by Renee George
Chapter 14
“Charlotte, lovely, Charlotte,” Kobal said when he showed up in the bathroom with me.
I hugged the towel around my chest and shot him with a glare I wished could kill demon lords. “Go away. You don’t get to keep coming at me now that you’ve demoted me.”
“On the contrary, I’m still your boss, no matter what your status. And, as they say in the biz, the show must go on. I need Aloysius. You either get him for me, or I will rip him from this plane of existence along with the soul he’s tethered to. Your handsome man, Jared, would make a fine addition to my collection of pretty things.” He tweaked my cheek. “You know how I like pretty things.”
“I’ll do it,” I said. “We have a plan to break the binding tonight. I just need a little more time.”
“Don’t make me wait too long, my little belle. I may decide to grant you an all-access trip for a one-way ride to Sheol. I like you, Charlotte, so I wouldn’t enjoy it near as much as I should.” He tut-tutted, and he finger checked my chin. “Goodbye, my dear. I’ll see you soon.”
I slumped against the sink. “I am never getting rid of that guy.”
Eliza walked in about that time. “Never getting rid of who? Because if you’re talking about Jared, I say keep him. Keep him for a long as you can. He’s one of the good ones.”
“He really is.” Eliza was blonde, like Elise, and even though the twins were technically identical, Eliza always had a vibrancy about her that Elise lacked. “I’m sorry I’m taking so long in here. I’ll be out soon.”
“Are you all right, sister?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I’ve spent too many years with you not to know when you were deeply troubled.”
“When we visited Temperance the necromancer in her hollow yesterday, she said something that really bothered me.”
“What?”
“She said that Jared couldn’t help but be drawn to me because I was dead once, and necromancers are attracted to the resurrected. Those of us brought back from the dead can add to the power of a necromancer’s magic. Jared says he loves me, but what if he only loves me because he can’t help himself, because of what I am?”
Eliza opened the bathroom door. “Olivia, get your ass in here,” my younger sister hollered. “Char needs an intervention.”
I smacked her arm. “Liz!”
Olivia came hustling in, and she closed the door behind her. “What’s up?”
“When you met David, what made your va-jay-jay stand up and notice him?”
“You have such a filthy mouth, Eliza,” I said, trying not to laugh.
Olivia didn’t even try. She giggled. “He had a really nice butt, and damn, those arms of his were like logs. His eyes, those kissable lips, too many things, really.”
Eliza nodded. “All physical, though, right?”
“Right,” Olivia cautiously agreed. “What’s your point?”
“And when you knew you loved him, what was it about him that made your heart swell full of him?”
“He was kind and honest, and gentle, and he made me feel like I could do anything if he was with me.”
“But not because of his butt.”
“That was a bonus, but no, the love wasn’t about his butt.” Olivia smiled. “What’s the point.”
“My point,” Eliza said, staring at me pointedly, “is that the reasons we are attracted to people are not the reasons we fall in love with them.” She took my hand and squeezed it. “You understand what I’m saying, right?”
“I guess.”
Olivia threw up her hands. “I don’t understand, but I don’t even care. Hurry up so we can get on with the soul-decoupling. I have a baby at home, and I’m tired of using a mini-vacuum to empty my milk jugs.” She left Eliza and me in the bathroom alone.
Eliza kept hold of my hands. “I’ll leave you with this last thought. I’m resurrected, sister dear. You don’t see your man fawning all over me, do you?”
After she left, I went down the hall to Jared’s bedroom. He was sitting at the foot of his bed in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and black work boots. And, wowza, did he light a fire in my nether parts. “You keep looking that good, and I might forget why we’re going out tonight.”
He looked at me. “You keep hanging out half dressed, and I won’t even care why.”
I crossed the room to him and straddled his thighs. “I wish we didn’t have to go. Every minute I’m not with you, I am dreaming of being in your arms, and every time I’m in your arms, I am wishing I was in your bed.”
“Is that your way of saying you love me too?”
I nodded. “I think it is. I can’t give any other word for how you make me feel then love. I do love you, Jared.” His hands slip up my thighs under the towel, and I squirmed against the bulge in his jeans, delighting as it awoke beneath me. Jared kissed my neck, my jaw, and his mouth finally devouring my lips as I writhed against him.
A loud bang startled us apart. Olivia stood just outside the open door. Oops. I guess I hadn’t shut it behind me.
She shook her head. “I’m all for getting loved up before a big event, but it’s going to be full on dark soon, and there’s no telling how packed this grave is, and it is the dry seasons, it could very well take us all night to dig it up. We need to get this show on the road.”
“Spoilsport,” I told her. “We’ll be right out.”
“What’s this all about?” Jared asked. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“You don’t love Eliza.”
“No,” he said. The look of pure befuddlement on his face was almost comical. “But why would I?”
“Exactly.” I beamed from my head to my toes with happiness. “Why would you indeed.”
After Jared joined the others in the front room, I struggled into the pair of black leather pants and a tight black shirt Eliza had lent me. The only thing that I didn’t hate about my outfit was my cowgirl boots. I walked awkwardly down the hall with my legs spread slightly apart so the seams wouldn’t chafe my inner thighs.
“Walk normal,” Olivia said. “You look like you’ve got a corn cob stuck up your butt.”
Ray and Frank were in the living room now, and everyone seemed to be sitting around waiting on me.
“I feel like I got a cob up my butt,” I told. “How you and Liz get anything done in these uncomfortable contraptions is beyond me.”
Eliza clicked her tongue at me. “You’ll get used to them.” “And those boots look ridiculous with that outfit,” she said. “You should have worn the tennis shoes I lent you.”
“I am wearing the boots. And as to the pants, this grave robbing is a one-time deal.” Or at least I hoped it was. “I won’t be wearing them long enough to get used to them.”
Jared came up behind me and put his arms around me. He placed his lips to my ear. “I like the skirts better,” he said. “Easy access.”
A hot blush warmed my cheeks. “Jared,” I protested, but only mildly, because really, his words made me wish I wore a skirt right then and there.
He kissed me. “You ready to do this?”
“Let’s go kick this ghost to the curb.”
Ozarks Memorial Park Cemetery was located two miles east of Branson on MO-76 highway. The white picket fence surrounding the area looked like hundreds of miniature ghosts holding hands at the perimeter of the graveyard, protecting their dead from, well, grave robbers like us, I supposed. Ray and Frank kept vigil in a van that Frank, our getaway driver, had insisted we steal, just in case the police showed up, and we had to make an anonymous getaway. They would text us periodically to check on our progress.
Aloysius’s grave was near the back of the cemetery, and there were two large trees to the left of the site, which offered some cover if anyone drove by looking. His tombstone read, Aloysius Bernstein, The Magnificent, He lived by the wand, and he died by the wand. We took turns digging two at a time because when we tried to get three of us in there, decapitation became a possibility. After fi
ve hours of hard labor, and five and a half feet of hard earth, we reached the coffin.
“Finally!” Eliza exclaimed as she crawled out of the man-sized hole. “For a while, I thought we were going have to dig to China. What’s next?”
“Next,” Jared said. “We open it up.”
“And then we cut that bastard’s umbilical cord and send him packing to Hell.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “Charlotte!”
“That old ghost is bringing out the worst in me.”
“I like this feisty new you,” Liv said. “You are showing me a lot of fight.”
I glanced down at Jared, who’d jumped into the pit with David, and they were both prying at the lid with a crowbar.
“I have a lot to fight for.”
My older sister nodded. “Then let’s make sure we win.”
Olivia, Eliza, and I salted a circle around the grave to keep Aloysius’ ghost from running but to also keep out any other spirits that might be lingering in the graveyard. Being a ghost was hard enough, and I didn’t want anyone other than Aloysius taking a ride on the Hades’ train.
The casket made a splintering sound, then it screeched as Jared and David opened the lid. After a year in the earth, the magician's body was remarkably preserved.
“Wow, it smells bad down here,” Jared said, holding a hand over his face.
“Decomp will do that,” Olivia said. “Death ain’t pretty.”
Eliza wrinkled her nose. “Ew. I don’t mind digging, but I’ll leave the gross corpse to you all. I’ll be back at the van with Ray and Frank if you need me.”
I looked down over the edge. “Did you find the wand?”
Jared rolled the body sideways.
“That’s disrespectful!” Aloysius said as he pushed against the invisible wall we’d lined with salt. He was talking to Olivia, but I assumed he was trying to get my attention without actually addressing me since she couldn’t see or hear him. “Make him stop.”
“We’ll stop when you go away,” I snapped.
He acted like he didn’t hear me and kept his rant up with Liv, even though she couldn’t see him. “I taught that boy everything, and this is the thanks I get. Desecration! You know, there used to be a word for people like you. Ghouls. That’s what you all are. A bunch of nasty, bottom-feeding ghouls.”
“I’ve found the wand piece,” Jared said triumphantly.
I looked at Aloysius. “Get ready for the hottest vacation of your life, buddy.”
David climbed out, and I jumped in. Jared caught me and eased me down. The corpse looked a lot like the ghost. I took Jared’s hand. “You ready?”
He let go of my hand and tapped the medallion. “I am.” He retrieved a crinkled piece of paper from his pocket. It had the words to the Song of Solomon verse that he’d read at Aloysius’s funeral. He changed the words as he read them this time, and I crossed my fingers and toes that the reverse spell would work.
Jared touched the amulet with the same hand that he held the wand fragments. “Release me as a seal upon they heart. For love may be as strong as death, but only as long as that love lasts. Jealousy as cruel as Sheol and duplicity is the Devil’s gambit. The flashes thereof are flashes of fire. Of death.”
He took the two wand parts and held the broken ends together. A surge of energy like an oncoming storm swirled around me.
Jared took the necklace from over his head, finally free of the Goetia seal. He placed all three items on the corpse. “I release you, Aloysius Bernstein. Go now to whom you are truly beholden.”
A moaning wind rushed through the park, bending limbs and rustling leaves of the nearby trees. I looked up, and Liv was holding her hands over her ears. David was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear him as the moan became a deafening roar. Jared grabbed me as the ground beneath us stirred, and he was trying to push me up out of the grave when the earth opened and swallowed us whole.
Chapter 15
Jared clasped me to him as we fell for several seconds before landing in a heap on cold, stone floor. Where ever we were, it was pitch black.
“Get. Off. Me. Cow,” someone wheezed.
Jared and I rolled over, cold water sliding down the back of my leather pants. Thank heavens, I’d worn my popcorn lighter on the chain around my neck. I snapped it open and lit the darkness. I yipped as the corpse of Aloysius the Magnificent sat up. His joints popped and snicked as he stretched his ashen-colored limbs.
“Holy crap,” Jared muttered.
I agreed whole-heartedly. “Something’s gone terribly wrong.”
“You think?” Jared stood up. “There is nothing but stone above us. I don’t know how we got here, but we’re in a cave of some kind.”
“You two are dumb asses,” the animated corpse said.
“I bet after a year in a grave you’d catch fire real good,” I said to him and waved the flame in his direction.
Aloysius scrambled away as fast as his stiff corpse legs could muster.
I searched around the enclosure. There was no way in and now way out. Whatever had brought us here was not a natural occurrence. “Did the spell somehow bring us here?”
Jared shrugged. “You know as much about my magic as I do. Your guess is as good as mine.”
“You still don’t get it.” Aloysius laughed, then began to wheeze. When he got his breathing under control, he said, “This isn’t because of your spell.”
“Then what brought us here? And where is here?”
The room light up with flashes of color the signs at a carnival. A demon in a red coat with tails and a top hat tap-danced his way to middle, did a fancy spin as he rolled his hat down his sleeve to his arm, and yelled, “Ta dah!” After, he bowed with a great flourish, and smiled as he met my gaze. “Welcome, little belle, to the show that I call Hell.”
The room was not a room, but a cavern of some kind, with stalactites hanging form the ceilings and large columns of stalagmites, shooting up from the floor. “What is this place?”
“An undiscovered, well, by humans anyhow, cave system in this area. This room, I like it call it, the bubble, because, it’s basically a bubble formed inside of solid rock.”
The colors stopped flashing and white light bathed the room. I could see the walls were made up of bands of creamy white, caramel, orange, and brown rock, shiny with water as it dripped into the airlocked chamber. A small stream flowed around a raised area acting as a center stage for Kobal.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked the demon lord. “The soul is severed. I’ve done what you asked. Aloysius the Great is right there. Take him and leave Jared alone.”
Jared, added, “Take the soul you bargained for and leave.”
“Not just yet,” the demon lord said. He turned to Aloysius. “Hello, Al.”
The walking corpse scratched his ear and it fell off. “I do hope when this is over, you’ll restore my body.”
Kobal pressed his palm against his chest and gave a slight bow. “I’m a demon of my word.”
“Hah!” I said. Then it dawned on me. This was not a conversation between a predator and his prey, this was a discussion between conspirators. I narrowed my gaze on Aloysius. “What did you do?”
“Don’t blame me. You and wonder-boy put me in an impossible position. I could either be cast out and sent to Hell, or I could make another deal with demon. I chose the latter,” the magician said.
"And it was hard to say no to Aloysius when he explained just how tempting my virginal little minion would be to a necromancer, especially since you were newly risen. A tasty treat for Jared's power. And the old charlatan was right. Look at your man, Charlotte. He's practically chomping to give up his life to save you." Kobal rubbed his white-gloved hands together. “Now, the real bargaining begins.” He looked at Jared. “Will you give me your soul to save the beautiful Miss Charlotte here? I will free her from all duties to me, and when she eventually dies of old age, her soul will belong to her and her along." He shrugged. "Or do I just take Charlotte wi
th me right now? I may not kill her, but I can give her a life that will have her begging for Hell.”
“You can’t!” I said. “I'm keeping to our bargain.”
"Our bargain doesn't stipulate that you get to live with your sisters or have any kind of meaningful existence in the interim." He smirked. “My dearest girl. You are not human. You are a minion, my minion, and by rights, I can do whatever I want.”
“But you said—”
“I made you mortal, yes, but only temporarily. I needed Jared here to be sufficiently motivated to save your soul. Until he does, I still own you. You’re my favorite little show pony, but a magus would be the ultimate pinnacle of my career.” He turned to Jared “So, necromancer. What do you say?”
I turned to Jared, “Don’t, please. You don’t know what it’s like living under a demon’s thumb, and then, to have Hell waiting for you. I’m not worth it.”
“You’re the only thing in this world worth it,” Jared said. “I would suffer a thousand lifetimes in Hell if it meant keeping you safe.”
“I can make that happen!” Kobal said. “Although, Charlotte has it a little wrong. You see, as a magus, you will not die of natural causes, like disease or old age. Now that you’re power is active, you will most likely stay this handsome hundreds, maybe thousands of years.”
“Then how would you get my soul?” Jared asked.
“That’s the fun part. You will have to pour life into Aloysius, and since the only person who can make the sacrifice down here is either Charlotte or yourself, I’m assuming you’ll pick yourself. So, when Aloysius truly lives, your body will die, and your unique soul will get a complete one-man act in my dominion. I will be the envy of Hell.”
I hung on to Jared, but he wasn’t looking at me. He’d focused his attention on the dead guy. “Get over here, Al.”
“No,” I said. “Jared, you have your whole life ahead of you. This time with you has been a gift, but gift not meant for me. I died in the nineteenth century. This chance was never mine. Don’t make this choice. Not for me.” My voice was strained as I fought back the tears. But he wouldn’t look at me. Damn it. Why wouldn’t he look at me? I slapped him across the face and screamed, “Jared!”