Lying on a slab of rock in the middle of their camp was a young blonde girl, I assumed it was Jane. She lay on her side, her face turned away from me. She wasn’t moving.
Is she dead? Am I too late?
It was impossible to tell from here.
One of the men said something and the rest started to laugh. It was a horrible, high pitched sound that reminded me of hyenas.
“Hail Ares!” one of them yelled and the rest started cheering.
Fucking animals.
I needed to find a way to distract them, so I could check on Jane.
Hurrying back to retrieve my backpack, I fished out the flare gun I kept in it. It was supposed to be used in emergencies in case I got lost, but this definitely counted as an emergency. I only had the one flare though, so I had to make it count. I’d love to shoot one of those bastards right in the face, but that would leave three of them to come after me. For all I knew, they could have guns, although they usually favored knives. Better not take the chance.
I hid close to where Jane lay and fired the flare off to the opposite side, hitting a rock and causing a big enough commotion to get them to run toward it.
Moving quickly, I hurried over to Jane.
“Hey, Jane, can you hear me?” I said. I rolled her onto her back only to find that I was too late. There was a gaping hole in her chest and her heart was missing and from the look of her she had been dead for several hours.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
I ran off before they spotted me. I hurried down the hill, pissed at what they had done. I stopped running and glanced back up the hill. By the time the cops got here they could be long gone. Should I wait for the cops or go back? I could take them, I know I could. I needed to make a decision.
I made a choice and those assholes were punished. To think that there were members here in town made my skin crawl. If they were members, they would have the tattoo, which would make them easy to identify.
Of course, it was winter, so how the hell was I going to find the ones with the tattoo when they were all covered up? If anyone had something linked to Ares, then it would be them.
I couldn’t just go up to people and ask to see their tattoos. If only it was summer, then everyone would be walking round in short sleeves. Unless I found a way to crank up the heat…
Maybe it was time for a little house warming party. Emphasis on warm. I could turn up the heating and check the rest of the people on my list while I was at it.
It had been decades since I had thrown a party, I think the last time was in the roaring 20’s. How much could things have changed?
*
The next day, I was grabbing my morning coffee from the usual waitress, Jenni. “Uh, I’m having a house warming party tomorrow night, open invitation. If you are interested?”
The waitress looked surprised. The most I said to her was my coffee order and thank you.
“Um, yeah, well I’ll try to stop by,” she said. She didn’t seem too excited about the idea. This was going to be harder than I thought. I turned and almost walked into Clark.
“Hey,” he said. “How are you?” He at least looked pleased to see me.
“Fine. Has Carlisle calmed down yet?”
“Are you kidding? I’m surprised he didn’t give himself a stroke the way he was cursing you up and down when you left.”
“Well I always make friends wherever I go,” I said.
“Just watch your back. If he can’t arrest you, he’ll be sure to bad mouth you all over town. He can’t stand losing.”
“Oh, well that isn’t going to help matters,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I was planning on throwing a house warming party tomorrow night. A way to get to know people properly. I guess getting arrested will put people off.”
“Yeah, not as much as you’d think. The one thing this town loves is gossip. That and free booze. You are planning on serving alcohol?”
“Of course.”
“Hey, everyone! Listen up!” I was surprised to hear him raise his voice, but everyone stopped what they were doing to listen. “Free booze at Persephone’s place tomorrow night. Party starts at eight.”
A cheer went up around the room. “Okay, I am impressed,” I said.
Clark grinned at me. “You just need to know how to speak their language. See you at eight?”
I found myself smiling back. “Sure, as long as I don’t end up arrested again.”
“We’ll see how it goes, but officially I’ll be off the clock.”
I guess Clark wasn’t such a square after all. Now I needed to stock up for the party. I spent the rest of the afternoon buying supplies, booze and snacks mostly
I ran into Gavin as I was getting into my car.
“Are you planning on opening up the store?” he demanded.
“I was going to take a few days and go through the inventory first,” I replied.
“Well you’ll be losing money. There are a few buyers coming up later today. They were interested in some items, but after the shelves ‘collapsed’, I don’t know what is left.”
“Fine, you open the store then. I’m sure you can handle it,” I said.
“I thought you wanted me gone.”
“Damnit Gavin, you are such a pain in the ass. If you want to open the store, then open it. I have more important things to take deal with.”
He noticed the box of booze in the back seat. “So I see.”
He stalked off, muttering under his breath. I didn’t have time to deal with his crap now. I had a party to plan and a cult to find. A few choice people were about to receive personal invitations.
*
Clark
I flipped through the row of shirts hanging in my closet, trying to decide which one to wear to Persephone’s party. I don’t know why I was so worried, it hardly mattered what I wore. But I was nervous, she made me nervous.
“I’m an idiot,” I muttered. I felt the need to impress her, but she wasn’t interested in me.
Women as beautiful and intelligent as Persephone did not come by often. I thought I was done with women after I lost Paula, but there was something about her.
Just don’t make an idiot of yourself tonight.
I decided on the blue shirt.
9
The drinks were ready, mostly beer in buckets of ice, but I had plenty of the hard stuff too. My worry was that the ice would melt before everyone arrived. I had cranked the heat up to high. I was already sweating, which was why I chose to wear a short skirt and a tank top. I hid my wall of research in my room and replaced the paintings on the wall. I switched the stereo on to some easy listening music.
Cerberus was locked away and I had promised him extra time outside if he stayed quiet during the party.
The doorbell rang at 8:15. I hurried to answer it, expecting to find Clark, but it was three people from town, including Jenni.
Wow, people are actually showing up.
“Hi, come on in. Help yourself to a drink.”
“Thanks, your house is great,” Jenni said.
More and more people started to arrive and soon the place was full. Clark arrived just after 8:30 and it was a nice change to see him out of the uniform. He was wearing a blue flannel shirt over jeans. He looked good. Really good, and I was starting to wonder if it was the heat making me flush.
“Looks like the party is going well. Is it me or is it really hot in here?”
“Uh, yeah, the thermostat is broken, sorry. Beer?”
“Sure,” he said, taking the drink I offered him. The other guests were starting to notice the heat too, several of them were shedding their sweaters already. I kept my eyes peeled for a tattoo. I had invited two of the guys from the list, Tony and Pete, but the third apparently left town last month. I just hoped he wasn’t the one I was looking for.
The first one, Tony, was talking to a blonde in the corner. I went over to them, carrying more drinks.
“How are you guys? It
’s hot, isn’t it? Sorry, problem with the thermostat. More beer.”
“Thanks,” Tony said, accepting the drink. He pushed his sleeves up and I got a glance at his forearms. No tattoo. Guess Harris was wrong.
I moved onto the next guy, Pete. “Hey, darling. Great party,” he said, giving me the once over. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The guy was wearing a heavy flannel shirt, but he didn’t look like the heat was bothering him.
“Thanks, Pete, isn’t it?”
He grinned at me. “Been checking me out have you?”
“Uh, sure.” I took a sip of my beer.
I made a show of fanning myself, hoping to make him…what? Take off his shirt? Ew.
“You know, we could move to another room. To talk,” Pete suggested.
Not likely. I pretended to spill my beer, pouring it over the sleeve on his right arm.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said, grabbing some napkins.
“It’s fine,” he said. He mopped at the beer on the sleeve, before rolling it up to dry his arm. He didn’t have a tattoo either. I was 0 for 2. If they weren’t members, why did Harris include their names in the file?
I noticed a woman trying to open the garage door. “Hey, don’t go in there,” I said, rushing toward her.
The woman let out a squeal and slammed the door shut. “There’s a bear out there.”
“It’s not a bear, it’s a big dog. If it’s the bathroom you are looking for, its upstairs.”
This was getting annoying, all these people in my personal space, I was getting a headache.
“You don’t look like you’re having much fun,” Clark said, appearing beside me.
“It’s just a bit much. I spend most of my time alone.”
“You don’t get lonely?”
“I’m not a big fan of people in general.”
Clark laughed. “Tell me about it.” He leaned in to whisper, “They all seem nice now, but I’ve arrested at least half the people in this room.”
“Really? What for?” I asked, intrigued.
He pointed to a middle aged woman in the corner. “She was arrested for smoking weed in the classroom where she teaches kindergarten. And that guy over there, we caught him walking through town dressed only in a diaper.”
“Oh my God. Should you really be telling me this?”
“I’m a cop not a priest. Besides, it’s all public knowledge.”
“And what about you, Deputy? Are you hiding any dark secrets?” I asked.
He laughed. “No, what you see is what you get I’m afraid.”
A man tried to grab a beer from behind us.
“Sorry, man. Here you go,” Clark said, holding out the bottle. He had his sleeves rolled up to the elbows and on his right forearm was the tattoo.
10
It took a moment for my brain to catch up. Clark was in a cult? No, no way. The Cult of Ares believed in violence, bloodshed, he was a cop for crying out loud. Unless that was just a cover.
I downed my drink. Just when I was actually starting to like the guy.
Well, not like like, but he seemed okay. Now what was I going to do?
Excusing myself to the bathroom, I discovered that someone had thrown up over the toilet seat.
“Goddammit!” I said. Disgusting assholes. I started cleaning it, trying not to gag at the smell.
Someone knocked on the bathroom door. “It’s occupied,” I snapped.
There was nervous laughter from the other side. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I will remain calm. I can’t smite people anymore, so I will just have to breathe through it and try not to lose it.
I knew why I was overreacting though. It wasn’t the puke, it was Clark. Why did it have to be him? I needed to find out more. Now how was I going to get rid of everyone? That didn’t involve jail time.
I glanced at the toilet.
“Toilet’s clogged. Party’s over,” I announced to the partygoers. There were a few collective groans of disappointment and disgust and people started to file out the door. I noticed most of them snagged a few drinks on the way. Guess they were here for the drinks after all. Who cares? I have bigger things to worry about.
Clark lingered. “Do you want me to take a look?” he offered.
“Oh, no. It’s fine. You could help me clean up a bit though?”
“Of course.”
He grabbed a trash bag and started filling it with empty bottles. I trailed after him, wondering how to broach the subject. I decided on directly.
“That’s an interesting tattoo,” I said.
He glanced down at it and pulled a face. “Yeah, I got it as a teenager. A moment of madness.”
“Do you know what it means? I recognize the symbol, it represents a cult.”
Clark’s face turned red. “Well that’s embarrassing. Yeah, I know what it means. Me and my friends were into the occult and well, we got carried away. It was all stupid stuff really.”
“The Cult of Ares is serious, they believe in causing chaos to further their agenda. They’ve killed people.”
Clark held up his hands. “You don’t have to tell me. I know what they were about, but we weren’t like that. Me and my friends, we liked the idea of it, but we never did anything about it. We would sit around a campfire and drink, talk about what we would do if we had ultimate power. It was something we heard about through some college kids.”
“You still kept it,” I said.
“Yeah, as a reminder of how far I've come. I was an angry kid, hated the world, but I grew up, I changed.”
I stared at him trying to tell if he was lying or not. He certainly didn’t seem like the anarchist type.
“Are there others in town?” I asked, grabbing some bottles and tossing them in the trash.
“Not anymore that I know of. Most of my friends left town for college. Well, there’s Haley, but she lives up in the Barrens. She always was weird.”
The Barrens was an area just north of the town where the woods were at their thickest. Only a few people lived up there as it was completely cut off from civilization. Why would she choose to cut herself off? I know my own reasons, because I have stuff to hide, maybe she does too.
“So Pete and Tony weren’t in your little gang?” I asked.
“No. They were a few years older than us, but I never heard anything about them being in the cult.”
“What about Rudy Lincoln?”
“No, why are you asking me about them?”
“No reason. Forget I asked.”
Clark held up a couple of beers. “There’s a couple left? Want one?”
“Uh, no, I’m fine. You should go,” I said abruptly.
“Oh. Okay.” He set the bag down and retrieved his coat.
“I have to get up early tomorrow,” I lied.
I ushered him out the door. That stupid tattoo. Now I had no idea if I could trust him. I needed to find that damn power source. It couldn’t be too hard to find this Haley woman. Cerberus could help me track her and he would be a good cover for walking in the woods. I did need to know what she looked like though.
Pulling out my phone, I searched for Clark’s Facebook page. Humans and their obsession with each other’s lives, but it was handy right now. Clark liked to post memes and football news on his wall. I clicked on his friends list and searched for a Haley. There wasn’t one. Okay, they went to school together, so maybe…Bingo. I found a yearbook photo on Clark’s page of him and a group of goth looking kids. I had to admit, I was kind of digging the eye liner look on Clark. Focus.
There was only one girl in the group, it had to be her. The caption read Haley Slater. A quick search showed that she didn’t have a Facebook page, but she did have a Twitter account full of angry rants about the government. I understood Twitter even less than I did Facebook.
His behavior makes me sick. I need a drink.
That was a tweet from twenty minutes ago, followed by a picture of her knocking back shots. She had checked in at the bar in town. Gues
s I wouldn’t need Cerberus after all. Throwing a coat on over my dress, I headed to the bar.
The bar was busier than I thought. I wondered how many people had left my party and come here. I was never going to find her in this crowd.
If there’s one thing I hate more than people in my home, it’s crowded, noisy bars.
I know, I sound like an old woman, but then again, I am one. I wasn’t always like this. I used to throw lavish parties all the time. I also drank a lot back then. Too much. There were large chunks of time missing from my memory from the 70’s too. That was mostly due to drugs though, not alcohol. If there’s a vice, I’ve tried them all. Not like it can kill me or at least not quickly.
I headed for the bar where I ordered a coke. I finally spotted Haley doing shots at the end of the bar.
She was dressed in a blue blouse and slacks. I noticed she was drinking alone, so I made my way down the bar to sit near her.
I tried smiling at her, but she quickly turned away. Damn, I hope she doesn’t think I’m hitting on her.
Although I wasn’t above flirting to get what I want, but I couldn’t think of a natural way to start the conversation, maybe I didn’t have to.
I knew she was in the cult. If she had the power source it was most likely at her home. All I had to do was find out where she lived and check her place. It would be easier than trying to get answers out of her.
I sat and drank my coke, keeping one eye on her.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to find a guy behind me. “Can I buy you a drink?” he yelled over the music.
“No,” I said.
He laughed. “Come on, you’re sitting here all alone. Let me buy you a drink.”
I could do better than a pushy jerk with love handles. “I said no.”
“Bitch,” he said.
I flipped him off and he disappeared into the crowd to bother some other woman.
Turning back to my drink, I realized that Haley was gone. I craned my neck trying to find her. There she was, heading out the door. Abandoning my drink, I chased after her.
Raising Hell Page 5
