by E. Van Lowe
My comment caught her by surprise. She had no idea what I was talking about.
“Isn’t that a train station?” she asked, puzzlement on her face. I calmed myself as it dawned on me she’d come to tell me Guy had been kidnapped.
“I’m sorry to snap at you, Rocky.”
She stiffened visibly. Her expression shifted to one of superior arrogance. “Do not call me that, mortal. My name is Roxanne.” She was staring at me with the same contempt as when I first saw her.
“My name is Megan,” I said with equal nastiness. We stared daggers at each other for several moments. “What are you doing in my bedroom, Roxanne?”
She looked around my room with distaste. “I am led to believe that you possess The Book of Calls.” She said it as though it couldn’t possibly have been true.
“Can any of you non-mortals keep a secret?” I said out of exasperation. I knew Harrison had contacted her and told her I had the book, just to prove to the angels he knew more than they did.
Her expression shifted. “Then, it is true?”
“Yes. But if you’ve come to take it from me you’re going to have a fight on your hands. I need the book to save Guy. A demon has captured him.”
I studied her face to see if she knew her betrothed had been captured. “Why would you have The Book of Calls?” she demanded in smug disbelief, totally ignoring what I’d said about Guy.
I lost it. “Look, you want to think I don’t have the book, fine! I’m good with that. Now, get out of my room.”
This caught her off guard. She wasn’t used to being spoken to so brazenly by mortals. She was totally perplexed by me.
“Where is it?” she asked, taking the smugness out of her voice.
“I’m not telling you.”
“But if you have it, then I must retrieve it from you.”
“Hah! Like that’s gonna happen!” I let loose a short, derisive laugh.
Now she was even more perplexed. She couldn’t believe that my arrogance was matching hers.
“I cannot take no for an answer,” she said, but her words lacked conviction. I think she was coming to the realization that if I did have the book there was no way I was going to turn it over to her without a fight.
“I need the book to save Guy,” I said with a hint of defiance.
“Guy cannot be saved,” she said. Her words lacked emotion. “Since he has chosen a mortal, heaven will not step in. I’m afraid he is lost. His fate has been sealed.”
I bristled at the way she said mortal. “You don’t sound afraid.”
She fixed me with an even stare. I couldn’t get a rise of emotion out of her. I moved to my desk and sat.
“I’m looking for a call in the book to free Guy from the demon.” I was trying to get her away from my bed, since the book was under my pillow.
“There is no such call.”
“How do you know? Have you read the book?” I inquired with a nasty lilt.
“No,” she admitted, backing down. “I have never seen it.”
I couldn’t get past her attitude. “You don’t seem the least bit broken up about Guy. You two were supposed to get married, right?”
“Yes, we were, until you came along.” There was a hard edge to her tone. Her eyes flashed resentment.
“I always thought angels were kind and caring. But you don’t seem to care about him one way or the other.” Passion rose in my voice. “Well, I care. I love him. Not sure you understand that since I don’t believe you have any idea what love is. And if I can’t find a call in the book to save him, I will turn the book over to Beelzebub to free him.”
I surprised myself with what I’d just said. I hadn’t thought it. At least, I hadn’t admitted to myself that I’d thought it. But once the words were out, I knew them to be true. I wasn’t just saying it to be mean. If I couldn’t find a call, I would give the book to Beelzebub in the hopes that he would free Guy.
Her eyes widened. She came across the room and stood in front of me. “That is lunacy!” she barked.
“No! It’s love! He was going to give up heaven for me. I will give up the earth for him.” Tears were forming in my eyes. I didn’t want to cry in front of her, but I couldn’t help myself.
Something changed in her expression. She took a step back. “What about the future of the world?” she asked.
I breathed in deeply. “I know this is going to sound incredibly selfish. I do care about the future of the world.” My cheeks were now awash with tears. “But I care about Guy more.”
Suddenly she began to glow, getting brighter and brighter, growing to such a brilliance I had to squint to look at her. Beautiful silvery wings appeared on her back. She was an angel, magnificent to behold, engulfed in a glowing ball of light. I wasn’t sure what she was about to do, so I eased away from the desk, preparing for a fight.
Then, there was a great, blinding flash, and a loud whoosh, after which, Roxanne and the glowing light were gone. My room was back to normal.
I rushed over to my bed and stuck my hand under the pillow. The book was still where I’d left it. Thank God. It was a quarter of eight. I wiped my tears, and opened the book to where I had left off.
#
At nine o’clock the phone rang. It was Maudrina. Suze brought the portable to me since there wasn’t one in my room.
“Hi,” I said after I had shut the door.
“We haven’t spoken all day. I was worried sick. Then I figured your mother must have taken your phone when you didn’t return any of my calls or texts.” There was concern in Maudrina’s voice.
I smiled. It made me feel good knowing she was concerned for me. “You figured right. I’m fine. Anything exciting happen at school today?”
“The usual. Some of the Poplariti were nervous that you might tell Principal Lockhart they were at The Explosion. I told them they had nothing to worry about.”
My smile broadened. “Thanks.”
“Aunt Jaz asked me to call you.” I stiffened. “She asked me to tell you something.”
My mind was reeling. Did Aunt Jaz tell her I was there? “What?” I asked, hoping my voice didn’t betray me.
“She said to tell you there was something called a Hell Gate. She believes there’s one in the basement of the house where you found the book.” There was a pause at the other end. “Is there a reason she wants you to know this?”
“None that I know of,” I replied, trying to play it off.
She laughed lightly. “My Aunt Jaz worries too much. I think she thinks Satan might come back for the book. I guess to get back to earth he would need to travel through the Hell Gate.”
“That must be it,” I said relieved she had no idea I was at Aunt Jaz’s this afternoon. “Tell her to stop worrying. He won’t be back.”
“I told her that. But she worries. That’s just how she is. She started going on about people handling their problems the best way they saw fit. It made absolutely no sense.”
Aunt Jaz figured if I didn’t find the call I was looking for, I would want to deliver the book to Beelzebub. She knew it before I did.
We talked a few more minutes about school, and then I hung up. I couldn’t get over that Aunt Jaz had her call me. It was Aunt Jaz’s way of letting me know she wouldn’t be disappointed if I used the book to win Guy back. I was handling my problem myself, and not pushing it off on others. Roxanne thought delivering the book to Beelzebub was foolish. It probably was. But she knew nothing of love.
Yer a fool for love, Harrison had said on more than one occasion. Only time would tell how much of a fool I actually was.
Chapter Twenty
At ten o’clock, I told Suze I was turning in for the night.
“I’m really exhausted,” I said, throwing in a fake yawn.
“You’ve had quite a productive day. I’m glad to see you’re keeping up with your AP classes.”
I shot her a pleasant smile, then hugged her, went into my room, and turned off the light. I don’t think she realized the hu
g was extra-long. I don’t think she noticed I inhaled deeply the smell of her hair. She had been a great mother and for most of my life, one of my best friends. I don’t think she detected the extra emphasis I placed on the words I love you, Mom. The journey I was about to take would be a dangerous one. If I never saw her again, I wanted my last words to reflect my love.
I dressed casually. I wasn’t sure what hell was like—hot as hell, I imagine.
I placed The Book of Calls in a denim shoulder bag. My plan? I didn’t have one. My hope was that by delivering the book in person a miracle would happen. Guy and I would be reunited and allowed to leave hell together. I couldn’t conceive of anything beyond that. I placed an extra vial of holy water in the bag, along with the twelve-inch blessed crucifix. I kissed the tiny cross around my neck, opened my bedroom window, and climbed out.
#
I spent the entire cab ride second guessing myself. Demons cannot be trusted. I knew that. I thought I could trust the Ibwa and he had tricked me. So why did I believe I could trust Beelzebub to honor his word and release Guy after I had given him the book?
More than once I started to tell the driver to turn around. That’s when Guy’s sweet face would drift into my consciousness. I loved Guy. I knew that insisting on the timeout had broken his spirit and made him vulnerable. The demons would never have captured him if his guard hadn’t been down. I owed him this.
The cab let me out a few doors down from the house. The street was as I remembered it, a quiet street of single family homes. The flicker of TV light illuminated some of the upstairs windows. Aside from the fact that someone once raised the devil on this street, this was a community where nothing much ever happened.
Armando’s house was black as pitch. As I stood there, a feeling of dread came over me like a sudden onset of the flu. I started to shiver, my teeth chattering like a five-year-old who’d just stepped out of a bath. If the thought of entering the house wasn’t scary enough, this time I needed to venture down into the basement and search for a Hell Gate.
Stop it! I told myself. Demons feed on fear and uncertainty.
No matter how I felt, I could not allow myself to display either. I again thought of Guy. Visions of his dreamy eyes soothed me. My teeth stopped chattering. I began moving towards the house. There was a for sale sign on the lawn. I imagined what the classified ad must have looked like.
Spacious home, once owned by the devil, comes complete with a Hell Gate.
The thought made me smile, and my tensions eased a little more. That’s when I saw something move in the shadows. A dark figure darted from a deep shadow behind the house and was quickly moving towards me.
I pulled the crucifix from the shoulder bag and thrust it forward. “Stay back!” I called.
“That will not work on me,” the dark figure said, emerging from the shadows. Roxanne moved into the light. She was dressed in what must have been her demon battling gear, leather pants and boots. Her armored black vest looked like something a SWAT team might wear. Her blond curls were down, framing her face. She was a stunning yet imposing sight.
Even though she was moving toward me with little regard for the crucifix, I continued thrusting it at her.
“I’m warning you, Roxanne! If you want the book, you’re going to have to fight me.”
She stopped and eyed my shoulder bag curiously. “Is it in there?” she asked. There was a hungry look in her eye. I shoved the crucifix back into the bag, and balled my fists, ready for a fight.
“Yes. But you’re going to have to kill me to get it.” I shifted the bag so that it was hanging behind me where she couldn’t stare at it.
“I have not come to stop you. I am going with you.” She looked into my eyes, her expression unwavering.
“I’m not an idiot, Roxanne. You’re just saying that so you can get close enough to snatch the bag.” Even though I didn’t trust her, I dropped my hands.
“I am not trying to trick you,” she replied, continuing to look me in the eye, her expression unreadable.
Can I trust her?
“Do you know where I’m going?” I asked, lowering my voice although there was no one around to hear.
She nodded slowly. “You are going to hell,” she said gravely, “to deliver The Book of Calls to Beelzebub in exchange for Guy’s freedom.”
My turn to nod. “That’s right. Why would you, an angel, go along with that?” I folded my arms across my chest.
“The demons want us to be divided. That is how they weaken us. They pit us against one another and then they conquer. I do not believe the demon, Beelzebub, will honor his word. You are a mortal; you will have a much better chance at success with me by your side.”
I didn’t like the way she called me a mortal, but I let it slide. “That’s true,” I replied, keeping my arms folded across my chest.
“I was searching around back for a way in. The back door is unlocked.” Without waiting for me to respond, she moved back into the shadows, heading for the rear of the house.
I was left standing in the dim glow of the streetlight, looking like a fool with my arms folded across my chest.
“Are you coming?” she called from the shadows.
I followed her into darkness.
It was even darker in the back yard, the only light coming from a night light inside the house. Roxanne was standing on the concrete steps holding the rear door open. “Come,” she whispered urgently.
I still wasn’t sure if I could trust her, but what she had said was true. I’d have a much better chance against Beelzebub with a powerful angel, a demon fighter, by my side. I wondered if there was another reason she had come along. I wondered if she was in love with Guy and was hoping to win him back.
She didn’t act like it. It seemed that she had never been in love. But how can you be betrothed to someone for so long without feeling at least a tiny bit of love? I wondered if we were in competition for Guy’s heart.
The back door led into the kitchen where the night light burned, plugged into a socket on the kitchen counter. The house hadn’t been open for some time. The air was thick with a musty odor that reminded me of my grandmother’s house after she died.
Through the dim light, we could see the kitchen had been cleaned out. The cupboards were left hanging open, and bare. A soft hum emanated from the refrigerator. Aside from that, the house was eerily silent.
“There’s a door at the end of the hall,” I said. “It leads to the basement. The Hell Gate is there.”
I recalled the last time I was in the house. I had been attacked by Robin, the dog who was Señora Marisol’s familiar. I had tossed Sam’s throw me ball into the basement. The dog ran after it, and I slammed the door shut behind her. That’s the only reason I’m still alive. A shiver ran through me when I remembered what had occurred that night.
She can’t still be down there, can she?
I was about to find out. We were heading down the hall towards the basement door, when someone stepped from the shadows up ahead and shined a flashlight into our eyes.
“Gotcha!”
Chapter Twenty-one
I fumbled for the crucifix.
“What are you doing here?” snapped Roxanne.
“I should be asking you that question.”
It was the voice of a man, and not that of a demon shining the light in our eyes. I squinted into the shadows to get a better look. From the shape of him, he seemed fat and not very tall.
“Stop shining the light in my eyes,” Roxanne demanded. Even when she had been caught breaking into a house, she seemed smug and arrogant. “I work for the real estate company.”
“Yeah? Well, so do I. I’m the guy the real estate office hired to keep you vandals out.”
A night watchman, I thought.
“Look at me,” Roxanne demanded. “Do I look like a vandal?” Of course she didn’t. She was gorgeous, dressed in black. Me, on the other hand… “I was sent here by the real estate company. Stand aside and allow me entry int
o the basement,” she commanded.
There were several moments of silence where I was sure the watchman was going to call for backup. And then, “Yesss,” said the watchman, his voice soft and slurry as if he had been hypnotized. I knew Roxanne had done the mind melding thing on him.
“You will not remember that we were here,” she added.
“Okay.”
The watchman shifted the beam, shining the light on the basement door so we could see clearly.
“Hurry,” she whispered. She began moving quickly for the basement door. I was right behind her. We needed to get through the Hell Gate before the spell wore off.
We entered the basement doorway and shut the door behind ourselves. Roxanne flicked the light switch at the top of the stairs. A single bulb lit somewhere below us in the basement.
“That was a neat trick,” I said as we headed down the creaky basement stairs. “What is it?”
“It is a form of glamour. All angels can do it. We call it Angel Eyes.”
“Harrison can do it,” I said. We reached the bottom of the stairs. The basement was totally empty and swathed in creepy yellow light.
“Harrison? Harrison is Neph,” she said with disgust.
“Okay, I guess he is. But he can still do that Angel Eyes thing.”
She was quiet for several moments. “You are certain of this? You have seen him do it?”
“Yes. He used it on my mother last night. He said he needed to come into our house and look for a gas leak, and she let him in, no questions asked.”
“Interesting.”
I had never seen a basement that was totally empty before. It made the shadow-filled room seem even more creepy. Even though the basement was empty, I recognized the door that Armando and Señora Marisol had appeared through.
That’s it! That’s the gate,” I said breathlessly. “Although the last time I was here, it had strange writing and symbols around it. And there was an altar over there,” I added pointing. “And there was a hexagram drawn on the floor.” A slow churning began in my stomach as I realized I was about to enter hell.