Heaven Sent

by E. Van Lowe

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “I bet you say that to all the girls,” I replied as I yanked my arm free. I found myself again holding my breath.

  Mert laughed. He was drunk as usual. “Only the pretty ones. Where’re you ladies off to? The party’s just gettin’ started.”

  I wasn’t sure at first, but from the sound of things, he hadn’t recognized me.

  “We’re looking for our friend,” said Maudrina. I glanced at her and could see she was following my lead. Good girl.

  “What friend is that?” asked Mert. “’Cause if she’s as pretty as you two, I’d say I hit the trifecta.” He chuckled at his own charm.

  “Erin. The bride,” Maudrina responded with a little sass in her voice.

  “Oh.” That seemed to sober him up a bit.

  “She asked us to help her into her wedding dress, and I guess I was in too much of a hurry and I fell,” I said, shooting another side glance at Maudrina.

  “If you were a gentleman, you’d help us find her… if you knew where to look.” Maudrina placed her hands on her hips, totally in control.

  “Women and weddings, I swear,” Mert said with a sigh. “Yeah, I know where she is. Come on.”

  He started up the stairs, and we moved along behind him. I did my best not to limp, but the pain in my ankle was getting worse.

  “The way you’re hidin’ behind them fancy sunglasses, I’d say you ladies must be movie stars.” Mert continued to flirt as we moved up the stairs.

  “We are,” Maudrina responded coyly.

  “Whoohoo,” Mert said in a teasing tone. “This must be my lucky day. Would I know anything you’ve starred in?”

  “Pretty Little Liars,” Maudrina said without a moment’s hesitation.

  Mert laughed so hard he laughed himself into a coughing spasm. “You got sass, gal. I like sass.”

  I was glad Maudrina was keeping him occupied. The more he talked to her, the less attention he’d pay to me. Besides, I was having enough trouble walking up the stairs without yelping in pain.

  We reached the second floor. The spacious corridor was straight out of a Victorian castle. The walls were lined with giant paintings of fields and meadows. The paintings appeared to be pastoral at a glance, but they were eerily similar to the Satanic paintings that graced Armando’s walls, and I knew if we looked closer, we’d see that the pastures in the paintings contained ghost-like images of people frolicking—naked people.

  “Thank you,” I said as I arrived at the landing a few steps behind them. “You’ve been very helpful.”

  “One more floor.” Mert turned and started up to the third floor.

  My ankle was throbbing like a cartoon injury. I needed to sit down and take the weight off, but I couldn’t stop. Maudrina started up behind Mert and I followed. The agony of each step brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness for dark glasses.

  The third floor was the living quarters, and it had many doors to many rooms lining the spacious corridor. The sound of the music and the wedding party chatter below was much softer up here, as if we were listening to a radio with the volume turned down.

  “You’ve been the perfect gentlemen,” Maudrina drawled to Mert. “Which room are they in?”

  “I’m not always a gentleman. Trust me on that,” Mert said and winked at us. “Come on. I’ll show ya.”

  I shot Maudrina a quick concerned look. If Mert stood outside the door after we went in, he might overhear Millie and Erin telling us to get out. Not good.

  He arrived at the door and was about to knock. “Wait!” I called, moving up behind him, my ankle screaming “bloody murder.” “You don’t want to do that. It’s bad luck for you to see the bride before the wedding.” We arrived at Mert’s side.

  “That’s for the groom,” he said.

  “That’s for any man,” I said, trying to add some sass into my voice I didn’t feel. “We’ll take it from here, handsome.”

  He shook his head and chuckled. “Women and weddings. I’m going to see you two after the ceremony, right?” I suspected he wasn’t leaving without some kind of reassurance he’d have another crack at us.

  “Of course you will,” I replied.

  “You and me are going to dance the night away,” Maudrina said, throwing in a seductive smile. This resulted in plastering an ear-to-ear grin on Mert’s face.

  “Whoohoo! See ya’ll later,” he said and turned to go.

  “See you later, Mert,” I called after him, grateful he was leaving.

  He stopped short and wheeled back around. “Who told you my name?”

  “Umm. You did.”

  Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!

  He moved back to me, his eyes filling with suspicion. “No, I didn’t.”

  “You most certainly did,” Maudrina drawled, getting between us. “What’s the matter, Mert, can’t hold your liquor?” The teasing challenge stopped him in his tracks.

  He gazed at us both with hard eyes then stepped up to Maudrina. Gently, he lifted her sunglasses above her nose with his index finger, and stared into her face. “I like the way you say my name.”

  She shuddered. I could tell she was fighting to keep it together. “P…play your cards right, and you’ll hear me say it a lot more.”

  Slowly his smile returned. “Whoohoo,” he whispered. He dropped the glasses back onto her nose, eased her out of the way and stepped up to me.

  “H… Hi,” I breathed, forcing a smile.

  He lifted my glasses and stared into my naked face. “You got some pretty eyes.” I could smell the liquor fouling his breath.

  “Thank you,” my voice was a meager whisper. I wanted to avert my gaze, but that would only make me seem more suspicious, so I stared back.

  “What about me?” asked Maudrina. She had somehow gotten it back under control and was gazing at Mert with a coquettish grin. “Don’t you like my eyes?”

  Mert dropped my glasses back into place. He faced Maudrina with a devilish smile of his own. “We gone have some fun tonight.” And with that, he headed back down the hall.

  We stood motionless, hyperventilating for a full minute, the air around us filling with sighs of relief. Then we put our game faces on, and I pushed open the door to the room and entered.

  It was an elegant sitting room, with furnishings from a bygone era. Erin was stretched out on chaise lounge, seemingly unconscious. Millie was attempting to shrug her into one of the robes.

  “Come on, honey. Sit up.” She lifted Erin’s arm to slip it into a sleeve. As soon as she released the arm, it flopped back down, like that of a rag doll. “Erin, honey, I’ve got to get you into this thing.”

  “Why?” Erin’s response was hollow and distant, as if she was being awakened from a deep sleep.

  “I don’t ask questions. You know that. I do what Danny tells me.”

  It was sounding as if Danny was some kind of cult leader.

  “Need a hand?” Maudrina asked.

  Millie jerked around. “Who are you?”

  “Friends. Danny said you might need help.” I smiled as I started in her direction.

  “I don’t know you, so you ain’t no friend of mine.” Millie stood and faced us, leaving Erin slumping on the chaise. She placed her hands on her hips, a gesture of defiance.

  “It’s true you don’t know us, but Danny does.” I took a halting step in her direction. I removed my sunglasses so that she would see my eyes and hopefully feel safer with me.

  “But if you don’t want our help, we’ll go,” Maudrina said. “I’m tired of being bounced from pillar to post. I’d just like to go downstairs and have a drink.” Maudrina turned, as if to head out the door. It was a brilliant ploy because the hard lines on Millie’s face disappeared.

  “Hey, wait! I could use a drink, too. Let’s get her into the robe and maybe we can all slip out for a little nip before the ceremony.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Maudrina said, turning back with a grin.

  We moved to Erin. Maudrina and I held her up while
Millie began getting her into the robe. Erin was totally out of it, her eyes rolling around in her head like marbles on a tilt-a-ride.

  “What’s the matter with her?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. You two are new around here, but you’ll discover quick enough your best bet is to do what you’re told and not to ask any questions.”

  “How long have you been a member?”

  She stopped. “Didn’t I just say don’t ask any questions?”

  “But look at her,” chirped Maudrina. “Suppose she dies? We’ll be accomplices.”

  “She ain’t gonna die… yet. Danny needs her alive, at least until the end of the ceremony.” She grabbed Erin’s right arm and shoved it into an oversized sleeve.

  I got the sinking feeling that all my suspicions were correct. Danny was indeed the cult leader. His plan was to raise Satan and offer Erin as his bride. If Satan didn’t rise, they would kill Erin in a blood sacrifice. Of course, I also knew that Satan wouldn’t rise. He had no interest in Erin. He wanted me. This was all part of Satan’s chess game with me.

  I pictured the smile on Armando’s face as he maneuvered me into a corner. He knew there was no way I was going to get out of this without using my abilities, and once I used them—checkmate.

  With Erin in her robe, we rested her back onto the chaise.

  “It’s time,” I said softly.

  Millie looked at her watch. “No. We still have about ten minutes.”

  Maudrina knew exactly what I meant and moved out of the way.

  I stepped in front of Erin. “Demon!” I called in a commanding voice. Erin’s eyes shot open, as if she’d been hit by a jolt of electricity. “I command you to…”

  Erin leaped off the chaise as if possessed—which, indeed, she was. She slapped me across the face before I could get another word out, and ran from the room. We three stood in silent shock for several seconds.

  “Help,” Millie finally croaked. “HELP.” She ran out the open door and up the hall after Erin. We could hear them both screaming as they ran up the corridor.

  I looked at Maudrina. Defeat was scrawled all over her face, as if she’d bet all her money on the wrong team. “That didn’t go so well,” I said.

  She shook her head, removed her sunglasses and sighed. “No. But I think we can close the book on whether there’s a demon inside her or not.”

  “Agreed.”

  “How’s your face? She gave you a pretty good shot there.”

  “Not as bad as my ankle.”

  I couldn’t believe how calm we both were as we waited for all hell to break loose. I thought of Orthon’s warning about using my abilities. Now I was certain we wouldn’t get out alive unless I used them. Truth is, I’d known it all along. This had always been a suicide mission—at least it was for me.

  “Hey there, pretty eyes.” Mert came strolling through the open door. “I thought I knew you.” He was smiling. It was the kind of smile that made my skin crawl.

  “Hey there, Mert,” I said with a resigned sigh. “We’ve been expecting you.”

  He cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes, surprised by my calm response to his menacing smile. “Oh, you have, have you?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “I knew I’d seen you before. It was outside the Rattlesnake.” He eased the door shut behind himself.

  “You’ve got a good memory for a drunk,” I replied. I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t the least bit afraid. With the calming presence of Maudrina by my side, I knew I’d be in control of my abilities. I stepped toward him and his eyes widened in surprise. Then he laughed. It was a private laugh, as if someone had told a joke that only he understood.

  “Oh, I get it. You think because there’s two of you that you can overpower me.” He stooped into a wrestler’s crouch and laughed again. “Bring it on. I like a good female challenge.”

  I stopped a few feet in front of him. “I don’t want to hurt you, Mert, but I can and will.”

  “Just answer me one question. Is this tag team, or am I taking you both at the same time?” He started bouncing around as if he was in the WWF. “Whoohoo!” he called. He was having a jolly good time.

  I stepped closer, close enough for him to reach out and grab me. “Please let us go and no harm will come to you,” I said, making my final appeal before I brought the hammer down.

  He peered into my eyes and could see that I was speaking with conviction. What he didn’t realize was everything I’d said was true. I didn’t want to hurt him. But Mert didn’t believe my hurting him was possible. He snorted. “You? Harm me?” Just then, his face went blank, his eyes hazing over like an incoming fog.

  “Please step aside, Mert.”

  “Yes, of course.” Mert stood up out of his ridiculous crouch and stepped aside. When he did, he stood there motionless, expressionless, like a wind-up toy in need of a wind-up.

  “What’s happening?” Maudrina couldn’t believe her eyes—neither could I.

  “I… don’t know. I think my abilities have increased and I now have Angel Eyes.”

  “What’s Angel Eyes?”

  “A form of glamour used by angels. Now I have it, too.” I shot a glance at Mert. He was standing like a robot waiting for a command.

  “How long does Angel Eyes last?” Maudrina took a quick, anxious glance at the door.

  “I’m not sure.”

  “Then let’s get out of here before he comes around.” Maudrina opened the door and started from the room.

  “No,” I said. “Before we go, I think we should have a little chat with Mert.”

  Maudrina stopped in the doorway. “A chat?” She was eyeing me as if that was the worst idea she’d ever heard.

  “This ability works like a truth serum,” I said. I looked deeply into Mert’s eyes. “Mert, tell me why Danny wants to marry Erin off to Satan?”

  “Power,” he said in a monotone, his eyes looking through me as if I were glass.

  “But Danny doesn’t really believe that Satan is going to rise up and marry Erin, does he?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  I shot Maudrina a quick look. Neither of us had any idea where this was headed. “Then explain to me why he’s doing it?”

  “He want’s control over the local sect. After tonight he’s going to be crowned their leader. The sect has thousands of dues-paying members. Once he’s in charge, he’ll control the treasury.” He continued looking through me with a steady gaze. “After tonight, we’ll be rich.”

  Money. Danny had put together this big charade of a wedding for money. Danny wasn’t a Satanist. He was scam artist out to scam the Satanists.

  “Is Erin drugged?”

  “Yes.”

  I thought so. She seemed drugged until I tried calling the demon out. Seems my calling him out, woke him up. I had one final question. “Will Danny kill Erin when Satan doesn’t rise tonight and take her as his bride?”

  There was a long pause. “I don’t know.” There was a sadness in Mert’s monotone response that led me to believe that while he may have been a molester, he wasn’t up for murder.

  “We’ve got to get down there,” I said to Maudrina in a loud whisper. I again peered into Mert’s eyes. “Mert, I know you’re tired. I need you take a long nap right now. A very long nap.”

  “Okay.”

  Mert dragged over to the chaise, moving like a zombie. He lay down and curled into a fetal position, stuck his thumb in his mouth, and in seconds he was snoring like my grandfather on the couch after Thanksgiving dinner.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Our first stop was the closet under the stairs where we slipped into the robes we’d wear into the chapel. We pulled the humongous cowls over our heads, hoping to blend into the crowd. No sense taking the chance that Millie or anyone else might recognize us.

  We needed to get Erin out of the chapel before something horrible happened to her. We figured we’d call out the demon later, after we’d gotten her to safety. The hope was that I could c
reate some kind of wind diversion, and while the Satanists were dealing with the wind, Maudrina would smuggle Erin out. We realized it wasn’t much of a plan, especially if Erin resisted, but it was the best we had.

  Danny must have assumed Mert had taken care of us because no one else came looking for us. That was a stroke of luck.

  I marveled at how things had changed as we passed through the empty ballroom en route to the chapel. A short time ago, the lavish ballroom had been alive with music and guests. Now it was like a ghost town. The eerie silence filled the empty space with an air of despair. I wondered if we were too late.

  We hurried through with my ankle feeling as though I’d starred in the movie Misery, and someone had taken a sledge hammer to it. We moved down the short flight of stairs and into the ante room. As we entered, we were greeted by excited murmurs from the crowd up ahead in the chapel. My adrenaline began pumping as if through a supercharger, and I said a short, silent prayer that we weren’t too late.

  We threw open the large wooden chapel doors and entered. The chapel was packed, like an SRO crowd at a rock concert. Of course this crowd was more like monks at a Gregorian chant concert, but still. We couldn’t see the altar through the knot of robed guests, but we could tell the ceremony was about to begin. I was filled with relief that we weren’t too late, but couldn’t hang onto the feeling for long. We were in time, which meant we had work to do.

  “Can you see anything?” I asked. I was anxious and nervous and worried that Danny would kill Erin before we could stop the ceremony.

  “No. We need to get closer.”

  Most of the crowd had their hoods up, framing their faces in sinister shadows. The fragrance of incense was in the air. I privately commended Danny for all the little touches he’d added to pull off his charade. He may have been a roughneck, but he wasn’t as dumb as he looked.

  We tried pushing through the robed throng to get to the front. “I’m standing here,” an angry man said. “Stop shoving,” said someone else. Excited Satanists were clustered in front of us, blocking the path to the front. There was no way they were letting us through.

  “We can’t get by,” I said to Maudrina, my hope of rescuing Erin beginning to fade. “We’re trapped back here.”