I took a chance anyway, and walked up to the front door and pulled it open. Sure enough, it was unlocked. I only hoped she was awake and in a talking mood. I stepped into the storefront. Not a light in the place. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by that—she had no need for them. Fortunately, I could see in the dark.
Every time I set foot in here, goosebumps rose along my skin. I knew I had no reason to be nervous, but that woman just had a certain quality about her. Something that always set my teeth on edge. She had the power to unnerve anyone who came in her presence.
I walked through the front of the shop, approaching a curtain. Already, I could smell the floral scent as I reached for the curtain and pulled it aside. And there she was, sitting in a large chair, a round table in front of her. A deck of tarot cards rested on the table. In her bony hand was a pipe, connected by a hose to a tall hookah resting by the side of her chair.
Her silver hair was long and stringy, her skin pale and wrinkled. She removed the pipe from her lips and blew a cloud of smoke. As it dissipated, I saw her white eyes stare right into me. Cassandra might have been blind, but she could see better than anyone else I’d ever met.
“Had a feeling you’d come,” she said.
“No you didn’t.”
Cassandra gave a cackle. “Don’t you understand that I know all, Luther Cross?”
I took a breath. Cassie always enjoyed playing games like that. I pulled out the chair across from her and sat down. “If you knew I was coming, do you know why I’m here?”
“Hmm…” Cassandra tapped the pipe against her lips. “Very good question, Luther. But the better one is do you know why you’re here?”
I rolled my eyes. “Look, can we just skip the cryptic bullshit for once, Cassie? I’ve got things I’d rather be doing.”
“Humor an old woman.”
She held the pipe out for me. I accepted it and took a slow drag. The scent of jasmine filled the air, the hookah bubbling with my draw as the coals atop the bowl burned bright orange. I removed it from my mouth, quickly exhaling the smoke.
“There, happy?” I set the hose on the table and tapped the tarot deck. “Now are we gonna get on with the reading or what?”
Cassandra reached out, but instead of taking the deck, she grabbed my hand in her own. I looked at our hands, then up at her in surprise. I tried to pull away, but it seemed futile. The old bag was a lot stronger than she looked.
“I don’t think the tarot is what you want,” she said.
“Why not?” I asked. “And could you let go of my damn hand already?”
Cassandra didn’t. Instead, she turned my hand over, holding it firm in her left while her right index finger traced lines along my palm.
I rolled my eyes. “Palm reading now?”
She raised the index finger to her lips and shushed me. Placing it back against my palm, she continued tracing lines. I watched her finger’s movements, almost transfixed by them. I must have been staring too hard, because I could’ve sworn I saw her finger leave trails.
“You’re restless,” she said, staring at me with those vacant eyes. “Something weighs on your soul…and I see there’s something on your shoulders…”
Oh god, don’t say it… C’mon, Cassie, don’t go for the obvious joke.
Her lips curled into a smile and she said, “An angel on one and a demon on the other.”
And she went there. My response was to roll my eyes.
“And don’t roll your eyes at me, boy.”
“Okay, can we stop?” I tugged on my hand again, this time successfully pulling it away. “I don’t want to smoke your hookah, I don’t want to get my palm read, and I sure as hell don’t want to listen to your terrible jokes. I came here because I need a seer’s perspective. You obviously know what’s going on with me, so let’s cut the bullshit.”
“I can sense their presence on you, and I see the burden you carry.”
“Right, having to march into Purgatory with an angel and a demon backing me up isn’t exactly doing wonders for my blood pressure.”
Cassandra shook her head. “No, not that. It’s your fear.”
“And what am I afraid of?”
“Purgatory holds the power of change, Luther,” said Cassandra. “After Dakota, you’ve been different. I can see it in your aura. It’s darkened. Before, you felt unstoppable. A demon here, a spirit there; it was nothing too difficult for you to handle. But when you involved yourself in that girl’s life—”
“You mean when you involved me,” I said, pointing at her. “Don’t forget who sent her to my place.”
“You needed to be on that path, Luther. There are energies aligning.”
I shook my head. “Nope, not gonna listen to this.”
“Luther, there are plans in motion. Something is coming, and you have to be ready to face it. You have a—”
I slammed my fist on the table, the cards scattering. “If the next word out of your mouth is ‘destiny,’ then so help me, I don’t care that you’re a feeble old woman, I will break your jaw.”
“And why does that word scare you so much?”
“You know,” I said. “Those fucking monks fed me that destiny bullshit before I could even crawl. That there was a plan for me, something I was meant to do with my life. But it’s all meaningless. There’s no script for this play, and even if there is, no one’s gonna force me to act. I’m making my own decisions here.”
“Yes, you are,” said Cassandra. “And what have your decisions led to so far?”
I snickered. “Well, I’ve got an amazing condo. A good job that pulls down a healthy income. And I’m banging a sexy vampire. All I’m seeing is checks in the plus column.”
“And how are you sleeping?”
Every now and then, Cassie had a nasty tendency to slip in something that caught me off-guard. This was one of those times. I looked away from her. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do. Ever since you gave in to your darker half to save Dakota, you’ve felt it.” Cassandra reached for one of the scattered cards and turned it over, setting it down in front of me. A crimson beast stared at me with a smile on his wicked face, the inverted pentagram above his head. The words THE DEVIL were stamped at the bottom of the card.
“Remember the last time I did a reading for you? This came up.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“It’s back, though this time, I get the feeling the reading has changed,” she said. “The Devil is growing more powerful. It’s no longer about being bound by your own ego. Now it’s about something more.”
“And what’s that, lady?”
Cassandra shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t think you want to know.” She leaned back in her chair and sucked on the hookah hose.
“So what are you saying?” I asked. “That my destiny isn’t what the monks told me it was? That I’m going to end up on the wrong side of this conflict?” I picked up the card and waved it in front of her face. “What the fuck are you trying to tell me, Cassandra?”
“You know the answer; it’s right there in your hand.”
I glared at the card, the glow from my eyes shining off its surface. “Aduro.”
When I spoke that word, the card went up in flames. I brought it closer so Cassandra could feel the heat from the fire.
“Feel that, old woman? That’s what I think of all this crap about destiny,” I said. “I’m not doing this because it’s part of some great plan, I’m doing this because I’m going to get paid a lot of money.” I closed my hand, snuffing out the fire and then letting the ashes drop to the floor.
“You didn’t come here for guidance, Luther,” she said. “You came for reassurance. You wanted me to tell you that this was the right path.”
“And you still haven’t given me a straight answer yet.”
Cassandra sighed. “This thing that’s coming? It’s bigger than any of us have ever seen. But I believe you are the one who can fight it.”
“Then what’s th
e problem?” I asked. “I’m going into Purgatory, aren’t I?”
“Yes, but for the wrong reasons. And if you go into Purgatory without a clear head on your shoulders, you will be corrupted by its influence. The demon in you wants you to keep going forward. It got a taste of freedom when you let it out before, and now it craves more. If Purgatory corrupts you—”
“The demon will take over,” I said. “Well, you don’t gotta worry, because that’s not happening. I’ve controlled it before, I can control it again. And I won’t be doing this alone.”
“Yes, I know all about your plan,” said Cassandra. “Bringing the girl with.”
“Why would that be a bad thing? Humans are better at resisting Purgatory than anyone else. Tessa’s got the right temperament for the job; she can keep me grounded.”
“And the others?”
“Raziel and Asmodeus may be assholes, but they both want to stop this war before it starts.”
“Do they?”
I folded my arms across my chest. “What are you saying? That one of them’s somehow involved in this?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, I honestly don’t,” she said. “I’m not trying to play games with you, Luther. The visions aren’t always clear. And there are more clouds when I try and look into your future than at any time before. Maybe it’s exactly as you say; maybe both Asmodeus and Raziel are interested in doing the right thing. But I can’t be certain, and that scares me. Just as it should scare you, given Raziel was the one you handed Dakota over to.”
“What choice did I have?”
“There’s always a choice. You’d do best to remember that. Now more than ever.”
I stood up. “Thanks for being completely useless, Cassie. Guess I’ll just have to figure this all out on my own.”
I turned and started towards the door. But Cassandra called out to me one last time. I pulled the door open, but before walking through it, I stopped.
With a sigh, I closed it and looked back at her. “What?”
“I have seen a vision of you, of what your future holds.”
“Okay, and…?”
“Darkness,” she said. “When I try and look into your future, all I see is you covered in a shroud of darkness.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, well, maybe you’re confusing the future with your little fortune telling shop. Seriously, get some lights in here.”
I opened the door and walked out, shutting it behind me. I leaned against the driver’s side of the Camaro and lit a cigarette. Coming here was a mistake. Cassie’s visions have proven helpful in the past, but this time, it seemed she was completely off the mark. Wasn’t sure if that was because whatever we were dealing with had some powerful magic at his command or if the old bat was just going senile.
But either way, I wasn’t going to let some half-coherent ramblings get to me.
6
Tessa ran her own comic book shop in Logan Square, called The Sanctum. I’d often told her she was wasting her time with that. With her skill as a witch, Tessa could charge top dollar for her services, just like I did. But she always shooed that suggestion. For Tessa, magic wasn’t something to be exploited for personal gain. It was a calling. She still felt a day job was necessary.
Maybe our backgrounds were responsible for our different points of view. She grew up in a normal, human household and discovered magic when she was in high school. But I was raised in that environment. Her first exposure to magic was that it was something unusual and extraordinary. For me, being good at magic was no different than being good at math or sports. No one ever got on Michael Jordan’s case for making money off basketball.
I sat in my Camaro, staring at the front door of the shop, alternating between sips of my Starbucks coffee and puffs of my cigarette. It was already eleven, so the store was open. The sign in the window even said as much. And yet, I still hesitated. I’d told myself it was just because I wanted to finish the cigarette first, but that had been two cigarettes ago.
I turned the rearview mirror towards my head and stared at myself through my sunglasses. “Why are you being such a pussy, Cross?” I asked myself. “Just put out the damn cigarette, go in there, and talk to her.”
I didn’t usually get rattled, but the argument with Tessa and Cassie’s words had done just that. Didn’t want to make a habit of it. The only way to do that was to get it over with and move on. I was about to try and convince her to go on one what would likely be the most dangerous vacation of her life.
“No time like the present,” I said, and put the cigarette out in the ashtray.
I climbed out of the car, slipping one of my business cards onto the dashboard. After closing the door, I held my hand over the windshield, the shadow falling over the card. I concentrated and said, “Praestigia.”
The card changed appearance. Now, it looked like a regular parking slip for the city of Chicago, time-stamped and everything. I might have been rich, but that’s because I didn’t pay for things when I didn’t have to.
I walked up to The Sanctum and reached for the handle, hesitating for a moment before pulling the door open. The bell above rang and I stuck my hands into the pockets of my trench coat.
The shop was empty. Rows of new comics were on the racks on one end of the wall, and standing displays and tables with T-shirts featuring logos and images from not only comics, but also movies and TV shows, lined the middle of the store. The register was at the end of a row of glass display cases housing statues, rare trading cards, and other high-ticket items. On the racks hanging behind the counters were some rare comics, many of them CGC-graded and carrying hefty price tags.
“Just a minute!” called Tessa from the back room.
I was content to put this off anyway. I wandered over to the graphic novel section, picking up one of the collections with The Invisibles on the spine. I started flipping through the pages as I waited.
“Well, look who it is.”
I looked up from the book and saw Tessa standing near the entrance to the back room. She wore jeans that were ripped at the knees, a studded belt, and a black T-shirt with “STAR Labs” on the front.
“What are you doing here, Cross?” she asked, walking behind the counter.
I closed the graphic novel and put it back on the shelf. “Wanted to talk to you.”
“Ever consider that maybe I don’t feel like talking to you?” She picked up a can of Monster beside the register and sipped.
“Yeah, but this is important.” I approached the counter. “I wanted to talk about the other day.”
Tessa shrugged. “What’s there to talk about? You were a total jackass, end of story.”
“You know I’m not so good with the whole…self-reflection thing, right?”
“If you think that’s an acceptable excuse—”
“No, I’m not saying that.” I sighed and tapped my hands on the counter.
“Stop that, you’re smudging it up.”
I held my hands up. “Sorry.” I slid them back into my pockets. “What I mean to say is…”
“Is this your attempt at an apology?” A smile formed on her face. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“You mind?”
Tessa chuckled and leaned against the wall. “Fine, keep going.”
“You…were right. And I was wrong,” I said. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have just pretended that Dakota’s case was a hundred percent closed. There’s still more to be done.”
Tessa studied me, one of her eyes narrowing and the brow on the other raised. “Hold on. You wouldn’t be apologizing that quickly unless you had a good reason to.”
I shrugged. “What? Feeling guilty isn’t a good enough reason?”
“It usually takes a lot longer for the guilt to eat away at you before you even contemplate an apology, let alone give one.” She gasped suddenly, her eyes opening wide. “Oh, I got it. You want something from me, don’t you?”
“What? That’s…�
�� I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. “That’s crazy.”
“Yeah, you need my help with something. But you know I wouldn’t help unless you apologized first.”
Sneaky little witch. She knew me too well. Part of me contemplated looking into a spell to wipe her memory so that couldn’t happen again in the future, but I dismissed that thought. With the luck I’d had in the past two days, it’d probably backfire on me and I’d end up forgetting how to use a toilet.
“So, what, you thought you’d come here, give a fake apology, and then I’d do whatever you ask me to do?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “Though, say that was my plan…would it have worked?”
“No!”
I sighed. “Okay, look. How about I tell you what’s going on and then you decide if it’s something you’re interested in?”
Tessa rolled her eyes and huffed. “Fine. Store’s dead right now anyway.”
“Last night, I was at the Signature Lounge, just minding my own business, when guess who should come up to me?”
“Fair warning: if the next words out of your mouth aren’t ‘Hugh’ and ‘Jackman,’ then I’m gonna lose interest in your story.” She brought the can of Monster to her lips.
“Asmodeus and Raziel.”
She coughed, choking for just a moment on the energy drink. When it passed, she said, “Okay, I lied, that’s still pretty interesting.”
“Told you so.”
“So, you’ve got a demon and an angel double-teaming you?” she asked.
I sucked air through my teeth. “Rather you didn’t phrase it quite like that.”
She giggled. “Oh, that was intentional.”
“I figured.”
“What’d they want?”
“It’s about Dakota’s case,” I said. “Namely, about identifying the angel responsible for putting that nephilim in her. They think they know how we can get the bastard’s name.”
Devil's Descent (Luther Cross Book 2) Page 4