She cast a glance back towards the church and sighed.
“Alright. Where to?”
I shrugged.
“Somewhere we won’t get eaten, I’m hoping.” I slid into the passenger side of the car. A moment later she joined me and started the car's pathetic, sewing machine engine.
“Genius plan. Care to give me some sort of idea where you think that might be?”
“Sure, like I said, not here.”
Chapter 12
For the next hour we kept moving without any real direction or plan. Maggie kept old punk music tearing from her speakers, something loud and violent. She drove in perfect, rigid silence, keeping her eyes focused on the road in front of her. There was a tension in the air, a humming buzz of emotion that radiated from her frame like the current you feel standing under high tension wire and seemed to once more amp up the fragrance which seemed to accompany her. It was pushing midnight when she finally pulled the car into a WalMart parking lot and killed the engine.
“We should talk about some things,” she said, turning the radio down to a level that didn’t require screaming to be a part of the conversation.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Alice said from the back seat. I turned, regarding her with mild annoyance before looking back at Maggie.
“Okay?”
“I’m not sorry about what I said to you. Or for punching you in the face,” she said.
I blinked. “Alright. Glad we cleared that up.”
She paused, swallowing hard. She turned to me, lips opening to speak and then stopped.
“What?” I asked.
“I ‘ate you.”
I didn’t say anything.
“I ‘ate you. You disgust me. You and yer little demon girlfriend,” Maggie said.
“Well that’s just rude,” Alice chimed in from the backseat. I cut her another glance over my shoulder. She waved her little fingers at me.
“Well, I'm glad you're able to get that off your chest.”
“Shut up,” she snapped, taking a breath before continuing. “But yer what I ‘ave at the moment.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Everything else I had just got wrecked.” Her tone was heavy with resignation.
“Yeah, well I’m not fond of this little partnership either. But keep in mind, you recruited me,” I said, laying my head against the passenger side window.
“I’m very not fond of it as well,” Alice chimed in. “I still say you should get rid of her.”
“Not helping,” I said to Alice without looking back.
Maggie, meanwhile just stared at me wearing her impatience openly.
“Like I said,” I said turning back towards Maggie, “you recruited me.”
“Oh no, I scooped you up, I was working under orders.”
“Semantics. So what’re you getting at exactly?”
“I...oy. Fuck. What I’m gettin at ya wanker, is that until this is said and done, we need to put our shit aside and handle business. We're a team, much as it pains me. A truly right and fucked up one, but a team none the less. Despite how much I wanna jerk ya up by yer neck and beat yer skull in.”
I most definitely wasn’t expecting her to offer up something resembling an olive branch, especially after making it quite clear where I stood in terms of her esteem. I was pretty sure some form of shock registered on my face and if she noticed, she didn’t say anything about it. We sat there, not saying a word, staring at the parking lot.
I finally sat up, rubbing a hand over my eyes and looked at her.
“Alright. So now that that’s all established. What’s your play in all this?”
“My play?”
“Yeah, I’m here under coercion. What’s your excuse?”
“I owe it to ‘em.”
“You owe it to ‘em?”
“You make a lot of mistakes in six ‘undred years,” she said not looking at me.
“How fucking old are you?” I asked.
Maggie glared at me, eyes narrowed dangerously. Something in the look she gave me chased that line of curiosity induced questioning a fair ways out of my mind. There was an intensity of regret there that was hard for me to face. I got the hint. I held up my hands in a gesture of submission and dropped it.
“Old enough,” she said.
“Past her prime,” Alice said, trailing a finger along the back of Maggie’s headrest. She looked bored, staring out the windows as she did it.
“Alice. Please,” I growled.
“Fine, fine. I’ll go,” she said and vanished.
“Don’t think I forgotten about that mess ya got Lucy into, and I’m not gonna forgive ya for what I’m gonna ‘ave to do to her.”
“Lucy’s a big girl,” I said, my voice lacking any thing even remotely resembling a tone of conviction. “She opened that door and walked through it. And for the record, you don’t have to do anything.”
“Aye, I do. An’ yer right, she is a big girl. A big girl fresh out of the ‘ospital and in no way, shape or form capable of wrapping ‘er ‘ead around what she’s dealing with. Ya still brought ‘er with you, knowing all that. If you wanted to go, you could’ve done it without ‘er and you damned well know it.”
I was quiet for a long minute.
“Yeah,” I said finally. “I guess I do damned well know it.”
“Bit late for ‘er, for you to be comin’ to that realization,” she said.
I nodded.
She turned her eyes to me, scanning my features. She didn’t say anything, just turned her attention back towards the parking lot after a minute and let out a long, slow sigh. It was late, and there were only a few cars spotting the vast expanse of asphalt.
“So how’d you find us anyway?”
“Wasn’t ‘ard. You and Lucy were both gone. I was at the ‘ospital and ‘eard ‘er story. I know what ya did to your friend. Two and two, wasn’t a stretch to figure where you might be ‘eading,” she explained.
I should’ve known it was too easy to get out of there. I settled back into the seat, the silence growing a bit more uncomfortable with each passing minute.
“I don’t know what to do,” Maggie said finally.
“What do you mean?”
“The church was my ‘ome. It’s gone now. Whatever this thing is, it’s seen fit to making our lives a livin’ ‘ell. I ‘ave no idea where the Ordo’s gone. To ground I’m assuming. You’re what I’m left with.”
I shrugged. “Well, I know what I plan on doing.”
“Oh and what do you suggest?”
“I’ve already told you. I’m getting Lucy back.”
“But-”
“No buts,” I said, cutting her off. “She’s our best chance. Adam will try to get her fed as soon as possible I’m guessing. He doesn’t want her freaking out on him because she’s hungry. It’d be an annoyance for him. I’d also be willing to wager while she won’t be too fond of me, she’ll still be a lot happier away from him. I’m gonna see to it that happens.” I didn’t tell her I had no idea how, or that in a straight up fight I’d be the next best thing to a quick snack for him unless I'd waited till daybreak. Even then it was going to be one hell of a knock down drag out. I figured it best to keep that particular fact to myself. “Then, I’m going to track down this body hopping what's-it and have a very aggressive conversation with it. Convince it of the error of its ways.”
Maggie stared at me for a long moment.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” I said.
“And how do you plan on pulling this off?”
Shrugging, I said, “I have absolutely no fucking idea. I’m making this up as I go, but I owe her that much.”
“Yeah, yeah I guess ya do.”
I settled back, propping my knees on the dash and leaning my head back against the seat. I tried to focus, closing my eyes and making a mental note to formulate a plan posthaste. I tried chasing the sequence of events down but the seat, cramped though it was, just felt too damned inviting. The myriad of
pains were mostly gone thanks to Alice and our deal, which let me get past things like flesh wounds and broken bones pretty quick.
When I woke up we were still in the same parking lot. I hadn’t planned on sleeping, but in the time it had taken me to close my eyes, the parking lot had filled up and the sun was breaking the horizon. Maggie slid into the driver’s seat, a coffee held out to me in an outstretched hand. I blinked twice and sat up, taking the cup. I took a long sip, savoring the warmth and bitterness. It was cheap coffee, muddy water, maybe sludge at best. It was glorious.
“Did you sleep?” I asked.
“A little.”
I nodded, setting the coffee on the dash.
“So what’s the plan?” she said, taking a sip from her own cup.
“I know where to find Adam. That’s not the issue. I’m pretty sure he’ll keep Lucy close, given she’s only a day in,” I said. “You got a smoke?”
She tossed me a pack from the center console, my pack that Essie had given me. I felt a brief flash of regret. I lit one with the cars push-in lighter, inhaling deeply. I stared quietly at the pack, the last gift of a dead friend and then shoved it in my pocket. The cigarette was pure bliss, hell it was right up there with the coffee.
“And then what? You ask if she can come out and play?”
“Something like that.”
“When?”
“Soon. It’s daylight. He’s nasty, real nasty, but during the day, when he’s sluggish, I think I can hold my own with him.”
“You think?” She asked. “What about the other part?”
“Still working on that. Any ideas?”
She shook her head.
“Well, what do we know?” I asked.
“Fast, strong, scary. That’s about it.”
I nodded.
“It’s not a lot to go on,” she said.
“No, no it’s not. I’m pretty sure it’s a demon though, but given that it was able to desecrate a church, now I’m thrown.”
“Whysat?”
“Because demons can’t go on blessed ground. It’s why I’m shit at the church. My bond to Alice is cut off by it. Something to do with faith and... Well I really have no idea how it all works. Suffice to say, it counteracts their demon mojo.”
“And yet-”
“And yet, it did,” I finished.
Maggie started the car, letting it idle. The music came back and she cut the volume down to nothing. There was still an awkwardness to the silence, a tension birthed from frustration and Maggie's attempts to keep her pure disdain towards me from coloring her words any more than they had. I tried my best to ignore it. We’d pretty much agreed that this was a necessary pairing, but it was obvious that it was something neither of us was entirely excited about.
“Where to?” she asked.
“Adam owns a club called Judas.”
“The fetish club?” she asked.
“That’s the place. You know it?”
“Um no,” she said, the slightest hint of a blush creeping to her cheeks.
“Liar.”
Chapter 13
Club Judas, from the outside, was an innocuous looking building made mostly of brick and painted steel. Amidst its neighbors, it camouflaged itself perfectly as another warehouse or factory, a clone in a long line of near identical buildings. The only windows were at second story height and they were blacked out with heavy coats of paint. There was a single door, set in the building’s side, its color faded and chipped from countless long decades in Boston’s harsh winters. The club’s name had been painted on the door in simple red, stenciled letters. Two guards stood outside, thick bruiser types in suits. They weren’t thralls, just your average, everyday hired thugs smoking cigarettes and trading idle chatter to pass the time.
“So, is there a plan, like a real plan?” Maggie asked me.
“Sure,” I said, and got out of the car, pulling the hood of my sweatshirt over my head. We had parked about a half a block down from Judas and I had a clear view of the street in both directions. It was empty save for a few parked cars. In the distance, a small sedan rolled through an intersection, the driver oblivious to what was about to take place only a hundred yards away.
“Dare I ask?”
“Like I said, I’m going to go in and politely ask him to allow Lucy to leave with us.”
“And that’s going to work?” Maggie asked.
“Nope. No chance in hell.”
“Didn’t think so,” she said, reaching into the backseat and throwing her messenger back over her shoulder.
“Jack, this is an absolutely horrible idea,” Alice said. She appeared beside me hovering an inch or two off the ground. I looked from the two goons and then up to the building itself and felt the first cold slithers of fear sliding through my gut.
“Yeah, well, tough,” I answered.
“There’s a very likely chance you won’t come out of there alive.” Alice continued.
I started walking towards Judas. Alice was right, there was a damned good chance I wouldn’t survive this. Fact was, in a lot of ways, I didn’t have a choice. Since it had been in her head, Lucy was the closest thing I had to a way of understanding or tracking this thing down. Without her, I was going to be taking shots in the dark until it decided to try to rip my face off again. Given what it had shown me, I had no doubts it intended on doing just that. It wouldn't even be a challenge if it kept getting stronger, evolving, multiplying, whatever the hell it was doing.
“Yep.”
“If you die, you know what happens to the both of us,” the demon said, stepping in front of me. I walked through her.
“I’m aware,” I said, the weight of purpose pushing me down the street in a slow, steady walk. “And if I don’t go in there, then we’re screwed either way.”
“Jack. Please...” Alice pleaded.
I stepped through her again.
“Problems with your friend?” Maggie asked from a step or two behind me.
“Nope.”
I crossed the street, making a straight line for the door. I let my mind play out over the events of the past day or so. Me having to kill Essie, Lucy being nabbed by Adam, being forced into this mess, all of it. It fueled me, tension and anger running down my muscles, bringing a pounding tightness to my temples. My pace quickened along with my pulse. It felt good to be going on the offensive for a change, almost liberating.
“Sir, I’m going to have to ask you...” the guard on the right side of the door started to say, eyes widening as I got close enough that he could see the scarring on my face. He was bigger up close, a lot bigger. I didn’t care.
“Shit!” he barked, a hand diving towards the shoulder rig under his coat. The other guard, well, apparently he hadn’t had his coffee that morning. He looked from his partner to me, a bit slow on piecing everything together. He got it a moment later when my fist lashed out, a quick right cross that hit against guard number one's jaw with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The slower one turned towards me, struggling to get his gun free of his coat. I drove my knee up hard into his groin. He doubled over. Using a handful of his hair, I ran his head hard into the steel door. He went down without a sound. The whole thing had taken maybe three seconds.
“Subtle,” Maggie said.
“I try.”
“Jack. Please, this is such a stupid idea,” Alice said.
“Thanks mom,” I said, looking at the little demon.
“Excuse me?” Maggie said.
I waved her off.
I knelt down, pulling the two compact semi autos from the shoulder rigs under the guards’ jackets. They were identical, same make, same model. I dropped the clip on one, sliding it into my pocket before tossing the gun I’d pulled it from into a storm drain. I checked the safety on the other, made sure a round was in the chamber and kept it tucked low against my leg. I did my best not to think about the jail time I'd catch if I somehow ended up getting caught with the gun. The establishment, for some reason, frowned on felons po
ssessing handguns. Another quick search brought me a key ring lined with generic brass and steel keys. It took a minute of trial and error to find the right key, but when I did the door slipped silently open.
The interior of Judas was dark, the painted over windows allowing next to nothing in the way of light to touch the club's interior. The only illumination came from randomly placed security lights mounted on the walls and that was dim at best. A long wooden bar lined one wall. Chairs and tables sat opposite the bar, looking down into a recessed dance floor. Chains and cages hung at varying heights from the ceiling. The back wall was lined with almost every type of bondage toy or variant imaginable, complete with restraining devices of just about every size and shape. Overhead, the outlines of catwalks and grating fought through the surrounding gloom, casting net like patches of shadow and light on the floor. The DJ booth sat in the corner, wrapped in a small glass enclosure. Another door sat beside that, the twinkling lights of an electronic lock set into its surface.
We crept towards the DJ booth. The little LED panel on the door blinked the word LOCKED over and over again.
“What now?” Maggie asked.
I looked around the empty interior of the club, then at Alice who slowly was shaking her head back and forth. Whether she was disagreeing with my plan as a whole, or my idea for getting the door open, I wasn’t sure. Honestly, I didn't really a give a fuck either.
“You shouldn’t do this,” she said again, as if she needed to remind me of her stance.
“I know, I'm aware,” I said, and fired three rounds into the electric lock from less then ten feet away. It erupted in a small burst of sparks, pieces of plastic and wiring raining to the floor. Gunshots inside of an enclosed building, especially one with cavern like acoustics like this joint, are loud, really loud. Echoes from the shots hadn’t even abated when the door burst open hard enough to nearly tear itself from its hinges.
The thralls arrived a few heartbeats behind Adam. They fanned out around him, circling us again like sharks, pacing, eyes dead and empty. Adam glared for a long moment, not saying a word. He appeared the same as he had last time I’d seen him, all the way down to Lucy’s blood still smeared on his chin, save he was shirtless. His upper body was wiry thin, riddled with the type of scars that come from whip lashings.
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