“Can you focus? I’ve got a problem here. Someone killed an innocent man.”
He leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “Not someone. Something. And it will kill again.”
My gaze flicked toward the Wiccans. I still wasn’t convinced he hadn’t done it, but I decided, at least for now, to play along. “Then for God’s sake, what do I do about it?”
A small smile cracked the corner of his mouth. “You do want to stop it, don’t you?”
“Of course I do!”
“Humans. I shall never understand you lot.” He leaned forward, one hand cupping his square chin. He stroked it, running a finger across the beard-stubbled contour. I wondered if this was what he really looked like. Or was his real appearance too horrible to contemplate?
“So what is it?” I pleaded.
He lowered his hand. “I can’t tell you.”
“Why not?”
“It isn’t permitted.”
“Who makes these screwed-up rules?”
“The Powers That Be.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
“Kylie,” Nick whispered. “Maybe you shouldn’t make him angry?”
I followed Nick’s gaze. The table smoldered where Erasmus touched it.
“Uh…” I made a vague gesture toward the table. “You want to tone it down? You’re scorching the furniture.”
He looked down and the smoke dissipated. “My apologies.” He nodded at Doc Boone, who made a dignified nod back.
“How did he even get in here?” rasped Nick. “No one invited him in.”
“He’s not a vampire,” I hissed back. Turning to Erasmus, I asked, “Are you?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Nothing so pedestrian.”
“I didn’t think so. So you show up with fire and brimstone, and you can’t tell me anything helpful.”
His smile broadened and he leaned back, crossing his arms comfortably over his chest. “No. I’m afraid it’s rather your problem…not mine.”
“So I’m supposed to believe that some creature murdered Karl and it wasn’t you?”
He frowned. “Why would I kill the man?”
“For something he had. Some knowledge he was privy to.”
“You make a very poor inquisitor.”
“I just don’t want to be helping you if you’re the culprit.”
“This has nothing to do with me. I had no interest whatsoever in that man. What is he to me? He was a mortal, nothing more. My concern, my only concern, is the book. It must be closed. And the only way to close it is to capture the creatures you released.”
“Okay. So let’s just suppose for now that some creature escaped from the Booke. And I need this crossbow that you have, but you won’t give to me.”
Thank goodness Jolene had had the presence of mind to snatch her tablet before the Wiccans ushered themselves into the pentagram, because she was furiously typing into it the whole time. “That’s not entirely true,” she said.
Erasmus sat up straight. “Don’t listen to that little girl. She’s lying.”
Jolene made a face at him, leaned in to me, and said quietly, “You can make him give it to you. You only have to steal something of his and call out his name.”
“What’s that? What are you two whispering about over there?”
My eye instantly fell on the pendant hanging around his neck. That would do. I got up and marched over to him. He tried to scramble to his feet but got caught up in the tablecloth.
I pointed toward the kitchen behind him. “Look! A werewolf!”
“Where?” he cried, jerking his head where I pointed.
I reached for the pendant, and with all my might, yanked it from his neck. The chain broke and the strangely hot metal was in my hand.
He lurched to his feet, eyes wide, hand clamped to his empty throat.
I winced as the amulet burned my palm, but I held it up by its broken chain and declared in the most melodramatic way possible, “Erasmus Dark, give me the chthonic crossbow!”
He stumbled back. “What have you done?”
A clap of thunder roared over the house and the lights went out. Thank goodness for the lit candles or we would have been in complete darkness.
“Beelze’s tail!” he swore. “Damn you! Give me back my amulet and I’ll…I’ll fetch it for you.”
“Fetch it for me and I’ll give you back your amulet.”
He struggled not to say the things he clearly wanted to.
“I’m waiting, Erasmus.”
“Stop calling me that. No one calls me that.”
I crossed my arms. The amulet dangled from my fingers. He looked like he wanted to snatch it back, but perhaps he wasn’t allowed to by the nebulous rules of the “Powers That Be.”
“All right, all right!” He pointed a finger at me. “Don’t move.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
We blinked and he disappeared. No cloud of smoke, no thunderclap. Just there one minute, gone the next. It was sort of anticlimactic, given the circumstances.
Chapter Seven
I think we just assumed he’d be back instantly, but time ticked away. Maybe he forgot where he put it.
“Maybe he pawned it,” said Nick. The power had returned and we made ourselves at home in the living room with the comfort of electricity humming around us. Jolene returned to the rocking chair and I joined Nick and Seraphina on the couch. Doc stood by the fireplace, a finger on his lip, thinking.
“Pawn shops aren’t open at this hour,” I said.
“They might be open all night…down there,” he said significantly. We all looked down toward the floor, as if expecting it to open up into a fiery pit.
Jolene grinned and typed away on her tablet. “This is the best meeting ever!”
I rolled the still-warm amulet absently in my hand. The chain had repaired itself as soon as Erasmus had gone, and it gleamed as if mocking these whole proceedings. It was the face of a horned demon, sticking its long tongue out, with eyes made of red gemstones. I was quickly losing my skepticism. “Assuming he brings this crossbow,” I said, and I couldn’t believe the word “crossbow” was even passing my lips, “I still don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it. And forgive me for stating the obvious, but I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Few have,” said Seraphina, eyes closed, concentrating, I assumed, on the different planes of existence.
“So what is this thing I’m supposed to stop? Kill. Stop.” I didn’t like the idea at all of killing something, even if it was a monster.
“Aha!” cried Jolene, startling us all. Would this night never end? It was just one startle after another. I glanced toward the roll top desk where the Booke waited for me. I could actually feel it waiting. This is crazy, I told myself for the umpteenth time.
Jolene laid the tablet flat on the coffee table. “Check this out. A succubus.”
No one moved or spoke. Finally, I couldn’t stand it. “Okay, what’s a succubus?”
“A succubus is probably the culprit. The thing that killed Karl Waters.” She sighed. “I know you want to believe it was Mr. Dark, but just take a look at this.” She turned the tablet toward me. I read the entry beside a rendering of a ghostly figure of a woman with glowing red eyes.
A succubus is a female sexual predator demon who attacks men in their sleep. Legends of Incubi and Succubae can be found as far back as ancient Sumer in 3000 BCE. They are said to visit their victims in the night and have intercourse with them. Sometimes the encounter can lead to death by the Succubus sucking the life force from their victims, leaving an empty husk.
Crap.
I turned toward Doc. “But Karl Waters wasn’t asleep. At least I’m guessing he wasn’t. He was in his archives. Can we assume he wasn’t making nookie back there?”
Jolene seemed adamant. “There isn’t anything else mentioned that could have done this.”
“Maybe nothing we know of. Also, if Erasmus is a demon, then couldn�
��t he fake the symptoms of a succubus?”
It was Jolene’s turn to roll her eyes at me. “You sure are trying to make a case for Mr. Dark.”
“Well, I don’t like him! He’s an arrogant bastard. And I don’t like him just sweeping in here, telling me what to do.”
“We’re just trying to get at the facts,” Doc said. “And after some consideration, I’m inclined to believe that Karl’s death was due to supernatural means. Now as far as I’m concerned, it puts Mr. Dark front and center. But we cannot discount this information on a succubus from Jolene. Mr. Dark’s presence may simply mean that he is somehow tied to the book.”
“Well…okay. That makes sense.” As much as any of it could. I wanted to blame Erasmus, I guess. Someone tangible. But Doc was probably right. He was tied to the Booke. The demon of the Booke. Swell. But Karl had died clutching my business card. Could it be that he had found out something about the Booke and was about to call me?
My restless fingers caught on the amulet. I stared at it and held it up toward Doc Boone. “Doc, what do you make of this?”
I was reluctant to let it go and just allowed him to hold the charm while I kept the chain. “Looks like some sort of talisman. The face of the Beast.”
“When you say ‘beast’ do you mean…?”
“The Beast. The Devil.”
“Great.”
I took it back and paced, opening and closing my fist over the amulet. Talisman. Whatever. “What if he never comes back?”
“He’ll be back,” said Jolene over her tablet.
“How do you know?”
She shrugged.
“This is ridiculous!”
“Now, Kylie,” Doc said as he stood in front of me again. “I think it best to try to calm down. None of us have ever encountered anything like this before.”
I couldn’t help but stare at the beast face on the amulet. “Should I give this back to him?”
“You made a bargain,” said Jolene, not looking up. “I think you have to.”
“But what if this has some sort of power over him?”
Doc nodded. “I think it likely does.”
“Then maybe I should keep it. At least for a while.”
I looked down at it again, running my finger over the protruding silver tongue.
An odd tingle in my senses that had nothing to do with the amulet sparked in me and I jerked toward the Booke. Nick was leaning over it with a magnifying glass. “What are you doing?” My voice was a little more strident than I intended.
He looked up guiltily. “I just wanted to take a closer look.”
“It doesn’t like you doing that.” I pulled up short. “God, that’s weird.”
“Wow,” he whispered. “It’s sentient.”
I rubbed my arm uncomfortably. “Not really. Not in the strictest sense of the word. But it does give off these…vibes. And they seem to be getting stronger.”
Seraphina nodded from across the room, eyes still closed. Was she in communion with it? I found myself feeling jealous, and then disgusted with myself for feeling that at all.
“So…demons and stuff. What do you guys know about them?”
They exchanged glances. Nick looked at me sheepishly. “Well…not much. To tell you the truth…” He fumbled with his fingers, chipped black nail polish and all. “We’ve only just…you know…chanted and dabbled with a few potions. I never even…” He winced, looking at Doc. “Sorry, but I really didn’t half believe in it. I just thought it would be something cool to do on a weeknight. Gets pretty boring around here.”
“I see.” I looked at the rest of them. “And you guys? Just a fun thing to do between reruns of your favorite shows?”
Seraphina touched my arm. “That’s not true for all of us, Kylie.” She gave Nick the stink eye. “I’ve been a practitioner of Wicca for most of my adult life. I’ve seen it work. I have faith in the gods and spirits. I helped Doc find his way to it.”
“That’s true,” said Doc. “It’s also true that our rituals have been simple, more for calming and energy. We’ve never delved deeper, though I have witnessed more meaty rituals in Africa and the Amazon some years ago when I was on sabbatical.”
Jolene raised her head but kept her eyes on her tablet. “I’ve never done anything more than a potion and a charm, but the results were ambiguous, far from actual empirical evidence. Didn’t make it any less cool, though. And I like the company. Seraphina knows a lot. So does Doc, and Nick—he tries really hard to understand it all. I can respect that.”
“Then this is all just theoretical to you guys?”
“Until tonight!” said Jolene brightly. “Mr. Dark is the genuine article. A real demon.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“That was no magic trick. And look at that amulet. You didn’t fix the chain.”
I squeezed it in my palm. The Beast face warmed my skin. “Well, I guess I really don’t have any other choice, do I?”
Doc took up my hand and gave it gentle pressure. “We won’t desert you, Kylie. We aren’t entirely helpless. We have the advantage of intellect and gumption. We will help you.”
I nodded. “Okay, then. Answer this, Jolene. What do we know about this ‘dark demon’? Doc said I had some measure of control over him by the use of his name. How can we protect ourselves? Crucifixes? Holy water?” I wasn’t exactly excited about the possibility of donning religious symbols, since I didn’t have any religion myself. Maybe I should reconsider that one.
“There’s a lot of collective wisdom about demons,” she said, still poring over her tablet screen. “Lots of different perspectives from every culture. I did a paper on it for my social studies class. Should have been an ‘A.’ Who knew my teacher was such a religious crank?” she muttered. “The one universal about demons, though, is that they like to deceive.”
“Naturally. Do you think he’s playing with us?”
“Wouldn’t put it past him.”
I stomped my foot. This was bad enough, but this waiting was killing me. “Erasmus! Where the hell are you!” I bellowed. “Get your scaly demon ass back here!”
“I do not have a scaly—never mind.”
I turned. There he was. Again. I looked at the thing he was carrying. Holy cats! He actually brought it.
It was a crossbow, all right, but not like any I’d ever seen before. Not that I’d ever seen one in person. At least three feet long, with a silver handle and trigger, all carved into organic shapes that seemed familiar and sensuous and entirely inappropriate for a crossbow. The wood was a deep black and polished to a high gloss.
He held it up. “I have brought the chthonic crossbow. Now give me my amulet.”
“Give me the crossbow,” I said, holding out my hand.
He growled and narrowed his eyes, but handed it over. When I took it I nearly dropped it; it was just as heavy as it looked. I used both hands to heft it.
“Now my amulet.” He held his hand out expectantly. It was trembling. Either he was angry or…frightened?
I rested the crossbow on the ground against my leg, and held up the amulet. Then, on instinct, I dropped the chain over my own head and let the thing hang over my chest. “I don’t think so. I think I’ll just keep this safe for the time being.”
“What?” he bellowed. He tried to lunge for me but at the last moment held himself in check. “Give it back to me!”
“No!”
“You don’t have any idea what you are doing.”
“I’m pissing you off, so that’s a plus.”
He started to literally smolder again and I shook my finger at him. “Stop it. Or else.”
The smoke dispersed and he rolled his shoulders. “You leave me very little choice,” he rasped.
“That’s the idea.” The amulet was heavy on my chest. I resisted the urge to look at it. “So. This thing.” I hefted up the crossbow again, resting the butt on my hip. The arrow-whatsits were cleverly incorporated into the silver butt’s intricate vines and twisting
tendrils. At least I thought they were vines. “How do you use this thing?”
Erasmus folded his arms over his chest in defiance, but I had already turned toward Nick. “Don’t look at me,” said Nick, eyeing Erasmus suspiciously. “I’ve never used a crossbow. But I know in theory, anyway. From video games.” He wiggled a finger at one of the arrow thingies. “These are called bolts or quarrels. You take one of those, fit it there”—he pointed toward the groove in the stock—“aim it, and pull the trigger. Oh, you have to pull back the bow string so the quarrel can fire.”
“It’s more complicated than I thought,” I muttered.
“You have no idea,” said Erasmus.
“I know I need to use this to kill whatever it is that’s out there. But you have to tell me about the Booke. What do I have to do?”
Erasmus flitted his gaze from me to each of the Wiccans in turn. “I don’t have to tell you. Not really.”
My hand closed over the amulet. It felt almost hot to the touch. “Don’t you?”
His gaze tried to pierce my closed hand but couldn’t. He growled again and bared his teeth. “You are a most annoying woman.”
“Thanks. So tell me. Is this a succubus we’re after?”
He threw back his head and laughed. We all watched him as the laughter rolled around the room, until he came back to himself and stared anew at me. “Oh. You were serious.” He shrugged. “Possibly.”
I shook the crossbow at him. “Do you know where it is?”
He took an index finger and carefully redirected the bow away from himself. “Do be careful with that. No, I don’t know where it is. If it is a succubus.”
“Right. Well, let’s go then.”
“Go? Go where?”
“Back to my place.”
“Whoa,” said Nick, holding up his hands. “You’re leaving?”
“Just as it was getting good?” said Jolene, face finally out of her computer.
“Erasmus and I—”
“Stop calling me that!”
“—have business to attend to. I’ll call you guys later. Let me know if you find out anything.”
I went to the roll top desk and picked up the Booke, holding it to my chest with one arm while toting the crossbow with the other. Doc stopped me at the door. “Kylie, are you certain you want to be going anywhere with…him?”
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