by Bryan, JL
“Ask them about your friend Zoe!” Cassidy screamed, desperate to get his attention somehow. “Ask what happened to her!”
Kieran’s smile faltered, but his friends pulled him back inside. They closed the door as Cassidy ran toward it, and it locked automatically. She shoved and pulled at the locked door, then slapped her hands on the thick glass, frustrated. “Kieran!” she shouted again.
The teenagers high-fived each other as they returned to the elevator. Kieran cast a troubled glance back at her before they pulled him into the elevator car and the doors closed.
“Fuck!” Cassidy kicked at the door. Everything was turning horrible tonight. She hadn’t expected her brother to react that way—in her desperation and fear after watching Tamila die, she had only thought of reaching Kieran, never imagining he would simply dismiss her.
Cassidy fumbled out her phone. She called her mom first, but it went straight to voice mail. She left a message saying there was an emergency with Kieran. While she talked, she ran a circle around the building, looking for another way inside, but the back door and the loading dock door at the basement level were both sealed tight.
She called the next person who could help.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Barb answered. Loud voices filled the background, people drinking and having fun, people who had no idea what kind of evil was out there in the world. “How’s Tamila?”
“She’s dead,” Cassidy said. “They killed her.”
“Oh, my God!” Barb said. “Tamila’s dead? Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. The Church of First Light people used magic—they sent one of those monster creatures I’m always seeing, but this one could actually kill people. I just tried to get my brother out of there, but he wouldn’t listen. I might have put him in danger.” Cassidy realized this was true just as the words came out of her mouth. “Listen, can we do some kind of...spell to protect him?”
“Sure, but I don’t get off until—”
“Now, Barb. It’s an emergency. He could be dead or possessed by a demon by the time you get off work. That’s what these cult members do, Barb. They allow demons to possess them.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, it’s some unholy shit. Can you help?”
“Meet me back at the house,” Barb said. “All my stuff’s there. We can figure out something to do for him.”
“Thanks, Barb.” Cassidy took a last look up at the building, then got into the car and cranked it up. As she drove, she reluctantly decided to call the only other person who might be able to help her, but she got his voice mail, too.
“Ibis, it’s Cassidy,” she said. “You were right. I’m sorry I blew you off, but now I understand what you were trying to tell me....My brother’s in danger and I need your help right away. Call me. I’m on my way to my house if you can meet me there. Please, it’s an emergency.”
Cassidy drove through slashing rain and flashes of lightning. Traffic was slow, and she pounded her fist on the dashboard impatiently, wondering what would happen to her brother now. The comment about Zoe had seemed to reach him, but it had been too late. She hoped he didn’t ask too many questions and get himself in trouble with the cult leaders.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Congratulations, Dan, you’ve just been promoted to bartender,” Barb told the young Appalachian barback, tossing him a bottle. “Good luck.”
“Shoot, yeah! ‘Bout time,” Dan said, as though he’d been working at the Five Fingers Tavern for years instead of weeks.
Barb rushed out into the heavy rain. She glanced at the parking lot in back, cursed as she remembered Cassidy still had her car, and ducked her head low. It was a half-mile run to their house on McLendon, and she wasn’t particularly fast, but Barb put on as much speed as she could summon.
Her thoughts whirled crazily. Tamila—dead. The Church of First Light—not just a stupid cult, but something truly evil and dangerous. Cassidy’s brother—in serious danger. She tried to imagine what kind of protection spell they might put together.
She gasped as she clomped up onto the yellow front porch, her lungs burning, reminding her she was a smoker. Barb hacked and coughed, leaning against the front door while she tried to catch her breath. Streams of water ran off her body. The floorboard vibrated with the distortion and feedback of Stray’s band thundering away in the basement while actual thunder crashed in the night sky above.
Barb pushed open the door and stumbled inside.
“...so the real power is available to all of us,” a voice said from the living room. “It’s being offered to us all the time. We just have to accept it from the angels who offer it.”
Barb’s jaw dropped. Reese and Peyton were both in her living room, sitting in ragged armchairs. Allie sat on the couch between her two boyfriends, Whitley and Chet, both of them listening intently while Reese spoke. Allie clutched an Are You the Messiah? pamphlet and nodded along with Reese, her eyes wide and her mouth open.
“What are you two doing here?” Barb asked.
“Chill out, Barb,” Allie said. “You know Peyton. This is Reese. You should sit down and listen to what she’s saying, it’s pretty intense.”
“I know Reese,” Barb said,
“Oh, you live here, too, Barb?” Reese asked, acting fake-surprised and smiling. “It’s been so long. It’s good to see you.”
Barb’s heart was thudding, and not just from her exhausting run. She knew Reese was in the demonic cult and had apparently recruited Peyton, too.
“Get out of here, Reese,” Barb said. “I banish you from my home.”
Reese laughed. “You banish me?”
“That’s rude, Barb!” Allie said, looking mortified. “I told her she could come over. I wanted to learn more about this church. I know church sounds lame, but this is really different—”
“I don’t want to hear about it.” Barb looked among the five people in her living room, then turned toward the stairs.
“Wait.” Reese stood. Her voice was suddenly hollow and cold, and she looked different—high, sharp cheekbones, her blue eye glowing unnaturally. At the moment, she barely resembled the wild, free-spirited girl Barb had halfway fallen in love with during high school. “You stay right here, Barb.”
“Shut up, Reese.” Barb started up the stairs.
“Barb, I mean it!”
“Fuck you!” Barb shot back.
Reese shot across the room and seized Barb by the arm, pulling her down a step.
“You will obey me!” Reese snarled.
“Whoa, everybody just breathe and chill here.” Allie hurried over and tried to pull Reese’s hand off Barb. “Reese, why are you flipping out?”
“Don’t touch me!” Reese hissed. She raised a hand, her fingers unnaturally long and tapering into sharp red talons.
“We can just leave Barb alone—” Allie began.
With a look of pure glee, Reese slashed her long nails across Allie’s throat, ripping open four ragged cuts. A gout of blood splattered the stair railing and Barb’s face. Allie opened her mouth to scream, but only a weak, gurgling rasp sounded from her sliced windpipe.
“Leave her alone!” Allie’s boyfriend Chet shouted, jumping up from the couch, followed by her other boyfriend Whitley.
Peyton seized Whitley from behind, grabbing Whitley’s head with both hands. Peyton’s fingers were long and scaly, his fingertips ending in sharp yellow claws. His eyes had turned red, and his pupils were vertical black lines.
Peyton twisted Whitley’s head around backwards, snapping his neck and clawing deep, bloody furrows into his jaw and scalp. He laughed as Whitley’s body crashed to the floor.
Chet knelt by Allie, who slumped against the stairs, leaking blood all over her brightly printed blouse.
“Allie?” Chet whimpered.
Peyton lifted Chet into the air. Peyton’s mouth dropped open, and his canine teeth turned long and sharp, dripping fluid. He bit through the top of Chet’s skull, sinking his fangs deep into the boy’
s brain.
All of this had happened in about five seconds. Barb screamed as she ran upstairs, not sure what she would do when she got there, but she knew it would involve grabbing her athame, the long ceremonial dagger infused with the element of fire.
She reached the top stair, only to come face to face with Reese again. The girl had somehow either raced unseen past Barb or leaped all the way up to the landing.
Barb faltered and slowed, and Reese laughed coldly.
“You should have listened to me, you fat whore,” Reese snarled. “Now we can never be friends.”
Reese punched Barb in the chest, and it was like getting struck with a sledgehammer. Barb thought she heard her breastbone crack on impact.
Barb hurtled backwards, hit the stairs halfway down and rolled the rest of the way, banging against each step.
Barb’s head cracked against the thick stair rail post at the bottom, and the world went dark around her. Stray’s band played on in the basement below.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
After they threw Cassidy out, Kieran felt detached from the others around him. The guys high-fived each other, laughing at how they’d tossed his sister out in the rain, but Kieran already felt guilty about it. These were people he’d considered friends—girls who had studied the church’s teachings alongside him, guys with whom he’d wrestled and horsed around and laughed.
He didn’t feel like laughing now. He drew Deena aside, into the hallway outside the activity room, where they could speak alone.
“What happened to Zoe?” Kieran asked her. “Why isn’t she here today?”
“Oh, Kieran.” Deena smiled. “Nothing ‘happened’ to her. She had a family emergency. She called this morning to tell me she’d be out of town for a while.”
“What kind of emergency?”
“Her grandmother’s ill.”
“That sucks,” Kieran said. He’d never known any of his own grandparents. “Can I call her? Maybe I can cheer her up or something...”
“You’re so nice.” Deena brushed his hair back from his face. “But, Kieran, you know Zoe doesn’t share your feelings for you, don’t you?”
“She’s still my friend.”
“She’s fine, I promise.”
“Then why...” Kieran wanted to ask why Cassidy had implied that something awful had happened to Zoe. He wasn’t sure how Cassidy even knew Zoe’s name. Kieran had never mentioned it to his family.
“Sh, you’re thinking too much. Your brain’s going a thousand miles an hour, I can tell.” Deena covered his lips with her fingers. Her voice grew soft and low. “Personally, I don’t understand why Zoe doesn’t like you better. If I were her, I’d be all over you.”
Kieran smiled.
Deena rose up on her toes and gave him a long, slow kiss on the lips, which sent Kieran’s blood racing. He was completely surprised, but it was more than pleasant.
“Mmm, you taste so sweet. Did you like that?” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Come on, let’s go where nobody can see us.” Deena took his hand and led him down the hall to Matt’s office. The lights were off because Matt was gone, and she left them that way. She closed the door behind them, then embraced Kieran and kissed him again.
“What about Matt?” Kieran whispered, and immediately wanted to kick himself for asking. Whatever was happening, he didn’t want it to stop. Being kissed by a cute older woman was exciting. Clearly, Deena liked him more than Zoe ever had.
“Matt doesn’t have to know,” she whispered. “Nobody has to know. It can be our secret.”
They kissed again, and this time Kieran dared to let his hands explore her body. He touched her soft ass through her dress and squeezed it tentatively, not sure whether he was allowed to do it.
Deena squealed against his lips and pushed her tongue into his mouth, embracing him more tightly. She took both his hands and placed them onto her firm breasts, and he kissed her harder. The wrongness of it, making out with a married woman almost a decade older than himself, only made his desire more intense.
She moved her lips to his ear. “Let’s go upstairs,” she whispered. “Matt’s at the church. He won’t be home for a few hours. Can you imagine what we could do with that much time?”
“Yeah,” Kieran said. He’d never been with a girl before, so he could barely imagine it at all, but he was sure he wanted to do it. He’d never been so horny in his life.
Deena led him through the door at the back of Matt’s office, up the steep stairs to Deena and Matt’s apartment on the third level, where he’d never been before. It was spartan, with few decorations and lots of cardboard boxes.
She took him to the bedroom. The sight of the double bed she shared with Matt, illuminated by a small lamp in the corner, made all of it seem incredibly real.
Deena brought him close to the bed and began undressing him.
“Are you sure?” he whispered, giving himself another mental kick for asking.
“Oh, yes. Forget Zoe, forget everything you’re worried about. I’m going to give you the best night of your life.”
Deena took off her clothes, and his wide eyes drank in the sight of her as she stripped down, revealing the curves of her body.
She pushed him back on the bed. Her eyes glowed yellow, a sign of the powerful patron spirit dwelling inside her. She climbed on top of him, her skin as hot as fire, and he didn’t resist. All thoughts of Zoe’s disappearance, and Cassidy’s inexplicable appearance, were soon chased from his mind.
Chapter Forty
Lightning flashed across the yellow house as Cassidy pulled into the driveway and slammed to a stop in the paved area of the back yard. Cassidy ran in through the back door, through the kitchen, and then stopped, horrified, when she reached the living room.
It looked like some kind of large wild animals, perhaps mountain lions or wildcats, had torn through Allie and her boyfriends and left them for dead.
She saw Whitley first, lying on the middle of the floor, his head twisted backwards and face clawed open. Chet lay closer to the stairs, his head floating in an enormous puddle of blood. Two holes, each the size of a quarter, had been gouged into the top of his head.
Beyond Chet, Allie lay slumped on the stairs, soaked in blood, her throat ripped out.
“Allie!” Cassidy cried and ran to the girl, but she was as dead as her two boyfriends, her eyes open wide, a look of terror on her bloodless face.
The floorboards vibrated beneath her. Stray’s band slammed away down in the basement, obviously unaware of what had happened just above them.
“Barb!” Cassidy screamed, terrified for her best friend. She ran up the stairs, calling for Barb again and again, but no answer came.
The door to Barb’s room was ajar. Cassidy shoved it open and turned on the light.
She saw nothing unusual, no signs of a struggle. Maybe Barb was still at work and hadn’t been able to get away, after all. Cassidy hoped that was true.
Cassidy checked her own room, but Barb wasn’t there, either. She heard the front door creak open, bringing in the sound of rumbling thunder and a pair of footsteps.
“Cassidy?” a man’s voice called.
Ibis, Cassidy thought. Please God let it be Ibis...as long as he isn’t the one who did all this. She was confused and terrified, and had no idea why this had happened, or what to do about it.
Cassidy stepped out onto the landing, and her shoulders slumped. It wasn’t Ibis but Peyton, his clothes soaked in rainwater. He wiped his lips, looking at the dead bodies on the floor.
“What the hell happened here, Cassidy?” Peyton asked.
“You tell me.” Cassidy’s hands tightened into fists. Presumably Reese had brought Peyton into the cult, just as she’d tried to do with Cassidy.
“How would I know?” Peyton asked. “Looks like a butcher shop, doesn’t it? All this blood.”
“What are you doing here, Peyton?” Cassidy tried to think of what she could use as a weapon if Peyton attacked
her. She knew Barb had a long, sharp-looking dagger among the occult instruments in her room.
“I came here to see you.” Peyton walked toward the steps. “I’ve been thinking about us a lot, Cassidy. I made a mistake, letting Reese draw me in like that. I don’t know what I was thinking.” He started up the stairs, looking sad. “I was so stupid, Cassidy. I think we should give it another try. You and me.”
“Seriously? My house is full of corpses and you want to talk about our relationship?”
“You asked why I came.” He smiled and continued up the steps, and Cassidy felt herself grow cold and frightened on the inside.
Cassidy had spent her life trying to block out the unseen world with alcohol and drugs. For the first time ever, she willed herself to see more...and then she tried to not scream at what she saw.
A dark thing was woven in and out of Peyton’s body, like a giant triple-headed serpent, its three heads arched cobra-fashion above his head. It was twice as tall as Peyton himself. It was like condensed black smoke, except for its six glowing red eyes with reptilian slits for pupils. All three heads seemed to stare at Cassidy.
“You’re one of them,” Cassidy said. “You let them put a demon in your body, didn’t you, Peyton?”
“Listen to yourself, Cassidy.” Peyton moved faster up the stairs. His s sounds seemed to drag out into little hisses. “You sound insane. Let me help you.”
“Get back!” Cassidy shouted, but he was on the landing in an eyeblink, moving impossibly fast.
Cassidy dashed into Barb’s room, where she could still see the light, pale circles of protection in midair. She didn’t know how recently Barb had cast them, or how strong they were, but it was more magical defense than she would find in her own room.
Peyton slowed as he reached the door. He snarled and pushed with one clawed hand, and one of the pale circles bent and frayed like fragile string. It snapped, and the entire circle dissolved and vanished.
He smiled as he clawed at the next of the thin overlapping circles, and long fangs grew from his upper jaw. Cassidy realized, with a lurching stomach, exactly why there were a pair of big holes in the top of Chet’s head.
