Jeb nodded. “She has always been like that. Sam explained what was going on to her while you were consoling your brother. She's been away for a while attending college, but she came back when creatures started to appear. By the time she got back, Amanda and Mark had been here for a little over a month and no one informed her about them. Jeana asked Mark out on a date and was surprised when he tried to show off by playing with fire in front of her.” He chuckled. “This party seems to be her way of trying to put everything back to normal. Maybe tonight will be a good time to try and become friends with her?”
I smiled at him. “I would like that.”
I waved to Jeb as I followed behind the girls to go get ready. I watched Jeana and Amanda put make-up on and do their hair. I was fascinated by how much their looks changed with the simple tools they used.
Jeana explained what each of the pieces were as she applied them. I couldn’t believe my eyes as she put some green eyeshadow on and how bright her eyes became. I started to think that this world had magic after all. The result was stunning.
Amanda was dressed in tight black jeans and heeled back boots with a form-fitting, very low-cut tank top that left little to the imagination. Jeana, on the other hand, was dressed in a flowing brown mid-thigh length skirt and a one-shoulder wraparound forest green shirt with brown lace-up sandals.
Jeana twirled around once, then forced me to sit in a chair while she did my hair and make-up. By the time she was done, I barely recognized myself. She put my hair in an updo with tendrils falling down my back. She put eyeshadow around my eyes that gave them a smoky look and took a thing she called lipstick to redden my lips. She dressed me in a simple low-cut light blue dress that reached my mid-thigh and gave me a pair of open toed black heels to wear. When I asked her why she wanted me to wear this outfit, her response was that it would drive Sam insane.
Before we knew it, it was early evening. Amanda asked if I wanted to help Jeana and her prepare the food for the grill, and I agreed. Sam's reaction when we came down the stairs was priceless. Jeana was right. He attempted several times to get me alone with him while we were working in the kitchen. Even though I wanted it, I forced myself to drag him outside to where everyone was gathered around the grill and picnic table, laughing, joking, and already eating before he stopped. I was introduced to a few new people, including Jeb’s wife, Margret, and daughter, Jennifer. It was interesting to find out that Margret volunteered at the town library most days and Jennifer attended college with Jeana. I also confirmed that Jake was Jeb's son. Sam, Eddy and Jake were childhood best friends. They all came to live here and helped take care of the property since Jeb was having more difficulties in his retirement.
I watched as Mark would create a small flame in his hands and light the grill or cook his own food. I also noticed how Mark basically hovered over Amanda and made a mental note to ask her about that later.
There were some of Jake’s friends from the city, but I knew they were just here for the party, so I didn’t bother to remember any of their names. I was having enough issues with how many people lived in Jeb’s house. Sam stuffed his face with hot dogs and hamburgers while I munched on potato salad, chips and carrots. Several times, Sam offered me a hamburger, but I refused.
“Why did the mushroom go to the party?” Eddy asked around another bite of his hamburger.
“Seriously, dude,” Sam scoffed. “Finish chewing first.” Eddy swallowed dramatically.
“Why did he go to the party, Eddy?” Jake asked rolling his eyes.
“Because he was a fuunnnn-guy!” Eddy exclaimed.
Everyone started laughing as Eddy started mimicking a dancing mushroom, even Asyl. I was happy to see my brother was having a good time.
“Okay, okay. Why did the farmer win an award?”
“Eddy, not another one,” Sam sighed.
“Oh, come on!” Eddy begged. “My jokes are awesome!”
“Awesome like a hole in your head,” Jake muttered.
Jeana came up next to me. She was still watching Eddy but I sensed she wanted something. “Hey, come with me for a moment. I want to talk to you away from all the noise,” Jeana whispered in my direction, not taking her eyes off her friend. I turned and followed her. She led me away from the party, near the tree line. I could still hear the laughter at the picnic tables, but I didn’t think they could hear us.
“I want to apologize,” Jeana stated, not turning back to look at me.
“Apologize for what?”
She stopped and shifted on her feet. “For how rude I was. When you guys got here, I was still freaking out a bit. I found out Amanda and Mark weren't humans and then you two showed up. I lashed out against you and your brother because you were strangers.”
I shrugged. “It's understandable. I have no hard feelings toward you or anyone else.” I smiled at her. “Can I ask you a question?”
Jeana nodded.
“Jeb told me to wait, but I’m curious. What happened to your parents? Jeb was giving me a tour, and he told me about how you and Sam came to live here. He wouldn’t say why.”
Jeana gazed over at the people laughing. “It was right after I turned fourteen. Our parents were out in a storm and got into a car crash. Some drunk high schooler went for a joyride. He couldn’t handle the car and ran right into theirs. Our dad died on impact, and our mother died at the hospital a few hours later.” Jeana was fighting back tears. “It’s still hard to think about. Sam blames himself for the accident.”
“Why would he? He wasn’t the one driving.”
Jeana looked at me. “No, but he was the reason they were. Sam decided he wanted a new guitar string and begged Dad to go get one. When Dad said no, Sam threw a fit about it until Dad finally agreed. I don’t know why Mom went with him.”
“He shouldn’t blame himself though. I’m sorry for what happened.”
“Thank you,” Jeana smiled weakly. “Like I said, it happened a long time ago.”
“I can tell it still hurts to think about.” Looking over at the party, I saw Jennifer talking with Sam. I noticed how her short pink dress hugged her body and her breasts were literally falling out of the top. I was starting to rethink the whole not-eating-humans thing. Jeana followed my glare and chuckled.
“Jennifer has always liked Sam but with him being Jake’s friend she was always off limits. I’ve never liked her either so I’m glad for that bro code. Though that doesn’t stop her from telling guys at school they are together.”
I forced a smile and said through clenched teeth. “Well, too bad for her that he’s mine.”
We stood only a few feet apart, both glaring at Jennifer. The silence was interrupted when I realized Eddy was running over.
“Hey Jeana... can you do us guys a favor?” Eddy asked.
“Sure, what's up?”
“Can y’all run into town and get more food and beer?” He smiled brightly.
Jeana laughed. “Sure Eddy. Hey Dyka, would you like to come with me?”
I nodded, and we went to ask Amanda and Jennifer if they wanted to come as well.
Four
Amanda, Jeana, Jennifer, and I took Jeana’s car to grab the food and beer. As we pulled up to a stop sign, Amanda noticed a rather large white tent sitting off to the side of the road. There was a large dirt lot in front of it that was being used as a parking lot. She pointed it out and Jennifer told us that the farmers market usually set up there but she had never seen a tent before. We decided to pull into the lot, thinking it was a new farmers market. Instead of being greeted with tables of fruits and vegetables when we walked through the entrance flap, we were greeted with rows of chairs and a stage at the other end. Something large was covered in one corner beyond the pulpit on the stage. Walking a little closer I could hear muffled sobbing coming from under the sheet.
I nervously glanced over at Jeana. “What is this place?”
Jeana's eyes were on the sheet. “It looks like a traveling Evangelist but I didn’t see any signs.”
Something about the man sent warning bells through my head. Glancing at my companions, I could tell I wasn't the only one who didn't like his presence.
“Me and Jennifer are from here but Amanda and Sarah,” Jeana said, motioning to me, “came in from out of town to help with a party for my brother. We were passing by and thought this might be a farmer’s market.” I would have to thank her for her quick deception.
“What type of party has you young ladies appearing so... ravishing?”
“It’s a birthday party.”
The man smiled at us. “You all look enchanting. I think your brother's party will be a hit. Do you have enough time to stay for the sermon? It's going to be a special one.”
“We’re in a hurry, we should go.”
“Oh, I insist you that you stay, at least for the beginning.” His eyes had a cold, calculating look to them. I had trouble suppressing the shiver running down my spine.
We looked at each other. I felt I needed to know what was under the sheet, but something told me we needed to leave. I shrugged, curiosity winning. “Alright, we will stay as long as we can,” I said to him with a strained smile.
We took our seats in the back, near the door, in case we needed to make our escape. Not long after we sat down the entire tent was packed and there was only standing room. We ended up offering our seats to a family of four and stood out of the way by the door.
“Why did you want to stay?” Jeana asked, glaring at me.
“I’m not sure why, but I need to know what’s under there,” I whispered, pointing toward the stage. “Don’t you?”
All of them nodded, even though Jeana looked like she wanted to leave.
The man who greeted us walked onto the stage, wearing purple robes, and stopped at the pulpit. Everyone’s focus was immediately drawn to his intimidating presence.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the congregation, welcome to the house of God. I am preacher Abraham and these are loyal servants of the Lord, Daniel and Jeremy,” he said, motioning to the two men near the sheet.
“We are from Darling, Mississippi, but have come here at the request of the Lord. Travelling around spreading the Holy word is still our mission, but there is a higher cause. It was given to me when the Lord told to me what was happening.” He was smiling like he was actually enjoying this.
“Did you know there were creatures among you? They walk among you. They have flesh and blood like you. They eat your food. They will take your wives and children. You can’t control them. We have gone to the law, but they can’t do anything about it. The law doesn’t follow the word of God. Jeremy, Daniel and I have taken it upon ourselves to rid the world of this evil. We fight for a Holy cause. And there is no greater cause than that. No greater cause.”
He looked out upon the faces of the tent. I noticed a lot of them seemed more scared than when they had wandered in here. Who could blame them? This preacher knew how to get a reaction. “If you have come to this tent, you are also afraid. You don’t know what to do. The world is not ending. The Lord has told me so. But we must help each other. We must fight against this evil in the lands to prevent its spreading. We will hunt down these creatures. We will rid the world of them. And we will do it all in the name of God.” He gripped the pulpit with purpose. As if what he was about to say was really important.
“If you are afraid: Don’t worry. We will protect you. If you are angry: Don’t worry. We will let you fight with us. If you are doubtful that we can do this: Don’t worry. We have cleansed this evil before. The Lord has shown us that we can rid the world of these monsters. We have been chosen for this crusade. Behold, one of our captured.”
With a flourish of his hand, Jeremy and Daniel moved toward the sheet. Abraham watched the people’s reactions closely as the two men removed the sheet to expose the cage it was hiding. I could have sworn he was paying close attention to our group of four. Within the cage was a Succubus. She looked like she had been in the cage a long time. She had obviously been abused and was terrified. Her raven black hair was matted into bloody dreadlocks. I looked down her battered body to the shackles around her cleft feet. Her skin had a slight purple tint to it from what looked like fresh bruises as well as dried-up blood in various places all over her, from wounds long since healed. Her red eyes darted around, never focusing on one place for long. I knew getting her attention in this situation was going to be hard, let alone getting a message to her under the watchful gaze of Abraham. There were screams and yells starting within the tent. Most people looked shocked or were crying and clutching their children.
The four of us looked at each other nervously. The Dragons didn’t have many friends, but when we needed help, the Succubi never failed to volunteer. I wanted to run up there, rip the door open and rush her out of here. Amanda placed a calming hand on my arm to restrain me and nodded her head toward the preacher.
“Now do you believe? This demon dared to appear in a classroom of young children!” All throughout the tent there were gasps in response. “Even in her demented and damaged state she still holds power. This is a demon temptress of the flesh, but there is no need to worry. I will not allow you to fall to her tricks. She is but a tool for us to use against her kind. Using her, we have gathered several other demons who have tried to take her from us. We will send them back to the Hell from whence they came!”
As the crowd became loud in response to the Holy mission, Jeana lowered her voice. “This is really bad. We need to get you two out now,” she hissed. She quickly tried to rush me out of the tent. Amanda was right on her heels.
I stopped for a moment and turned once more to look at the Succubus. Her gaze found mine as we made eye contact. From the corner of my eye, I could see Jennifer still standing where she was. Her head was cocked to the side and she had a thoughtful look on her face before she reluctantly followed us to the exit. Ignoring Jennifer, I looked over at Abraham. He was watching me. I wasn’t sure but his grin seemed malevolent. I turned and followed the girls. If he had done this to anyone else from my home, I was going to tear the bastard apart.
The trip to the store was quick. None of us were in the mood to continue partying while we knew someone was suffering. Jeana quickly bought the several bags of barbeque chips, hotdogs, ranch dip and the couple cases of Coors we needed, and we began our drive home. When we passed the tent again, the parking lot was full. No one was outside but through our open windows, we could hear the cheering of the congregation, and the screams of the Succubus being tortured. I peeked at Jennifer. She seemed pensive and kept glancing worriedly at me. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Jeana quickly sped away from the tent and the demented preacher. I became scared and angry all at once. I managed to blink back all but one tear from the overload of emotions. I wasn’t going to be able to stop this alone.
When we got back to the house, we walked around back and placed the bags on the tables. I found Sam and wrapped my arms around his waist, burying my face into his chest. Sam embraced me and pulled me as flush against his body as possible. He placed his fingers under my chin to lift my face so I would be looking at him.
“You okay?”
I shook my head. “No but I’ll explain later, once everything quiets down.”
Sam looked like he wanted to argue, but Jake came over and was asking questions about his new truck lift. Sam gave me one last look that promised me, he would be getting answers later before getting distracted with the conversation.
Time seemed to speed up as soon as the night sky winked at us through the trees. While Jake’s friends were saying t
heir goodbyes, Jeana gathered the group into the dining room. She informed everyone about Abraham’s tent of horrors. I saw Amanda and Mark huddled together for support in one of the corners. As I looked away, my memory drifted to the Fae hunts I learned about. At one point, some of the Fae started playing tricks on the mortals. They picked a group of humans to start with but I heard it didn’t end well. Rumors started to spread throughout the land shortly afterwards. Before anyone could stop it, non-magic and magic wielding humans alike were hunting the Fae. Many were enslaved and tortured. With how long the Fae lived, I wondered if they remember that time.
Asyl felt the same as I did about the imprisoned Succubus. The fury on his face was evident and he started yelling at us for not rescuing her then and there. Sam's anger got the best of him at that point and he got in Asyl's face. Both men were shouting so loud it was hard to understand either of them. Margret was yelling at Jeb not to get involved but Jeb disagreed. Jennifer seemed preoccupied, pulled out her cell phone, told her family she wanted no part of this and left. It was Amanda's quiet, calm voice that broke through the chaos.
“We needed to get out of there. The preacher knew about the crossed-over beings and bragged about hunting and killing them. We had no way to know what weapons they could have available to subdue us.” She took a deep breath before she continued. “We need to look more human. Dyka’s skin is too silvery, and I'm way too pale. Asyl's gold has completely faded so he should be fine, but Mark's eyes are too bright.” Amanda's voice was as calm as can be, but I could see the fear and sadness in her eyes. “If we’re going to do this, Jeana, are there enough of the things we need here?”
Jeana shook her head. “Not everything we’ll need is here. I’ll head to the superstore to pick things up. Jeb, I’ll need some extra money for this. And don’t worry I’ll take Jennifer home too.”
Jeana left with Jeb to get the cash, as he mentioned taking a different car and route to avoid the tent. The rest of us went back to our rooms to contemplate the day’s revelations.
Scales and Flames Page 13
