“It’s okay. Simon didn’t wear heels,” I joked. He smiled back, that sparkle glinted in his eyes. I didn’t have time to enjoy the moment; a roar erupted from behind us. Sweater on, we rushed as quickly as we could towards the exit.
Outside, it was pissing down. Typical Scottish summer, of course. We were both instantly soaked; it felt good though, and I was more than happy to let the cold rain wash the filth off me.
“The car’s this way,” Archie pulled me towards the car park.
“You’ve got a car?”
“Not exactly.” The lights of Simon’s old Ford Fiesta blinked as Archie unlocked it with the car key he’d pulled from his pocket. Opening the passenger door like a true gent, he helped lower me in.
“I didn’t know you could drive.”
“Yeah, um, I’m not the best.” He shut the door and ran to the other side of the car jumping in, buckling up, and starting the engine. “We’ll be fine, as long as we don’t get stopped.” A deep breath, mirror, signal, and maneuver, and we were off.
“How’d you get Simon’s car?” I asked him, as we pulled out into the rain-drenched city.
“Sheila called me this afternoon and told me you were back. I don’t suppose I need to ask where you’ve been this past week,”
“No, you don’t,” I said wearily.
“You okay?” he glanced in my direction.
“Eyes on the road, Arch,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood, and not really wanting to talk about it just yet. “I’ll be fine. Once I get this shard out of my leg,”
“That’s not what I mean,” he replied with genuine concern.
“I know.” I stared out of the side window, watching the rain as it slid down the glass.
“When I got to Simon’s,” Archie began, “I found Gabe hiding in a dark corner of the library. I eventually managed to get some sense out him, including an address. The car keys were on the kitchen counter and the car was in the garage. I figured Simon wouldn’t have minded, so I high-tailed it over to Nazareth House. Got there just in time to see Locke and the Deacon bundling a body-sized sack into the back of a van. I kept out of view. Neve and Cardinal Valdis were there; they left in a separate car. I decided to follow the van. Glad I did now.” The Fiesta went galloping over a speed bump a little too fast. I sucked in a deep breath of air as pain shot up my leg. “Should I take you to a hospital?”
“I’ve seen enough needles for one day, thanks,” I joked. “No, Gabe can hopefully stitch this up.”
“What’s up with him by the way?”
“I think it’s some sort of dementia.” I was glad it wasn’t just me who’d noticed Gabe’s senior moments. “I think he’s like hundreds of years old. His memory must be going. Oh, and he got his soul back.”
“What!” I’d kind of kept that a secret up until then.
“Yeah, I know. Ironically, he got it back from the same crazy old bat that wants yours.” And then I remembered that it wasn’t just his that she wanted. “Oh, shit.”
“What?”
“I sort of confronted her. It didn’t go well. I think I fucked things up. This bloody debt she keeps going on about, it’s been doubled,”
“I know,” Archie said gravely. “Gabe mentioned it. And you didn’t fuck things up. Sounds like you were trying to put an end to this. To her.”
“I tried to warn Neve, but your buddies…”
“They’re not my buddies.”
“You work for them Archie. Or have you forgotten what you’re wearing round your neck?”
“I work for God,” his knuckles went white from gripping the steering wheel too hard. “I don’t agree with what the Deacon did to you.”
“It’s not just me though, is it? There’s two other people being held captive in that cell, if that thing hasn’t ripped them to shreds, that is. What’s gonna happen to them?”
“I don’t know,” was the short answer.
Chapter Three
“Holy shit, Cait,” Dan was there to greet me when we reached Tabernacle. “What the hell’s happened? Sorry, bad choice of words. You okay?” Dan held the front door open as Archie carried me in and onto the nearest chair in the lavish, large sitting room. Had Simon won the lottery and not told me about it? His home was way too fancy for that of a humble priest. The adrenaline had worn off on the way home. Well I say that, some of the sharp turns Archie had made in the car had been close enough to warrant a clean pair of knickers, had I been wearing any. Thankfully, Simon’s musty, old sweater was large enough to cover my lady parts.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” The pain from all my injuries was growing. I was all cuts, bruises, blood, and scars.
“You’ll huv tae get that seen to by a doctor,” the color had drained from Dan’s face. He’s a complete lightweight when it comes to all things gory, and the whole horn gouging into leg situation nearly got the better of him.
“There’s a medical kit in the bathroom,” Like a shark detecting prey, Gabe appeared in the doorway. He looked weary; sunken cheeks and gray skin. Not even the sight of my bloodied wounds seemed to perk him up.
Dan didn’t need to be asked twice. He bounded off and retuned with the first aid box in hand and announced, “I’ve phoned Sheila. She’s on her way, she’s bound to have a healing spell that’ll sort that leg.”
“I don’t think it can wait. It’s probably infected,” Gabe stated, which wasn’t encouraging to hear, considering the shit-hole Hell pit I’d come from. He started to clean me up, while Archie fetched a blanket. Brimm silently slinked into the room, climbing onto a book-laden shelf and then curling up to watch the others fuss over me. “This is going to hurt,” Gabe was preparing to pull out the shard of horn.
“It already does.”
“I canny look!” Dan turned away. Archie held my hand, or should I say I tightly gripped his, while Gabe did the necessary. One sharp tug and it was out. Dan squealed. He couldn’t help himself; he had to look. Gabe placed a towel over the gash. His eyes gleaned yellow and his lips reddened as the cloth began to soak bright red, which made him look healthier at least, but Archie was guarded.
“I’ll do that,” he pushed Gabe out of the way and took over, keeping pressure on the wound. Gabe looked slightly embarrassed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I reassured him. I was sort of glad that he was acting normal again.
“You’ll need stitches,” he added. Archie turned to Dan expectantly.
“Don’t look at me. Just ‘cos I can hem a skirt doesnae mean I’m going anywhere near that.”
“It’s bleeding badly,” Archie said, but clearly he wasn’t capable either and he reluctantly looked back to Gabe.
“You might want something for the pain,” Gabe declared.
“That I can help with,” Dan ran off to the kitchen. I thought he’d come back with some painkillers or something; instead, he carried a bottle of whisky in one hand and an empty glass in the other. He poured out a glass, but instead of handing it to me, he swigged it back over his own throat. “For ma nerves,” he apologized before pouring another and handing it to me.
“No,” I declined it, “The bottle.” Dan rolled his eyes. Me making light of the situation helped put him at ease too. He was about to take another glug from the glass when Gabe snatched it from him and used the alcohol to sterilize the needle he’d found. “This is becoming a bit of a habit,” I joked to Gabe, but he didn’t get it. “Sewing me up,” he still looked confused. “Don’t you remember back in Hell...?”
“Did I?” He didn’t remember.
“It’ll come back to ye,” Dan seemed to have picked up on Gabe’s memory issues too. “Good days and bad days, isn’t it Gabe.” Gabe didn’t answer; he was focusing on the task at hand, that or ignoring the issue. Dan stood behind Gabe’s back and shot me a look that said ‘Cuckoo’.
While the whisky took the edge off, I can’t say it dulled the pain. The wound wasn’t a straightforward cut; it was angled tears that were difficult to repair.
Gabe worked quickly and proficiently. The drink went to my head, of course; I was turning into a proper lightweight. I got them all to tell me everything that’d happened while I’d been gone. I needed all the distractions I could get to take my mind off the needle stabbing into and out of my flesh as Gabe stitched me up.
Dan filled me in on why my flat looked abandoned. “After whatever it was attacked you in the kitchen, Neve refused to stay there. I was getting busy with ma loofah when I heard the screams, but by the time I got out o’ the shower, Neve was in a mess, Archie looked like he’d been hit by a bus, and you were gone.” I noticed Archie adjust his shirt, or scratch an itch roughly at the same place Morien had brutally slashed his chest. That was something else I needed to talk to him about. But not yet. “She was straight onto the phone to that guy from the Church. He must’ve snapped his fingers and transported himself, ‘cos, just like that, he was on the doorstep helping lift her packed bags intae his car.” Dan gave Archie an accusing glare.
“There was nothing I could’ve done,” Archie defended himself. Dan snubbed the comment.
“I was told I was out on ma ear. Luckily for me, Sheila and the girls have made room for me while I sort myself out. Going back to ma mum and dad’s no’ an option. No for ma dad anyways,” he sighed. Dan had always had a strained relationship with his father. “The Church sorted out residence for Neve….”
“A kids home?”
“No, I dunno what the deal is, but she’s no in one o’ them, thank goodness. She told me she’s staying in a posh rectory on Westside.”
“The Cardinal is staying there while he’s in Glasgow,” Archie added.
“She’s shacked up with that creepy old Cardinal! Not alone I hope?”
“No, the house has two senior nuns living there full time. They’ve taken on her guardianship,” Archie said. That was of little comfort. I remembered some of the nuns in the places I’d stayed at after mum left. They’d’ve been more suited to a cult of Sadists than the Church.
“But I’m her guardian.”
“Not if you keep disappearing.” There was an edge to Archie’s words there. I guess Neve’s life wasn’t the only one I was disrupting by going off the radar all the time. But, hey, it’s not like I had a choice in the matter. Neither of them had the right to make me feel guilty about that.
“There’s something dodgy about that Cardinal. I don’t know what it is, I don’t trust him though. D’you know anything about him?” I asked Archie.
“He’s been seconded here to watch over Neve’s training, that’s all I know. When I followed Locke’s van back to the Met, I couldn’t get past the security doors. The code wasn’t working for some reason. I had to go the long way through the Cathedral. When I did finally get to the catacombs, the Cardinal was there with Neve down the end of the corridor. Acting all cloak and dagger, it looked like he was either comforting her or prepping her for something serious.” I knew exactly what he’d been saying. He’d been grooming Neve to think of me as a monster, not as her sister, that’s what. “I couldn’t make out what he was saying, and I never got the chance. The Deacon cut in before I could get any closer. He was obviously annoyed I was there, and I got pulled into his office, and the door was quickly shut behind me. I got an absolute bollocking about this whole soul-collecting stuff, that and the fact I hadn’t told them you were back. I’m presuming Neve did the dirty and dropped the bombshell once he’d gotten her out of your flat. I got the whole ‘this is yet another disappointment from you Archie’ lecture, but, honestly, he moved past it pretty quickly. He was much more interested in the soul stuff, especially now that they feared Neve was in danger. He wanted to help. I had to tell him I had no idea why Neve seemed to be on Bloody Mary’s hit list. He already knows the backstory to why I was in the Church. It’s all in my file. The stuff about my brother, the research I’d asked to do. Not that anyone believed me back then, but he wanted me to pick up my research again, tell him any new information I’d uncovered. It was all about protecting Neve of course. I could see that plainly enough.”
“I don’t know if that’s a comfort or a worry,” I hated being in this position of needing the people who wanted me dead, but this wasn’t about me, it was about what was best for Neve.
“I was sent back to the library. He wanted me out of the way. I made it look like I was setting to work, but I couldn’t read. I was worried sick. I left the door open a little bit, and just hovered there, listening. I didn’t know what else to do. I knew something was going on way down at the end of the corridor, but I had no idea what. Ages passed and then Neve and Valdis came hurrying past the door. She was upset. He said something about the presence of evil still in her. That he’d help rid her of it.”
“Morien?” Now I was really worried. “I felt demon when they were in the room. Fuck, I thought it was another attack from Mary, but, could it’ve been Morien trying to reconnect with Neve again?”
“I thought that too. You know as well as I do that an exorcism doesn’t always break the connection completely.”
“How no’?” Dan asked, all too aware that Morien had been present in him through the ring that one time in hospital.
“Morien was inside Neve for a long time,” Gabe finally spoke. “He shared her memories, thoughts, and feelings. When he left, it’s possible that a little part of him was left with her, as well as a little part of her in him. It’s akin to the myth that if you devour someone, that they become part of you. That’s not true of course, but in cases of powerful possession, it can be.”
“That’s all we need. Rotten Bloody Mary after her soul is bad enough, now Morien wants her body back as well.”
“Maybe the Church is the best place for her in that case,” even Dan reluctantly came to the same conclusion.
“Anyway, about ten minutes later, I heard Locke sprint up the corridor. He dragged the Deacon out of his office and disappeared off down the corridor. They were away for a while. I didn’t know whether to stay in the library or go have a look. I kept thinking what if you were down there? So I did, I crept along the corridor and slipped down the stairs. I found Locke and the Deacon in the room with two other folk lying on hospital beds, but I didn’t see you.”
“What other folk?” asked Dan.
“Some old guy and an even older woman, both shackled to gurneys being fed a lifetime supply of Brimstone.” I filled them all in. Brimm hissed at the mention of Brimstone. It stirred a hankering in me too. “Both Homalus; retired to the Pit.”
“The Deacon was in a panic, so much so, he wasn’t that fussed that I’d stumbled upon their secret room. They were discussing your disappearance and what to do about it. They eventually surmised that you’d either cast some temporary cloaking spell or that a portal to another dimension was present in the room. The Deacon wanted to rig up the depicula in case you, or anything else, came back through it. And about half an hour later, you did.”
“It only felt like I was gone for a matter of minutes.”
The doorbell rang. Dan answered. It was Sheila. “Right, let me have a look at her,” she bounced into the room, red-faced and on a mission. She was straight to business. “Ooh, that looks nasty,” she said, screwing up her face as she peeled back the bandage. “I think I have something…” And she rummaged around in her carpetbag of tricks. She pulled out a small pot of something or other, took a sniff of it, and decided she’d found the right thing. She smeared a thick dollop of dark-gray salve over the sewn up wound. Not only was it freezing, it smelt like a damp drain. She looked at me seriously, “How are you?”
“Same old, same old, Sheila. How are you?” She let out a big sigh of relief and smiled.
“Better now that I’ve seen you,” she wrapped a clean bandage around my thigh, “Keep that on, let it soak in overnight. I’ll leave this with you,” she laid the pot on the coffee table. “Reapply it in the morning. Now let’s have a look at the rest of you,” she tapped a spot on my forehead and then did the same to a spot on the back of my
neck, she then worked her way down various points on my spine. Her hands were like really warm, and the heat lingered for ages after each touch as she worked some white witch magic on me. My aches and pains all started to tingle.
“Has anyone found anything new about this Bloody Mary character?” Sheila asked, but didn’t get much of a response. “I’m afraid my time at the retreat was fairly fruitless in that area, though I did rake the collective hive mind and found some potentially very useful things.” We were all ears, and Lord knows I needed some good news. “A good friend shared her knowledge and taught me a powerful incantation that promises to essentially repel or ward off demon activity,” she looked at me, “Which might or might not have some adverse effects on you, Cait.” I glanced at Archie, maybe that was something he could use to keep him safe. I didn’t care if it meant I couldn’t go near him. At least he’d be alive.
“That’s something. Good, thanks Sheila. Ouch!” I winced at a twang of pain from my cracked rib.
“You are in a state, aren’t you?” She grimaced. Taking hold of my hands she noticed the bloodied cuts from the leather bounds. “Oh, Cait!” She rummaged around in her massive bag again and pulled out a blue screw cap bottle. “Run yourself a bath, add this,” she handed it over. “All of it. It’ll take care of any infection and it doesn’t smell too bad either.
“C’mon, I’ll help ye upstairs,” Dan pulled me up off the sofa. My leg felt better, well, it didn’t sting at least.
“Cheers Sheila,” I was truly grateful. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Don’t be daft, you’ll set me off,” she jokingly wafted at her eyes. Standing up, she noticed the shard of horn on the coffee table. “What on earth is this?” she picked it up for a closer look.
“Horn of demon,” Sheila was impressed.
“Keep a hold of this, Cait. I’d love to have a closer look at some point, but, first, go get yourself cleaned up.”
Demon Page 3
