A Fistful of Demons

by Lily Harper Hart

  Becky narrowed her eyes. “You’re pretty smug, huh? You just assume that Cooper is going to choose you even when he knows all the facts.”

  In truth, Hannah was convinced Cooper had made his choice long before he spent the night. She didn’t have time for petty conversations, though. There were other things to worry about. “Talk to Cooper,” she prodded. “I think that’s going to be best for everybody.”

  “Oh, I’m definitely going to talk to Cooper. You can count on it.”

  COOPER AND BOONE SAT IN WINGBACK CHAIRS across from Patrick and Lindsey. The latter kept rolling her eyes and making huffing noises. The former, however, seemed lost in thought.

  “I don’t know where to begin,” the boy nervously stated, gripping his hands together on his lap. “There’s so much to say ... and some of it might sound weird.”

  “I work in a town where people pretend to be from the Old West,” Cooper reminded him with a smile. “I’m familiar with weird.”

  “Yeah.” Patrick spared a glance at his mother, who looked to be having some sort of inner conversation with herself that wasn’t going well. “Like I said, he was a weird baby. I know I’m only two years older than him, but I remember being about five or so — which would’ve made him three — and I found him sitting in the sandbox in the backyard. He was ripping worms apart and laughing.”

  Boone frowned as he shifted. “As gruesome as that is, I think that’s a boy thing. He might not have realized he was destroying something.”

  “I guess, but that was hardly the first time he killed stuff just for the fun of it. He went after bugs all the time when he was really little. Then, when he was five or so, he started going after squirrels and birds.”

  Lindsey stirred. “What do you mean by that? How could he go after them?”

  “He threw rocks ... and set traps. I don’t know how he figured out the traps. They were weird. He took netting and rope from the yard and he would trap squirrels ... and chipmunks ... and birds. Whatever he could get his hands on.”

  “And he killed them?” Boone queried.

  “Yeah. He liked it. He would bash their heads in with rocks. Sometimes he would cut them open with a knife.”

  At this, Lindsey scoffed. “What knife? We got rid of all the knives in the house when he was four and threatened to kill your grandmother by slitting her throat.”

  Boone cocked an eyebrow, dumbfounded. “And you didn’t think it was weird for your four-year-old to threaten to kill his grandmother?”

  Lindsey balked. She clearly didn’t like taking the blame. “Um ... excuse me, but little kids do that all the time. Patrick used to pretend he was the Hulk and threaten to smash everything in the room.”

  “That’s normal,” Cooper noted. “The Hulk is a superhero ... and saying things like that and following through are entirely different things. I’m willing to bet that Patrick has never killed an animal.”

  Patrick swallowed hard. “You would be wrong there, sir.”

  Cooper was taken aback as Lindsey’s eyes filled with triumph.

  “See!” She jabbed a finger in his direction. “I told you Logan was normal. You think he’s a monster, but he’s a normal boy.”

  “He’s not normal,” Patrick countered. “He’s pretty freaking far from normal. I only killed a rabbit — it was actually a small bunny — because he was torturing it and I didn’t want it to suffer.”

  Boone took pity on the boy and nodded in understanding. “You did what you had to do. When was it that Logan killed the bunny?”

  “He was seven.”

  Lindsey started vehemently shaking her head. “No. That’s not right. I think I would know if my son was torturing animals. There’s no way he could hide it.”

  “He didn’t hide it,” Patrick countered. “Dad knew. Dad buried all the animals. Dad told me not to say anything. Dad is half the reason this went on for as long as it did.”

  Lindsey opened her mouth, something acidic on the tip of her tongue, but Boone cleared his throat and sent her a warning look before she could unleash whatever fury she had building in her son’s direction.

  “When did your father first find out what your brother was up to?” he asked after a beat. “I mean ... when did he find out about the animals?”

  “I don’t know.” Patrick shrugged. “I remember him finding a dead squirrel when Logan was about four. He thought a neighborhood cat ripped it apart. I wanted to tell him then that it was Logan, but I was afraid.

  “After that, more animals turned up and Dad figured it out at some point,” he continued. “He was furious and yelled at me. He thought I was doing it. I said it wasn’t me and he didn’t believe me at first ... but then he started watching Logan.”

  “Watching him how?” Cooper prodded. “I mean ... did he say anything to your brother?”

  “He said things to him a few times, but Logan wasn’t afraid. You know how most kids are afraid of their parents?”

  Boone shook his head. “Actually, no. Children should never be afraid of their parents. That’s not normal.”

  “Maybe afraid isn’t the right word,” Patrick hedged. “I never wanted my Dad to be disappointed. That always kind of made me freeze up. Logan didn’t care about that. It was almost as if he was playing games with Dad.”

  “Can you give us some examples?”

  “Well ... Dad had dirty magazines in his shed that he liked to look at.” Patrick shot his mother a worried look, but her face remained placid. If the magazines were a surprise, she didn’t show it. If she was upset about the revelation, she was holding it back. “He would go out there and look at them sometimes.

  “We knew about them because we stumbled across them when we were looking for wood to build a treehouse one day,” he continued. “Logan wouldn’t stop looking at the magazines. I mean ... I looked at them, too, but that’s all Logan wanted to look at.”

  “I think certain magazines are a rite of passage,” Cooper offered, uncomfortable. “I don’t know that looking at the magazines means anything.”

  “It wasn’t just looking at the magazines. Sometimes he would rip pictures out. When Dad realized what was happening, he totally flipped out. He started yelling and screaming. He threatened to take our bikes away. He wanted to know which one of us ripped apart his magazine.”

  “Did you tell him?” Cooper asked.

  “I was afraid to.” Patrick was sheepish. “I was looking at the magazines, too.”

  “What about Logan?” Boone pressed. “Did he own up to mangling the magazines?”

  “He didn’t say anything. He just let Dad melt down. After that, Dad started hiding the magazines. Logan turned it into a game to find them. Each time he did, he trashed the magazine even more.”

  “How so?”

  “He started drawing on the photos. Um ... he used a red pen to look like blood and made a lot of the women look dead. Dad was really mad and he ended up burning all the magazines. I asked him why and he said he didn’t want proof around the house in case Logan did something. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I figured it wasn’t good.”

  Boone and Cooper exchanged heavy looks.

  “At some point your father figured out it was Logan, right?” Boone finally asked.

  Patrick nodded. “He was different after that. Between the animals and the magazines ... he seemed sadder. He and Mom started fighting all the time. I heard him telling her there was something wrong with Logan, but she always argued against that.”

  Boone’s gaze was accusatory when he turned it on Lindsey. “You managed to leave out that little tidbit, huh?”

  She merely shrugged. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you. My husband was prone to dramatic fits. You want me to agree with what Patrick is saying, but I can’t. Logan is a good boy.”

  “Who you can’t look in the eye,” Cooper pointed out. “You’re afraid of him, too. I don’t know why you won’t admit it. He’s locked up now. He can’t hurt you.” Something occurred to the security guru and
caused him to square his shoulders. “Did he ever hurt you, Mrs. Lincoln?”

  “Absolutely not.” Lindsey was fervent as she shook her head. “He’s a good boy. He’s always been a good boy.”

  “He never hurt her physically,” Patrick volunteered, drawing attention back to himself. “He liked playing different sorts of games with different people. Like Old Mr. Peterson on the corner? He’s always complaining about us riding our bikes on his lawn because the sidewalk is rough over there and it’s killing the grass. Once Logan figured out that he could drive Mr. Peterson crazy, he started stealing weed killer from all the neighbors and dumping it in spots on Mr. Peterson’s lawn.”

  “Let me guess.” Cooper intoned. “Mr. Peterson is one of those people who really cares about how his lawn looks, right? It’s a status symbol for him.”

  “I don’t know about the status symbol thing, but he brags about having the best lawn in the neighborhood,” Patrick replied. “Logan pretty much destroyed Mr. Peterson’s yard for fun.”

  “Oh, this is preposterous.” Lindsey threw her hands in the air. “The yard thing was funny. It’s not as if he was committing mass murder of grass blades. It was just a joke.”

  Cooper found her admission interesting. “I’m guessing you knew more about your son’s exploits than you’ve been letting on.”

  “He was just playing games,” Lindsey sputtered. “All kids play games.”

  “Your son’s games were deadly, though,” Boone pointed out. “He’s a suspect in his own father’s death. You can’t be so blind that you don’t realize exactly what you’re up against here.”

  “He’s a child,” Lindsey snapped. “They won’t put him in prison. They can’t.”

  “I agree that they can’t put him in prison.” Boone was solemn. “If they did, he would be a nightmare to protect from the other inmates given his size. The thing is, we came here because we’re trying to ascertain when Logan changed. That might sound odd, but it’s important. What Patrick is telling us is that he’s always been like this. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to us.”

  Cooper had been trying to figure out the exact same thing. “Do we think the demon was with him from birth? I didn’t know that was possible.”

  “Demon?” Lindsey sat up straighter on the couch. “What are you people even talking about? This is just ... I can’t even ... this is too much.” She slapped her hands over her eyes. “I can’t believe this is even happening. I need another drink.”

  “You need to pull yourself together and take care of the son you have left,” Boone barked, wrinkling his forehead when the cell phone in his pocket started ringing. “I apologize. I have to take this, though. One second.”

  Cooper watched his friend with curiosity as he answered the call. Boone fell silent as he listened to whatever the voice on the other end of the line told him. Finally, Boone spoke again, his tone clipped.

  “I’ll head out to Casper Creek to be on the safe side,” he stated. “I think odds are long that he’ll head that way, but it’s probably best to at least look around. I’ll let you know the status of my search when I get out there.”

  Cooper found his body had tensed as he waited for Boone to disconnect. The sheriff immediately got to his feet, telling Cooper something had gone very, very wrong.

  “Is it Hannah?” Cooper asked, fear coursing through him. “Did something happen to her?”

  Boone shook his head. “No, it’s not Hannah. At least I don’t think it is.”

  He looked pained, which set Cooper’s teeth on edge. “What is going on?”

  “There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. That was the state police. It seems there was an incident at the hospital Logan was sent to for observation last night.”

  “What kind of incident?”

  “A security guard is dead and Logan is missing. It seems he’s escaped. Every police organization in the county is now looking for him.”

  Cooper was dumbfounded. “But ... how is that possible? We exorcised the demon.”

  “I don’t know how it’s possible. The state boys are worried he’s going to head back out to Casper Creek. That seems like a legit possibility, although it would be smarter for him to run. I’m just not sure he’s that smart.”

  “He’s not,” Patrick volunteered. “If he thinks your group is a threat, he’ll go after you just for fun. He likes torturing people.”

  Cooper’s heart skipped a beat. “Hannah. He pegged her as his main adversary. We have to get back to her.”

  Boone nodded grimly. “Then that’s what we’ll do. We need to head out. I think waiting is a very bad idea.”

  Cooper was in full agreement.

  18

  Eighteen

  Hannah still had Becky’s declaration running through her head when she left Casper Creek. Jinx was happy with the walk and yipped in excitement as he checked out every bush. In the back of her mind, Hannah worried about another rattlesnake showing up, but she managed to tamp down the fear. Cooper said it was rare for the snakes to be in the area where Logan was almost attacked. She hoped the odds were against it happening twice in the same week.

  It wasn’t a conscious decision — or maybe it was and she simply didn’t want to admit it — but she pointed herself toward the creek. If Astra was going to show, share information, it would have to be at the creek because they’d essentially cut off her access to the town.

  Hannah hummed to herself as she snapped her fingers to get Jinx’s attention. The dog had shifted from fixating on the bushes to staring at a spot underneath a large tree. The dog was so focused, in fact, Hannah slowed her pace and watched him for signs of distress. She assumed he was looking at an animal, but the more she stared, the more she managed to make out a faint outline.

  “Abigail?” She wasn’t sure it was her grandmother’s ghost. It was a feeling more than anything else. Her gut instinct was rewarded. Her grandmother’s form solidified.

  “It’s me.” She almost looked relieved. “I’ve been trying to contact you for days.”

  Hannah furrowed her brow as she stepped closer to the ghost. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you just come to the apartment?”

  “I tried. It hasn’t been ... easy.”

  If Hannah didn’t know better, she would’ve guessed the specter was in pain. She was fairly certain that wasn’t possible, though. “Is something wrong?”

  “Something is very definitely wrong,” she agreed. “You need to cross the creek.”

  Hannah was taken aback. “I don’t understand. Why would I do that? Cooper says that’s a bad idea.”

  “Cooper is a sweet boy who has a heart of gold. Your safety is important to him, which I respect and admire. He’s not here, though, and Astra needs help.”

  Hannah licked her lips, uncertain. She trusted her grandmother. Sure, she was a ghost, but she seemed to be a friendly ghost. Still, something about this scenario felt wrong. “Did she send you?”

  “I know what you’re thinking.”

  “I don’t think you can possibly know what I’m thinking.”

  “Let me take a shot. You’re worried that Astra has somehow been keeping me from you, that she might be controlling me. You don’t trust her, which is wise. That’s not what’s happening, though.

  “I’ve been having trouble controlling my new reality, which I’ve explained to you,” she continued. “It takes more effort than I thought it would. It’s frustrating. That’s not why I’ve been AWOL, though. Something did keep me away. It wasn’t Astra.”

  Something occurred to Hannah. “Was it the demon?”

  “It was definitely a demon, although not like you’re imagining. I don’t have time to explain things to you. The demon’s energy has been dwarfing mine. Once I’m stronger, that won’t be an issue. That’s not a discussion for today, though. Astra is in trouble and you need to get to her.”

  “Would she do the same for me in similar circumstances?”

  “No. You’re not her, tho
ugh.”

  Hannah wanted to argue. Her brain told her this was a bad idea. Abigail’s plaintive expression had her following her heart. “Okay, but if this is a set-up and she tries to kill me, I’m never going to let you forget it. I’m going to haunt you for the rest of your days.”

  Abigail managed a wan smile. “That sounds exactly like something I would say under the same circumstances.”

  “Lead the way.”

  “You need to hurry. I’m not sure how much time I have.”

  BOONE AND COOPER LANDED IN Casper Creek with minimum fanfare. There weren’t a lot of workers on the premises so Cooper started calling for all of them when he hit Main Street.

  “What’s wrong?” Tyler asked as he scurried to greet his friend. “Did something happen?”

  “I don’t know.” Cooper opted for honesty. “We’ve been talking to Patrick and Lindsey Lincoln. The mother is in denial. Patrick had some interesting — and, quite frankly, very disturbing — information.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “He says that Logan was troubled from the start,” Boone volunteered. “If a demon really did possess him, it did it at a young age.”

  “Hannah saw the demon, though,” Jackie pointed out, her expression grave. “Something was definitely in that boy and we forced out the presence.”

  “I understand that.” Boone was matter-of-fact. “That doesn’t change the fact that the kid has been demented from the time he started walking. He’s been messing with his parents ... and other kids in the neighborhood ... and even older adults since long before he should’ve even been able to grasp what was going on.”

  “What does that mean?” Becky’s expression reflected confusion. She’d purposely picked a spot close to Cooper because she was determined to make her feelings known before the day was out. He might not be interested, might still choose Hannah, but she wanted him to have all the information.

  “We don’t know,” Boone replied. “There are multiple possibilities. The kid might be a sociopath. That could be why it was so easy for the demon to get a foothold in him. There might’ve been nothing inside, nothing good at least, to keep out the demon. It might be something else entirely, though.”