by D V Wolfe
“But his eyes,” Noah said. “I thought you said they were red earlier today?”
“Maybe it was a trick of the light,” I said.
“What?” Noah asked. “So he’s not a demon?”
Apparently not. And now, we had two liabilities.
13
“A what?” The guy wheezed.
I didn’t think answering that question would be helpful. I climbed off of him and took a step away. He groaned as he struggled to sit up. I finally gave in and offered him my hand.
“Hey, sorry about that. You’re not the guy we’re looking for, apparently.”
The guy fixed his glare on me and raised a hand because I still had the flashlight pointed at his face. He still had the salted tape stuck to his forehead and the front of his shirt was soaked. I could see the holy water dripping off his chin. Noah must have hit him right in the mouth with it. His forehead around the tape looked dry. I could feel the stinging from the holy water on my knees where some of it had splashed on my jeans but the guy had definitely absorbed the majority of the involuntary baptism.
“I would fucking hate to be the guy you’re looking for,” he muttered, “but it doesn’t change the fact that you assaulted a federal officer.”
I looked over at Noah to try to communicate to him my spur of the moment plan of blinding the guy with his own flashlight, knocking him out and taking off. It was pretty secluded back here. Probably no one would bother him. I’d been pointing the flashlight up towards my face hoping that I might be able to tell Noah with my expression what the plan was.
“You!” The guy suddenly said, staggering forward and lunging at me. I jumped back in surprise.
“What the hell!”
“You’re behind all this crap in Nowhere, Pennsylvania!” the guy said. He sounded more pissed than accusatory. “Everybody said I was just being paranoid, searching under rocks…” Now he sounded like he was talking more to himself than to us.
“What?” Noah asked.
“Are you working for him? He’s pissed that we’re still snooping around and he sent you to do his dirty work?” He didn’t even wait for an answer. He swung out with one arm, missed me, and knocked Noah back. I dived on top of him again and I dropped the flashlight. We struggled around in the dirt for a few minutes. I was on top of him again. I had one knee wedged between his legs, about three inches below his crotch but I was hunched over, my head was smashed into his chest and he had one of my arms bent across my back so far I could feel my shoulder threatening to dislocate. I could feel Noah next to me with my free arm and in the beam from the discarded flashlight, I could see the guy had his other hand around Noah’s neck.
“Ok,” I muttered, my voice muffled where my mouth was half-smashed into the guy’s chest, “how about we call a truce until we can figure out what each other’s deal is?”
“Why should I,” the guy said. “I’ve got the advantage right now.”
I inched my knee up, high enough for him to feel it brush his crotch. “Do you though?”
He hesitated. “Fine.” He let go of my arm and I heard Noah choking as we both moved away. I snatched the flashlight off the ground and watched the guy get to his feet. He was about five foot six and right now he looked like he’d been in a barroom brawl. Beyond the holy water contact burns on my exposed skin, there was now a stinging sensation under my right eye and I figured either he or a rock had gotten me when we were rolling around.
“Now,” the guy said, “I will escort you both back to my vehicle and you’ll accompany me down to the station to make a statement.”
I sighed. “No, we won’t.”
“You don’t…,” he started.
“Instead,” I said, “you’re obviously on your way to dinner. How about we accompany you and then we play a little game of ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’.”
Judging by the guy’s comments, we had been right in believing something was going on here. He didn’t say anything and I sighed. “Or, we can go another ten rounds in this lot in the dark. And there are two of us and only one of you.”
He was quiet for a moment, considering his options. “Why would you think I’d want to sit and eat with you two?” He spat.
“Talk about making assumptions,” I said. “You don’t even know us.” The guy didn’t say anything and I sighed again. “Let’s get your food to go then.”
The guy looked from me to Noah and then turned and headed back towards the restaurants. We kept pace with him, Noah, and I on either side. We didn’t say anything until we sat down at a picnic table by a gyro cart, waiting for the guy’s order to be ready.
“Now,” the guy said, “give me one reason why I shouldn’t haul both of your asses down to the station for the bullshit you just pulled.” His forehead was red and angry where he’d ripped the salt tape off, along with part of his eyebrows by the looks of it. He held up the sticky wadded up ball of salt tape. “And what the fuck, is this?”
“Salt tape,” Noah muttered.
The guy turned to look at Noah, who quickly dropped his gaze to the scarred surface of the picnic table.
“Why did you try to wax my forehead with it? And what the hell did you dump on me before that?”
“Holy water,” Noah muttered. I tried to kick him under the table, but I only managed to kick the other guy in the shins. He drew in a sharp breath through gritted teeth and glared at me.
“So, what kind of drugs are you two on, out of curiosity,” the guy asked. Noah and I just looked at each other. “Never mind, I’m calling patrol. They can sort you out.” He started to stand up and I grabbed his arm.
“Look,” I said, “I know you’re just as freaked out as we are, well, probably more, but remember, we’re on a truce. If you still want to arrest us after we compare notes, then, well, I guess we’ll have to try to talk you out of it then. But, for now, let’s just get your food so we can sort this all out.”
“Why did you say, ‘you guessed I wasn’t a demon’?” He asked.
“Rival gang,” I said. “You know, the Jets and the Demons?”
“Bullshit,” the guy said. “Are you two some of those lame-ass ghost hunters or something?”
“Yes,” I said. “Yes, we are. My turn for a question. What is this ‘strange crap’ you think we’re causing?”
The guy paused. “That was too easy. What are you really?”
“Paranormal uh investigators,” Noah said. “Like you said.”
“Luke?” The guy at the gyro cart called out. The guy glared at us both and got to his feet to get his food. There were a couple of teenagers that had come up to the stand after us and as Luke came back our way with his order, the kids approached the window of the cart and started hassling the owner.
“So, your name is Luke,” I said, stating, not asking. “And I’m Bane, this is Noah.” I pointed at Noah. “All acquainted now, so yay. Step one done.”
“Ok,” Luke said, picking up a gyro. “I’m not telling you two nutballs anything. You attacked me, you talk first.”
“So,” I started.
“My mom is missing,” Noah interrupted.
Luke turned to look at him. “From Bellum?”
“Yeah,” Noah said. “And we’re looking for her but there are some seriously,” he looked at me and then back to Luke, “strange things going on here. Like...reality-altering, strange.”
Luke paused. “So you’ve felt it too?”
“What do you mean, ‘felt it too’,” I asked.
Luke shook his head. “Keep talking. I’m not saying anything else until you explain exactly what you were doing.”
“We think it’s a demon, causing all the reality-altering shit,” Noah said. I gave an inward sigh. I wished we could have gotten away without having to say the “d” word again. I didn’t think it would help our cause with convincing Luke.
“A demon?” Luke asked. “Not extraterrestrials?” I’d been watching the food cart owner yell at the teenagers, but Luke’s last ques
tion pulled my attention back to his face. I thought he was being sarcastic. Nope. His expression was serious, his eyes searching Noah’s face. Noah was dumbfounded.
“Extraterrestrials?” Noah asked. “What are you, frickin’ nuts?”
“Why is that insane and the demon bullshit isn’t?” Luke asked.
“Because the demon shit isn’t bull,” Noah said. He suddenly realized how loud his voice was getting. I didn’t bother telling him to shut up. I was now distracted by the cart owner who was now yelling at the teenagers, saying he was calling the cops.
“Time to go,” I said. Luke opened his mouth. “Look, I promise that if you’re against the bad shit that’s going on around here, we’re on the same side. So just trust me for a second, ok? If we stay here, we’re not going to get a chance to hash this out. Let’s just take your food and head for somewhere not in the open.”
We hustled back down the street and ducked between two restaurants, heading back towards the Holiday Inn.
We didn’t say anything. Luke was ahead of us and to one side. I had a feeling that he was trying to make sure he wasn’t vulnerable. I reached out and grabbed Noah. We slowed slightly as we approached the reach of the floodlights in the hotel parking lot. Even at a distance, we could see the silhouette of someone standing in the middle of the lot. If Luke had somehow been able to summon back up, we were going to turn and run. Luke hit the light pool first. He paused and I saw him raise a hand to the man standing in the middle of the lot. As we got closer, I could see the man’s face. It was one of the other men who had been sitting in the booth with Luke at Paper Street. He was bald and in his generic suit, everything else about him seemed non-descript.
“Burke,” Luke called. “I wasn’t expecting you. Has a call gone out?”
I pulled Noah along our previous trail around the floodlight pools, trying to stay as much in darkness as possible.
“You might say that,” the man he called Burke called back to him. “There’s a couple of fugitives that have turned up in Bellum.”
Luke paused. “Fugitives?”
Burke nodded. Noah and I had stopped, half behind a square, manicured bush. I was afraid that if we kept going, the Burke guy would see us and I didn’t think I could convince two Feds that there was a demon in Bellum. I was pretty sure that I couldn’t convince one.
“Yes, male teenager and a woman in her early thirties,” Burke said. “We have the teenager’s mother in custody.”
I felt my stomach drop and beside me, Noah was already moving so quickly that I couldn’t grab him in time. He was running at the agent.
“Where is my mother!” Noah screamed. I could almost hear all the fear and anguish and repressed anger pouring out of him. I started jogging towards Noah, not sure how this was going to play out, but I sure as hell wasn’t leaving him holding the bag by himself.
Luke jumped, but Burke turned to look at Noah, unsurprised. He even smiled. “Thought that might draw you out.” I was ten feet from Noah when I saw Burke’s eyes burn red. He grabbed Noah by the throat and started choking him. Burke turned to look at me. “Like a lamb to the slaughter,” he laughed.
“Burke! What are you doing?” Luke yelled. Burke raised a gun and pointed it at Luke.
I didn’t have time to check this asshole for demon lumps. I reached behind me and drew the sword. I held it with two hands and I saw fear and recognition collide on his face as I ran him through.
He screamed and the air was filled with the smell of rot and decay and then burning flesh as the flesh around the sword blade began to sizzle, boiling the demon blood that was leaking from the wound.
“So, it has begun,” Burke muttered, black blood oozing out of the corner of his mouth. “It cannot be stopped.”
Always so dramatic. This was the second time in the last month that a demon had said something like that to me as they died. What did they expect? Did they think if they phrased it just the right way, that I’d pull my sword back out, put an ace bandage over the wound, maybe apologize and be on my way?
“You killed him!” Luke screamed, somewhere behind me. I turned to see Noah standing hunched over, one hand rubbing at his neck. Noah looked up at me and I grinned. “That was fun, wasn’t it?”
Noah gave me the finger. It was such a familiar, now endearing gesture that I grinned back at him. I stood and sheathed the sword and immediately started going through Burke’s pockets. If he was working for the big stick in town, maybe there was something to give us a clue as to where. After all, it had worked with the crispy demon we’d found in Jo’s apartment.
“You fucking killed him!” Luke was closer now, still sounding like he was teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
“He was a demon,” I said. “He was going to kill Noah.” Burke had a roll of certs in his pants pocket and a folded brochure for Copia Industries in the pocket inside his suit jacket. Nothing else. I folded his ears forward. No pentagon.
“Fuck,” I said to Noah. “He was possessed.”
“I’ve…,” Luke started. “I’ve known Burke for three years. I’ve never seen him…”
I stood up and turned to Luke. I put a hand on either shoulder. He started to shrink away. I tightened my grip and gave him a little shake. “Hey, we’re going to have our little ‘truth is out there’ sit down, but Burke might not have been working alone, so we need to get the hell out of here.”
Something had changed in Luke. He was shifting from deer-in-headlights to go-mode. It was actually quite impressive to watch. Maybe it was something they taught him at Fed school.
“My car has tracking technology,” Luke said.
“You’ll come with us,” I said. Luke hesitated as if he was weighing his options. I held up my hands. “Truce, remember?”
Luke nodded and looked back down at Burke. With the demon dead, the rest of his shell was starting to blacken and rot in front of us, smoke still pouring out of his mouth and the hole I’d put through his chest.
“Go get anything you think you’ll need from your room,” I said to Luke. He hesitated. “Go!” I said.
Luke took off across the lot and Noah and I dragged what was left of Burke behind a stand of short bushes at the edge of the parking lot. Luke came back out of the glass door carrying a briefcase. He looked around at the ground.
“Where’s Burke?”
“Not quite a final resting place, but a temporary one. We hid the body to buy us some time,” I said. “Come on.”
Luke hesitated again when we got to Lucy. “Pretty sure this truck is the one my parents warned me about.”
Noah had climbed into the middle and he turned to look at Luke. “Get the fuck in.”
A pair of headlights was turning into the lot from the right side. It was another black Crown Vic. Luke jumped in beside Noah and slammed the door shut.
“Go!” He yelled.
The guy driving the new Crown Vic had gotten out and started walking towards the black puddle of curdled blood Burke had left behind on the concrete. I moved us down the back row of the parking lot and turned onto the main road before I flipped my lights on. I glanced in the mirror when we hit the road and when I didn’t see headlights coming out of the lot after us, I let out the breath I’d been holding.
“So did you decide, we’re more trustworthy than your coworkers?” I asked as I took an excessive amount of turns just in case we had a tail that I’d missed.
Luke shook his head. “Not even a little, but I know I want answers and if we’d hung around, I wouldn’t have gotten them.”
“So your buddy Burke always points his piece at you? Some kind of sign of affection?” I asked. Luke didn’t say anything.
I pulled into a parking spot near our room at the Rosewood and we got out. I unlocked our room door and Luke pushed past me.
“What are you…,” I started. He put a finger to his lips and set his briefcase on the bed. He popped it open and grabbed something out of it. Noah and I looked at each other and then followed Luke inside.
I closed the door and Noah and I stood in front of it, watching Luke move around the room with something that looked like a remote control in his hand. After about ten minutes of doing this, Luke stopped, hit a button on the remote and threw it back in his briefcase. “So?” I asked.
“No bugs,” Luke said.
I raised my eyebrows in confusion and Noah put a hand on my arm. “Listening devices.”
“Oh,” I said. “Well, good.”
Luke looked up at me. “Is the door locked?”
Noah turned around and threw the deadbolt before sliding the chain home.
“Now it is,” Noah said.
Luke nodded and slumped down onto the edge of one of the beds. Noah and I sat down on the other bed and looked at him.
“Start at the beginning,” Luke said, leaning forward, putting his elbows on his knees and bringing a 9mm Glock out of the back of his pants. He didn’t point the gun at us. He just held it loosely in his hand, dangling it between his knees.
I drove the bus on this explanation, mostly trying to keep the explanation to what Luke already knew or suspected.
“So you think, there are more of these demons,” Luke said, “amongst the other agents and the police?”
Noah nodded.
“We’ve seen it before,” I said.
“Right,” Luke said. He looked down at the carpet. “I thought Burke was acting a little pissier than usual on this assignment. I just thought it was because he didn’t want to go to Podunk, Pennsylvania.”
“Anyone else acting strange that you can think of?” I asked.
Luke shrugged. “I don’t know the other agents that well. I’m kind of new to the department. I was planning to go into the CIA…”
“Wait,” Noah said, “what department are you with?”
“Homeland Security,” Luke said. He scratched the back of his neck and set the gun on the bed next to him. “So, you two came looking for Noah’s mom here in town and you expect me to believe that something has changed ‘reality’ here to make it appear as if Noah and his mom never lived here?”
“And the creme brulee on the concrete back there that used be your friend Burke?’ I asked. “That seem perfectly normal to you?” Luke was quiet. I continued. “Yes, that’s what we’re saying. There’s something else here and we think it might be whoever your pal reported to.”