Blood & Spirits

by Dennis Sharpe

  It’s fun to watch him bouncing around the room though, after having to be anxious over him in the hospital.

  Jules clears his throat and motions him over.

  “What did you learn from your time with Paco?” Jules asks the question aloud, but I can feel him reviewing the answer in my memories. He’s shuffling quickly through everything that I’ve discovered. He asked for Frank’s sake.

  “A lot actually, but I’m sure that’s no surprise for you. He’s the one that’s been behind most of the crap I’ve been drowning in. I learned that I should have listened to Frank. Paco was setting me up all along.”

  Frank smiles. “Thank you.”

  “Frank, I don’t know why I didn’t listen to you. I’m so sorry. You wouldn’t have gotten shot, and so many other things could have been avoided. You were right.”

  He’s should be rubbing it in my face, but he’s not. Jules must have had a talk with him about it first or something.

  “Well,” Frank begins. “We have some things we need to fill you in on, that we got accomplished while you were away. But first I think you need this.”

  He digs around in the duffle bag he brought in from the car, and pulls out a bottle. I almost break down and cry, realizing that it was one of the last bottles of blood that Julie had preserved for me before she died. Even if she was a ghost now, and not completely lost to me, nothing would ever be the same.

  I take a long well needed drink and I can feel my body energize as Frank continues to talk.

  “Okay, first, we went and met with Lewis and after the half hour of questions on how I’m all better, we managed to give him enough information, facts with records and witnesses to back it up, that he’s gotten them to drop the warrants on you. The two blackmail victims are taking the fall for all of it on the police end. The murders, the false accusations, the arson, Julie’s murder. The whole pile.”

  He holds up a newspaper with the two disgraced politicians’ photos, and the headline “City Leaders Charged In Murder/Blackmail.” I want that framed.

  “That’s incredible. Where did you get all the evidence?”

  “Don’t worry about things you don’t have to, Veronica, you’ll only cause yourself more trouble in the end.” Jules says it in a light tone, which means that he rearranged people’s memories to what they needed to be. Another reason I’ve missed having him around.

  Frank can’t wait to continue, almost falling into me as he gushes.

  “We were also able to, with the help of my friend Jay Fontana and the account numbers that Lewis ‘didn’t give us,’ drain all of the operational funds that belonged to Mr. Molder. He’s got some serious people he owes now who really don’t like it when they get stiffed. Teach him to go after my friends.”

  “Paco is Molder, Frank. It was a cover that he used to move against me.”

  “Even better then.” Laughter rips out of him, even as he puts his hand up to cover his mouth. ”Now Jay has enough cash to expand his business, and more importantly, I’ve already dropped a very large sum to have work started on the getting the house fixed. And, honey, it’s gonna take a lot.”

  “Wow. He’s gonna come unhinged.” I almost laugh, but there are those who have given their lives for all this, and Paco needs to pick up the check now.

  “By the way, in the trunk, I brought clothes for you. The ones you wear when you go out looking for a fight.”

  He’s all smiles and giggles, and I’m more pleased than I thought I could be with where we are and why.

  Jules puts on a more serious face now and looks at Frank. This brings a screeching halt to his more jovial update, and I begin to have a feeling of dread, that Frank had the good news, and Jules had the bad.

  “I spoke to the Council in your absence, and in your stead. I discussed with them the matter of Paco. Learner was far more receptive to my take on the issues at hand than he was with yours. He has said that Paco’s life is mine to do with as I see fit.”

  “But how did you know what all he was doing?”

  “I didn’t. I assumed. As it turns out I was right and you kept him distracted so that I could act.” It’s all so matter fact from him.

  “What would have happened if you were wrong?”

  “If I was that poor a judge of character, and behavior, I doubt I’d have lived this long. You’d have seen this too no doubt, if you hadn’t been so caught up in your emotions for the spirit girl and Garrett.”

  He’s right. I love him, more than I sometimes remember, but I hate that he’s never wrong.

  “You’ll have to help Frank out a little more in the future. I let Learner know you’d be looking out for him.”

  “What do you mean?” Now he’s lost me again. Why would learner care about a breather, let alone one that works for me?

  “Well how do you think he got healed so quickly?”

  My God, I must have really gotten dense. Why didn’t I see it before?

  “Oh, shit! You mean…”

  Looking at Frank and I can tell that he really just wants to be bouncing up and down, but he’s trying to stay as reserved as he can in front of Jules.

  “You’s my sister now,” he says with a sly grin, showing far too many teeth, and two that are longer than before. “We’s family.”

  As excited as I am for Frank, and proud of Jules, I can’t get past my fear for Rachel. I have a smile on. I’m wearing my happy face, but they can both see it.

  We all talk a little further about how Frank will be trained, and how Jules plans to take him back to Chicago for a while but I’ll get him back, but when the conversation turns to talk of our impending assault on Paco to get Rachel back they both see my pacing and excuse themselves to take stock of our assets.

  That’s a nice way of saying that they think I’m too emotional to be involved in the planning.

  For the first time, I think I’m ready to give in a little and agree with them for tonight. For now.

  I have got to find a place to lay my head down and get some sleep. It’s been too long since I’ve gotten any rest, and I’m exhausted.

  ***

  Garrett leaves Sunny cursing and throwing things around her little research room. She’s been trying unsuccessfully for a little over two hours to undo what Paco has done. Unfortunately, she has no point of reference and her magic, if you could call it that, isn’t a practiced art like his. Hers is a more like an internal manipulation of the world around her.

  She’s failed to bring him across so far, and needs to prepare before trying again. That’s Garrett’s nice way of telling her to stop throwing a tantrum and concentrate on what she needs to do, and how to achieve it.

  Everyone here’s on edge now, all too aware that they’ll be facing Paco and his minions in a little over fifteen hours. Tense doesn’t begin to describe the mood throughout the whole of the old lodge, while people try to rest, if they can.

  He knows from his studies into the restless dead and their habits that the mood of a place, and the people in it, both have a drastic effect on what that place is like in the spirit world. This is more of a firsthand look at how just how drastic people’s moods can physically affect a spirit than he ever wanted to have.

  Lucy and Julie are in the garage discussing the sanctuary nervously when Garret stumbles upon them. It’s tempting to eavesdrop on them, as he’s been so used to doing with spirits over the last hundred years. This is different though, considering his situation, and as much as he’s been through with these two, he feels he owes them more respect than that.

  “Hello, ladies. I can assure that none of Paco’s spirits can enter here. We’re safe, for now. Even if the place doesn’t seem so,” he gestures to the dark and ominous overtones of the building, “friendly?”

  “You’ll have to excuse me. I don’t think of anywhere that I’m trapped inside of as a friendly place.” Julie says sharply.

  He hadn’t considered that Sunny’s barrier to keep spirits out might also trap them inside.

  “I ca
n talk to Sunny about that, if you need to go somewhere. I don’t think it’s very safe out there though.”

  “Julie is young and recently passed. You’ll have to excuse her lack of patience with the world. It comes with time.” Lucy obviously agrees with her, but doesn’t approve of her approach to the topic.

  “Look, I’m sorry if I snapped a little. I don’t want to go anywhere. Veronica’s here and I really want to stay with her. I’m just having a hard time with the whole being dead and not gone thing.”

  “I’ve been dead, by way of this disease, for one hundred and twenty-four years this August. What I’ve learned is that it’s something you never really get used to.” Garrett puts his hand on Julie’s arm and she pulls back.

  “I get that you’re trying to be nice, but don’t. Okay? I just don’t want it right now.” She turns and walks to the far side of the room.

  Garrett watches after her, wishing there was some comfort he could give and knowing there really is none.

  “Paco used her,” Lucy says softly. “Forced her to betray and harm those she loves. He killed her. She has a lot of bitterness to deal with, and she wants to be there right now destroying him.”

  “I can only imagine what she’s going through. I’ve had some situations over the years that were seriously difficult and trying, but…”

  “Like the one you’re in now?” Lucy interrupts him, asking the question with a biting edge.

  He looks at her with his mouth open for a moment then narrows his eyes. He didn’t know how much she knew about his current situation. It’s easy to take for granted that people only know what you let them, until you meet someone like Lucy.

  “I can see your life-force ebbing. When you die there will be no spirit life for you, but you know that don’t you?”

  “The rarity of someone infected like I am being able to cross over is one thing, but to die from the entropic forces of the spirit world will rip apart any soul I might have to cross over. I’ve been studying spirits for more than a century, and I’ve learned a few things. I don’t want to worry the others. But it’s a mystery to me how I’m still here.”

  He sounds so completely baffled that Lucy chuckles a little at him. He raises an eyebrow and smiles back at her, still puzzled.

  “You hadn’t figured that out yet? That seems strange for someone with as much knowledge as you have amassed in your years of study. It’s Sunny and Veronica. The emotion they have invested and importance they place on you have managed to hold you on the edge for far longer than is normal. It will not last though.”

  She was right to laugh at him. Emotion was the strongest power and the currency of the spirit world. He knew that. It should have been obvious.

  “You’ll have to excuse me. I’m going on four days now without fresh blood anyway. Our condition kills most of our body, just not our brain. It remains active, but it requires fresh blood to provide it with life. I’m already feeling the effects of my depravation. It’s like suffocating slowly.”

  Now it’s Lucy’s turn to feel foolish, for a change. She should have thought about the effects of having no blood on him, but had been so caught up in other things she’d given it no thought.

  “We can go for a long time without blood. Eventually the brain does shut down, but it can be awakened with fresh blood being forced into our system. But when the brain begins to decay it’s never the same. Brain damage affects us the same way it does the living.”

  She is respectful of the weight of his problem, but she’s still apprehensive of him in a general sense. He can tell from the emotions she’s not guarding well enough that she’s not sure what to make of him.

  “Veronica trusts you, Lucy, so I guess I should too. There are some things that I think you need to know, if you don’t already, about what’s going on in Pekin and why Sunny and I are here.”

  He has her interest and complete attention now.

  “It’s the storm that Paco was talking about. The one that’s already seriously affecting the spirit world, with the rise in unquiet activity, and is starting to be felt in the living world. The storm is why Sunny and I are in Pekin. It’s like a beacon to those of us who can sense the spirit world. I think it is intended to draw the attention of something else. Something darker, and more powerful than Paco.”

  “How is it that you are sensitive to spirits?”

  Lucy is interested in what he knows about this storm, but first she wants to know more about who is giving her the information.

  “I’ve always been able to see them, to sense them, even before I was infected. It’s the same way with Sunny. She has else, though. Something about her. A more potent… I don’t know… magic?”

  Garret could feel Lucy holding her thoughts and feelings close, not wanting to reveal too much of what she wasn’t ready to.

  “Her magic, do you know the source of it?”

  “Sunny has a natural magic. She had it before I found her, before I made her.” He’s a little shocked when he can feel that Lucy already knew that.

  “She’s from Pekin. I found her about fifteen years ago while I was passing through, tracking a spirit that had gone north from Memphis. Her name was Sunday Cross, but she said she liked to be called Sunny. I found her alone wandering in a field after her father had gone crazy and killed her mother and sister.”

  Lucy nods, finally deciding to share a little with him. “I know that story, and the family she comes from, actually. Sunny’s sister Anna lives in the sanctuary. She’s one of my materials. She can manifest in the physical world more easily than others, among her many interesting talents.”

  Sunny’s sister is still alive and gifted like she is, even in death. The concept was amazing to Garrett and Lucy could see his mind in motion. She had to bring him back to the present situation and the tasks at hand.

  “I would love to discuss Anna and the sanctuary with you in greater detail. I also want to know more of what you know about the coming storm, but now is not the time. Everyone needs to rest, even you if you can. If I can be allowed to leave this place, I will go to the sanctuary and call together the outer guard. As we know that Paco intends to perform the ritual on Rachel at midnight, I will assemble my forces and meet everyone at the funeral home after eleven. My forces may not be as strong as those that the sorcerer commands, but we are greater in number.”

  Julie, listening from across the room, is hurt by the thought that now Lucy would just leave her here in this place. She runs to find V, hoping that someone here still cares about her.

  “That sounds like a plan. I’ll have Sunny let you out.” Garrett starts for the door then stops. “When all this is over, you’re going to have to tell me what it is about Veronica that makes you risk your life.”

  “I think you already know the answer to that question.”

  ***

  I can see the little girl clearly, vividly. Her clothes are dirtier and her hair is more matted but it’s definitely her. Her little eyes still flit from side to side. She’s hunched over in the cage because it’s too small for her.

  Nearby there’s a shriek, answered by hundreds more. Dozens upon dozens of the glowing orange eyes flicker off and on around her.

  Her little bloodied hands are still wrapped tightly around the bars of her tiny prison, and now she squeezes her eyes shut not wanting to see anymore of the swirling black things that surround her in the darkness.

  It’s growing darker now, and the pungent smells of decomposition are only growing worse. Now there are rotting bodies on the floor under the box that she’s confined in. Her fate is the same as theirs and she is in terror of the time that they will come for her.

  She knows it’s soon. They told her that.

  She lets go of a bar with one hand and points to the ground under her. There is Julie’s body. It rolls off to reveal Frank. She points again and there’s her own body, clutching onto the brass key.

  She mouths words that have no sound and then points down once more and the corpse of Veronica Fisch
er rolls onto the pile.

  The little girl is being ripped at by black clawed hands, reaching through the bars of her cage. She retreats but they come from all directions more and faster while bits of her clothing and her skin fall to the floor.

  “There’s no time left. V, you have to save me!”

  ***

  I wake up in a strange place and instantly panic hits me in the face. I’m already up with the pistol in my hand before I realize that the men on the other side of the room are Frank and Jules.

  The realization that I’m in the Masonic Lodge comes to me and the reality of the last few days events serve as a splash of cold water to my soul. Waking up to the horror of what’s become of my life.

  I should feel safer with Jules here, and I guess I do. I just don’t feel at ease, not while Paco still has Rachel. Not while he’s hurting her to grow stronger.

  I’m beginning to wonder if my dreams are simply my subconscious, or if Rachel can really speak to me in my sleep. I’ve taken it for granted that my dreams were my own, but I really can’t be sure.

  Garret and Julie are here, with us. I love them both and I’m very thankful to have them back, but their conditions both serve as serious reminders of my failure. Failure, like I feel when I think about Rachel. I can’t stop worrying about her, and hating that we left her there with Paco.

  Walking across the room I search for and eventually locate the clothes that Frank brought in from the car for me. He packed me a short, tight black dress, specifically with me fighting in mind. At least he brought my boots and my leather jacket.

  I find a mirror, and check how I look. I really wish I had makeup, but that’s more out of habit than necessity. Jules is on his way over to me, I’m sure because he can sense my thoughts. Before I can address his concerns the rotted wooden door at the top of the staircase swings open violently and thumps loudly against the wall.

  Sunny calls down to us, her normal chipper self, “Let’s get up and moving! We’ve got four hours to have everything ready and be out the door!”