The Harbinger

by Wendy Wang

  Chapter 24

  Ben led them around to the back door. Megan had placed a ward on the lock but with some help from the other witches, he was able to break it. Once inside the house, the sharp stink of brimstone coated his throat. Jen pinched her nose together and tried to breathe through her mouth. The only one unaffected by the smell was Tom and Ben thought it might've been a limitation of his glamour. Maybe he was unaffected because he just couldn't smell it. Or maybe being a mortician and inhaling the fumes from embalming had burned out any sense of smell he had. If he got a chance, he would ask the reaper.

  A low growl rumbled through the house. Ben stopped and raised his eyes to the second floor. She was upstairs and that thing squatting inside her was not going to let her go. Maybe he should just let the reaper go upstairs and put Megan out of her misery. Jen touched his arm. "What do you want to do?"

  "It’s upstairs,” he said.

  "Lead the way," Jen said.

  Ben continued through the house from memory. When they got to her bedroom the door was closed and Ben expected it to have a ward on it to stop them, just as the back door had. But as they approached, the knob turned and the door creaked open.

  Ben didn't like to resort to wand work. He liked his magic to be more organic but even he couldn't deny the wand made an excellent weapon, allowing the user to focus his or her energy in a precise, almost surgical way. Charlie moved in close to him, holding her wand in front of her. Ben held his wand, a long slender piece of ebony with a silver handle encrusted with clear quartz. He squeezed and the cool metal warmed at his touch. As they approached the room, he heard cooing. A baby. Ben’s pulse sped up. The baby that Megan had kidnapped was still alive. Ben stepped through the doorway and his heart lurched into his throat.

  Megan sat in a rocking chair near one of the windows holding the ten-month-old infant in her arms. The child suckled at her breast. She had no children, had no milk offer this child. Then he saw it, a green mist emanating from her breast coating the child's lips.

  "Put the baby down," Ben commanded. He pointed his wand at her. Megan didn't look up. She continued feeding the child, stroking the boy’s fine blonde hair. Ben’s stomach churned. What the hell was she feeding that child? "Stop what you're doing, right now."

  Megan laughed, but it wasn’t her voice. It was the demon’s, deep and gravelly, full of contemptuous mocking. The sound skittered over Ben's arms like fingernails tapping on glass. "There's nothing more natural than breast-feeding Ben," the demon said.

  Ben hated that it wore Megan's face. "Whatever it is you think you're giving that kid, it's certainly not the milk of human kindness. You need to stop now."

  The demon looked up. Its eyes were completely black with no sign of Megan's green irises. "Who's gonna stop me? You? Or maybe you, Charlie?"

  Charlie bristled but held fast her wand. "Get out of my head."

  The demon chuckled. “Or what about you, little cute elfin girl, what's your name? Oh right, Jen. Jen and Ben. Ben and Jen. How fucking adorable." The demon taunted. "Do they call you Bennifer behind your back?"

  “Shut the hell up,” Ben said. He knew better than to let this thing get under his skin, but still he couldn’t stop it.

  "I'm glad to see your lover’s quarrel is over. Did you enjoy your quick little fuck in the back of Ben’s truck, Jen?" Jen blanched. "There's no way you had the big ‘O’ though. That’s assuming that old Ben here even knows how to touch a woman."

  "Shut your mouth," Jen said. The tip of her wand glowed blue.

  "And you Lisa. Keeping secrets. Keeping secrets," the demon said in a singsong voice that made Ben's skin crawl.

  "That's enough. It's time for you to leave now," Lisa said.

  “And you…I don't know about you," the demon shifted his gaze to Tom. “You are all darkness and fog." It stared at at Tom. "And you have no wand. What kind of witch doesn't carry a wand?"

  “Charlie," Jen said.

  "Yep," Charlie took the protection bag in her hand and flung the contents toward the demon. The large grains of salt struck the demon and it cried out, tossing the baby away from it, so that it could swipe at its face.

  A stream of blue energy emerged from the tip of Lisa's wand, wrapping around the child and cradling it before it could hit the ground. Lisa pulled back on her wand almost as if it were a fishing rod and the energy grew shorter pulling the child toward her.

  "You fucking cunt," the demon growled.

  "You have a nasty mouth," Charlie said. "I think it needs to be washed out with some soap.”

  "I have a nasty mouth," the demon mocked. "What about little Bennifer? Why don’t you ask her about her nasty mouth?"

  "On my mark," Jen said.

  “On my mark," the demon continued to taunt her. "How did it feel to have that tight little vagina wrapped around your cock, this morning Ben?"

  "Shut your fucking mouth," Ben growled and slipped the pendant from around his neck and held it in his hands.

  “Do it Jen," he said.

  Jen began to chant.

  Demon head, demon heart,

  I command you.

  I cast you out of this body.

  Leave this realm. Go home.

  To the netherworld where you belong.

  Demon head, demon heart,

  Leave this realm. Go home.

  To the netherworld where you belong.

  Lisa grabbed the baby and put it behind her, standing firmly in front of it him. She joined the chant. All four of their wands emitted streams of light that joined together into one bright yellow beam. It wrapped around Megan’s body, encircling her, trapping her. Her arms rose into the air and all the dresser drawers opened. Megan’s clothing began to fly around the room striking the three witches.

  Tom stood perfectly still, the clothing not coming close to him. The demon raised its hand and the mattress lifted into the air. It thrust its arms forward and the mattress flew toward them. Ben dove to the floor, tackling Jen to the ground. Lisa grabbed the baby and jumped out of the way and Tom stepped in front of Charlie and put his hands out. The mattress stopped as if it had hit a wall and fell backward onto the floor. The demon let out a guttural cry. "What are you?"

  "You know. Deep inside. You know what I am and what I'm here to do," Tom said.

  A strangled scream ushered from Megan's mouth. And she charged forward at Tom. Tom metamorphosed, his glamour melting away, revealing his true identity. The demon stopped in its tracks.

  "Now," Ben said. The witches recovered. Pointing their wands at the demon, joining their energy together again. The bright cleansing yellow like the sun wrapped around Megan's body. Binding her in place.

  "Demon head demon heart –" the witches began to chant. The demon struggled against the magic but the witches held fast. "I cast you out of this body…”

  Tom raised his scythe into the air and plunged it into Megan's heart.

  "No!" Ben screamed. Megan fell onto the ground and what was left clinging to the end of Tom’s scythe was the pale gray creature with purple veins and black eyes. Tom didn't say another word before he disappeared dragging the demon with him.

  Ben scrambled over to Megan's still body and touched his finger to her throat. Her pulse, weak and thready, beat through her skin.

  "Call 911," Ben said. "She still alive."

  Chapter 25

  Charlie picked up Evan early on Sunday morning. It had been a crazy forty-eight hours and she was glad to be back to some sort of normalcy. Well if you could call getting ready for a hurricane normal. Scott seemed glad she was taking Evan with her for a change. He was going to be on call at the hospital because two of his patients were due to go into labor. Once the storm got close enough, it would be too hard to make it to the hospital, so he was going to sleep there until the storm passed and help out where he could. She had to admit that at his core, Scott Carver was a good man. A hard man. A controlling man sometimes. But a good man.

  As for the demon encounter, she was glad to have it be
hind her. They had taken Megan to the hospital and she was holding on by a thread, but the doctors didn't seem hopeful that she was going to come out of her coma.

  The most exciting thing was that Ben had come home with them. And Jen had not stopped glowing since he'd gotten home. They had all gotten up bright and early this morning. Evangeline, Daphne, Ben, and Jen and had gone to board up their businesses.

  The storm was set to hit in earnest overnight. Dark grey clouds had already moved in and there had been sprinkles of rain, reminders of what was to come.

  Charlie wondered about Vanessa. Was she still standing on that beach waiting for her lover to return? Some part of her felt that they had escaped the ghost’s curse and she was glad for it. Maybe when it was all said and done she would take Tom down to the beach and they would find Vanessa and give her the option to be reunited with her lover on the other side.

  Charlie pulled a loaf of bread from the pantry and took out eight slices of bread, a package of sliced ham, a jar of mayonnaise, the small bottle of mustard and a jar of pickles. She slathered mustard on each slice of the bread, adding mustard for Evan to one of them, then layered on the ham. When she finished, she cut the sandwiches into triangles and placed them on a platter with several pickles.

  It was nearly 1:30 in the afternoon. Since Evan arrived, Jack had had the boy and Ruby out following him around helping him prepare for the storm to come. They took all the furniture off of the back porch and carried it down to Jack's storage shed. Jack had showed the children how to secure the chicken coop, making sure the girls could get into the small run beneath the roost but not into the larger yard. The last thing they wanted was for the girls to escape and be lost in the wind. Charlie didn’t need any more ghost chickens, thank you very much. One was enough.

  She’d watched from the back porch as Jack and Evan closed the shutters on Charlie's little cottage and locked them into place to protect the windows. It was one of the features that she loved about the place.

  Charlie's phone buzzed on the counter and she picked it up and quickly read the text from her cousin, Lisa.

  Jason has to work. He's gonna drop Cameron off to stay with us during the storm. Then he's on duty until the storm is over, I guess.

  Charlie let out a little growl. Why wasn’t Cameron going home? Their case was closed. Charlie jotted off her reply.

  Fine.

  I'm gonna pack some clothes, get Butterbean in his carrier and I should be over there shortly. Jason is going to drop off Watson (his cat).

  Charlie chuckled. She knew who Watson was.

  Okay. I’ll be here.

  Jack's was the place to be during a storm. He had a gasoline generator already set up in case the power went out and he had plenty of fuel, and of course there was food for days. There were also boardgames and decks of cards and books for those who didn't want to play games. And plenty of liquor for the adults if things got too boring.

  Charlie glanced at the platter of sandwiches. She sighed.

  Do you think they'll need lunch?

  Lisa didn't have a chance to answer. Jason's black Dodge Charger rambled up the gravel driveway and parked behind Jack's shiny new red Chevy Silverado.

  Jason wore the uniform — tan pants and brown shirt — and Charlie could tell by the thickness of his chest that he had his vest on beneath. Well they all had their talismans. Cameron was unhooking his seatbelt as she took four more slices of bread and quickly made two more sandwiches. She wrapped one of them up in some wax paper. She didn't bother cutting it into triangles. She took a deep breath and headed out onto the back porch. It was time to bury the hatchet. Jason wasn't going anywhere. And although she enjoyed being called on for help by him, not working with him wasn't going to kill her. He was practically family and she had a sneaking suspicion that at some point in the future he would be as much a part of the family as she was.

  She raised her hand to wave. Then walked down the steep steps to take him the sandwich.

  "Here," she said without acknowledging Cameron. "I made you something. Case you get hungry later."

  Jason looked her in the eye for the first time in days and smiled. He took the sandwich and put it on the front seat next to him. "Thank you."

  A minute later, he opened the back door and wrangled the cat carrier holding Watson. Charlie heard a low growl. "Don't mind her. She growls at everybody when she's in this carrier. I swear to God she won't bite."

  "Do we need to let her out of the carrier?" Charlie asked.

  "Lisa said you can just stick her in a bedroom," Jason said. "She said she would set up a litter box. And make sure she gets fed."

  "You can stick her in my bedroom," Cameron said, coming in behind Jason.

  "Okay," Charlie said. Why was Cameron getting a bedroom?

  "Hey," Jack said as he approached. Ruby skipped behind him and Evan came over and wrapped his arm around his mother's waist nestling in close to her. Charlie wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

  "Jason, Cameron. How are y'all doing today,” Jack said.

  "Very good sir," Jason said. "I hear this is the place to be when there's a storm. Wish I could hang around."

  "Well you got a job to do. I spent many a night in the hospital with patients when there were storms. Duty call sometimes and you can’t ignore it."

  "No, sir you can't," Jason said. He handed Watson's carrier to Cameron along with a bag of her food and some litter. "I hate to run off like this but I need to get down to the station."

  Jason jumped into his Charger, backed up and turned around.

  "Come on Cameron, I'll show you where you can put her," Charlie said. "Uncle Jack, there's sandwiches in the kitchen for y'all."

  "Thank you Charlie girl," he said.

  Charlie took Cameron upstairs to the yellow book bedroom. "Here you go. You can let her out in here."

  "Thanks," he said.

  "You know I thought you would've gone back to Columbia by now." She folded her arms across her chest. "Not that I'm complaining. I'm not I promise."

  "It's fine. I figured I would stick around for a few days. You know, help out with the manhunt where I could."

  "What manhunt?" Charlie asked.

  "I thought Lisa would've told you," Cameron said.

  "Told me what?" Charlie asked. A sick feeling started in the base of her belly and wound its way up into her chest.

  "Curtis escaped. He killed the deputy and a nurse." Cameron said.

  "Oh," Charlie said. He may as well of slapped her. "No, Lisa didn’t mention it. I'll let you get settled." Charlie backed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

  She was going to give Lisa Holloway a piece of her mind when she finally showed up. She headed back downstairs and made sure everyone had a sandwich. They all sat around the dining table crunching on pickles and drinking iced cold Coke. A special treat because it was a storm day. A few minutes later Cameron came downstairs and joined them. Charlie glanced at the clock.

  “What was taken Lisa so long?” she said.

  “Could be that cat of hers,” Jack said. “He hates to be put the carrier.”

  “Maybe so,” Charlie said. “When y’all are finished Evan and Ruby, take your plates to the kitchen please.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Evan said. “Is there any dessert?”

  “I don’t know honey, we will have to wait for Jen to get back,” Charlie said.

  Evan scowled and picked up his plate and took it into the kitchen with Ruby trailing after him.

  Charlie’s phone buzzed her pocket. “Speak of the devil,” she said as she retrieved it and saw Lisa’s phone number on the screen. It crossed her mind that it was a strange thing that Lisa was calling instead of texting. But she swiped her thumb across the screen and answered the phone.

  “Hey, we were just talking about you,” Charlie said. “Where your ears burning?”

  “My ears are always burning for you Charlie.” The sound of his voice drove a cold stake through her heart.

  “Who
is this?” Charlie said that, although she already knew. She could picture him. Those ice blue eyes. Maybe Jason was right; maybe he wasn’t possessed by a demon. Maybe Gabriel Curtis was every bit a devil.

  “We never did finish registering me to vote,” he said.

  “And we never will,” Charlie said. “Because they’re going to find you and they’re gonna lock you up and their gonna throw away the key.”

  “Maybe they will. But not before I kill Lisa.”

  Charlie’s ears began to ring. Why had it not occurred to her before? He was calling from Lisa’s phone. How would he have that?

  “If you touch one hair on her head,“ Charlie started.

  “She’s going to make such a beautiful demon,” he said. “I can’t wait to devour her soul.”

  Charlie felt Cameron’s eyes on her. Watching her face. Watching her body. He shifted from the friendly, almost likable guy sitting at her uncle’s table eating lunch with them into FBI mode with the flip of a switch. She met his gaze. Surely her fear was written all over her face.

  “Why don’t you tell me where you are,” she said. “It’s not Lisa you want. Not really. It’s me.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. I want you both,” he said.

  “Tell me where you are,” she said. “I’ll come to you.”

  He laughed. “I somehow doubt that. I’ll tell you what. You find me all by yourself before I kill your cousin and then I’ll tell you where I am.”

  Charlie turned away from the table so she didn’t have to look at Cameron and her uncle studying her, listening to her. “I swear to the goddess above if you touch her I will make you wish that you had stayed in hell.”

  The line went dead. Charlie jumped up from the table and ran to the small half-bath down the hall and regurgitated her lunch. Cameron stood in the door, a panicked look on his face.

  “What happened?” he said.

  Charlie spit into the toilet closed the cover and flushed. “That was Curtis. He has Lisa.”

  “What the flock? Are you sure?” he said.