would have enjoyed the verbal jab.