Black Box Inc.

by Jake Bible

  “Yay for me,” I said. “Key. Iris. Where? Do you even fucking know?”

  “We know where the key is,” Harper said. “You have it on you.”

  “That’s a lie,” Lord Beelzebub said.

  “Fine,” Harper said. “In you. We made you swallow it.”

  Ah ha. Why my guts felt like pretzels. Painful, goddamn pretzels. I had a piece of Dim inside me.

  “You what?” I shouted. “Do you know what that could do to me?”

  “Not really, no,” Harper said. “But we didn’t have a choice. Things were moving so fast.”

  “What can it do to you?” Teresa asked.

  “I don’t know. That’s the problem,” I said. “It sure as hell is wreaking havoc on my belly.”

  “That’s why you’ve been off,” Lassa said. “Makes total sense now, dude.”

  “Kiss my ass, pal,” I said. “I have to wait to shit the key out before I can get Iris.”

  “Sorry,” Harper said.

  “I am so sorry to hear about your digestive troubles, Chase, but we still have business to conduct,” Lord Beelzebub said. “Ms. Sullivan?”

  “No, we don’t,” I snapped. “I know where Iris is and how I’ll get her back. Problem solved. We deal with this Daphne thing some other way. On our own.”

  “Yes, how very independent of you, except in your excitement, you have forgotten about the predicament you are in,” Lord Beelzebub said with a smile. “You are in Ekron. In my penthouse. I own your ass, Chase Lawter. I own all your asses. Like that key tearing through your colon, the only way is through.”

  “That appears to be a theme,” Teresa said.

  “Which means you still need my soul or the shapeshifter dies for nothing,” Lord Beelzebub said. “So Chase, how do you feel about making a new deal?”

  22

  SO, I MADE A deal with the devil.

  Like I had a choice.

  There was no way to get out of Ekron without Lord Beelzebub’s consent. And he was still pretty upset with Lassa. Not to mention I had Iris to think about. Not like I could bring her back while still in Ekron. She’d really lose her shit.

  Oh, and I had a Dim key in my gut and had no idea what damage the thing was doing to me other than making me feel like I was gonna goddamn puke or crap or both at the same time at any second.

  Making a deal with the devil (not the Devil) wasn’t the worst thing happening at that moment.

  No, the worst thing happening was happening to Travis. He was dying before our eyes.

  “Can you help him?” I asked Lord Beelzebub.

  “Maybe,” Lord Beelzebub replied. “His kind are . . . off. So many shape shifts over his lifetime make getting the magic right close to impossible.”

  “I know a guy,” Steve said.

  He’d come back into the room, a new suit on after changing out of the one Harper had ruined with the shotgun. He straightened his tie and gave Harper a wink. Surprisingly, she winked back.

  “Let me make a phone call,” Steve said.

  “So, Lord Beelzebub,” Teresa said.

  “Just B, please,” Lord Beelzebub said. “We’re in business together now. Calling me ‘Lord’ is so formal.”

  “I like it formal,” Teresa said.

  “She does,” I agreed. “She still calls me Mr. Lawter.”

  “Lord Beelzebub,” Teresa said again. She was looking down at the contract she’d made. “The deal is that you will provide us with your soul.” She glanced up from the pad of paper. “Are you sure you can do that?”

  “I’m not using the little guy right now,” Lord Beelzebub replied.

  “Very well,” Teresa said, as if he’d said he didn’t need his Honda Civic at the moment and she was welcome to borrow it. “You will give us your soul so we can give it to Daphne. In return for this, Chase will create a trap on this side of your border that the Fae will walk right into. They will be able to walk into the trap because they will have your soul, granting them access through the border cloud without worry of harm.”

  Travis coughed so hard I thought he was gonna hack up a lung right there on the carpet. He was lying on the floor, his head cradled in Lassa’s lap, while the yeti applied a damp cloth to his forehead. We all glanced at Travis, then looked away fast. Not a pretty sight.

  “You will also give us safe passage from your dimension once our tasks are completed,” Teresa continued, tapping a line on her pad. “You will not hold us responsible for anything that happens once Daphne crosses your border and we will not hold you responsible for anything that happens to us on our journey back to the Earth dimension. Did I miss anything?”

  “No, that all sounds good,” Lord Beelzebub said. “Where do we sign?”

  Teresa drew the signature lines on the pad and held the contract out. She held the pen out also, but Lord Beelzebub only laughed and waved a hand.

  “Ms. Sullivan, you’re in Ekron,” he said. “The only way a contract is binding in Ekron is to sign in blood.”

  “Blood signatures are no longer the industry standard,” Teresa said.

  “In Ekron they are,” Lord Beelzebub said. “I only make deals that are eternally binding. And the only way you can bind a deal eternally is to sign in blood. Oldest magic there is.”

  “Quite,” Teresa said and looked at all of us.

  I was leaning with my back against the bar, my eyes locked on the back-and-forth of the negotiations. Lassa was sitting against the wall with Travis resting on him. Steve was in the corner, making a phone call with a phone that looked like an Alexander Graham Bell original. Harper was positioned so she was standing almost perfectly equidistant between all of us, ready to make a move if needed.

  I had to admit that I felt a shitload of relief at having her on our side again, although I guess she’d always been on our side.

  “Mr. Lawter,” Teresa said. “When you are done holding up the bar, will you come sign this?”

  I pushed off from the bar and walked slowly to the coffee table where Teresa had set the pad. She clicked the end of her pen and the ball point disappeared, replaced by a very sharp-looking needle. I got the deed over with fast, pricking my finger, then signing in blood above my printed name. Lord Beelzebub did the same. He stood and held out his hand.

  We shook, and he clapped me on the shoulder.

  “Happy doing business with you, Chase,” he said. “I certainly hope this won’t be the last time. I have a reputation to uphold and working with the defiler of dimensions really makes me look like the scary scum that everyone thinks I am. You’ll be quite an image boost in the most horrible way.”

  “Glad I could help with that,” I said.

  Steve hung up the phone and gestured for me to join him in the corner. Harper followed close behind as I walked over to him.

  “My guy will meet us at the border,” Steve said. “He’s worked on shapeshifters before and thinks he can reverse the problem.”

  “Problem?” I snapped. “Travis doesn’t have adult acne. He’s goddamn dying.”

  “Didn’t mean any disrespect, buddy,” Steve said, holding up his hands. He glanced over my shoulder at Harper, then back at me. “I’m here to help. I like you, Chase. You’ve got balls. But don’t push it with the attitude.”

  “Pushing it is what I do,” I said. “When do we leave?”

  “You may leave right away,” Lord Beelzebub said.

  “Okay, great,” I replied.

  No one moved. We stood there like idiots for a good five seconds.

  “Yeah, gonna need that soul now, please,” I said.

  “Of course,” Lord Beelzebub said.

  Still no movement.

  “Am I missing something?” I asked.

  Teresa stood and walked over to me. She did not look l
ike she had good news.

  “You will need to create your trap first,” Teresa said.

  She could barely look me in the eye. There was a reason for that.

  The reality of what she was saying hit me fast.

  “Whoa! Hold on, now!” I exclaimed. “You want me to build and leave up a Dim trap on this side of the border the entire time?”

  Lord Beelzebub’s smile told me all I needed to know.

  “Having that amount of Dim unfinished and standing by will kill me,” I said. “This wasn’t part of the deal.”

  “Oh, Chase, this is the best part of the deal,” Lord Beelzebub said. “Did you think I’d hand my soul over without there being some sort of insurance?”

  “Chase, we discussed this and you signed the contract,” Teresa said.

  “I think you glossed over that part when you were explaining the details to me,” I growled at her. “You’re my lawyer, Teresa. Your job is to make sure I sign a good contract. One that isn’t going to kill me!”

  “Lord Beelzebub, may I speak with my client privately for a moment?” Teresa asked.

  “By all means,” Lord Beelzebub said and nodded at a door to the right of the bar. “The bathroom is right there.”

  Teresa blinked a couple of times, then nodded.

  “Thank you,” she said and led me by my elbow to the door.

  She shoved me inside. She was right behind me and closing the door before I could say a word.

  “Knock it off, Chase,” she snapped.

  She was pissed. She never called me Chase.

  “This isn’t only about you,” she continued. “This is about all of us as well as Iris. Your friend Travis will be dead within the hour if we do not get him help. Lord Beelzebub’s man has that help waiting for us at the border. A border you promised to protect. That is not negotiable.”

  “I’ve never put up that much Dim before,” I said. “Let alone left it up. I’m a dead man walking with the amount of energy that’s going to take.”

  “There is no other choice,” Teresa said. “We will figure out how to keep you alive. But right now we need to leave this dimension as soon as possible. If there was any other way, I would have put that in the contract. There is no other way.”

  I shook my head over and over. I was about to really lose my shit. That was too much Dim. Too goddamn much Dim.

  “If for anyone, do this for Iris,” Teresa said. “She’s trapped in a box. We have to deliver Lord Beelzebub’s soul to Daphne per the contract. This is the only way we live, you live, and that key comes . . . out of you. Otherwise, what happens if you die? With the key inside you? Does the key still exist? Does the key go poof?”

  “Is poof a legal term?” I snapped.

  “Chase!” My ears took a beating on that one.

  “I don’t know what happens to the key,” I said with a sharp bark of a laugh. “I do know what is going to happen to me. I will be maintaining the Dim trap for what? Twenty-four hours?”

  “At least, yes.”

  “At least. Yes. Jesus Christ . . .”

  “For Iris.”

  “Yeah, I know, I know. For Iris. Goddammit.”

  I stared at her, she stared back, then lowered her gaze and whispered something. I didn’t know banshees could whisper.

  “What did you say?”

  “I’m sorry,” Teresa replied in a slightly louder voice. “I should have held out for a better contract. My only excuse is I could not see a better contract coming. This is Lord Beelzebub we are dealing with, Chase. There is no better negotiator in all of the dimensions.”

  “Great. We were worried about having to fight our way in and fight our way out, but in the end, it’s paperwork that kicks our ass. Just goddamn great.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Harper peeked in.

  “Travis is going down fast,” she said.

  “We’re coming,” Teresa said. “Right, Chase?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  Harper held the door open, and I followed them into the big room. Lord Beelzebub was standing and smiling at me, his hands clasped in front of him.

  “Are we clear on what needs to be done?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but I need something from you first,” I said.

  “I believe the time for negotiation has passed, Chase,” Lord Beelzebub said. “When you signed on the dotted line, then that was that.”

  “I think you can handle this request,” I said.

  “Then lay it on me,” Lord Beelzebub replied. “I’m all ears.”

  “I’m going to need food,” I said. “A lot of food. As much food as we can pack into the limo and still have room for us—”

  “Food?” Lord Beelzebub said. He looked bemused. “That’s all you need?”

  “Human food,” I said. “Food I can eat fast and that will sustain me for the next couple of days while the trap is active. High protein and high carbs.”

  “Like a little omnivorous hummingbird,” Lord Beelzebub said.

  “Yes, something like that,” I said.

  “Fly, little hummingbird, fly,” Travis croaked from Lassa’s lap.

  That was all I needed. That little piece of smart-ass-ed-ness kicked me in the, well, ass. A reminder of what this was all about.

  My friends had saved my life and were risking theirs because we’d gotten into an impossible situation all because of my abilities. I owed each of them big-time. Travis too, even though he was paying back what he owed me. If that meant feeling like I was going to die of starvation for a couple of days, then so fucking be it.

  “I will have food waiting for you at the border along with Steve’s friend,” Lord Beelzebub said.

  “Good to hear,” I said.

  “Are we all right now?” Teresa asked, looking from me to Lord Beelzebub and back. “Chase?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Excellent,” Teresa replied. “Then we should take our leave. We still have a long journey ahead of us.”

  She wasn’t kidding.

  23

  STEVE’S GUY WAS a short little devil with mismatched horns and a stained wifebeater over a sagging paunch. He had on cutoff jeans and wore a trucker cap backward, which only made the fact his horns were mismatched even more noticeable.

  What type of gangster was he supposed to be?

  “What do you see?” I asked Lassa.

  “Redneck,” Lassa said.

  “Me too.”

  “Yeah,” Harper agreed.

  “Vic is . . . different,” Steve said. “Your minds have no influence over how he looks.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” Teresa said.

  “This the shapeshifter ya need worked on or what?” he asked as he scratched his cheek.

  Lassa was holding Travis in his arms as we stood by the border cloud. A truck had pulled up, and Harper walked over to talk to two guys about who was unloading the food Lord Beelzebub had delivered. Maybe talking wasn’t the word. Arguing with the imminent threat of violence was more like it. I knew Harper had everything in hand.

  “This is the guy,” Steve said.

  He motioned for Lassa to set Travis down. Lassa hesitated, then looked at me. I nodded, and he crouched low, gently setting Travis on the asphalt. Travis made a low moan, but that was all. He hadn’t been conscious since we left the palace.

  “All right, let me take a look,” Vic said. He squatted next to Travis and put a hand on his chest. “Hmmm. He walked through the border, you say?”

  “Yes,” Steve replied.

  “While shifted into a faerie?” Vic asked.

  “Yes,” Steve said.

  “He got any allergies that you know of?” Vic asked.

  “What the hell does that have to do w
ith anything?” I snapped.

  “Buddy. Calm,” Steve warned.

  “Yeah, buddy, calm,” Vic said and cackled. “I can’t work around someone all wound up.”