by Richard Hein
The two said nothing.
“Now, on to the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question here,” I said, lacing fingers behind my head. “Can I use this to break Michael’s hold on Kate?”
Kate sat up. “What?”
I glanced at her. “Michael’s got fingers in your mind and someday the Archangel will be back. This sounds like exorcism on steroids, so it might break that bond.”
She glanced down at her hands folded in her lap. Kate said nothing, her eyes drifting closed for a moment.
“Oh, that’s a very bad idea,” Stefan said. He gestured at Kate with one hand like Vanna White presenting a letter. “She’s not possessed, Samuel, but she’s tied to Michael.”
I frowned. “So, in this analogy we use this ability to cut the cord and…”
Dieter shook its head. “No. Try not to imagine it as a cord, but a highway. If you hit Kate with this, it would push the fragment of Michael that’s in her out of the universe, yes, but she would go along with it.”
Kate’s head snapped up. I sat straight up, my eyes meeting hers. “You’re telling me it would exorcise Kate?” I asked in a glacial voice, never taking my eyes from her. Her lips pressed together so hard they bled to white, brilliant eyes a storm behind her dark glasses.
“Most definitely,” Stefan said, “just like if you had the bad taste to exorcise me this wonderful little dimension would pop like a bubble. It’s not of me, but anchored to me. Michael is anchored to Kate.” It reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t react, her focus locked onto me.
God damn it all. I thought I’d found a solution to one of our big problems lingering around, and instead I find it could screw her over.
I shook my head and snapped a finger up at Dieter. “Now wait. You two said you weren’t experts or anything. You don’t know how all of this works any more than I do. You… you could be wrong. This might free Kate and… and…”
A silence grew between us as my words dwindled under the weight of truth. Above, the purple gas giant loomed over us like an uncaring god. Shards of brilliant crystal glowed and twinkled in its rings. God, what a beautiful place for such shitty, shitty news.
Dieter and Stefan shared another look. “No,” they said in unison.
I surged to my feet. “God damn it,” I snapped. “Seriously, God damn it. There’s got to be a way to break stupid ass Michael’s stupid ass grip on her. This is some Grade A bullshit.” My gaze fell on Kate. She lifted her chin, eyes defiant, and watched me for a second.
“It’s okay, Samuel,” Kate said. “Nothing has changed. It’s not like ten minutes ago anything was different. We’ll find another way.”
“Fuck that,” I snarled. I waved an annoyed hand in their faces. “They can’t be sure, Kate. This isn’t some documented thing, it’s something crazy and different. Maybe instead of using it to push against the Entity we… we… I don’t know. Use it like a hammer against the bond instead of as a shovel. Or some other stupid analogy. The point is this is something new and we need to be absolutely fucking sure it can’t help you.”
Kate rose and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Your analogies are getting stupid,” she said. Her smile looked forced. “You’re acting like I got a terminal diagnosis. Don’t use Lockyer’s Hyper-Exorcism around me and I won’t get kicked out of the universe.”
I stared down to our entwined hands. “Hyper-Exorcism?” I asked, feeling some of the anger bleed away.
“Knowing you, you’d call it ‘Super-Exorcism’ or something. Hyper is much more impressive-sounding.”
My smile was wan. We lingered a heartbeat longer, then stepped apart.
“What about you two?” I said, feeling a flush in my cheeks. “Bet this could shuck your corn from the husk pretty easily.”
Dieter’s eyes flashed. “There’s no need to be offensive, Samuel. We’re not suffering. We’re…”
“Cohabitating?” Stefan offered. Dieter nodded enthusiastically.
I rolled my eyes. “How do I know that’s not just demon talk and that there’s not some old German dude trapped in there screaming to be let out?”
“Because we say so and have earned a modicum of trust over the years with you?”
I shrugged. “Let’s say you’ve earned slightly less suspicion. Speaking of suspicious monsters, we paid a visit to Circe. I thought demons of a feather flocked together, but Queen Creepy went all cold when we told her we were looking for Simon. We’ve got a lead, though.”
Dieter grimaced. “I’ve heard stories of her temper. You’re lucky you walked out of there if she suddenly became annoyed with you. Though I can’t imagine why that might ever happen.”
“I’m social as shit,” I agreed. “I’m not too worried. Circe apparently has been annoyed with Lockyer for a billion years and he’s still around.”
“That’s only because no one wanted to start a war under the nose of the OFC, dear,” Stefan said. The Twins shared a worried look. “I’d expect that to boil over very shortly now that everyone is aware that you aren’t at fighting strength.”
Cold worry twisted at my gut. I tried to imagine what it would look like if either side of that fight decided to take the nuclear option. Without the Ordo, it could get messy fast. Kate’s face echoed the apprehension I felt.
We spent another few minutes in idle chatter. More Kate than myself, as she’d only gotten to visit the Twins once since I’d first taken her here. I had no idea what her fascination was. They were Entities, and I’d figured after Michael she’d have had her fill of them. They looked innocent enough, but I knew from experience that anything extra-dimensional was alien, unknowable by definition. We couldn’t understand their motives for pretending to be human. So they weren’t drinking blood or eating kids, and instead bought a house on Queen Anne. They were thoughts made flesh and their motives suspect.
Lauren had been the proof. She’d been sure that amid a sea of infinite realities there had to be creatures of good.
She’d died proving how wrong she’d been.
We shuffled toward the door at long last, the other end anchored to their Pike Place shop. This side the door stood in the middle of a grassy field, alone and held up by invisible hinges of magic. It looked the same as the other side did — weathered wood with chipped paint. Kate flipped it open, the cramped counters and shelves appearing in a hole cut into this little reality. She stepped through.
The door slammed shut. I frowned at it, grabbed the knob, and turned it. The door swung open, but no portal appeared. Just the grass on the other side. I spun, heart galloping into panic mode.
Dieter stood behind me, one hand raised at the door, fingers crooked.
“Now,” Dieter said, face dark, “let’s talk about the thing in your head, shall we?”
Chapter 12
Shit.
“We already went over this,” I said, forcing my voice steady. “Sanctuary is…”
“Oh please,” Dieter said. “Lauren? Seriously, Samuel?” A faint wind swirled between us, which was impressive given we were standing on a little moon without a sun to heat the air. A side effect of Dieter’s emotions? I shivered.
“I have no idea…” I began. Dieter glanced over at Stefan, who had remained quiet, then took a step toward me. I stumbled back against the door.
“Samuel, when someone lays an accusation at your feet and you know it to be true, there’s no point in trying to deny it.” Dieter’s arms crossed. “It’s just plain rude. I figured you didn’t want Kate to know, and you’re thrice damned for keeping things from her again, but I think this bears discussion.”
“Lauren?” Stefan asked, head swinging between the two of us. “Your ex? How exactly…” Stefan trailed off. Wide eyes fixated on me.
“Oh, Samuel,” Stefan said with a shake of its head. “Oh. Oh dear.”
“What do you want me to say?” I snapped. “Looks like something got in when I…” I swallowed, feeling like razor blades lined my throat, mauling the words as I tried to get
them out. “When I killed her. I’m possessed. You here to bring me a gift basket and welcome to me to your stupid possessed club?”
“Oh, dear me, no,” Stefan said, grinning. “You’re not possessed.”
I blinked.
“Uh, how about your run that by me again. Maybe draw a diagram? I have a demon in my head. Like you guys.”
“Please stop using that word,” Dieter said with a sigh. “Why is insulting your first line of defense?”
“My mouth moves quicker than my brain,” I growled, throwing up my hands. “I wasn’t loved enough as a kid. I was dropped on my head more times than I care to count. Pick one and make with the explanation.”
Dieter eased down to the grass. I stared down, feeling a boiling need to kick something or scream. Ten. Nine. Eight. Instead I took a breath and dropped to the soft covering, crossing my legs like I was attempting another failed meditation. Stefan remained standing, pacing back and forth at the periphery of my vision.
“Possession isn’t like having a roommate,” Dieter said. One delicate and manicured hand snatched up a few blades of too-green grass and rolled them between fingers. The wind swirled up again, and Dieter let fingers open and watched the grass dance away on the breeze. “I’m not a German man that hears the voice of a being from anther dimension. We’re… Stefan? Help me out here.”
“Gestalts?” the other Twin supplied. “Hybrids?”
Dieter nodded. I scowled.
“No shit,” I said, deadpan. “I know. When Lauren was possessed it did a good job of playing her, but it wasn’t her. Personalities merge, blah blah blah.”
Dieter leaned over and thumped two fingers against my skull. “You’re you, Samuel. Lauren, or at least a twisted facsimile of her, is also in there. Side by side. Simultaneously. You have not merged; you’re…”
With a sigh, Dieter leaned back onto two hands. It looked so odd, this suited person-looking thing, wearing finery that was more expensive than I’d ever dreamed of, sitting like a kid on a warm summer day. It looked… relaxing.
I watched the two of them. Really watched. I wouldn’t have called them friends, or even business partners. They were demon-possessed, and that made them a danger. An asset, to be sure, but one I didn’t extend trust to. I could use them as I needed, but I’d never thought of them as anything but tools.
Thinking otherwise could be dangerous. One would have expected you could trust the freaking Archangel Michael, but I’d seen how far that got you.
It was hard to push the feeling they were like me though, with worries and thoughts and feelings — whatever those might be. How much of that was an act? How much of that was the last vestiges of their host peeking through? The way they were sitting looked so depressingly human and they were anything but. Still, a little bit of the worry and anger whispered away as I watched them.
They understood what I was going through, on some level.
“I guess that explains why I’m not immune to damage,” I said. “Glad I figured that out in a car accident and not with a bullet.”
I yawned and blinked back the mounting exhaustion. It was still early, damn it. All this lack of sleep had me feeling like the world was slightly sideways, not quite entirely plumb or level. I made a mental note to rummage through the lockers back in the OFC and try to find something to help me sleep. It was macabre, but I needed just one good night of sleep to feel like I’d get back on track.
“So, ideas on what’s going on with me?”
Dieter frowned. “None. When you…” Dieter wouldn’t meet my eyes. “When you dealt with Lauren and her infection, Lauren’s soul was still present in her body, just mingled and corrupted. When you used magic against her and opened a pathway to another dimension, the infection should have come from there.” Dieter rubbed a finger aside its nose. “I don’t think it’s possible to have something from your own origin universe use that pathway to get in. It doesn’t even make sense. You bore a tunnel between realities and it rings like a bell on the other side. Something follows it back. This…”
“This is either something very new,” Stefan said, “which seems unlikely that Samuel Walker is unique in how he gets possessed, or it’s something we don’t know about.”
“You’re in control of yourself,” Dieter said. “You’re not possessed, not traditionally, but you’re sharing.” The demon jerked a thumb between them. “We are merged with our hosts. You are not. After three years, that’s something beyond the weird.”
“Says a lot coming from you two,” I said. “Maybe I’m just immune to possession and instead of getting someone taking over my mental lease I’ve got a renter subletting the place.”
“You’re not special, Samuel. It’s more likely this is something we’ve never seen before.”
“My mom says I’m special,” I shot back. “She kicked me out of the house at seventeen for how special I was.”
“Could you try and be normal for once? This is serious.”
I pulled up a few tufts of grass and let them breeze out from between my fingers. “Any way I can tell if it is really her? She… it… says things that Lauren would know, but since I know them too it’s like the voices in my head are my own damn voices.”
Stefan nodded. “Have Lauren say something you didn’t know, but can externally corroborate. A time and place she was, someone she visited, the location of an item you know nothing about. There’s plenty of ways.”
I grunted. Made sense, but given it had been three and a half years it would be hard to find anything. A pang of remembered pain flickered through me. There was also the fact that when Lauren fell to magic she’d gone on a killing spree and had murdered a lot of her friends and family.
I felt sick.
“And if I try to use Doctor Lockyer’s Patented Spirit-B-Gone? Will that rip me from reality like Kate?”
Dieter sawed a hand in the air. “Probably not,” it said with a shrug. “It’s an external influence but inside you. That’s different.”
Well, there was that.
I rose. “Well, okay, that’s sorta vaguely useful. Kate and Daniel are still gonna go all Pulp Fiction on me if they find out, but good talk.” I waved a hand at the door. “We done here? I’ve got your work to do.”
“Samuel,” Stefan said, glancing sideways at Dieter and then back at me, “if you need help with this, you will let us know?”
“I thought you were done with unpaid favors?”
Stefan deflated, shoulders slumping in defeat. “I see. Well, Dieter, you know I tried to get through that thick skull of his.”
Dieter sighed and stretched forth a hand once more. I chewed at my cheek for a moment, a weight pressing against my chest as I tried to keep the words from escaping.
“Thanks,” I said brusquely, and wrenched open the door. I found Kate standing in the shop, looking as angry as I’d ever seen her, one hand raised as if she’d been hammering on the door.
“No solicitors,” I said and closed the door.
Stefan chuckled behind me. “That’s so impolite. She looks up to you, Samuel. Treat her better.”
I snorted and pulled open the door. Kate loomed, arms crossed.
“Well?” she said. “Am I going to get an explanation?”
I could feel expectant stares on my back, but there was no way in hell I would tell Kate anything about Lauren. Not until I knew more, or, preferentially, long after a cure.
“Private boys club,” I said, stepping back to Earth. “Boys and hybrid gestalt thingies.”
“I see,” Kate said evenly. I squeezed past her and heard the Twins shuffle in behind. The bridge between realities closed.
“It’s a private matter. Everything is okay, though.”
Kate snatched at my hand as I passed and pulled me around to face her. “You’re keeping secrets again.”
“Only fantastic ones,” I said, wincing. “It’s… complicated. Ask them.”
“It’s complicated,” the Twins said in unison.
I threw up my f
ree hand and shrugged. She let my hand fall, but remained looking at me in a very critical, skeptical sort of way. Now that was the Kate I remembered.
“I’m working through some stuff,” I said. “Once it’s all figured out I’ll tell you. I promise.”
I didn’t mean it.
She crossed her arms. “Does this have anything to do with your weird meditation sessions? That’s so not you, Samuel.”
I froze. “Uh,” I drawled while my brain attempted to reboot. That was nothing like me, but how did I explain I was trying to control the demon inside me by forcing myself to be mellow? “Yes? Kinda? Maybe I’m just trying to be the leaf on the wind or something.” I hesitated. “It’s no surprise I’ve got a poor hold on my anger. So, I meditate. Is that so sinister?”
Kate leaned past me to stare at the Twins. “Do you know he quit drinking too? Meditation and sobriety. I’m half convinced he’s joined a cult.”
I threw up my hands and stormed to the completely normal door that led to Pike Place proper. “I drink and I get angry and people are all ‘oh, Samuel, you should calm yourself and not drink so much’ and then I do just that and people are all ‘oh, Samuel, you’re acting weird now, what happened to you’. There’s no pleasing you, is there?”
I could almost hear Kate’s smirk, and for a moment things felt right between us again. “Nope. But you can keep trying to please me, Samuel. It’s funner that way.”
Chapter 13
“I swore I would never wear one of these again,” I said. I hefted the tie and shook it at Kate.
She rolled her eyes and pulled open the front door to the apartment complex. “Because everyone would believe you’re a cop in that ratty old t-shirt.”
“Look, just because you have an excellent point doesn’t mean I can’t lament the neck noose. I’m free of the corporate world now, Kate. Free and flat-ass broke. It’s about principle. I burned all of my ties. It was a cathartic ceremony. I shed tears of joy.”
