The First Demon (Cards of Death Book 1)

by Tamara Geraeds

  “Can’t we just put our own spell on him? To convince him to talk to his brother?”

  D’Maeo shakes his head. “His brain might fry. You’ll have to convince him the old-fashioned way.”

  Jeep huffs. “The effect won’t last anyway, if you make him do it. It has to be genuine.”

  After a short silence Vicky tilts her head. “You could use the corny trick of sending them both a note, so they will meet.”

  “That’s actually not such a bad idea.” I walk towards the front door, but turn around before opening it. “We’ll have to send the note to them by mail though. We can’t get past the demons, remember? So after I write the notes, there’s nothing we can do until tomorrow, after the notes are delivered.”

  Maël stands up. “We should go to the mine, to investigate that tunnel you told us about.”

  Nausea hits my throat at the thought of the black hole I found there. I really don’t want to go back there. But I know I will have to eventually. The black hole might be connected to the cards. And Dad hid his notebook there. I have to go back to find out more.

  I look at the Shield, waiting patiently for me to make a decision. “You’re all coming with me? It might be dangerous.”

  Taylar shrugs. “Of course it is. That’s why you have a Shield.”

  I guess he’s right. “Okay. I’ll go back home to write the notes. Then I’ll mail them and pick you guys up.”

  The notes are easier than I imagined. I can’t write too much, or they’ll know someone else wrote them. So I keep it short and simple.

  George,

  Can’t stand the anger anymore. Would like to talk. Meet me at the office at seven tonight. Hope to work it out.

  Geoffrey

  Dear Geoffrey,

  I have a feeling something is wrong. Would like to talk. Better to get it all out in the open.

  Please meet me at the office at seven tonight.

  Love,

  George

  I print them out, say goodbye to Mom - who’s packing to go to Mona’s - and jump into my car.

  At Darkwood Manor I collect the ingredients we used for the spell and throw them in a backpack I took with me. “I want to try to trap the evil in the mines,” I explain when the Shield gives me studious looks.

  D’Maeo nods. “Good idea.”

  They blink into the car, and I follow. But when I turn the key, the engine just splutters and dies. I try and try again, but Phoenix refuses to co-operate.

  “Looks like we’re walking.” I don’t even mind that much. Seeing Vicky and Taylar merge on the back seat still makes me a bit sick.

  I get out, lock the car and pat her gently on the hood. “You just need some rest, don’t you?”

  Jeep is standing at the passenger’s side, shaking his head at Phoenix. “What a piece of-”

  I take a step forward. “Don’t even think it.”

  Junk, he mouths and with a grin he looks up at me. “Too late.”

  I turn my back on him and start walking. “You just can’t appreciate a classic beauty.”

  He manifests in front of me, walking backward so he can face me. “Sure I can. I’ve been friends with Maël for years.”

  I try to maintain my angry look, but fail.

  Jeep raises his hand and I give him a high five.

  CHAPTER 27

  The backpack gets heavy after a while, but as we walk in silence, my body and mind slowly relax. I knew Phoenix only wants what’s best for me.

  Naturally, Jeep has to spoil it. “So if you saw a demon attacking your Mom’s house, shouldn’t we put up a protection spell there, too?”

  I stand still so abruptly that Maël walks through me. I shiver.

  “Sorry,” she says.

  I turn to Jeep. “You think that was a premonition, too? The pages in the notebook were still empty when I woke up.”

  I start walking again. Jeep is at my side in a flash. “I’m not sure, but it could happen later.”

  D’Maeo appears at my other side. “He’s right. Premonitions can come true almost instantly, or tomorrow, next week or even in a few years. It might be better to protect the house.”

  I comb my fingers through my hair. “I guess you’re right, but there’s a tiny little problem.” I hold my fingers a few millimeters apart. “I can’t put lines of salt all around the house. Mom would think I’d gone insane.”

  Jeep shrugs. “You could tell her the truth.”

  I shake my head vigorously. “No, absolutely not. She would be terrified.”

  Maël slows down. “There are other protection spells. They are not as strong as the one we performed at your house, but they will keep the worst out.”

  I stare in the distance, where the mine comes into view. “Awesome.”

  Vicky pats me on the shoulder. “After we save Mr. Timson, we can do some research. Find out what kind of demon it was and maybe prevent it from coming.”

  I give her a wary smile. “Thanks, Vick.”

  She blushes slightly when I abbreviate her name. Or maybe that’s just the stop sign by the side of the road shining through her face.

  We walk along in silence again. I’m glad Mom is not home right now, I would worry about her every second of the day.

  We’re almost at the bottom of the mountain, when a strange noise reaches my ears. It seems to come from behind us, but when I turn nothing’s there.

  The others come to a halt, too. D’Maeo looks at me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I hear something. It’s coming closer.”

  We all listen intently. The sound is getting clearer. A low growling. A moaning. Chattering teeth.

  “Another demon.” I take out my athame. A chorus of grunts draws nearer. “There’s more than one,” I warn the others. “Get ready.”

  Maël slams her staff onto the street. The ground trembles and the demons growl angrily.

  The first comes into view, dragging itself out from under the trees, onto the dirt road.

  I squint. It doesn’t look much like a demon at all. It looks more like…

  “Jeep…”

  I turn. D’Maeo has folded his arms over his chest.

  The tattooed ghost raises his hand in apology. “I’m sorry. It was an accident.” He shoots me a shameful glance. “It happens sometimes when I let my mind wander too far.” He waves his hand at the bodies heaving themselves towards us. “They rise and follow me.”

  More and more zombies are joining the first on the road. They grasp at things unseen, shaking their heads uncontrollably and leaning sideways to keep themselves from tumbling over. Their growling sounds pained rather than menacing.

  “When I wake them up by accident, they’re not as strong,” Jeep explains.

  Taylar takes a step backward. “Great story, Jeep. Now can you please get rid of them?”

  The first body reaches out a hand. It opens its mouth, but no sound comes out.

  Jeep raises his hands and starts moving them in intricate patterns. Moaning sadly, the zombies turn around and stumble back.

  D’Maeo still doesn’t look very pleased.

  “I’m sorry,” Jeep repeats. “It won’t happen again.”

  We walk on. Taylar leans towards me. “He says that every time.”

  I frown. “This happens often?”

  He smooths his quaff with the palm of his hand. “Not often. And it actually happens to all of us. Well, except to me…” He falls silent for a moment. Sadness crosses his face. “We don’t have as much control over our powers as we did when we were alive. Sometimes we use them by accident. And sometimes we can’t use them at all.”

  I almost trip over a loose stone. “Wait, you all had your powers before you died?”

  Taylar opens his arms wide. “Yes, we were all powerful Mages. The world was at our feet.” He twirls around with his head thrown back.

  I laugh out loud and he grins at me.

  “But now,” I continue, “your
powers have diminished?”

  D’Maeo falls into stride with us. He seems to hear everything. “Think of it as a glitch, a disruption caused by our deaths. We can’t rely on our powers as much as we used to.”

  “That sounds… dangerous.”

  “Only when we’re under attack.” He winks, but I’m not in the mood to laugh. I can already feel the darkness of the black hole, and we’re not even in the mine yet.

  I lead the way into the tunnels, holding a torch in front of me. Everything looks and smells like it used to before, but my skin tingles at the thought of what we’ll find in the hidden tunnel.

  We reach the birdcage without incidents and I pull it.

  The solid wall behind it opens up and I beckon the others to follow. The demon symbols on the walls pulse, but everyone’s gaze is instantly drawn towards the black hole. The darkness inside is moving.

  I fight the urge to run, while the ghosts step closer. “Be careful.”

  “It’s closed,” D’Maeo says, not taking his eyes off the hole.

  “Yes, but I can feel the evil through it. Can’t you?”

  He tilts his head. “I can. I have never come across a passage as dangerous as this one.” He throws Maël a nervous look. “Your suspicions concerning the Devil might have been right. We have to try and seal this completely, but we have to be very careful.”

  I frown. “What do you mean, seal it completely? It’s already closed.”

  “If it was completely closed, there wouldn’t be a black hole.”

  “Right.” I hadn’t thought about that.

  Taylar is stroking the symbols on the walls. “I wonder what this all means?”

  Vicky jumps to his side and smacks his hand away. “Don’t touch that.”

  Taylar’s eyebrows shoot up.

  “I don’t want you to get hurt,” Vicky says gently.

  “That’s sweet.”

  She grins. “That’s me. All sweetness.”

  I lay my backpack on the ground and put the torch in the holder on the wall. “This place makes my skin crawl. Let’s get this over with.”

  I unpack as fast as I can, while the ghosts keep an eye on the hole. After putting the four candles in position, I pick up the jar, which already has all the ingredients in it. I shake it nine times.

  “Salt and herbs, nine times nine

  Guard well this old mine.”

  I set down the jar between the candles. A soft rattling comes from the black hole and I freeze for a second. The Shield takes on fighting positions.

  Maël slams her staff firmly onto the ground. “Continue, Dante.”

  I try to light the sage, but my matchsticks keep blowing out. I fumble for my lighter and hit the switch. It doesn’t work.

  “Pour the salt first,” D’Maeo suggests.

  I squat down to form a line near the hole. As soon as the first grains of salt hit the ground, they are blown away. I empty the whole canister as fast as I can, but the wind only gets stronger. It hits me in the gut and flings me to the entrance of the tunnel. The Shield flies past me and disappears out of sight.

  I scramble to my feet and light the torch, which has blown out. My lighter is working again. I shake the salt from my body. It’s everywhere. I hold the torch up and blink. Something has changed. It’s darker in the tunnel than it was a minute ago. I can’t put my finger on the cause though.

  The Shield appears again, D’Maeo and Vicky at my side, the others behind me.

  Vicky nods at the walls. “Look, all the symbols have turned black.”

  D’Maeo grinds his teeth. “We should seal the whole tunnel.”

  My gaze darts to the things needed for the spell. Everything but the salt is still there.

  I move one foot forward. Nothing happens. I try the other foot. Still everything is quiet.

  I pick up the salt shaker and throw it to Taylar. “Put the salt back in.”

  While the Shield stands guard, I collect the rest of my belongings. The symbols around me slowly turn back to red. It’s only now that I notice the constant whooshing sound. It must have started when we were blown backward. It’s waning now though. Other sounds start trickling back to me. A soft scraping as Taylar collects the salt, an almost inaudible dripping from the tunnel behind us, my own shallow breathing. It probably means the black hole won’t attack us as long as we don’t do anything to it. Still, I’m afraid to relax.

  I gather everything up as fast as I can and retreat backward out of the tunnel. The Shield follows, equally on guard.

  “I’ll close the tunnel first, and then try again.”

  They all nod. Their eyes never leave the black hole.

  I pull the birdcage again and solid rock slides back in place. The atmosphere seems to get lighter immediately. A weight lifts off my chest. I close my eyes for a second.

  Taylar hands me the salt and I take a deep breath. Then I bend down and pour the salt as fast as I can.

  I get blown backward so fast that I somersault through the air. My back slams against the rocks hard. Everything goes dark, and I don’t mean just in the tunnel.

  When I wake I’m alone. The air is still. I grope around, tapping the ground tentatively. After a couple of crawled inches I finally feel the torch. I light it again, my hands shaking, my gaze searching for something waiting to jump me. But when my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, all I see is salt. It’s everywhere. In my hair, around my feet, even in my nose. I cough and shake my head. My back hurts like hell, but I can move. The rocks behind me provide some support and I pull myself up. I look around. A chill creeps up my spine. Where is my Shield? Did something grab them?

  “Guys?” I whisper.

  There’s a soft moan behind me, of someone in pain. Jeep’s head sticks out of a rock. I yell and jump back, almost losing my footing.

  His hands appear. “Wow, easy. It’s just me.” He looks around. It’s like his body is made of stone. “Where’s my hat?”

  I frown. The others are missing and he’s worried about his hat?

  He turns around so his butt is sticking out of the wall. “Ah, here it is.”

  Waving his hat around as if it’s the greatest treasure of all, he steps out of the rock. He gives me a searching glance. “Are you okay?”

  I realize I’ve been staring at him with my mouth open and close it quickly. “Fine. Where are the others?”

  He beats the dust off his hat and places it carefully on his messy locks. “Some of them might have been blown out of the mine completely.”

  I suppress the urge to hit him. “And that doesn’t worry you?”

  “Not really. I went through the walls and I’m fine. Why shouldn’t they be?”

  I shake my head incredulously. “Right. Let’s go check, shall we?”

  He taps the brim of his hat and leads the way.

  I call out their names all the way back to the entrance of the mine. The longer they fail to answer, the more worried I get. I can’t believe Jeep is actually whistling, as if we’re taking our Sunday stroll.

  My stress is at its peak when we reach the entrance. Jeep stops whistling and waves at four figures standing in a circle, talking excitedly. “See, they’re fine.”

  I plop down on the ground and cover my face with my hands. The torch rolls away, flames licking the rocks, but I don’t care. Tears sting behind my eyes.

  Vicky is sitting next to me in a flash. She strokes my back. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” It comes out harsher than I intended and a look of surprise flashes across her face.

  “I was worried!” I’m still yelling, but I can’t help myself. “I don’t know what’s going on. The whole world has gone crazy.”

  Vicky puts her arms around me, blocking my waving arms. But the words keep spilling out. “This can’t be real. I mean… demons? Really? And you guys… you’re great, but-” A burst of laughter escapes my throat. “…you’re ghosts. We were in the Shadow World. I am eith
er hallucinating or dreaming. Either way, I want it to stop. I want out.” I sit there panting, while the Shield gathers around me. I shake my head. “This can’t be real.”

  I close my eyes, wishing it all away. Pretending I’m at home, in my bed. No ghosts, no monsters, no saving the world.

  Everything around me is silent. My heart rate slowly drops back to normal. A tingling spreads through my body. My face gets warmer. It feels nice. Comforting. Something soft touches my lips and they part automatically. Desire washes over me. Heat rises to my face. I give in to the kiss and electricity shoots from my mouth to my toes. Light explodes behind my eyes.

  My hands shoot upwards to pull her head closer. Her soft hair slips through my fingers.

  I jump up and take a few steps back. The ghosts are a blur. My hand goes to my lips. Words are forming in my head, but none of them make sense. I open my mouth several times. Finally, sound comes out. “I need a break.” Then I turn and run all the way back home. Even then I don’t stop running. I sprint up the stairs and drop down onto my bed. The house is silent, but it doesn’t feel completely safe. The floor is still wet and it smells like a swamp in here. Even my own house has changed.

  I bury my face in my pillow. The soft fabric tickles my lips. I want to cry, but I can’t. Ignoring the pain, I turn onto my back and stare at the ceiling. All thoughts of demons and ghosts are gone. Well, almost…

  “Oh my God,” I breathe. “I kissed a girl.” I dreamt about my first kiss lots of times. I imagined how it would be. I imagined who it would be with. Not once did it cross my mind that it would be with a ghost. That doesn’t sound like a very good idea anyway. But still… it was awesome. I’ve got no reference material, but I’m pretty sure no kiss could surpass this one. Except maybe another kiss from Vicky.

  I rub my face. “This is such a bad idea. I should focus on saving the world.”

  Propping myself up against my pillow, I fumble for my phone. I have to talk to Charlie.

  But when I look at his name on the screen, doubts creep into my mind. Can I trust Charlie? He’s been lying to me. Maybe I should just talk to Mom.