Belinda’s muscles went weak. She clasped her hands together and brought them up to her mouth. Johann watched her as she began to rock gently back and forth on the bed while staring at the floor. The demon hunter reached out and placed his hand gently on one of her knees.
“Belinda. Don’t worry. Just because it’s powerful, that doesn’t mean Bob and I can’t get rid of it. We just have to find out where it is, and we can take care of it. I promise you.”
Belinda continued to rock. She gave Johann a brief look then turned her eyes back to the floor.
“Okay,” Belinda said weakly.
After a few more minutes Belinda let out an exhale and stopped rocking. She placed her hands on the bed and looked at Johann.
“So, what do we do now?” she asked.
“Bob and I want to meet with Becky. You said she has friends who are into the occult. We wanna find out if they have a photo of the church before the rubble was cleared.”
The reporter looked at David, then back to Johann.
“Why would that be important?” she asked.
“Because we think we may have found the spot where the demon was trapped. I want to see what was in that spot that held it there.”
“Well, she’s going to be busy with the wake and funeral the next few days, so I don’t know when you could get a chance to talk with her,” said David. Johann looked at him.
“At the wake. I’ll talk to her at the wake,” Johann said.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” asked Robert. “I mean, she’s going to be grieving for cryin’ out loud.”
Johann looked at him sideways then turned to him.
“I know that, Bob. But if she’s into the occult like her friends, we can tell her what’s going on. I think she’ll be able to deal with it. Besides, if she’s already having nightmares we may not have much time left. That thing is coming for her. We need to talk to her as soon as we can.”
Robert raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. Johann made a valid point. He hated to do things like this, but it may save the young woman’s life.
The only worry he had was how their news would be received. If Becky wasn’t into the occult like her friends and she thought they were crazy, what would she think of what Johann and Robert were going to tell her? Would it take her further out of their reach, making it impossible to help her? On the other hand, she did go to her friends to find out what her mother was doing with the sage and jewelry, so she must give them some credibility. He looked at Johann.
“You’re right. We need to get to her as soon as we can,” Robert said.
“I think we should all get some sleep. I think we have a long day coming up tomorrow,” Johann said, looking at all three.
-10-
The next morning Johann and his group arrived at the funeral parlor handling the arrangements for the burial of the deceased mayor. Johann and Robert were both dressed in the suits they had purchased the day before. As a precaution they placed the fake badges on their lapels and the earbuds in their ears. After all, gotta look the part, right?
Johann shrugged when he noticed Belinda was looking at him with her eyebrows raised. He was sure she thought he was up to something weird, but he didn’t feel like explaining.
When they arrived at the funeral parlor they were immediately impressed. The line of people waiting to pay their last respects to the well-loved mayor was overflowing the building. Johann found a parking spot in the crowded lot, and the four walked to the line.
As they stood there Johann looked at the large mahogany door and saw that he recognized the officer on duty. His lips curled into a smirk. I knew it would pay off to wear these suits again.
“Come on. I don’t feel like waiting. We need to talk to Becky as soon as we can,” said Johann as he ushered the others out of the line.
“Johann, it’s rude—” Belinda started. Johann turned to her. Holding up an index finger he gave her a stern look.
“We’re trying to save lives. Time is of the essence. I know we can get in without any problem. Just follow my lead.”
Johann and Robert walked to the front of the line with Belinda and David in tow. Robert was wondering how they were going to get in until he recognized the officer at the door. Even he smirked when he saw the policeman. He knew right away what Johann was up to.
As they approached the door, Officer Jeffries instantly recognized Johann and Robert. To emphasize the intimidation, Johann glared at the officer over the top rim of his glasses.
“Special Agents Kirk and Picard. Please go right in,” the officer said. Belinda raised her eyebrows. She sucked in her upper lip to keep herself from laughing. David faked a cough.
“Thank you, Officer Jeffries,” answered Johann. Then, putting a hand out to Belinda and David, added, “These two are with us.”
“Please go on in,” the officer said. “Oh, Special Agent Kirk. I was wondering…”
Johann stopped and looked at him. He raised his eyebrow, waiting for the question.
“Uh… I was wondering. Will the president be coming to pay his respects?” the officer asked, almost in a whisper. Johann gave him a stern glare before he answered. “That’s classified. All I can tell you is to keep security tight, Officer.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer replied. He stopped just short of saluting the demon hunter.
After they walked into the parlor and were out of sight of the officer, Robert spoke up.
“Johann, did you have to do that to him? The poor boy’s gonna have a heart attack with you around.”
“Agent Kirk? Picard? Good one,” David chuckled as he patted Johann on the back. The demon hunter looked over his shoulder and gave him a smile.
They walked into the room where the mayor’s coffin was. They looked around at the crowd of people who had come to pay their last respects. There were several hundred people in the large room and hundreds more waiting in line.
The casket was a beautiful wood coffin with white satin on the inside. Johann was surprised to see that it was an open coffin. He had been sure that it would be closed.
There were bouquets and flower arrangements everywhere they looked. The room was rich with the scent of rose and lily. It was so heavy, in fact, that they almost couldn’t breathe. At the head and foot of the casket were candles on tall candle holders. There was an organ in one corner of the room and the organist was playing religious music at a very soft volume.
Johann studied the crowd. Some of the people were sobbing; others were crying hard, and quite a few had blank stares of disbelief on their faces. He watched as mourner after mourner gave their condolences to Becky and George who were seated right in front of the coffin. Surprisingly, it appeared that this time Becky was in control of her emotions, and George was the one breaking down.
Johann swallowed hard. Funerals always played with his emotions, even when he was a priest. He brought his hand up and quickly wiped a tear away from his eye. This small action did not go unnoticed by Belinda and she put her hand on his arm. Truth be told, she would accept any excuse to touch the demon hunter.
“She’s in a better place now,” Belinda said, trying to make him feel better. Johann turned to her. His eyes were moist.
“Is she really? I hope so. It’s not like a lot of people think it is,” he said, hinting to her that what she might have been taught in catechism may not be entirely true. She looked up at him and furrowed her brow.
He turned his attention back to the casket.
“We still need to get that bastard,” Johann said. He took his wallet out of his pocket and retrieved one of his cards.
They made their way to Becky and George. Johann knelt down in front of them. With his card concealed, he took Becky’s hand.
“Becky. George. We’re so sorry for your loss. We never knew your mother but it’s obvious she is well loved in the town,” Johann said to them.
“Thank you,” said George. He was trying desperately to hold back his tears. Johann looked at him t
hen turned his attention back to Becky. She looked at him and they locked eyes. Johann slid the card into her hand and closed her hand on it so no one could see the card. She allowed him to control her hand as though she were a rag doll.
Becky looked down and Johann squeezed her hand. She looked back up at him and he whispered in her ear.
“Look at the card later and call me. It’s very important. Don’t let anyone else see it.” She looked at him with her brow furrowed, and tilted her head to the side. He locked eyes with her and slowly raised his eyebrows to emphasize his point before getting back to his feet. Johann stood to the side, allowing the other three to give their condolences as well.
Seeing that there were empty seats next to the siblings, Belinda and David sat down; one on each side. Belinda sat next to Becky and David sat next to George. They tried to help console the deceased mayor’s children. Johann nudged Robert and nodded to the outside.
The two demon hunters walked out into the waiting crowd outside, which had grown considerably since they had arrived. Feeling confident that the police officers could not see them, Johann decided it was time for another ploy. He took the notebook and pen that he always kept with him out of his pocket. Robert followed him as they walked up to an older man who was standing by himself.
“Excuse me, sir?” Johann said. The man turned around and eyed the stranger who was talking to him.
“Yes? Can I help you?” he said. His very heavy drawl made it quite evident that he was from the deep south.
“My name is Bond, and this is Flint. We’re reporters with the Charlotte Sentinel. We were sent here to cover this tragic event. We’re so sorry for the loss of your mayor. Do you mind if we ask you some questions? We’ll only keep you for a moment,” Johann said with his best southern drawl. The man eyed the two suspiciously before he decided to talk with them.
“No, I don’t mind. What do y’all wanna know?”
“Well, there seem to be a lot of people here who really loved this mayor. Would you say she was well-loved?”
The man knitted his brow as though he thought the question stupid. “Well, hell yeah, I would say she was loved. She was the best-damned mayor we’ve had in this town in years.” He put a cigar in his mouth and lit it.
“That’s pretty much what we’ve heard. What about her vice mayor. Is he well-loved, too?”
The man’s gentle look turned to a scowl. He jerked the lit cigar out of his mouth and used it to punctuate his feelings.
“That son of a bitch? Well-loved? Hell no, son. He’s tryin’ to kill this town is what that devil’s tryin’ to do. Can’t leave well enough alone. Has to go diggin’ up the past. Things what happened in the past got no business bein’ here in the present.” He shoved the cigar back into his mouth.
“What things? What things from the past?” Johann asked. The man took the cigar out of his mouth again and gave Johann a stern look.
“I don’t wanna talk ‘bout it no more, son. Just mark my words. That son of a bitch outsider got no idea what he’s messin’ with. Take my advice. Stay as far away as ya can.” He dashed the cigar out on the sole of his shoe and stuffed the butt into his pocket. He looked at the two smartly dressed demon hunters.
“Now if’n y’all will excuse me, I gotta go give my condolences to Becky and Georgie,” the man said. Johann and Robert watched him as he sauntered off into the funeral parlor. Johann turned to Robert.
“Holy shit. If the demon doesn’t get this guy, I think the town’s gonna just flat out lynch him,” Robert said. “Maybe we should warn him.”
“No,” said Johann. “I already have a bad feeling about this vice mayor guy. So far, everything we’ve heard seems to be confirming it.”
“Everything we’ve heard? What did we hear?”
“Don’t you remember? The night she died, the people in the bar all but blamed the mayor’s death on the vice mayor. Then Becky obviously didn’t like him. Now this guy. I bet if we keep asking, we’ll find out that nobody likes him. Except, maybe Georgie.” Johann looked around at the crowd. “He sounded pretty scared to me. I think they take the legend of the church rubble very serious here.”
“I think you’re right,” answered Robert. “I think they have good reason to.”
“Hmm,” Johann murmured. He started to walk toward the officer at the door. Robert followed alongside. He had no idea what Johann was doing, but he thought it best to be there anyway. They reached the officer and Johann looked at him.
“Excuse me, Officer Jeffries. Can you tell me when the new mayor is going to come and pay his respects?”
The officer looked at him. He was surprised that this Secret Service agent didn’t know.
“He was already here, Special Agent Kirk. He was the first one here this morning. He wanted to come when the crowd would be the smallest. I thought you would have known that.”
“No. We weren’t informed. The president was only interested in Mayor Benson, so we didn’t have any reason to keep tabs on her vice mayor,” Johann answered quickly, as he turned and walked away. He surprised himself at how easy it was becoming to impersonate anyone he needed to be. Then again, he had been doing this for a few years now, so it should be getting simpler.
Johann and Robert spent the rest of the day standing near the casket, watching the crowd carefully. If anyone there were possessed by a demon, the two demon hunters would spot it, and know about it right away. As the day wore on and it became obvious that nothing was going to show itself, Johann became restless.
He took it upon himself to go out into the crowd and get a closer look at everyone. His actions were being watched by Becky and George. Becky studied Johann for several minutes.
“What is he doing?” Becky asked Belinda. Belinda looked at the demon hunter. She had a good idea what he was doing but didn’t dare mention it to Becky. She didn’t know that Johann had given his card to Becky, and she looked at it when she had excused herself to go to the ladies’ room earlier. Belinda had to think fast and come up with something that sounded at least plausible. She looked at Becky.
“I don’t think there are any demons here,” Becky added before the reporter could answer her first question. Belinda raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and shook her head.
Johann stood near the line. He noticed that an opening appeared right in front of him. He saw an elderly woman with a very kind face had stopped, and was looking at him. He tilted his head to the side, wondering why she halted.
“Young man, would you like to get in line in front of me to pay your respects?” the kind woman asked. Johann studied her to make sure it wasn’t a demon trying to trick him into a vulnerable position. Convinced she was nothing more than a good-hearted woman, Johann’s lips curled into a warm smile.
“Thank you kindly, ma’am. That’s very nice of you,” Johann said as he got in line in front of the woman.
After a short wait, Johann reached the casket. He knelt down and clasped his hands together in prayer. He looked at the mayor’s corpse. He was happy to see that she wore the expression that most corpses have—what appeared to be a small smile.
As he studied the inside of the casket he saw the photographs family and friends had placed there. One photo in particular caught his eye and he couldn’t help but stare at it. He knew he was going to have to ask Becky about this one.
It was a photo of the mayor. It looked like it had been taken fairly recently. But, what he found so interesting was that it was taken in front of the ruins of the church, and Emily Thomas was in the photo. They were standing next to the spot in the church where Johann believed the demon had been trapped.
He studied the photo and was able to make out the church cross laying on the rubble, fully intact. So, that’s what had the son of a bitch trapped. The cross from the top of the church landed there. It must have been running from the church when everything collapsed.
“Yes, it was. Now it’s free. You have to stop it, Johann,
” a voice said. It was a slight whisper, but he heard it loud and clear.
Johann blinked and looked at where the voice came from—in the casket. His heart raced, and he caught his breath when he looked down and saw the mayor’s eyes were open. She was looking at him with a blank stare. He looked sideways at the person next to him and was relieved to see that the person was simply saying prayers and paying respects. That meant that only Johann could see this.
“It was freed when the vice mayor cleared the land, wasn’t it?” Johann asked. He looked back at the corpse and its eyes were again closed. He knew the conversation was over. At least he now had confirmation that the demon is free.
He noticed something sticking out from under the deceased mayor’s head. It looked like some leaves from a plant. When the person next to him got up, and before the next one kneeled down, Johann took a small piece of the plant and looked at it. He smelled it as inconspicuously as he could. It was sage. Interesting. Why would someone put sage in a coffin? To protect the corpse of course.
Johann said a quick prayer then blessed himself and got to his feet. He walked over to Becky and George and gave them his condolences once more.
A short while later the visitation hours were coming to an end, and people were beginning to leave. Johann knew that this would be the perfect time to speak with Becky. He watched from a distance as mourner after mourner paid her one last visit before leaving the funeral parlor. After she greeted the final one, Johann walked up to her.
“Becky, do you have a moment?” he asked.
“Sure Father,” she answered, looking up at him. He stood about a foot taller than her, so she had to look up to speak with him.
“You don’t have to call me that. I’m not a priest anymore,” he said. She looked down then back up at him. “Becky, when we interviewed you for the news I remember you said the vice mayor was evil. What made you say that?”
The young woman looked down and nervously played with the card in her hand. She was trying to decide how to answer the question. She looked up at Johann.
Night Mares Page 10
