Den of Iniquity

by J G Jerome

  She nods. “I’ve been thinking about our conversation quite a bit. I’ll drop by sometime during the weekend.”

  “Okay. I’ll text you the address.”

  There is a knock at the door. Carla opens the door and invites Josie in. “Hello, Josie. He’s behind the island. Josie rushes to me and hugs me. She checks me over to ensure I’m okay.

  I tell her, “I’m fine, Punkin. We’ll heal this up tonight, and I’ll be just fine tomorrow.”

  Josie is fuming, “I still don't like you getting shot, Will. Nothing against Carla, but she’s not family. Why were you here?”

  “Marissa asked me to.” I look at Carla. “Despite being on a service call in Cottonwood, she decided to check the voicemail Carla left. Apparently Carla calling is unusual enough to trigger alarms in her head. Since she couldn’t come, she asked me to.” I look back to Josie.

  Josie says, “I still don’t like it.”

  I grab her face with both hands. “Josie, I get that you’re scared, but we don’t ignore people in need just because they are not family. If Marissa had asked you, what would you have done?”

  She grins ruefully. “I probably would have driven over here and run over the stupid fucker with the truck for threatening our friend.”

  Carla’s head whips to look at Josie intently at the use of the word ‘friend.’

  Josie kisses me and stands. She grabs my hand, “Come on Studley Doright. Let’s get you back to the apartment.”

  “Studley Doright?” I ask incredulously. “Where did you get that?”

  “From Monty. I think it fits,” she says.

  Carla smirks, “I like it. I agree, Josie. It fits.”

  I beckon Carla to me. I give her a hug. “You have my number. Call or text if you need anything.”

  She squeezes me briefly and steps back as she nods. “Okay. Send me the address.”

  “I will,” I assure her. “Take care, Carla.”

  Josie drives me back to the apartment in the CRV. I call Susan to take two sick days for being shot. I end up spending about thirty minutes explaining what happened and catching her up on where I am on my projects. She wishes me a quick recovery and good luck with the move before we sign off.

  32

  Sidney’s story

  Audrey shows up at the apartment Friday afternoon with a huge suitcase. She plans to stay with us for the entire following week to help get settled into the new house starting tomorrow. She had a volleyball match the previous night, but her volleyball coach let her have a ‘vacation’ due to the next week being mid-term break. Since we have almost everything packed, we go out to dinner at John’s Chophouse to celebrate.

  In the morning, we start moving into the new house at 236 S. Mount Vernon. Marissa arranged to have a small local moving company bring all her stuff and mine from storage. I stick to the plan to leave my desk setup and the full bed at the apartment, but we do pull the extra twin out of the bedroom for one of the rooms downstairs. Josie puts the mate to the apartment’s crawl-through 'passage' in the closet of her room at the house. We spend the day cleaning and unpacking.

  Carla comes by Saturday evening with a stack of pizzas and some quality beer and wine. I tell her, “Carla, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

  “Casablanca. Unoriginal, Will. You need to do better.” She displays a slight, smug smile.

  The ladies love that. I stick out my tongue and cross my eyes as I relieve her of the pizzas while managing not to knock the wine and beer from her minimal grasp.

  I tease her, “A joke, Carla? Wow!”

  She repeats my crossed eyes and tongue sticking trick. Apparently she learns to mimic ‘normal’ behaviors quickly. I brush a quick kiss on her cheek and take the pizzas to the dinette tables. The kiss flusters her a bit. Then she gets hugs from all the ladies - Marissa going last and lingering. Carla snags her hand as Marissa pulls away. Marissa drags her to the dining tables. Audrey and Josie bring wine glasses, chilled pilsner glasses, plates, and flatware.

  Marissa and I both have dinette tables, which isn’t going to work well for us. Getting a big dining table and a big custom bed are the priorities for furnishing the house. We use the dinette tables for a pizza buffet.

  We have a nice meal sitting on the floor around a coffee table in the living room. After we’re done, Rebecca and Marissa consolidate the leftovers into two boxes while I go pull Sidney’s bolt out of my safe.

  I call from the top of the stairs, “Ladies, bring your pillows and drinks. We’re going down to the party room.”

  We all gather in the sub-basement and sit in a circle. Rebecca and Audrey on either side of me. Josie, Carla, and Marissa finish out the circle.

  I remove the nut from the bolt and call out, “Hey Sidney, come out please. There is someone I want you to meet.”

  Sidney appears and I push just barely enough energy into him to make him visible. Once I see Carla react, I stop.

  Sidney whines, “Damn, William! You sure took your time.”

  I laugh. “I didn’t see any reason to disturb your rest until I had a prospect for you, Sidney. Let me introduce you to the ladies. You may recall Rebecca, Josie, and Marissa. The blond directly across from me is Carla. To my right is Audrey.”

  Sidney preens a little bit. “Oooo! Do I get to choose from all these lovely ladies? How do I choose?” My ladies chuckle.

  I correct him, “No, Sidney. Carla is the potential candidate.” I indicate Carla with my beer bottle. “Carla, tell us about yourself.”

  Carla says, “Well, I grew up in a farming community of La Cienega, near Santa Fe, New Mexico. I grew up riding, herding cattle, fixing fence, and all the chores involved in running a farm. I couldn’t wait to escape. My family got me into parochial school in Santa Fe. My grades were good, I played violin, was active in theatre and debate, and I managed to get accepted to a couple of Ivy League universities. I went to Barnard in New York for my undergraduate degree and Columbia for law school. I clerked for a year at a mid-sized law firm in Manhattan while I studied and passed the bar. I continued there as an associate specializing in human resource law. After working there five years, I won a case against Phelps Dodge mining company. They were impressed enough to hire me away to work with their general counsel. I’ve stayed with them through all the mergers and buy-outs over the years. After a couple of years in New York, they sent me to the Phoenix office. I spent so much time traveling to this area for cases, that I relocated to Prescott three years ago. I met Marissa a little over two years ago, and we became a couple quickly. I’ve since learned that our break up a couple of months ago relates to my difficulty empathizing. Will told me a couple of weeks ago that I have no soul. He also told me that he might be able to give me a soul, but that it would change me. I’ve been thinking about it ever since.”

  Marissa hugs her as I say, “Thanks, Carla. Sidney, your turn.” I point at him with my nearly empty beer bottle.

  Sidney sighs dramatically before starting. “I grew up in an itinerant thespian troupe. No one in the troupe were my parents. I never knew my parents, and no one ever told me anything about them. As a young boy, I always played the young girls in the plays. I got to wear pretty dresses. I would wear them even when I wasn’t on stage because I loved looking pretty. As I got older, I played roles that had me kissing the men in the plays. Eventually they were kissing me backstage, too. The one woman in the troupe got jealous of the attention they were giving me. Regardless, the leader of the troupe took me as his lover when I was fourteen. He would have me dress as a pretty girl, and then make love to me. The woman in the troupe apparently had some arcane power. She tried to convince me I should go somewhere to develop my talent for craft. I think she was just trying to convince me to go away. Eventually she got so jealous of me that she sold me to Mr. Clement as an apprentice. He told me that he paid her twenty dollars. I was sixteen at the time.”

  Sidney looks off into the distance. “Mr. Clement, Laurence, said that I had significant
power, and that if I had the will to go with it, he would make me a powerful sorcerer. He didn’t know I liked to wear dresses, but he took me as his bed toy regardless. He trained me in sorcery, and we made a good living summoning succubae to the brothels in Denver to entertain wealthy clients.”

  Sidney holds up a finger dramatically. “One time Laurence had the use of a female whore, who he brought back to the hotel where we were staying. He got really mad at her; Charlene had that effect on men. Clement threw her out in the street naked, so I picked up her dress. I heard she later died in a lover’s quarrel. I went to a theatre supply store in Denver and found makeup and props to allow me to effectively dress as a modestly endowed woman. I would sneak out at night and walk around town as a woman. One night Laurence caught me at it. He dragged me into an alley, raised my skirt, pulled down my pantaloons, and fucked me right there in the alley. After that I would generally show up in his bed as a woman - more rarely as a man. He bought me the nicest suits a dandy could ask for and the nicest dresses a woman could ask for.”

  Sidney frowns as we are enthralled by his story. “Laurence’s necromancer acquaintance, a Mr. Lafayette, asked Laurence to join him in Prescott. I naturally came along with Mr. Clement and his new apprentice, Mason. I was reunited with Charlene when she came to pay Mr. Clement with her body. Charlene and I shared him for several days. We met with Mr. Lafayette a couple of days before we invaded the Leuvenfeld family home, which is where I first met Josie. On the day of the deed, Alfonse, Lafayette’s devourer, broke in the front door. Lafayette led us downstairs, and murdered the Leuvenfelds. Then he murdered all four apprentices and used our souls to power some kind of binding he and Laurence devised to hold an angel. Mr. James came along some one hundred twenty years later and pulled me from captivity. He has been trying to find a host for me that I might enjoy living in ever since.”

  Josie shares an observation. “Vanessa had a very meek personality until she was hosting someone. Carla doesn’t strike me that way. I think her will is stronger. Sidney, I think you’ll find that you will become Carla as much as she will become you. It’s typical for a tenant soul to have access to the zombie host's memories and be the predominant personality. I don’t think that will be the outcome of you merging with Carla.”

  I shrug. “Vanessa manifested both her own and Shryl’s personalities. She is still whole even after taking Shryl out,” I explain.

  “Erica almost acts like a person with a soul,” Audrey says. “I don’t think a tenant could take her over. Carla is quieter, but every bit as strong - maybe stronger personality-wise. Having a strong will is pretty key to being a lawyer, isn’t it?”

  Carla and Sidney both nod. Sidney says, “True. With our combined wills, we would be a formidable sorcerer.”

  Carla says, “Sidney, I wouldn’t normally consider it. I am a fully functional, intelligent person. The only thing missing in my life is the sense of connection to those around me. I have to be very careful not to think of other people as being the same as animals, plants, or furniture - obstacles to work around.” She looks at me. “I think that these people here would be my friends regardless, but I really want to know what it is like to feel that connection. I’m wary of it, because I have seen how Marissa’s connection to me has caused her pain. However, I don’t think I can be more than an acquaintance in her life if I don’t take on a soul.”

  She looks at me for a moment, and then turns back to Sidney. “Sidney, I’m not ready to make a decision yet. I would like to come visit and get to know you better. Will you permit that?”

  Sidney nods enthusiastically. “Yes. I think I would love to be paired with you, but it is wise to be cautious, Carla. Apparently Mr. James is trying to find a perfect host for me. If he is willing to invest the time, then I can afford to be patient.”

  Sidney hangs out with us as we visit, sharing small talk and planning out our day for tomorrow. Eventually the yawns start to outnumber the comments. Carla grabs a Lyft home, and we make our way to shower, and then into bed.

  Sunday starts with a light workout of yoga, calisthenics, and light-contact martial arts. After breakfast of pizza reheated in the oven topped with bacon and scrambled eggs, we resume putting stuff away and getting comfortable in the house.

  I have been proposing that each lady should have her own room, but Rebecca insists on two per room, so no one ever has to sleep alone. All of the rooms will fit queen or king beds with a desk or two and a large chest of drawers. The closets are pretty roomy even with a passage or two installed inside them. We compromise so that each gets their own room until we need to double up.

  Audrey stays for the week. She accompanies me to the apartment, and summons lesser imps for me to work with during lunch time and for about thirty minutes after work. We also manage to exercise the bed periodically.

  Oh yeah, imps. They are interesting little creatures. They are about two feet tall, muscled, and sporting short horns on their foreheads, a short tail, and claws on their hands and feet.

  The critters Audrey summoned are named Hermes, Xerxes, and Argo. When I summon some of the white ‘combined’ energy they cringe. That’s how I discover it is harmful to them - being near it makes them nauseous. They claim touching it would result in permanent death - they wouldn’t return to their home plane. I’m skeptical because I can’t imagine that something that resembles soul energy could be fatal, but I shoot them with blobs of entropy rather than white energy for practice just in case. Growth and entropy energies work on imps much like they do on humans.

  In my training, I learn that imps are really fast, they have a great sense of smell, they really like peanut butter, and they really dislike ‘greater imps.’ They call them ‘bigs.’ They are really excited about the mission to hunt one. Apparently they don’t like elves much either, unless they are eating them. That is promising.

  The next week progresses in a relatively normal manner.

  Zach called to report on the renovation of the Cortez house the following Monday evening. Plumbing had been laid and the foundations have been poured. He expects to start framing next Monday.

  Dan and Maria joined us Monday evening for dinner. Carla showed up, too. I didn’t invite her, but someone did. She brought a nice bottle of wine.

  Jack and Darcie joined us for dinner on Tuesday evening. They brought a lovely potted ficus tree. Carla showed up again with a potted lavender. Someone is definitely including her on our social calendar. We talked about the Prescott hotel project over dinner. Plans are finalized, and we’re just waiting on permits. Jack is excited about the hotel. He is apparently a regular client of Bernadette’s stable. I would think Darcie would be enough, but I’m in no position to say anything with my own little hareem.

  Tonight, we are getting back to martial arts training. Jack and Darcie join us. Josie and Rebecca make good sparring partners for Darcie. Jack just started training her in June. Audrey and Marissa push each other hard. Jack and I work with each other in between lessons for the ladies. His style is interesting. It’s mostly American Kenpo with liberal bits of taiji throughout - plus bits and bobs from various other combat styles. I think we’re pretty equally matched until I push him really hard, then he let’s go and smacks me around liberally.

  I have to laugh after taking my beating from him. “Damn! I fell right into your trap, Jack!”

  An evil chuckle escapes his chest. “Maybe. Honestly, that’s the hardest I’ve been pressed in training in years. I’ve been pushed harder in combat, but not often in training. I started to go into the ‘Red’ zone.”

  After we finish training, Jack drags Darcie over to me as we’re all chatting, toweling off, and rehydrating.

  “Will, would you please take Darcie on as a student?” he asks.

  “Why, Jack? You can wipe the floor with me whenever you choose,” I tell him.

  He grins. “Maybe. I suspect it would be harder if I was a danger to your ladies. The thing is, I’m not a teacher. You are, and you’re good at it. Darci
e needs that. I think she can trust you enough to learn a lot from you. I’m trying, but she will tell you that I am far from patient.”

  I look seriously at the little red-head. “What do you want, Darcie?”

  She responds earnestly, “My Master wants the best for me, and I trust his judgement. If he says to learn from you, then that’s what I will do.”

  I purse my lips. “I can only teach you if you want it, Darcie. My ladies are all concerned about being able to protect each other. They want to learn.”

  I see that fierce look she demonstrated towards the elves when she had them at gunpoint. “Nothing is more important to me than my Master’s safety. It is the only thing I value more than pleasing him. I need to be able to protect him regardless of whether I have a weapon or not.” Her expression softens. “Please teach me.”

  I nod my head. “Okay. Next week we start Tuesdays and Thursdays after I get off work - usually starting at 5:30pm. We had to do Wednesday this week because of the expected distractions tomorrow night. We will train most Saturday mornings, too. I’ll call you in advance if I need to cancel, but Marissa or Audrey will usually take over for me if I’m not here. Those will be very infrequent. Please let me know in advance if you will not be able to attend.”

  She responds, “Yes, sir.”

  I look to Jack. “Okay. I’ll take her on as a student. I’m going to take her back to Kenpo basics. They apply anywhere, and I like the way they teach it. Once I think she has that down, then we will start in on Krav Maga. I learned it from an IDF Platoon Sergeant, so it’s pretty brutal.”

  Jack nods, “I noticed. Even Rebecca was ruthless in her tactics.”

  I smile. “Rebecca is the mama bear of the group. She’s all ‘sugar and spice’ until someone messes with her family.” I indicate the rest of the ladies.

  We all break for showers after I walk Jack and Darcie to the back door. As I head up to the master suite for a shower, I see Carla in the kitchen.