by J. P. Rice
This day had taken some odd turns. “So you want to work with me to chase the Sendal Spirits out of Pittsburgh?”
Bruceras shook his head slowly. “No. We are going to tell you about the Spirits and let you take care of them.”
I said, “That doesn’t exactly sound fair, and by the way, you haven’t told me much at all.”
“We’ll send Socrates with the rest of the information as we find it out.” Montidore laughed, and everyone joined in except for me. “Fair or not, if you can resist going after your father, so be it. The Spirits are about to kill all the Japanese women in Pittsburgh. Guess that means nothing to you too. From where I am sitting, you have much more personal hatred for them than we do. And if you don’t, you damn well should.”
This meeting with the devils was shaping up to be as disappointing as the ones with Socrates. Only Montidore had an above average vocabulary. The demons and the Red Cavern were all hype. “How does a soul get rejected by hell?”
Bruceras revealed, “For not sharing the virtues we cherish. However, they seem to develop a certain ruthlessness after rejection. The void between the heavens and hells is vast and most spirits get trapped in liminality, stuck in-between. In this state, they wander around aimlessly until they dissolve into nothing. Mind you, that process takes hundreds of years, but they normally don’t cause any problems in this world.”
I shifted around in the heat and uncomfortable chair. “How can they get back to this world?”
Aka Manah finally joined the party. “They are beckoned back, pulled from the in-between and back to this world.”
Everything was falling into place now. “Like a Dybbuk Box?”
Bruceras answered, “Precisely. There are many other forms in different cultures as well. Mainly fools bring them into this world, not knowing what they are about to unleash. Single souls can’t even cause much destruction either. It’s when they combine multiple souls into Sendal Spirits that the mayhem begins.”
Montidore added, “Anyone from the Red Cavern caught calling on spirits from liminality is immediately put to death. We realize that the Sendals can become more powerful than all the devils combined. With that said, you understand that time is precious in this matter. They could easily build enough strength over the next week to take over Pittsburgh.”
It seemed like there had been a great miscalculation. “Then why would you leave it up to an inexperienced wizard such as myself?”
Montidore said, “Look, we aren’t here to blow smoke up your ass or in your face. We know you have friends and the capability of taking care of this. You will need help from your Gods and anyone who knows magic. If you try this alone, you will surely die.”
I informed them, “You may want to check the records. I’m not exactly Mr. Popularity around Pittsburgh and most of the people I know that practice magic, they never leave the Deep Burrow.”
“Maybe you should convince them to burrow their way out of there.” Bruceras chuckled.
Montidore turned to him. “Really, a pun? And not even a very good one.”
Bruceras sat up straight, staring at me. “Let’s get serious then. You’ve got a few days to figure this one out. See, the thing about the Sendals is that they come after the so-called good guys first. We can always go to another city. I’m not so sure that you can do the same.”
He was right. They would have to drag me away from Pittsburgh, kicking and screaming. Or kill me, and it appeared the Sendals didn’t have a problem with that. It didn’t surprise me that my father sold out to anyone that would help him get out of jail. My dad wasn’t ready to handle that kind of power. It’s precisely why he had been locked up.
Montidore said, “If there’s nothing else, we will have our Greek friend here take you back to your world.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “I think that just about covers it. Why didn’t you just have the great philosopher tell me all of this? Why go through this big charade to get me down here?”
Montidore told me, “We thought you would question why the Greeks were so open to sharing this kind of information with you. Meeting with Gods adds validity to the whole thing.”
“Fair point, but not as much as I am questioning whether I should trust the Red Cavern. You guys aren’t exactly known for your honesty, no offense.”
Montidore stood up. He was over seven feet tall. “Honesty is overrated and you know it. You aren’t honest all the time. That emotional baggage from your terrible upbringing keeps bouncing off the walls of your mind. You hide it, bury it deep down, but you know it hurts so you lie about it and tell everyone that nothing is the matter. You even lie to yourself.”
I told him, “I’m just fine, thanks for the concern.”
Montidore wouldn’t let up. “See, there it is. And I am certainly not concerned. Do you share all the information with your partner, Gretchen?”
I stood up, and said, “All right, I get the point. That still doesn’t change the fact that you might be lying to me to set me up.”
Montidore followed me toward the door. “Set you up for what? If we wanted to kill you, don’t you think we would have done it back in Irwin? We don’t like to play around too much before our killing. After death is a different story altogether.”
True. Gruesome, but true. They could have easily killed me when all the demons appeared out of the woods. The devils were making too much sense right now and I didn’t like it.
Bruceras cracked his long neck, and said, “Merlino, best of luck, we are counting on you. Aka Manah, show this man back to his world.”
The demon escorted me back to my house and I stumbled out of the back of the limo and onto the sidewalk. I sat on the steps of my porch before going in, trying to understand what just happened. A fire burned inside my chest. I wanted to kill my father. Turning to anyone that could give him immense power didn’t surprise me in the slightest.
He’d always been a firm believer in shortcuts. It was his anger that raged inside me, scaring me that I was turning into that maniac. I tried to force the cloud out of my head and rationally analyze what had just happened.
The Red Cavern and I had a common enemy, and they were even willing to help me defeat the Sendal Spirits. Shocking. They realized the threat my father posed as much as me. Combining the special bloodline with the power of the Sendals, made for a lethal combination and needed to be stopped.
For my father to use remote magic, it meant he’d learned an immense amount in barely any time at all. I knew it wouldn’t last in the long run, but he could kill me before his star burnt out. There were several things I needed to do.
I wanted to see Jonathan to find out if we could re-trap the escaped spirits back into the Dybbuk Boxes. Then I needed to visit the Celtic Gods to see if they can help me out.
I jumped up, went inside and Reg, Alayna and Carolyn were sitting at my kitchen table.
I commented, “Reg, a turtleneck sweater? I’ve never seen you sport that bad boy before. What’s the occasion?”
Reg answered, “Laundry backed up is all. Ronald’s been busy lately so I gotta go deep into the reserve, you know. You saying it doesn’t look good?”
I put my hands up. “Easy, big fella. I’m not saying that at all. Just that we’ve been friends for a few years and I’ve never seen it. Damn stylish though. Especially back in the 90s.” I started cracking up.
Carolyn laughed in Reg’s tone again and kissed him on the cheek. I said, “I found out some amazing information today about my father and the uprisings.”
The excited listeners moved to the edge of the benches as I told the story about going to the Red Cavern.
“I don’t understand why you would take a meeting with the Greek Gods in the first place,” Alayna said.
I tried to explain, “I just figured Pittsburgh would be safer with the Greek and Celtic Gods working together.”
Alayna played with her braids. “They do work together. We’ve always shared information that would be beneficial to keeping th
e world safe. Always. Sometimes relations can become strained, but we’ve always kept an open line.”
Socrates had never told me that. “I did not know that. And it sounded like they had information about the Sendals. I was fooled by the pretty face.”
Carolyn said, “That spirit in your office was a weak one. It was probably less than one hundred souls combined. In the next few days, the Sendals will combine thousands of souls and maybe even more than that. They can go with making a dozen spirits strong beyond anyone’s belief, or they can make a thousand spirits that aren’t very strong and go with a numbers game.”
I said, “It appears that the stone men and my father are on their side as well, all ultimately controlled by the Sendals. I don’t know how many other human entities they have control of. And furthermore, I haven’t the slightest clue on how I am going to kill them.”
Alayna said, “To kill a group of old spirits, we need to go back in time. You will need runed weapons.”
Reg asked, “Ruined weapons?”
Alayna said, “Weapons that have been blessed by proper rituals and rune symbols. Weapons filled with enchantment. That is the only way I know of.”
I thought about Carolyn’s fingernails. The vamps had ancient rune symbols that they’d been using for a long time. So did the Deep Burrow. Lucky me. “What do you think about joining me for a visit to the Deep Burrow tomorrow, Alayna?”
She closed one eye and peered at me. “I think I could be compelled to do that.”
I wondered, “Does magic in a conventional sense work against them?”
Alayna said, “No one that’s ever survived a fight with a true Sendal, has found a source of magic other than the enchanted iron weapons.”
Reg asked, “Is it the iron or the enchantment that they can’t deal with?”
The faerie flicked something off her shoulder. “We believe it to be a combination of both. No one’s been daring enough to only use an iron weapon without the rune symbols and blessing. If you would like to be the first, I wouldn’t advise it.”
I’m not that crazy. “No, nothing like that. I’m just trying to figure out if we can use other means to take them out. I still don’t know where the Sendals are located either. Or my father.” I’d pushed the thoughts of my dad to the back burner, but his death threat loomed large right now. I wondered what kind of deal he’d made with the Sendals.
My phone buzzed in the inside pocket of the suit jacket and I pulled it out. Unknown number. Ah, what the hell?
Chapter 18
Here we go again, Humphrey Bogart. “Hello, Detective Mike Merlino.”
The soft voice of a man came through. “Hi, you are the Occult Detective, right?”
“The one and only. How can I help you, sir?”
“I think I might have some information that could help you with the graveyard uprisings. I’ve heard and seen some things that I’m probably not supposed to but it can’t be undone.”
I walked into the living room. “I’d love to hear more about that.”
“I can tell you a few things, but I’m scared. I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. Could we meet up sometime?”
“I should have some open time today. What works best for you?”
He said, “I’m going to be busy most of the day. How about tonight? I have an apartment in the Southside. Say, nine o’clock.”
“I can make that happen. Why don’t you text me the address to this number and I will see you at nine?”
He said, “I can do that. Thank you. You might be the only hope. See you later.”
“Alright, see you then.” I hung up the phone feeling like Obi Wan Kenobi.
I walked back into the kitchen. “That was someone who thinks they might have information about the uprisings.”
“Was he Greek?” Alayna joked.
He didn’t sound like Socrates. “Very funny, but maybe, I couldn’t detect an accent. I’m going to need help on this one. Do you think the Gods would let me take anyone from the Deep Burrow to help? What about your cleaners?”
Alayna narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “Doubtful.”
“Why?”
The faerie answered, “The Gods provide help when they see fit. If one person can accomplish the task, they won’t send additional help. The Gods have been pushed beyond any measure we could even comprehend, and they expect a fraction of that out of their subjects.”
I never thought of myself as a subject to the Gods. It was completely accurate though. To reach full potential, one needed to be pushed over the edge several times. I’d been shoved over that cliff a few times already and it was tremendous for my development as a wizard.
I’d learned to rely on nobody except myself, but this situation called for me to bring some help. I thought about who in the city of Pittsburgh would be able to provide help in a supernatural fight. I hated the person who kept coming back into my mind.
I debated whether I would rather die or accept help from Felix. As much as I talked shit on him, he was probably the best candidate to battle the Sendal Spirits. I’d have to swallow a lot of pride to make it happen, and the preliminary taste in my mouth didn’t give me much hope.
I arrived at the client’s apartment on the main drag of the Southside. I watched citizens spill out of two bars and flood the sidewalks. Flakes of snow began to fall, but the holiday cheer running through the patrons made them seemingly unaware of the conditions as they danced down the sidewalk. It had all the makings of a bar crawl.
I followed them down East Carson Street. Most of the people went into the Straight Shooter Saloon and cleared the way for me to find the address I was looking for. I went another block and a half and found a three-story apartment building made of bricks.
I buzzed the spot marked 1B on the call-box. No voice came through the intercom, but I heard the door buzz, so I twisted the knob and pulled. Entering the building, I found a staircase to my left and a hallway with a brown floor to my right. The apartment was the second on the left.
I went to knock on the door and stopped. I detected magic from outside the apartment. It could be a number of things like another Dybbuk Box. I realized it was suspect to linger outside the door and knocked three times.
The door swung open and a pale man in a three-piece suit and red tie appeared. A wave of funk poured through the opening. A weird odor of old cheese and dead mice wafted into my nostrils and wouldn’t leave. The man had an elongated head like an ancient Egyptian, but his skin was white as a ghost. Long black hair hung over half of his face, covering one of his eyes.
The man invited me into a shabbily furnished shithole. Actually, he needed to clean up a little to make it a shithole. He led me down a hallway. Living room on the left with a torn-up couch and mismatched cushions. Dilapidated hardwood floors covered with cigarette butts. The yellow curtains that were originally white barely covered the windows and made my apartment look classy.
I didn’t detect enough magic to scare me, but his strange look was a bit alarming.
He veered right into a room and I followed. The soles of my shoes stuck to the linoleum floor as he led me into the kitchen and pointed to a folding chair at the table in the middle of the room. Another man was already seated at the table and he looked very similar to his friend.
The host broke the uncomfortable silence. “My name is Victor and this is Ernesto. I’m the one that called you earlier.” The man sat at the oval table next to Ernesto and across from me.
The two men in matching suits looked like the classic descriptions of men in black. Their pale faces, dark eyes and elongated heads were alien in appearance. They did not look like a classic Victor or Ernesto and I dipped further into my magical reservoir and brought more to the surface. They should have gone with Ernie and Vic.
I said, “And you both know I’m Mike Merlino. What did you guys call me for?”
Ernesto’s beady eyes widened and lit up. “We are interested in the same things that you seem to be. We were thinking may
be we could exchange supernatural information and form a new partnership.”
Suddenly everyone wants to be my friend. Too bad you can’t trust anyone in this city. “That’s a nice offer, gentlemen, but I prefer to work alone.”
Victor leaned back in the chair. “We aren’t saying that we work together. Just that we share information that might keep our fair city safe. We know there is something evil sweeping the city of Pittsburgh.”
My mind flashed back to the conversation with the night watchman from the cemetery. He had said that some Men in Black type figures had come to scare him. I heightened my senses and tried to figure out if there were any more people in the house. I didn’t sense anyone and focused on the two bozos at the table.
They were releasing some magic vines, but they were weak. I had a few questions of my own. “Obviously, you know who I am, which puts me at a disadvantage. What form of magic do you practice?”
Ernesto looked down at his shoes. “Same as you do.”
“I have a few styles. Which one specifically?” I only practiced the Druidic Arts, but I wanted to throw them off. I had a feeling these guys were using magic from the Dark Artistry. They were going to tell me some lies so that I would share everything I knew with them. Not happening, fellas. “Either of you can answer.”
Both men just looked at each other with panic on their faces. If they didn’t know any of the pure magic systems, they didn’t really know me. I mentally retraced my steps from the building door to where I was seated. This was getting weird fast and the level of magic in the room began to get stronger.
I stared at the spider web in the corner of the room. I thought about all the spiders in the grungy bars along this road. Then I shifted to internally heating my body. I built up so much fire that my face flushed. I broke the long silence, fanning my hand in front of my face, “Look, gentlemen, I really need to get some air.”
I sprang up from the table and darted out of the kitchen, down the hallway, out the front door of the apartment, and I almost made it to the exit door of the building when Ernesto screamed. “Stop right there.”
