by Alexie Aaron
The two of them followed in the wake of the three witches. They heard the streetcar approaching. It didn’t appear to be stopping. Honor saw a bright light move onto the track. The streetcar brakes were applied. While the driver was contemplating the light, Becky and Candy located the alive, but weak, pastor. Honor’s manservant put the man over his shoulder, and the five moved quickly back to the house.
Champagne extinguished the light and watched as the streetcar resumed its route.
Mimi rolled over and shook her head. “You, doll, have class.”
“All that and a bag of chips,” Champagne said, checking out one of her nails. “So what happened to the preacher man?”
“That thing started to rip his soul out of his body.”
“Man, that’s got to hurt.”
“I got there before she finished, but I’m not sure if he’s going to live.”
“The Voodoo woman will fix him up. Come on, let’s see if Mia needs any help. I’m ready to throw down after what that thing did to me. Let’s dip.”
It took Mimi a moment to translate the 90’s lingo. By that time, Champagne had taken off. It only took a few strokes of Mimi’s massive legs to catch up to her.
~
“Pastor Paul, you smell of alcohol,” Becky admonished. “You don’t drink.”
Triple P looked up at the four concerned faces over him. “I had to play a role. I managed to keep Alexei away from the soul eater’s lair for a few hours. I’m going to pay for it in the morning.”
Candy moved her hands over the man. “Your soul is tattered, but I think we can rejoin you. You’re like Peter Pan at the moment. Your shadow is pulling away, pastor.”
“It hurt like hell. Like someone pulling a band-aid off a hairy arm,” he described.
“Honey, that’s nothing. Try getting your legs waxed,” Candy said, winking at the trio of understanding faces. “Monique, we need a calming tea and some of your beetroot. Honor, you have any of that snail slime you been smearing on your face?”
Surprised, Honor nodded and left to retrieve the expensive skin treatment.
“Ladies, we have to rejoin the pastor’s soul. The man’s got work to do. Those teens need him. Heaven can wait.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Father Peter stood in the shadows watching the red-dressed girl escorting a besotted Alexei through the museum. He wasn’t sure that the entity knew he was there. He hung back and followed the pair into the small courtyard.
“Excuse me, do any of you have a light?” he asked, holding out three quarters of a cigarette he had found snuffed in the ashtray.
“Go away, priest,” the sequined brat ordered.
“No, I think I’ll stick around. I’ve just crossed a dozen souls. I expect there may be a few more.”
The girl turned quickly, causing Alexei to stumble.
“What souls?”
“The ones that came down those steps. Crossings always brings out this vice,” the priest said, indicating the cigarette.
The girl looked at the red door and then back at the priest. “You’re lying.”
“I remember crossing a chit that looked remarkably like you,” he said. “She and a stoner…”
“Impossible!” the entity said, enraged.
“Go look for yourself. You must have a leak in your bowl,” Father Peter drawled.
The girl turned and started for the door but remembered Alexei and came back and dragged him after her.
“THEY ARE COMING UP THE STAIRS!” Father Peter shouted in Mia’s mind.
Mia grabbed her head. “Damn, I wish he wouldn’t shout. Come on, Murphy, we better hide.”
The entity moved through the door and headed right for the bowl. It plunged into the bowl, holding on to Alexei. Alexei stopped. He had hit a barrier. This caused the soul eater to losen her grasp. She shot out her other hand, frantically trying to pull Alexei closer, but the ghost wouldn’t move past the salt line.
“NO!” it screamed in frustration. Looking around, it decided to leave Alexei there to check on its hoard of souls.
Mia moved quickly. She pulled Alexei away, stuck him in the bathroom and salted the threshold. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and pulled the string so only her face was visible. She covered her face by putting on the Mardi Gras mask. When this was done, she turned out the lights and stood on a chair. In the darkness, the bowl shimmered with its eerie white light. The water tossed inside as the bowl shook. A tall being of white light shot upwards and landed two feet from the desk. It looked around for Alexei and moaned at the darkened room.
Mia turned on her flashlight, illuminating the mask.
The soul eater turned and spoke.
Mia didn’t understand anything it said. She would have to depend on its body motions to get an idea of how to react.
It stomped over to the bowl, kicking a hole in the salt line, and shot an arm inside. Within seconds, it pulled out Sean Edward’s soul. It prodded the frightened man.
“It wants to know where you have taken its souls.”
Mia tilted the mask up.
“The priest said he crossed them over. Is this true?” Sean asked, amazed.
Mia nodded.
“Who are you?”
“The spirit of the mask. How dare you imprison my people?”
The entity screamed again and pushed Sean away from it.
A rumbling preceded the scratching sound of dry skin on wood as the body of Sean Edwards crawled out from under the bed.
The soul eater said something in a guttural language.
Sean’s corpse lunged at Mia.
Murphy moved quickly out of Mia’s body and swiped at the charging zombie.
SWISH RIP CRACK echoed off the walls as Murphy’s axe bisected the being at the knees with such force, it imbedded the blade of the axe in the footboard. He pulled hard and released the axe in time to dodge the clawing hands, as the upper torso was still very much animated.
He jumped up and brought the axe down hard. CRACK! This time, he cut through the middle of the corpse by splitting the head in two and moving down through the rest.
Mia slid the mask off with care. Jamming the flashlight into the mask, she kept it suspended in air using her telekinesis powers. She used the remaining darkness and commotion to work her way behind the entity and over to Sean’s soul.
“Run,” she hissed. “Run to the priest outside.”
Sean rose. Unused to being a ghost, he moved as if he were still a living man. He walked to the door and stopped.
CRACK CRACK CRACK! Murphy diced the body with his axe. But no matter how he cut it, the body managed to attack him with whatever would move. Fingers poked at him, dried gums bit him, and feet kicked at him.
The air was filled with floating dust motes from their battle.
Mia directed her focus to the falling dust and lit each piece on fire. She hoped this would distract the creature and the soul eater, so she could get Murphy out of the room to safety.
The mask, no longer fueled by her focus, dropped to the chair.
The soul eater, no longer fooled, screamed in triumph, “AHEEEEEEEEEEEEEMAJAMA AHEEEEEEEEEEEEEMAJAMA!”
The body on the floor began to reform. Sean screamed from the doorway, horrified by what he was seeing.
Murphy, distracted by the young man, did not see the glowing arm snake around him and pull him to the desk.
“Mia!” he called, dropping his axe.
Mia dove, putting her body between the bowl and the soul eater. The entity dropped Murphy and picked up Mia by the jacket. Mia unzipped the jacket, slipping out of the garment, and attacked the soul eater’s feet with the conical shells she had pocketed from the bathroom. The ancient swirled shells momentarily pinned the creature’s feet to the floor. Mia used this time to crawl away. She searched for Murphy. She wanted to drag him over and encase him in a circle of salt, but she couldn’t find him.
“Murphy!” she called.
Nothing.
She
spun around, and the soul eater was gone too. It must have disengaged itself from the shells and moved soundlessly into the water.
“Shit shit shit!” she cursed, tossing on the lights, ignoring the fully formed, desiccated corpse of Sean Edwards on the floor and his soul standing over it crying.
Mia heard a pounding of footsteps, and the door burst inwards. A very winded priest stood there, his eyes moving wildly, taking everything in. Behind him rolled Mimi with Champagne close behind.
“It’s got Murphy,” Mia said, walking over to the chair and picking up the mask. She bounced it in her hands a moment. She looked at the female ghosts and remembered her manners. “This is Sean Edwards. Sean, Mimi and Champagne. He’s the SOB that started all of this,” Mia said vindictively.
Father Peter was shocked by the anger that emanated from Mia.
“I want to go after him,” Mia said. “But I may not come back. I’ve got a husband and baby to think of. I’m not sure what to do?”
Father Peter could see that she was torturing herself.
“I’ll go,” Sean said quietly. “I did this. I’ll fix it.”
“No, you can’t. You’re part of the solution,” Mia said.
Alexei pounded on the wall.
“Who’s in there?” Father Peter asked.
“I locked Alexei in there.”
Mimi moved to the door and felt the salt wall before she tried to move through the wood. “Salt.”
“It was for his own good,” Mia explained. “He was under some kind of spell.” She walked over and opened the door. “Sorry, old bean,” she said and broke the line of salt. She handed him his Mardi Gras mask. “I believe this is yours.”
“What happened?” Alexei asked.
“The farmer was taken,” Champagne said.
“What farmer?”
“Mia’s farmer,” Mimi answered.
“I’m sorry. I never met him. Where’s the girl?”
“It was never a girl. It was the soul eater masquerading as the girl. I crossed her over after Mia and Murphy rescued her,” Father Peter explained.
The water started burbling.
“Out! Get Alexei out of here!” Mia ordered Mimi and Champagne.
The two ghosts obeyed, and soon it was just Mia and Father Peter.
She stared at him a moment and said, “You don’t have to stay. I’ve got to finish this.”
“It occurs to me that we make a damn good team,” Father Peter said.
“Have it your way,” Mia said, shutting the door and pouring a salt line. “Sorry, Sean, you’ve got to stay.”
The young man nodded.
The water began sloshing around with such force, the bowl was rocking on the desk top.
Mia cautiously moved closer and saw two hands shoot up and grip the sides of the bowl.
Murphy, or the entity imitating Murphy, pulled himself out of the bowl. Mia backed up, eyeing the axe that was lying on the floor. Both of them lunged for it at the same time. Mia was too slow. She rolled over and stared up at him.
“Whitney Pee Pants,” Murphy said with a smile.
Mia burst into happy tears. “I thought…”
“I know,” Murphy said. He looked over at the priest and the young ghost. “It’s injured. Mia messed with its feet. It tried to catch me, but I moved around inside there clockwise, going as fast as I could, and then I stopped suddenly and moved the other way. The soul eater turned a little green. It got caught up in the turbulence of the water and moved away from me. I jumped as hard as I could and caught the rim of the bowl.”
Murphy gave Mia a hand up. She edged away from the desk as the bowl refilled itself. “Guys, it’s coming out,” she warned. “What do we do?” she asked Murphy.
“We fight until we can’t fight anymore,” he said.
Father Peter fell to his knees and started praying.
Sean looked at his body and saw it start to twitch. “Zombie me is waking up,” he warned.
Mia pried the shells out of the floor. “This time I go for the heart, if it has one.”
“No, the eyes, blind it,” Murphy insisted.
“I’ll try,” Mia called as she got on the bed to use it as a launching pad.
Murphy moved to intercept the zombie, and Sean stood in front of the priest as if he could shield the man with his body.
The entity shot out of the bowl without warning. It spun around and picked up the priest and Sean with both hands. Mia launched herself towards the monster. She managed to sink one shell into the right eye of the soul eater. It threw the priest and Sean away in pain. Father Peter hit the wall hard. Sean bounced and managed to get to his feet and ran to the aid of the priest.
Murphy faced off with zombie Sean. Mia backed away from the entity. It pulled the shell out and tossed it away. It glared at Mia with its good eye. It reached out and grabbed her and screamed, “AHEEEEEEEEEEEEEMAJAMA AHEEEEEEEEEEEEEMAJAMA!” Mia felt the being reach into her body and grabbed on to her soul.
A thunderous roar filled the night. The pounding footsteps of something immense echoed off the walls of the museum. Father Peter lifted his head and watched as the door was ripped off its hinges and a huge body moved into the room.
The soul eater was astonished and stopped extracting Mia’s soul to face this new threat.
Mia was tossed aside. She twisted her body and managed to land without smashing her head. Mia rubbed her eyes because she could not believe what she was seeing. Standing, growling in the middle of the room was the demon Sticks.
It motioned for her to move behind him. Which she did, dragging Father Peter with her.
Zombie Sean moved past Murphy and barreled into Sticks. The demon was caught off guard, and in that brief moment, the soul eater grabbed the demon, pulling him into the water with it.
Mia ran to the desk and plunged her hand into the water. “Come on, come on, come on, see it, you big dummy.” Mia felt the familiar wooden fingers clamp around her hand, and she drew the branch-like hand out of the water. Suddenly Sticks was pulled downward, and Mia was pulled headfirst into the bowl. She struggled.
Murphy wrapped his arms around Mia and managed to pull her head out of the water. She could finally breathe, but she knew she was losing this fight. The image of Sticks letting go and then the soul eater coming out again to repossess Mia’s soul was too much for her. With her free hand she grabbed the Gris Gris bag and prayed, “Lord in Heaven, Help this Poor Sinner.”
Once again Sticks was pulled downward, and Murphy lost the tug-of-war with the soul eater. Mia slipped under the water again.
Mia could just hear Murphy say, “Hang on, Mia. Hang on!” She wasn’t going to let Sticks go. She now could see Stick’s horrible demon eyes fixed on her. She read his eyes and knew he was going to let go of her hand to save her. Mia took her free hand and grabbed his arm, digging her nails into the bark-like skin. She wasn’t letting go.
The ceiling exploded over Murphy. Bricks and slates rained down. Sean managed to drag his zombie body over the priest to protect the man from the heavy projectiles. The roar of wings beating the air was so strong that it forced Father Peter out of his concussive sleep.
Murphy felt two hands circle his waist and pull him upward. He assumed it was Angelo. Who else would wait to the last minute to show up? He hung on to Mia, and as he was pulled upwards, Mia was pulled free of the bowl. Behind her was the demon.
Once Sticks’s hands were clear of the bowl, he twisted his body and pried Mia’s nails out of his arm. He turned and pulled the soul eater up above the water’s edge, and he took his mighty hands and twisted the neck of the entity until he pulled the thing’s head off. He tossed it into the water and looked up.
Mia, who was still suspended in the air by Murphy, looked down at the demon. Their eyes met and their kinship was realized.
“Thank you, Sticks,” she said.
He nodded and looked past her and Murphy. His eyes filled with horror, and he cowered. He ran out of the room, only looking back once to make
sure Mia was on solid ground before he disappeared.
Mia turned and looked up, but all she could see was retreating wings in the night sky.
She looked at Murphy and asked, “Angelo?”
He hunched his shoulders.
“A little help here,” Father Peter pleaded.
Murphy came to his aid, and between him and Sean, they moved the brick-covered corpse off of the priest.
“Lay the body on the bed,” Mia instructed. She removed the ceiling tiles and cleared away plaster debris.
“Sean, how much water did you put in the bowl?” she asked.
“I was cleaning it. About a half bottle, why?”
Mia looked down at the tiny amount of water left in the bowl. “What else happened?”
“I cut myself on one of those sharp shells,” he said.
“You didn’t intentionally call forth the soul eater, did you?”
“On my life…” he stopped and cleared his voice, “Ahem. On my death,” he corrected, “All I did was try to clean it so I could determine its worth.”
“That’s what I thought. Do you really want to make amends?” she asked the spirit.
“Yes. I do.”
“I’m going to ask you to do something, and it’s going to seem really weird, but I assure you it’s necessary.”
“I’m listening.”
“I want you to lie back into your body.”
He looked at the husk and said, “Gross.”
“I know, it will only be for a little while.”
“Sure, here I go,” he said and climbed on the bed and lay down on his back on top of the body.”
“Murphy, could you?” Mia asked.
Murphy walked over and pushed Sean into his body.
Mia knew before she touched it that the bowl would now move. She picked it up, glancing over at Father Peter and said, “I return the blood of first victim.” Mia walked over to the bed and tossed all the water on top of the corpse. She watched it sink in. Mia waited a moment before returning the bowl to its velvet bag and inserting it into the wooden case. She locked it and set it back on the desk.