by Lori Devoti
“We can call an ambulance, but we need a story, and we need the recordings.”
Confused, I looked at her.
“We’re on those recordings. Holmes world—” She held up her hands. “—is on those recordings.”
“So we destroy them?”
She shrugged. “Or doctor them. We can fix them to tell whatever story we need them to tell.”
While Brittany went back upstairs to get whatever records the camera had stored, Oscar, Nellie and I loaded Angie and the boys into her car. Brittany was back by the time we were through. After a very short talk, we agreed Nellie and Brittany should take the three to the hospital. They both had abilities when it came to getting people to believe whatever they wanted them to believe.
Their story would be that they went into the factory as part of a Halloween prank and found Angie and the boys. They’d had no phone—Brittany gave me hers–and decided to drive everyone to the hospital by themselves. It was a short drive, but it would give Oscar and me time to get away.
He and I walked to a cafe we’d seen not too far away. When Brittany and Nellie were done, they’d meet us here. I had the recording; at least Brittany said I did. It was on some kind of external hard drive. Hopefully, the police would assume the security system had never been fully set up and used. But if something bad happened, like they arrested someone for Holmes’ crimes, we’d have it. We wouldn’t let someone else pay for what Holmes had done. We’d edit out our part and send it in anonymously, assuming there was something on the recording that would clearly show Holmes was the villain.
Sitting at the cafe gave Oscar and me a chance to talk, not that I thought either of us really wanted that chance. Based on the way the waitress looked at me when we wandered in, I knew I looked rough, and even Oscar looked more worn than usual. And it was impossible for me to look a tenth as bad as I felt.
I’d made a deal with a demon, and odds were it would cost me my soul. Made it hard to chit-chat over sodas.
Still, I swilled down half of mine within seconds of the waitress leaving. I needed caffeine.
I pulled my straw in and out of my cup and eyed Oscar. “You’re under Kobal’s control.”
He shrugged. “That’s the way it works. He’s a demon lord.”
I twisted my lips to the side. “It’s more than that, isn’t it?”
He placed his hands on the tabletop and stared at me. There were shadows under his eyes, but I didn’t think he needed sleep. Maybe just being on this side of the veil was wearing him down.
“Why do you want to know? Are you planning for your future?” he asked.
I jabbed my straw into my drink, then pulled it out and did it again.
“That wasn’t very bright, what you did back there. But you know that.” He turned his head and watched an older couple pay for their sandwiches and leave.
“I’m sorry. I was under some pressure.” I shoved an ice cube under and held it there.
He looked back at me. His gaze was dark and direct, more piercing than I had ever seen it. “He’s going to own you.”
My hand paused over my cup. “Are you mad?”
He blinked.
I dropped my straw. “Because if you were, that would mean you cared.”
His gaze darted down and his hands tightened around his cup.
I leaned forward. “Do you care, Oscar?” I pushed my hand closer to his, but didn’t touch him.
“I can’t.” He flattened his palm on the table.
I slid my fingers closer until they edged up over the top of his hand. He stared at them. I wanted him to turn his hand over, wrap his fingers around mine and tell me that yes, he did care. That somehow everything had changed. I wanted something good to come of my mistakes.
I wanted to save Oscar. He wasn’t a demon, not like Nellie and certainly not like Holmes. He didn’t deserve whatever he’d been surviving back “home” as the demons termed hell.
That’s why I didn’t ask Kobal to take him back. Because Oscar deserved more.
Even as I thought this, a piece of me whispered, liar. It wasn’t just about Oscar; it was about me too. I couldn’t see Oscar as a demon. I couldn’t allow myself to believe a basically good person could become such a thing with no hope of salvation.
There had to be hope.
“You aren’t like Nellie or Holmes,” I murmured.
He looked at me and the darkness was back. “Destruction comes in many forms. Just because one form is less obvious doesn’t make it any less dangerous.” He pulled his hand free.
My fingers landed on the table, cold and wet from condensation from our cups. I curled my hand closed, and tried to think of something else to say.
If he would just admit he cared, I knew things would get better. I knew he could be saved.
o0o
At midnight I was up. I sat in my room staring at the phone, wanting to call Brittany, -nine minutes I had to call Kobal. What about his other demons? Should I let them through? Or was there another loop hole I was missing, one that wouldn’t keep my soul hanging out exposed?
The one changed to a two.
I gave in to temptation and picked up the phone.
It took three rings for Brittany to answer, but she didn’t sound as if she’d been asleep.
“Are you calling him?” she asked.
Obviously, she’d been thinking about my dilemma too.
“I have to.” I picked up my favorite teddy bear and pulled him to my chest.
“What about the demons? Are you going to release them?”
I’d explained the first loophole to her on the way home, but also what it might cost.
“Should I?”
There was silence on her end and then, “Not yet. We need a little time. Come over and we’ll figure this out.”
She hung up.
I took my bike to her house. Our car ran like a bulldozer, and Nana’s room was over the garage. The bike was quiet, and I’d conveniently left it outside the last time I’d used it.
Until I called Kobal, I was living on his dime. I could only pray that I didn’t get hit by someone drunk and stupid on the way to Brittany’s.
o0o
Brittany met me on the front porch, but walked me around back to get into her house. Up in her room, she had her computer going. The recording from Holmes’ castle was on the screen.
“Holmes had cameras everywhere, but he only recorded in bits and pieces. I think he started this going when you landed in his office. At least there wasn’t anything on it before that.” She tapped something with the mouse, and I appeared on the screen. I was laying on the sheet next to Charles. “We can replay it and see exactly what you each agreed to.”
It was painful sitting there and reliving what I’d gone through, but since most of my torment was based on watching Brittany’s torment, I guessed it wasn’t any easier for her.
The camera was angled so I was the star. You could hear Holmes and even Brittany in the background, but the image of me stayed on screen.
I fought the urge to yell at myself, as if it was a bad B movie. As if I could still change what had happened.
When it reached the part where Brittany yelled at Joshua, she started fast forwarding. “You can tell me when Kobal arrives, right?” she asked.
I nodded. I didn’t want to watch any more than I had to either.
When the on-screen me reached for the candle, I touched Brittany’s arm, and she slowed down the film. We sat in silence listening to everything Kobal said. When I gave him my ultimatum, that I’d cross his name out of demon history and make sure he was never called again if she died, she glanced at me. Embarrassed, I dropped my gaze. The film kept running.
When it was done, when it was just Brittany, Oscar and me, pulling Charles from the room on his sheet, she clicked pause.
“So, two demons, no more powerful or dangerous than Oscar. But there was no deadline as to when you had to do it by. And you have to call Kobal every day before midnight to…talk.” Sh
e screwed up her face. “That was kind of vague, and why? Why does he want you to call him?”
My hands were shaking. Watching the video had brought it all home. I slid my fingers under my legs and took a breath. “I think being called by a human increases a demon’s power. That’s why I said that about erasing his name.”
She smiled. “Yeah, thanks.”
I brushed her thanks aside. “Point is, if I call him every day he’ll get stronger and stronger. I don’t know what that means to him, but I think it’s his goal.”
She nodded and twisted her lips to the side. “The part I don’t get is the ‘You talk, I listen and I decide.’ What kind of power did you give him by agreeing to that?”
“I don’t know that I did agree to that. Back it up.”
We leaned toward the computer and played the tape again. As I’d thought, after Kobal made that demand, I hadn’t agreed, I’d restated what I was willing to do instead. Then he’d countered, but he had never gone back to what would happen when I called him.
“So,” I said, “you think I can just call him, that that will be enough to fulfill my part?”
His last counter didn’t detail what happened when you called him or even the length of the call. I’d say you can call him and immediately send him right back to hell.”
“What about the demons?”
She shook her head. “I think you’re stuck with that. Like you said, you didn’t set a date, but if you don’t do it, you’re always under contract, so-to-speak. If you do it, then every day after you make your call to him, you are contract free at least until midnight. So, if you—”
“Die,” I finished for her. “If I die at any time, he gets my soul.”
“But if you let his demons through, you’ll have a shot at dying during a time your contract is fulfilled. And when you got older, were sick or something—”
“I could kill myself, and do it when I knew I was in the contract-free part of my day.”
She nodded.
Good God, what had I gotten myself into?
o0o
I went back home without calling Kobal. Brittany offered to let me do it right there next to her canopy bed, but I wasn’t ready. I guess I was hoping something would happen, change if I put it off.
Later that morning I took the bus to school. It seemed safer than walking or riding my bike, and it gave me time to think. Well, after I gave a few freshmen the death stare. I was way past worrying about what people thought of me, or if they thought of me. Having a demon mark burning into my skin put a new perspective on a lot of things.
The halls were buzzing, but it was an excited happy buzz. Word was out that Angie had been found, along with two of the three boys. Angie’s friends were elevated to a whole new status of celebrity. Sheila had visited her in the hospital that morning before school. She said Angie was doing well. She seemed strangely happy even.
I glanced at Nellie. The succubus blew me a kiss.
At lunch, Oscar left his fan club and sought me out. I was standing outside the bathrooms. The English room had been locked up, and Brittany had a report or something she had to work on. Leaving me alone and with nowhere to hide.
I pretended not to notice as Oscar wandered up behind me. I just kept my gaze on the “Ten Smart Choices for Snacks” poster.
“You haven’t called Kobal yet,” he said.
Pretending surprise at his arrival, I turned. He was standing close, boyfriend close. He placed his palm on the wall behind me, so he was leaning against it and looking down at me. It was a classic pose, one I’d seen acted out in Caldera High halls thousands of times, but I had never been one of the participating actors. My heart skipped a bit, and my palms grew damp.
The lit chicks shot needle-sharp glares my direction.
I stared back at the dark haired one, the one who’d invited Oscar to her reading. My demon mark throbbed. “Did you go?” I asked, my stomach clenching.
He frowned and glanced over his shoulder in the direction I was looking. “Where?”
“To her reading. The other day she invited you to her poetry reading.” My voice had taken on an edge I hadn’t intended.
He looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “I’ve been busy.”
“Oh, guess so.” I slapped my lunch sack against my leg, embarrassed. I wanted to run away and hide. I was acting like a jealous girlfriend, like I liked Oscar, a demon. “Well, I better go eat.” I tried to duck under his arm, but he moved in, blocking me with his body.
“Are you going to?”
“Eat lunch?” Pretending not to understand what he was asking, I glanced down at the sack. I was being purposely difficult, but I didn’t want to talk about Kobal. Didn’t want to think about him, not until I had to. And right now, my heart still beating loudly in my chest and jealousy still raging through my veins, I didn’t want to talk to Oscar either. Something was going on with me, and I needed to stop it. I didn’t think standing this close to Oscar, almost touching him, was going to help me do that.
He just stared at me.
I sighed and leaned back against the wall. “I don’t have a choice. Do I?”
He dropped his arm and stepped back. A mixture of relief, that he was giving me space and loss that he hadn’t moved closer, passed over me.
“What about the other part, the demons?” he asked.
“Demons?” Miss Lit Chick had prowled up behind him. “Is that a band? I love dark rock.” She had added purple stripes to her hair, and the length of her skirt made me want to ask if she’d forgotten her pants.
“Get a makeover?” I asked. It was bitchy, but it was Oscar’s fault for stopping me from running when I had wanted to. Besides, I was sporting a demon mark, I deserved a little bitchy.
She glanced at me and edged away. A tiny thrill shot through me, but then I realized her avoidance of me only took her closer to Oscar. Her eyes and her hands on him, she said, “A group of us is going to The Cave this weekend. You want to come? The band’s new, but solid.”
I answered even though the question clearly hadn’t been intended for me. “Sounds fun. Too bad I’ll be busy unleashing hell and losing my soul.” I swiveled the opposite direction and made it past Oscar. My lunch bag smacking against my leg, I went to look for a table.
Chapter 19
After school Brittany drove me to the pasture. I realized I couldn’t ask her to cart me out there every day, but she and I had discussed the options and for now it seemed like the best one, the quickest one.
My skin was crawling, and my mark throbbed. After I’d walked away from Oscar, the throb had moved into curling-iron-accident pain. The little amount of lunch I’d eaten I’d tossed back up twenty minutes later. Now, it felt like the curling iron was still on and pressed to my raw bubbling flesh.
In other words, I was doubled over in Brittany’s car, trying not to vomit yet again.
“He didn’t mention this,” she said.
“Shocking,” I blurted. “A demon left something out.”
She didn’t say anything, just slammed on the brakes and threw the transmission into park. I fumbled for the door handle. She got there first.
“Guess this means you need to rethink what time of day you call him,” she said as she held onto my elbow to keep me from tumbling over into the grass.
“If it goes away after I do,” I muttered.
“You don’t think it will?”
I started to shake my head. A new pain shot through me. Sweat broke out over my body, but I managed to stay upright and walking.
When we reached the circle, Brittany walked it for me while I kneeled in the grass panting. She assured me there were no new breaks. I made her go back and check again. Then I called Kobal.
He took his sweet time answering.
“Lucinda. How has your day been?” He was reclining on an old couch, the kind with no arms that Victorian ladies used for fainting. “Holmes has been settling back in. I do hope for your sake he doesn’t get back out for a visit while you�
��re still alive.” He swung his legs to the side and sat up. “Of course, once your soul is here, the two of you will have plenty of time for reminiscences.”
My mark which had cooled considerably when he appeared in the circle pulsed. I stopped myself from slapping my hand over it.
He must have seen me twitch though. “How’s the mark? You did know what a mark was, didn’t you? What purpose they serve? They’re actually quite handy, reminding you when you start to stray. It can save so much heartache later.”
I ran my thumb over the athame’s handle. I’d been holding it since before he’d arrived. My plan was to call him and immediately cut him off—the call to him that was. But now I wondered if I should ask about the mark. If I continued to ignore his demand that I release two more demons, would it get worse? Would I soon be laying in bed unable to lift my head?
He stood. The couch disappeared. “I have your visitors chosen.” He raised his hand and a demon appeared on each side of him. One was an older woman complete with orthopedic shoes and blue hair. The other was a child, not more than ten.
For some reason they both creeped me out. I hid my shiver. Or thought I did.
“Cold?” Kobal asked. “It’s warmer here.” He grinned.
When I didn’t respond, he stepped back and placed a hand on each demon’s shoulder. “Who first? As you can see, I kept to our rules.”
“I’m afraid I can’t see that.”
He opened his mouth in mock surprise. “Are you suggesting that either of these—” He made a fluttering gesture toward the two demons. “—could possibly be higher or more dangerous than Oscar?”
“Outward appearances can be deceiving,” I replied.
He smiled. “Yes, they can.”
I didn’t like the way he was looking at me, as if he was holding in some gigantic joke and I was the butt of it.
“But I assure you, these two fit perfectly into the rules we agreed on.”
I glanced at Brittany. She was staring at the child, and her face had the same look of unease that I felt. Sensing I was looking at her, she darted her gaze my direction and mouthed, “Names.”