by Dora Blume
Jessie walked over and put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay. It wasn’t you. You were possessed by a demon. Nothing is going to happen to you. Shhh,” she soothed rubbing her hand on his back.
He looked to her, “Why do I remember everything if I was possessed? I killed someone. How is that ever going to be okay? My life is over.” He dropped his head into his hands again.
Jessie moved her hands and froze him again. “Well that’s not good. How many of them do you think killed someone?”
“Too many, we need to keep them frozen until we can figure out what to do.”
Sloane stepped over the guy on the floor. “So, this day is getting better and better. Any ideas what to do next?” A knock sounded at the door. All three heads whipped up to the door. Jessie ran to the window and pushed the curtain aside slightly. “It’s the cops,” she whispered.
Chapter 15
“Perfect, another problem. What do we do?” Sloane looked to Erik, eyes wide. “I don’t want to go to jail today and I’m holding the gun used to shoot that guy.”
“None of us want to go to jail. I’ll talk to them.” Jessie said and pulled the hem of her tank lower to expose her cleavage.
Erik shook his head at her, “I’ll join you. It’s my house and I can anticipate what they want to hear. Although, I do appreciate your thinking and assets.” He winked at her. “If we only open the door slightly and step out to join them, they won’t be able to see the others in here. Sloane you keep everything under wraps in here and for god’s sake put the gun away.”
“What? I just wanted to be prepared. What if the cops are actually demons?” She lifted a brow.
“They’re not, we would sense it if they were. It serves you right for using a damn grenade in the middle of the city. What the hell were you thinking?”
She smiled, “I told you, I like to watch things explode.”
“I should make you talk to them, it would serve you right.”
“I mean, I could.” She took a step toward the door.
Erik held his hands up. “Oh no, you stay in here. You’ll only make things worse. We don’t have time to get arrested right now.” He looked over to Jessie, “Ready?”
She winked, “Yep.”
“Okay let’s do this.” He opened the door just enough to step out with Jessie right behind him. She closed the door behind them. After a few very long minutes, Erik walked back into the house. He held the door for Jessie.
“No idea how the hell we just got out of that one,” Jessie said.
“Being able to hear what they are thinking helps. Okay, onto the next problem. How are we dealing with all these people who remember what they did as demons?”
Jessie looked around the room at the college students frozen in various poses. “I’ll call Shaundra, maybe she has something in that nifty shop of hers that could help us.” Jessie took out her phone and dialed.
Sloane looked to Erik, “Is there anyone she doesn’t know?”
Jessie answered, “No,” before Erik had the chance and then walked into the kitchen.
Jessie came back in the living room where they were waiting, “Shaundra’s on her way, she said she has something that will help them forget about the demon part so they can go back to their regular lives.” She plopped into a chair.
“Really?” Sloane asked. “She’s quite amazing when it comes to that stuff.”
“Yeah, how do you know her?” Jessie asked.
“Oh, I just stopped in her shop one day.” Sloane was avoiding the question she didn’t want to admit why she’d really been there.
“Oh, that’s cool,” Jessie got up and walked around one of the guys. “This one’s kinda cute,” she said as she looked him up and down.
“Now, now ladies, no playing with the humans. We need to figure out what we’re doing next. The meeting is still going to happen. Kidnapping the leaders didn’t put a stop to it and there are hundreds more demons to take care of.” Erik warned.
“Why can’t we just do this again, but on a larger scale?” Jessie looked around the room. She thought that would be easy.
“You can do that?” Sloane couldn’t believe that was possible. She looked at Jessie, then at the people frozen in different positions around the room. It would be nice if she was able to do this again. Take care of the problem all in one shot. She nodded her head at the possibility.
“Not right now, but if Shaundra whipped me up a power boost, I might be able to. We know how to obliterate them so why not just do it again?” Jessie sat back on the couch crossing one leg over the other. She stared straight ahead contemplating how this could work for them.
“Ah Jess, although that sounds like it might work, I think you’re oversimplifying the situation. There are going to be hundreds of people at this gathering. What happens if you can’t freeze them all? Then what?” Erik stared at Jess. She was staring off into space, thinking.
“We’ll bring reinforcements. Didn’t you say Ashley was coming? She will help out if I can’t. She’s amazing.” Her envy coloring her tone. “I think we could make this work. With Ashley there it might even be too easy. Plus, it’s always nice to have a friend around who has telekinesis. She can get a beer from the fridge if you needed or throw your boyfriend off a bridge without touching him. She was definitely someone you want on her side.” She smirked in Erik’s direction. He shook his head.
“Planning on having her throw me off a bridge sometime soon?” Erik raised his eyebrows.
“You’re not my boyfriend, so why would I do that?” She smiled crookedly at Erik and bit her lip.
“Speaking of that, where’s Mike?” Sloane looked expectantly at Erik.
“I sent him on an errand remember?” Erik looked away, “When did you say Shaundra would be here? I’d like all these people out of the house. We’re going to need it.”
“You’re dodging, what was the errand exactly?” Sloane was done with his evasiveness. She put her hand on her hip and stared at him. She pressed her mouth into a hard line after he averted her gaze and said nothing. “Erik?” She pressed, “What’s going on?” She walked over to stand in his eye line, inches from his face. He stepped around her, wiped his hands on his pants and headed toward the kitchen.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Sloane stomped behind him into the kitchen. “Tell me what the hell is going on, Erik.” She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her, narrowing her eyes at him.
He stared at her for a minute, considering a lie, then threw up his hands. “Ugh, fine he followed Bryant, alright.” Erik looked beaten, he hadn't wanted to tell her this. She already didn’t like Bryant even though he was her father but Erik didn’t want to be the one to put the nail in the coffin.
“Why would you send him to follow Bryant?” Sloane inquired.
Erik began pacing the kitchen. “Because I thought the way he left here was suspicious, and I was right. He went to the building with the demons. He could be the leak. I don’t have any other explanation for why he would run there right after we captured the leader.” Erik blew out a ragged breath. Now that he said it aloud it seemed to hurt more.
“What?” She couldn’t believe that her own father would betray them. All this time she thought he was helping them, staying in contact with the order. When it was possible, he was the one helping the demons this whole time, against his own children. She couldn’t believe it. He’d been so involved in the order, believed in what they did so completely. She couldn’t believe he would be the one helping the enemy.
“Yeah, I don’t know this one-hundred percent, but he could be our leak. I know it’s unbelievable but I think it may be true. Mike went to get him as soon as he caught him he was going to bring him back here so we can confront him.” Erik’s voice got softer as he spoke. He couldn’t believe it himself. He was still trying to give Bryant the benefit of the doubt but it was hard the way he’d acted when he left and then he went right to where the demons were. It was hard to deny that kind of evidence.
&n
bsp; Chapter 16
Jessie met Shaundra at the kitchen door and gave her the cliff-notes version of what happened. Shaundra followed her into the living room and froze. “Wow, you weren’t kidding.”
“There are a few of them, is that going to be a problem?” Jessie stepped around the girl who had bent over sobbing and screaming before she froze her a second time.
“It shouldn’t be, any idea how long ago they lost their memories?” Shaundra asked fascinated by the whole situation. She stood and marveled at the girl, frozen half bent with her head in her hands. She looked as though she was trying to curl in on herself but only made it halfway. It reminded her of the Mount Vesuvius exhibit she’d seen at the science museum. People frozen forever in stone, forever capturing a moment in time. She stood up straight, shaking her head at her wandering thoughts.
Jessie waited as Shaundra examined the students. “They’re all different as far as we can tell. Can you help us get them back to their lives somehow?”
“I’m certain I can help these children.” Shaundra looked over to Sloane who’d walked in the room from the kitchen. “I trust what I gave you worked, I didn’t see you back in the shop after our visit.”
Sloane looked frantically toward Jessie then put a stoic smile on her face. “Yes, I’m feeling great, thank you.” she looked to the floor then met Jessie’s eyes. “So, do you need any help from us to get these kids on their way?”
Erik walked in catching Sloane thanking Shaundra. He looked between Sloane and Shaundra then to Jessie who closed her eyes and shook her head slightly once, letting him know not to ask.
“I need to whip up something, it shouldn’t take me long.” She placed her hands together and rubbed. “Bryant still has a well-stocked herb collection, I assume.” She looked to Erik.
“Yes, right this way.” Erik guided her down the hall to the room where all the plants and herbs were stored. He opened the door for her and she walked in, eyes lit with excitement.
She put her hands together in prayer and raised them to her mouth. “Thank you, Erik.” She gleamed and turned. She went right to work, studying the labels on bottles and taking down the ones that she needed. Her movements were quick and focused as she moved along then shelves. Erik shrugged, considering she’d made herself at home as always, he turned and left the room. Erik turned to head for the living room where he’d left Sloane and Jessie but stepped into Bryant’s study to call Mike and find out what’s going on with Bryant.
“Hey, what’s up?” he waited and listened as Mike filled him in.
“Follow him, see where else this could lead. He may provide some key insights into what he’s been up to.”
“Yeah, call me when you know something.” He hung up and went to join the other two. They moved into the kitchen to drink their coffee at the table. Each sat with cups in hand discussing how they could go about getting into the building and freezing everyone. Erik moved to the carafe and poured himself a steaming mug of coffee and sat next to Jessie. He eyed the papers spread out before them. They had drawn blueprints of the building.
“So, have you come up with an alternate scenario if you can’t freeze the entire room?” Erik looked to Jessie, mouth turned down, studying the blueprints.
She punched him playfully, “No, are you doubting my amazing abilities?” She straightened in her chair, “Where’s your optimism, Erik?” She continued to look at him out of the corner of her eye but went back to studying the blueprints.
He took a sip of his coffee. “I’m just saying, I think we should have a contingency plan if one doesn’t work out in our favor. It’s not terrible to have a plan B or even a plan C. In my experience, shit often doesn’t work out.”
“Okay well, I’m going to go talk to Shaundra about getting a power boost and we can test it out. If I can freeze a large enough room, can we continue with this plan?” Jessie moved to get up from the table and stared at Erik, her hand on her hip in challenge. Erik just smiled and took another sip of his coffee.
“Yeah, we should see what you can do after Shaundra’s done with you.” Sloane’s eyes sparkled when they looked at Jessie. “It would be nice if this all worked in our favor.” She turned a challenging gaze toward Erik, “Right?”
He looked to Sloane then back up a Jessie. Dropping his eyes back to the table he said, “Fine, I’ll agree to your plan if you can prove that you’ve got the juice to get it done.”
“I’m going to find Shaundra, apparently I need to prove my worth.” She eyed Erik, turned on her heel and sauntered out of the room.
Erik looked to Sloane, “Okay sis, now would be an excellent time for you to look into your crystal ball to see what will work the best for us.” He leaned closer to her at the table.
“You know it doesn’t always work like that Erik, I don’t always see what I want to see. Why are you being such an arrogant ass suddenly? You could at least act like you appreciate all that Jessie’s done so far.” Sloane was frustrated. She would love to be able to see the future whenever she wanted. She also wished her visions came in nice, easy to piece together reels, rather than the jarring, flashes she often didn’t understand.
“I appreciate her. It seems like I’m the only one around here doing the work.” He huffed out a breath. “Could you at least try to see if Jessie’s plan works for us?” Erik pleaded. He knew his sister had power, and he didn’t see why she wasn’t even trying to use it.
She set her empty mug down, hard on the table. “Fine, I’ll see what I can do.” She got up and stalked out the door.
“Where are you going?” He turned in his chair.
She stopped at the door and turned, moving her hand to her hip. “To be alone, what do you think I’m just going to see the future while you stare at me. I don’t think so.” She strode out the door.
Erik shrugged but continued to drink his coffee. “Well at least I know how to clear a room.” He said to himself. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself, so he headed to his room to draw the faces he had seen in the woman’s mind. They would need to know what all the demon’s looked like. He had a clear memory of their faces, so he figured he should get them on paper in case something happened to him in the upcoming battle. Others may need to know who the demons are. Some of them were surprising.
***
Sloane went to her room with her large canopy bed. She’d remembered the day she’d picked it out with her mother. She moved her hand to her chest as pain shot through her at the memory. She shook her head and went over and laid on the bed. She wasn’t sure if anything would happen since she was distracted by the pain of the memories this room held. She would never get over the loss of her mother but she took a deep breath to calm herself and steady her nerves. They needed answers, and she was the one who could get them. Focusing all her energy on herself and her power, she waited and tried hard to silence the nagging voice in her mind. It took several minutes before she could truly focus.
Suddenly she was back in the hall with the demons. The two they had killed weren’t there but there were still numerous demons present. She felt a wave of confusion through the air. There was no one leading now and everyone seemed confused. She eavesdropped on one conversation easily.
“Where are they, the meeting should have started and they’re not here yet. What kind of show are they running here anyway?” One demon dressed in a black tailored suit demanded.
That was the air around the room; everyone was confused about what was going on. Tonight, had been the night that they were waiting for, the couple had big news. Tonight, the leaders were bringing together the other leaders throughout the United States. Everything was going to be explained, and the leaders were nowhere to be found. Sloane moved around the room unnoticed. She went to the front to see if there was anyone getting ready to speak. There was one woman that looked nervous in a room with two other young men. They were speaking in a hushed but stern voice.
“You have to go on Jenny, everyone is getting restless. They put you in charge of t
his. You have to coordinate the meeting and tell everyone what’s going on.” One of the young men pleaded with her. Jenny was shaking visibly.
“I can’t stand up in front of all those people, why did she pick me. She knew I was afraid of public speaking. I can’t, I just can’t.” She put her head in her hands.
One of the boys put their hand on her back and started gently rubbing in circles, “You can do this, you know you’re the only one who can. We can’t let those hunters destroy us. We must continue the mission. She left everything to you because she trusted you and believed that you could do this. Come on, Jenny you know what you have to do.” He looked her in the eye and she nodded, swallowing the lump in her throat.
“Okay, I can do this.” She still wasn’t sure of herself and she couldn’t stop shaking but she knew she had to go on, to play her part to destroy the collective.
Sloane moved away from this conversation to see what else she could see. Her visions were always strange to her because once she was in the trance, she could move about freely, but she never felt like she was a part of it, just a welcomed observer. She moved about to see what else she could discover that would help them. She walked around the perimeter to find where they could get in without being noticed. She saw the door by the south wall was all but deserted. Then she stopped dead in her tracks, Bryant looked directly at her. He was there. She was so shaken she was ejected from the vision.
When she got up, she shook her head to clear it. She couldn’t believe it, Bryant was there. He looked completely at ease among them. He looked like he belonged there and the creepy thing was he looked right at her in the vision. She didn’t think that was possible but when she was there, he looked right at her. She shook her head. No, he couldn’t know she was there. The vision was of the future, not the present. How could he see her when it was a vision? She took a few deep breaths to steady herself before she got up off the bed. That had been one hell of a surprise and she confirmed Erik’s suspicions. Bryant was a traitor. He walked among them so easily. He was going to pay for that. The order needed to know he betrayed them. They have a protocol for this sort of thing and Sloane would be happy to watch him receive the punishment for his betrayal.