Sudden Death

by Donald Hanley

  “DEMON!” she shrilled, leaping from her chair and sending it crashing into the wall. She scrambled into the corner of the room, wielding a wand that appeared out of nowhere, and a leaf-green pentagram flashed around her feet. A moment later, a dome of swirling silver popped over her, nearly hiding her completely from view. We all gaped at her in astonishment, until the thud of heavy boots in the hallway announced the arrival of the police.

  Allison and Karyn both jumped up and gestured in unison as Constable Lang and Sergeant Hernandez burst through the doorway, the latter puffing heavily as they surveyed the room with their hands on their holsters. I tried to come up with a plausible explanation for the silver dome in the corner, but neither officer seemed to notice it.

  “What was all that noise, Peter?” Lang demanded. “Is everything all right?” Mrs. Burns appeared in the doorway behind them, a small revolver gripped in both hands, and Dad and Sergeant Finney arrived a moment later.

  “Everything’s fine,” I assured them all hastily. “It was just a, um, joke that got out of hand. Sorry.” I grimaced apologetically and they seemed to buy it, slowly relaxing their stances. It was good to know that the Hellburn Police Department was ready and willing to jump into action at the first sign of trouble but this was a hastily-cast glamour away from a total disaster.

  “All right, back to your posts everyone,” Dad ordered. He gave me a We’ll talk later sort of look and steered Sergeant Finney back towards the jail. Lang and Hernandez took one last look around and then retreated, muttering between themselves, but Mrs. Burns stayed, although she hid her weapon behind her back as she counted noses.

  “You three ladies didn’t come in through the lobby,” she observed, with just the barest hint of disapproval in her voice.

  “Sorry, they came in through the back way with Dad and me,” I explained, feeling like I’d let her down somehow.

  “I see.” She favored me with the same We’ll talk later look but turned on a pleasant smile for the guests. “Well, just give me your names and I add you to the visitor’s list.”

  “Melissa Andrews,” Melissa said.

  “I hight Daraxandriel,” Daraxandriel announced proudly and Mrs. Burns blinked.

  “Dara Alexander,” I said hastily, “and this is Amy –” The Spawn of Darkness, I thought bemusedly, but that wouldn’t fit on the form. “Dark. Amy Dark.” Amy grinned at my discomfort but Mrs. Burns nodded.

  “Very good,” she said. “Would anyone like a drink? Soda, coffee, water?” Allison and Karyn both had coffee cups in front of their chairs and a can of Sprite stood at the end of the table.

  “Nothing for me, thanks,” Melissa told her.

  “Hast thou sack or mead, prayhap?” Daraxandriel asked hopefully. “I have not had any such for nigh upon four hundred years.”

  “No alcohol,” I chided her. “Just Cokes for her and me,” I said.

  “And you, dear?” Mrs. Burns asked Amy.

  “I could use an energy drink,” Amy suggested. “I’ve been on my feet all day.

  “No!” I insisted hastily. The last thing I needed was Amy hopped up on Red Bull and Monster. “And no caffeine either. Just get her another Sprite or something.” Amy made a face at me but Mrs. Burns nodded.

  “Does anyone else need a refill?” She paused with a frown. “Where’s Rebecca?”

  “Oh, she, uh, stepped out for a minute,” I stammered, eyeing the dome. “To the bathroom.”

  “I see,” Mrs. Burn said doubtfully. “All right, I’ll be back in a minute. Please avoid leaving the room until Chief Collins returns, and no more jokes.” She looked right at me when she said that.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I mean Rachel.” She heaved a sigh and shook her head despairingly as she left, closing the door behind her.

  All of the humans let out their breaths in relief. Allison and Karyn dropped back into their chairs but Rebecca stayed hidden beneath her dome. I wondered if she could see out and then I wondered if there was enough air in there.

  “Rebecca,” I said cautiously, moving closer, “you can come out now.”

  “There’s a demon out there!” I could barely hear her.

  “It’s okay, it’s just Dara. She’s on our side.” Nothing happened. “Rebecca?”

  “Oh, for crying out loud.” Karyn swiveled around in her chair and drew an ornate symbol in the air. It hovered there until she gestured, sending it speeding across the room to impact the dome. It wasn’t clear what she was trying to do, because the symbol simply evaporated as soon as it touched the dome. Karyn seemed taken aback by that.

  “What the hell?” She tried again with a much brighter symbol, but it was equally ineffective. “That should have worked,” she murmured to herself. She stood up and gingerly touched the dome, yanking her hand back when it sparked her fingertip. “I didn’t know she could do that.”

  “Do what?” I asked.

  “That is one powerful shield.” She bent closer, shading her eyes like she was trying to peer through the glare on a window. “Rebecca!” she shouted. “It’s okay! The demon isn’t after you!”

  We waited for a count of three and then the dome shimmered and faded and the pentagram sank out of sight, leaving Rebecca kneeling on the floor with her wand clutched in both unsteady hands. She peered around my legs at Daraxandriel, who looked back at her with her horned head tilted in puzzled curiosity.

  “Are you sure?” she whispered.

  “It’s just about the only thing I’m sure about right now,” I told her. I held out my hand and she let me lift her up to her feet. She barely came up to my shoulders. She was wearing a white t-shirt and a pink pleated skirt that failed to make it all the way down to her knees. “Not all demons are bad.”

  “Nay, thou art mistaken,” Daraxandriel contradicted me. “The entire host of demons in Hell seek dominion over mankind, from the meanest imp to –”

  “What Dara means to say,” Melissa interrupted, silencing Daraxandriel with an elbow in the side, “is that she’s not like that. Are you?” she asked pointedly.

  Daraxandriel blinked. “Certes,” she agreed. “I have sworn my very existence to protect Peter Simon Collins from the depredations of –”

  Melissa clapped her hand over Daraxandriel’s mouth. “Just say yes, okay?” She slowly lifted her hand away and Daraxandriel looked from her to me to Rebecca.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Okay,” Rebecca said reluctantly, looking ready to bolt if Daraxandriel even glanced at her the wrong way. Then her eyes fell on Amy and she jumped backwards, colliding with the wall again. “De – de – de – de –” she stuttered, holding her wand out at arm’s length, but then a look of confusion crossed her face. “Demon?” she asked doubtfully.

  “No, not really,” I told her. “Well, yes, sort of. Just ignore her,” I advised her with a sigh. “Things will just go better that way.” I guided her back to her chair and pushed her Sprite into her hand. “Okay,” I said to everyone, “that could have gone better.”

  “Screw that, what are we going to do about Karin?” Karyn looked ready to punch someone. “Who knows what that incubus did to her already?”

  Allison remained silent at her outburst but Rebecca paled. “Incubus?” she stammered. “Isn’t that the kind of demon that –”

  “That screws anything with breasts and a pulse. You better hope you can keep that shield of yours up for a long time, because it’s coming after every single one of us. Isn’t that right, Peter?” She snarled my name like a curse.

  “It won’t come to that,” I retorted. “We’re all here because we’re not under his control. We’re going to figure out how to beat him and free everyone else.”

  “How?” Karyn demanded. “It already got Mrs. Kendricks. The rest of us don’t stand a chance. Except maybe you,” she amended, giving Melissa the once-over. “Why haven’t you disintegrated it or whatever it is you do?”

  Melissa looked at me and I shook my head. “We can’t just barge in there and hope to c
atch them by surprise. Mrs. Kendricks and Agent Morgan will be watching for us.”

  “Morgan?” Karyn echoed, aghast. “That FBI woman with the Philosopher’s Stone?”

  “Er, yes,” I admitted reluctantly.

  “Goddess protect us!” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands. “We might as well surrender now and get it over with.”

  “It’s not that bad,” I insisted. “The incubus is after that journal,” I pointed to the book in Amy’s hands. “We’ll use it to lead him into a trap.”

  “How are we supposed to –?”

  The door opened then and Mrs. Burns walked in, balancing three soda cans in her hands. “Here we go,” she said, setting them on the table. She looked around at us watching her in tense silence and hesitated. “Is everything okay in here?”

  All of the girls looked at me and I rolled my eyes. “Everything’s fine, Mrs. – Rachel,” I assured her. “Thanks for the drinks.”

  “All right,” she said, obviously unconvinced. “I’ll be at my desk if you need anything.”

  I waited until the door closed behind her and let my breath out in a sigh. “Sit down, everyone,” I said. “Let me explain what happened so you know what we’re dealing with.”

  Daraxandriel took the chair at the far end of the table and Melissa immediately sat beside her, scooting over so that their elbows were touching. Amy snagged her Sprite and plopped herself down beside Karyn, who leaned away from her with an uneasy grimace, but I remained on my feet near Rebecca’s seat. Olivia, almost forgotten in all the excitement, stood close by with her arms crossed, looking irked and bored at the same time.

  I laid it all out for them, from the moment Cruz and I received the Code 44 until we locked her in the jail, skipping over the part about Not-Peter visiting Melissa at work. The three witches who hadn’t been part of any of this just stared at me with their mouths open, which was kind of gratifying.

  “So,” I asked, clearing my throat, “any questions?”

  “Only about a thousand of them,” Karyn muttered, shaking her head. “So did I hear you right? Allison’s one of them?” Her hazel eyes glared at Allison, who kept her gaze on me. She hadn’t uttered a single word the entire time and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just shyness or something else.

  “Not anymore,” I told Karyn firmly. “The incubus can’t give her any more orders. Right?” I asked Allison, nodding encouragingly at her, but she remained silent. “Simon says, you’re allowed to answer questions,” I sighed.

  Allison blinked. “The other Peter can’t give me orders,” she agreed.

  “But this Peter can?” Now Karyn turned her scowl on me. “How is that better?”

  “I’m not going to tell her to do anything bad,” I said, “and she’ll be fine once we eliminate the incubus.”

  “Using this book.” The journal lay on the table between her and Amy and she nudged it with her finger, as if she was afraid she’d get zapped again.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s really the best plan you could come up with?” Skepticism dripped from every syllable.

  “I’m open to any better suggestions.” I waited but she just shook her head. “Any other questions?” Rebecca slowly raised her hand. “Yes?”

  “Who is that police officer,” she asked meekly, “and why isn’t she wearing any pants?”

  All of the other heads around the table twisted around to see where she was pointing and Olivia backed up a step in alarm. “You can see me?” she gasped.

  “Yes, of course,” she said doubtfully. “Shouldn’t I?”

  “Peter!” Olivia berated me, ducking behind me as she hastily buttoned up my police shirt all the way to the top. “Why didn’t you tell me she could see me? Oh my God, I was showing everything!”

  “Not everything,” I assured her. “That’s Olivia,” I said to Rebecca. “You’re only the third person we’ve found who can see her.” This was a lucky break, I realized. Now we had a way to communicate with Olivia when I wasn’t around that didn’t involve writing messages or convincing Mrs. Phipps we weren’t crazy.

  “Why is she invisible?” Rebecca frowned. “Is she glamoured?”

  “Huh? No, she’s a ghost.”

  I wouldn’t have thought Rebecca could get any paler but she managed it. “A gh – gh – ghost?” Her wand reappeared and I thought for sure she was about to disappear under her dome again. She gulped and controlled herself with a visible effort. “Ghosts aren’t real!” she insisted shakily.

  “Neither are succubuses, incubuses, imps, hellhounds, demon lords, and witches,” I reminded her dryly. “Trust me, she‘s real. Well, she exists, anyway,” I corrected myself. “Say hello, Olivia.”

  She eyed me like she thought I was making fun of her. “Hello, Rebecca.”

  Rebecca gulped and took a deep breath. “Hello, O – Olivia.”

  Karyn and Allison exchanged a dubious look. “Well, that’s great and everything,” Karyn said sarcastically, “but I don’t think a ghost is going to do us any good.” Olivia stuck out her tongue, surprising a giggle out of Rebecca, who shrunk down in her chair when Karyn glared at her. “We need to get my sister back,” she went on. “When are we going to –?” She huffed in annoyance when Allison’s cellphone rang just then and watched her resentfully as she removed it from her purse.

  “Who is it?” I asked when she just stared at the screen with a puzzled frown.

  “It’s you,” she said. “Should I answer it?”

  “Me? Wait, you mean the incubus?” She turned the phone to show my name on the display. “Why is he calling you?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “That was rhetorical. He’s probably trying to find out what happened to you.” I chewed my lip as I tried to figure out what to do. “Okay, pretend you’re still under his control. Try to find out what he’s planning. Everyone else, be quiet.”

  Allison hesitated long enough that I was afraid the call would roll over to voice mail, but she tapped the answer button. “Hello?” she said as the rest of us leaned forward to overhear. She watched me as she listened, looking unsettled. “Yes, I found him. We’re at the police station with Dara and the other witches.”

  “What?” I gasped. “Don’t tell him that!”

  “We’re trying to come up with a plan to beat you,” she went on heedlessly.

  I lunged across the table, reaching for the phone, but she was too far away. “Simon says, give me that phone!” She immediately held it out and I snatched it from her. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “If he’s controlling me, I have to obey him, don’t I?” she asked reasonably.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed. This hadn’t gone at all like I imagined. I wondered if all of the enthralled women were as literal as this or I was just bad at giving orders.

  “Peter?”

  “Huh?” I looked around for the source of that voice but I was the only male in the room. It sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. Melissa pointed urgently at the phone in my hand and I cautiously raised it to my ear. “Hello?”

  “I thought that was you,” Not-Peter chuckled in my ear. “So you took Allison from me as well, hmm? Nicely done.” He seemed awfully smug and I had to resist the urge to smash the phone on the table.

  “We’ll get the rest back too!” I told him angrily.

  He laughed again and I easily imagined him shaking his head at my naiveté and foolish optimism. “No, you won’t. Melissa’s the only one there who’s any threat and she can’t get close enough to me to do anything.”

  “But you can’t get close to her either,” I retorted.

  “True, but then I don’t need to. Did she tell you what we did at the office?” I kept silent with difficulty. “She’ll come back to me on her own,” he predicted, “willing and eager.”

  I shot a glance at Melissa. Her fingers were interlocked with Daraxandriel’s and the tail was wrapped around her forearm. Not-Peter didn’t know about her revised feelings, temporary as those
might be. “She’ll never go back to you.”

  “Your commands won’t hold up against mine, not as long as I have this ring. They’re all mine, Peter, every single one of them.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I gritted through my teeth. “What do you want?”

  “I’ll be glad to tell you,” he said amiably. “Maybe you’ll see the good that will come out of all this.”

  “The good?” I echoed incredulously.

  “Of course. I only have everyone’s best interests at heart and I appreciate the opportunity to explain myself. In fact, why don’t you put me on hands-free so everyone can hear? It’ll save you the trouble of having to repeat what I said.”

  I hesitated. It seemed like a perfectly reasonable request, which made me highly suspicious of it, but the others needed to know what was happening. “Okay,” I said reluctantly. I turned on the speaker and set the phone on the table. “Go ahead.”

  “Witches,” he said, his voice ringing out clearly, “kill Peter and Dara and bring me the journal.”

  I sucked in my breath, looking around frantically. Allison was the only one who moved and she just twitched before subsiding with a frown. Everyone else just stared at the phone in shock.

  “Nothing?” Not-Peter asked mildly. “Oh, well, it was worth a shot,” he sighed.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “You have to admit it would have wrapped things up nicely,” he pointed out. “So who’s there with you? No, don’t tell me, let me guess. Allison’s there, of course, and Melissa and Dara would never leave your side. Oh, I can’t forget Susie and Olivia. So that leaves Karyn, am I right? And who’s that young one?” That question was a lot quieter, as if he turned away from the phone to ask someone standing nearby. “Oh, yes, Rebecca. So that’s eight, plus you, Peter. If we’re keeping score,” he went on, “I have nine, counting Cruz and Mrs. Phipps. Ten, if I get to Stacy first.”

  “We’re evenly matched, then.” He hadn’t mentioned Amy, although I didn’t consider her to be much of an asset.

  Another laugh. “I have queens and bishops on my side of the board,” he said. “You have pawns, a rook, and a knight at best. Checkmate is only a matter of time, especially since I can add more pieces whenever I want.”