Soul Mates

by Donald Hanley

  I checked the bathroom and Mom and Dad’s bedroom and then made a frantic search through the rest of the house. I even checked out front to see if they’d somehow hotwired the Mustang and gone for a joyride, but it was still sitting by the curb.

  My stomach felt like it was full of rocks. I couldn’t imagine what happened to them. No, that wasn’t true. I could imagine it very well. Agent Prescott came straight here after leaving the police station, kicked in our front door, and caught everyone by surprise. He killed Dara, kidnapped Lilith, and Susie – what happened to Susie?

  My hypothesis had a few holes in it. Apart from the fact that the door was undamaged, there was no reason for Susie to be missing as well. She wasn’t a demon and she wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help Lilith. In fact, Prescott would probably have given her a citation for helping him capture her.

  I returned to the kitchen to report everyone’s disappearance to Dad. Maybe he’d rescind Prescott’s invitation to dinner since the person of interest wasn’t actually here. When I stepped out onto the patio, though, I discovered that my budding career as a master detective was already a complete failure. All three girls were alive and well and in the back yard.

  Daraxandriel sat slumped in one of the patio chair, still in demon form and glaring at the other two over by Mom’s flower beds. Susie was seated on the grass with the skirt of her dress flared out around her in a circle and her hair pulled forward over her shoulder. She looked like she was posing for one of those photos that come with the picture frames.

  Lilith stood over her with Susie’s cellphone in her hands. “Now keep your head straight and look up at me,” she ordered. Susie complied and I heard the snick of the camera. “Perfect.”

  “What’s going on?” I asked doubtfully.

  “Lilith is making portraits of the waif,” Daraxandriel explained with a sniff.

  “I can see that, but why does Lilith want pictures of Susie and why is Susie going along with it?”

  “They are for her swain.”

  “Her swain? You mean Cameron?”

  “Aye. Lilith did suade her that such mementos would keep her in his thoughts.”

  “Oh my God,” I groaned. This was a disaster. I was counting on Susie’s immunity to Lilith’s manipulations to save me in case things went badly. It took Lilith less than an hour to discover her weak spot. “I need to stop her.”

  “Thou art most welcome to try,” Daraxandriel grumped. “I am missing Lorecraft for this.”

  “Peter,” Dad called, “I could use your help over here.” He had the cover off the grill and was inspecting the burners.

  “Be right there!” I hurried over to the photoshoot. “What are you doing?” I hissed at Susie.

  “Stop blocking the light,” she told me irritably. “Now what?” she asked Lilith.

  “Lie down on your back and spread your hair out on the grass.” Lilith inspected the result critically. “Cross your legs at the ankles and put one hand behind your head. Now look off to your right. Perfect!” Snick. Snick. “He’s going to love these.”

  “Susie! I thought we agreed you shouldn’t talk to Cameron until – you know.” I jerked my head in Lilith’s direction.

  “This isn’t talking, this is pictures.”

  “I meant any form of communications!”

  “Lilith says boys forget about you if you don’t remind them constantly.”

  “Since when do you listen to Lilith? She’s a –” I checked over my shoulder to make sure Dad was out of earshot. “She’s a demon!”

  “She knows more about boys than you do,” Susie argued

  “How can she? I’m a boy!”

  She propped herself up on her elbows. “Do you have any pictures of Melissa?”

  “What? No, of course not.” Then I remembered the shots she’d sent this morning. “Well, maybe a couple,” I admitted.

  “And have you been thinking about her today?”

  “Yes, but not because of that!”

  “It doesn’t matter why.” She laid back down. “Now what?” she asked Lilith.

  “I think we have enough for now,” Lilith smirked at me. “You should start with this one.”

  She held out the phone to Susie but I grabbed it from her hand. The screen showed Susie kneeling in front of Mom’s verbena patch. She looked faintly annoyed but that was actually a perfect expression for her. It was an incredible shot.

  “Oh my God!” I gasped. “You can’t send him this!” If Cameron had any testosterone in him at all, he’d print this out in poster size and hang it over his bed.

  Lilith plucked the phone from my fingers and handed it to Susie. “Send him a new one every couple of days. Save those other ones for later,” she smiled, “after you go out on a few more dates.”

  “What other ones?” I asked, aghast. “What kind of pictures are they?”

  “None of your business.” Susie got to her feet, easily fending off my attempts to reclaim her phone. “It’s too bad the magic ones didn’t show up,” she grumbled as she walked back to the house, flipping through her gallery.

  “What do you mean, magic ones?” I was starting to get palpitations. “Magic pictures?” Susie ignored me and vanished into the house.

  “We tried to take pictures of her doing magic,” Lilith explained, clearly enjoying my distress. “The effects didn’t show up, though.”

  “Oh my God! Are you trying to get her into trouble? No, don’t answer that, of course you are.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Peter,” she pouted. “I’m just helping her out.”

  “She doesn’t need your help!”

  “Oh?” Lilith cocked an eyebrow at me. “Do you seriously think Susie knows how to relate to other human beings?”

  “Well, no, but that doesn’t matter!”

  “It matters to her,” she pointed out, “something you should already know. You’re her brother, aren’t you?” She didn’t bother waiting for me to come up with a response. “Come along, Dara, let’s get back to the game.”

  “I did despair of ever returning to it,” Daraxandriel grouched, getting out of her chair.

  “I know, I’m sorry,” Lilith told her, faking regret perfectly. “I’ll make it up to you.” She looked back at me and smiled just before the two of them walked into the house and closed the door behind them.

  “Peter, if you’re quite done over there,” Dad reminded me.

  “Yeah, I’m done,” I sighed. Round four was over. Lilith had already captured my two rooks and my queen – Mom and Dad and Daraxandriel – and now she’d taken my knight, Susie. I was down to a bishop, a knight, and a pawn – Mrs. Kendricks, Melissa, and Olivia – and I hadn’t even made a single move yet. Things weren’t looking too good for the white king right now.

  Dad kept me busy the rest of the morning, cleaning the grill racks, searching for the grilling tools in the garage, and running down to the hardware store for a fresh propane tank. Mom returned from her civic duties just as we were finishing up and she was delighted to learn that Melissa would be coming over. That immediately prompted a flurry of cleaning, interrupted briefly for a makeshift lunch, and then an extended trip to the grocery store for enough barbecue fare and fixings to feed a small army. Agent Prescott wasn’t going to have to worry about going hungry when he showed up unannounced.

  Mom and Dad declared themselves satisfied with the preparations by midafternoon but my hopes of escaping to plan my counterattack were thwarted when they insisted I sit down with them and write out all the things I’d be bringing with me to the apartment. The list was depressingly short: my clothes, my books and DVDs, and my laptop.

  That led to a discussion of whether I should bring my bed and dresser as well or get new ones for the apartment. After some debate, Mom and Dad decided I should keep my current furniture and they’d buy larger replacements for Daraxandriel and Lilith to share. I refrained from asking why that option hadn’t been brought up when it was just Daraxandriel and me in the sam
e room.

  Fortunately for my sanity, they tabled any decisions on the towels and silverware until Melissa showed up, since they didn’t know what she planned to bring from her house. I was finally freed from my ordeal with an admonition to remember to submit changes of address to everyone and I slumped down the hall, drained of all energy and ambition. I walked into my bedroom and flopped onto my bed.

  Daraxandriel and Lilith were in the middle of some epic battle that involved a lot of roaring and explosions but I couldn’t muster up enough curiosity to see what was happening. I just stared at the ceiling, wondering how I was going to keep Agent Prescott from killing Daraxandriel tonight.

  I can’t keep him from showing up, I thought gloomily, and I don’t see how I can get Dara out of the house without Dad asking questions. I need to distract Agent Prescott somehow, in a way that keeps him from noticing her. But how? Short of setting the house on fire, I couldn’t come up with anything. If I still had my powers, I could do something, but I’d have to sell my soul to Dara to get them back and that would just make things worse in the long run.

  Could Dara do something about him? I mused doubtfully. Not likely. He’s a demon hunter, he’s bound to be warded against anything she can do. Lilith might be able to twist him around but she wants him to kill Dara so she can get her curse lifted.

  Who else is there? Susie might help but she doesn’t actually like Dara. Melissa, maybe, but she’s just a newbie witch. Olivia can’t even appear unless Dara’s asleep. The other witches won’t help a demon. That leaves Mrs. Kendricks. I wasn’t one hundred percent certain where her loyalties lay but she was my only hope at this point.

  I pulled out my phone and tried to figure out how to solicit her help without actually telling her what was going on, just in case Dad got hold of my texts. We’re having someone special over for dinner tonight, was the message I finally sent. You should join us. That way I could claim I was talking about Melissa.

  Mrs. Kendricks’ reply took forever to show up. I appreciate the offer but Anastasia and I have plans for tonight. Some other time.

  Uh-oh. That wasn’t the answer I expected. I assumed she’d jump at the chance to try to seduce me again. Now I had to come up with something that made it clear she really needed to be here. I can’t just come out and say the hunter’s going to be here. Dad would figure out pretty quickly that I was talking about Agent Prescott. I wracked my brains for something that Mrs. Kendricks would recognize but Dad wouldn’t associate with our guest. Then inspiration hit me.

  Olivia might be free tonight. You really should come. Dara will be glad you did.

  She took another agonizingly long time to respond but I heaved a sigh of relief when I read her text. Sounds exciting. What time should I be there?

  Six. It’s a surprise so if anyone asks, tell them you just dropped by to see Susie.

  Understood. See you then.

  I read through the exchange to make sure it sounded innocent enough. It was a little odd – why was I secretly inviting the town’s head librarian to our barbecue? – but it didn’t say anything about Agent Prescott or Lilith. At least I had deniability if I needed it.

  Bishop to Queen 2, I thought, the first move in round five. In chess, a bishop can’t block a knight, but hopefully Mrs. Kendricks would be able to keep Agent Prescott from doing anything to Daraxandriel until we came up with a better solution.

  “Peter!” I heard Dad call from the kitchen. “Let’s get these ribs going! They need to be ready in three hours!”

  “Oh my God,” I breathed. Normally Mom did most of the cooking but since barbecue involved two of the male gender’s favorite things – fire and meat – that fell under Dad’s purview, with me as his apprentice. “Coming!” I pried myself off the bed and left. Daraxandriel and Lilith didn’t so much as look in my direction.

  With the ribs finally rubbed and sauced and foiled and laid out on the racks to smoke, I retreated to the kitchen and dropped into one of the chairs at the table, resting my forehead on my arms. Dad came in behind me and I heard him washing his hands at the sink.

  “Are you okay, Peter?” he asked.

  “I’m just tired,” I said to the table. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” In actual fact, I felt fine, surprisingly, but the stress was starting to wear me down. I almost wished it was six o’clock already just so it would all be over, one way or the other.

  “Sorry to hear that,” Dad said sympathetically. “Hang in there, it’s just a few more days until the move.”

  “Yeah.” If anything happens to Dara, I thought despondently, there won’t be any reason for me to move. Lilith will disappear the instant her curse is lifted. Except that that means Dara will be gone forever, so I might as well move in with Melissa. Except she’s not going to want me there if I’m pining after Dara instead of her. I shook my head dolefully, lamenting my fate. Why does everything have to be so complicated?

  “Why don’t you go take a nap?” Dad suggested. “I’ll keep an eye on the ribs.”

  “Dara and Lilith are playing Lorecraft in my room,” I complained into my arms. “I wouldn’t get any sleep.”

  “There’s always the den.”

  I was about to decline but then I reconsidered. At the very least, no one was likely to bother me in there for a while. Out of sight and out of mind, as they say. Maybe I’d be able to come up with a better plan if I could just sit down and think for a few minutes.

  “Sure, that sounds like a good idea,” I said, hauling myself to my feet. “Get me up before six.” I wanted to be there when Agent Prescott arrived.

  “Will do.”

  Mom’s cleaning binge had swept through the den as well so my comforter and borrowed pillow were neatly stacked on one of the loungers and all the remotes were lined up on the coffee table. I sat in the center of the couch with the door closed and the light off, resting my head on the back while I went over the situation in my mind.

  Agent Prescott somehow got wind of Lilith’s contract with Olivia, probably from something Olivia said in one of her videos. He went down to New Orleans to try to stop her and managed to talk to Olivia before she died. He bound her soul to something to keep Lilith from leaving with it, so Lilith came up with this scheme to give Olivia’s soul to Dara in exchange for her curse.

  Lilith screwed up, though. She lost her powers when she became human and we were able to use the Philosopher’s Stone to steal Olivia’s bond to Prescott. Since he couldn’t trace her that way anymore, he decided to ask the local police to keep an eye out for a silver-haired girl from New Orleans named Lily Cantrell. I wonder if he’s really an FBI agent? Dad would have checked that, wouldn’t he?

  Anyway, he lucked out. A blonde girl calling herself Lilith Alexander just happened to be staying at our house and she just happened to arrive from New Orleans a couple of days ago. Dad obviously doesn’t believe Lilith is Lily Cantrell. He wouldn’t let us hang around someone who might be a fugitive, an armed and dangerous one at that. He told Prescott that it’s just a coincidence but he still wants to come over to check her out for himself.

  Why did Dad make him wait until dinnertime, though? Why not just have him come by and take a look at Lilith this morning? The longer they wait, the more likely it would be that Lilith might run off somewhere. Was Dad waiting to see if the patrol officers spotted the real Lily Cantrell? What would the odds of that be?

  So now Agent Prescott is going to show up in a couple of hours and he’s going to see Lilith and Dara. Lilith isn’t going to admit to being Lily Cantrell but she’ll do her best to make sure he takes a good look at Dara. His demon detector or whatever he has is going to go off and that’ll be the end of it.

  Or will it? I wondered. Dr. Bellowes needed five witches and a few hours to set that trap for Dara and he’d been hunting demons for centuries. Wouldn’t Prescott have to do the same sort of thing? Does he have a demon-banishing spell or a magical demon-dispatching sword or something? Maybe we still have a chance.

  I sat
up straight, trying not to get my hopes up. All he can do tonight is confirm whether there’s a demon here. He can’t even tell us about it or reveal himself as a demon hunter, since he doesn’t have any reason to think we’d believe him. He’s going to have to make his preparations after he leaves and come back for Dara later, maybe even lure her out of the house somehow. But he doesn’t know that we know who and what he is. Mrs. Kendricks can keep him from trying anything tonight and then we can come up with a plan to keep Dara away from him after he leaves. I sprawled lengthwise on the couch, grinning up at the ceiling. This is great! We still have a chance to beat this! My heart felt a thousand times lighter.

  Then all we need to do is figure out how to release Olivia’s soul before the Philosopher’s Stone turns her into a poltergeist, or worse. I rested my hand on the Stone, pressing its warmth against my sternum. And before Dara’s Dread Lord comes looking for it. That would certainly take my mind off my troubles for a while, albeit not in a good way.

  I fished the Stone out and held it up by its chain. The teardrop-shaped gem gleamed in the darkness, casting a faint red light everywhere. A tiny pinpoint of light glimmered deep inside and I peered closely at it, trying to see what was causing it. It almost looked like there was something fluttering inside the Stone, like a microscopic firefly trapped inside a ruby jar.

  It wasn’t doing that before, was it? I wondered uneasily. I really hadn’t paid much attention to the Stone since Daraxandriel gave it to me. If I could just figure out how to use this for something, I sighed, tucking it away again, then maybe I wouldn’t be so worried about Agent Prescott.

  I closed my eyes and let my breath out slowly. It sucks being ordinary, I grumbled to myself. No, that’s not true. It sucks being ordinary and surrounded by extraordinary people.

  You’re just jealous, Little Peter sneered at me.

  I am not! I protested. I just want to help.

  You just want to save the day and win the girl, he argued, like you did last month. I didn’t have a good rejoinder to that so I just ignored him.