by Cat Adams
Like on a movie set, the last three numbers were silent, demonstrated only by Matty’s lowering fingers. The last was a fist, and all the other priests mirrored him and raised glowing swords. My stomach lurched as the blue barrier in front of us began to flicker and fail. I knew Bruno and Creede were working their tails off to be sure that everything went smoothly. It had broken my heart to see the slash marks across their handsome faces. When this was all over, they’d need health charms to help them heal up.
The lesser demons began to collectively smash into the barrier and finally it gave way. All manner of creatures from the worst nightmares of the worst horror movies ever written flowed toward us in a wave that made me want to run screaming backward. It took every ounce of my willpower to stand still. I saw Matty’s mouth and hands move and suddenly there was blue everywhere once more. It looked like all the other circles went up just fine, because demons were bouncing off and burning up left and right. But nothing approached our circle and in moments I discovered why.
There was a Reserved sign on our table.
The greater demon was walking forward and every thing in his path crawled or skittered aside. He looked at the barriers around us and the holy items and … smiled. His mouth moved and that made me smile in return, because I couldn’t hear a word he said. I raised my shoulders in a shrug and pointed at the headphones before pulling my knives and waiting. Matty prayed and counted beads on his rosary while the demon became frustrated, striking out at a barrier that seemed to be holding just fine.
Then pain erupted in my head and it suddenly occurred to me that I should have had someone do a mental-attacks casting on me. Damn it! I’m not so easily defeated, Celia.
I mouthed the words slowly, so there was no question: “Go … back … to … hell!” It wasn’t time to raise the horn yet, unfortunately. We needed as many demons outside the rift as possible, or so claimed Adriana. She’d returned with a translation of most of the instructions just in time. Unfortunately, there was one passage she hadn’t been able to work out. Okalani had taken her to the library to talk to Anna, who spoke a number of dead languages. I ignored the pain in my brain and looked right past the demon at the pretty stars in the night sky. It actually was pretty. Lots of shooting stars and weirdly colored planets.
You said I needed new material. I think this will do nicely. The words sounded like my own voice on my phone-mail message. I shouldn’t have looked up. One of the priests—I think his name was Father Ignacious—was suspended from the demon’s hand and was thrashing in pain. The demon now looked like … me.
Fuck a duck.
The sheer horror of the vision kept me from closing my eyes. I saw myself, fangs extended and skin glowing. The demonic me grabbed the priest’s hair and pulled his neck to my waiting mouth.
No. Please. Not that.
I did close my eyes, but the demon’s connection with me forced the images straight into my mind. Forced me to feel my teeth penetrate the skin, taste the thick, coppery blood splashing down my throat. The priest’s screams made my skin twitch and my stomach ache. I’ll share, Celia. Come feed. So sweet and warm.
There was a sharp slap on my hand that burned and I opened my eyes to see that Matty had smacked me with the flat of his sword. I’d nearly crossed the circle threshold. Shit. But why had the sword burned where it touched me?
I hoped and prayed that it had because the demon was touching my mind. I refused to watch the priest’s body twitch as the demon finished feeding. Instead, I lowered myself to a squat and picked up the black duffel.
The demon watched with interest as I unzipped the bag. When I pulled out the narrow triton conch, the demon’s face went from mildly amused to very much not amused. I stood and watched as Matty adjusted his headphones to be sure he had a solid fit.
If you put your lips to that, I will make sure you suffer when I kill you.
I raised the horn to my lips and stared into the demon’s yellow eyes with their slits of red down the center. The first note was long and low and I could feel it resonate through my body like a warm wave. Demons began to scream and thrash and throw themselves against the barrier. I blew until my breath gave out, and while the sound made the darkness waver, it wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to seal the rift.
Then I felt the answering tone—a high-pitched clarion call that made the greater demon scream. He looked around for the source of the agonizing sound, but the archbishop had done his magic well. He’d used illusion to hide the circle where he and Beverly stood. So the sound seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. I blew again and so did she. The twin horns made the very air vibrate. Tears of blood were streaming down Matty’s face and I realized that I was crying as well. It was a pretty good bet that if I reached up, my hand would come away red.
The demon began to stalk around us, hitting and kicking and throwing things—searching for the hidden circle. He would eventually find it, but hopefully not in time.
Celia? The voice in my mind was one I recognized, but I couldn’t trust anything I heard. I couldn’t think of any reason why Pili would be inside the circle. But what the voice was saying sounded just like something Pili would say: You must not look at what is to come. There is never a good time to say good-bye, but this is the only way; I swear. There must be a sacrifice, and it must be a siren with demon taint. I am the only other, and she is the only one who can guard my path.
I should have listened, because when I opened my eyes there was a tornado a few paces away. It sparkled and raised sand and threw demons in ever-widening arcs. Vicki?
Inside the area of spinning sand was a single figure, walking slowly toward the waiting demons. I recognized her, too. What the hell?
Sound the horn, Celia. Let nothing break your concentration. A sacrifice is the only way.
Sacrifice? No! Not Vicki! Not Pili! There has to be another way. We’ll find another way. My face felt hot and I couldn’t concentrate. Both of them? What would happen to Gran now? What would happen to me?
Pili’s voice was stern: There is no other way. You must. The tainted must be sacrificed to give life back to life and death back to death. So it was written.
Matty saw me make a break for it and pulled me back before I could cross the barrier. He literally threw himself on top of me and pinned me down by stabbing the sword through my shirt into the ground. Pili took a hit from one of the demons but got up and kept walking. Vicki spun the demon and threw him back into the black gash. “Damn it, Matty! Let me go!”
In a last-ditch effort, the warrior priest pulled away my headphones.
Shrieks and unearthly sounds that no person should hear assaulted my brain. But I could hear Matty’s desperate voice clearly: “If you break that circle, Celia, we’re all dead! Pili, Vicki, you, me, and an innocent child whose soul will become a toy to those things.”
My hands were clawing at the dirt, mere inches from the barrier. I could feel the heat from the blue flame lick at my skin. I looked across to where I knew Beverly’s circle was and it was now visible. The circle was broken. The greater demon was towering over the cowering child while the archbishop held him off with a cross that glowed like a star, inside a makeshift circle made from a Bible and sword crossed. I’d heard of that sort of circle before. It’s not big, but supposedly it’s pretty powerful. But it wouldn’t hold forever.
I picked up the triton conch and fought back the sobs that wracked my body as I watched two people I loved walk to their death. It was hard to catch a deep enough breath to blow the horn, but I managed.
The sound reverberated through the circle and spread out like waves. Beverly looked up from where she was huddled on the ground, her green eyes wide and panicked.
I wanted to stand, to give my friends the dignity they deserved. Matty must have realized what I was doing, because he got off me and helped me to my feet. The young redhead stood as well, her head high—taking strength from me.
The greater demon abandoned her circle to fly toward mine at breakneck
speed. He hit my circle and made the ground shake hard enough to knock Matty and me to the ground. The blue fire flickered and nearly went out. Before the demon could hit us again, I picked myself up and blew the horn once more.
That’s when I noticed four bright points of light in the distance. They glowed with the strength of halogen flashlights. Two were golden and two were white. Matty noticed, too. He didn’t abandon his prayer, just spread his arms wide to become a channel for John and Bruno. I could feel their energy flow into him and be made pure by the touch of his faith. The casting circle became white-hot light with golden edges that made the demon scream in pain.
To my extraordinary relief, I didn’t scream in pain.
I blew for all I was worth and so did Beverly. I wanted to close my eyes so I didn’t have to see Pili and Vicki, but they deserved to have me witness their courage. I watched the rift shift and shudder as the sound attacked it from both sides. The demon flew back and forth, hitting the barriers. Another priest fell and I tried not to listen as he died horribly but honorably—doing what he had sworn to do.
The ground began to shudder beneath us. I was nearly out of breath. It was taking everything I had to keep the sound going without pause. Finally a full-blown quake, a big, deep one, began to move through the earth and Matty and I were forced to kneel down to avoid falling over. The tornado that was Vicki waited for a long moment at the edge of the abyss, waiting for just the right moment. When it came, she threw herself forward, carrying Pili with her.
An explosion of sound and light made me reach for my headphones. But they weren’t enough protection. The casting circles blew apart like so much sand. Even the outer barrier strained and bulged and finally collapsed as the entire world seemed to shudder. I tried to see past the light, but the brightness burned my skin, my face, my eyes.
My head couldn’t take any more and everything went dark.
23
The doorbell rang. Or at least I thought it did. It was hard to hear over the bedlam in the living room. You couldn’t ask for a more picture-perfect morning for the party. The rift had messed with the weather—maybe the only positive result of the whole disaster. The jet stream had shifted and there was a white Christmas in California. It would likely be gone by midday, but for now it wasn’t an irony to play Bing Crosby on the stereo.
I made my way through the crowd only to get stopped by Mick and Molly Murphy before I’d made it two feet. They were smiling at each other in an excited way and turned that same energy to me. “Well, we talked it over. We’re going to take it.”
That brought a smile to my face. “Really? You’re sure? I don’t want to pressure you or anything. But Gran’s got her place and I have mine, so I thought I’d at least offer.”
Molly got a little teary and waved a hand in front of her face before answering: “It’s perfect. Really. I already love this house. Just hearing the stories from your grandmother was enough to sell me, and the girls have already claimed rooms upstairs. There’s a yard and it’s in a good school district.”
“And it’s near the ocean,” Mick added. “That never used to be an issue, but now … well—” He looked at Beverly, who was poking around under the tree with her sister, looking for what I might have bought them. And how could I not buy them something? “I presume she’ll have to have some training on Serenity. We’ve already been invited to attend some seminars to teach us what she’ll need to survive.”
I nodded and put a hand on his arm as the bell sounded again. “Okay, we’ll work out the details soon. Don’t worry about the price. We’ll come up with something fair.”
As I left them to dissolve into the crowd, I felt another weight lift from my chest. Gran had really taken a liking to the Murphys, and she and I both felt that her house deserved to be enjoyed by a family again.
I only wish Vicki could have been here to see the snow. She’d always wondered what it would look like to see palm fronds covered in white. When I realized she was really, truly gone, I’d spent a day in bed, crying. Yes, I was happy she finally found her way to her just rewards. But I was going to miss her so very much.
Gran and I hadn’t really talked yet about Pili’s sacrifice, but I knew she needed to. I just wasn’t sure I was the right person to help her through it. I got the impression from Dawna that Ahn and Pili had gotten together to tag-team Gran once Pili knew what needed to be done. Dawna suggested I not bring up Pili’s death for a few weeks to see if the lessons they’d been trying to teach Gran had taken. She wasn’t exactly sure what those lessons were, but she’d gotten the impression they were metaphysical rather than simple counseling. But it was hard to look at my grandmother and know she was in pain and be unable to help her.
My little piece of melancholy was dispelled when I opened the front door and discovered Bruno standing there with a smile and a gift. The scars on his face were nearly healed, which was amazing considering how bad he’d looked when the rift was sealed. I threw myself at him and planted a big kiss on his lips. “You came! I thought you were flying back to New York this morning.”
He motioned back with his thumb toward a waiting Yellow Cab. “On my way to the airport. But I had to drop your gift by. You’re sure you’re okay with me going back?”
“What would a DeLuca Christmas be without fifty people in a house meant for ten? Of course you need to go. Please give Matty my best. How’s his arm doing?”
“The doctor says the rotator cuff is torn. He’ll have to have surgery, but they’re confident of a successful repair. But you can ask him yourself pretty soon.”
I gave Bruno a questioning look and he smiled. “He’s been asked to take over as head of the seminary here as Bishop Matteo DeLuca. Mama is beside herself.”
“Whoa. That’s a big deal. I’d heard that Archbishop Fuentes was going to get bumped to cardinal, but a field promotion to bishop is sort of out of the ordinary, isn’t it?”
Bruno nodded. “Very. But the Vatican felt if there was going to be another demonic event it would probably be here—sort of like aftershocks to a big quake. And they still haven’t found all the inmates who might have been infested. Besides, he’ll need a desk job until the arm’s better anyway.”
Too true. I looked at Bruno’s gift again. “I don’t have yours. I already shipped it to New York so you could open it at your mom’s.” Then I realized I was wrong. “Wait. I do have something.” I reached into my pocket, where I’d thrust the item when Alex had given it to me. “It’s not wrapped, but I want you to have it because you said you wanted to think.”
I put the soft leather bag into his gloved hand, coiling the thin silver chain atop it. “What’s this?” he asked, looking at me curiously.
“Siren charm. Then you’ll know for sure that whatever you decide is just you.” I touched his other hand. “And just me. The charm is specific to me. I asked the forensic witch where Alex works to make it up and the queen’s mage approved it.”
Bruno looked uncomfortable, but I didn’t give him the chance to refuse. I put the chain around his neck and leaned in to give him a slow, soft kiss that gave me more shivers than the icy north wind. “I don’t want you to have to question yourself. It’ll take a few days to kick in and then we’ll talk.” I took the wrapped present from his hands and backed up a bit with a warm smile.
He picked up the small bag, which was trimmed with silver wire, and stared at it with more than a little worry in his face. Then I heard a familiar voice from behind him: “Hey, I recognize that charm. Got one just like it. Pity it doesn’t work against kick-ass leggy blondes.”
Creede was walking up the sidewalk, likewise carrying a gift.
“C’mon, you guys. You tell me to mail my gifts and then bring yours so I’m stuck looking like a cheapskate.”
“Merry Christmas, Ceil. Guess DeLuca and I had the same idea, ’cause I’m on my way to the airport, too.” He leaned in and pressed lips against mine warmly, causing Bruno to let out a small, possessive growl.
“I’ll be
back in a couple of weeks. Don’t get too cozy with her.”
Creede turned to look at him with eyes full of sparkling challenge. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I’m in no hurry. Of course,” he amended with a sly smile and a wink, “that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to take advantage if you fall down on the job.” He checked his watch and let out a small swear. “And speaking of jobs, how about we ride together to the airport? I’ve got something I want to discuss with you and I’m going to miss my flight if I don’t get moving.”
Bruno also looked at his wrist. “Shit! Is that the time? Sorry, Celie. Really gotta go. Tell your gran Merry Christmas for me. Be safe.” He gave me a quick peck and so did Creede. As I watched them walk away together and start to move luggage from one cab to the other, I realized I didn’t want to lose either one of them. But there wasn’t any way to keep them both and have it be fair to any of us.
I opened the door slowly, letting the smells of roasting turkey and apple pie fill my nose. Before I went inside I heard another vehicle and turned to see a familiar car pulling up, one I’d been afraid wasn’t going to make it. Sheesh. My place was turning into Grand Central Station.
Just how I like it.
Dawna got out of the car and let out a squeal of pleasure before running up the snowy sidewalk to give me a big hug, being careful to avoid the packages in my hands. “Merry Christmas!” The passenger door opened and Emma climbed out carrying an armload of packages.
Dawna pranced into the living room to give Gran a big holiday hug. She’d been spending the holiday with me and Gran for years because most of her family is Buddhist … which is why Ahn wasn’t here. As Emma came up to me, I hugged her gently and quietly asked, “How are Kevin and Amy holding up?”
I could see the worry in her eyes as she answered, “Kevin’s back at work at the university, but he’s got a bunch of post-traumatic stress that we don’t know how to help him with. He gets weird panic attacks from seemingly no cause. Someone at work suggested an assistance dog—one of the breeds sensitive to the demonic, like a hellhound.” She sighed. “Amy is still pretty withdrawn. I think the taint is mostly gone, but I know what she’s going through. It’ll take time for her to feel normal again.” She smiled then with genuine pleasure. “Thank you for inviting them to come today. I know you still haven’t gotten over what they did to you, and I know they really appreciated the gesture. Father might stop by later.”