I definitely wasn’t a conventional exorcist. The ritual that had sort of worked was written by a witch, I used a witch’s holy water, and now we were going to be using a Ouija board to find out information regarding demon contracts. It sounded like one of those weird sci-fi movies. At least I had stuff that worked. It could have been worse.
CHAPTER NINE
BRING ME TO LIFE
When we woke up, Tabby went and got a shower. I stayed seated on the bed. I was so tired that I knew there was no way I could go back to sleep. I was going to need a lot more caffeine to get through this.
“I don’t want to be here when you play with that thing,” Lucy said suddenly.
I could just barely make her out standing by the bed. She looked scared.
“Well, I don’t know if there is anywhere to go. Do you know any way to contact Doc?” It was the best option really. If Doc could keep her occupied, then maybe, just maybe, she’d be safe. The last thing I wanted to do was bring in another demon and have it snatch Lucy.
“I can try,” she said.
“Okay. Do that. If it doesn’t work, we’ll come up with something else.” I had no idea what else to do. Maybe Tabby would have some thoughts.
Soon after, Tabby came out of the bathroom. She was combing her fingers through her hair.
“Any idea where Lucy can go while we do this?” I asked.
She sighed. “No. Not really.”
“She’s going to try to get a hold of Doc.”
Tabby walked over to her side of the bed and sat down. “Okay. If she can’t get a hold of Doc, then we’ll have to use the damn thing somewhere else, but I really don’t like the idea of leaving Isaac and Lucy by themselves again.”
“Me neither. I’d happily get out of this hotel if I could.”
Tabby tapped her fingers on her knee. “Well, we should only be in the hotel for a few more days anyway. We’ll have to stay where we’ll do the exorcism so we can make sure Vespa doesn’t have a heart attack or something.”
“Good point. But we’re back to what to do with Lucy. Vespa’s demon did something to her once before. I wouldn’t put it past him to do it again.”
She paused for a minute. “Well, I could always ward the car. Lucy should be safe enough if I ward it. That way, she doesn’t actually come in contact with the demon anymore.”
I hugged her. Sometimes, she was so damn smart. “It’s stuff like that that makes me want to marry you someday.”
She pulled back. “Really?”
“Yes, really.”
Suddenly, there was a pop and Doc appeared.
“Don’t you go getting all mushy on me,” he said.
I couldn’t help but laugh. For being an old-timer, he really was funny. “What’s up, Doc?”
Lucy started giggling.
“What do you need, kid?” he asked Lucy.
“They are going to use that ‘thing.’” She pointed toward the bag with the board in it.
Doc crouched down in front of Lucy. She was a little more visible now, almost like colored cellophane.
“So, what do you want to do?” he asked.
I spoke up. “Lucy and I want to know if there was somewhere you could take her or if you could keep her occupied while we tried to get some information.”
Doc stroked his goatee for a minute. “Don’t think I can take her away from ya, but Lucy and I can find ourselves something to do.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” The sooner I could get this out of the way, the sooner we all could safely go home.
Doc nodded and went back to giving Lucy his full attention.
I turned to Tabby. “So, when do you want to do this?”
“Now, I guess. I want to get it over with.”
I got up, grabbed the bag with the board in it, and sat back down on the bed.
Tabby shook her head. “No, let’s do it on the floor. I don’t want to do it where we sleep, in case we end up spending another night in this place.”
I got up off the bed and sat down on the floor in the hallway next to the bathroom. “How’s this?”
Tabby sat down opposite from me. “It will have to do.”
I pulled the plastic off the box and opened it. “I assume this works like it does in the movies.”
“Pretty much, except in the movies they always forget to close the portal.”
I didn’t bother to pretend I knew what the hell she was talking about, but so be it. We needed to get this done.
I got the pointer thingy out of the box and set it on the floor. I put the board down in between our knees on the floor.
“Okay, you ready?” I asked her. Is this even going to work with her being this reluctant?
“No, but do it anyway.”
I put the pointer thing on the board. Tabby placed her index finger and her middle finger of her right hand on her side of the pointer. I followed suit. “Now what?”
“We ask it things,” she looked pointedly at me. “You get to ask.”
Great. Thanks. I took a deep breath. “Is anyone there?”
The pointer started moving in a figure-eight pattern. This was weird. “Okay. I need some information about a contract.”
The pointer kept moving. I guessed I needed to dumb down my question. “Do you know Vespa?”
The pointer changed direction and moved to the “yes” on the board. Then it went back to the figure-eights.
“What now?” I asked Tabby.
She sighed at me. “Keep concentrating on the planchette.”
“What’s that?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “The thing that’s moving.”
“Oh.” Now, I felt like a total dumb shit. Using one of these things was supposed to be pretty simple. Evidently, my brain didn’t get the message.
“Keep to questions it can answer with a ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ But, like everything else, they lie. A lot.”
I nodded. Got it. Remember that the demons lie. “Okay, spirit. Do you know anything about the contract Vespa made with his visitor?”
The planchette moved to “yes.” That’s when the lights went out. Holy shit.
###
I jumped up and tried the light switch on the wall. It didn’t work. I walked over to the window and pulled the blind away so that I could see. The traffic lights outside the hotel were working.
“Fuck this,” Tabby said.
I looked over and watched as she flipped the board upside down. “Goodbye,” she said.
After a minute, the lights came back on. That was weird.
“See, this is why we don’t mess with boards.”
So much for a good idea. This was not how I expected all of this to go. “Okay. Let’s get rid of this thing.”
“That requires burning it.”
It couldn’t be done in a hotel room. Good thing we were surrounded by desert. “Fine.”
###
So, that’s what we did. Tabby stayed at the hotel with Lucy, Doc, and Isaac. I had the board, a can of lighter fluid, and a lighter. I had to stop by a grocery store to get that stuff, but it wasn’t hard. Good thing I didn’t have to explain what I was using them for. Well, them asking would be kind of stupid since this was the Southwest and barbeque wasn’t exactly an unknown quantity here.
I was driving out of town into the desert. It took me awhile to see nothing but sand and sagebrush, which was exactly what I was looking for. I picked a nice spot with lots of sand, pulled over, and got out of the car with all of my accoutrements.
I walked down a little hill and made sure I was away from any vegetation. No sense in starting a huge fire if I could keep from it. At least the wind wasn’t blowing. I had the board in its bag along with the receipt. Best to get rid of it all so there would be no connection left.
I doused the bag with the lighter fluid, stepped back, set the receipt on fire with the lighter, then I tossed it onto the bag. The whole thing torched immediately. A ball of fire wooshed into the air and then settled back down. The plastic
melted first, then there was another woosh when the cardboard box caught fire. I stood there and watched the fucker burn. Without a doubt, that was going to be my one and only experience with a Ouija board. It wasn’t worth the risk. Not if it meant losing my soul in the process.
Suddenly, I noticed I wasn’t alone. All around me, various desert birds had formed a circle with me at the apex and around the fire. There were ravens, crows, several birds I’d never seen before, and one scraggly looking vulture.
Not one of them made a sound. Finally, when all that was left was ash, I grabbed a nearby piece of rotten wood and scattered the ashes.
A crow cawed at me. “Thanks, guys,” I said, and they all flew off. One more thing for me to chalk up in my weird file. I couldn’t wait for Tabby to hear about this.
###
I got back into the car, turned around, and headed back toward Tombstone. A few of the birds followed me for awhile and then, closer to town, they stopped.
“Guess I had my own personal escort.”
Once back at the hotel, I parked the car and headed to the room. In my opinion, Tabby should ward the car as soon as possible. The bird thing combined with the board and the damn break-in had me twitchy now. I was going to call the Order if I had to—if I could find a number for them that is. Enough of putting myself and Tabby in danger for an idiot. It was time I took control, and if they didn’t like it, they could just shove the whole thing up their asses. I was tired of trying to live by their rules. It was time I went back to my own.
CHAPTER TEN
FORSAKEN
“Tabby?” I asked when I got into the room.
“What?” she asked from inside the bathroom.
“Never mind. Finish what you’re doing.” No sense in her stopping when I could wait for a little bit.
Lucy and Doc were sitting in chairs at the table. The curtains were open, and the sunlight streamed through both of them. The two weren’t doing anything, not even talking.
“How are things now?” I asked them.
“Okay,” Lucy said. Isaac meowed from the bed.
I walked over and scratched him behind the ears for a minute. Tabby came out of the bathroom.
“I was thinking. It might be a good idea to ward the car today,” I said.
“All right. I can do that.”
I was glad when she didn’t ask what the rush was. I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about the birds now or not. She was under enough stress. I grabbed the iPad off the nightstand and loaded it up. I poured over every email I’d gotten from the Order. No contact information. No nothing. “Fuck me.”
“What?” Tabby asked.
“All they’ve left me for contact info is email.”
“Okay. While I don’t like it, it never seemed to bother you before.”
“I didn’t need to talk to them urgently before.” How could I have been so stupid? I remembered a letterhead from the tax forms I signed, but those files were now mysteriously gone from the tablet. Great. Yet another thing to drive me crazy. But tax forms weren’t something to worry about right now.
Tabby sat down next to me on the bed. “Well, we could try to interrogate Vespa. Or, maybe help him remember somehow.”
“I don’t think I want to interrogate a demon just yet. If we could figure out a trigger for Vespa to remember the terms of the contract, I’d be all for it.” The less I had to do with the supernatural these days the better.
“You call Vespa. I’ll start packing. Tell him we want to begin. And that he’ll need to expect houseguests for the conceivable future.”
“Works for me.” It was an option and better than sleeping out in the desert. Less chance of scorpions, etcetera. I wasn’t all that crazy about going to live with him, especially when we still didn’t know if he had anything to do with the break-in, but we needed out of a place we couldn’t trust at all. Plus, I didn’t want to visit a repeat of the Isaac affair.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Vespa’s number. He answered on the second ring.
“Mr. Holiday. It is good to hear from you,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. I really wished he would stop all of this weird faux elegant crap. I knew that part had nothing to do with the demon, just Vespa’s perception of what was high-class. “Tabby and I were thinking,” I said. “We’ve done all the research we can, but now we need your help to finalize things before we begin the exorcism process.”
“What did you have in mind?” he asked.
“Well, we were thinking if we could find a trigger, something that would make you remember, it would help.”
There was a pause. “I would have no issue with that.”
“All right. Sounds good. Also, because we plan on beginning the process as soon as we can, Tabby and I figured we might as well start staying with you.” I hoped I didn’t sound jakey, slipping it in like that.
“That would be fine. I’ll meet you at the diner for lunch, then I’ll lead you to my house.”
I didn’t want him to have to come all the way into town. “You don’t have to do that. We have GPS.”
“Trust me. It is easier if I help you. The back roads can get confusing. Besides, I have not had lunch.”
I thought, yeah, no shit. It was only ten-thirty, but whatever. I knew he was weird, guess this was just one more thing. “All right. What time should we meet you?”
“Oh, eleven-thirty should be fine,” he said.
“Sounds good. See you there.” I hung up and looked at Tabby. “He’ll meet us at the diner at eleven-thirty for lunch.”
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“None of this is a good idea. I’m just trying to find the least problematic option.” And we had to stay with him during the exorcism anyway. Lucy would have to be safe enough in the car. I just hoped we could keep Doc coming and going so we’d have updates.
“Too bad it seems like we’ve been led in this direction from the start,” she said.
She had a point. It wasn’t like we were getting along better on this trip. We’d had several fights, when, back home, we’d been fine. Plus, this kept happening to us. I was almost certain Vespa was the one who had our hotel room compromised, but without proof, I could do nothing. There was nothing for me to put my finger on. If he wanted us to stay with him, fine, but he was just going to have to deal with our precautions.
“Let’s get packing and get the hell out of this place,” I said.
“Wait, speedy. I haven’t even warded the car yet.”
Oops. I was getting ahead of myself again. “Good point. I’ll pack, you go ward the car.”
“Now, you make sense.” She grabbed some witchy stuff and left the room.
I turned to look at Lucy. Poor kid. She’d been through enough, but there just wasn’t anything else to do. I knew she was going to get tired of the whole thing pretty quick. That just meant I had to work harder to get it all done faster. “I hate to do this, but, Lucy, I don’t want you leaving that car until Isaac says it’s okay.”
Now, what made me pick Isaac instead of myself, I don’t know. Maybe subconsciously I was sensing that things would maybe not appear to be what they seemed. Though, everything with this trip could be described that way. And, even though I hadn’t heard about it, there wasn’t anything that I’d read so far that said a marker couldn’t be possessed. I knew a cat could not. He was the safer choice.
“What do you think, Doc?” I asked.
“I think I’ll go do some spying.”
“Not a bad idea.” He disappeared with a pop. “Want to help me pack?” I asked Lucy.
“Nope,” she said and giggled. I shook my head.
###
I did get everything we owned in the suitcases. I’m not sure if Tabby would appreciate my packing style, but she could fix things later. I even made the bed. Lucy stayed in front of the TV, almost as if she were trying to memorize as much as she could since she wouldn’t be watching TV for awhile. Part of me really hoped that this wasn’t going to b
ecome the cranky young kid in the car thing. But I had my doubts. Lucy knew the ramifications of all of this. Vespa scared the shit out of her. And she didn’t act like she was six most of the time. I was banking on that.
Finally, Tabby came in.
“We need to get Lucy some books and some toys so she’ll have something to do in the car,” I said. Better at least get the kid something to help entertain herself. Asking her to do nothing for days would be cruel as hell.
Tabby dumped the little container of sage into her backpack. “Is there anywhere in town that sells that type of stuff?”
“What about the hotel gift shop?” I asked. We didn’t have time to run all the way out to the Wal-Mart and back before we were supposed to meet Vespa.
“Good idea. We’ll look while you get us checked out.”
“Works for me.”
###
We headed downstairs. Tabby did help me get the suitcases to the front desk, then she sauntered off with Lucy. It was probably better I deal with the idiots alone anyway. Tabby had a worse temper than I did.
There was a different girl at the desk than the sour puss I’d dealt with. I really hoped the bitch got fired, but I doubted it.
“Checking out?” she asked with a smile.
“Yup. Jimmy Holiday.”
She pulled up the information and then printed something out. “Just sign here, sir.”
I looked at the paper. It was a letter of sorts stating that I was accepting restitution. Restitution for what?
“What’s this?” I asked.
She peered into her computer again. “The owner requested that your bill be on us for all of your trouble.”
I could tell she didn’t exactly know the story. She seemed a little confused. I wasn’t about to go into it. We had to get to the diner.
“All right. That does help things.” I signed the paper and handed it back to her.
“Hope you have a nice day, sir,” she said. I nodded, pulled the handles up on both suitcases, and headed out to the car.
Surely, Tabby would realize where I was when she was done finding Lucy toys. If she didn’t, she could text.
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