Tabby wandered around the room and the bathroom, chanting and drawing symbols in the air. Like the last time I’d seen her do this, the symbols glowed green. At this point, I chalked it up to me being weird. In a way, it was kind of cool that I could see Tabby’s magic. But part of me missed being normal. It had been easier. Though Tabby would probably say that I never was normal, but whatever.
Lucy watched as intently as I did. Isaac, well, Isaac farted. It was probably the worst smell I’ve ever smelled coming out the hind end of an animal. My eyes watered and burned. “Guess that’s his contribution to your warding,” I told Tabby.
“Funny,” she said and rolled her eyes.
Tabby finished the circuit in the bathroom again. She let the charcoal burn out then flushed it down the toilet.
“When will we know it worked?” I asked.
“Same as Blackmoor. When something tries to get in we don’t want in.”
I wished she had this amazing ability to have a warning beacon like Batman to help me know when the bad stuff was going to happen. But she didn’t. “Or has plans to harm us.”
“Yeah. That too.”
“I’m scared,” Lucy said. Maybe Lucy was my beacon. In fact, the last two times she’d said she was scared, something happened. It was something to think about.
The last time Lucy said she was scared, we embarked on this wild goose chase. Her senses were more finely tuned than mine, and honestly, when she got scared, my asshole got tight. Why? Because I didn’t remember one time while Lucy was possessed that her spirit said that she was scared to me. All she’d done was ask for help. Not a good sign.
Out of a whim, I picked up the iPad and turned it on. Minus Vespa, the email was the only thing I was waiting to implode. I loaded the email. There was something labeled urgent. Just as I opened the email, Doc popped in.
“Trouble’s coming,” he said.
I heard something that sounded like the ceiling cracking. “Ah, hell.”
This was on so many levels of not cool, I couldn’t even count them.
“Here we go again,” Tabby said.
CHAPTER SEVEN
FADE TO BLACK
Wind flipped through the room with a roar, then, just as suddenly as it started, everything stopped. The pictures on the wall were still swaying back and forth—that’s how strong the wind had been. I heard a knock at the door.
Of course, it would all be left up to me. Tabby was staring at me. Lucy and Doc were alternating between looking at each other and looking at the door. I got up and walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. I stopped myself from punching the wall. It was Vespa. And his eyes had the demonic snakelike pupil thing going on again. I put on the door chain and opened the door.
"What do you need, Nicholas?" I asked. If he asked for my first born son, I was going to take him out.
"To talk."
Of course, that’s what he said now, but as soon as I took off the chain, all hell could break loose. Tabby’s ward worked enough that it kept Vespa out, so far. The wind had made it through. Not sure if I should be worried about that or not. I didn't know if I should invite him in or if I should tell him we would meet him somewhere. It wasn't like he was all alone. He had his demony friend with him.
I looked at Tabby. "What should we do?"
"Tell him that we'll meet him over at the diner in twenty minutes," she whispered.
I nodded. Public places worked for me. I turned back to my visitor. "Nicholas, go to the diner near the general store. We'll meet you there in twenty minutes."
"This best not be a ruse," he said. His mouth was twitching at the corners. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to control a smirk or what.
Oh, yeah. The demon was still speaking. The question was, did Vespa know everything the demon did when the demon was in power? I had to pay attention to see if that was the case. Just asking him wouldn’t work. He’d already shown himself capable of lies. "We'll be there."
He turned on a dime and walked down the hall toward the elevator.
I could almost feel the mood of the room lighten as he left. I closed the door and relocked the door. I left the chain on as extra protection. It might not keep someone from breaking in the door, but the extra noise would at least get my attention.
"Well, at least we know the ward worked," I said.
They were all staring at me —Lucy, Doc, and Tabby. It was weird. They were acting like a giant bug was about to crawl down onto my head. I looked up. Nope, no bug. "What?"
"What are we going to do now?" Tabby asked. Isaac mrowred in agreement.
Seriously? Since when did I become the leader? I’m just the guy who can sort of save souls. I don’t know anything about wards and magic. That stuff was Tabby’s expertise. And her treating me like the guy who knew what he was doing, that was bad news. "We go see what he wants. I doubt this demon will do much in a public place. After all, he's not like the one that had Lucy."
Tabby nodded her head in agreement.
It was true I guess. I didn’t like making blanket statements, but so far, Vespa hadn’t pulled out monsters to throw me across the room or anything. Plus, this demon couldn't control Nicholas at all times. The kid could be himself. Lucy's demon, Asmodeus, was a big, nasty bastard. This one had to be further down the food chain.
"So, the next step is the exorcism," Tabby said.
I looked at her. She was right. There was no doubt that Vespa was possessed, and we weren't waiting around for approval from the Church. But there were a few problems. One: I still didn't know if there were special rules regarding doing an exorcism on a willing possessee. Two: We couldn't do an exorcism in a hotel room. Three: Where would we get the stuff I needed? Yeah, I could probably look like an idiot and jump in with a super soaker filled with holy water, but I wasn’t about to pull a Lost Boys “Death by Stereo” move either. I needed to do what I knew I was capable of.
Last time, Tabby had Tor's help with herbs and such, and yeah, all we really needed was holy water, but I didn't even know if we could get roses this time of year in Tombstone. The rum was the easy part. I was starting to think about how good my bed at home felt and how I wasn’t really needed here. But no, I couldn’t give up. If I did, I would be without a paycheck again, and, with my bank account dwindling, I couldn’t take that risk.
"Well, looks like after we meet Vespa, we'd better go shopping," I said.
Doc started to laugh. "You all act like you're coming back here."
I looked at Tabby. She looked back at me. Did Doc know something he wasn’t telling us, or was he messing with me?
"What do you mean?" I asked Doc.
"Somehow, I don't think this thing is going to be as easy as you think it is." He leaned forward a little, almost as if he were emphasizing the point. I didn’t need that. I knew what was at stake, at the very least Lucy’s soul, but possibly all of us.
I closed my eyes for a minute to steady myself. "It's never easy. We just plan as best we can."
Doc stared at me for a minute, nodded then disappeared.
"Stay here, Lucy. I don't want to risk losing you," I said to her. Here she had wards to protect her. Out there, she had my sheer dumb luck. Wards were better.
She looked up at me. "Be careful."
I could only do my best. I just hoped it was good enough.
###
We got to the diner with a minute to spare. Last thing I needed was for Vespa to be more pissed off than he already was. If Tabby didn't have time to make her holy water, I could always do my old priesty blessing. I knew I’d feel weird doing them, but if I had no choice… Besides, I was marked by God for this after all. Somehow, I didn't think he'd mind me using his blessing.
Nothing about the diner looked weird when we entered. There were no dimmed lights, no creepy feelings on the back of the neck. I was thankful. Vespa was sitting at a table near the back. I couldn’t tell if he was still pissed or not. Tabby and I steeled ourselves and headed for him.
"Nic
holas," I said. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses, a dark turtleneck, and a black sport coat. How he wasn’t dying in the heat, I had no idea.
"Please sit," he said.
I guessed he was hiding his eyes for the locals. But I’m sure that people would assume he was wearing freaky contacts for a joke. Goth kids did that stuff all the time. Kind of funny, in a way. But I'd seen this a few times in a few crappy eighties horror comedies like My Best Friend is a Vampire. The sunglasses thing actually called more attention to you. It didn’t even work in the movies, so why did he think it would work in real life? I was starting to think that Vespa was more naive than he put on.
Tabby and I sat down at the table across from Nick.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked. I figured I might as well get it over with. I didn’t exactly want to share a meal with him if he was going to come up with some insane idea about trading one of us in exchange for his soul or some nonsense.
"I don't appreciate you sending spies to watch me," he said.
At least he’d said it calmly, I could deal with that. I leaned back in the chair. "First, you asked for my help. It's not my fault that you never checked into how I handle things. Two, if you think I have the ability to control our mutual friend, you are sadly mistaken."
The corners of Tabby's mouth were jerking. At least I hadn't lost my charm.
"Still, I do not like being spied on," he said. I’m not sure what he expected me to do. It had been Doc’s idea after all. I just hoped I hadn’t led us into another shit storm.
I shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it. Now, if you no longer want my help, we can go home and go our separate ways."
Might as well be truthful about it. I hadn't wanted to take his case to begin with. If I could get out of the whole thing because he wasn’t happy with the way I worked, then so be it.
He took off his glasses. "I can't lose your help. My eyes won't go back now." He leaned forward, I guess so I could see his peepers more clearly.
They weren’t that bad. He had darker green eyes anyway. No one would notice unless they were as close to him as I was. "So, if you want me to help, you'll just have to deal."
"Well, he's not happy about it."
I did want to ask who he was talking about, but that was a little too exorcismy for my liking. I had to tread very carefully until I really was going to do the ritual. If I didn’t, the exorcism would fail for sure, and I’d be in deep doo doo. I shrugged. "He's going to be a lot worse once we begin getting him out of here."
Tabby tapped her fingers against the table. This tapping thing was becoming a habit. I hadn’t seen her do it before this trip. Either she just established a new twitch, or my job was too stressful for her. Guess I’d have to wait and see which it was.
"When are we going to begin?" Vespa asked.
"I still need to do research," I said. I wasn’t lying. I did not want to start an exorcism if there was some odd provision in the contract he’d agreed to. I wasn’t going to accidentally forfeit anyone’s soul—even someone as stupid as Vespa.
It was intense. There as a hell of a lot on the line if this didn’t work, and I wasn't about to begin before I heard from the Order. Screw winging it. I didn’t have to go on my own this time, and I wasn’t about to mess that up either.
"Where will we do it?" Tabby asked.
I looked at Vespa. It was his call, and he was the one who knew the area. Our hotel room wasn’t going to cut it. For one, it wasn’t soundproof. That, in and of itself, was important with the noises that demons tended to make.
"My house," he said. "I have my own place."
That was good. I would want to check out his house for hidden issues, but it was a place to work. "All right, then. I'll be in touch once I'm done with research."
"And it will be over," he said.
Sorry, buddy, it wasn’t that easy. Hell, I wish it was.
Tabby was the one who spoke up next. "You should know that it might take a while."
Vespa smiled. It was unsettling with those snake eyes now that I was really looking at them. "What, a few hours?"
I laughed. I had a feeling he’d been watching a few choice horror films. "Apparently, you've never actually read about exorcism."
"No, I haven't," he said.
That figured. Why was I not surprised? "It has been documented that some exorcisms have taken years," I said.
He froze. "I could be like this for that long?"
Yes, doofus. You should have thought of that before making a deal with the demon. "Maybe longer. That's why people don't make pacts with demons."
Yeah, I knew I sounded like an ass, but I didn't care. He had to hear the truth sometime. I wasn’t about to hold his hand and tell him it was going to be okay.
"But you'll try to get it out?" he asked.
What did he think I was here for? A vacation? I stopped myself from rolling my eyes. "Yep, I'll do what I can. I can't promise a good outcome though.
Vespa sighed. "Okay. Let me know when you know more."
"Will do," I said. That was where I had to leave it. I couldn’t comment for sure on anything until I knew what I was dealing with.
He got up and left. The waitress approached the table and asked what we'd like. I waved her off. She glared at me, but she didn’t say anything. I watched her walk away.
“Do something,” Tabby said.
I looked at her for a minute, trying to see what she was getting at.
She pointed at the table.
Oh. Yeah. I dug out my wallet and put a couple of bucks on the table. We’d wasted her time. Not cool. It wasn’t her fault we didn't need anything there. Not then.
Tabby and I walked out of the restaurant. What I needed was an email. It was time to go back to the hotel.
###
I was relieved we didn't have to try to exorcise a demon in the middle of a diner. One, trying to keep people safe would be a nightmare. Two, we likely would be arrested. That would be a first, for me anyway, not for an exorcist. Sadly, there had been a few cases where exorcists have been party to the deaths of their charges. I hoped I would never ever be in that type of situation. It had been close enough with Lucy.
Lucy seemed happy when we walked in—no worse for wear. She was humming, just slightly.
"So, the beast didn't kill ya?" Doc asked.
"Not yet, anyway." I wandered over to the bed, picked up the iPad, and turned it on. There had been something before Vespa threw his hissy fit. I just hoped it was the response I’d been waiting for. It would be better to get an answer sooner rather than later so I could get all of this over with.
After it finished loading, I clicked on my email. Thank God the letter was still there. It would have been my luck if the damn thing had just disappeared, but it hadn’t. I forced myself not to let anything on to the others and clicked on the email. I needed it to be good news. I looked down at the screen.
Mr. Holliday,
Your request for help has been noted. We consider this a simple case, so unless there is a huge mistake, your request for help has been denied.
Fr. Johnson
"Fuck me." I couldn’t stop it from coming out of my mouth. It felt like I’d just been punched in the gut. Did they even care what happened?
"What?" Tabby asked and walked over to me.
I turned the iPad so she could see. "I don't care that they don't want to help, but they should have answered my question. Dammit."
"Shit, Jimmy. So, what now?"
That was the question, wasn’t it? Here I was, back to stumbling around in the dark. I guess the advantage of being part of the Order was the credit card and the paycheck. Woe be it that I actually need some help. "I have to find a new age store, something that might be able to give me some pointers. I really don't want to end up with Vespa bugging Lucy all the time."
Doc nodded. "He isn't a good one."
That was an understatement.
"Give me that thing,” Tabby said, “and I'll see what I can
find. Why don't you go for a shower, release some tension."
It was as good an idea as any. No way did I want to leave the room again so soon. Who knew what the thing inside Vespa had in mind? I already recognized that it wasn't going to go easily, and if it had the chance, it would kill me to keep its body. Not hard to figure that out.
I climbed into the shower and got the water steaming. It did help to release the tension in my muscles. Other than that, it didn't do anything. My problems were still there, staring me in the face. I needed an expert.
Too bad witch schools didn't exist like the ones in books, or I'd just go and track down the dark magic teacher, but no such luck. I was hoping I wouldn't have to contact a Satanist. I heard there were perfectly normal people who were Satanists, but my upbringing and my former vocation made that idea hard to stomach. How could someone who worshipped a known evil being be a good person?
Somehow, being a witch was different. Being a witch did not automatically mean evil. All you had to do was watch old movies to know that. Tabby hadn't touched dark magic in her life. Plus, it would be kind of hypocritical for me to not except her weird when mine was so much stranger than hers. I mean, it's not like she regularly spoke to spirits or anything prior to Lucy. That was all me.
And I was pissed at the Order. I could understand them not sending someone to do the job I was meant for, fine. But to ignore my question when I, in their own words, hadn't been trained yet? Bullshit. I should have listened to Tabby more before I signed up for this, but if I hadn't signed with the Order, we’d still be at square one. The good old boy in me was pissed that Vespa was so stupid, but I had to help him. Losing Lucy to this demon was not an option. Besides, God never said that dealing with this stuff was going to be fun. And he tended to protect those who couldn't help themselves.
I got out of the shower, toweled off, and got dressed. I needed to do the stuff I could do here. The best thing I could do was stop dwelling on the Order and take care of what I was able to. It was time to get the ingredients for Tabby to make me some holy water. It had worked before. No sense in messing with the system now that I knew that it worked. Plus, apparently I was supposed to fly by the seat of my pants, and that’s what I’d done with Lucy. But this time, I had to do it right, or I'd be saddled with this stupid fuck. I wasn't going to let that happen. Marking be damned.
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