by Candis Vargo
I hoped she was lying; I really wanted some sort of information. Whoever or whatever this thing was I knew I would find a way to kill it. Even more so I was determined to find out what exactly happened to Chace. He couldn’t be dead. I refused to believe that.
“Why are we going to your Grandmas store?” I asked her after she hung up with her Mom. I have never met her grandmother and Em has only ever mentioned her a few times.
“We’re going to do some research. As you can guess, one of the Coven members called me and told me everything that happened. I still can’t tell you who it might be, but we’re going to get some answers on what happened to Chace.” She was clearly pissed by the situation and I was grateful for that. Whatever it was that sent her over the edge I wasn’t complaining because I knew now she would finally share some information with me.
“Ethan said,” I began.
“I know. I’m sorry Karma, for what he said. We’re going to find out though.” She stared out the window the rest of the way to the store.
We parked in front of a little store on Main Street in Germantown; the sign read ‘Sarah’s Spells’. Walking in, I saw rows of traditional spell books and shelves of candles. Looking toward the register I saw all of the herbs and plants any Witch would need. I was a little freaked out when I saw a bin that held ‘eye of newt’. I never really thought they used that because I’ve never seen Em us it. I guess they did.
We walked past the dusty book shelves and through a doorway that had brown beaded curtains hanging from it. Soon it looked like we were walking into an ancient staircase.
As we walked down stairs I noticed everything, from the walls to the steps, were stone. It was narrow and cold. The farther down we went, the colder it was. We stopped at an ancient wooden door and Em knocked two times with a large brass knocker that reminded me from something off of the movie ‘The Labyrinth’. The knocker was held in the mouth of an old face that was just as creepy as the narrow staircase we were on.
The door creaked open and we were greeted by an elderly woman with long, straight gray hair.
“Grandma,” Em said as she leaned in to hug her.
“Oh Emily. What brings you here sweetheart?” her Grandmother said.
“Grandma, this is my friend Karma,” Em gestured toward me. “Karma, this is Grandma. She doesn’t like to be called anything other than Grandma or Gram.”
Gram eyed me up and down before she spoke again.
“I see,” she said, “So, what can I do for you girls?”
“We need to do some research. There’s a lot of stuff going on and the Coven is keeping secrets. We need to look at the Leathers.” Em said.
“Well go ahead dear. You’re more than welcome to take some with you if you need. I know how that damn Coven is.” Gram said.
“Thanks.” Em motioned for me to follow her.
I began to walk past Gram when she grabbed my hand and placed the palm of her other one on my forehead.
“You will find what you’re looking for, but it will come with a price. You’re a strong soul, but will you be able to handle the price you pay?” Gram said as she looked at me.
“Gram!” Em scolded. “Not now. Come on Karma.” Em took my hand from Gram and led me away.
I didn’t know why Gram said what she did or what she meant by it, but something about those words made my stomach turn with fear. I wanted to blow it off as a fluke. I wanted to believe she was just some crazed old lady but something told me not to. Somewhere inside of me I knew that it was the truth. But what did she mean by the price I would pay?
“Here we are,” Em said.
We walked into a large circular room which must have been underneath the actual store. There weren’t many books in here; it was mostly filled with desks and supplies. On the far wall there was one book shelf that was lit up by a tall lamp on both sides.
“Now I see why you called them the Leathers,” I said as I reached up to grab one of the books.
The books were covered in leather, but they weren’t worn down. You could tell they were old simply by the smell and the feel of the soft pages that were in them. When I opened the book I noticed the words on the pages were handwritten.
“So, what exactly are we looking for?” I asked Em.
“We’re looking for any information on that dagger you saw. I know it has a meaning, but I’m not sure what.”
“Where do we begin looking?”
“We look in anything that has to do with Demons.” Em turned to face me, “Karma, we believe it’s a Demon.”
“What?” I felt my blood rush out of my face.
“It is the only thing that makes sense. A Demon has no specific shape or sex; they can turn into whoever or whatever they want.”
“But, why?”
“First we need to figure out if it is actually a Demon, and if it is, we need to figure out which one. The why will come later after we fill in all of the other blanks. Here,” she handed me three different books. “These have some information about Demons in them, we’ll take them to your house and look through them, try to find a drawing or something about the dagger. We still need to do shopping because if we go back empty handed we’re in deep shit.”
“Won’t they find out by your Grandma?”
“No, she doesn’t associate with the Coven anymore. They had a fall out because Gram would give advice to anyone who asked, kind of like what she did with you.”
“Except I didn’t ask,” I said under my breath.
We stopped at a few stores to make sure we had at least three outfits and a purse each. Em was right, if we went back without shopping bags, we’d be busted. I slipped each book in a separate bag, making sure I put them in between the clothes so no one would notice.
By the time I made it home, the house was pretty much empty. Only Roland and Lord Matthias were there when I pulled in. I wanted to avoid everyone, but I knew I’d have to make a show or Father would be worried.
After talking to them about my shopping trip, I retreated to my room. I wasn’t in the mood for small talk or hearing any sympathies. I wanted to get to work.
The first book I looked through had information about how Demons came to be, and how to destroy them. That would be useful if I knew what kind of Demon this thing was, apparently there were many more kinds of Demons than I thought there were. I decided to close it and skim through the next one.
Upon skimming through the next book, I was beginning to lose hope. I thought I was never going to find anything to even give me a clue, to lead me in the right direction.
Finally, I came upon a section with drawings of the different weapons a Demon could use. There were pictures of swords and daggers of every shape and size you could imagine. Underneath each drawing, there were details on which Demon could use it, and what it was used for.
This book had to be at least five-hundred pages long, and it seemed like these drawings were most of the book. I don’t even think I skimmed the surface of these weapons before I fell asleep.
“Will you get your ass up already?”
I woke up to Em sitting on the floor beside me.
“Wait, where are the books?” I asked as I sat up.
“I put them in my chest under your bed, we really don’t need someone to walk in here and see them. How late were you up? I think you ruined the leather with your drool.” She laughed.
“I did not. And I don’t know how late I was up; if I was paying attention to the time I’d be in my bed and not laying on my floor.”
“Point taken. Anyway, I thought you’d want to wake up before the meeting today. It’s not going to be as large as it was last time. The Coven decided to tell you guys that we think it was a Demon.”
“Any chance you’re going to say who you’re looking into?” I asked. I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be much longer before I knew who they thought it was. My heart raced at the thought of getting even closer to finding out who it was and figuring out what happened to Chace.
“So
rry, that’s still under wraps. But hey! At least there will be even more people looking into it. We’re only telling the people at the meeting, no one else is to know.”
“So who’s all going?” I asked, curious as to why the subject of the Demon was still going to be a secret.
“Only a few Pixies, some of the Fallen, and the Coven,” she said as she crossed her legs.
“No Vamps? Why?” I finally forced myself to sit up beside her.
“I don’t know, I guess they figure the less to know the better. The Demon hasn’t done anything to the Vamps, so there is really no need for them to know.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“Okay, when does it start?” I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake up.
“About,” she looked at her cell phone, “thirty minutes.”
“Shit. Alright,” I stood up, “at least I have enough time to shower. Would you mind going down and seeing if there is any coffee left?”
“No problem, I’ll have it up in a jiffy! Hurry up and shower, I’ll be right back.”
As Em skipped out the door, I grabbed some clothes and headed into the shower. For the first time in a long time, I threw on a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. With so much going on, I really didn’t care too much about my appearance.
Em was right; she had my coffee up here before I was done with my shower, which only took me about five minutes. She also brought up the containers of sugar and creamer.
“I never make it right, so I figured I would bring it all up for you,” she said. I laughed as I walked over and perfected my daily dose of caffeine.
There was no need to have the meeting in the usual room, like Em said; there weren’t too many people there. Instead, the meeting was held right in my living room. This time, instead of everyone looking at me with disappointment, I was looked at with sympathy. I didn’t want any ones sympathy, I just wanted answers. I knew I was going to find Chace and kill the bastard who did this to us, to everyone.
Em’s Mom was the one speaking for the Coven. I knew what she was going to say so I didn’t pay too much attention. Instead, I wanted this to hurry along so Em and I could go look in those books.
Obviously, everyone was surprised by the comment that was most likely a Demon playing us all from the start. We had no hints as to why or who it could be; of course the Coven wouldn’t mention that.
With my face of stone, I kept picturing the dagger over and over in my head. It’s not like I would be able to forget it, but I just wanted to make sure when I saw the picture I was certain it would be the one. Em was sure the dagger would lead us to Chace, dead or alive, so I was set to find that damn thing.
As soon as the meeting was over, I headed straight for my room and waited for Em. I figured everyone would assume I was too distraught to stay down there, so they wouldn’t mind if Em came up to see me.
I was right; it wasn’t long after I pulled out the books that Em came into my room. She locked the door behind her then came over and sat on my bed beside me.
“Have you found anything?” she asked.
“Almost,” I opened the book, “This one has a huge section with all sorts of weapons in it, and I just haven’t found the right one yet. “
“All right, let’s take a look.”
We sat there for a while, flipping through the pages. There were several swords and daggers with dragons and flames on them, but none we have seen so far were the one. I swear, very time we turned the page Em would ask if it was the one. It never was.
Chapter 16
Even though I was losing hope, I wasn’t about to give up. I was glad that I didn’t when we came near the end of the book. There was a small piece of paper folded up in between two pages that looked like it was ripped in half. When we opened the paper, I saw it.
“That’s it!” I said. My heart nearly fell out of my chest.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes! This is it! It’s the one!” The memory flashed in my mind, “I’m positive.”
There was a short description underneath the drawing; it wasn’t nearly as long as all of the other ones. The paper was old and worn down, hardly legible anymore.
“Can you read what it says?” I handed the paper to Em.
Taking the paper, she sat there for a minute trying to read it.
“Okay, this,” she pointed to a section in the beginning paragraph, “says something about Soul Dagger. I think that’s what it’s called.”
“Well what does it do? Does it say who uses it?”
“Slow down, I can only read so fast,” she said.
I sat there a few moments nervously shaking my legs, waiting for her to tell me some more.
“Okay, here,” she pointed to another section as she read, “the Soul Dagger, of use in the hands of the Princes of Hell or Lucifer himself. Once the Prince or Lucifer pierces their prey through the heart with the Dagger, their soul is then called into Hell. It does not matter if they pierce a Saint or a Murder. They are called into the Mouth of Satan, the deepest darkest layer of Hell.
“The only way to retrieve the soul from Hell is if it is of an Immortal. Thus, one must…” that was where the paper was torn.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled, as I grabbed the paper from her hands.
“I know. I’m sorry, but hey! At least we got somewhere. This is one step further. We know what the Dagger is called and what it’s used for.”
“Yeah, but it makes no sense. It said their soul goes to Hell, but where was Chace’s body? If his soul went to hell where the fuck did his body go!”
“Karma, his soul is his body.”
“What? What do you mean?” My voice softened as I tried to understand what she was saying.
“Chace was an Angel of heaven, he was never born; he was created. His soul and his body are one, they’re the same thing. How could you not know that?”
“The only thing I ever cared about was how to kill them; I never needed to know much about how they came to be. Until Chace anyway.”
“So we can get him back Karma. We just have to figure out how. To figure out why this Demon is doing this, we need to figure out which one it is.”
“What makes you think it’s not Lucifer? It said it could be.” I held up the paper.
“I don’t think Lucifer would waste his time doing something like this. Whoever it is has a goal in mind. To figure out what that goal was we need to figure out who it is.”
“All right, but we’re going to figure out how to get Chace back in the process,” I said as though it wasn’t an option. “Do we tell anyone what we know?”
“After we return the books we can. Right now let’s keep this page and look at the other book.”
The next book was of no use to us. Half of the pages were torn out and it had the same basics as the first one I read. It went on about Incubi and Succubus and contracts with Hell. None of which provided useful to me.
It wasn’t long after looking through the last book that we decided it was time to tell our parents we were going on another ‘shopping trip’. When we arrived at Grams store, she was sitting behind the register looking like she was waiting for us.
“Hey Gram, we came to return your books.” Em held up the bag with the three books in it.
“You didn’t find everything you were looking for, I can see,” Gram said.
“No, we had a lead, but not enough to set anything in stone.” Em frowned and shrugged her shoulders.
“Maybe I would be able to help you, I’ve been around for ages and know a thing or two about the Demons you are looking for,” Gram said as she stood up. “Come with me.”
We followed her into a small room in the back of the building, I was glad I didn’t have to walk down the creepy old stairs again. I assumed this room was her office because there were piles of books on a desk and a stack of notebooks on the floor beside it.
“Sit,” Gram said, gesturing to two metal chairs beside her desk.
As Em and I sat down, Gram went behind the desk
and sat in a chair that looked much more comfortable than ours, not to mention it was probably warmer.
“Give me your hand Emily,” Gram said as she held her hand out open on the desk.
Em did as Gram said. Placing her hand in Grams, she looked scared of what Gram might see.
With a gasp, Gram said, “Oh dear. Let’s not go there right now. Your turn Pixie.”
Gram turned to me and I placed my hand in hers as Em did. She held my hand longer than she did Em’s; I could feel my hand starting to sweat. I looked over at Em and saw her grab one of the notebooks and a pen. Apparently she was going to take notes on what her Gram tells us.
“I see,” Gram finally said as she released my hand.
“So, can you help?” I asked her.
“Princes of Hell. They are some tough, tricky little devils. There are seven of them all together. One for each of the deadly sins, the worse the sin, and the deeper layer of hell they are from.”
“What about the Mouth of Satan?” I asked, anxious for her to tell me everything I needed to know, everything I needed to hear.
“Patience,” Gram looked at me. “The Dagger you saw isn’t a Dagger for any specific Prince; they are all able to use it.”
I sighed out of frustration, apparently louder than I thought because Em elbowed me.
“Sorry,” I said lowering my head.
“As I was saying,” Gram continued, “any one of the Princes of Hell would be able to use that Dagger. However, there are only two I can think of that would even think about using it.
“There is Leviathan, the Prince of the sixth layer of Hell, Envy. He has always had a desire to deprive others of everything, wishing he were them. He has hated his brothers for everything they have, especially the Prince of the seventh layer. He is a sneaky little bastard who thought he should be the one to run the seventh layer.
“The other one is Mammon, Prince of the second layer. He is the Prince of Greed. The only thing he has ever wanted was power. He has been known to be disloyal to even Lucifer to try and achieve what he wants. He has betrayed all of his brothers, when he wants something; he will do whatever it takes to get it.”