by Tanya Simon
Mystery ran to the crib and picked up the screaming infant, she held him to her heart and whispered soothing words to him. He began to settle down. She went to Seth and turned him over. Relief almost made her swoon, when he moaned in pain. Mystery helped Seth sit up and he grabbed his head.
“Come on.” She pulled him to his feet. “I’ll get you some aspirin.” She pushed him from the room.
“How come he couldn’t get to Jeremiah?” Seth asked as he held his head and concentrated on walking.
“Felicity put a protective spell around the crib and the baby wears a protective charm. My guess is one or the other prevented the demon from being able to touch the baby.”
“Thank God.”
“Thank Felicity.” Mystery laid the baby on the bed and went into the bathroom to get the aspirin. Returning she gave two to Seth.
“I think we need help, Mystery. I think it’s time we tell Ryan everything and get him here. I think it can’t hurt to have a priest in the house.” Seth dry-swallowed the aspirin and leaned back against the headboard.
“Okay. I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.” She sat down and took her son into her arms. “But I don’t want to take any chances with our son’s life, either. So, call him.”
“I’ll call him tomorrow. He should be able to be here by the day after.”
“Okay.” Mystery held her son closer and leaned into Seth.
Father Ryan Parsons couldn’t shake the feeling something was horribly wrong. He dreamt of Seth and Mystery every night. His younger brother and his fiancée should be enjoying the happiest times of their lives, with their brand new son Jeremiah. But Ryan couldn’t shake the feeling they were fighting for their lives, more importantly their souls. He tried to reach them night after night, but they were never home. Ryan knelt in front of the altar and closed his troubled hazel eyes. Prayer was the only thing he could do right now. So, he prayed with all his heart.
“Father Parsons.” A young student was waiting at the door.
“Yes, Brother Hawkins?”
“Sorry, but you have a call. It’s your brother.”
“Its alright Brother Hawkins. I’ll take it in my study.”
“Yes, sir.” The young man turned and went out.
Ryan walked nervously to the phone, “Hello?”
“Ryan?” Seth’s tired voice came through the phone.
“Yes. How are you?”
“All three of us are fine.” Seth swallowed hard. “Ryan we need you here, yesterday, man.”
“Why?”
“Please don’t ask me to explain over the phone. Just come. We need you or we wouldn’t ask.”
Ryan could tell from his brother’s voice whatever it was it was bad.
“Okay, Seth I’ll come. Meet me tomorrow; I’ll take the first flight in.
“Thanks.”
“Seth, whatever it is we’ll fix it together.”
“Sure. See you in the morning.” He sighed, “Bye, Ryan.”
“Bye Seth.”
Ryan stared at the phone for a few minutes. He hadn’t been wrong; they were in danger of some kind. Ryan said a silent prayer, told Ann to find somebody to cover for mass over the next few days, and went to pack.
Mystery slowly pushed the door to the nursery open. She crept over to the crib.
“No!” She screamed as she gripped the side of the empty crib. “No!”
The air around her began to hum and vibrate. The window blew out and the light bulb exploded. Around her the walls expanded and contracted in perfect concordance with her breathing. The door slammed with enough force to go through the foundation and swung back open with enough force to split the pale yellow wall.
“Give me my son!” The floor began to smoke.
“Control your temper, my child.” Cain said evenly as he stepped from the smoke.
“Give me my son back, you sick bastard!” Mystery felt a surge of heat flow out of her body, she gawked as Cain stumbled backwards into the wall hard enough he indented it.
“So, you want to play, do you?” Cain’s eyes gleamed and he raised his hand.
Mystery screamed as a wave of heat hit her and blasted her out of the window. She pictured herself landing on her feet and was relieved to feel the lawn planted sturdily beneath her sneakers.
Cain leapt from the window and stormed towards her.
Mystery glared at him and let her hatred of him become a living thing. It flung itself from her being and raced towards Cain. She smiled viscously as he went up in flames. His handsome features melted away and his bones began to blacken. She groped to remain on her feet as an eerie laughter came from the blackening mass.
“I was born in fire, it can’t stop me.”
The flames slowly died and when he looked up at her, his face was unmarred. “You want your child.” He walked to her and flames danced from his fingertips. “Come home!”
Mystery’s car exploded into a raging inferno, when she turned back he was gone. She fell on her lawn and sobbed.
Ryan could hardly believe his eyes, Seth looked like a man fighting a war he couldn’t win. The hand he shook was clammy and shaking. The long, blond hair hung in a limp ponytail. He was extremely lean, and his grey eyes darted from side to side in search of the enemy.
“Seth?” Ryan took both of Seth’s hands.
“Come on.” Seth’s eyes darted around, “We can talk at the house. I don’t want to leave Mystery alone for too long.” He hurried towards the parking lot.
Ryan took off after him.
Seth was silent for the first half of the ride home. Ryan watched him chew on his lip and work his hands on the steering wheel. Seth pulled over to the side of the road.
“Do you believe in God?” Seth whispered.
“Of course.” Ryan said indignantly.
“I mean unshakably believe.” Seth turned from the wheel.
“Yes, Seth.” Ryan began to shake slightly, “What is it?”
“Remember, I told you Mystery’s father was killed in a car accident?”
“Yes.”
Well at the funeral her bitch of a mother told Mystery she was stolen from her biological parents. Apparently, her parents had been part of some cult.”
“What?”
“She went on to inform us the cult wants Mystery back.” Seth stared out the window. “It gets weird from there.”
“Get’s weird?” Ryan smiled.
“Yes.” Seth smiled a ghost of a smile, “Mystery had these terrifying nightmares. She stopped eating, sleeping, she was dying. She found out about the baby and she bounced back.” Seth’s hands began to shake violently. “She was doing fine until she discovered her adoptive mother’s mutilated body. She just totally withdrew and she almost died again. When she gave birth…”
“Is the baby healthy?”
“Yes.” Seth smiled again, this time it was a real smile. “She fought back again. This time she told me the truth about what was going on.” Seth looked pleadingly at Ryan, “She’s not human, Ryan…” he held up his hand. “Let me finish. She’s a devil. She was raised as a human, but they want her back, and part of her wants to go.” He reached for Ryan’s hand. “They also want our son. We need you not only as my brother, but as a priest.” He squeezed, “Please help us, Ryan, please.”
“I need a minute.”
“Okay.”
Ryan was sure Seth had gone off the deep end. He was quietly trying to figure out a way to tell him gracefully, when they turned onto Seth’s street. Ryan gasped. There were police cars, an ambulance and a fire truck surrounding Seth’s house.
“Ryan stay here, it might be dangerous.” Seth bounded out of the car and began to make his way through the police cars, and gawkers. As he ran, he became aware of his brother beside him.
“I told you to stay put!”
“No way!”
Seth stopped cold in his tracks; Mystery’s car was a charred hull.
“Mystery!” He screamed into the confusion.
H
is knees went weak with relief when he saw her sitting on the curb, pale and shaky, but whole. He ran to her, his brother close behind. As he wrapped her in his arms he took in the blasted out windows of their house, the charred patches of the lawn, and the still smoking remains of her car, and began to sob.
“Where’s the baby?” Ryan asked.
Seth’s heart leapt in terror and he fought to breathe.
“Where’s Jeremiah, honey?” Seth whispered.
“Cain took him.” She whispered back. “I fought him, but he was too strong. When he was tired of toying with me, he blew up my car and left.” She raised green eyes luminous with tears to him. “He won’t give him back unless I go to him.”
“No!” He hugged her tightly, “No! I won’t let you go!”
13
Ryan believed wholeheartedly before they left the first floor. The looks on Mystery and Seth’s faces, the burned spots on the rug, the blown-out windows, the chairs standing at impossible angles all through the living room, dining room, and kitchen. There was a sense of malignancy still hanging in the air. No human could have created this havoc. God! This was real!
Ryan helped Mystery begin to clean up the mess her spat with her Father had made. Seth made a call to a window repair shop and made arrangements to have the shell of Mystery’s car towed away. He called in to the hospital; the others could hear Dr. Francisco yelling over the phone.
“Is this the last straw? Will you have to start your residency over?” Mystery looked up at Seth with tears in her eyes.
“I have to meet with her tomorrow, so we can talk about my dedication to being a doctor.” Seth went to the table and sat the chairs upright.
“I’m sorry, Seth. I wish none of this was happening, but most of all, I wish it wasn’t ruining your life, too.” Mystery stumbled out of the dining room she stopped at the door. “You could move out and you wouldn’t have your focus split between this war zone and work.”
Seth stopped her, turning her to face him. “I am not going anywhere. We talked about this; I love you and our son. I am not leaving without both of you.” He smoothed her hair behind her ear. “And if you left, the weirdoes would just follow us.
“You’re right. Do you already want to leave, Ryan?”
“No. My brother and sister-in-law need me. I’m sticking.”
“I’ll call a rental car place. We will definitely need another car. This weekend we’ll go looking for a replacement.” Seth headed back into the living room.
“I’ll see about finding something to cook for dinner.” Mystery stepped into the kitchen and looked at the mess. There was food all over the counters and floor from the cabinet doors exploding open during her fight with her temper. The refrigerator sat crookedly in its niche; the door open and most of the jars inside had exploded. She walked back into the dining room and rambled through the papers on the floors, and finding coupons she handed them to Seth. “Order a pizza, we have no food.”
The three of them sat at the dining room table and ate pizza with the works, while Mystery worked on a list of things they needed to replace tomorrow. As she looked at the list, she was glad she had extra money in the bank due to her father’s life insurance. However, she would still rather have him back. She glanced over at Ryan; he was sitting there calmly eating his pizza, like he ate in houses where devils fought over children every day. She smiled, that if nothing else made her like him. She had heard about him, even talked to him over the phone, but this was the first time they had ever met. He graciously helped clean up the mess. He wasn’t avoiding her or sitting as far away as he could. He had taken the seat right next to hers and he was helping with the list. He caught her looking at him and smiled.
Ryan awoke from a sound sleep, to demonic laughter and Mystery’s high-pitched screams. Throwing on a robe, he ran down the hall to the master bedroom.
“Mystery! Seth!” He screamed. The door wouldn’t open.
Ryan pounded frantically as Seth’s screams were added to the cacophony. The door would not budge. Ryan allowed his mind to go blank, and began to pray. He felt warm all over, Ryan raised his hand and the door sprang open. Ryan forgot to be shocked, because Seth was fighting to remove horned flying creatures from his back and chest. He cried out each time one bit him. Mystery was being held down and something was forcing her legs apart, but he couldn’t actually see anyone or anything there.
Ryan ran to her and was thrown back by unseen hands. He forced himself to his feet and tried to help Seth only to be flung away. As he grew angrier, his body began to get warmer. The bedroom began to pulse with energy and Ryan began to glow. The laughter stopped. Ryan raised both hands and thrust them forward. Unearthly screams pierced the air. When Ryan opened his eyes, the creatures were gone.
He rushed to Seth and helped him up. Together they went to Mystery, who had curled into a little ball on the bed. Seth touched her shoulders and she went into his arms.
“How?” She wiped tears away, “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know.” Ryan ran his hands through his dark blond hair. I thought about them being gone, raised my hands, and made them go away.” He sank down onto the bed.
“Thank you.” She leaned over to hug him.
He hugged her back, and looked up at his brother. “Will they be back?”
“Not tonight.” Seth said as he righted the bedside lamp.
The next morning they dressed and went out to a pancake house for breakfast. Nobody mentioned what had happened the night before; they tried to find other things to talk about. Ryan amused Mystery with stories of Seth as a little boy. Mystery told Ryan about how it had taken Seth a year to get her to go out with him. They did their best to be a normal family having breakfast.
They went to pick up the rental car and Seth left them to go to the hospital. Mystery and Ryan went to start replacing everything, which had been demolished in the fight.
“I think we should start with the appliance store so they will have enough time to get it delivered today.” Mystery pulled into traffic.
“So, how many refrigerators is this?” Ryan looked away as Mystery barely missed the car in the other lane when she changed lanes.
“Three. We are on the second stove, but it survived yesterday, so, I don’t have to replace it. But the dishwasher got fried in all the electrical discharge flying around the house.” Mystery flipped on her turning signal and squealed around the corner, Ryan winced as the car behind her honked. He breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled into a parking place and stopped. They got out of the car and went into the store.
“Hello, Ms. Williams. What can we do for you today?” The young salesman positively glowed as he thought of the commission to come.
“Hi, Mario. I’m going to need a refrigerator and a dishwasher. Rush delivery like last time.” Mystery ignored Ryan’s muffled laughter as Mario led her to the refrigerator section of the store.
She selected a middle grade refrigerator and a top of the line dishwasher. She absolutely hated washing dishes and the machine promised you didn’t have to rinse the dishes first. Ryan walked beside her trying not to laugh out loud.
“Thank you for your business, Ms. Williams. I will see to it personally your purchases will be there before three this afternoon.” He said as he held the door open for them.
“Thanks again, Mario.” Mystery gave him a twenty-dollar bill.
“It is always a pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Williams.”
As soon as they were out the door, Ryan burst into laughter. Mystery smirked at him and unlocked the car.
“Um… Can I drive?”
“Yes. I don’t know why you and Seth won’t ride in a car with me driving.” She gave Ryan her keys.
As he pulled into traffic he asked her where they were headed next.
“K-Mart. I need new shampoo, deodorant, etc. They all exploded.”
“You know I think you are handling this better than most people would.”
Mystery told him where
to turn. “I wasn’t at first. I checked out. I just couldn’t believe I was a devil. I was raised Christian, and all I could think about was how being a devil meant I was evil and I was damned.” She told him to turn right. “I finally realized I was only evil if I did evil, as long as I continue to follow God and obey his teachings, I’m okay.”