I nodded, thanked him, and headed out the building toward the car. Walmart was better than nothing. I’d been hoping for a gourmet bakery or something that would impress Tabby, but I had to take what I could get.
Lucy had stayed in the room with Tabby. Part of me was thankful for the break. The other part was kind of jealous. I’d gotten used to my funky sidekick. Still, it was good to know for sure that she could be places where I wasn’t.
I’d just unlocked the car when my phone rang. If it was Vespa, I would have chucked the damn thing down the street. I snatched it out of my pocket and looked at the screen. It was Tabby.
“What’s up?” I asked her when I answered the phone.
“You need to get back to the room.”
This did not sound good. There was a strange desperation in her voice. “Okay. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Hurry,” she said, then hung up.
I clicked the clock on the car again and ran back inside. I was annoyed that the elevator was so slow, but I didn’t exactly know where the steps were, so elevator it had to be. Once I got up to the room, I could hear Isaac hissing through the door. I used my hotel room key card and opened the door.
I don’t know what I expected to find. Maybe blood, maybe something worse, but that wasn’t what I got.
I stepped inside and looked at the room. “What’s going…” I stopped. There was a huge black cloud in the corner of the room. Lucy was hiding behind Tabby. She was standing near the bathroom. Isaac was on the bed, hissing at the cloud. I wanted to call to Isaac for him to come closer to me, but I also didn’t want to antagonize the black cloud anymore than I had to.
I walked into the room and closed the door behind me. There wasn’t a foul smell like you’d have with a demon, just this freaky looking black cloud. It could be anything. From my limited knowledge, that meant some sort of spirit. That was all I knew. I didn’t even know if it was malevolent. Black didn’t have the same connotation around the world that it did in the West.
“Isaac, get away from there,” I said. Antagonizing be damned. I couldn’t let Tabby’s cat get killed right in front of her.
Isaac turned, looked at me, then darted off the bed in my direction. Before I had a chance to do anything else, he leapt into my arms. I held him. Poor guy was shivering. I had to keep myself from smiling that Isaac went to me when he was in danger.
Still, a black cloud suddenly appearing didn’t bode well. “Who are you, and what do you want?” I asked the cloud.
Slowly, it began changing form, undulating and shifting until finally settling on the shape of a man in an old-style Western suit. I recognized him immediately. It was my ancestor.
“You could use some help, pilgrim,” he said.
I blinked. Saying this was unexpected was an understatement. Still, I’d take help wherever I could get it. “Yeah, I probably could.”
He sat down at the table and looked at Tabby. “I always liked red heads.”
She twitched and blushed a little.
He turned to me. “Tell your pretty lady friend that I don’t bite… much.” Then he smiled.
Tabby stepped away from the bathroom and stood near me. “What are you here for, Mr. Holliday?” she asked.
He stroked his mustache a minute. “Guess you could say that I have better things to do with my time than let my relative get screwed.”
I walked forward, put Isaac down, and sat down on the bed opposite of Doc. “You knew his great-grandfather, didn’t you?”
Doc started to laugh, then stopped. “That would be one way to put it. He promised me immortality in exchange for gold. Preyed on a man in a weakened condition.”
I knew Doc had died of tuberculosis. Basically he had drowned to death because of the fluid in his lungs. Not a pretty way to go. For someone to capitalize on that was pretty despicable. Plus, this was further proof that a Vespa was not a person to be trusted.
“So, you’re what, a ghost?” Tabby asked.
“If that’s what you want to call it. I could have done this myself. It still burns me up that I wasted all that gold.” He adjusted himself so that he had one leg crossed and his ankle resting on the knee of his other leg.
“How come you’re here? You didn’t die in Tombstone,” I said. It was a good point. There was nothing holding him here, as far as I could see.
He smiled. “I go anywhere I like. Sometimes I pay the swindler’s family a visit.”
Ah ha, now that made sense. See, people made it so hard to get simple honest answers.
“So, you’re here now because of the young Vespa?” Tabby asked. She was coming forward, a little at a time.
“Nah. I’m here because your boyfriend asked for help.”
That caught me off guard. I’d sent off a message, not verbally asked someone for help. Tabby looked at me.
“I sent an email to the organization last night, but I didn’t expect this,” I said. “Not that I’m not grateful,” I said to Doc.
Isaac hissed at him. I had to keep myself from laughing. Though, I probably should’ve been worried that Isaac didn’t like him. Of course, appearing first as a big black cloud didn’t help matters.
“Damn things never did like me. Wyatt always said it was my sunny disposition.”
I chuckled. Then, I looked over to the bathroom. Lucy was still standing there. She seemed almost frozen in place.
“She isn’t right, ya know,” Doc said.
“What do you mean?” I looked at him. He seemed kind of sad.
“She ain’t all there. She’s not like me.”
I nodded. I should have figured he would figure her out in some way. “She’s unique all right.”
Lucy came forward. She was looking at Doc like he’d just insulted her in the worst way possible. “Ever been possessed by a demon, Mr. Holliday?” she asked him.
He paused for a second. I think that was something he never expected to come out of a little girl’s mouth. “No, little lady. Can’t say I have.”
“It changes things,” Lucy replied. Then, she sat down next to me on the bed.
“Come to think of it, you ain’t right either,” Doc said to me.
I laughed. He was pretty damn astute. “I don’t think exorcists are supposed to be normal.”
“Jimmy, you weren’t normal before all of this,” Tabby said.
“So, you’re going to stick around for awhile?” I asked Doc. If he was, he needed to get along with Lucy. And, well, Isaac would tell me if Doc was really bad, I think. At least I hoped so.
“As long as you’ll have me.”
###
Tabby turned on the TV for Lucy. Lucy started explaining modern things to Doc. It was kind of interesting watching her accept him. He must be okay on some level for her to do that. I tuned them out after awhile.
Was I happy for the help? Yes. But I didn’t know if I could trust him. Lucy accepting him said a lot, but I still didn’t know him. You don’t trust the things you don’t know. Vespa being involved didn’t help matters. Tabby’s earlier warning about how ruthless even the heroes of the Old West were ran through my mind. This wasn’t Casper the Friendly Ghost. This was the ghost of a man who was a killer. For now, he seemed to like us, but what would happen if we pissed him off?
###
I finally got around to turning on the iPad. Might as well see if I got an official reply. Doc showing up was either as a result of them, or one hell of an odd coincidence that could only be explained if Doc had been hanging around invisible. Maybe he had, but I still didn’t have a true answer. I mean, not that I was suspect or anything, but it wasn’t like I had a whole lot I could trust in. There was Tabby and myself, basically. I wasn’t even totally sure I could trust Lucy, at least not with Isaac, but I was starting to relax on that.
Still, having another spirit around her seemed to be doing some good. Doc was behaving like a very weird grandpa. She seemed to be happier, wearing a smile a little more often. At least she wasn’t disappearing or anythin
g, but I was still uneasy.
After the iPad booted up, I clicked on my email icon. I had mail. Too bad it was spam. Guess I was in for a long wait. That or they wanted to see how much I could handle myself. I was slightly annoyed at that thought. I mean, my test, my real test, was Lucy, wasn’t it? She was still here. Kind of. If they wanted to see if I could mark someone again, they should have just had me tag along with another exorcist.
What did they hope I’d accomplish with this one? It almost felt like a red herring. There was still something wrong about the entire trip. The little things that kept getting added were almost like distractions to the issues at hand. Fuck.
I shut down the iPad and tossed it aside on the bed.
“Are you okay?” Tabby asked.
“Peachy.”
###
Doc disappeared before lunch. I was getting testy, of course. Part of that might have been related to the fact that I hadn’t had my morning caffeine—that and I was used to eating breakfast. I hadn’t had my daily bacon fix. Believe me, bacon makes a difference.
“Where did Doc go?” Tabby asked Lucy.
Lucy turned her head away from the TV. “He said he was going to keep an eye on Mr. Vespa.”
That, I could live with. If he turned out to be trustworthy, it might not hurt to have a spy. And, well, maybe the old bird figured we needed some time to get used to him hanging around. He wasn’t wrong.
“Want to get out of here for awhile?” Tabby asked.
I looked up. “And do what?”
“I don’t know. Get out of this room, get something to eat.”
I was starving. “Food sounds great. How about you, Lucy? Want to get out of here for awhile?”
Lucy raised her hand toward the TV. It shut off. I clicked my tongue against my teeth.
Okay, that was new. She was getting stronger. I took that as a yes, never mind how weird it all sounded. Never mind the argument could be made that I was losing my mind. But Tabby was probably right that I’d lost it a long time ago. I was just now noticing.
“Maybe I can find somewhere to buy a sage bundle,” Tabby said.
“For what?” I had a total blank. What did she need that for?
Tabby glared at me “To ward the room?”
“Oh, yeah right.” Now I really felt like a doofus. I’d made such a huge stink about it yesterday, and here I fucked up again. Hopefully, Tabby was just going to take my faults for what they were. I wasn’t exactly doing a very good job at changing.
After that, I kept my mouth shut. My job was to take Tabby places, be her pack horse, and make sure she got something to eat. Nothing else. The last thing I wanted to do was to stick my foot in it again. It didn’t last long though. We had just sat down at a booth in the diner. Lucy had come as well; she was sitting beside me, nearest to the wall. It was better that I could see her and protect her than to leave her in an unprotected room.
“Why are you so quiet?” Tabby asked after the waitress brought out drinks.
“Because I’m starting to realize which one of us is the brains in this outfit.” At one time, I’d thought I was smart. Heh.
Lucy laughed.
Tabby raised an eyebrow.
“No really,” I paused and took a drink of my coffee. “I’m okay at learning stuff from a book, but apparently I don’t have common sense for shit.” It was true. I really wondered now how I had managed not to totally screw everything up at Sorrow’s Point before Tabby got there. Then, I remembered. I had been following the Roman Ritual. No wonder that part had worked out okay. I had a guidebook. Here I was flying solo, well sort of.
Tabby rolled her eyes. “No, you’re feeling sorry for yourself. Stop it.”
I lowered my head. I was starting to feel kind of sheepish. “Yes, ma’am.”
“How do you do that thing?” Lucy asked. She was now looking at Tabby instead of the TV. In fact, the picture on the TV seemed a little fuzzy. It was across from us on the wall, silent. The news channel it was on was showing some sort of unrest in the Middle East. Perfectly normal, except for the fuzziness that is.
“What thing?” Tabby and I asked in unison.
She looked at Tabby. “What you’re going to do to the room.”
Tabby paused, then looked at me for help. I shrugged. I didn’t understand it much myself.
“Um. Okay,” Tabby said. “Let’s see. You’ve been to church, right?”
Lucy nodded.
“Well, you know how the minister prays for people?”
“Uh huh,” Lucy said and nodded her head.
I was so glad Tabby was the one explaining this. I couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like when Lucy was a teenager. I just hoped she’d be back with her parents before I had to worry about the “sex talk.”
“Well, what I’ll be doing is kind of the same,” Tabby said. “I’ll be praying for our room to be blessed so it will be a safe place for us.”
“And so Mr. Vespa can’t come in again?” Lucy eyes had turned a little watery.
“Yup.”
“What about Doc?” Lucy asked.
Shit. That was a good question. Doc was supposed to be helpful to us, but could Tabby direct her wards to let him in? Or could they be like they were at Sorrow’s Point? In a way, if they were set to flat-out keep away things that meant us harm, that would be proof if Doc really was on our side.
“What type of ward are you going to do?” I asked.
Tabby waited when the waitress stopped by our table. We both ordered lots of bacon on our hamburgers. Bacon was becoming a staple with us, like milk and eggs.
After the waitress left, Tabby tapped her fingers against the table. I could tell that a lot of this was making her nervous, more fidgety than usual. “I’m not sure.”
“Can you do something like you did in the library at Blackmoor?” I figured I might as well make a suggestion. She needed some of the brunt taken off her shoulders.
“Maybe. I don’t know. Hotel rooms are different than being in someone’s permanent residence. I don’t know if it falls under the same rules.”
I never knew all of this could get so complicated. “Well, how will you know?” I asked.
“I guess when I find out if it works.”
I didn’t like it, but it wasn’t like I could blame Tabby for it either. We both were stumbling around in the dark with a lot of this. “Well, at least we’ll know one thing if it does.”
“What’s that?” Tabby asked.
“We’ll know if Doc is really on our side.” I kind of hoped he was. I mean, Lucy had perked up so much with him being here, that I’d hate to lose that. It was almost like Lucy was relieved to find someone sort of like her.
“That would be a good thing to know,” Tabby said.
I took a drink of soda. “Yeah.”
###
After we finished eating, and the waitress showed up with the bill, I had a bright idea.
“Hey,” I asked our waitress. Unlike the one at the Tex Mex restaurant, she looked happy in her job. She wore jeans and a T-shirt with the café’s name on it.
“Yes, sir?” she asked me.
“Anywhere around here that sells fresh herbs and spices? We were thinking of bringing a bit of Arizona back home.” I figured, why not ask the locals? That way, we wouldn’t be stumbling around for hours trying to find something Tabby could use.
The lady smiled. “Tombstone isn’t really the place for that. Mostly just tourist stuff here. But if I were you, I’d ask at the general store. Monti might know of a place somewhere nearby.”
“Thanks,” I said. It wasn’t what we were looking for, but maybe we’d get something out of it. I could hope anyway.
“Don’t ya find it weird that a guy manning a general store in Tombstone has a name like Monti?” Tabby asked.
I laughed. “It’s better than Slim.”
“Not much.”
###
Not surprisingly, the general store was a bust. Yeah, it had that great Western loo
k about it—flour sacks stacked in the corner, jars of penny candy, that sort of thing, but nothing really that we were looking for. Still though, Tabby bought a cheap container of ground sage. It would have to do. I didn’t think that the sage being ground up would make too much of a difference. Now, how she was going to burn it, well, I left it up to her. She was the witchy expert after all.
After getting the sage, we headed back to the hotel. Our room was just as we left it. I suppose it was going to take awhile before we would stop looking for Vespa—at least until this whole business was over, that is. Isaac seemed to take it all in stride. He popped open one eye when we came in, and as soon as he saw it was just us, he went back to sleep.
But, Doc’s help or not, I still didn’t know if there was anything different about an exorcism where someone had voluntarily let the demon in. The only ones who knew, to my knowledge, hadn’t returned my email. If Vespa died during this exorcism, it wasn’t my fault. But if something went wrong, and he did die and I had to mark him, I did not want his sneaky ass around me and Lucy for who knew how long. Shame I couldn’t mark him and just leave him someplace, but I knew in my soul it didn’t work like that. It was one of those all or nothing types of things. No wonder I never knew how to operate on a happy medium.
Maybe that was an evil thought, and maybe it wasn’t. But I’ll be honest and say that there is part of me that wondered, if it came down to it, if I would actually mark Vespa. The Church would have accused me of having evil thoughts. The Order, I didn’t know. It wasn’t like I’d had much dealing with them, yet. I could only hope that they weren’t as hard to deal with as the Church, or God forbid, worse.
###
Tabby dug around in her suitcase until she pulled out this ceramic thing and a bag with small pieces of charcoal in it. Who carried charcoal with them on a trip? But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy she did. Still, my girlfriend was weird.
“You should have been a boy scout,” I told her.
She laughed and put a piece of charcoal into the ceramic thing. Then, using a cigarette lighter, she lit the charcoal. After she got the charcoal burning decently, she sprinkled the ground sage on top.
It stunk. Not a pleasing stink either. Hopefully the smell would dissipate before we got charged a clean-up fee by the hotel. I could just see my superiors wondering what the bad smell in my room was related to and then me having to explain to them that no, we weren’t doing drugs. That had the makings of a fun conversation.
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