Hell Bent

by Blaire Valentine

  "Yeah," he said, "From the Death council."

  "The Death Council?" Connor sat up. I hated how he knew so much more than me about magical things. It made me feel like a disgrace to my own heritage. What kind of witch hadn't heard of the Death council? Whatever the fuck that was. One with a curse on her family, that was the kind of witch who hadn't heard of the Death council.

  "Yes," Death looked at him and then saw the puzzled look on my face, "Tabby, you wouldn't understand. It's not good. That's all you need to know."

  "C'mon we can tell her more than that," said Connor. It sounded sweet but the way he said it was tinged with disgust. What kind of witch was I?

  "You tell her what you like. I have to leave. I have to think," he took a deep breath and looked Connor in the eyes, "Besides, I think you have a lot to tell her, don't you?"

  Connor went white and nodded slowly. Before I could bombard him with any more questions Death disappeared into the ether. I looked at Connor, who was naked apart from a blanket he'd pulled off the couch to cover up his manhood. We'd been so intimate just a few hours ago but now my skin was heating up when I saw him. It was like being alone with a stranger. In fact, he was basically a stranger

  With the added bonus that he was naked because hey, who follows the three date rule anymore?

  "What was he talking about?" I asked. Connor grabbed his pants and pulled them on. I was only slightly disappointed.

  "The Death council oversees just that, Death. They give Death his work and his payment. They handle everything. Appeals and stuff. You ever hear of a person who died for a few minutes and then came back to life? That's them," he said. I nodded and sat down on the armchair.

  I wasn't quite ready to sit next to Connor though he'd been inside me less than a day ago. We would have to take it slow if this was going to go anywhere.

  "His employer?" I said. Connor shrugged.

  "I guess that's what a mortal would call it," he said.

  "I'm not a mortal!"

  "You act like one," he said. Then he gave me a withering look, "You dress like one too. I didn't know that people still did the whole goth thing. It's very...yes. Very you."

  I folded my arms. I didn't dress the way I did for male approval though most of the males in my life had approved of it so far. Just not my Dad and he was in the country so infrequently that putting on some pink lipstick and a pair of pale jeans was a small price to pay to keep the peace.

  "What else did Death want you to talk to me about?" I asked. I wasn't about to let him get away with that one. Death wouldn't say something like that if there wasn't a reason for it. Things were obviously afoot and I was going to find out.

  Judging from the blood that had been drained from Connor's face, he was keeping a big secret. I would do whatever I could to get it out of him.

  "What do you mean?" he said. Ah, playing dumb. Something that men -both mortal and supernatural -were so good at when it suited their cause. 'That girl wasn't flirting with me she was just tasting my gum!' Or 'Oh did I put it in your butt? I thought it was your pussy, sorry about that! It won't happen again'.

  Bullshit. All of it. Fucking bullshit.

  "You know what I mean," I said, "Don't pretend."

  Then Ezra stepped into the room. He was shirtless, his pajama pants were slung so low that they displayed a lot of the chiseled v area above his pubic zone. Fuck, he was beautiful. Both Connor and I couldn't keep our eyes off of him as he stretched and wiped the sleep from his eyes.

  "You're still here?" he asked. His voice was low and tired and sexy as hell. I wanted to lick chocolate sauce off of his chest. I wanted him to tie me up and stick objects into me. I wanted him to fuck me like a maniac for the third time in a month.

  "Yeah is that a problem?" I said, which was polite but I didn't really care what he said. I wasn't leaving before Connor admitted what Death was talking about.

  "It is," said Ezra and I waved him away.

  "I'm interrogating Connor," I said. Ezra rolled his eyes.

  "Let's speed this up then. Sorry Connor," he said. Connor shook his head.

  "Please don't."

  Ezra ignored his pleas.

  "It's his family. They put the curse on your family. Can you leave my house now? Or at least put some clothes on," he said as if it were nothing. Then he turned on the coffee pot. My head snapped towards Connor.

  "Oh fuck you, Ezra," he snapped. Ezra shrugged and gave a little smile over his shoulder.

  "I'm just not letting you prolong the inevitable."

  Connor pulled on a white t-shirt.

  "I have to go," he said.

  "No, you don't," I snapped.

  Then the buzzer went off. Ezra dove to answer it as if he were afraid that one of us would do it and say something weird.

  "Hello!" he said, "Yeah, yeah come on up. I'll buzz you in."

  He put down the phone and looked at us.

  "You two have to go. Now," he said.

  "Is it your kid?" I asked. He didn't answer which meant that it was indeed his kid, "We're still figuring stuff out. Connor's going to talk to his grandmother for me."

  "She's obviously dead," said Connor. I raised one eyebrow.

  "You're a warlock, aren't you?" I said.

  "You can't possibly mean..."

  "Yeah, I can."

  "Well, whatever you're doing you can't fucking do it here!" said Ezra.

  I could be very convincing when I wanted to be.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Tabby

  It was awkward having Joel there, but we couldn't leave. There needed to be three of us to do the whole Ouija board thing and no one else was going to volunteer for it. We would have to stick around until he went to bed.

  Joel looked at the two of us with big eyes and cowered at his father's side.

  "Oh hey, don't be scared," I leaned down. I had no idea how you were supposed to talk to kids. I hadn't really interacted with kids since I'd been one and even then I hadn't liked them. What was there to talk about? They were unemployed and had basically no empathy. A bit like my first boyfriend after high school.

  "We're your Daddy's friends," said Connor, who was equally awkward around the child. It made me feel a little bit better about my lack of social grace with the under twelve demographic.

  Joel looked at us and laughed. He had a sweet little laugh. He wasn't a bit like his father. Maybe that was why Ezra adored him so much. I wanted to know about his mother but they obviously weren't on good terms. I couldn't blame her, whoever she was. Being married to a guy like Ezra sounded like a total nightmare.

  It turned out the secret to getting kids to like you is pure bribery. Connor ran down to the corner store and came back with a small sack full of candy. Ezra told the kid he could watch whatever movie he wanted and put on his pajamas. It sounded like a fun day but by the evening time I was sick of watching cartoon characters dancing and singing.

  Then Joel fell asleep and Ezra carried him to bed.

  "Where's Joel's mother?" I asked when he came back. Maybe it was an insensitive thing to ask but there wasn't exactly a sensitive way to phrase it, was there? I wanted to know and he would have to tell me.

  Ezra shushed me and looked around as if he were afraid that Joel would hear.

  "Oh come on, he could barely keep his eyes open. He's not listening to us. I promise." I said but Ezra shushed me again. I felt bad for the kid. I knew what it was like to grow up without a mother. It wasn't easy.

  "She's not around anymore," he said. Connor was setting up the board and he shook his head at me in disapproval. Obviously, that was not something Ezra liked to be asked. Then again, Ezra wasn't supposed to like witches and warlocks and he currently had one of each in his apartment. He was a complicated guy.

  "Is she not around as in moved away or not around as in dead?" I asked. Ezra sighed and rubbed his temple.

  "The second one."

  "Oh. I'm sorry. I kinda wish I hadn't asked now," I said. Ezra sat across from me at the kitc
hen table and rolled his eyes.

  "I wish that too," he said but he smirked a little bit, "It's for the best. I think."

  I didn't want to ask about that.

  Connor sat in the middle of the table and looked at both of us. He placed his improvised cardboard ouija board on the table.

  "Well, here we are. It was the best I could pull together at short notice but it should work. I've never done this before," he said. Ezra's face dropped to a frown.

  "You've never done this before?" he repeated, "You've never done this before? I thought all this spirit stuff was like witchcraft 101. You've done everything."

  "Not this."

  Ezra looked at me.

  "What about you, Goth spice? Please tell me you've tried to talk to the dead before and we're not all going into this with no experience!" he said but I shook my head. Dad had told me not to mess around with the occult. Tarot cards, astrology, ouija boards, everything remotely magical was banned in our house while he was still living there. Which was such a Taurus thing to do. I only learned how to use the crystal ball from some spell books my mother had hidden around the house.

  "Never," I said but I locked eyes with Connor, "But it'll be Ok. Connor just needs to ask his Grandma to back off. She'll be happy to hear from him. I guess it's like sending someone a card at Christmas. People look forward to it, right? Being contacted in the afterlife?"

  "Right," said Connor slowly, "But Tabby, Ezra is probably right. It is a bad idea. All kinds of things can go wrong with this stuff."

  "But if it goes right my curse will be gone," I said. Connor grimaced.

  "I still don't see why it's my responsibility," he said, "just because it was my ancestor doesn't mean it's my problem. She did it, not me. Plus your family were real jerks to my family."

  "Excuse me!"

  "All right, all right! I'll do it, just shut up for a minute and close your eyes."

  I did as I was told. The three of us took each other's hands and closed our eyes tight. It was like a satanic prayer circle. Connor's hand was soft and big. Ezra's was rougher and calloused. It wasn't long ago that their hands were roaming my body together.

  I shook my head. Now was not the time to get distracted. We had to focus if we were going to do this.

  Connor cleared his throat and spoke.

  "Hi um, spirits and stuff. We were hoping to speak to Moira Flynn, my great grandmother. We just want a little chat. It won't take too long. I don't think. We just have a few questions to ask. And like, I want to say hi to her as well. I'm gonna make it clear that we actually want to hear from her and we're not just calling on her to be selfish," he said, which was a complete lie.

  "Shouldn't you speak more formally?" snapped Ezra.

  "Do you know how to do this?" said Connor, "If you don't then shut up. I'm doing my best."

  Then I heard a gasp. When I opened my eyes the lights had dimmed all by themselves. We weren't alone.

  "They're here," I looked around, "At least, someone is. Maybe more than one. Let's get the glass."

  The three of us reached forward and put our fingers on the glass in the middle of the board. I could see that Connor was trembling. This really was all new to him.

  He was too scared to speak now, so I did it for him.

  "Hello," I said, "Is there someone there?"

  There was a pause of about a minute where the three of us exchanged nervous glances and nothing happened. For a moment I thought that maybe the lights had been a fluke. Then the glass began to move.

  It was dragged to the corner of the board where the word 'yes' was written. So I was right. We had company.

  "Is it you Moira?" I asked.

  The glass moved back to the word 'yes'. I looked at Connor. Now was our chance.

  "Speak to her," I said, "You're her great-grandson. She'll want to hear from you."

  Connor nodded and cleared his throat again.

  "Hello...Moira. I'm Connor. Connor Flynn. I'm Eileen's son," he said. The glass jerked from our hands and began to spell out a message.

  The three of us watched with our eyes wide as the glass slowly dragged itself from letter to letter.

  "Release me, boy," was the message. I read it aloud and looked at the other two.

  "She wants out," I said. Before they could speak Moira began to spell out something else.

  "Inbreed," was all she said this time. I looked up at the ceiling as the lights flickered and I frowned. My heart was beating fast now. I knew who she was talking about but I had to confirm it now.

  "Are you talking about me?" I asked. Moira dragged the glass to the word 'yes' and the spelled out 'inbreed' again.

  Connor nodded.

  "Our families hated each other,"" he said. Ezra rolled his eyes.

  "Hey Moira, why don't you be nice and lift the curse you put on Tabby's family?" he said. The glass practically jerked its way out of our hands to the word 'no'.

  Connor winced at me.

  "I guess she feels pretty strongly about it," he said, which was an understatement. Well, fuck. That wasn't fair. Like Connor said earlier, how could I be held responsible for whatever shitty things that my family had done to her? I wasn't even born back then. Fuck it, my mother wasn't even born then. Spirits really knew how to hold a grudge, apparently.

  "Moira," I said, trying to stay as calm as possible. I'd worked in retail before so I knew how to deal with difficult old ladies, "I should introduce myself. I'm Tabitha. Yeah, my last name is Monroe and I gather my family were pretty shitty to your family."

  Moira didn't hesitate to reply. She spelled out the word 'scum' with four quick jerks of the glass. Nice.

  "Thanks for that. I know they were shitty, but that was years and years ago. They're all dead. My Grandma is dead and my mother is dead. You got your revenge. Can you just lift the curse already? Please!" I said. OK, so I was losing it a little bit now. I looked down as Moira began to spell out her response to me.

  "Must end the line," she spelled. I looked at Connor who seemed equally as confused as I was. Ezra figured it out first.

  "She wants your family to die out. She doesn't want you having any kids," he said. I could have smacked myself with how obvious that was once I really thought about it. Of course. She wanted to kill off my bloodline.

  That seemed reasonable. I wasn't finished negotiating with her yet.

  "Well, that's all right. I wasn't planning on having any kids. Unless dogs count! Haha, just a little joke there Moira. You seem like you have a great sense of humor," I said, "As I said, you don't have to worry. I would have my tubes tied now but most doctors won't do it until you're at least thirty. But I'm on the pill. And I get them to pull out most of the time. Maybe there's a stronger pill I can go on? Like an ultra mega pill. I'll go on that. And we'll be good."

  The movement of the glass this time was slow and deliberate. Like she was rubbing it in my face that she wasn't going to do anything for me.

  "No" then she spelled out, "Pig."

  Nice. Very nice. I looked at the two boys and sighed.

  "She's not biting," I said, "Come up with something."

  "Come up with something? Like what?" said Connor.

  "I don't know. She's your Grandma. Tell her to stop being rude. Use one of your potions or something. I don't know!" I said. Ezra loudly cleared his throat as a sign that the two of us needed to shut up.

  "Moira if you lift the curse we will release your spirit," he said. His voice was low and quiet but the lights brightened and dimmed once again. She was listening now.

  The glass didn't move.

  "Do you like that idea? Being released?" insisted Ezra. The glass dragged slowly from letter to letter.

  "Who are you?" it spelled out.

  "Don't tell her," warned Connor but Ezra sat back in his chair and folded his arms, an arrogant smile on his features.

  "I'm Ezra Shepard. You won't know my family. They're not from around here. I don't bother with all of that lineage shit. I carved out my own path," he
leaned forward and said, "As a witch hunter."

  The lightbulb on the ceiling blazed red and smashed into a thousand little pieces onto the table in front of us. The glass was moving rapidly now though we couldn't see it in the dark. I used my phone to illuminate it while Connor desperately searched for candles. I caught the end of Moira's message.

  "...me out," is what I saw being spelled out on the board. That was clear enough. She wanted out.

  I looked up.

  "Only if you get rid of the curse," I said and the glass went berserk. She kept dragging it to 'no' over and over again. The only noise it made was a soft squeak but I could tell she was screaming it. I didn't know this bitch but already the thought of her in pain made me happy, "Are you upset? I fucking hope you are. I had no mother because of you. My mother had no mother. You should be upset!"

  "Tabby, relax," said Connor but I went on.

  "You want it don't you? You want us to release you? Well, we're not going to do it until you lift the curse!" I said.

  The glass jerked around the board for another minute or two before it slowed to a halt right in the middle. Once again, the glass was still.

  Then in a far less frantic fashion than before Moira began to spell again.

  "Release...me...please," I read. She spelled it out again. Again and Again. Connor looked up at me after the fifth time.

  "I don't know if it's a good idea," he said.

  There wasn't time for good ideas. This was my only hope.

  "We release you," I said and in a second I was flung from my chair with the force of a speeding train. My body hit Ezra's wall as the room filled with a horrifying green light. I couldn't see or hear the boys. All I could hear was a high pitched noise that sounded like a scream.

  A glowing green male figure stepped towards me and pressed me against the wall. He didn't have a face and his body looked as if it were made of static, but the feel of his hands clamped around my neck was as real as any human. I opened my mouth to scream but I couldn't.

  "Open," he said, "Open yourself."

  "Who are you?" my knees were trembling so hard that if he let me go I would certainly fall flat on my ass.