by Joey Ruff
“Who the fuck is this Dusares?” London said.
“Dusares was the god of the Ammonites,” Levi said. “Although they called him by a different name. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, they say. The Ammonites were survivors. The Israelite God pronounced similar doom to them, yet they continued on. Dusares agreed to help our tribe, by providing the fruit that would grant the Edomites power, but also the attributes of their forefather, Esau.”
“Nothing’s given for free,” I said. “What did your god demand in return?”
“Sacrifices of the unworthy,” he said. “And total fealty.”
“So no fucking outsiders ever eat the fucking fruit, I bet,” London said. “Right, brother?”
“No,” Levi said. “It is unheard of.” He looked straight at me. “Your existence is an abomination to my people. An affront to Dusares. That is why you must die.”
23
Swyftt
I woke up alone.
My chest stung, my face was burning. My head throbbed. I sat up to find myself on a cot in a jail cell. There was nothing else in the small space but a sink and a toilet. Brick walls surrounded me on three sides, bars on the fourth.
My pockets were completely empty. My gun was gone. Huxley was gone.
I stood on shaky legs and hobbled over to the sink, turning it on, waiting for the water to warm. It didn’t. I splashed cold water into my face, saw the red water splash back into the basin. I felt my face. My nose didn’t appear to be broken, but there was a cut over my left eye. The blood was mostly dry, but it oozed just a little.
I shut the water off and turned around, walked to the bars, and tried to look around. It was an empty hallway, not very long. There was only one cell – mine. I stood there against the bars for a minute, mainly because they were cold and felt good on my skin, but also because I was trying to listen. It was late, I knew, but didn’t know how late. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been out.
I thought of Nadia, alone in the woods with those things. I tried to convince myself that she was okay. That they weren’t eating her. Bigfoots were vegan. At least, I’m pretty sure I heard that somewhere.
I stood against the bars for a short time, just listening, even though there was nothing to hear. It didn’t seem like a very large office to begin with, there’d be even fewer people for the graveyard shift. Eventually, I just gave it up and went and sat on the edge of the cot again. Like I always did when I was hurting and alone, I began thinking miserable fucking thoughts. Thoughts about how I’d failed Nadia. She was gone. I began to doubt if I’d ever even see her again. Like Chuck. It’s what I told DeNobb. You just didn’t make friends in this line of work. There was always something out there to fucking take them away. It was best to be alone.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t pay any attention to the squeaking noise. It was faint at first, but seemed to grow louder. Then it stopped. From the other side of the bars, Huxley said, “Are you crying?”
“Fuck you,” I said, not looking up. I turned toward the back wall and ran my hands across my eyes, just to be sure, wiping away the tears that weren’t there.
“Take care of yourself,” Huxley said. “I’ll wait.”
“Piss off, Hux.”
I turned to look over at him. The doll was standing there in the hallway, no taller than an action figure, with one finger-less paw on the bars and the other on a single roller skate. Sticking out of the top of the skate was the handle of my FN.
“Where the bloody hell did you get that?”
“All of your belongings were put into evidence lock-up, myself included. This thing was just sitting in a corner.”
“I’d hate to see the crime committed with a bloody skate.”
“I would’ve been here sooner, but I seem to lack the opposable thumbs I’d grown accustomed to.” He stepped through the bars and came to stand in front of me. “Also, it’s harder to get out of a plastic zipper baggie than you would expect.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m having a hard time taking you seriously like this.”
“Balls, Swyftt. Imagine how I feel.” He watched me with those button eyes of his. “You look like hell.”
“Feel like it, too.” I took a deep breath. “Mind if I ask you a question?”
“Okay.”
“What I told DeNobb earlier, about you, er…as the doll. The amulet bound to your soul, the doll to your body. Is it that simple?”
“I would hardly call that simple, Swyftt. But to put it simply, yes.”
“Where’s your mouth?”
“I have no mouth.”
“Then how do I bloody hear you?”
“I do not know for certain, but I have made an educated guess.”
“And that is?”
“There are some schools of thought that believe in astral projection,” Huxley said. “The soul houses our memories, our thoughts, all the things that make us uniquely individual. It is our true self. While the soul is separate from the human spirit, the two often work in tandem with each other. As the spirit controls our emotions, it also allows us to interact with other spirits. This is done by the spirit world. Astral projection is a means by which the soul leaves the human body, though remaining tethered to the body by the spirit.”
“You’re losing me fast, mate.”
“The soul can learn a sort of spirit language. When I speak, your ears do not hear my voice. Your soul does.”
“So it’s like ESP then?”
“I suppose so.”
I thought about that for a minute. “When you died, did your soul not crossover? Is this a ghost thing? The amulet becomes a cursed object?”
“No,” he said. “That is the complex part. Indeed, my soul crossed over when I died. The part of me that exists now in this amethyst is only a copy.”
“What does that mean?”
“What do you think the amulet is?”
“You always said it was like a battery. That when you used magic, it drained you, and the amulet would allow you to draw on stored energy. You called it your second wind.”
“This is half true.”
“Okay…”
“Every night, I would, I guess you could say, download my memories and thoughts into the amulet.”
“Like a back-up?” I stretched, feeling the soreness in my chest. “For what?”
“To keep a part of myself separate. Undisturbed.”
“Why? Because of Ezra? The voodoo doll?” I pulled my shirt off and saw the big, purple bruise that had developed on my chest.
“Swyftt, there’s something I never told you…,” Huxley said, looking over at me. “Shit and shingles. What the hell did you do?”
“You’ll have to be a bit more specific, mate.”
“That’s Aegir’s mark. Tell me you didn’t.”
“Oh, that. It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal? Did I teach you nothing?!”
I didn’t say anything, didn’t even look at him. I just slipped my shirt back on to cover up the mark. “Don’t change the subject, mate. You were just telling me something.”
“Swyftt, how could you make a deal with a devil like that?”
“I didn’t make any fucking deals. You’re making a bigger deal right now than I made with him. He told me he would help me with Anna if I took out the sodding gargoyles for him. Since I was already planning on taking out the beasties, it didn’t seem like a big deal. I would’ve done it anyway. Figured, why not get a little something for my troubles.”
“Now he’s got you.”
“Bollocks. People keep fucking saying that, but I didn’t sign up for that.”
“Do you not see, that is how evil works. You invite it in of your own freewill, and slowly, little by little, it takes you over. It starts small, simple, makes you think it’s your own idea. Take out the gargoyles. But as you continue to make compromises, evil takes more and more ground. Eventually, there won’t be any part of you left to recognize.”
“
What are you fucking talking about? Taking ground where?”
“In your soul, Swyftt. What is the first rule?”
“The best weapon is knowledge. Always appear confident. Always remember to breathe. Which one?”
“Always keep yourself guarded. What do you think that means? Certainly not carrying around a shield.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Tell me about your ability.”
“My… What about it?”
“Does it hurt?”
“Yes.”
“I thought as much. Your ability is a gift of light. You have perverted it with Aegir’s darkness.”
“I can deal with the fucking pain, Hux. It almost feels good sometimes. And it’s…it’s stronger than it’s been since…well, a long fucking time. I get results now that I never would’ve gotten.”
“That power is not given freely. It is a currency. Be careful how you spend it.”
“Aegir’s an idiot, mate. He’s clueless. I tricked him and doubled crossed him. Now he’s pissed at me. You got nothing to worry about.”
Huxley’s laughter sounded sad. “Aegir is not a fool, Swyftt. He has been around since the dawn of time. He has been known by countless names…”
“Like Veles?”
“Like Poseidon. He is serious. And he does not act rashly.”
“You weren’t there, Hux. I’m telling you…”
“I’m telling you, Jonothan. Whatever impression you took of Aegir is the impression he wanted you to take. He is cold and calculating, and the power he gave you, he wanted you to think it wasn’t a big deal, because he wants you to use it. You may have thought you fooled Aegir, but make no mistake, Aegir knew exactly what he was doing, and he fooled you, instead. And if Aegir picked you, it’s because he has a plan for you.”
“I… How do you know all of this?”
Huxley didn’t answer. He just slumped his little doll shoulders and turned back to the roller skate. The wheels squeaked as he pushed it up against the bars. “Take your shit,” he said. His tone was that of a disappointed parent. I suddenly didn’t want to be anywhere near him.
I knelt and stuck my hand between the rungs and pulled my gun from the boot. Out of habit, I ejected the magazine to make sure it was loaded, then slammed it back in. “If you’re done lecturing me, maybe you can tell me how I’m supposed to get out of here?”
“Oh,” he said. “Now you want to think things through?”
“Fuck off.”
He shook his head and motioned to the skate. “It isn’t empty, Swyftt.”
I loosened the laces and pulled back the tongue of the shoe to find my mobile phone, my wallet, a gathering of pocket change, and a single key on a small, metal ring.
I took the key and stood, reaching around and unlocking the door. It swung away from me with a yawn. “Cheers,” I said.
Huxley didn’t say anything.
“It’s been a long, fucking day,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”
24
At the end of the short hallway was a big metal door. It stood ajar wide enough to squeeze a skate and a doll through, but I stopped short of pushing it open further. There was a window in the top half, and I could just see an empty office beyond.
“Stay here,” Hux said, speaking again for the first time. “I’ll signal you when it’s safe.”
He slipped through the crack and disappeared. I didn’t see where he went from there.
Through the window I could see the far end of the office, beyond the desks and the reception counter, toward the main entrance. After a minute, Huxley appeared in the space beside the reception desk and a potted fern. He waved to me.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the office. By all appearances, it was empty, and I didn’t stick around to figure out where the two officers were. I headed to the front door, stopping by the reception desk for a moment.
“What are you doing, Swyftt?” Hux said. “You’ll be seen.”
The top of the desk was scattered with files and loose papers. I didn’t stop to read them as I began rummaging through, shuffling the papers, lifting the files. “Take a breath, Hux.” I opened the lower drawer on the right, finding only pens and paper clips and other odd shite. The drawer below that had what I needed, just under an oversized hand bag. I pocketed it and, as I moved from the desk, had a second thought. I scanned the row of binders lined up at the head of the desk until I found the phone book. I took that, too, and ducked out the front door into the night.
Outside, the parking lot wasn’t large, lit by only a few street lamps. There were three cars, two squad cars, and a motorcycle. The parking lot turned onto a street that stretched on in both directions, but all I could see were trees alongside it.
Rather than stand around in the main entrance, I walked toward the side of the building, away from the main road, and ducked around the corner there. As I leaned back against the brick, Hux hobbled along after me and found a spot on a rock near my feet.
I cracked open the phone book as he said, “What are you doing?”
“Same thing we were trying to do before. But seeing as how the sodding church is out of the picture, we have to choose a different target.”
“And what would that be?”
“Well, when I woke up in jail, I figured I wouldn’t be getting that list of vandalized places from St. Clair, after all. So it got me thinking about what he said. He said the factory was hit. Like there was only one of them. I thought maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to find in the bloody directory.”
“No need,” Huxley said. “I know the one.”
“How the fuck do you know the factory?”
“I lived here for a time when I was married to Ezra. There is only one factory. For meat processing. Chickens, I think, unless they changed things. It was a decade ago.”
“Great. Where is it?”
“North. Maybe fifteen minutes by car. Which we don’t have.”
I smiled, lowering the phone book, and pulled the set of keys from my pocket.
“Where did you get those?”
“In the desk in there.”
“So you’re just going to steal a car now?”
“Borrow, mate. Desperate times and all that.”
“You could just call your apprentice and have him pick us up.”
“No time for that. Nadia’s in trouble.” I lifted the set of keys, looking at the remote, and I aimed it into the parking lot and hit a button. The lights flashed on a black sedan. “Looks like we found our ride.”
I picked up Huxley and jogged over to the car, slipping in and starting it up. I left the headlights off and waited for the air conditioning to get cool. Hux was in the passenger seat, sitting atop the phone book. “Jono,” he said. He never called me Jono. “You seem to really care about Nadia. I…”
“Don’t, Hux.”
“Thank you,” he said. “For what you did. Raising her. You…”
“I said, don’t, you stupid tosser. Don’t get all maudlin on me now.”
I turned the radio up, knowing that it wouldn’t really matter, as he wasn’t physically speaking, but I’d hoped he’d clue in to the symbolism. Putting the car into gear, I pulled up to the street, and turned right onto the road. As I drove, I glanced over at Huxley, and suddenly remembered Samedi. Remembered what I agreed to give him for the information. It sent cold shivers all over me, and I shrugged it off, pushing the thoughts away.
“Hux,” I said. I turned the radio down, not for the symbolism this time, but because I didn’t want to feel I had to talk over it. “Have you heard of Telluric energy?”
“Balls. Of course, I have heard of it. Ley lines. Yes. What of it?”
“Have you ever heard of it gathering? Collecting?”
Huxley chuckled. If he could have, I’m sure he would’ve given me that smile he so famously gave me in life, while he was training me and I would begin to put things together. It was that knowing, happy smile when I proved I could be taught. It reminded
me of a bloody hyena. I hated that smile. “A mana pool,” he said.
“Mana pool?” I echoed. “Rolls off your tongue a lot better than telluric puddle.”
He laughed again. “Yes. Why do you ask?”
“Because I found one. Back home.”
“And you use it to watch Anna.”
I felt the shivers again, but this time, it was warm. Like a low-voltage jolt from a live wire.
“How…?”
“Because I know you, Swyftt. I know you spent the last ten years wondering why I chose you to raise my daughter. And that answer is quite simple. Because I know the kind of father you would’ve been to Anna. The kind of father that you are.”
It must’ve gotten foggy all of a sudden, because it was getting harder to see the road. I blinked a few times, keeping both hands on the wheel. “Fuck, Hux.”
“I have seen mana pools before. They tend to draw those who seek power.”
“Why? It just shows you the dead, right?”
“No,” he said. “Far from it. That is but one side-effect. This, Swyftt, is what makes you dangerous. You hint at truths but do not seek to understand them. Just like with Aegir…”
“We’re not getting into that again.”
He made a noise.
Despite his words, I was reminded of what Samedi had said. About not understanding the costs before paying the price.
“What do you think mana is?” Hux said. “The telluric energy that flows through Ley Lines?”
I looked over at him. The doll didn’t exactly emote, so I wasn’t sure if the question was rhetorical or not. I didn’t say anything.
Eventually, Huxley said, “You know the Bible. Tell me, in the book of Genesis, how does it begin?”
“In the beginning, God made the heavens and the Earth?”
“Not the scripture. Creation. God says, ‘Let there be Light.’ And there is light. Day two, again, he speaks. Let there be a vault between the waters. The same with the next day and the day after that. Each day, God spoke the world into being.”
