by Renee George
“I didn’t hear anything about that. They dumped me in the basement last night. I thought those stairs were going to do me in. It took me longer to get up them than it did to pick the lock.”
“Do you really think I’ll be able to nullify the bargain between the dismal demon lord and me?” I asked him.
Ray coughed, looking shakier than ever. He shrugged. “Honestly? Fifty-fifty.”
“Not the odds I was hoping for with soul roulette, but it’s better than nothing, which is what I had yesterday.” I looked at David. “Elise says Ray’s dehydrated. Let’s get this man some water and get our behinds back to the farm so we can make a plan.”
Chapter 13
I’d grabbed four bottles of Bling H2O from Sandra’s refrigerator before we left, and Ray managed to drink a hundred dollars’ worth, or approximately two bottles, on the way to David’s place.
“I still can’t believe people spend this kind of money on water,” Ray said. “It’s not even blessed.”
“They say it tastes like gold-kissed goddess tears,” I teased.
Ray harrumphed. “Tastes about as good as David’s well water.”
David grinned. “We should bottle it and make our own little fortune. We could call it Spirit-Free H2O.”
Ray chuckled. “Sounds like a retirement plan.”
Then we all grew silent as reality weighed on us. Ray was dying of cancer, and David was on borrowed time. And so was I.
“Let me guess,” said Ray, “Frank stole the nursing home van again.”
“Yep. Sure did.”
“God love that man.”
“Because no one else will,” I quipped, and just like that the tension broke. “What do you know about you-know-who?”
“I’d rather wait until we’re safely inside the demon free zone,” Ray said. “I don’t want to draw his attention again if I can help it. He is one scary sumabitch.”
We turned onto David’s drive. The nursing home’s van was still parked out in front of the house next to my car. Ray shook his head as he fought a grin. “Damn fool,” he said.
Frank and Ennis stood on the porch waiting for us as we parked the truck.
“Land sakes, Ray,” Frank declared as he hobbled down the two steps with Ennis’s help. “I was sick with worry.”
Ray, who had less trouble walking, embraced his friend. “I’m fine,” he told him. “It’ll take more than a couple of demons and one evil nurse to do me in.” The moment, sweetly tender, became surprising, apparently only to me, when Ray and Frank kissed each other.
My eyes must have been as big as saucers because David put his arm around my shoulders and in my ear, he said, “Yep, those two came out to the PSPR about twelve years ago, three years after Ray’s wife died. The boys took it pretty well. I guess we’d seen enough real evil in this world to know that something born from love is okay in our book.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Didn’t think about it, is all. You have to admit, we’ve had a lot going on around here, you know, with my death, my resurrection, fighting Moloch, making love to you, rescuing kidnapped friends...”
I pressed my hand against his broadly muscled chest. “I get it. Bigger fish to fry.” Besides, if I’d been paying attention, I might have guessed. I mean, Frank and Ray live together, Ray’s son called Frank when he went missing, we had to fight Frank to keep him from coming along on the rescue mission, and Frank was the first one of the friends Ray asked about when he had a second to breathe. “I’m glad we got Ray home safe.”
“Me too, Liv.”
“You all coming inside, or are we hanging out in this heat all day?” Ennis asked. “I’m about to sweat the skin off my bones.”
After the Geriatric Brigade made their way inside the house, David encircled me in his arms and kissed me with so much passion it stole my breath.
When he ended the kiss, I panted, “What was that for?”
“You’re such a fierce warrior, sweetheart. I loved that about you then, and I love it about you now. I forgot how exciting watching you fight can be.”
“Well, you’ve learned a few moves since the last time I saw you. When you threw that asshole over your shoulder, I thought it was probably about the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.” I kissed him, giving him as good as he gave. I finished by giving his firm booty a squeeze. “I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to do that when we used to run together.”
“As far as I’m concerned, you can touch me anytime and anywhere you want.”
Ray knocked on the kitchen window and shouted, “Will you two quit playing grab-ass and get in here?”
David made a surprise face then snorted a laugh as we pressed foreheads together. “Give us a damn minute,” he yelled to Ray. The moment was sweet and melancholy.
“Moloch is desperate for your soul. I’m afraid of what he’ll do to get it. I’m afraid for my sisters. I just wish I knew why he wanted it so badly.”
David pressed his palm against my cheek. “If we can’t figure out how to save your sisters, I mean to make that deal, Liv. I don’t care why. I’m only here because I was granted an angel’s favor to save the people you love from Moloch’s tyranny. To free you to make your own choices. If it means giving that bastard my soul, I’m going to do it.”
My voice broke. “David.”
“Shhh, sweetheart.” He brushed my lips with his. “I’m an old man on borrowed time. These past two days with you have made whatever happens next worth it.”
He certainly didn’t feel old. “It’s not fair.”
“Fair would have been me dying after a long-lived life and missing out on this moment to be with you. Fuck fair.”
David only cussed when he was serious, and I’d never heard him drop the F-bomb. I nodded, not willing to diminish what he’d gone through to come back to me with platitudes. Instead, I nodded and said, “Damn straight. Fuck fair.”
We made our way inside to join the team. Frank had his hand on Ray’s, and the strength of their relationship against the fragility of their mortal lives gave me both hope and made me sad at the same time. I’d never get to experience a long life with David. I would never grow old with him, holding each other in love and support while we took care of each other to the end.
I sat in the free chair at the table while David pulled up a stool from the corner and joined us. “So, what’s this thing you discovered, Ray?”
“Through happenstance, I came across a book from fifteen-eighteen about alchemy, and it mentions philosopher stones.”
“You mean like Harry Potter?” I asked.
David glanced my way. “Who’s that?”
“You have not been living under a rock. People in the jungles of the Amazon know who Harry Potter is.”
“The kid with the jagged scar on his head, David,” Ennis said. “You know. That English wizard.”
“I vaguely recall it being a book, am I right?”
I shook my head. “I give up. So, what does Harry Potter have to do with how we get Moloch off our backs?”
“Nothing. Philosopher stones are real. Harry Potter is fiction.” Ray gave me a quick eye roll. “Jeez, Liv. Can I get on with it?”
“Please.” I gave him an eye roll back and a circular wave of my hand. “Get on with it.”
“Thank you.”
Ray took a deep breath, and Frank reached over and patted Ray’s shoulder. “You need to rest. You’ve had too much excitement in the last twenty-four hours. Did you get all the chemo? Do we need to make you another appointment?”
“Stop fussing over me,” Ray complained. His eyes were bloodshot with the lack of sleep, and he was paler than ever. “I’m fine. Let me say what I need to say, then I’ll go have a nap.” Ray looked at David and me. “Anyhow, this book talked about philosopher stones having two parts. Part sun, part mercury. It was a lot of archaic nonsense, but the part of the transmutation of the soul made me remember a passage in the Shedim that talked about a soul thief.”
I nodded. “I re
member the words, but I assumed the demon was the soul thief.”
“Then you assumed wrong, missy,” Ray said, “The stone can be used to withdraw the soul from a body, best as I can tell. And in the demon book, it talks about gem or gemstone that can steal back souls from Moloch.” He looked at David. “I’m pretty sure from the description that the stone is here at the farm.”
“Where?” David asked. “I know every inch of this place, and I’ve never seen anything like what you’re describing.”
“It’s right there under your nose,” Ray said. He pointed to David’s family ring. “Gold for the sun, black for mercury. I think you’re wearing a philosopher’s stone.”
Ennis grumbled, “Jesus H. Christ.”
“Can it be possible?” David held the ring up to get a better look? “It’s a warden’s ring. The symbols are meant to protect me from possession after death, but I’ve never heard my father or grandfather talk about it being anything more than that.”
Ray shrugged his bone-thin shoulders. “They might not have known it’s true history.”
“But it makes sense,” I said. I looked at David. “You traced the ring’s history back to the Middle Ages. Maybe that’s when it was created for your family.”
“However it happened, it appears I have the key to your freedom.” David slipped the ring from his finger and placed it in the palm of my hand. “I give it to you freely and without reservation,” he said formally.
I closed my fingers around the silver, and it tingled against my palm, a subtle reminder that I was still Moloch’s minion. I turned to Ray. “How long is this transmutation thing, or whatever, going to take? I only have two days left.”
“To do what?” Frank asked.
“The make a demon’s bargain with David or go directly to Hell, do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars.”
Ray raised a shaky hand. “Got it.”
I put the ring on my thumb and rubbed my arms. “So, what happens next?”
Ray nodded. “We’ll have to use that demon trap that David designed.”
“It doesn’t work,” David said.
Ennis clucked his tongue. “Let me have a look. You were always useless when it came to magical objects.”
“And you were always the best,” David said fondly.
Ennis grinned. “Still am. I may be old, but I’m not obsolete.”
David, Frank, and Ray all chuckled. David nodded. “Preaching to the choir, my friend.”
I loved a good bro’ moment just as much as anyone, but I was anxious with hope for the first time in a long while. “Okay,” I said, getting us back on track. “Ennis fixes the unholy lock trap, then what? How does the transmuting thing work? And how is it going to free me, and by virtue, my sisters from the demon lord’s grimy claws?”
“Easy,” Ray said. “The Shedim gives the spell to release the soul and trap it in the stone. Once there, Moloch can’t reach you, and if he can’t claim your soul after your death, then his deal with you is forfeit.”
“Is there anything special I need to do?”
“Just one thing.” Ray looked down at the table then back up to me. “All you have to do is die.”
Chapter 14
“You’ve got to be kidding,” David said for the third time. He paced back and forth, glaring at Ray the entire time as if the spell’s need for my murder was his fault. We’d moved the discussion into the living room so Frank could get his feet up. His ankles had swollen to the size of bread loaves.
“Now, David. Calm down,” Ennis said. “You getting excited ain’t doing anyone any good.”
“Just another reminder, gang,” I said for the umpteenth time, “I can’t die. I’m a minion and therefore attached to Moloch’s immortality.”
David shook his finger at all of them. “Even if we could figure out a way to kill her, what guarantees are there we can get her back?”
“There are no guarantees in life,” Ray said resolutely. And he would know—he was dying from cancer. He and Frank sat next to each other on the country blue sofa. Ennis had taken the recliner, and David and I paced around each other. “But it’s a chance. The only chance Liv has to get her soul back.”
“How is my soul supposed to jump from my lifeless body and into this freaking ring?” I asked.
“That’s what the stone is designed to do,” said Frank. “It’s the making you dead part we have to figure out.”
Shit. I suddenly realized exactly how I could die. “I’ll miss the deadline,” I said. “I have less than forty-eight hours to get him a soul. If I nullify the bargain, I’ll die and go to Hell.”
Frank nodded. “All we need to do is make sure your soul gets sucked into the ring before Moloch takes possession of it.”
“I can’t do it,” I said, miserable. “I’ll take Char, Elise, and Eliza with me. I’ll forfeit their souls along with mine.” I held up my hand and peered at the ring. “How many souls can this thing hold?”
“One,” said Frank.
“This is a terrible plan,” said David. “We’re ignoring the simplest solution.”
“Trade one good man for three good women,” I said softly. “I can’t...” But I would have to, wouldn’t I? I’d have to make this tough call.
“I’ve never known you to be a coward, Olivia,” a sweet Southern voice said. I looked up from my hands. Charlotte stood in front of me. “Our father would be ashamed if he could see you now.”
I reached out to her. “Char?”
“I can feel myself being pulled back, so let’s not waste time with questions.” She leveled me with a gaze that shamed me. “Take the chance. I don’t want to be rescued at someone else’s expense. I know Eliza and El—” and like that she was gone.
My heart broke into a thousand pieces. I looked at Ray, Frank, and Ennis. I reached back and put my hand on David’s, some for his comfort, but mostly to steady myself. “Can we have everything ready in less than a day?”
“Yes,” Ray said. “I think so.”
“We can’t be thinking it,” David said. “We have to know it.”
“We’ll do the best we can, David. Now, I need to go lie down,” Ray said. “It’s been an awful two days, and I’m feeling mighty shaky.”
Frank took Ray to spare bedroom on the main floor, and Ennis went to the basement to start work on the lock. David joined me on the couch.
“Charlotte appeared,” I told him. “I don’t know how.” I rubbed my arms to ward off a shiver. “It shouldn’t be possible. Unless it’s another one of Moloch’s cruel jokes. He’s taunting me with them, David. He can’t get to me here, so he gave me a glimpse of my sister to remind me what I have to lose.”
“Maybe.” David rubbed his large calloused hands on his jeans. “But he didn’t show up at Sandra’s, and he sure as shit didn’t send Elise there. And she showed up when we needed her. She knew exactly what was going on with Ray. Same with Charlotte. You had a terrible decision to make. She was there when you needed her. I think that the same way Moloch’s hold on you has loosened, maybe his hold on your sisters is weakening as well.”
“You think so?” It made the most sense, but I still didn’t understand how it was possible, but the idea that my sisters might be able to free themselves gave me a glimmer of hope. “Do you think if I fail, they might be able to break themselves free of Moloch?”
“Honestly, sweetheart, I want to believe it. Getting them safe, so you aren’t beholden to that bastard anymore is all I want.” He closed his eyes for a second and gave his head a slight shake. When he opened them again, he stared at me, his expression stark. “I’m lying. It’s not all I want. When Afriel gave me the chance to come back, to help you, I tried to fool myself into thinking I was being selfless, that I was getting nothing out of the deal. I must have believed it at the time since my dying wish was granted. But after seeing you, I knew the truth about myself. I wanted to be with you, Liv. Even if only for a short while.” He cupped my chin between his thumb and ring finger. “Sel
fishly so. And now, I don’t know how to give you up. You’re afraid. I get that. I am, too. No matter the outcome, this is all I will ever have with you. Right here. Right now.” The lines around his eyes softened. “I wanted a lifetime.”
“I wanted that, too.” I took his hand and kissed his palm. “I never wanted anything more.” I forced a smile. “Selfishly.” Because I should want my siblings’ freedom more. I would sacrifice every second with David to save them, but in my heart, I would always know that it wasn’t my first choice, even if it was the right choice.
He touched his lips to my fingertips. “Marry me.”
“What did you say?”
“I want you to marry me, Olivia.”
A swell of emotion raised inside me as if joy, hope, and love were a hydrogen bomb waiting to explode me into an ugly mess. “We don’t have time for romantic fantasies and gestures.”
“Yes, we do. I want you to be my wife.”
“David.” I tugged my lower lip between my teeth to stop it from quivering.
He brushed his fingers across my cheek. “Is that a no?”
“How would we even accomplish it? It’s not like we can get someone out here with a license to perform the ceremony. You don’t have a phone line, and the minute we leave the property, Moloch will be all over me. It’s impossible.”
“I’m ordained,” Ennis said as he walked into the living room. He was holding the lock, a magnifying glass, a small packet of tools, and a clear vial of liquid.
“How did you—”
“I have been standing around the corner for about a minute. Seemed like you two were having an important conversation.” He looked up at us. “Besides, my eyesight might be bad,” he tapped his ears, “but my hearing is right as rain.”
“Why are you ordained?” I asked.
“It was easier than finding a priest or minister every time David needed an item blessed.”
David looked at me. “It’s true.”
“I used to dream about getting married, you know, BM.”
“Bowel movement?” Ennis said.