“I never thought I’d see you again.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think so either,” Lucas replied. After a moment, he continued, his voice slightly strained in an attempt to be dramatic: “Michael, you’re lucky I no longer require oxygen.”
Michael apologized and released his hold. “How are you? Are you okay?”
“You mean aside from the whole being dead thing?” Lucas asked with his signature smirk. “I’m good. We’re both alright. It’s a tad boring here at times, but we find ways to amuse ourselves.”
“I’m sure you do,” Michael replied with a chuckle. “Natalia,” he said with a slight bow of his head, “it’s nice to actually meet you.” Seeing his brother brought up a flood of emotions he hadn’t allowed himself to feel that night at the gateway. He was elated to see him now, to talk to him, but the reminder of his brother’s death also stung at his core. “How did you two get here?”
“Your girlfriend has got this nifty talent, and Natalia thought it would be easier to try to catch you guys in the ether than it would be to answer when you called earlier tonight.”
“The séance,” Dez replied.
“Yes,” Natalia answered. “It takes a lot of energy for a ghost to connect through a séance. We were willing to take the chance that you’d use your abilities to touch the other side. This is where we are all the time, so there’s no extra energy needed to have a conversation with you.”
“How did you know I would use it?”
“You’ve been using it for months,” Natalia answered.
“We have been able to hear you every time you’ve used it,” Lucas added. “The presence of your mind echoes through the ether as though you’re all around us. Each time, we have tried to find you, but you’re gone in a matter of seconds. There was only one time you used it for an extended period of time, but we couldn’t find you. It was like you were there but you were hiding yourself. We could hear you too, brother.”
Michael looked to Deziree for some sort of explanation.
“I use this ability to connect to the minds of demons. That’s how I hunt them but the after effects blow, so I try not to use it too much.”
“New Year’s was real, wasn’t it?” Michael didn’t really need an answer. He already knew he was right. They had shared that awful moment together, the moment where the world crumbled around them and they were torn from each other once again.
“I didn’t think it was,” Dez replied, tears glistening in her eyes. “It wasn’t the first time I dreamt about you while I was gone, but it was the only time I couldn’t tell from the moment it started whether or not it was a dream.”
Michael gently squeezed her hand and pulled her to him, the haunting memory of that experience still a painful one.
“Oh, it was definitely real,” Lucas interjected. “Whatever happened that night, the presence of the two of you shook the ether. Everyone noticed. That’s why we needed to talk to you. There’s been rumblings about a solution to the demon problem.”
“A solution?” Dez asked.
“A way to wipe them all out,” Natalia responded with a cocked eyebrow.
“We don’t know many details about how it’s done,” Lucas explained, “but rumor has it, there is a way. We came across some rather interesting information we didn’t know about when either of us were alive. The covens don’t ever elaborate on how the demons got here in the first place, but we found out. We’ve spent the entire time we’ve been here talking to others and have learned a lot of history, which conveniently didn’t make it into the covens’ records.”
“Like what?” Michael was intrigued. He had always been led to believe the covens didn’t know how the demons gained access to our plane in the first place.
“I have reason to believe Cassandra belonged to a secret coven of witches who called themselves the Daughters of Eris,” Natalia explained. “They were a small group who believed the balance and order brought by the Mother Goddess could only exist with chaos as its equal opposite. So, that’s what they did. They brought chaos. Naming themselves after the goddess of discord in Greek mythology, their sole purpose was to create chaos, and in a way, it was specifically to prove the existence of the Mother Goddess, giving her the chance to retaliate for her worshippers' lives.”
“That’s a fucked up form of logic,” Dez said. “But how is Cassandra tied to it?”
“Well,” Lucas replied, “that’s where the waters get a little muddy. As this isn’t in the covens' documented history, we can only assume she was aiming to carry out the DOE objectives. She’s the only person we could come up with who was around for the release of the demons centuries ago and then the release last summer.”
“But she told us why she did it last summer,” Dez responded. “She said it had to do with the end of days.”
“You’re right,” Lucas said. “I’m sure that's what she told you, but think about it this way. If that were true, it would mean Cassandra was insane, and we both know that woman was anything but. She was calculated in everything she did. She probably didn’t put her panties on in the morning without thinking about the global impact of her unmentionables.”
“So, what?” Michael asked. “She just laid in wait for the last few centuries? Why?”
Lucas shook his head. “I don’t have all the answers, brother. This is just our best guess in trying to piece this whole messy puzzle together. She did it for some reason and there’s enough to make me doubt the Daughters of Eris and Cassandra’s involvement is mere coincidence.”
“Okay, well,” Dez interrupted, “she’s dead now, and I don’t see how all of this ties into getting rid of the demons.”
“There are whispers about the three sisters from the Daughters of Eris who were rumored to have defected after the gateways were opened the first time,” Natalia responded. “It’s said they plan to spend their existence waiting for an opportunity to right their wrongs from so long ago. The stories we kept hearing over and over were that the sisters went into hiding so the remaining members of the DOE couldn’t find them, eventually leading to the DOE’s assumption that the traitors had perished.”
“And that’s what seems to have happened,” Lucas added. “No one knows where they are.”
“No idea at all?” Dez asked.
“All of the stories we heard lead to the Grand Canyon area and then the trail just goes completely cold. No one seems to know where they went after that.”
“So,” Michael began with a sigh, “say we are able to locate them: how exactly are they supposed to wipe out the demons?”
“That’s just it,” Natalia answered. “We really don’t know. It’s like all of this information got lost in time. No one talks about it, so eventually the information faded, but the few constants in all of these stories are,” she held up a finger, “they’re in this area,” she held up a second finger, “and they know how to get rid of all of the demons at once.”
Michael turned to Dez about to speak, but held his tongue while he worked the details out in his head. Ordinarily, he would suggest they scry for the location, but the only scrying spells he was familiar with required a personal effect of the target.
“Um, Michael,” Natalia said quietly, “I know what you’re thinking and I know a way around it.”
“Scrying?” he asked.
She smiled.
“Yes, you can still find them without having something of theirs. You just need someone with enough juice to pull it off.” Then she turned to Dez with a knowing smile. “And we have you.”
“Me?”
“Yep,” Lucas said, as though it were no big deal, “you. Natalia thinks that demon juju you have going on could act as an accelerant to your witchy abilities. You’ve been able to scry before, yeah?”
“Of course, that’s one of the basics.”
“Try it again,” Natalia said, “but this time, instead of focusing on the energy of the Earth to find your target, focus all your energy on your demon side: most importantly, the psy
chic stuff. Whatever you’re doing to make this happen,” she gestured around them, “I believe is the key. You’re using your mind to create a world from nothing, Deziree. You’ve totally got this.”
Michael gave a slight laugh and added, “No pressure or anything.”
“Lucas,” Deziree said, a smile forming on her lips, “I love you, and I appreciate the faith, no matter how misplaced, but I have no idea what I am doing. This is all new to me.”
“It is,” he replied, “but it’s always been there. You just didn’t know it.”
“You have to trust your own abilities,” Natalia added. “It’s part of who you are. It’s natural to you. Don’t force it. Just allow it to happen and it’ll come to you.”
“This is all very important,” Michael interrupted, “but I have one quick question. I thought souls killed by hellfire were destroyed. Natalia, how are you here?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” She shrugged. “I don’t really remember anything. I mean, I remember what happened to me, but there was no white light, no choir of angels, nothing like that. I just stopped being alive and the next thing I knew, I was here. It felt like I wandered forever by myself, and then I saw Lucas.” She looked to him, smiled, and wove her fingers through his. “Since he crossed through the gateway, we’ve been able to find lots of others here.”
“Have you seen Cassandra?” Michael was relieved when he heard bitterness instead of guilt in Dez’s voice when she asked the question. She put on a strong front whenever they spoke about Cassandra, but he had suspicions she would eventually regret her actions in Venice. Cassandra was the closest thing Dez had had to a mother and Venice was bound to leave some unseen scars.
“No,” Lucas replied, “I am pretty sure she didn’t end up here. I don’t know why Natalia’s soul survived, but we have yet to come across anyone else whose death was a result of Hellfire.”
“Interesting,” Dez replied flatly.
“I was there, you know,” Lucas said. “We both were. You did the right thing. That bitch got what she deserved.” He was quiet for a long moment before continuing. “You need to do me a favor, Dez.”
“What’s that?” she asked, surprised.
“Don’t leave him like that again,” he pleaded. “If things don’t work out, that’s one thing, but trust that he’ll be there for you when you need him to be. You were both miserable when you were apart. Time passes in an odd way here, so I'm not sure how long ago it was, but I was watching you recently and your aura was almost completely black. You were not in a good place. You almost shut down completely and nobody wants to see an evil Dez roaming the streets. Your aura is back to normal now, but you were way too close to gone for my comfort.”
“You were watching me?”
“I was watching both of you,” he clarified. “Someone had to. The self-destructive crap had me worried.”
“Exactly how close were you watching us?” Michael asked, his voice dripping with suspicion.
“Oh,” Natalia replied, “don’t worry. I made sure we left before your little reunion concert in the parking lot.” She smiled and winked at Dez, leaving Michael with the distinct feeling that they hadn’t missed the entire show. He closed his eyes and shook his head, mild embarrassment creeping in.
“Oh god,” he grumbled.
“Yeah,” Lucas replied immediately, “we heard that part.”
“Lucas,” Dez warned.
“No,” he replied, “that’s not the name you were mo—“ Natalia slapped a hand over Lucas’s mouth before he could say anything else.
“He’s just screwing with you,” Natalia promised. “We really didn’t see, or hear, anything.” She scowled at Lucas, then pulled her hand slowly away from his mouth. Michael glanced at Dez and she put her hands up, waving them back and forth while shaking her head.
“Oh no,” she said, “he’s your brother.”
“Really, Michael,” he said, “what are you going to do? Kill me?”
“The man’s got a point,” Dez added. Michael shook his head again and took a deep breath.
“Okay,” he said, changing the subject, “to find the witches, we need to scry but with Dez focusing on her demon power instead of the power of the Earth.”
“Yes, sort of,” Natalia replied, “It will be more of a meditation than scrying. Dez, you need to seek them out the same way you would seek a demon out. You’re not going to be able to pinpoint their location, but you’ll be able to sense their general area. From there, it’ll be footwork to physically find them.”
“Alright,” Dez replied, “I'll give it a try. Will we be seeing you again?”
“Of course,” Lucas replied softly. “It’s not like we have anywhere to be. If you want to talk to us, just throw together a meeting place and reach out for us in the same way you reached out for Michael tonight.”
Michael knew they had work to do, but he was hesitant to leave, afraid he wouldn’t see his brother again.
Lucas caught Michael’s eyes, and as if reading his thoughts, he softly said, “I will be here.” Lucas stepped closer and pulled him into a hug. “It was good to see you, brother.”
“It was good to see you too,” Michael replied.
“Okay,” Lucas said, his voice sounding choked up, “you two need to go. Time passes in a strange way here, so it may be morning already for you. Find them and fix what we couldn’t.”
“Thank you,” Dez said, “both of you. We will see you again soon.”
With that, the world around them, including Lucas and Natalia, faded back to the endless black nothingness they had started with. Michael took Dez’s hand, brought it to his mouth, and lightly pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
“Thank you for giving me that,” he said.
She opened her mouth to respond, but the void faded out of existence before any sound escaped her lips.
Michael opened his eyes to the dark purple shadows of the predawn light and saw Dez was awake as well, a melancholy sadness in her eyes.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t save him,” she whispered to him.
“Shh.” He pulled her into his chest and rested his chin on her head. “There’s nothing to apologize for. It was a choice he made on his own.” He tipped his head and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “It’s still early. Relax and we will worry about all of this later.”
Her only reply was to inch up and kiss him on the neck. He shut his eyes and allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of her being there. As she settled in to her niche in his arms, he listened to her breathing. A short while later, sleep overtook him.
CHAPTER NINE
Dez
“If you don’t wake up,” a voice whispered in her ear, “I’m going to bite you.”
A smile crept across Dez’s face when she finally regained enough consciousness to know who was speaking to her.
“Promises, promises,” she replied. She squinted her eyes against the assault of blinding sunlight pouring in through the small window in the tiny room.
“You’ve been hibernating for the last four hours,” he explained. “We were all starting to wonder whether or not you were ever going to regain consciousness. I even convinced Harley to bait you out of the room by cooking bacon, and you never so much as rolled over in your sleep.”
“You mean to tell me I missed bacon?” Dez said; her eyes snapped open and she sat up, propping herself up on her elbows. “You let me miss bacon? I am shocked. You’re supposed to be on my side.”
He smiled down at her.“No, I didn’t let you miss bacon, but it got you to wake up.”
“You shouldn’t mess with my emotions like that.”
“It wasn’t a complete lie. There is bacon cooking out in the kitchen.”
“That’s good,” she said as she rolled out of bed and strolled past him out the door, “because I was on the fence about whether or not I would ever forgive you.”
After a large breakfast and enough coffee to being a corpse back from the dead, Dez and Vegas recounted thei
r little meeting with Lucas and Natalia. Harley’s reaction was far more excited than Dez could ever have anticipated.
“You don’t understand,” she explained. “I have heard their unintelligible chatter my whole life. I couldn’t imagine how cool it would be to just talk to them.”
“Was it weird seeing him?” Charlie asked, his tone suggesting it was an insensitive question.
“No, not weird,” Dez replied. “Definitely unexpected, but not weird.”
“Okay,” Harley continued, “so, these witches. They said you need to mentally search for them? I don’t understand how that’s going to work without knowing exactly who you’re searching for.”
“I don’t understand it either, but Natalia is confident I will just know how. She suggested I use a meditation method to make it happen.” Dez reached to the middle of the table and grabbed a leftover piece of cold bacon. Before taking a bite, she asked, “Speaking of meditation, in your, um, extensive collection of candles, do you happen to have any scented ones?”
“Of course. Any particular sent you’re looking for?”
“I was thinking something light, like lavender. I am aiming for relaxing, but not overwhelming. I have no idea how long this is going to take before it works. If it works.”
“Coming right up,” Harley answered. She got up out of her chair and disappeared down the hallway.
“If you find these witches, do you have any theories on exactly how they’re going to go about killing off all of the demons at once?”Charlie asked.
“None,” Dez replied honestly. “I am assuming a spell of some sort, but all the spells I know of require a lot of concentration on the objects of your intention. I have no idea how they’re going to target all of them at once. That kind of magick is way over my head. I didn’t even know anything like that was possible. Then again, it’s sort of the same as what Natalia and Lucas are expecting me to pull off by locating the witches in the first place.”
“That’s true,” he replied. “What about you?” he asked Vegas.
Speak of the Devil Page 6