by Alexie Aaron
“Couldn’t hurt,” Mia quoted Judy. “Plus, we’ve all had an adventure in the meantime.” Mia groaned in pain. Judy encouraged her to breathe and waited for the arrival of Brian Stephen Cid Martin.
Chapter Twenty-three
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The knock reverberated throughout the house. The dishes rattled in the cupboards behind Tonia.
Richard smiled. His undefeatable associates were back in record time. He decided that he would let them kill all who had scorned him, basically everyone on this property. He sensed another presence close, but he hadn’t seen her yet. This presence carried the DNA of the netherworld. If this indeed was true, then why would this person side with the humans? He also didn’t like the look of the superhuman that nearly blocked the light of the world when he stood in front of Richard. He sensed a bond with Mia, but the man’s intelligence was great which was misleading considering his bulk. He could be a prize, a bonus sale perhaps?
Sheriff Ryan walked and stood looking out the kitchen door to the front door. He glanced over at the pinned man and asked, “Why do you do this?”
“Profit,” Richard answered.
“Excuse me, but what could you possibly spend it on? Kibble for the hell hounds?”
“He’s lying to you, Ryan,” Tonia pointed out. “He does it for the power. He didn’t have any power when he was a human, so he bargained himself into this position. He uses the talents of the enslaved to make him look good. Others have no dignity,” Tonia taunted.
“I have only this one experience with an Other,” Ryan admitted. “What is your purpose, and who do you work for?”
“That’s confidential,” Richard answered.
“He means, if he told you, you would kill him instantly.”
“I assumed he was already dead,” Ryan admitted.
“Not dead dead, just mostly dead,” Tonia clarified.
“I’ve heard that before,” Ryan said, scratching his head. “Tell me why we can’t just toss the fucker out?”
“There’s this thing called protocol,” Tonia said and continued, “The Other has to be invited in. The victim…”
“They are not victims!”
Tonia made a face. “They have no choice; they are victims. The victim has the opportunity to negotiate, make changes in a contract that has already been written.”
“How can you change a contract that has already been written,” Ryan asked.
“You can’t. They can add codicils. Mia specified that she not be taken until she delivered her child. The bastard has poisoned her body, and it’s rejecting the child right now.”
“Mother Mary, help us,” Ryan said, crossing himself. “I’d like to take a potshot at this thing myself, but I fear I would only exacerbate the problem.”
“I’m here, and I have ears and feelings,” Richard protested.
Tonia’s lip curled. “Back to the procedure. If the victim agrees to the contract, she or he is allowed to leave peacefully. If they reject it, all their loved ones and property will be destroyed in the process of the Other claiming the sensitive. No matter what, once you’ve been targeted by these leeches, you lose,” Tonia spat.
“You’ve lost someone to an Other, I take it,” Ryan assumed.
“Yes, two very powerful medicine men. Because of him and his kind, the Native populations are without healers and counselors.”
“It was their fault for not choosing a side,” Richard said.
“I beg your pardon?” Tonia motioned for Breeze to step away.
The ghost did so but prepared himself to intervene if necessary.
Tonia reached inside her vest and pulled out two pictures. She held them closely in front of Richard’s face.
He blinked, trying to focus on the men in the pictures.
“Tell me where each had crossed the line. They were good men,” she claimed.
Richard cleared his voice before responding, “Flying Feather used his power to heal a criminal. Sunrise Cloud did not instruct John Basewater’s widow to chop a hole into the wall when he died. John was trapped inside the home instead of being called to his reward.”
“Is this true?” Ryan asked Tonia.
“Yes, but let me elaborate on the charges. Let’s start with Flying Feather. The man he cured had savaged his clan with his brutality. He was carrying a devil inside. Flying Feather removed the devil, and then the man was taken into tribal custody. He was charged with the crimes and sent to prison. There he worked, and still works, on counseling the younger inmates to mend their ways and to take care of their families. You call this crossing the line?”
“Karmically yes,” Richard answered.
“As a Christian, I think what Flying Feather did was right,” Ryan judged.
“But he broke the law, lawman,” Richard sneered.
“No, the man did go to prison. Flying Feather offered him compassionate medical help,” Ryan argued.
“See,” Tonia said. “You Other’s don’t pay attention. I think if there was an appeals court, your case would have been thrown out!”
“There is none,” Richard said smartly. “As long as everything on the contract is correct, I have not done anything wrong.”
“What about this Sunshine Cloud person?” Ryan asked, interested.
“Sunshine Cloud was the last to be taken. When a person dies inside of a Navaho home, the family is counseled to chop a hole in the wall or roof to let the spirit of the dead out. In many cases, Navahos put their dying outside so they will not lose their home. It was a cold February, and the soon-to-be widow would not consent to her husband being treated this way. He died, and Sunshine looked around him and saw all the young children. He knew that this family didn’t have a place to go. So he discouraged the releasing of the spirit until spring. No harm, no foul.”
“He could have taken the man to the hospital or hospice,” Richard said.
“You seem to have this strange way of ignoring people’s poverty, traditions and sense of family. Is this how you sleep, if you do sleep, at night?” Tonia asked.
“He seems to have a lot in common with a psychopath,” Ryan observed.
“Nonsense, I, merely, am a businessman.”
“Same thing,” Tonia dismissed.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
This time, the vibrations moved the appliances on the counters to the point of toppling off. Tonia and Ryan managed to right everything before there was further damage.
“How long does that go on?” Ryan asked Tonia.
“Ask him,” she directed.
“How long do your goons intend on knocking on the door.”
“Until I tell them to stop or the house falls down around you.”
“Murphy built this house; it ain’t coming down,” Ryan professed proudly.
BAM! BAM!
The three waited for the last knock, but when it didn’t happen, Richard’s hands began to shake.
Chapter Twenty-four
Lorna ran beside Murphy. They decided to travel around the back of the house to flank the spirits on the north side. “Stephen, we can injure the ghosts, but we must let He-who-walks-through-time actually destroy them.”
“Why?”
“He has no concept of the Dickensian ghost. He lived before Charles made us see the benefit of being guided by the dead to our salvation. He doesn’t get all weak at the knees hearing an English accent spoken. He only sees them as Mia’s enemies. His death-strike will be permanent.”
“How permanent?” Murphy asked.
“As permanent as a deer woman’s strike.”
“Is the deer woman coming?”
“She cannot interfere in the business of the Other. I can, however, fight for my friends. If the beasts are too strong for the superhuman, we must prepare to disband quickly. Better to run away and live to fight another day.”
“I am dead. I will stay. Stephen Murphy will never run away!”
Lorna touched his arm, encouraging him to look at her. “If Mia is taken into hell, it
is important for you not to follow her. I have another way in,” she conspired.
“So all is not lost.”
“The teachings of my forefathers and spirit mothers have shown me that there is no such thing as impossible. Sure, we lose some fights, but we will find a way. There is always a way.”
“I will listen and abide by your counsel,” Murphy said, his heart hurting with every promised word.
“I will not fail you, not as long as I exist in any reality,” Lorna Grainger swore. “Now, let’s go and kick some ass!”
The large man approaching the Dickensian spirits had stopped the smallest ghost from knocking on the door. He turned and watched the others take up a battle stance.
“I wish you to leave here,” Ed requested.
“Listen to the hulk. He wants us to leave,” the middle ghost said.
“Ah, look at him, he’s all so muscly. He thinks that by giving us a gun show, we’re going to bow in submission, eh what,” the little ghost commented.
The large ghost pulled up his sleeves and, in doing so, manifested Popeye-like forearms. “Now this is what we call a gun show,” he bragged.
“This is your last chance. Leave or cease to exist,” Ed offered.
“I pick none of the above,” the middle ghost said and charged the human.
Ed met his attack by flipping him aside with the iron spear. The ghost got to his feet and looked at his brothers. “Come on, there are three of us and…”
An iron dart flew into his mouth and through the back of the ghost’s head, taking the rest of his words with it. Lorna quickly fired again, pinning the creature to the porch railing. Before the ghost’s comrades could intervene, Ed took his cast-iron-headed spear and quartered the spirit. It screamed as it tried to rejoin its parts.
Irritated by the noise, Ed bent forward and punched his fist into the ghost’s mouth, silencing him forever.
“That’s one down,” Lorna crowed. “Come on, Big Boy, take a chance on a lady,” she encouraged the largest of the remaining ghosts.
The overconfident ghost attacked her, only to find that behind Lorna stood the farmer. Murphy had shadowed her, and instead of one lone woman, he was fighting two warriors. The axe hurt each time Murphy landed a blow.
Ed turned and glared at the remaining ghost and crooked his finger. “Come here, little one.”
The ghost shook his head and vaulted over the remains of his fallen comrade. He took off running, but in his haste, he forgot to avoid the heavily salted sidewalk. He bounced off the invisible wall and into the arms of a surprised but pleased Ed.
The ghost started singing a sleighing song, hoping to remind Ed how utterly charming English ghosts could be.
Ed twisted the ghost into a large circle. He then picked up an iron spike and drove it into a porch post. There he hung the ghost like a Christmas wreath, commenting, “This ought to jingle your bells.”
~
Ted finished his plea to the abbess of the Gray Ladies, who assured him that Angelo and two of the sisters were already en route. They left when Angelo could not return Mia’s call because of the severed phone line. She also took the time to break the bad news to Ted, “What little we know of the methods of Others, I doubt that anyone can cure your wife. We can save the child, but Mia was under the mercy of the Other and his contract.”
Cid watched his friend’s face fall.
Ted got up. He flexed his fists and then sent one into the wall in frustration. The cracking and snapping of bones followed by a string of curses would have set Mia back on her heels. Ted hopped around in pain.
“Why the wall, genius?” Cid said, rushing to his aid. He pulled a plastic bag out of the drawer and filled it with ice. He wrapped a tea towel around it and then applied it to Ted’s hand.
“I think I wanted to hurt myself. I’m just so frustrated.”
“I think you better get back to Mia. She needs you, now more than ever,” Cid counseled. “I’ll keep trying to get through to the others and see if anyone has solution to our problem.”
A shrill whistle emitted from the computer speaker. Marvin the Martian marched his troops of robots across the monitor.
“I think Jake wants to know if you need an escort.”
“No, Jake, you concentrate on flooding the internet with inquiries concerning our guest,” Ted requested.
Marvin saluted and dismissed his troops.
Tom watched the melee from the second story window. He ached to get out there and fight. Ed was a big man, but he was light on his feet, a dancer’s grace in a bodybuilder’s body. He suspected that Ed didn’t lift weights to maintain his girth but acquired the muscles from combat training. Tom loved the twisting a ghost into a Christmas decoration trick. That and Lorna’s and Murphy’s moves made him want to improve himself. He was an expert marksman, and he could pass the physical training tests of the department, but he could be in better shape.
He heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. Tom leaned out of the room and saw Ted move quickly into the nursery holding his hand. Was he their first casualty?
Mia looked up to see Ted standing at the doorway. He had a towel wrapped around his hand.
“What happened?” she asked, encouraging him to sit beside her where Judy had settled her on the mattresses she dragged off the guestroom bed. Ted noticed that a few baby shower gifts were put into service; a bassinet and an infant car seat were sanitized and ready for use.
Judy unwrapped his hand and examined it.
“I punched the wall with my hand,” he admitted.
“Did the wall smart off or something?” Mia teased.
“No, I was being stupid.”
“He’s broken two bones in the process. You ought to have Ed show you how to punch properly. May I?”
“Excuse me?” Ted asked confused.
“Judy wants to heal your hand.”
“Please. I should probably bear the pain, but I may be needed,” he said, looking down at his young wife.
Ted withstood the pain of the healing without a whimper. The tears that rolled down his face were more from the bad news he had to share than from his own discomfort. “Minnie Mouse, I talked to the abbess, and she said that Angelo is already on his way. She did, however, give me bad news concerning your condition. She said that your fate is in the Other’s hands.”
“I pretty much figured that out. I think that’s why I went so ape-shit down there. Is he still encased in salt?”
“Oh yes. The iron kitchen rack was a good touch. How come these things hold him? I thought he wasn’t a ghostee.”
Mia looked over at Judy and asked, “Do you want to answer this one?”
Judy nodded. She knew that Mia wasn’t just being polite but was in considerable pain, pain that she was keeping from her husband. “Richard Chapman has been around ghosts so long that he has picked up their fears as his. If you believe strongly that something is going to hurt you, it will.”
“Two down, one to go,” Tom shouted from the front of the house.
“Did you hear that, pumpkin? We ought to try to get you to the hospital now. Lorna said the snow was deep, but the wind had pushed a lot of it off the road. We could probably make it to the main drag if we used your truck.”
“I’m not sure I can make the stairs,” Mia confessed.
“We’ll carry you,” Ted assured her. “Judy, you’ll go with us, won’t you?”
“I’m up for an adventure,” she said with too much cheer. “We’ll get the two of you safely to the hospital. Doctor Walters may not be happy to see me, but I’m game.”
Mia looked over at her. “You don’t lie very well, Judy. But thanks for trying. We all know that I can’t leave here. Even with the Soho hobos gone, I still have the Other to deal with.”
Murphy continued to take cuts out of the mammoth ghost. He and Lorna backed him towards Ed. Ed tapped the ghost on the back, and the ghost turned around and faced his destiny. The two of them took up a battle stance.
“Let’s give
them room,” Murphy told Lorna.
She nodded, climbed the porch and opened up the front door. She called in, “Tonia, you ought to see this. I’ll watch the booger.”
“Coming,” Tonia said in a singsong voice. She passed her partner in the hall. “Dick’s not having a good day.”
“Let’s see if we can make it worse,” Lorna said.
Tonia eased herself out the front door in time to see the two giants engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Ed had the ghost’s throat in his hands, and the ghost was wrapped around the rest of the superhuman’s body, trying to cause enough pain for the big man to disengage his hold. Tonia spotted the iron spear lying on the ground a few feet from the combatants. She moved quickly to it and waited for her chance. When she saw the small gap, she used the spear to pry the clinging ghost off Ed’s body. She then tossed Ed the spear. He caught it and drove the spear down through the left shoulder of the ghost, through his body and pinning him to the ground through his right foot.
The air was filled with the death cries of the entity. Tonia put her hands over her ears, almost feeling sorry for the thing. It was bad enough the man probably died painfully the first time around, but to be torn from the ether to walk the dark world this way was the most pain anyone would ever have to feel in this life or the afterlife.
Cid walked out of the office, and Tom raised the window above to witness the final moments.
Inside, Lorna gritted her teeth so that the Other would not see how the passing of the ghost affected her. She looked over at Ryan whose eyes acknowledged the pain of the scream, but yet his demeanor also recognized the justice.
“Another bad soul gone,” he said. “What about you? Are you ready for yours?” he asked Richard.
Unnerved but resolved to bring this contract negotiation to a close, Richard actually managed to smirk. “It doesn’t change a thing. Mia will come with me or you all will die. If I have to call the hounds from hell, this contract will be …”