by D V Wolfe
I nodded. Rosetta had been right. I didn’t know much about the mechanics of seances. I just always assumed they were like calling dead people on talking boards. All you needed was their name and a middle school girls’ sleepover prop and you were good to go. Of course, admitting to Rosetta that she was right was like signing your own death-by-smugness warrant, so I didn’t say anything.
“Any idea on what to do after the seance?” Noah asked.
“Well, depending on what Barbara has to tell us…” Stacks started.
“We need to get the book,” I said.
“The contracts?” Stacks asked. “What good is that going to do?”
“At least it will keep people from jumping into the pit just because their friends did,” I snapped. I saw Gabe move out of the corner of my eye, his rough square hand hovered over my hand resting on the table for a moment. I held my breath. If he put his hand on mine, what was I going to do? Stab him? Hold it? Shake it off? Then, he seemed to think better of it and reached for the plate of bread in the center of the table instead. I felt small next to Gabe. He was a huge bear of a man. But he was strangely not intimidating. One of the mysteries of Gabe.
“Ok,” Stacks said, moving us all past the awkward moment when Gabe almost touched my hand. “We get the book and then what?”
“We find a way to break the contract,” I said. Silence.
“Bane,” Stacks said. “Contract’s can’t…”
“I know,” I said. “The only way I’ve been told they can be broken is by killing the demon holding the contract. If this legion of demons is here acting as one of Hell’s sales teams, killing them won’t even be enough to free the souls. But Stacks, these people can’t have any idea about what they’re signing. I mean, with mine, they were willing to make an exception because of that stupid clause that took all of the town of Ashley down with me. Isn’t this situation like that?” I knew I sounded desperate. As much as I hated it, I couldn’t help it. I needed to believe that whole families weren’t going to the pit because they signed, what they thought, was a book listing them as members of a church.
“Maybe it’s not actually a contract they’re signing,” Gabe said. I looked up and met his gaze. Then, I quickly looked back down at my plate and played with my food, waiting for the weight of his gaze to shift off of me.
“What do you think it could be?” Stacks asked.
I heard the leather of his chaps creak as he shifted on his stool. “It could be something for a blood rite the demons are planning or maybe it is just a membership book and instead they’re planning on using the congregation of ‘loyal’ folk some other way in the future. Bane is right, we need the book to know for sure.”
“So now the question is,” Stacks said. “How do we get it?”
“Well, let’s start with an easy question. Where is the book?” Gabe asked, turning to look at me. I saw Rosetta, Stacks, and Noah watching me too.
“I asked Nigel about it and he said he’s never seen it lying around when he’s cleaning. He thinks that the preacher’s men take it with them between services.”
“So the only time we can guarantee it’s in the building,” Gabe said, “is during a service?”
“I have an idea,” Rosetta said. And I could feel hives breaking out on my skin as she said it.
“Why do I have the feeling I’m not going to like this plan?” I asked, glancing up at her wicked smile.
“Oh honey, I have a feeling you’re going to hate it,” Rosetta said with a grin.
11
“There is no way in hell,” I said, dropping my fork.
“So dramatic,” Gabe said.
Rosetta pointed her fork at him. “Isn’t she?” She turned back to me. “It’s the fastest way to get us all in there and close to the book and you know it! You and Gabe can pose as a couple and Noah can pose as my grandson.”
“No offense Rosetta,” I said, looking from Rosetta’s dark skin to Noah’s pastiness. “But no one is going to believe he’s your grandson.”
“Adopted grandson then, don’t split hairs,” Rosetta said.
“Still about as believable as Gabe and I being a couple,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“It’s settled then,” Gabe said and I gave my face an involuntary smack. Not what I was going for.
“Stacks is out,” Rosetta said. “Because he’s from here. Someone would recognize him.”
I sighed. I was outnumbered and Rosetta was leading the charge. I really only had one choice in front of me, so I decided to climb on board the crazy train. “Stacks, how do you feel about doing a little vehicle disablement so when we come running out of there with the book, we can make it safely back here with all our nether regions still attached?” I asked.
Stacks shrugged. “I can do that. A couple of potatoes hammered up tailpipes, some distributor cap theft and some eeny, meeny, miny, mo on spark plug leads should do the trick.”
I nodded. “Glad juvie taught you something useful.”
“You went to juvie?” Noah asked Stacks.
Stacks nodded. “Where do you think I learned to pick locks?”
“Speaking of,” I said. “While everyone is in the service, we still might need you to sneak inside and do some B & E on the locked offices.”
“Breaking and entering,” Stacks said to Noah who was poised to ask. “Sure,” Stacks said, turning back to me. “If there’s time. But I’ll need a lookout.”
“Old lady with a peptic ulcer on line one,” Rosetta said raising her hand. “Just so long as I can get back inside in time to make it up to get the book.”
“Actually,” I said, “why don’t you stay outside the sanctuary and skewer any of the bastards that run out?”
Rosetta raised her eyebrows, considering. “Sounds like fun.”
“We have shotgun shell ammo, stakes, and the sword for weaponry against these red-eyed dickbags,” I said, making a mental list. “Though, we’ll need to make some new stakes unless Stacks can spare the ones he’s got around here for research…”
“I hate to say it,” Rosetta said. “But shotguns and swords might make us stand out in a crowd.”
I paused. “What are you saying?” I asked.
Rosetta locked eyes with me. “Bane, I’m saying that if you want to get this book and try to undo whatever is being done to these people, we have to go in undercover, get to the book and get it out of there. If we go in fully loaded, we’ll probably be able to rack up a pretty decent body count, but we probably won’t be able to get to the book.” She was giving me the choice. We either kill the demons or we get the book so that we can try to reverse whatever is happening to the people. The people of Ashley or the people of Messina. There would be other hunts to save the people of Ashley. This might be the only chance to save the people in Messina.
“You’re right,” I said. Rosetta looked slightly shocked. “We’ll only be able to take what we can hide on us. Stakes and…”
“Iron,” Gabe said. “Daggers, knives.”
“We need time to work through making a few more stakes and some preparations,” Stacks said, making notes on a scrap of paper. He looked up. “What if we planned to attack Friday night, at the evening service?”
“So two days from now,” Noah said.
I nodded. “Then we have a plan,” I said.
“Only one thing is missing,” Stacks said.
I glanced over at him. “What?”
“This is an extremely conservative church. Suits and dresses,” Stacks said.
I shrugged. “Yeah, so?”
“Well,” Stacks said, shredding the balled up paper towel in his hands. “Purple hair and a stained a-shirt aren’t going to pass muster with them.”
“What? Are you expecting me to wear a dress?” I asked. The whole table turned to look at me. “You’re expecting me to wear a dress?!”
“And a wig,” Rosetta said.
“Why can’t I be Rosetta’s grandson?” I asked. “I can scowl and wear a jacket.”
“Yeah,” Gabe said. “He’s not really my type.”
I ignored both of them. “And where are you expecting to find a dress and a wig that will fit me in Messina between now and then?” I was sure this would have them stumped. Messina barely had a grocery store and who knew if that was even open anymore. The church had probably declared the pickled okra to be too risque.
Rosetta was concentrating, flipping through possibilities in her head. Noah and Gabe were exchanging looks of being completely at a loss. But Stacks was smiling. Not a kind smile either, a stick-it-to-you smile that made my skin crawl.
“I need to make a phone call,” Stacks said, getting to his feet.
“Anyone need the bathroom before Stacks places his call?” I asked the table.
Stacks shook his head, keeping that little smile in place. “I’d tell you to fuck off, but I almost feel sorry for you with what’s about to happen.” My stomach lurched. This wasn’t good. Anything that made Stacks smile like that was definitely not good.
While Stacks was making his clandestine bathroom call, the rest of us helped Rosetta set up for the seance. She’d brought canvas mute cloth from home and with only minor fussing she and Noah had it spread out on the table. Gabe and I worked on cleaning up the floor under and around the table. We put the files back together and folded up pizza boxes, clearing them away. Twice we bumped into each other. The first time was when I backed out from under the folding table. He had just turned around. I felt my ass bump his crotch and I sprang away, almost leaping over Rosetta and the table. The second time, I had my hand by my side as I carried a stack of pizza boxes to the overflowing trash can across the room and he was bent over picking up paper clips that had scattered from Royson’s file. He had taken a step back to get one from under his foot and his butt had brushed my hand. The skin on my hand felt like it was on fire, but still not as hot as my face as I turned back to the garbage can, both hands on the stack of boxes now. I had just thrown them away when Stacks opened the bathroom door and slid his phone back into his pocket.
“I hope you washed your hands,” I said. Stacks was still smiling that creepy smile and shaking his head slowly at me. “What?” I asked.
“Oh you’ll see, in about ten minutes,” Stacks said.
I swear I could smell their perfume before they even opened the trailer door. I wanted to smile. I loved Tessa and Marge. But the fact that they were here, half an hour after a dress and wig were discussed, didn’t bode well for me. The stomp of heavy feet in high heels heralded their approach outside the trailer. Well, that and Tessa’s impressive four-letter word vocabulary, interrupted occasionally by Marge sounding like a New Jersey senator addressing the state legislature.
“So I told Bruno that if he thinks he’s such a badass he should get a bikini wax and tell me who’s tougher,” Marge said.
“I want fucking front row seats to that,” I heard Tessa say in her breathy voice.
There was a hard knock on the door. “Avon ladies,” Marge said. “Open up and buy some shit!”
“Is that Enigma’s new tagline?” I asked Stacks. Enigma was Tessa and Marge’s boutique in downtown Messina. “I’m impressed they’re still hanging on with the church breathing down the town’s neck.”
Stacks grinned. “Are you kidding me? It’ll take more than a couple of hundred Bible-thumpers to scare the two of them.”
“Well, make sure they fit you for that wig and dress,” I said to Stacks. “Because you want to look your best on Gabe’s arm.” I turned and headed towards the hallway. I’d climb out the bathroom window if I had to.
“You’re wasting your time, Bane, the bathroom window is rigged with a frame tripwire and c-4. It can be cracked for ventilation but if you open it more than two inches, you’ll blow yourself to kingdom come.”
I paused and turned to look back at Stacks. “Who the hell wires the only exterior escape point in their bathroom with c-4?”
Stacks went to unlock the front door. “Someone who doesn’t want to be surprised while they’re on the can.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
Marge and Tessa blew in the front door like a Kansas cyclone, all fuss, and unpredictability.
Marge wore an open flannel shirt over what looked like a black, strapless leather romper and heels. Tessa was more conservative in a hot pink sports bra and matching mini skirt with high heeled sandals. It must have been a casual Wednesday for them. Usually, they were designer fashion decked-out.
“Holy fuck!” Tessa said. “It’s Bane!”
“Shit me! How the hell are you?” Marge said.
“Oh, I’m good. Bummed I’ll be running from the law come tomorrow on account of having to murder this s.o.b.,” I said, putting a hand on Stacks’ shoulder.
“Hopefully not on our account,” Tessa said. “But a fuck-ton of people want Willy dead, so I can see your point.”
“Willy?” Gabe mouthed at me. I nodded at Stacks. I caught a glimpse of Noah bouncing in his seat. He’d been wanting to give Stacks hell about his real name being ‘Wilford’ for quite a while now. I made eye contact with Noah and swept him a bow, giving him my blessing to fire at Stacks with both barrels.
“So,” Stacks said, the stupid grin still on his face. “Did you ladies bring what I asked for?”
Marge made a face. “Yes, every piece of drab, churchy clothing we could find. Good thing too. Most of this crap has been on our clearance rack for months. Ain’t nobody out there wants to wear these old lady dresses. But they come with the lot, so we try to sell them.”
“You got a workspace for us or something?” Tessa asked.
Stacks shoved me down the hall. “This way ladies.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Gabe and Noah purposefully looking away with their heads down and Rosetta looking disapprovingly at Tessa and Marge, but not saying a word.
I went with the first thing that fit. Physically fit. I didn’t know or care how it looked. I just wanted this nightmare to be over. Besides Rosetta, the only person who had ever fussed with how I looked had been my mother. And those memories were best left where they lay.
I had just pulled my dirty a-shirt back on and reached for the bedroom door when Tessa grabbed me by the arm. “Now for the wig!”
Ten minutes later, despite the two of them whining that I needed to try them both on together to make sure they didn’t class, I fought my way out of the bedroom door and lumbered down the hall. It didn’t matter that Rosetta had hidden my gun. I was going to kill Stacks with my bare hands.
The main room was dark except for a camping lantern on the table and I could see everything was set up for the seance. Gabe was sitting at the table, hunched over a tome, and scratching his beard. He looked up from his reading when he heard me stomping down the hall and grinned. “What? No fashion show?”
I gave him the finger. “How’s that for fashion?”
Rosetta popped up from the far side of the table. “Oh good. Done playing dress-up?”
“Yes,” I said. “Where are we on this?” I asked, motioning to the table.
“Almost ready,” Rosetta said.
“Where’s Noah?” I asked.
There was a bang on the underside of the table and Gabe bent over on his stool to look under it. “You ok down there, kid?”