“Is your voice any better today?” Tyler asked as he sat down across from me.
“A bit,” I managed to croak out as I grinned.
“Do you feel up to telling me more about this prophet?”
“Sure but don’t you already know all about it?” Something was spinning in my stomach, making me feel uneasy.
“Well of course. We just needed to,” he paused, flashing a wide grin, “make sure he told you everything you needed to know.”
“He just gave me the information of how to summon Leviathan. He told me that I was needed and my soul was pure, which I thought was nuts because I was a junkie.” I took a few sips of water, my throat screaming at me for straining it.
“Yes, but he told you why it had to be Leviathan?” Tyler asked.
“No, not really. He said the chances that there would be more of these dogs come after me in the end were higher if it was Leviathan.”
“And he fully explained all of the conditions of what you were offering in return?”
“Yes Tyler,” I chuckled. “I thought I was having a bad trip, I didn’t believe him.”
“But you did it anyway.” Tyler pulled his lower lip between his teeth in an odd sort of grin.
“Did he explain why they need the dogs?” Tyler asked.
“Two of four, three of three, five of one,” Jamie said in a panic and gripped my arm, his eyes fixated on Tyler as he tried to pull me from my chair.
“Jamie what are you doing?” I said, trying to free myself.
“Two of four, three of three, five of one. Two of four, three of three, five of one. Two of four, three of three, five of one!” Jamie was screaming by the time the orderlies got to him. It took six of him to pull him off of me.
“What does that mean Jamie?” I asked. Before he could answer, they sedated him and carried him away. I rubbed my throat and tried to fight back the cough I felt at the pain. I felt a poke in my arm and I turned, finding another orderly pulling an empty syringe from me. Everything spun as Tyler caught me.
“I didn’t do anything…” Everything went black.
I am not sure how long I was asleep for but when I awoke in my room, a figure loomed over me. As I opened my mouth to scream a hand clamped over my mouth.
“Shhh.” I realized it was Jamie. He uncovered my mouth and handed me something cool and round.
“Two of four, three of three, five of one,” he spoke softly, his blue eyes visibly upset in the small sliver of light from the window. “Demons control the man who plays his vicious game. Oh how the mighty have fallen and now evil will reign.” He left my room and I looked down at what he’d placed in my trembling hand. A St. Jude emblem engraved on what looked like a coin. The patron saint of lost causes. What was that supposed to mean? It was then that I heard the dogs growling again and I started screaming.
* * * * *
“And then he gave me this,” I told Tyler, holding the coin out for him to see. His gray eyes turned dark as he narrowed them but he didn’t take it. He just sat back against his chair and studied my face.
“This is a very precarious time Jani. There are a lot of things that came to pass to get you here.”
“Yea I get it. I’m not blind,” I chuckled and took a sip of my water. We were seated in a small corner of the cafeteria discussing the events that had occurred.
“What do you mean?” Tyler asked.
“Well, addicts spend their whole lives trying to fight urges and to stay sober. I didn’t. I made the deal with Leviathan and I never had an urge to get high again, not once. Rehab and the meetings were a show for my probation and to keep me out of jail. That was it. Now I can hear the dogs all the time, Ty, except when you’re around. Plus, I’m in a mental hospital when I have no business being in one. I’m not stupid. You guys are doing this to protect me so when they come to collect, you can grab them.”
Tyler looked at me with a wicked grin.
“Nice set-up by the way,” I said as I took a bite off of a carrot stick. “With the bank accounts and red flags with the cops just waiting to bust me on something. Good idea. Should have known you weren’t an amateur but still. Props to you my man.”
Tyler’s smile grew a little wider. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”
“Sure.”
“Stay away from Jamie.”
“Why?” I asked. “This isn’t like an angel stronghold? I thought everyone here was a protector or something.”
“No, even the strongest of fortresses still have their weaknesses. Look at the devil.”
“What do you mean?”
“Lucifer,” he said the name like it pained him, “was in heaven of all places and tried to overthrow things. Look how well that went. Nothing is completely safe.”
Tyler finished his water and stood. He touched my shoulder, sending that same odd sensation through me. Even though it was pain, that same strange burning, I gripped his hand. In twenty-eight years I’d never begged for anything, but I was about to.
“Tyler do you have to go? Can you please stay?” I pleaded.
“No,” he said flatly and pulled his hand away. “You’re safe here. Be good, and stay clear of Jamie. Things are going to be tense around here for the next few days. A hurricane is coming and we’re all trying to prepare for it. I’ll be back when I can.”
“Oh, a hurricane, right,” I said and nodded. It would be a good cover for the fight I was sure that was going to happen. I doubted it would be as simple as an angel coming in and taking one of Hell’s prized hounds.
“Goodbye Rajani.”
Tyler looked at me for a moment, his eyes drifting down to my hand and his lips pressed into a thin line. He turned his back to me and walked away as I looked down at the coin still in my hand.
* * * * *
For the next few days, I did as Tyler had asked and stayed away from Jamie. The sound of the dogs got closer and I was terrified. The fear was gut-wrenching. I could hear them and if I let my eyes lose focus I could see them in crystal-clear perfection. They were big and black, the size of pickup trucks with shark-like teeth and red eyes. Their breath was hot against my skin. The heat left my face permanently flushed and my hair damp always, and the smell of rotted flesh was enough to make my stomach turn.
The days I spent waiting for Tyler to return and avoiding Jamie. Nights were spent with nightmares, screaming to drown out the sounds from the dogs and pondering if I was slowly losing my mind there.
Had I been completely insane to make this deal and believe all of this? Hadn’t Tyler at least proven that he was connected to the angels that were coming to save me? The longer that Tyler stayed away, the more I felt my faith diminishing, and fear was beginning to take its place.
The night before my contract was set to expire was the worst of it. I kept waking up screaming. Tyler still hadn’t shown up and I could hear the scratching of claws inside the room. The dogs were pacing and snorting, snarling and huffing. They were growing impatient.
I sat up and listened to the wind and the rain. The hurricane wouldn’t make it here fully until the next day, but the outer bands of the storm were already here. The staff would start boarding up all the windows at dawn I was sure. I went to the window and stared out. Lightning flashed, illuminating the gardens. There was Jamie, huddled down in the middle. I knew Tyler had told me to stay away from him, but I couldn’t just leave him out there. I grabbed a robe and snuck out of my room.
The gardens were secure within the hospital grounds, so I wasn’t worried about setting off any of the alarms. I was, however, worried about Tyler finding out, so I couldn’t let the staff know. I made my way out through one of the side doors and down through one of the maintenance walkways to the west end of the garden. The temperature was colder because of the rain, and I was soaked the minute I stepped outside. I ran to where Jamie sat on his knees rocking back and forth, mumbling something in the wind and the rain.
“Jamie, come inside,” I said, putting my arms around him. An icy chill
ran through me at how hot his skin felt. It was like the fires of hell were alive in him. I heard the snarls as I froze in place, listening to his words.
"Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour.”
I looked up and saw them: twenty pairs of red eyes watching us. The rain and wind still spread chaos, but over it all I could hear the snarling. In that moment I realized Tyler had been right. I let go of Jamie and turned to run, but he grabbed my ankle.
“Two of four, three of three, five of one!” Jamie yelled trying to pull me back to him.
“No! Jamie let go of me.” I kicked, my foot landing in his stomach, sending him sprawling. I scrambled inside through the door I’d come out of. My heart was hammering in my chest as I ran through the halls trying to get back to my room. I could hear Jamie and I could hear the hounds, all trying to get to me.
Rounding a corner, I crashed into someone who grabbed me and I screamed.
“Rajani it’s okay, it’s okay,” Tyler’s voice said soothingly, his arms holding me. Everything but the storm outside fell silent around us. No more hounds, no more Jamie. I held on to Tyler tighter, ignoring that strange burning in my stomach I got every time I touched him.
“Let her go in the name of the Father,” Jamie said, speaking perfectly clearly. I jumped at the intrusion.
“Your instructions don’t work here, my brother,” Tyler smirked and I tried to pull away but he held me tightly to him. “You should at least know that.”
“I figured I would give you the option,” Jamie said, his blue eyes looking to me. “Be vigilant and faithful, they are coming.”
“They? They who?” I asked, panic filling my voice.
“The angels. They have been trying to find you but Mammon here has kept you very well hidden.”
“Mammon?”
“I believe you know him as Tyler,” Jamie said calmly. “His demonic name is Mammon, he’s a prince of hell.”
“B-but he’s an angel Jamie, you’re the demon,” I said less than convincingly. Jamie stared at me neither confirming or denying what I believed.
“Rajani don’t listen to him. I don’t expect you to remember the things you learned when you were such a young child,” Tyler said softly next to my ear. “But you know I would never harm you, I’m here to help you and save you from him. There are always false prophets, the ones that try to sway your faith in what you believe.”
“Jani, do you know of your heritage?” Jamie asked.
“What does my heritage have to do with anything?”
“Everything. It’s the only reason they would have accepted the deal they did. It was why, regrettably, Elijah had to come to you and get you to make the deal. It ends and begins with you because of your heritage.”
“Rajani he is trying to fill your head with nonsense,” Tyler said. “You cannot listen to him. You have to be stronger than this.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
Tyler handed me a gun. “Shoot him.”
“What?!” My hands started to shake at the feeling of metal seeming very heaving in my palms
“He’s a demon Rajani,” Tyler’s voice was like smooth velvet against my ear, calm and soothing. “He’s trying to take your soul to Hell. Kill him.”
“I-I can’t.”
“Jani look at me,” Jamie said calmly. “Your heritage, think of your name, the origins of your names. Your grandmother told you when you five what they meant.”
I stiffened at Jamie’s words. He spoke of a memory of my family that I had buried with so many others: The parents that had abandoned me to my grandmother, the grandmother who had died when I was fifteen and the drug addictions that had come as a result.
“She said Rajani was Hindi for death and I was cursed,” I said, my voice shaking slightly.
“It means dark one, but your grandmother was a bit too superstitious,” Jamie said. “Your middle name?
“Eve.”
“Eve means Life or mother of all that lives,” Jamie said. “And then when you were eighteen you had your last name legally changed to what?”
“Aspara.”
“Why?”
“Because it means Goddess.”
“Yes, and all of these things mean what, Tyler?” Jamie asked, his eyes finally lifting to meet Tyler’s gaze.
Tyler didn’t answer. He just snatched the gun from my hands. He took me by the arm and started to lead me away.
Jamie called after us, “The demons come out of hell today, coming to take a soul. They will drag you kicking and screaming down the big, black hole. Are you just going to let him take you away, Jani?”
“Stop, Tyler,” I said, trying to pull my arm away, but he pulled harder. “Tyler, stop. You’re hurting me!”
“I don’t care, shut your mouth or I will cut out your tongue!” he spat. His normally calm, gray eyes turned red as he hissed at me. I froze in place, realizing I had made the worst mistake of my life.
“Then just take me now,” I hissed back at him.
He laughed. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“He knows why,” Tyler said motioning behind us to Jamie.
“Why not?” I demanded again.
“Yea Tyler, why not?” Jamie asked.
Tyler stopped. “Her time isn’t up yet, not for another nineteen hours. If I try to take her now, you’ll take her. You’re an apostle. I know that they’ve given you the juice to harvest her soul if needed. It’s not mine to take yet.”
“Well for a demon you’re not that dumb, I think I’ve been fooled about you guys,” Jamie chuckled. “So what now?”
“Now we wait. I keep her under my watch until your brothers show up, watch the bloodbath that my four-legged friends are going to make of them, and then I take her with me.”
Jamie nodded as he spoke. “You still think you’ll win?”
“Oh, I’m banking on it,” Tyler growled and we started walking again.
“I don’t even get a say in this?” I asked.
“You had a say in this ten years ago. You made your deal and you got clean. Now it’s time to pay up. Lucifer says, ‘hi,’ by the way, can’t wait to see you.”
Tyler’s words made my stomach drop. I was beginning to think I really wasn’t going to get out of this alive. We got to my room and I was pushed inside, Jamie shoved in next. Tyler came in and pulled a small blade out of his pocket and slit open his palm. Using the blood he drew symbols all over the door and the window as Jamie and I sat and watched. Watching Tyler draw his symbols triggered a memory for me. I remembered something a minister had shouted during a sermon he was giving on a street corner.
“The mark of the beast!” I exclaimed.
“What?” Tyler asked and Jamie chuckled.
“Two of four, three of three, five of one. That’s what it meant didn’t it?” I asked Jamie and he nodded. I felt like I should have gotten to that realization sooner and I nodded apologetically. Tyler glared at us and went back to drawing his symbols. After he was done he sat down in the corner with his head laid back, his eyes closed.
My eyes looked from Tyler to the door and I gauged how fast I could sprint for it and be down the hall.
“Do it and the hounds will start tearing you to shreds,” Tyler said. As if on cue, the growling started to ripple through the deserted halls of the hospital.
“We got you into this, and I’m sorry,” Jamie said as we sat down on the bed next to each other.
“You didn’t do it.”
“No, but the angels convinced you.”
“A prophet did, but I was higher than a kite at the time. Hell, I think he could have convinced me he really did have Lucky Charms and they really were magically delicious and I would have believed him.”
Jamie laughed and so did I. It made things calmer somehow to talk to him.
“Doesn’t matter anyway. I was dying then, just a slower death. If I die now, I die now.”
“
I still think we could have won this without the hounds, but that was my opinion. I’m a messenger at best, nothing I say really matters to them. It only matters down here,” Jamie said.
“So they aren’t just demon dogs are they?” I asked.
“No,” Jamie answered. “They are hounds of hell, specially created from demons and Lucifer himself.”
“Why do you need them?” I asked.
“It’s like taking two armies, one has swords and the other has tanks. Who do you think is going to win?” Jamie asked solemnly.
I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to think about heaven or hell, winning or losing wars, any of it. I chose to drift off to sleep occasionally, never staying out for long, always waking up to the same scene.
“Shouldn’t the sun be up soon?” I asked after sleeping for what felt like a few minutes and Tyler chuckled.
“The storm has blackened the sky,” Jamie said flatly.
“What time is it?” I asked in a panic, not realizing that time was slipping away faster than I’d thought.
“It’s three in the afternoon,” Jamie said softly.
The information made me sick and I felt the whole room spin. Jamie touched my face, his eyes intently looking at mine. I was sure I was imagining it, but in his eyes looked like endless skies of blue. The power I felt from his touch was like nothing I’d ever experienced.
“Shhh,” Jamie said. His lips turned into a small grin and I felt peace come over me and I slept.
I knew when I awoke that the storm had come full force to our little inlet of Louisiana. I also knew that the war was beginning. My time was up. Tyler stood and went to the window, whispering something I couldn’t understand. Then he stepped back, his face sweeping into a satisfied grin. I heard the hounds snarling, heard ripping and biting and clawing from outside. I tried not to imagine the sight I would see if I chose to look.
The window blew out first. The wind was fierce beyond the window, the sound of metal scraping against metal, branches creaking and breaking from nearby trees. The sound of the power of the storm had my full attention, but Jamie seemed to be listening intently to something else.
“What is going on?” I asked over the noise as the pressure in my head grew painfully strong. Jamie gripped my arms and pulled me to the corner.
Here Be Monsters - an Anthology of Monster Tales Page 8
