by Julie Kenner
“I just pulled it up,” she said. “I haven’t even read it yet myself.”
“Look,” I said, noticing a paragraph in the middle of the page. “It says that Larnaca is where Lazarus lived.”
“Rising-from-the-dead Lazarus?”
“I think so.” I leaned over her and pointed to a link labeled Places to See. “Click there.”
She did, and a list of tourist attractions came up.
“There,” I said. “Lazarus came to Larnaca after he was resurrected, and a church was built on the spot where his remains were said to be found.”
“A church,” Laura repeated. “Do you think that’s where the shrine was? The one that was spray-painted?”
“Could be, I guess.”
“But what’s the connection to Mexico or Italy? Or to San Diablo, for that matter?”
“I don’t know.” I chewed on the side of my lip, then paced her kitchen as an idea started to form. “Both the demons that attacked me talked about an army rising. So maybe the desecration of the shrine and the various cathedrals is symbolic. Jesus and Lazarus rose through the power of God, and the demons are going to rise through the power of Satan?” It sounded like a B-movie plot, but it was the only idea I had.
“Maybe,” Laura said. She sounded as dubious as me.
“This is all so frustrating,” I said. “And what does any of it have to do with bones?”
“Could be symbolic, too. You know, like ‘Dem bones gonna rise again.’ ” Laura’s voice was singsong. I just stared at her. She exhaled. “The song,” she said. “You know.”
I didn’t know, and told her as much.
“Didn’t you go to church camp?”
Obviously Laura hadn’t completely assimilated my description of my childhood. “I lived at the Vatican, Laura,” I said. “There wasn’t a lot of singing around the campfire going on.”
“Right. Sure. Of course.” She laughed nervously. This was going to take a while for her to get her head around. “So, I guess you probably didn’t sit around with the other Hunters telling ghost stories, huh?”
“Sure we did,” I said. “Only they weren’t stories. They were object lessons in how to survive.” I could still vividly remember how Eric and Katrina and Devin and I would huddle in the alcove between the boys’ and girls’ dorms. We’d share our own escapades along with any other stories we’d picked up from older, more experienced Hunters. Like Allie now did at her slumber parties, we’d stay up into the wee hours talking. But we weren’t doing it for fun. It was work. Survival. Knowledge, after all, is power.
“Your childhood sucked,” she said.
“Pretty much.” But even though I said the words with feeling, a part of me knew that—given the choice—I wouldn’t have lived my life any other way.
“I can see why you retired early,” she said. “Probably extended your life expectancy by decades.”
I didn’t answer. Thoughts of Eric spilled into my head. Retiring hadn’t saved him. Death had wanted him, and it had taken him. And even with all of Eric’s fighting skills, when it was his time, he’d still lost the battle.
“. . . you okay?”
I shook my head, dispelling my thoughts. “What?”
“I asked if you were okay?”
“Fine,” I said. I moved to the table and grabbed my purse. “I’ve got some more information you can plug into Google,” I said. “Want to come with me to see Eddie Lohmann? I’ll give you the rundown on the way.”
Her brows rose. “Come with you? Real sidekick stuff? I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I said, giving her a stern glare. I’m pretty sure, though, that my smile destroyed the effect.
As soon as we were on the road, I relayed my conversation with Larson, giving her all the key words to plug into her next search, and telling her in particular about Brother Michael. I also told her what Larson had said about Eddie’s condition.
“That’s a shame,” she said. “I was hoping you’d have some help.”
“I have you,” I said.
“I was thinking more along the lines of help that wouldn’t squeal like a girl and run the other way at the sight of a spider, much less a demon.” Her smile, however, told me how pleased she was by the comment. “So where’s the turnoff?”
We spent the next ten minutes trying to find the poorly marked driveway for Coastal Mists Nursing Home and Eddie Lohmann. I pushed thoughts of Laura and the cathedral and Lazarus out of my head, my attention focused solely on my newly founded Adopt a Geriatric Hunter program.
“So what exactly are we doing here?” Laura asked as I pulled into one of the many empty parking spaces. I had the feeling the residents of Coastal Mists weren’t inundated with visitors.
“I’m not exactly sure.” If he had all his marbles, I wanted to run the situation by Eddie and get his opinion. But the Goramesh problem notwithstanding, I just wanted to meet Eddie. I didn’t know the man, and yet I already felt a connection to him. Melancholy mixed with nostalgia, I’m sure. There were no other Hunters in my life. Eddie was a Hunter. Ergo, I’d latched on.
Pretty transparent pop psychology, but sometimes the most obvious answer really is the truth.
The entire front of the building was landscaped, with native plants lining the walkway, giving the place the external appearance of a fine hotel. The moment we stepped inside, the illusion faded, replaced by a hollow, antiseptic scent, as if the home’s administrators were trying just a little too hard to hide the fact that there was dying going on here.
I realized I’d stopped in the foyer and was hugging myself. Beside me, Laura didn’t seem the least bit perturbed. Mentally, I chastised myself. I’d seen all sorts of death and fought all sorts of demons. If the scent of a nursing home didn’t bother Laura, I sure as heck wasn’t going to let it bother me.
The hallway opened up into a large foyer, the focal point of which was a round nursing station that apparently doubled as a reception desk. A woman in an old-fashioned nursing uniform, complete with starched white hat, greeted us with a thin smile. “Can I help you?” she asked abruptly, even before we’d completely approached the desk.
Her tone caught me by surprise, and I started. I caught Laura’s gaze, and her eyes widened a bit, letting me know that it wasn’t just my imagination. I chalked it up to PMS and plowed on. “We’re here to see Eddie Lohmann. Can you tell me what room he’s in?”
She stared at me for so long I began to wonder if there was something gross on my face. I was just about to ask again (I am nothing if not optimistic) when she peered at me over the rim of her half-glasses and sniffed.
“Your name, please?” She shoved a registry in my direction.
“Kate Connor,” I said. “And this is Laura Dupont.” I started to sign in.
“Relatives?”
“By marriage,” I said, not missing a beat as I scrawled my name and Laura’s in the appropriate column.
I glanced at Laura long enough to see her brows rise almost imperceptibly. Then I pushed the registry back toward Nurse Ratched. Her lips pursed as she read our names, then she lifted her chin and surveyed me once again through narrowed eyes. I was beginning to feel downright paranoid, and I can’t say I particularly enjoyed the sensation.
“By marriage,” she repeated.
“He’s related to my husband,” I said, the lie coming naturally. “Why? Is there a problem?”
“Visiting hours for nonrelatives end in five minutes. If you’re family—”
“We are,” I said firmly.
I expected her to argue, but instead she raised a hand and a twenty-something girl in a candy-striper uniform came trotting over, her name tag introducing her as Jenny. “See these ladies to the media room. They’re visiting Mr. Lohmann.” To us, she said, “I’m surprised we haven’t seen you here before.”
“A long story,” I said. “We just found out that Eddie was here.”
“Hmmm. Well, I hope you have better luck with him than
we do.” And with that cryptic remark, she returned her attention to the papers on her desk, leaving Laura and me to follow our candy striper down a long, dim hallway.
Most of the doors were open, and as I peered into the rooms, I could see twin beds and various other bits of furniture and personal belongings. The rooms reminded me of the tiny monk cells that had doubled as dorm rooms in my youth, and I wondered if in some way Eddie hadn’t come full circle.
I noticed that most of the rooms were empty, and when I asked our guide, she explained that most of the residents were in the television parlor, which happened to be where we were going. “I’m so glad you’re here to visit him,” Jenny said. “He never gets visitors and it’s such a shame.”
“How long has he been here?”
“About three months. At first he was really disoriented, but I think he’s starting to get used to the place. A little clearer, you know?”
“That’s great,” I said, but my mind was elsewhere. Weird that the Vatican had just learned he was here. At the very least, I was surprised the diocese didn’t send a volunteer around to chat with him and a priest to give Communion.
I didn’t have time to ponder those things, however, because we’d arrived. The hallway opened out into a second foyer that I presumed had been a secondary entrance at one time but now obviously served as the famous media room. Two threadbare couches sat in front of a small television currently displaying Jerry Springer in grainy black-and-white. What was this? The Dark Ages?
The residents sprawled on the two couches, and the old man at the end kept shouting “You tell ’em, Jerry!” at the television. The other two didn’t even flinch, and I took a guess that this was considered normal behavior in these parts. In addition, the room sported two card tables (surrounded by four old men playing cards, one of whom was trailing an IV rack) and a single rocking chair. A blue-haired lady with a hump in her back stood by the rocker, methodically whapping the end of her cane against the thigh of the old man seated there as she mumbled incoherently. (As I circled around, I realized the cause of the mumbling—she’d removed her teeth. The old man just ignored her, eyes glued to the television.)
I leaned closer to Jenny. “Which one is Eddie?”
“DEMONS!”
I jumped, then identified the howler as the same old man who’d been egging Jerry on. Now he was shaking his fist at the television screen. I looked in that direction and had to admit his assessment had some merit. The kid Jerry was interviewing had so many pins and tattoos that he looked like something out of a Hellraiser movie.
“THEY’RE EVERYWHERE. IN OUR TELEVISIONS. UNDER OUR BEDS. IN MY RICE KRISPIES. SNAP CRACKLE, THEY SAY. SNAP CRACKLE!” He whipped out a spritzer bottle and took aim, spraying fine mist toward the television, but mostly only dampening Jenny, who was slowly moving toward him.
Laura took a step backward. I grabbed her arm. She’d volunteered, after all. And I wasn’t too keen on facing Eddie by myself. (And, yeah, for a second I considered backing out, too. But I’d come to see Eddie, and see him, I would.)
“Hush, now, Mr. Lohmann. We can hear you without shouting.” Jenny crouched in front of him as I inched sideways, wanting to get a look at his face.
The man was eighty-five if he was a day, with a grizzled face that seemed as gray as the unkempt bush of hair on his head. His lips had disappeared with age, and the untrimmed gray mustache he sported seemed to float unanchored on his face. His skin was timeworn and leathery, and now that I saw his face, I knew I would have recognized Eddie Lohmann without Jenny’s help. This man had fought battles. Fought and won. Now, I wondered if he was fighting his first losing battle.
His chin lifted suddenly, and he peered at me from under droopy lids. I could see enough of his eyes, though, to see the intelligence under there. Eddie Lohmann might be strange, but I’d lay odds he wasn’t senile. Not yet.
“Who’s that one?” he asked, talking to Jenny, but nodding to me.
“She’s here to visit you,” Jenny said. “Can’t you be nice?”
His nose twitched. “Is she a demon?”
The other residents looked up from their various activities and peered at me. I stood up straighter and fought the urge to adjust my blouse.
Jenny sighed, then rolled her eyes toward me, which pretty much clued me in to what she thought of the whole demon thing. I took heart that his rantings went unheeded. Still, I didn’t like the idea that Eddie was spouting off to the residents and staff.
Jenny was still focused on Eddie, her manner calm and patient. “She’s not a demon. There aren’t any demons, remember? We use holy water in the mop bucket. They can’t walk on our floors.” This time she gave a wink in my direction.
“Damn dastardly demons,” Eddie mumbled. He looked up at me, his eyes eagle sharp as he crooked a bony finger. “You there. Come here.”
Behind me, I heard Laura take a few steps backward, her desire to get out of there so thick I could almost feel it. I moved forward slowly, then speeded up the moment one of the other men (who’d stayed quiet during Eddie’s entire tirade) shouted at me to quit blocking the television before he took a cane to me. Nice man. Not exactly the grandfatherly type.
I stopped in front of Eddie and let him take a look at me. He fumbled a pair of half-glasses out of a front shirt pocket and put them on. As Jenny backed off, I stood like a statue, waiting for some signal from him.
“I don’t know you,” he finally said. He pointed a bony finger. “Get thee hence, Satan’s harlot!”
I bristled and stifled the urge to defend my reputation. I shot a glance at Laura, and she shrugged. Eddie had returned his attention to the television. I waited for a commercial, then tried again.
“Mr. Lohmann?”
He looked up at me, no recognition at all in his eyes. “Are you a new one they’re trying?” His eyes narrowed as he smacked his lips. “You won’t get anything from me.”
“My name’s Kate,” I said, trying for soft and reassuring. I gestured across the room to where Laura had faded into a corner. “That’s Laura. We came to visit with you.”
He kept his attention on me, not even bothering to look Laura’s direction. “Are you one of them?” He seemed grandfatherly, and yet there was an icy edge in his eyes, and I’d noticed that his muscles had tightened as I approached, as if he still had the power to defend himself should I attack.
He crooked his finger again, urging me even closer. I bent down, not at all surprised when his nostrils flared. “My breath okay?” I asked.
He snorted. “Could be faking,” he said. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out his bottle, and sprayed me straight in the face. I sputtered and wiped my eyes, probably rubbing mascara everywhere.
He sat back, obviously satisfied. “You’ll do,” he said. “Unless you’re working for them.” He leaned forward, peering at me.
“I’m not,” I said, fighting another wave of indignation.
He stared at me for so long, I feared he’d forgotten again and we’d have to start all over. Finally he spoke. “What do you want?”
I glanced around at the other residents. This wasn’t exactly the best place. “I was hoping to talk to you. Do you think we could go somewhere?”
He waved at the television, his expression turning surly. “Jerry Springer. Five minutes.”
I started to argue, realized that would do no good whatsoever, then perched myself on the arm of the couch right next to him. For the next five minutes I watched the wrap-up and Jerry’s final words (we all need to try to really listen to one another, in case you were wondering). True to his word, as soon as the program ended, Eddie hoisted himself up with the help of an ornately carved cane, then started shuffling toward the back of the room. I followed, silently urging Laura along, and ignoring Eddie’s instruction to “Get a move on there, girls.”
Since we were moving at glacial speed, it took another five minutes to make it the fifty or so yards to Eddie’s room. Once we got there, I closed the door and Eddie sank d
own into a dingy gray recliner that I have a feeling started out some other color.
“Have we met?” he asked, his eyes unfocused. “Where’d you come from?”
“We just met in there,” I said patiently. “I work for Forza.” I’m not sure what kind of reaction I expected, but I didn’t get anything. Not a blink, not a twitch, not even a nervous tic. He just stared at me, then calmly turned toward Laura.
“Her?”
“A friend. Not a Hunter. But she knows.”
His fingers inched toward the spritzer now peeking out of his breast pocket, but then he paused. His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “You vouch for her?”
“With my life,” I said.
The fingers moved away, and he clasped his hands in his lap. “She can stay.”
I wasn’t sure what to say then. I’d come to meet this retired Hunter, but what did I really want from him? Now that I’d met him, my mind was blank and I stood there, feeling a bit like the star of one of those naked dreams—standing unclothed onstage while everyone waited for me to sing an aria or perform magnificent acrobatic feats.
“Did you come to kill them?” he asked. “I would. But the old body just doesn’t work right anymore.”
“Kill them,” I repeated. “Kill who?”
“Demons,” he said as the door opened to reveal a nurse decked out in teddy-bear scrubs. “There are demons everywhere.”
“Now, Mr. Lohmann,” she said, “don’t go starting up with that again.” She was balancing a tray of lunch dishes, and as I watched, she moved expertly to the table and slid the tray on. “He’s a Demon Hunter, you know,” she said to me, her voice both conversational and condescending.
“Oh,” I said stupidly. “How nice.”
The nurse looked up from her tray and winked at me. “Well, we think so. Such an interesting career. And the stories he tells. I mean, really. He’s certainly had some adventures.”
She crossed the room to Eddie and turned the light on beside his chair. In the harsh illumination he seemed smaller somehow, his features shriveled, as if the light had somehow stolen his energy. “Have you seen any demons today, Eddie?”
