When the Spirit Calls (When the Spirit... series - Book 2)

by Thomas DePrima

  "Rare books on the occult and demonology?" Bishop Flaherty said. "Every book? There must be thousands."

  "Close to six. We've been updating the cataloging data as we read."

  "All in English?" Father Fredrik asked.

  "No, Father. Many are in English or Old English, but most are written in Latin, French, Greek, Italian, German, and Spanish. And quite a few are written in Aramaic, Egyptian, Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, and Farsi. There are a few dozen in languages we haven't identified yet. We've had so much reading to do that we didn't worry about those we could never get to."

  "Uh, you read all these languages?"

  "No, but we all speak, read, and write English, Latin, French, Greek, Italian, German, and Spanish. And we knew we'd never get through the entire library in the short time we had, so we didn't worry about what the other books might contain."

  "I can read Egyptian and Farsi fairly well, and I can usually manage to get through Arabic," Father Fredrik said. "Perhaps I can be helpful here."

  "Thank you, Father, but we've come to the end of our search time. We could have used you when we started this effort in June, but we must perform the exorcism tonight. We're hoping Kamet is still a little weak from the murder of his last victim. Ideally, I would have liked to make the attempt right after the most recent murder when Kamet was at his weakest from having manipulated a human body."

  "But you feel you've now prepared yourself enough to accomplish it?"

  "Yes. We've found accounts of a procedure we believe will work, and two of our group were able to travel to Prague to confirm that account in an ancient text there."

  "The National Museum in Prague?"

  "Yes."

  "I thought that museum was closed for reconstruction work."

  "The Historical Museum at Wenceslas Square is closed, but the National Museum is not only one building, just as the Smithsonian in Washington is not one building."

  "I see. And they allowed you access to their archives?"

  "Yes. We knew we didn't stand a chance of getting access to the Papal library, so we offered the National Museum the loan of one of Madam Elana's rarest books for two years. It was enough to secure the highest level of access privileges to the book we wanted to examine. That book confirmed the account we had found in one of our books here."

  Father Fredrik looked around at the rows of shelving filled with ancient books and imagined the immense value of the treasures there. He knew he could easily lose himself in the library for several years as he studied the information there.

  "Miss Arlene…"

  "Madam Arlene, Father," Bishop Flaherty said, interrupting. "The title has nothing to do with marital status. I've learned that it's an expression of respect for her exalted position among the small community of paranormal experts. And I assure you, she is deserving of it."

  "Uh, yes, I'm sorry, Madam Arlene. Actually, what I'd started was a different apology. I had no idea you and your colleagues were so learned or that you had put such effort into preparing for this evening. I expected to find a well-intentioned but ill-prepared group of amateurs who would be in far over their heads if the demon report was real."

  "Kamet is very real, Father. I've spoken with him."

  "Yes, I was told of your— visitation."

  "You'll see for yourself tonight."

  "You know he'll come?"

  "Let's just say we're confident he'll come. He knows what we're doing and also knows he has to try to stop us."

  "And what will our part be in this?"

  "Tonight, we'll meet up at an assembly area just outside of town and then proceed as a group to a piece of property well off a secondary road. It's mostly wooded, unimproved land, so there's no electricity and no prying eyes. As soon as we arrive at our destination, we'll carry the firewood we'll be bringing with us to an open area where the coven normally builds their bonfire to provide some light. When everyone is assembled and the fire is built, the coven will form a ring of people around myself and Father Paul. You, the bishop, and my friends will join the ring, interspersing yourselves among the coven members. As we commence the procedure, everyone will join hands and I will begin the summoning chant, repeating it over and over until Kamet arrives to stop us. As the procedure begins, the ring becomes an impenetrable barrier to mortals, and he will not be able to break through unless he abandons the body he has hijacked. Once through the ring, he will enter the body of someone inside the impenetrable perimeter because he must occupy a body if he's to have any chance of stopping us. At that point, the person whom he selected will be powerless to resist, and Kamet will release the hands of the people on either side so he can attack me. Father Paul will then rush to the vacated position and replace the person Kamet took over. Then it simply becomes a matter of my sending Kamet back to the Underworld before he can kill me."

  "Kill you?"

  "He'll try. He has to because I'm a threat as long as I live on this plane of existence. And I believe it will come down to a strength of wills. The ring must be complete so I can draw upon the ethereal energy of the coven, added volunteers, and the surrounding area. I will attempt to focus that energy within me so I can drive Kamet back down to the place he belongs."

  "And can you predict who Kamet will choose as his host for this— battle?"

  "I believe it will be either Madam Elana, Gisela, or Oculara." Arlene was looking at Oculara as she said it, but Oculara never showed any sign of fear or shock.

  "But Father Paul will already be near you inside the ring. Wouldn't he be the logical body for Kamet to enter? He's a grown man after all, and his physical strength must be far greater than that of Oculara or the older women."

  "Kamet will want the strongest person available for this fight, but we're not talking purely about physical strength. While both strengths are important, ethereal energy is the more critical. It's not only the ethereal energy already contained within our bodies but the ability we have to draw from those around us and focus it where it's needed. Oculara, purely in corporeal terms, is one of the weakest among us, but discounting myself, her soul is the oldest among us. However, her physical age means that her powers are still not fully developed in this body, so we can't know if Kamet will try to use her.

  "After Oculara, Madam Elana and Gisela have the greatest amount of ethereal energy. So I'm confident he'll choose from among those three. There's one other consideration. If Kamet kills any of the original coven, he will be weakened immediately. How dramatically weakened will depend on the level of ethereal energy commanded by that person, but the death of any coven member will weaken him. Since Oculara was not a member of the original coven, her death would not weaken him at all, so he risks nothing by using her in the battle. And if he still has sufficient strength left, he can jump into another body. My job is to hold him at bay without killing the body he's entered until he's so weak that he will succumb to the forces trying to pull him from the body and down to the Underworld."

  "I can't believe you're talking about your possible death in such a detached manner."

  "Father, we both know death is only the end of our corporeal existence. I'm not anxious to leave this mortal world, but should it happen, my soul will live on. I'll simply cross over to the immortal world until I decide to be reborn here on Earth. I must impress upon you that you must not intervene tonight when Kamet appears."

  "You're a most remarkable woman, Madam Arlene. I realize now how fortunate I've been to have been given this opportunity to participate in the effort to drive Kamet back down to Hell."

  "If I should fail tonight, you'll have the experience of this effort to draw upon for a renewed effort in the future. Kamet must be sent back down to the Underworld. And— you must understand that under no circumstances are you to abandon your place in the ring. You must continue to maintain your grip on the hands of the others on both sides even if I appear to be wavering. Only with the support of an unbroken ring will I be able to continue to draw the ethereal energy and focus it against Kamet.
"

  "We understand Madam Arlene," Bishop Flaherty said. "We will not fail you."

  "Until tonight then." Handing the bishop a piece of paper, she said, "Here's a map showing where our small convoy will assemble outside of town after dark tonight. If you're late and we've left, you'll never find the unpaved access road that leads to the field where the exorcism will be performed. The exact time of day you should leave the church grounds is written at the top of the page. We've staggered the times for everyone participating so no local citizen or tourist will observe a procession of vehicles leaving Lake Georgina."

  *

  "Okay, I was wrong," Renee said after the three Church members had gone. "The prelate isn't going to give us problems."

  "He might have," Arlene said, "if we hadn't impressed him with our preparation. I think he realized this isn't an amateur-hour effort."

  "I wonder how much Father Paul and the bishop told him of their experiences with your powers."

  "I doubt they held anything back," Erin said, "which probably gave us greater stature in his eyes."

  "Has anyone heard from Nancy Talburt?"

  "She promised she'd be here," Megan said, "but as far as I know, she hasn't arrived yet."

  "I suppose if she's not here by now," Arlene said, "she's not coming. Losing one member of the original coven was bad, but losing two is going to hurt our efforts."

  "Where did you read that?" Renee asked. "I've never read anything like that in the books we've read down here."

  "It isn't from a book. It's from that little voice I always hear inside my head when I'm doing a tarot reading. I can't explain it, but the voice has always been right during my readings."

  Having been talking about the coven reminded them of the previous evening, and the conversation immediately returned to the farewell dinner they had enjoyed.

  *

  Over the next few hours, the coven members joined the group in the library. Several brought food and deserts, so the reading room table was cleared of all books and other materials. Combined with beverages brought down from the top floor kitchen, the food was enough that they didn't have to send out for dinner.

  The antiques shop, usually open until six p.m. on weekdays, closed two hours early so everyone could prepare for the evening's activities. If any occult fans had still been around, this should have convinced them that the rumors of an event thirty miles south were accurate. Arlene had just started to explain everyone's role when the phone on the table rang. Normally, the phone was ignored after hours, allowing an answering machine to pick up and play an announcement about store hours, but this call came in on a line reserved for special business calls and after-hours callers. Madam Elana took the call, listened more than talked, and then hurried out excitedly after saying she'd be right back.

  Arlene told everyone to relax until the full group was reassembled, then took a seat to wait. They had two hours before they were scheduled to leave, so there was plenty of time.

  Madam Elana retuned about five minutes later with two women Arlene had never seen before. But Megan and Erin knew them, and they hurried over to greet the new arrivals. Arlene heard someone say 'Nancy' and someone else say 'Delores,' and she breathed a sigh of relief that the full coven was assembled once again.

  "Madam Arlene," Madam Elana said as she led the new arrivals to where Arlene was seated, "I'd like you to meet my very dear friends, Nancy Whittaker-Talburt and Delores Mendez."

  "Ladies," Arlene said as she smiled and stood up, "you are very welcome. Having the full coven back together is sure to help us banish Kamet to the depths of the Underworld forever."

  "I was afraid we weren't going to make it," Nancy said. "Our car broke down this morning as we began the final leg of our journey. My husband was able to get it fixed by slipping the mechanic a little extra, and our car was moved to the front of the line."

  "You drove from California?"

  "That's my fault," Delores said. "I'm afraid of flying."

  "It wasn't only for Delores. My husband and I decided to cancel our original plans for vacation and come here instead. He and my daughter are over at my mom's house. We surprised her with the visit. She thought she'd never see us back here again, but after speaking with Megan and Erin, I knew it was time to return. After they left, I spoke with Delores over the phone almost every day for a week. She finally decided to come as well."

  "I was embarrassed," Delores said, "that two people who had nothing to do with Kamet being freed from Hell were willing to risk their lives while I was hiding in San Diego. Innocent people all over this county have been dying because of us. It has to stop. I've hated myself for too long, so I'm here to make amends and do whatever I can to send that demon back down where he belongs. And if I must die to do it, I'm ready."

  "It will stop," Arlene said. "Tonight. By tomorrow morning, no one will ever lose their life to Kamet again, and he'll be suffering in the fires of Hell for eternity for his past acts."

  Arlene clapped her hands twice to make sure she had everyone's attention. "Okay, let's get organized and go over the procedures for tonight so we'll waste as little time as necessary once we're out at the site. In addition to the coven members, Oculara, Megan, Erin, Renee, and myself, we're going to be joined by Father Paul, whom I'm sure you all know, Bishop Flaherty, and Father Fredrik, a prelate from the archdiocese."

  "Catholic priests are coming?" one of the coven members said.

  "Yes, three."

  "We don't need their help. They'll want to take over and then endanger all of us."

  "I believe their help will be of great benefit. And I don't believe they'll try to take over. They're coming to learn in case they ever need to perform something like this themselves. We're not the pupils here— we're the teachers. Now, has everyone brought the things they were asked to bring?"

  The coven members all either nodded or replied affirmatively.

  "Good. Then I guess we're almost set. Let's just review the procedures and the expected response from Kamet."

  When Arlene was done, one of the women said, "So you expect to actually fight with Kamet?"

  "Yes."

  "And he will be in Madam Elana's, Gisela's, or Oculara's body?"

  "I believe so. That's the impression we've gotten from the account we found of a similar exorcism from the second century."

  "But what if he chooses someone else? Say me, for example."

  "That's very doubtful. He'll want a body that commands a great deal of ethereal energy. Madam Elana, Oculara, Gisela, and I would be the most obvious targets. But I'll be performing the chant. So he'll have to enter someone else."

  "But what if he enters your body? Wouldn't that stop your chanting?"

  "I suppose it would, if he could actually get control. But I think my soul is too powerful for him. If it wasn't, he might have tried to get at me before now."

  "But didn't he try?" someone else asked. "Wasn't that reporter killed in the house you're renting? Maybe he thought that was you."

  "Kamet knew that wasn't me. He might have been trying to get me out of the way without actually engaging me. He might have thought I'd be arrested and incarcerated for her murder."

  "So," the first woman to speak up said, "what you're saying is that Kamet, in the body of Madam Elana, Gisela, or Oculara, is going to try to kill you tonight in an effort to prevent you from sending him back to the Underworld. And the only way you can save yourself is to kill the body Kamet is using. In other words, you're going to have to kill whoever Kamet chooses."

  "No. I'm not going to kill anyone. I'm going to do everything in my power to hang onto Kamet until the chant works and he's weakened enough to be pulled from the body and down to the Underworld. I'll surrender my own life before I'll take another's."

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-One

  At the scheduled time, Erin started her engine and pulled out of her parking spot at the Lake Georgina Antiques Shop with Megan, Renee, and Arlene aboard. She drove at a sedate speed an
d left the village behind at the exact time she was supposed to. Roughly eleven minutes later, she pulled into the open area alongside the road where the coven was to assemble before completing the final leg of their journey. Four other vehicles already waited there.

  As was prearranged, no one left their vehicles while they waited for the others to arrive. When the time arrived that everyone was supposed to be there, the group waited an additional two minutes just in case there were any stragglers. This probably wasn't necessary because, except for the three priests and the four young women from New Bedford, everyone who was coming knew the way to the private land where the banishment effort would take place. The Lake Georgina Antiques van with Madam Elana driving then pulled back onto the secondary road and continued the journey. No other cars had passed the assembly area while they waited.

  Eight minutes later, the motorcade turned off the secondary road and resumed their travel on a seldom-used dirt road where the weeds between the tire ruts were so overgrown that it appeared not to be a road at all. There was no identification signage, and anyone unfamiliar with the area would surely have bypassed the road without realizing it was there.

  Madam Elana's woodland property began just twenty feet from the paved surface of the secondary road they had been following. As if part of some primordial forest, the trees bordering the very narrow road grew in such close proximity to the road that they provided a contiguous overhead framework of intertwined branches. A thick summer mantle of leaves completely shrouded the passageway. In some areas it was just inches above the roof of Madam Elana's van, blocking out what little luminosity might have been provided by a quarter moon slipping low in an almost cloudless night sky. The line of vehicles moved snakelike through the gloom, their headlights providing the only means of following a route that twisted and turned through ubiquitous blackness. The occupants of the cars rode in complete silence, the overwhelming task ahead of them causing all other thoughts to flee their minds.