Gator Baitin' (The Grateful Undead series Book 2)

by Susan Stec

  I personally was ready to bitch-slap her. She was good, damn good. Marcus moved uncomfortably beside me. Christopher hissed.

  No air left in the room as she went on. "My almighty God, my savior, my life, explained the gifts of my sister. She, I can trust. She is my blood, and her gift is your gift, because she can save you," Julie said, her lips in a garish grin, her finger dancing around the church, stopping on her choir.

  The choir jumped to their feet. The pastors joined them, arms held out, palms to the sky, praise coming from faces with eyes closed, lips mumbling.

  "Today we gain strength, the strength and the power our mighty Lord has blessed us with." She turned to Kim. "Come forward my love. Let us show them what you can do with our Lord's help."

  This was clearly directed for our benefit, and I wondered if they knew we were coming tonight. I turned to Marcus with a look that told him he was out of his ever-loving mind to think Christopher helped the situation.

  He smiled at me and pushed, Susan, do you not think she already knew what we were up to? Dorius just left Hungary tonight and she just told us she knew that. Christopher let her know we could hit her where she would stand to lose the most and he did a fine job of it.

  I looked at Christopher with a newfound respect. However, I wasn't so sure Mom would feel the same way.

  Men with handheld cameras ran up the center aisle, positioning themselves on either side of the stage.

  "You in the blue shirt, come forward. You came here today with hope, did you not?" Julie pointed at a man in the center aisle near the back of the church. He sat in a wheelchair nodding his head up and down.

  "What is your ailment?"

  An usher ran toward him with a microphone, shoving it in front of the man's face.

  "I've had two heart attacks and several strokes. I'm paralyzed. The doctors told me I would never walk again," he said with sadness as the crowd hummed with excitement.

  "Do you believe in our Lord, brother?" Kim asked, stepping in front of her sister with a look that asked Julie to calm down.

  "Yes ma'am, I do," he said.

  "Bring him forward." Kim waved.

  The usher pushed the man down the aisle and up to the steps in front of the stage.

  Kim walked down, kneeled in front of him and raised his foot to her lap. One of the men with the cameras approached, filming. Removing his shoe, Kim rubbed his foot. "What is your name, sir?"

  "Peter. Peter Devon," he answered as Julie danced the microphone from her sister's mouth to his.

  "Peter, do you feel my hands on your foot?"

  "No ma'am, I have no feeling from my waist down."

  "I need my followers to see that you truly do not feel pain, Mr. Devon. What shall we do?" Kim asked.

  Julie looked out to the crowd. "I need a knife. Does anyone have a knife?"

  "I got two sharp fangs," Christopher whispered in my ear.

  I leaned back and shot him a horrified look.

  "Just trying to move the show along," Christopher snickered.

  "I have a knife," someone shouted.

  I turned to see Jake walking toward the stage, my mother grabbing for his arm. "Oh Christ, this is all we need."

  Marcus' body shook with pent up laughter.

  Jake handed Julie a small dagger, his nose wiggling as he sniffed the air.

  Julie studied him with a watchful eye as she handed it to Kim.

  Kim took the knife and the entire church leaned forward. People in the back stood and everyone whispered as Kim held the knife to the man's bare foot.

  She looked into the man's eyes as she sliced a small trail of blood along the upper side of his foot.

  Julie moistened her lips as she watched.

  Jake's eyes shot to Julie's mouth. He put his hands over his ears, a frown on his face.

  The man didn't move.

  "Did you feel that, Peter?"

  "No ma'am," he smiled weakly.

  Kim wiped the knife on her newly bought skirt and handed it back to Jake. "Do you think he should have felt that?" Kim asked Jake.

  "She's sucking her lips." Jake pointed at Julie. He hugged the knife and took off in the opposite direction.

  I let out a long shaky breath.

  Julie smiled as the crowd nervously giggled. Kim placed her hands on the man's head and with fast pushing movements made his head jerk as she whispered words I couldn't hear. When she stepped away, she put her hand out for him to rise.

  The church was extremely quiet. Even the piano stopped playing as the group on the stage watched.

  "Come," she coaxed. "walk with me."

  "It's a fake! That man's a plant," my mother's voice rang out loud and clear.

  The man in the wheelchair turned toward Mom. "No ma'am, it's not, and I have the medical reports and the bills to prove it." He turned to Julie. "If I try to get up I'm going to fall."

  Julie shot my mother a nasty grin then extended her hand to the man. "Do you believe in my Lord?" The man nodded. "Then stand and show the people the power he has bestowed on my sister."

  The man got up and walked across the stage, negating Mom's crude statement.

  So much for the shit hitting the fan, I thought, as Marcus laughed in my head.

  Julie slowly turned in my mother's direction. "Do you hear Him now?" she sang out, and then manically laughed when the crowd of followers ran toward her, hands waving, voices yelling, all begging for the same attention.

  ~~~

  Chapter 20

  And she's free fallin'…

  ~~~

  "She's full of something alright, up to her ears in it, and flying free as a frigging bird," Mom said.

  "But Christopher sure pissed her off, now didn't he?" I mused.

  "Yeah, and that's another thing." Mom glowered at Christopher. "I don't remember ordering you to dance around on that stage like some born again miracle. You nearly blew our cover."

  Marcus placed his hand on Mom's shoulder. She quickly shrugged it off, turning angry eyes on him as he tried to console her. "Chick, she knows who we are. She probably knew it the first time she laid eyes on us. Moreover, if she wasn't totally sure, Dorius' trip to Hungary confirmed her suspicions. Christopher just let her know we're not sitting by with our tails between our legs. It was a bold statement, well delivered."

  "And I should have been the one to deliver it," Mom said, spittle flying from her mouth.

  She had on a skippy, powder blue brocade suit with a tight skirt that stopped just below her knees. The waist length jacket had a Jackie Kennedy collar with large pearl buttons down the front and she had a small string of pearls hugging her neck with shoes on to match. Her hair was a mass of sexy platinum curls that hung in a saucy fashion around her heart shaped face. Soft gray shadow shaded her eyelids and dark mauve lipstick made her mouth look moist. Maybe it was the spittle, but either way she looked like a cat on a hot tin roof.

  "It was probably better coming from him, Chick," Paul said. "How could Julie act negatively towards an adorable five year old zealot?"

  I barked a laugh. "Come on! It was funny as hell."

  You didn't laugh at the time, darling, Marcus pushed, getting a face full of nasty upper teeth as I bit my lower lip.

  "It wasn't funny. It scared the hell out of me!" Mom overstated as we stepped through the doors of the church. Resi brought the car around with Jake and Zaire inside. "We're lucky all Hell didn't break loose." Mom whipped her face, dressed out in a scowl, toward Paul. "Did you see the old man?"

  "Yes, he got into a skiff and motored toward the levies leading out to the river. I lost him," Paul answered.

  "Great, so what the hell did we accomplish here?" Mom huffed as she strode toward the Suburban.

  "Showing them that their plans just took a nosedive." Christopher laughed.

  Mom turned her spittle-spewing face on Jake as he opened the car door. "And you, ya idiot, what were you thinking, handing the devil a knife?"

  "I wanted to smell her. She's not what she appear
s to be," Jake said, giving up his seat.

  "That's a no brainer." Zaire laughed from the back of the car.

  Resi was busy fluffing her new hairdo in the rearview mirror. "At least Jake didn't totally freak out. No smoke. No fire. No dragon scales—proud of ya buddy."

  "Oh, ye of little faith. I had complete control of the situation." Jake climbed in the back with Zaire.

  "Oh yeah, you got control alright—you farting, Bic lighter in drag," Mom clucked, "and what'd ya mean she's not what she appears to be?"

  "I don't know. She two distinct smells," Jake said.

  "Oh, yeah, that makes sense. You have two distinct smells most of the time?" Mom was working those saliva glands again.

  Through snake eyes, Jake said, "Two indiscernible, being smells."

  "Lighten up Nanna, what's your problem? You've been a bitch all day." Resi dragged a long red fingernail across the bottom of one of her eyelashes, her chin reaching for her chest as she squinted into the mirror. She made a kissy face at Mom, wiped her fingernail on a piece of Kleenex, wadded it up and tossed it in the center console.

  "Lighten up? Lighten up? I'll lighten up! I'll knock the lights right out of every frigging one of you. You're supposed to be a damn team, working together, not off all over the place doing your own shit! I'm sick of it," Mom screamed, climbing into the passenger seat.

  "You got that out of your system, Nanna?" Resi asked. "'Cause I'm getting tired of you yelling at me. We handle things the way we've always handled things, sweetie, by the hair on our cute little asses."

  "I don't know about you," Mom said, "but I don't have any hair on my ass."

  "Can I hear an Amen?" Zaire quipped, getting a bellow of laughter out of Marcus.

  Gibbie buzzed in through the back door. "Guess what happened in the back office before church started?"

  "There you go again with the twenty questions thing," Christopher scowled.

  "I hope you got something, because we got squat," Mom said.

  "I don't know, Chick. I think I got things rolling in the right direction," Christopher said, pushing Mom's buttons. I backhanded him in the butt as he climbed onto the middle seat.

  "That was nice, a little lower and to the left."

  I started to lift my foot to kick him in the ass, but Zaire brought us back on point. "Will everyone shut the hell up and let the Super-fly wanna-be give-up the information before I swat him."

  Gibbie whizzed by me at lightning speed, whistling loud enough to make my eyes water. "The three of them had a nice little chat."

  "Can you please tone it down a bit? I'm getting a headache," I asked as I squirmed in beside Christopher, rubbing my temples.

  "Here, darling, suck on my arm." Marcus offered me his wrist with a straight face as he sat down beside me.

  Mom leaned between the seats. "Okay, for that remark you get off my shit list."

  I pushed his arm away.

  "Thank you, Chick. What did you hear, fairy?" Marcus asked, grabbing my hand as I clawed his thigh.

  "Kim is being introduced to the ministry," Gibbie said in a buzzed whisper.

  "No shit, Sherlock, where you been?" Zaire shook her head, her eyes bugging out, a snarl on her lips.

  "Yeah, but do you know why?" Gibbie asked, placing his hands on his hips and hovering in front of her.

  "Okay, if someone doesn't slap him, I'm going to," Christopher whined.

  "Alright, alright, it's like this: after Julie went out, the old man and Kim were talking and Julie isn't going to be preaching at all, soon. They have something else in mind for her, but they didn't say what."

  "And that's so important, why?" Zaire asked.

  I tightened my grip on Marcus' fingers and twisted hard.

  He rumbled softly beside me.

  "Cut the fondling crap," Christopher said. "I'm sitting right here."

  "Fondling, hell!" I snapped.

  "What's going on?" Mom asked, leaning through the two front seats.

  "Your daughter's hand is working—"

  "Working what?" Mom's eyes dropped to Marcus' lap.

  Zaire started laughing. Resi tried to look.

  Mom rolled her eyes at Marcus. "You're back on my shit list."

  "I assure you, Susan was inflicting pain, certainly not pleasure, Chick." Marcus smiled at Christopher. I wanted to slap them both.

  "They talked to Erzsebet!" Gibbie blurted out.

  I clenched his thigh in a death grip. Marcus winced.

  "Bet that felt good." Christopher cranked up one eyebrow at Marcus.

  "That's enough, Christopher." Marcus used one of those parental tones that came right before a smack upside the head. He turned toward Gibbie. "You actually saw Erzsebet?"

  "Hang on, hang on, she wasn't actually there, but I saw what they did to make her appear," Gibbie said.

  I sucked in a big breath and blew it at Gibbie, sending him in a flying summersault. "Will you just start at the beginning?"

  Gibbie buzzed closer with a squeaky laugh. "Okay, first of all, there's a pentagram drawn under the carpet on the stage. It covers the whole area where Julie preaches. That's how the demon gets control of her. They said an incantation in front of a mirror on the wall and Erzsebet appeared in the mirror. The short of it is—"

  "Don't give us the short of anything, damnit," Mom shouted, showing the fairy the back of her hand. "You're not making sense as it is. Just tell us exactly what happened."

  "Chick, I think I understand what is going on," Marcus said all sweet like. "Possibly, I can explain it better."

  "We can only hope," Mom said, clearly annoyed with the fairy.

  Marcus favored her with a smile. "I believe Julie is possessed by Erzsebet. The pentagram is to help her slide into Julie's body, taking full control of her. That's why we found them drawn on the floors at the sites of the murders. We can compare notes later. Christopher took pictures of them at both sites, but I'm almost positive we will find they are the same as the one in the church. We know Erzsebet is in servitude with a demon. But she could be summoned from servitude. The old man must be a sorcerer, aiding her. "Remember when we searched the internet and found there were other murders like these during the time her mother ministered? I'm sure Erzsebet and the old man used her mother as well."

  "So, how did she appear to Dorius?" Resi asked.

  "That's a good question, and one we may not get an answer to until my brother arrives tomorrow, but I do have another idea concerning his son, Eval," Marcus said, waiting for Mom's command to address it. He was clearly stepping lightly, trying not to take control.

  "And?" Mom said.

  "I believe Eval is trying to stop them."

  I have to admit, when I heard Marcus announce this, my spirits lifted right through the roof of the car. It would mean Resi, Zaire, and Dorius got the wrong man, and oh God, wouldn't that be a kick in the rubber parts?

  "Hey, that sure explains Eval's part." Christopher's face lit up like Macy's on Christmas Eve.

  "Bullshit! I kicked his ass, and I can tell you the man IS evil," Zaire said.

  "I want to go back into the church to see the pentagram for myself," Mom said, ignoring the argument coming to a boil.

  "We got the right man," Resi seethed with anger.

  "I'm sure he's guilty of killing immortals, and he's definitely consorting with a demon," Marcus soothed her.

  "We're going back in," Mom announced all bossy, like she just might be back in the driver's seat she'd actually never sat in.

  "I think that's a good idea," Marcus said. "Also I'd like to know what the old man said to Erzsebet, Gibbie, and how do you know there is a pentagram on the stage?"

  "Because as Julie left the office, Kim told her to remember to stand in the middle of the pentagram when she said, halleluiah," Gibbie squawked. "Then the old man and Kim recited an incantation, standing in front of the mirror, and waited for Erzsebet to appear. When she appeared, Kim walked away and I followed her to the stage door. I went back to the office, and the o
ld man was still staring at the reflection of Erzsebet and she was not happy."

  "What do you mean she wasn't happy?" Resi asked.

  "She knew Christopher," Gibbie informed. "The old man asked, 'Have you seen the child?' and she answered, 'Yes.' That's all they said. She faded and I came out here."

  "No shit?" Zaire asked.

  "No shit," Gibbie said.

  I looked at Christopher. He looked deep in thought.

  "I'm going in." Resi hopped out of the car.

  "Gibbie can go inside," Paul said. "I'll head around back in wolf form. Chick, drive across the street to that vacant lot we saw coming in. We'll come get you when they've all cleared out." He turned back to the church.

  "Everyone wants a piece of the action. Resi, get your butt back in here, I'm not driving anywhere. I'm calling Jeni," Mom said, clicking on the monitor.

  "JoAnn's been calling all evening. Someone needs to inform her of tonight's events," Marcus said.

  "Oh, let me talk to her." I clicked on my transmitter.

  "Shove an appendage in her mouth, will ya Marcus?" Mom said. "I'll do the talking. I've had enough shit for one evening."

  "That's very crude, Chick," Marcus warned.

  "Yeah? Get used to crude if you ever want to be part of this family." Mom hammered the red button on the dash.

  "Hello sweetie, we were wondering when you'd brief us," Jeni's voice chimed through the monitor.

  "Where's Dorius?" Mom asked.

  "In flight, and he doesn't want to be disturbed. Don't call him. He'll be here in the morning. What have you found out?" Jeni asked.

  A loud shattering of glass came through the speakers followed by JoAnn's annoying whine. "I don't like it when you don't answer me, and you made me drop my new mirror, darn it."

  "Ah, vanity. The mainstay of your existence." Jeni laughed.

  "I'm not vain. I just want to look professional when Dorius gets here," JoAnn huffed.

  "Yes, and I'm sure thinning your brows will accomplish that." Jeni laughed.

  Mom took a deep breath and began to relay the events of the evening while we all listened.

  "So, you don't think Eval is the one who summoned her?" Jeni chirped. "Now that's funny, though I'm sure Dorius isn't going to be amused. How are the girls taking it?"