“We’ll do what we can, Ms. Ansel,” Janis added with a stern look as she moved up in front of the secretary, “but we could get killed in there if we don’t hit those things hard.”
Ansel nodded. “I know, Jan. It’s our fault. Lor and I acted like a couple of drunken loons playing with that damn book! Now, look what we’ve done. I don’t want anything to happen to any of you kids. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“Are you ready, Ms. Ansel?” Denny asked. “Demon will be right next to you at the door. The moment Stan, Jerry, and Gail let us know they’ve unlocked your back entrance and are ready to move in, we’ll have you hold open your screen, unlock your front door and then stand aside. Demon will rush in with Mike right behind him. Janis and Connie will be their backup. We don’t cross the streams, just like in the ‘Ghostbusters’. Stan, Jerry, and Gail take out any Haunts backing away from our play at the front. Above all else, we don’t hit D in this close quarter combat.”
Ansel’s lips trembled as she looked toward her house, but she started walking up the front sidewalk. Demon jogged up next to her, bumping into her leg gently to let her know he was there. Stan and Jerry, their shotguns held inconspicuously, headed through Ansel’s gate to the back entrance with Gail close behind. Mike trekked after Ansel and Demon, left hand on his iron pike handle, with Janis and Connie following closely to each side. Denny smiled reassuringly at Steve Corbett, getting a nod that Gail’s Dad was ready to go with the heavier camera gear. Denny’s job was to oversee the action with Laura and Joanie’s input from Demon Inc Command. He was also to make sure nothing happened to Steve Corbett.
Demon pulled up immediately when they reached the porch. “Frack!”
Mike ran up next to him, having received the one word blast and grabbed hold of Ansel’s arm. “Hold it. Something’s wrong. Where’d you learn Frack at D?”
“Battlestar Gallactica reruns, Homer. We got trouble, Pal. They’ve opened a rift inside Mary Magic’s house. The Haunts have been slipping through a few an hour, because they’re having trouble crossing over. There’s probably a dozen in there now. We can’t just blast the rift with holy water until we keep them away. You up to goin’ in and clearing out the other side while your crew takes out the Haunts in Spellbinder’s living room?”
Mike’s mind raced with the consequences of a plan like Demon outlined. “I don’t know, D. I promised Mommy and Daddy I wouldn’t cross over again.”
Demon snorted in amusement. “We’ll have to charge the rift after Mary Magic opens the outer doors, killin’ as we go. Here’s the problem. If your friends blast the rift by accident, we’ll be stuck on the other side.”
“If we pull this off, I think I’m going to need three beers and a couple shooters.”
“I’m with you on that, partner,” Demon replied. “Best lay it on Denny now, and let him mull over the finer parts of our suicide mission. I can tell the rift is very near the front door, probably in the living room. That makes our entrance a hazardous proposition.”
Mike turned to Denny and went over in detail what had happened. He gave him Demon’s outline of what they would need to do in order to clear the portal to be sealed, including the dangers of a stray shot sealing the gateway with Mike and Demon inside. Denny to his credit, kept his mouth shut through it all, and Mike could see his eyes widen at the consequences of sealing the gate accidentally.
Everyone heard the protests launched from Demon Inc in their earpieces with both Laura and Joanie talking over each other, criticizing the initial plan.
“Enough!” Denny shut off the input. “Laura and Joanie, you’re out for the mission other than sparsely worded warnings when you absolutely spot something dangerous in the camera feeds. Is that clear?”
“Yes… fine… we’ll do our jobs,” Laura relented.
“I’m tellin’,” Joanie added. “For now I follow orders.”
“Stan, Jerry, Gail? You have a free fire zone. Come in blasting. Anything you see, you have a go. Once you’ve cleared to our area, hold on the perimeter of the living room, ready to fire. Janis and Connie – you’ll have to hold fire until we find out where the portal was opened. Remember, any stray shot after Mike and Demon go through the portal will seal them in. Once we know where the portal is, we secure the area in front of it, so we aim away from the rift. I’m going with you so there’s no miscommunication. Mr. Corbett stays by the front door this time.”
“We take care of business. We only worry about each other, not the film shots, the collateral damage, or the negative fallout after it’s over. Except for self-defense which will be anything and everything you have to do, I direct the shots. We need to secure the area in front of the rift. That’s number one. Any questions?”
“Let’s do this,” Stan said, getting nods of agreement from Jerry and Gail. “We’ll make our way to the front of the rift as fast as we can. I’m hoping a lot of the Haunts will head right for us as you bunch attack the front.”
“Boy, this is going to be one scary entrance,” Connie said. “How the hell do we protect Mike and Demon when we don’t know exactly where the rift is?”
“Tell Blondie we’ll handle all initial entry problems,” Demon put in. “We’re on our own, Mike. We have to secure and dive through the portal.”
“Will my holy water weapon seal us in on the other side, D?” Mike asked.
“Nope. Not unless you’re stupid enough to fire it at the portal from the other side,” Demon replied in his head. “In fact… it’s going to be fun when you let loose over there with Denny’s Haunt weapon. I’m really pumped to see that.”
Mike smiled as he exchanged glances with Demon. “We’re ready, Den.”
Denny moved in front of Ansel, gripping her shoulders tightly. “Open the doors only and then run for the front yard. You can’t help us at all. Lock the screen door open and then unlock and open your entrance door, pushing it fully in. Then run for it. Do you understand?”
“I… I do. Don’t worry… I’ll be out of your way in a split second. Good God! Why the hell do you kids have to do this?”
“Because magic morons like you play around with spell books, you Ditz,” Demon shot into Mike’s head, causing him to stumble away with his hand over his mouth and shoulders rocking.
Ansel sighed. “The dog just barfed on me, didn’t he?”
“Gee,” Demon projected to Mike, “she’s not as dumb as she looks. C’mon, Mike, just tell her something politically correct and let’s get this done!”
“I…I…” Mike howled in laughter for a moment before calming down. “Yes, Ms. Ansel, Demon was not very nice in his perception of your question. We’re good to go.”
Denny nodded, liking the looseness Mike’s laughter engendered in their ranks. “Put your game faces on. Go ahead, Ms. Ansel. Your physical touch on the door is vital for the initial opening. Stan, are you, Jerry, and Gail ready on your end?”
Stan and Jerry tightened their holds on the shotguns already in their hands, while Gail moved up behind them with her Haunt killer in hand. “We’re ready, Den. The door’s unlocked. I won’t touch the handle until Mike and D are in. We will seal the rear. Drive them to us if you can.”
“Will do, Stan. Guard the portal.”
“We got that. No way we’re sealing D and Mike into hell!”
“That’s what I wanted to hear, brother. Once we see where the portal is, I’ll shout it out to you. Kill anything in front of you. Spray at will.”
“Got it, Den. See you on the other side Dr. Venkman.” Stan repeated the ‘Ghostbusters’ line with a grin at his two companions.
“You better believe it.” Denny signaled Ansel to open up her house.
Ansel opened and propped the screen door wide with trembling hands. She then unlocked the front entrance door. With one glance back at Demon and Mike waiting at the left side of her door, she froze. Her teeth chattered and a shudder went through her body as if she’d been subjected to below zero temps.
“Take her
hand, Romeo,” Demon ordered. “We’re losing her!”
Mike gripped Ansel’s bare wrist, meeting her terrified gasp and horrified stare, with calm persuasion. “Open the door, baby and run into the front yard. Wait for me there.”
Ansel’s eyes cleared and she smiled at Mike in a way that provoked a short giggle from Janis and Connie, who had been winding their hands over the Haunt weapons in their grasp with anxious anticipation.
“Go on, babe,” Mike urged.
Ansel turned the knob on her front door, pushed it open, and ran for the front yard as ordered. Kincaid met her and guided Ansel over to the sidewalk as all hell broke loose.
Demon plowed into the Haunts milling around in the living room as if he were a lawn mower and they were tall grass. The transformation from amiable dog to ferocious jaw snapping horror still startled Mike who followed with Haunt weapon in one hand and iron pike in the other, resisting the temptation to lash out with abandon. Demon’s image blurred in front of him killing, maiming, and driving the Haunts out of their pathway. Mike finished off two, his pike driven through their heads as he passed in Demon’s wake. He scanned for the rift, finding it over Ansel’s fireplace against the far wall with Demon angling directly at it, where five Haunts were in various degrees of entering into the human world.
Demon tore and slashed straight at the portal. Mike’s iron pike moved in nonstop motion, arching down on a head or up through a jaw. When they reached the portal, Demon ripped into the semi-formed Haunts at the gateway with Mike turning at his back to face outwards. He shot laser enhanced holy water shots into the Haunts on both sides.
“We’re in front of the portal! C’mon in and kill at will!” Mike shouted. “Aim for the sides of the room, short blasts, hit your targets! The portal’s over the fireplace!”
With a yell, Janis raced through the entrance, spotting Demon eviscerating Haunts stuck in the portal opening with Mike shooting outwards in both side directions. Janis reached Mike and slid under his weapon to the right side. Connie and Denny raced after her, caught off guard by Janis’s rushing attack. She was already firing bursts at Mike’s right while he fired left when they reached the portal. A moment later, Stan, Jerry, and Gail obliterated the Haunts at the group’s left.
Denny saw Demon clear the portal and go through as the rest of Demon Inc arrived gasping for breath. “Go Mike! We’ve got this!”
Mike nodded and followed Demon through the gateway into hell. With the entire team between the portal and the Haunts, they found out the number they faced exceeded their imaginings. Ghastly creatures poured out of the bedrooms and even the closets to hover flitting in front of Demon Inc, lancing toward them, fangs and claws jutting out in feints to get by. If they could launch back in behind Demon and Mike, two of their major obstacles to infiltrating the human world would be gone.
“I…I’m not shrieking,” Connie announced, “but oh my God, there’s a lot of them!”
Denny’s mind calculated the numbers facing them in comparison to what he thought they might have for ammunition left. “Leave the video camera on the floor, Mr. C, and get out to the equipment van! We’ll need you to bring our cart! For God’s sakes, hurry!”
Chapter Fourteen
Closing Hell’s Doorway
Steve Corbett lowered the video camera with shaking hands, knowing if Denny was sending him, he might never see his daughter or anyone else again. It had all started as a lark to enjoy with his daughter. Demon Inc brought them closer together than he had ever imagined. Every day she spoke to him, channeling her feelings for Mike and Demon Inc’s missions. Their interaction had turned into conversations with his daughter he had only dreamed of. The confidence he had in Mike and Denny went well beyond an adult’s mentoring position with teens. He respected them and the other members of the team as combat vets. They were on the frontlines of the unimaginable. That they had saved kidnapped children, and did away with an actual serial killer like Gary Moseley who had kidnapped the Manjetti boy still knifed into Corbett’s consciousness every day. These kids had accomplished more that mattered than he had in a lifetime. His daughter Gail looked up to him in a way he had never experienced before. He ran for the van, repeating prayers he had not uttered since childhood.
* * *
“Do they know somehow we don’t have enough to kill them all, Denny?” Janis asked in a whisper, watching the mob of intermingling Haunts as she tightened her grip on the Haunt weapon in her hands.
Denny turned to her with a reassuring smile. “If they did, they’d be raking us right now.”
“Anybody else do what we talked about and bring a Mike-pike?” Jerry held up his own rough looking iron pike with black electrical tape wound around its dull side.
“Oh yeah!” Jerry blasted the face off a Haunt that strayed too near before pulling out his own homemade Mike-pike.
In moments, Demon Inc’s crew were all flourishing their own version of a Mike-pike, even Connie. She held up a wooden handled circular file she had sharpened the end on.
“This sheds an all new light on things,” Stan announced, jabbing his Mike-pike at the next straying Haunt. It howled in agony while retreating, it’s chest area smoking. “We ain’t ever running out of ammo… you frackin’ vomit inducin’ Casper freaks!”
Connie fired a blast into another Haunt that was outside the range, pulping it into ectoplasmic soup. “Mr. Corbett will be back. Let’s thin this herd out.”
“Nice! Let’s do it.” Denny pointed at Stan and Jerry. “Take the next one with shotgun blasts, especially if it has a few of its brethren hovering close by. We’ll keep them off balance until Mr. C can help us out.”
Instead of spraying, the team blew away Haunts in concentrated, regular bursts, firing in teams under Denny’s direction. The Haunts retreated away from the crew, streaking back and forth across the living room area, faster than anything but spraying shots would hit. They still individually lanced in toward the crew raking at them with claws extended. Denny watched them intently. Denny impaled the fifth Haunt that tried the tactic up through its jaw.
“Oh hell yeah!” Stan yelled, pumping his fist. “Eat that you stanky smellin’ ecto-pisshead!”
“I’m here!” Steve Corbett called out breathlessly, forgetting he was networked into their earpieces.
Denny glanced around the attack area, gauging the safest attack zone Gail’s Dad could try for. “Open up on them to your left, Mr. C! Anything in that area will be safe to spray. If you get a clear path to angle in left and fire to the right, take it. Don’t let them flank you though.”
* * *
“Got it!” Corbett aimed the Haunt weapon with shaking hands. The sheer numbers of horrific monsters flying helter-skelter in front of him nearly froze his conscious thoughts and motor skills. He shook his head, keeping his Gail’s image in mind, and sprayed to the left. He inadvertently chuckled in appreciation as the pained shrieks from disintegrating Haunts echoed across the enclosed space, eliciting cheers from the pinned down Demon Inc crew.
When Corbett had pulped the Haunts to his left, he angled inside the doorway slightly to his left and aimed right, taking out a score of screaming apparitions, forcing the rest to pass through the ceiling to escape his shots. With two spare Haunt packs shouldered along with a case of special shotgun loads, Corbett ran through the few Haunts still milling around. They attacked him immediately, only to be obliterated by Demon Inc. Corbett dropped off the packs and shotgun loads, hugged Gail, and ran back to the front entrance without a moment to spare. Haunts dropped back down through the ceiling, sensing Corbett’s moving target. Corbett dived through the front door with Haunts raking at his back through the entranceway. He fumbled around at the Demon Inc weapons cart, bringing another Haunt weapon to bear, clearing out the entrance, leaving a stream of noxious smelling residue flowing over onto the front stoop.
Screams from the two teachers hugging each other on the front lawn jolted Corbett into reality. He made shushing noises at them, quieting their stu
nned reaction to the Haunts partial emergence from the front door. Scrambling to get his larger video camera into play, Corbett kept a deadly stream of potshots going with one hand while filming the incredible sequence, his hand steadying with his more familiar tool. Drenched in sweat, Corbett whispered a prayer of thanks.
* * *
Mike landed in a heap on the other side of the portal. Demon had stayed by the opening awaiting his partner, snarling, snapping, and ripping at anything venturing near. That the Haunts held the dog’s touch in deadly fear could not be doubted. Although numbering in the hundreds at the gateway, they did not attack. Mike came up into a crouch, weapons ready.
“Damn, D, I don’t know what superpower you have over these things, but they don’t want any part of you. You’re like Haunt Kryptonite!”
“You will be too. Passing into this dimension does something to us on a molecular level,” Demon answered telepathically. “Once that thing raked you on the other side and the holy water healed you, I knew it would be safe for you on this side. Here’s what I want you to do. Shoot some of these things, spacing your shots and killings in a semicircle around us.”
Without asking why, Mike turned to his left, shooting a Haunt dead in its face. Where it had been, only a mild black residue remained of its essence. Haunts near where the dead one disintegrated, backed away. Mike smiled. He picked off Haunts as Demon had requested, the laser enhanced shots crackling into the darkness, dispelling some of the gloom, while playing havoc amongst the Haunt ranks. When Mike had completed the task, a nearly perfect semicircle of Haunt death essence was formed in front of them. No Haunt strayed within the space.
“Not bad, Dempsey.” Demon looked over the results approvingly. “Now, spray a stream over what you’ve done, closing up the bare spots.”
Mike did as he was told. An ethereal vapor with rainbow like colors rose up in a wispy mist from the ground within the darkness of despair.
Demon Inc (The Mike Rawlins Series Book 2) Page 18