Necessary Evil

by Donald Hanley

  “They do now,” Singh said over the phone. I heard the amusement in her voice.

  “So what do the police think happened there?” Mrs. Kendricks asked.

  “Basically,” Prescott told us, “Lily Cantrell and Alex Nader – that’s what one of the hostages called him – are psychotic Satanic cultists who kidnap people to perform demon-summoning blood rituals. They tried to take Olivia in New Orleans but we caught wind of the plot beforehand and set up a trap for them. They escaped that and came to Hellburn to try again but we got there just in time to free the hostages. Nader was killed but Lily got away, unfortunately.”

  “That doesn’t make a lot of sense,” I observed doubtfully.

  “It makes more sense than demon lords trying to kill you for your Philosopher’s Stone,” he retorted dryly, “at least as far as the police are concerned.”

  “But what about those people I used Teleportal on?” I persisted. “How do they explain popping out of thin air outside that warehouse?”

  “Traumatic amnesia. We got them out before dealing with Nader and his hounds but they don’t remember the details due to the shock and the injuries they suffered.”

  “How are they, Ryan?” Mrs. Kendricks put in. “Did they all survive?”

  “Yes, thankfully. A couple of them will be in the hospital for a while but they’re expected to pull through.”

  “And Agent Shelby?”

  “She’ll be fine, although she’ll be out of commission for a while.”

  “I could go down there and heal them,” I offered.

  “It would be difficult to explain how a whole group of people mauled by dogs suddenly got out of bed without a scratch on them. You’ve done enough for them already, Peter.”

  “I didn’t do enough,” I argued. “Lilith’s still out there.”

  “You’re the reason all of the people in that warehouse are alive tonight,” he said firmly, “and I’m including Paula, Jazz, and myself in that count. We badly underestimated Orixnador’s strength. If you and your friends hadn’t come after us, we’d all be dead.”

  “I agree,” Singh added quietly. “Thank you, all of you.”

  I looked around the dining room table and everyone there nodded somberly. Everyone except Susie, anyway. She had her head down on her arms and seemed to be asleep. “The next one’s going to be worse,” I said glumly.

  “I know,” Prescott sighed. “I’ve called in the rest of the team. Most of them will get here late tonight. Fay’s on her way from London but she won’t arrive until mid-morning.”

  “Unless Susie can portal her?” Singh asked hopefully.

  “Can’t,” Susie mumbled to the table. “Don’t know her.”

  “I’m tempted to ask you to try anyway. What you did with the portal spell in the warehouse –” I easily imagined Singh shaking her head in disbelief. “I’ve never seen anyone do that before and you just learned the spell a few hours ago.” Susie made a small noise that I could only describe as smug.

  “So what should we do in the meantime?” I asked. “What if Lilith sends another demon lord after us before your team gets here?” The long silence on the phone wasn’t reassuring.

  “We’ll just have to deal with it if and when it happens,” Prescott said finally. “There can’t be that many demon lords stronger than Orixnador who are willing to rebel against the Dread Lord. Hopefully it’ll take her a while to talk one of them into it.”

  “That’s what we said the last time,” I muttered. I glanced across the table at Daraxandriel and she gave me a noncommittal shrug. Her hand was resting on the hilt of her sword, though, as if she thought she might need to use it any minute now.

  “Get what rest you can but keep your phones on and close by,” Prescott went on. “When things start happening, we’re going to have to move quickly.” There was a faint knock in the background and then a murmur of conversation. “Sorry, that was one of the nurses. We’re going to check in on Paula one more time and then we need to get back down to the warehouse and make sure the police haven’t found anything we can’t explain away. We’ll get back in touch with everyone later tonight. Call me immediately if anything unusual happens,” he warned.

  “We will,” I promised. Unless we’ve been incinerated, eviscerated, petrified, crushed, poisoned, disintegrated, or otherwise slaughtered by Lilith’s next champion, I thought gloomily.

  “Good. I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up and Mrs. Prescott put her phone away.

  “Are you all right, Peter?” she asked. I just shook my head silently. I wasn’t going to be all right until Lilixandriel was either dead or locked up in Hell for the rest of eternity. “You must be exhausted after everything that happened,” she grimaced sympathetically. “I know I am.”

  I wasn’t, actually, but I didn’t feel like getting into a discussion about the Stone’s effect on my stamina. I’d probably sleep for a week if I dared take it off again. “You and Stacy should go home,” I told her. “There’s no point in you just hanging around here waiting.”

  She looked like she wanted to argue with me but she nodded reluctantly instead. “You’re right. I almost hate to admit it and I don’t really understand how it happened, but the five of you have become far stronger than me and Ryan and pretty much every other witch I know. I just hope – well, I’ll be glad when all this is over.” She rose from the table, looking somber. “I hate to ask, Peter, but would you mind running Anastasia and me home? I rode with you this morning.”

  “And my car’s still out by that warehouse,” Stacy grumbled, getting to her feet.

  “We’re probably going to have to wait until tomorrow to pick it up,” her mother told her. “The police aren’t going to let anyone around the scene for a while. Peter?”

  I got up but Susie stretched her hand out across the table. All of the gemstones on her rings – Melissa’s rings, I reminded myself – lit up and her fiery portal appeared in the foyer. Mrs. Kendricks looked it over with an amused smile.

  “I appreciate the offer, Susie, but you won’t be able to get past the wards around the house and I don’t want you to exhaust yourself again. We can –” Her voice faded out as she peered at the distorted image showing through the spherical hole hovering above the pentagram. “Is that my back yard?” she asked incredulously. “How is that possible?”

  “Hurry,” Susie mumbled. “Tired.”

  Mrs. Kendricks shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she murmured. “Anastasia?” The two of them locked fingers and approached the portal, which was starting to flicker. “I suspect I’m wasting my breath,” she told me wryly, “but please stay put until the rest of Ryan’s team gets here.” I nodded to make her happy and she let her breath out in a resigned sigh. “Get some rest, everyone,” she said.

  The two witches stepped through the portal together and vanished as the pentagram faded away. Susie refolded her arms without lifting her head.

  “So what do we do now?” Olivia asked quietly, staring down at her clasped hands in her lap. She hadn’t been able to look at me in the eyes since we got back.

  “Get some rest like Mrs. Kendricks said, I guess,” I shrugged. Once again, we were stuck waiting for Lilixandriel to make her next move. My stomach twinged and I wondered if I was getting an ulcer. Then I remembered I hadn’t eaten all day. “And get some dinner,” I added ruefully.

  “Pizza,” Susie murmured.

  “I’m getting tired of eating pizza all the time.”

  “Double cheese.”

  “Fine,” I sighed. “The usual, everyone?” Daraxandriel and Olivia nodded but Melissa just sat there, staring at nothing. She hadn’t said a dozen words to anyone since we got back to the house. “Melissa?” I prompted her.

  “I’m not hungry.” Her lips barely moved.

  “You need to eat something,” I insisted. “You only had that bagel for breakfast, right? Did you get any lunch?” Her head moved from side to side. “I’ll order you something. Deluxe, right?” Her shoulders lifted a fraction of
an inch and then dropped. “Are you feeling all right?” I healed her and Daraxandriel as soon as we got back to the house. Their cuts and other injuries were gone but I couldn’t do anything about their exhaustion.

  Melissa sat there for the longest time, the rise and fall of her chest the only sign she was actually alive, and then she pushed her chair back. “I’m going to lie down,” she said softly and she walked out of the room without looking at any of us.

  “Is she okay?” Olivia asked uncertainly.

  “She’s just tired,” I assured her. “Those spells she did really took it out of her.”

  “Summat troubles her, Peter Simon Collins,” Daraxandriel pronounced. “Thou shouldst give her comfort.”

  “I’ll check on her later,” I promised, “after she wakes up. Or when the pizza gets here, whichever is first.” I pulled out my phone and opened the Pizza King app as I walked into the foyer. “Are two mediums going to be enough or should we go for large?”

  I almost reached the stairs before I realized they hadn’t answered. “Guys?” Nothing. I retraced my steps and found them still sitting around the table, staring at me. “Guys?” I asked uneasily, but no one said anything. They didn’t even blink. I threw up my hands in frustration. “Amy!”

  The Spawn of Darkness didn’t respond and she wasn’t in the foyer or the dining room. I checked the living room and then walked back towards the kitchen. “Amy?” I called nervously, expecting her to jump out of the shadows at any moment. My foot kicked something and I bent down to pick up a black leather shoe that I swore hadn’t been there a few seconds earlier.

  “Amy, what’s going on?” I demanded. Still no answer. Another shoe lay at the foot of the stairs and a black stocking decorated one of the steps about halfway up. I followed the trail to the top, discovering the matching stocking and a ruffled black skirt in the hallway. “Amy, quit fooling around.”

  A rumpled pile of stiff cloth that I presumed was a petticoat and a bow-bedecked bodice led me to Mr. Andrews’ bedroom door. A thin-strapped slip of black silk hung from the doorknob and I cleared my throat.

  “Amy?” I tapped on the door and got no reply. I carefully turned the knob, trying not to touch the slip, and opened the door. The room was dark and all I could see in the swath of light from the hallway was a pair of black silk panties lying crumpled on the floor.

  “Come in, Peter,” Amy’s voice slinked out of the darkness. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “I, uh, I, um –” I swallowed with difficulty. “What’s all this about?”

  “Close the door.” That didn’t seem like a very good idea but Amy didn’t respond well to disobedience. I shut it and set my back against it. “You did so well against Orixnador I thought I’d give you a preview of what’s in store for you.” Her voice came from the direction of the bed, sounding a lot older than thirteen.

  “That’s, ah, that’s okay,” I stammered. “You don’t need to –”

  “Oh, but I want to,” she purred. A spotlight appeared over the head of the bed and quickly brightened, revealing Amy propped up on the pillows with the covers pulled up to her bare shoulders. Her blue eyes were incredibly huge and her lower lip was caught between her teeth as she smiled impishly at me. “And I know you want me to.”

  “I don’t,” I insisted.

  “Don’t lie to me, Peter,” she chided me. “I see it in your eyes every time we talk. You want me.”

  “I do not! You’re just a kid!”

  She made a rude noise. “I was spawned ages before that crayon-headed succubus you keep goggling over. Whatever she has can’t compare to this!”

  Amy flung the covers aside before I could clamp my eyes shut and my heart skipped a couple of beats before I realized that she was fully clothed, from the ribbons in her hair all the way down to her shoes. She burst into hysterical laughter, pointing her finger at me as I blinked back at her, trying to process what just happened.

  “Look at you!” she giggled. “I got your hopes up and everything. Ooh, and other parts too!”

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I shot back, irritated and embarrassed at the same time. “This isn’t funny!”

  “Of course it is! You should see your face right now,” she grinned.

  “Amy –”

  “Oh, fine, be that way.” She slid off the side of the bed and fluffed out her skirts. “Spoilsport. I just thought you needed a laugh after all that trouble in the warehouse.”

  “You wouldn’t need to cheer me up if you’d been there to help!” I retorted. “We almost died in there!”

  “But you didn’t, so get over it.” She got a good look at my face and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be like that, Peter. You guys are doing great. Now that everyone’s working together, Lilixandriel has to find a real heavy-hitter if she’s going to have any chance of taking the Stone from you.”

  “That’s not a good thing!”

  “It’s perfect,” she smiled, rubbing her hands together gleefully. “Just one or two more and we’re all set.”

  “We can’t handle anyone stronger! My spells barely did anything against Ori.”

  “Well, duh.”

  “Huh?” I blinked at her, taken aback. That wasn’t the sort of response I expected from her.

  “Look, Peter,” she said patiently, “I know you’re trying your best and all, but let’s face it, you’re just not that powerful.”

  “What are you talking about?” I protested. “I know fifty different spells!”

  “Quantity isn’t the same as quality. Your spells match what you have in that game of yours, right?”

  “Right,” I agreed carefully.

  “What level are you at now?”

  “Twenty-eight. Almost twenty-nine.” I sounded defensive even to myself.

  “And I’m sure you worked very hard to get there. But what level is the most powerful boss in the game?”

  “One hundred. Why?”

  “So let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Orixnador was an 8.5 on Susie’s scale,” Amy went on. “What would he be in the game?”

  “Eighty-five?” I guessed doubtfully.

  “And what happens when a level twenty-eight character fights a level eighty-five boss?”

  “Nothing good,” I admitted, chastened.

  “Exactly.”

  “So you’re saying we can’t win.”

  “No, I’m saying you can’t win, but you’re not alone, remember? Melissa’s perfectly capable of wiping out any demon Lilixandriel throws at you.”

  “She is?”

  “Well, she would be,” Amy amended with a touch of regret, “except she keeps running out of juice before she works her way up to the really impressive stuff. Susie’s doing some interesting things, though,” she mused pensively. “I might have to do something about that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because. My point is, just make sure Melissa’s with you when you meet up with Lilixandriel again and you’ll be fine.”

  “But –”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll still get your reward when all this is over.” She batted her eyes at me coquettishly. “Maybe I’ll even rescind my rule about fraternizing with humans.”

  “Don’t bother,” I told her flatly. “But can’t we just –?”

  “My plan is working out perfectly, thanks to you,” she grinned. “By this time tomorrow, you won’t have a thing to worry about.”

  That had an ominous ring to it but before I could question her, Amy snapped her fingers and the spotlight over the bed went out. I fumbled around for the light switch but she was gone, leaving me even more anxious than before. I still wasn’t even sure she was real.

  Amy’s trail of discarded clothing was gone when I went back out into the hallway and I headed for the stairs to get a definitive answer to my pizza question. I paused when I passed Melissa’s room, though, and I listened carefully at her door. She’s asleep, I told myself when I didn’t hear anything. I shouldn’t bother her. But her behavior downs
tairs was so odd that I couldn’t just ignore it and I finally tapped on her door.

  “Melissa?” I called quietly. “It’s Peter. Can I come in?” There was no answer. “Melissa?” Still nothing. I hesitated and then eased the door open. I’ll just make sure she’s okay.

  Her room was dark but the light from the hallway illuminated her bed, revealing Melissa sitting on the edge hugging her pillow. Her eyes were open but she didn’t react when I stepped in and closed the door behind me.

  “Melissa?” She just stared at a spot on the floor and I reached for the light switch to make sure Amy hadn’t stopped time again.

  “Don’t.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “Leave it off.”

  “Okay.” I stood there waiting for her to say something else but she just sat there. “Are you okay?” I was getting worried now. It was hard to tell in the dim light but her lips seemed to twitch, as if she was going to answer and then changed her mind. “What’s wrong?” That earned me the tiniest shake of her head. “Is there anything I can do?” Another shake.

  This approach obviously wasn’t working so I crossed over to sit down beside her. She shifted her weight to compensate for the dip in her mattress but that was it. “Do you want to tell me about it?” I asked. She shook her head again. She still hadn’t looked at me at all and I wondered if I’d done something wrong. She didn’t seem to be angry with me, though, so I took things up another notch, carefully peeling her hand away from her pillow. She didn’t resist me but she didn’t do anything else either. Her hand just rested limply in mine, like it didn’t actually belong to her.

  I cleared my throat awkwardly. “How’s your leg?” I asked. Her skirt was hiked up enough to show me that the horrific injuries Orixnador’s whip had inflicted on her were gone but something was clearly wrong.

  “Fine,” she murmured after a long pause. I waited but that appeared to be everything in her conversational buffers.

  “Does anything else hurt? How’s your head?” She’d hit the warehouse floor pretty hard. She probably had a serious concussion before I healed her, if not an outright broken skull.

  “It’s fine.”

  I gave up. Clearly she wasn’t in the mood to tell me anything. “All right. Just take it easy and try to get some sleep.” I returned her hand to its place on her pillow and stood. “I’ll let you know when the pizza gets here, okay?” She didn’t react to that and I heaved a worried sigh. “Let us know if you need anything.” I hesitated and then carefully touched my lips to her temple before getting to my feet. I got all the way to the door before she spoke.