by Sara Snow
Even if I did that, though, it didn’t change the fact that Carter was on all of our minds now, and especially hers. Even if I didn’t particularly like the guy, he was a part of the Venandi, and that wasn’t a bond I could deny. He’d stood by my dad as their leader for years, and now that they were both gone, it felt like my responsibility to restore the group to the best of my ability. I think that was what my dad would have wanted, anyway. And besides, he probably wouldn’t want me getting between Georgia and Carter right now anyway. My feelings for her were still as real as ever, but I had to focus on the task at hand.
Georgia took her hand from my shoulder and nodded in the direction of the church. “We need to get a move on. We won’t be strong enough to face the Tenebris on our own and we need to strategize. We have to get back to Eli and Jose at the warehouse as soon as possible. We don’t know where Paimon is going to be keeping him, so until we do, all we can do is try to plan our next move with them.”
“Alright. Let’s go,” I said as we all made our way back to the car.
Everyone was uncharacteristically quiet on the walk back, but I couldn’t be bothered to break the silence. I had to make a plan for our next moves. We had to get back to the warehouse to the others. Maybe when we got closer, Olympia would be able to find him, or Jose would have a dream and tell us where he was before Paimon did. If we could just get the drop on him, we might stand a chance.
Emphasis on the “might.”
The car was sitting right where we left it outside the sandstone church. Olympia pulled on the handle to climb in and we all had a realization when the door didn’t budge.
“Do you have the keys?” Olympia asked us both.
“Shit! It’s Carter’s car, of course he has the keys,” Georgia groaned.
Fuck.
“Alright, so what do we do? We have to get back to Chicago somehow!” Olympia cried. “Does anyone have any magical teleportation powers they’ve been keeping a secret that you want to use now?”
I had already pulled out my phone to search for a locksmith in the area.
The magic of the internet, anyone?
“There’s an auto shop nearby with lock servicing for vehicles. We should give that a shot.”
Olympia groaned, stomping her heel impatiently. “Of course we have to walk even farther. Battles to the death with demons I can do, but this? Ugh.”
Georgia snickered. “Just fly your broomstick there, then Miss Witch.”
Olympia rolled her eyes playfully with an exasperated sigh. “You think you can get rid of me that easily? You’re dead wrong. Which way, angel boy?”
I loaded up the directions, ignoring her little patronizing nickname, and let them take a look before we headed off. The walk wasn’t too bad, though it wouldn’t have been half as bad if Olympia hadn’t continued to complain about being tired the whole time.
Georgia huffed. “Alright, you can give it a rest, Olympia. I want to fall asleep watching reruns of Sabrina as much as the next chick, but we have to kick demon ass for now, so perk up!”
Olympia seemed offended. “You think I want to watch Sabrina reruns? Do you even know me at all, Georgia?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder for emphasis. “I want to watch the new Sabrina, obviously. There’s more blood and everyone is way hotter.”
They burst into laughter and for a moment it was nice to feel normal again. We were all clearly reeling, but to hear them banter like nothing was wrong was a breath of fresh air.
After a short while, we began to hear the telltale buzzing and whirring of an auto shop echoing out of a concrete building up ahead with large garage doors sitting open. We walked inside, surprised to see only one mechanic working, who seemed equally surprised to see us.
He was seated next to a raised car working on the tires when he scooted his rolling chair back to greet us.
“Evening,” he said. “What can I do for you?”
Georgia stepped forward, turning up the charm. “We’re hoping you can help us with some lock trouble we’re having. Some asshole we thought was our friend stole the keys to my car and now we’re stranded. Dick move, right?”
The mechanic raised an eyebrow, seeming skeptical. “Dick move.”
“So we’re hoping that you’ll be able to help us out and get us back in. We’ll also need a new key made while we’re at it. It’s not too far, I promise we won’t take up too much of your time.”
He crossed his arms. “You got a matching license and registration for that car?”
“Well…”
“Sir, we don’t,” I butted in. “We’re on an incredibly important mission to fight forces you couldn’t even dream of, the outcome of which will decide the fate of the world. If we can’t get a new key for this car and get back to Chicago as quickly as possible, everyone on Earth will be in danger. Everyone.”
He didn’t take long to process my request. “Sounds serious,” he said with a nod.
I was surprised it didn’t take more convincing. He seemed to accept what I said without hardly giving it a thought, which seemed weird considering the scale of what I’d just told him. I mean, as long as I told the truth, people believed me, but that was about common stuff, not things most humans would think were impossible. The only time I’d ever tried to be honest with someone about something supernatural was when I told a girlfriend I was half-angel, and to say she didn’t believe me would be an understatement. In fact, I’d almost ended up in a mental hospital. Yet this was the third time that I’d told somebody something pretty insane sounding and had them believe me, and my spidey-senses were tingling.
The first time was at the church where we’d tried to hide from the demon kings. I told a priest that we were running from demons. It sort of just slipped out and I hadn’t really meant to be that transparent about what we were doing, but he was doubting our motivations already and I just kind of said it. He seemed to believe me without question. Up until now, I had brushed it off, assuming that he interpreted that as us running from our metaphorical demons or maybe hiding from some demon-like person who was trying to hurt us or something like that. His responses had all seemed a bit too on-the-nose to have been speaking metaphorically, but I assumed he was just trying to humor us without prying too much.
But now this mechanic and those cops at the graveyard seemed to just take whatever I said and accept it as true. I couldn’t figure out why they’d do that. It wasn’t like they had any stake in what I was saying, since they didn’t actually understand the threat. For all they knew, I was just some nut job on drugs spouting doomsday nonsense with a couple of friends who were tripping balls with me, yet they’d just believed me outright with no hesitation.
As curious as I was, I would have to figure it out later. There were more pressing issues at hand.
“Do you think you can help us out?” Georgia asked.
“I got a tow truck out back. Why don’t you guys show me where you’re parked and I’ll see what I can do to get you back on the road,” the mechanic said.
“If we can even get it going again,” Olympia sighed. “The car’s seen better days.”
The mechanic adjusted his hat as he grabbed keys hanging on a pegboard over a table. “We’ll see if I can’t do something about that, too.”
Olympia’s and Georgia’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Olympia gasped. “That’s so cool of you!”
He huffed a laugh. “Well, I can’t leave you guys hanging, can I? It seems like you have some pretty important work to do.”
All things considered, that seemed like the understatement of the century.
2
Eli
Staying up into the late hours of the night to monitor Jose’s dreams was something I’d only recently had to start doing. Ordinarily, he was capable of writing down his own visions, but lately they’d become so much more intense. He was experiencing extreme bouts of channeling that rivaled even Hollywood movies in terms of intensity, even going so far as causing him to seize. I’d become accustomed to
the routine quickly, keeping a notebook nearby so that when Jose began to chant or shout or do any of the variety of things that he did when he was having a vision, I could write them down as quickly and accurately as possible.
Ordinarily, Kingston helped me with that, alternating shifts so that we could each get at least a bit of sleep, but with him off in Texas helping the others, it fell solely on me now. It was the first night I was on my own and I really tried to stay awake, but at a few points in the night, I naturally nodded off in my chair. I’d become used to waking up to the sounds of Jose’s visions, as frightening as they could be sometimes, but it stopped bothering me after a bit. I was certain that if anything important happened, I’d be woken up.
What I wasn’t used to was waking up to Jose sitting straight up in his bed staring at me with the widest eyes I’d ever seen, completely silent. It had startled me when it happened, and when the adrenaline wore off from my initial surprise, I realized that he was awake.
“Jose…?” I asked, suppressing a yawn. “What’s wrong?”
Jose remained frozen and everything suddenly felt more severe. It wasn’t like him to be quiet like this. The urgency wasn’t lost on me. I quickly moved from my chair to the side of his bed, grabbing his shoulders, squeezing them tightly.
“What is it, what’s the matter?” I asked much more seriously.
“It’s… He’s… Gone…” Jose muttered.
My heart pounded in my chest, afraid of whatever Jose would say next. I reached up, brushing some of his messy mop of hair off his forehead, trying to be reassuring even though I was terrified.
“Who?” I asked.
Jose just sat silently. He was shaking, and I was honestly surprised that I wasn’t too. I took a deep breath, rubbing Jose’s shoulder as comfortingly as I could.
“Hey, hey, it’s ok, Jose. You’re alright,” I whispered. “Who’s gone?”
Jose moved his mouth like he was going to answer, but he was breathing shallowly and I could see panic setting in. I gave his shoulder a squeeze and stood from the bed, handing him the pen and notebook.
“You don’t have to say, it’s ok. Write their name down. I’m going to get you a glass of water, I’ll be right back,” I said, giving his hair a reassuring ruffle.
As I made my way to the kitchen, I could feel my knees shaking, like my legs didn’t want to carry me back to the room to find out what Jose saw. I had to be strong for him, though. He was counting on me to protect him, and I couldn’t let him sense my fear.
Standing in the kitchen, filling up a glass of water from the sink with my hands shaking, I was afraid that I already knew what that notebook would say when I got back.
Georgia
That mechanic was good. He’d gotten the car hooked up and dragged back to the shop in no time flat and fixed us up with a replacement key almost as quickly. The repairs didn’t seem too extensive, but I didn’t really know enough about cars and their guts to follow along. But once again, Jacob came through with his Jedi mind tricks or whatever the hell it was he seemed to be able to do. I had no idea what secret, truth-bestowing wizardry he was working here but ever since the church, he’d been saying things that went completely unquestioned, even though I thought for sure that we were done for when he said them.
I never expected anyone to believe the weird, apocalyptic nonsense we were trying to explain to them, but something about Jacob seemed to have them convinced. It could have been his charm or charisma or something like that, but it didn’t seem like that’d do the trick for the things we were trying to get them to go along with. Our stories were too bizarre for that to be it. I’d have to try to remember to ask him about it later.
The drive back seemed to pass in a haze. Everything seemed to take impossibly long, but simultaneously zipped by. It was a strange way to experience time, but in the long bouts of silence I found myself wondering what horrible conditions Paimon would be subjecting Carter to and that didn’t seem to make things go by easier. Considering his position as a king of Hell, I couldn’t imagine it would be good.
As we drove down the highway, I realized that we’d have to tell Eli and Jose what happened. I fished my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my contacts with shaking hands until I found Eli’s name.
Jacob noticed me fidgeting with my phone, reluctant to press the call button. “Do you want me to tell them?”
“No,” I said, adamant. “This is my fault. I should tell them.”
“It’s not your fault,” Jacob said. He sounded sincere, but then again, maybe he was just using his powers of persuasion or whatever they were on me.
I pressed the button and put the phone up to my ear. “I’ll do it.”
“Put it on speaker,” Olympia said. “We can all tell them together.”
I still intended on delivering the brunt of it, but the idea of having them with me on the call made me feel at least a bit better. I held the phone over the center console so everyone could hear.
“Georgia?” Eli’s voice answered eagerly.
“Yeah Eli, it’s me.”
Jose seemed to hear me almost right away. “Georgia!” I heard him shout in the background.
“Can you put me on speaker phone, Eli? You’re on speaker with Olympia and Jacob.”
Just Olympia and Jacob, I almost said. Two members of the party conspicuously missing from that list. Surely Eli would notice.
I heard a compliant noise and then the sudden switch in audio. I swallowed hard. Jose’s excitement to hear me made the knowledge of what I had to do hurt that much more. I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but it seemed like my job to break it to them.
“Hey Jose,” I said, trying not to sound too sad right out of the gate.
I was so used to being the one receiving bad news, I’d never quite learned how to give it. I noticed that Eli was suspiciously silent.
I took a deep breath. “There’s something I have to tell you guys.”
Eli sighed, and on the other line was silent for a few moments. I considered jumping right into the bad news, but everything seemed off and I thought it best to let Eli break the silence, even if it was just to ask me what the news was.
“We know about Kingston,” Eli said. His voice was quiet, much softer than usual and full of hesitation. “Jose had a dream about it. I was hoping it wasn’t true but… This call seems to be a few party members short.”
Ah. So that was why he was so quiet before. I should’ve guessed. There was some shuffling on the other line as we all silently acknowledged the truth.
“I’ve been having dreams about Carter, too,” Jose piped up hesitantly after a moment.
“What kind of dreams?” I blurted.
“Strange ones,” Jose said, seeming puzzled. “I think Carter was talking to me.”
“Talking to you?” Olympia asked. “He can do that? You can do that?”
Jose made an uncertain noise. “I was last night. I think. Or I was inside his head, maybe? I’m not really sure, but it was so much more vivid than my usual dreams.”
“Ok, we can figure out the logistics later, but you could see Carter, right? Where is he? Is he ok? What did he say?” I asked rapid-fire, not even offering a moment for him to think.
Jose fell quiet again. “Well…”
“It’s ok, Jose. Just tell me. The sooner we can find him, the sooner we can go get him,” I said.
There was dead air on the other line. Finally, Eli spoke up. “He’s not doing so hot, Georgia.”
Ok, that was a given. “How bad?” I asked.
“He’s… he’s in danger,” Jose said. “Paimon is going to kill him if you don’t join him. He’s angry that you tried to kill him and the other kings and is toying with Carter to get back at you. On top of his obviously wanting you to help him take over the world, he wants revenge.”
I clasped my hand over my mouth. “Has he hurt Carter already?”
There was more silence on the other line. “It seems like it. Pretty badly,” Eli sa
id after a moment. “But Georgia, Carter is half vampire. He’s a tough guy. He’ll be alright. We just have to hurry.”
No matter how much the thought of Carter being tortured sickened me, I knew Eli was right. We had to keep our heads straight.
“We’re still a bit far out,” Jacob said. “It’s about 16 more hours back to Chicago, but we’re not going to be able to make the trip straight. I think we’re all too exhausted. We’ll need to stop for the night at some point but when we get back, we’ll regroup and figure this all out. We’ll find Carter and get him back.”
“Right,” Eli said. “You guys drive safely. We don’t need to lose anyone else here.”
A solemn moment passed between everyone before I ended the call. It had gone better than I expected, but the outcome was the same. Carter was still suffering at the hands of Paimon and we were helpless to stop it. If distance made the heart grow fonder, then whatever the hell this was would probably make my heart explode. I set my seat back and let my eyes stare out the window trying not to imagine what sort of pain he was facing, though I couldn’t stop the anxiety from eating away at me. I found my heart wrenching for him. I just kept picturing him somewhere cold and dark and alone and in pain. I squeezed my eyes shut and decided to think about something else. Anything else.
I tried with all my might for as long as I could, but nothing would come into my mind’s eye except Carter’s anguished face, whispering my name with a mouth full of blood.
Jacob
I had noticed it started during the phone call, but as the heat in the car began to rise even more quickly, I couldn’t help but look over at Georgia’s worrying face in the passenger seat. Her eyes welled with discreet tears, and I could tell she was feeling the weight of all of this on her shoulders. I became more and more certain that she was the source of the heat. It would stand to reason that with her pyrokinetic abilities, she would be able to control the heat of her surroundings, and with her fraying emotions over this situation, it seemed the likeliest explanation. Before I could check in with her, Olympia piped up from the back seat, tying her long hair into a ponytail with urgency I’d never seen from her before.
