by D. C. Gomez
“Beep, Beep!” An alarm system went off somewhere. The beeping sounds grew louder and louder with no sign of stopping anytime soon.
“Sounds like we have more visitors,” David told Noah, a little too much happiness in his tone. That explained how they had known I’d been on the perimeter.
“Oh no. There are two of them and they are carrying guns,” Noah said, panic filtering through his voice. He definitely hadn’t been made for combat.
“Noah, relax and come over here,” David said. The sound of his voice was menacing. If I was Noah, I would go the other way and get away from him.
“This is no time for you to be playing with your weird cauldron. We need to leave or get help,” Noah shouted.
“That is exactly what I’m doing,” David said softly. “Thank you, my boy. Your services are no longer needed,” David said.
“What? Ahh!” Noah screamed.
I couldn’t take it anymore. I pulled my blind fold down, which happened to be a horrible mistake. It gave me a front-row view of David stabbing Noah. It was a good thing my mouth was gagged, or I would have screamed. David was nuts if he had no issues killing his own people.
“Your blood is not human enough to call on a full demon, but it is good enough for a beast,” David told Noah, pulling the blood-covered knife from Noah’s chest and dropping it in the cauldron.
This was going from bad to straight hell. A hell-beast on earth was not a good plan. I didn’t care if either one of them saw me. My wrists were too tight for me to break lose, but I could work on my feet. I took a quick inventory and my guns and machete were gone. I could feel my scythe inside my cargo pocket, though. I guessed nobody had been scared of a metal tube. If only they knew. The cauldron started boiling. Noah had dropped to the floor, alive but bleeding. David started mumbling some weird words as the front door burst open.
My eyes roamed the room. It looked like we were in the living room, but it was empty except for a large, black cauldron in the center facing the door. Either David was overly confident, or he was dramatic. Either way, it wasn’t a good plan.
Katrina and Bob rushed in, weapons at the ready.
“Don’t move,” Bob shouted at David.
David didn’t listen. Instead, he backed away from the cauldron.
Fog lifted from the cauldron and claws wrapped around the top right before the head of a beast appeared. It looked like a giant, mutant lizard with bulging eyes and the body of a tiger.
“Oh, that is not good,” Katrina said and opened fired. But the bullets didn’t even dent that thing.
“Isis, where are you?” Bob shouted as he scanned the area. The stupid fog had hidden me completely.
I managed to get my feet untied, then rubbed against the floor to pull the gag from my mouth. Before I could yell, David yanked me up by my hair. I looked at his hands and my eyes went wide. He had another knife in his hands. Where the hell did he get all the knives?
“What a beautiful scene. You will all die together,” David announced as he dragged me across the room. The smoke hadn’t hidden that side, which allowed me a clear view of the pentagram on the floor. This fool was serious about his sacrifice.
“This meddling girl will be the perfect offering for my king,” David added.
I rolled my eyes at his dramatics, but at least I knew what Ralph’s career aspirations were.
I was not planning to let psycho David drag me in that corner. My hands were tied, but everything else was working. I stomped my foot on top of David’s and he screamed. I wondered how much silver was inside my boots, because I heard his bones crack. Before he recovered from the pain, I slammed the back of my head into his face. That hurt like hell, especially after the head injury I had recently received. David was probably a great dark wizard, but he sucked at fighting. Lucky for me, that was my specialty, and after the head to his face trick, he let go of my hair. I ran forward and turned to face him, only to find him bent over, nursing his bloody nose.
My head was still spinning but I stayed standing. I managed to focus enough to kick David in the groin, then followed it up with a knee to the face as he was going down. He dropped like a rock. I kicked him in the ribs one more time for good measure, then pulled the gag out of my mouth while looking for my friends. The other side of the room looked like a tornado had hit it. Half a wall was missing, and the door was ripped to pieces.
“Isis, we could use your help here,” Katrina yelled from across the room. The beast had both Bob and her cornered. The bullets were of no use, so they were using the rifles as clubs.
I grabbed David’s knife and used it to cut my ropes off. I was wondering which one of them tied my ropes. Probably Noah because it looked like a Boy Scout knot and he definitely had the appearance of a Boy Scout.
I rushed over to help Bob and Katrina as I pulled my scythe out. They were pinned in a corner and the beast’s back was towards me. Trying not to make too much noise, I took a huge leap and brought the scythe down the middle of the beast. A normal scythe would get impaled on its target due to its weird shape and the way I was using it. Of course, I didn’t have a normal scythe and this thing went straight through the beast and down the middle. I was expecting to get covered in blood or green slime, like in most monster movies. Instead, we were showered in ashes. The beast was gone, and the room suddenly fell silent. I leaned on my scythe and tried to catch my breath.
“What took you so long?” Katrina asked me.
“Me? I thought you two were here to rescue me?” When had the tables turned to make me the one doing the rescuing?
“It appears we were the distraction until you got ready,” Bob added. “Next time, do it a little quicker.”
“Of course. What was I thinking?” I told them as we smiled at each other.
“Where is the wizard? Katrina asked.
“Over there, in the corner,” I totally forgot about David. We walked in his direction.
“You will never take me alive,” David said in an evil voice right before he pulled another knife from his jacket and stabbed himself. “You are too late. The plan is in motion. The end is coming,” David gurgled as he fell to the floor and died.
Why couldn’t evil villains die quietly?
“I got this,” Katrina told us as she ran towards the kitchen.
I raised my eyebrows toward Bob, but he just shrugged. I guessed we’d find out where Katrina went when she came back.
“I don’t know about dark magic, but he had a talent with knives,” I told Bob.
“Who is that?” Bob asked as he scanned the room.
“I almost forgot. It’s Noah,” I told Bob as we rushed over to him. “Knife boy over there stabbed him first. Is he dead?”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about Noah, but I didn’t want him to die.
“Not yet, but you better put pressure on that wound soon,” Death said over my shoulder. After the crazy day I’d had, her appearance didn’t even startle me.
I shook my head and turned but Bob had already gone to work covering Noah’s wound. From the looks of it, he didn’t need my help yet.
“Look out, Death,” Katrina said as she crossed the room at full sprint carrying a bucket full of water.
Katrina dropped the entire bucket of water on David. Death looked at me and all I could do was shrug. I had no clue what she was doing.
“I’m not taking any chances that his blood activates his stupid ritual,” Katrina told us. “Let’s see how well the magic works with everything smeared.” She clapped her hands together and crossed her arms over her chest, admiring her work.
We waited a few seconds and the only thing that appeared was David’s soul. Death walked over and grabbed him. David screamed—something I’d never seen happen before.
“Normal reaction of the damned,” Death told me. “You are running out of time. Don’t let them kill Genevieve in Haven. If her blood is spilt during Halloween, it will open the doors to hell. I’m kind of busy today, Isis. Make sure that doesn’t happen.�
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“Is it me, or does this just keep getting worse by the hour?” I asked Katrina and Bob.
“You know the drill, and it is never easy with the Horsemen,” Katrina told me. “By the way, Death’s red dress looked great with her blond hair.”
That took me a minute to process. For me, Death had a black business suit that looked fabulous with her Jimmy Choo shoes.
“Time to go,” Bob announced.
“We can’t just leave Noah here to die,” I told him, surprised Bob would suggest leaving now. He’d never been one to be cruel.
“Of course not.” He glared at me. “But obviously we can’t take him with us and we can’t call the cops. I gave him an elixir to dull the pain and I texted Abuelita. She was already heading this way with Angelito to find you since you didn’t check in. They will take care of him and clean the place.”
Bob made sure Noah was comfortable before he stood. I found my weapons thrown in a pile by the kitchen counter and retrieved them.
“How are they going to clean this place up?” I asked Bob as I looked at the missing wall.
“Due to the black magic, they will need to blow the house up,” Katrina told me. “It’s like having a meth lab. Nobody will ever be able to live here again.”
I guessed Jake had been right. We were blowing up Texarkana one house at a time.
“Hurry,” Noah mumbled in his pain induced state. “The ransom was a rouse to get everyone to the Perot. They are going to release more beasts there and spill as much blood as possible,” he got out right before he passed out.
That was all the motivation we needed. All three of us ran out the door. I prayed Noah would be okay and hoped Abuelita would arrive quickly because we didn’t have time to wait. We had to save the princess.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
As everyone kept reminding me, the clock was ticking. Instead of running to get Ladybug, I jumped in The Camaro with Katrina and Bob. I guessed being undercover was out of the question when you were short on time. Bob was driving as fast as Shorty. He took a left on East Broad Street and gunned it for downtown. For some reason, most parades in downtown used the Beech Street Church’s parking lot for staging. Today that was perfect, since it faced Saint Edward Church.
“I need to make a call,” I told Bob. “Do we have any more water guns in the trunk?” I asked him as I dialed.
“We took them out after the zombies,” Bob answered without looking at me. “How many do we need?”
I loved the fact that he didn’t care why I asked, he was going to make it happen.
“As many as we can get,” I told him. “We are going to need them at the float,” I added for clarification.
“Got it. I’ll have Shorty get them,” Bob told me as he called Shorty on his phone.
“I feel like I should call someone,” Katrina told me from the front passenger seat.
I smiled at her but wasn’t sure she could see me since I was sitting in the back behind Bob.
“Hi, Father Francis,” I said when he finally answered. “Sorry to call, but I need your help.” I wasn’t sure how to break the news to him.
“Of course you need my help, Isis. You are the only person I know who is always in trouble,” Father Francis told me, more jokingly than upset. “What is it this time?”
I held my breath, pretty sure he wasn’t ready for this. “Father, in my defense, trouble finds me,” I told him. I was sure he was rolling his eyes since Bob and Katrina were shaking their heads in the front of the car. “We are expecting to have hell beasts and potential demons on the loose in town. Could you meet us at the parade staging area?”
“What?” Father’s voice cracked when he spoke. “Oh Jesus. I’m on my way.” I heard him say a few more prayers before the call disconnected.
“Bob, hurry,” I said from the back. Today, I didn’t mind being a back-seat driver. We needed to get to that parade an hour ago.
Bob violated a few traffic laws getting us to the staging area, but he made it look easy. He had to take some detours since some of the roads were already closed off. I was surprised at all the people walking towards the parade.
When we pulled up, the staging area was packed with people getting their floats ready. The parking lot of the church was actually a full city block that had been turned into a parking lot. We had to park on the street opposite from Saint Edward due to all the floats and pedestrians walking around. I had no clue where Bartholomew was with our float.
“Got it,” Bob said to his phone. “Bartholomew is across the parking lot on the other side facing Saint Edward.”
I had to give Bob credit. He was efficient.
We took off running through the street because there was no way to go straight through the parking lot. We found Bartholomew standing on top of a sixteen-foot-long float. It was decorated as a stage, with musicians and dancers. Bartholomew was dressed in a black suit with a loose white tie and sunglasses.
“Bart, who are you supposed to be?” I was wondering if I had missed an important memo.
“The Korean sensation. The one and only, PSY,” Bartholomew answered, demonstrating PSY’s famous dance moves from Gangnam Style.
“Look at you, big boy. That’s what I’m talking about it. You got moves,” Katrina told Bart, giving him a high five.
“Are you planning to do Gangnam Style for the whole parade?” I asked, afraid for Bartholomew’s health.
“Of course not,” Bartholomew replied. “We are going to do New Face, and I Luv It. Trust us, Isis. We got this.”
“You speak Korean?” Katrina asked Bartholomew.
“One of many languages I know,” Bartholomew answered, not being arrogant, just matter of fact. “Ladies, got to go. I need to check with the coordinator on our time.” Bartholomew took off in a hurry.
“Isis, I’m here,” Father Francis came up behind me. I raised my eyebrows, surprised to see him still sporting his priest outfit. I was sure it had a formal name, but it just looked like a man dress to me. However, I had no plans of telling him that.
“Oh, thank God, Father,” I told him, giving him a huge hug. I wasn’t sure if he was going to be so happy when I told him what I needed him to do.
“Isis, I don’t like that look,” Father Francis told me as he looked down on me. After all, he was taller than me by a few inches, and I blamed that on his perfectly combed white hair.
“I promise I’ll go to confession when this is all done,” I said, but I might need two sessions after all this. “We need you on the float with holy water shooting at demons, okay?” The words rushed out of me.
“Do I need to get the water?” Father Francis asked.
I leaned in and gave him another hug.
“Not at all Father. We will get your ammo for you,” Bob told Father Francis. “Ladies, I recommend you head to the drop-zone. We’ll handle the float,” Bob told Katrina and me.
“Who’s driving?” I asked Bob.
“I am.” Eric ducked underneath Bartholomew’s dancers to get to us.
“Now it’s a party,” Katrina announced.
I glared at her.
“Here. I had to stop by Reapers on my way here.” Eric handed us our headsets. “It seems Bartholomew got a little too happy about his singing debut and forgot a few key items. Make sure to hit the button on the headset to speak. Hit it a second time to disengage,” he told us as he looked at all the people getting ready to perform. “I’ll make sure Bartholomew wears his. You better get going.”
“Follow me,” I told Katrina as I took off running down Fifth Street towards the Perot Theater parking lot on Main Street.
It took us longer than I expected to get to the Perot. The streets were packed with protestors, as well as people there to watch the parade. It was almost equal on both sides. I had never seen this many people at a parade downtown. Unfortunately, the crowds just kept getting bigger. If they let a hell-beast loose on this crowd, it was going to be a massacre.
“I need one of those,” Katrina
told me in the headset.
I turned to look in the same direction as her. There was a street vendor selling zombie apocalypse t-shirts. I wanted to scream. I was never going to live that down. The worst part was the t-shirts were actually cute.
“Ladies, we are rolling,” Bartholomew told us over the headsets. “At this rate, we should be at your location at exactly seven-forty-five.”
I glanced at my watch. We only had fifteen minutes, which was no time at all.
“Katrina, I’m not finding anything out of the ordinary,” I said as I pointed to the crowd. “Unless I open my third eye, I can’t tell the difference between humans in costume or wild demons.” And I really didn’t want to do that.
“Isis, please don’t do that,” Katrina told me as she came to my side. “Vampires will be showing up soon, if they aren’t here already. I don’t need you going Darth Vader on me and killing everyone.”
Katrina had a valid point. Luckily, she smiled when she finished speaking because I really didn’t like the Darth Vader comparison very much.
“Let’s split up and see if we can cover more ground,” I told Katrina, and we both went in opposite directions.
The parking lot to the Perot was very small. It was already packed with cars, street vendors, and people. The only good thing about it was it had a great view of the parade going by and a terrible view of the side of the Perot. The parking lot didn’t even face the front of the building. I had no clue why our thieves had picked this location. We searched everywhere and every once in a while, when the crowd cheered for a float, we stopped.
The protestors were standing on the Perot side of the streets, waving their signs. I wished they would listen to their own message and head home.
On our side of the street, we had all the party people. Suddenly the crowd went wild, and that included the protestors.
“Isis, you are not going to believe this,” Katrina told me over the headset.
I looked at the approaching float and it was a giant replica of Constantine. My jaw fell open and I had no words. The giant thing opened its mouth and started doing Rap God.