by G A Chase
With a problem in hand and no one to fight with, Sanguine used her brain like a high-speed computer devoid of emotion. “Time moves because the occupant, Serephine, is in intimate contact with people in this realm—Kendell and Myles. From what Antoine said, we have to assume Kendell and Myles can’t escape. And the only way to move Serephine away from the mansion is with an object. She’s a spirit, like Antoine. Removing Kendell and Myles would be more complicated as they’re now in another dimension.”
Minerva wasn’t the stupidest of the group and for the most part knew to keep her mouth shut to let others think, but this time, she spoke up. “Can’t Baron Samedi stick his cane to the wall like he just did to get Serephine out? It worked for Antoine.”
The boy nervously shook his hands. “That won’t work. I wasn’t with Kendell and Myles. On my own, I could escape. Sere would feel obligated to stay even if she could leave.”
Much as Sanguine hated to admit it, Polly’s criticism about wasting time was starting to ring true. “You girls get going. Take the dogs. They proved pretty useful last time. My guess is Colin’s playing with fire again. Baron Samedi, Antoine, and I will find a way to remove Serephine from the mansion, which should make the fire stand still.”
Lynn looked like someone who’d just gotten the punch line to a joke someone had told hours earlier. “Is that why Madam de Galpion’s shop and the Scratchy Dog didn’t burn? But how come the wraiths still got to torment us?”
Polly grabbed the confused girl’s arm. “All very good questions—for another time.”
Once the distracting women had left, Sanguine turned to Baron Samedi. “To call Serephine forth, we’ll need one of her possessions. As we know, those are currently in the convent. And I’m guessing you can’t bring your magic wand onto church grounds.”
“She needs to manifest here. This was her father’s office and, more importantly, a crossroads of dimensions. She and Antoine are safe here or at the mansion, but nowhere else.”
Dammit. “Right. I’ll be back as fast as I can. Be ready.”
As Sanguine ran through the Quarter, she wondered if a swamp witch would be any more welcome at the convent than a voodoo loa of the dead. The physical exertion helped drive the self-doubt from her mind. She’d bust the door down if she had to.
When the abbey walls came into view at the end of the street, Sanguine had lost all patience. She didn’t even slow down as she lifted her feet and slammed her side against the solid door. “Open up right now!”
She backed up and launched her body at the door again. “I don’t have time for your shenanigans. There’s a fire, and I need something you have.”
As she ran at the door for the third time, it opened a crack. The gap grew considerably larger when her hundred-and-fifteen-pound muscular body hit the center of the door.
The old Mother Superior lay flat on her back inside the gate. “Excuse me. You’re not welcome in here.”
Sanguine really couldn’t have cared less what the old woman thought was appropriate decorum in her grandmother’s realm. “Where’s the trunk we just dropped off? I need something out of it, and I don’t have time to discuss the matter.”
The woman pointed toward the Spanish-style sanctuary. “My novices dragged it into the rectory. But you won’t be able to enter.”
“And why the hell not?”
The woman struggled to her feet, regaining her dignity in the process. “Because, witch, this is holy ground. Outside, you might have the protection of your demon grandmother, but inside one of our buildings, you’re at our command. Tell me what you’re looking for, and I’ll get it for you. But don’t for a moment think this is part of your domain.”
For Sanguine, taming her enthusiasm was like trying to get her hair to behave—possible, but not without casualties. “There’s a folder of drawings. I just need one of a young girl. That’s it.”
The old woman motioned her to follow. “You could have just asked.”
* * *
Colin resisted dancing around the room like a foolish schoolboy who’d just set fire to his sister’s Barbie Dream House. But the fact was, he couldn’t have envisioned a better outcome.
Not that he could see the flames across the street. In that reality, time was moving forward. His would stand still until some benevolent being allowed it to progress. That didn’t mean, however, that he didn’t have his little spy.
The flame in the blue-glass jar that he left in the middle of the room leapt out of the narrow opening and shot halfway to the ceiling, mirroring what its brothers were experiencing in the house across the street. Colin looked back out the window and tried to estimate how much of the mansion would be engulfed. All the while, he kept an eye on the front door to see if that spunky guitarist and her dolt of a boyfriend had figured out their predicament.
Though he felt a momentary pang of regret at having missed his chance to bed the girl, she’d become too much of a pest for him to keep up his little games with her. The boyfriend, however, would be no great loss to anyone.
He heard the running footsteps and cries of “Kendell!” and “Myles!” before seeing the four women racing down the center of the street.
“Foolish girls. You’re in my dimension. What did you think you were going to see—a raging inferno?”
He crossed his arms in smug satisfaction as he watched the women’s looks of confusion. They’d be staring at the same run-down house—no flames, no falling timber, and most of all, no Kendell and Myles.
Their voices carried clearly up to him in the otherwise silent neighborhood.
“What do we do?” the short brunette asked in a childish panic.
The tall blond singer he’d seen onstage was a little too blatant with her sexuality for his tastes, but she had a lovely voice even when not singing. “Only the top two floors look burned. If I’ve understood that crazy witch and loa, what we’re seeing will remain this way for us. So we go inside and see if we can determine the cause of the fire. Maybe we can find some drapes or something to smoother it out.”
“Wouldn’t work, Polly. The fire would just stay there like it was painted on the walls,” said the tall, thin, butch-looking woman with the shaved head. He’d never cared much for her.
The four women stood there like silly children trying to summon up enough bravery to enter a haunted house during Halloween. He looked at the mansion again, trying to see the damage to the top two floors. To him, the sections looked as they always had. “Interesting. So you can see farther ahead in time than I can. How can I make that work to my advantage?”
The blonde took off at a run. “The mansion is in this arrested state of demolition. If we knock out the downstairs doors and walls, maybe Kendell and Myles can escape in their dimension. Even if they aren’t with us, at least they won’t get stuck in a burning building.” The others chased after her.
He gripped the top of his iron cane. Even if he could catch up to them, it’d be one man against four much more agile women. “It won’t matter. Even if that pair escape, they won’t be darkening my hell again. I can live with them being in some other realm.”
Just the same, he turned to the door to pursue the women. Standing in the shadowed opening were three beasts with glowing red eyes and baring razor-sharp teeth.
“Away with you, creatures. This is my realm, so you are under my command.”
But the animals continued to creep into the room. With military control, two took up flanking positions along the sides while the all-black leader continued his direct, slow attack.
“I’m not afraid of you. Did Baron Samedi conjure you up like that she-wolf at the bank?”
Unlike that creature, these three thinner and meaner-looking demons didn’t have someone calling them off. The two bitches triangulated their approach. Arrogance only worked to a point. If he couldn’t bluff, he’d have to fight. From years of corporate experience, he knew he had to go after the leader.
Colin held his iron cane like a baseball bat with the handle a
dding weight and menace to the end. “All right, you want to dance? Show me what you’ve got.”
But the animal didn’t take the bait. He glowered toward the floor, taking aim at Colin’s ill-healed leg.
“Smart boy. Figure out an enemy’s weakness and let him know you know. But you’ve miscalculated.”
From his left, the tan-and-black-camouflage bitch lunged at his hip.
He had to swing the metal bar close to his side to catch her in the jowl, but her momentum managed to drive her teeth into his arm. Blood began gushing from the four punctures.
The animal whined at being struck but showed no signs of giving up her post. The black leader didn’t chastise her. He didn’t even look in her direction. Like a military general, he’d watched the encounter to determine his opponent’s tactics.
Colin backed closer to the window. Escape wasn’t his best course of action. The girls might be in the house, but the loud commotion would bring them outside. He didn’t care about being discovered, but being so fully outnumbered could end badly for him. His heel struck the window molding. He was the proverbial cornered animal, and that made him dangerous. Like a baseball player warming up on deck, he swung the metal bar in a full arch.
The three animals were just out of range. His show of strength hadn’t impressed any of them, not even the one with blood oozing from the open wound on her jaw.
The muscles of the black leader’s shoulders and haunches rippled. Colin knew what the animal was thinking. He’d been there many times in the boardroom and remembered that luscious first scent of fear. The moment had come for the attack, and there was no way Colin could take on all three animals.
While still holding the metal club menacingly at the animals, he knocked the foot of the cane against the base of the large window. The mostly ornamental latch gave way with only one firm shove. “Okay, boy. I’m headed out this window. Hopefully, that’s all you want.”
He turned and dove through the opening with more agility than he’d displayed since college. From two stories up and landing on grass that was more marsh than lawn, Colin only lightly bruised his arm, though his rib again burned. He headed down the street, not bothering to wait and see if the hell creatures were interested in following.
* * *
“This is bad, really, really bad.” The poor child had her arms around her knees and was rocking forward and back in the corner of her room.
Kendell couldn’t stand to see her so afraid. “We’re in your reality now. You won’t be hurt here.”
“You don’t understand. Antoine will be stuck in father’s hell.” Her large azure-blue eyes glistened. “And you two won’t have a way back.”
Kendell turned to Myles. “Are you sure you smelled smoke? I mean, I might be a little musty after all this non-time stuck in Colin’s hell.”
Serephine wasn’t having any distraction. “No, it’s on fire. I can feel it. The magic mirror must have broken from the heat. Antoine would be here if our cabinet wasn’t broken. This is our home. We shouldn’t have been playing with that stupid magic door. I knew that woman was going to bring us trouble.”
Kendell didn’t want to give Serephine more to worry about, but Agnes Delarosa had a lot of damn nerve using a young, innocent child as part of her gate from life to hell. She curled up behind the girl and tried to hold her tightly, but her arms went right through the small body.
“I told you this is bad. You’re here in spirit, but your bodies are still in that magic box in the burning house. Just like how I was there in spirit but solid here.”
Kendell started to really get worried, but she couldn’t let Serephine see that fear. “We have friends in that world. Antoine will have help. From what I know of him, he seems to be a very smart man.”
“He’s brilliant, but he’s not yet a man. And father is scary no matter what world he’s in. This is bad.”
She could tell the girl was about to break down. Unable to hold her, Kendell did the next best thing she could think of. It hadn’t been the first song she’d ever learned, but “Bridge Over Troubled Water” was the song her mother sang when Kendell was scared. Singing it quietly to Serephine helped ease both their fears.
Myles knelt against the wall as she finished the song. “Sing another one. What was that piece you used to play for Cheesecake when she wasn’t feeling well?”
She could tell he wasn’t asking for entertainment purposes. “What did you hear?”
“It’ll sound stupid, but I thought I heard Cheesecake trying to sing along. You once told me Polly could pick out a tune in just a couple of notes. Think she could figure it out if it was in doggy language?”
Kendell began to get excited. “If she does, she can have one of the girl puppies.” She turned back to Serephine, who didn’t seem to understand what was going on. “I’m going to sing a song that was very special to my dog. We think she’s on the other side of your magic door. If my friends are with her, we might be able to open a link.”
“I won’t be able to go with you.” Serephine got up so fast Kendell checked to make sure the floor wasn’t on fire. “My brother’s calling me. But I can’t leave you two in danger. It’s my fault you’re here.”
Myles stayed on his knees so he could talk eye to eye with the girl. “This isn’t your fault. You’re a very brave little girl. Check first to make sure he’s safe. Can you tell?”
Serephine cocked her head to the side. “He’s in Father’s office. He’s not alone, but it’s not Father he’s with.”
Myles put his hands next to the girl’s feet. “It’s okay. That’s our friend. He can look a little scary, but he’s here to help. We’ll meet up with you as soon as we’re free. Thank you for showing us your room.”
While he was assuring the girl, Kendell had taken his spot close to the wall and begun singing “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Serephine turned to her and pointed toward some loose beadboard. “It’s opening.”
First to stick her nose through the opening was Cheesecake the she-wolf. Serephine screamed loudly, and Kendell heard a voice from the other side, demanding to know if everyone was all right.
“It’s okay. That’s just my dog. I know she looks scary, but she’s not really.”
As if to prove Kendell’s point, the fearsome beast who could only get part of her head into the room looked up at Serephine and gave a playful “woof” that she reserved for her puppies.
“You see. We’re going to be okay. You can go. We’ll see you as soon as we can.”
* * *
Myles hated the smell of smoke that permeated every stitch of his clothing and would probably stay there until he got back to his own reality, where time and baths existed. As he stood outside, he held Kendell tightly. She smelled equally sooty. “That was closer than I’d have liked.”
Everything above the ground floor of the house was in full blaze, and the room they’d been yanked out of had boards falling from the ceiling. “Yikes. You girls dove into that?” Even Cheesecake snuggled against Kendell’s side at the sight.
Polly sniffed at her clothes. “It wasn’t that bad when we went in.”
Myles wondered if he’d ever adjust to how time jumped the rails in this reality. “Let’s get out of here. I want to see what Baron Samedi, Sanguine, and Antoine came up with to save Serephine.” He looked again at the burning-building tableau. “I guess we’ll need to find another gate.”
He happily returned the car keys to Minerva before climbing in the back of the van. It felt like a week had passed since he’d driven the thing.
Cheesecake took her usual spot across his and Kendell’s laps. He gave her a big hug. “You did amazing, girl. Hey, where are your pups?”
Polly turned to look at him from the front seat. “As we came up the street, they snuck into a yard across from the Laurette mansion. They looked like they were on a mission, so we didn’t disturb them. Those dogs have their own agenda, and at this point, I’m inclined to go with whatever they have in mind.”
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br /> He had to agree with her assessment, but that didn’t make him less nervous about what the puppies were up to. “They are going to be a handful when we get home.”
The bank looked quiet enough as the bus rolled to a stop out front. Though the peaceful scene meant Myles and the group weren’t diving into another conflict, it also meant that action was probably going on elsewhere.
Kendell pulled Myles from the back seat. “I want to make sure Serephine made it safely. I can’t stand the idea of her being stuck in that burning building.”
They ran through the dark bank to the upstairs office. Kendell nearly broke the latch on the door as she burst into the room. Baron Samedi and Sanguine were working on some mystical incantation at the desk while the two youths sat quietly on the large leather couch.
“You two are okay?”
Serephine got up to speak for her and her brother. “We were waiting on you. Baron Samedi and Antoine were able to pull me from the picture of the bank in my room through the carving of our house on the wall.” She pointed to the engraving on the wainscoting.
Though Myles was relieved that everyone had escaped, the demolition of the Laurette mansion did interfere with their plans. “So now we have the guardians but no gate.”
“I’m not sure I’d call a teenager and his younger sister sufficient guardians of a devil.” Polly was never very diplomatic.
Antoine stood up and took his sister’s hand. “I know we appear as children, but I have all the memories I acquired in life, including how I prevented my father’s curse from ruining my family. We don’t need to physically fight him, only remain true to what we remember. He can’t bully us.”
Polly didn’t seem convinced. “Perhaps you have enough hatred to carry you through thousands of years as protector of the gate, but what about your sister?”
Serephine looked up at her brother before answering. “We’re two sides of the same coin. Father will have to prove to Antoine that he’s not a threat.” She looked back to the bandleader with her light-blue eyes. “And he’ll never be able to lie with me present.”
