by B L Maxwell
“Wait, let me write this down,” I said as I took out my phone and tapped out the directions she’d described.
“Put an empty bowl in the center, sit on the floor, one of you at each end. Center yourself, clear your mind, and imagine the outcome you’d like: to be cleansed of all negative energy and to be filled with white light that can protect you. Light your candle and continue thinking those thoughts until your candle goes out. It’s best if you don’t extinguish it. It will go out when you have achieved spiritual cleansing. Visualize that the negativity will be trapped in the bowl in the center, the salt and water will help focus it away.”
“How will we know if it’s worked?” Jason asked.
“You’ll know, you don’t realize how much of the weight of the veil you carry with you. All will be lifted after the cleansing.”
“Is that all we need to do?” I asked. It was weird, but it was easy.
“No, you’ll need to get some protections, otherwise you’ll be infected again as soon as you encounter any spirits. Which if you’re going to continue to keep company with this one, it’s only a matter of time before you’re exposed again,” she said, pointing her finger at Jimbo. He squinted at her and took a deep breath before he said anything.
“You know I keep it closed down. I can’t help it if those assholes see me no matter how much I tone it down.”
“I know, James, it’s a blessing and a curse. I’m proud of you for continuing to practice your safeguards. You’ve become quite adept at keeping them at bay. But as I have said before, nothing you do will completely hide you from them, your beacon is a shining star in their darkness. They’ll always search you out, and you must never let down your guard,” she warned.
Jimbo went a little pale and met my eyes for a moment. He was worried, it was plain to see. This was one of the few times he didn’t have a sarcastic response. I realized I would have done anything to hear him offer one of his patented stinging comments.
“You should both get a grounding stone, it will help keep you centered in times of stress and chaos of spirit. Give me a moment and I’ll tell you which stones would be best for you.” She guided us to sit on a chaise lounge, and after closing her eyes, she held her hands above our heads, and seemed to be listening for some sign that none of us could see.
“Jason, for you I think black tourmaline, you must always carry it with you in your right front pocket. It will help ground you and dispel any negativity you encounter.”
“And where will I find this miraculous stone?” Jason asked. Hs annoyance surprised me. He was usually really into learning about anything that involved the spirit world.
Janis smiled at him with her always serene smile. “I have it for you right here.” She opened a small cloth bag that held many stones, and flicked through them until she found the one she wanted. She handed it to Jason, and after he looked at it then showed it to me, he shoved it in the right front pocket of his shorts.
I waited to see what stone she’d pick for me. She once again closed her eyes, and for a moment her eyebrows pinched together; something was worrying her. I glanced at Jason to find him already looking at me. He squeezed my hand as Janis opened her eyes and once again sorted through her bag of stones. “Wade, for you, I choose red jasper. It will give you strength and help with your emotional endurance. I fear you will need all the strength you can get for what comes next.”
“What comes next?” I asked.
She just gave us a knowing smile and turned to walk into the house.
Chapter Six
Jason
We all looked at each other, and Wade’s mom looked more worried than she had before, even when we were on the tour of the underground.
“Don’t worry, Janis knows what she’s doing. She’ll tell us how to power up and protect ourselves, we’ll all be fine,” Jimbo said, mostly to Deidre. “She won’t let any harm come to them, they’ll be safe.”
“It’s not just them, I’m worried about you too,” Deidre said as we walked into the house. Janis sat at her table, tarot cards laid out in front of her. She shuffled them before slowly laying them out in front of her.
“What does it say?” Jimbo asked.
“It won’t be easy, first you’ll need to go to the basement at the restaurant. There you will do a cleansing ceremony. It may not be as easy to cleanse this space as it will be in your own home, and it may take several times. The three of you should be in the spirit circle, along with the owner of the restaurant. You’ll need the help of someone who is tied to the building. And for your own sakes, bring your stones, you will need them.”
“You’re sure Wade won’t be hurt? If there’s anything else we can do to protect him, I need to know, I need him to be safe.”
“You’ll have protection, but you’ll need to cleanse that area first. There are spirits there that can help you, but only after you’ve cleared the darkness, so they can see the white light.”
“Will they leave after that?” Wade asked.
“No, they cannot leave until we confront the master.”
“Who the fuck is the master?” Jimbo yelled, making us all jump.
“You’ll soon know, James, but for now you’ll need to do as I’ve directed. Come here when you’ve finished this task.”
After saying our goodbyes, we settled back in the car and drove over to Wade’s house. The whole way there I went over all the different ways I knew to protect ourselves; I was willing to try them all after what Janis had told us. I squeezed the rock in my pocket, just knowing it was there made me feel slightly better, but as soon as we were home, we’d be doing the cleansing ceremony. I hoped it actually worked and wasn’t one of the many fake ceremonies that produced zero actual results.
“Do we have everything for the cleansing ceremony?” Wade asked.
“I think so, I bought some new smudging sticks that should work great,” I said, reaching for his hand. “Jimbo, are you going to join us?”
“Nope, had enough spiritual cleansing to last me five lifetimes. I’m going to head back to Coloma. When you figure out when you’re going to meet with Dean again, let me know,” he said as we pulled into the driveway.
“I’m going to go work on ordering some promotional stuff for you guys,” Deidre said as she opened the door and stepped out. “See you all later. Bye, James.”
He waved to her, and completely ignored us as he walked to his car, got in, and drove off.
“He’s such a dick,” I said to Wade.
“Yeah, but he’s all ours, no one else would put up with his shit,” Wade said back.
“You’re right, come on, let’s get this over with.”
“Have you done this before?” Wade asked.
“Only in haunted places, but even then, I never knew if it worked or not. You still have your red jasper, right?”
He felt his pocket. “Yep, right where it should be,” he said with a smile.
We walked into the house, and I went to the kitchen to gather the salt, water, bowls, a lighter, and a candle.
“I’ll get the smudge stick and be right back,” I said, as Wade picked up everything I’d gathered and moved them all to the small table in front of the sofa. When I walked back into the room, he had everything ready to go. I sat on the floor across the table from him. “Are you ready to do this?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be. You’re sure you know what to do?” he asked.
“I think so.” I set everything up like Janis had instructed, and before I lit the candle, I reached across the table and took Wade’s hand. He squeezed my hand and took a deep breath and nodded. I lit the candle and then the smudge stick. I blew on it to start it smoking then laid it in an abalone shell. I used a large feather to fan the sage all over Wade. He kept his eyes closed as the smoke enveloped him, waiting patiently while I made sure the smoke had covered every part of him. I then handed him the feather and the bundle of smoking sage, and he did the same to me.
I stood and walked to the back bedroom a
nd smudged every part of the room, repeating this in every room until eventually returning to the living room, where Wade still sat. He watched me as I sat back down across from him, and I took his hand, and another deep breath.
“This ritual will cleanse both of us, all negativity will be gone after we have released it and it has blown away like the smoke on the wind. White light will fill us and leave us both stronger than before, it will protect us. Keep Wade safe from everything evil or any dark forces that would see him harmed. Surround him with white light and keep him safe.”
“Jason?”
“Please keep him safe,” I finished, and felt a tear slide down my cheek as the flame on the candle died on its own. “It worked, the house is cleansed.”
“Jason, I want you to be safe too. I don’t want you harmed like you were at The Vineyard House.” He moved around the table until he was kneeling next to me on the floor.
“This will keep us both safe, but for some reason these spirits seem to have set their sights on you. And this time we won’t let them hurt either of us. We’ll listen to what Janis says, and hope she knows what the fuck she’s doing. But I won’t take any chances with you,” I said as I reached out and pulled him into my arms.
“Jason? I can feel you shaking. What’s going on?”
“Wade, this is different. There’s some force stronger and darker than anything I’ve ever come across before. I could feel it, when we were in that basement, it’s just waiting for someone it can get its claws into and get the hell out of there.”
“Do you think it was trapped there by someone?”
“I’m not sure. But we need to go back there and see what we find. We’ll need to be prepared, and not stay there overnight. It’s too risky for us all. The longer we’re there, the more it’ll poke at our defenses, trying to find a weak part, then it’ll pounce.”
“How do you know this? You’ve never talked like this before about any of the places we’ve gone to.”
“Something happened at The Vineyard House, I know you felt it too. I’m so aware of the spirits now, I can barely keep them out when I’m anywhere they’re at. I have to work on strengthening my defenses. It’s like a huge hole was ripped in my consciousness, and all of them know it. They also know you’re susceptible to them.”
“What do you mean?”
I reached out and cupped his jaw, I couldn’t lose him. He wasn’t just my best friend; he was the love of my life. We were just starting to explore how close our relationship was. “Wade, you’re what they want. Someone who has touched the spirit world and lived to tell about it. You can feel their pain, and they know it. They’ll use that to hurt you anytime they’re given the opportunity, and as soon as they think you’re weak enough, they’ll try to take over your body. Only it won’t be like the Chalmers, it’ll be permanently. The spirits in that basement want help in taking over a body and crossing the veil back to the world of the living.” I pulled him close and buried my face in his neck as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. “I can’t lose you, Wade.”
He kissed the top of my head before he spoke. “You won’t. We’ll do everything we can to keep each other safe, but I won’t risk you either. We’ll both need to be careful, Jimbo too. Did you see the look on his face? He’s terrified of whatever we’re going to face,” Wade said.
“I saw, and he should be terrified. We need to be, and we need to be ready.”
“So, what’s next?” Wade asked.
“Now we call Dean and see when we can spend some time in that basement. Preferably when it’s still light out. At least then they won’t have as much power as they will once it’s dark.”
“Okay then, let’s do this.” Wade handed me my phone then watched as I dialed, his mouth set in a familiar line of impatience and defiance. I hoped he meant it and he’d be careful, because I knew that if something happened to him, there was no way I’d ever recover.
Chapter Seven
Wade
I knew Jason was worried, but I didn’t fully understand why. We’d done this so many times, and the only time we’d been in danger was at The Vineyard House. Since then we’d gone to a few small nuisance hauntings, but after we’d cleansed them, there’d been no discernable activity.
I heard him on the phone with Dean, discussing details about when we’d go there. He was very specific in telling him we would not be there after dark. “I realize you may need to close early, but if you want us to check it all out, we cannot be there after dark. It’s just too dangerous for us,” I heard Jason say. I wasn’t sure why it was so important, but I trusted what Jason and Janis had said, and I didn’t want to take any chances.
When he ended the call, he walked over to where I was standing in the kitchen. “How’d he take it?” I asked.
“Okay, so at first he wasn’t willing to close early, but I explained to him that we wouldn’t take the job if he couldn’t guarantee we could be there during daylight hours. He agreed we can go in on Wednesday afternoon, they don’t have a full booking, so it’ll be easy enough for them to close early. He said we could start around five, and he would be willing to stay and make sure we were all safe and accounted for. I’m pretty sure he just wants to see Jimbo again,” Jason teased.
“You noticed that too? Jimbo might want to remind him of their time together. The time he conveniently can’t remember, but they maybe hooked up?” I teased back. “How about if we go practice that hooking up part? I think I might have forgotten what that’s all about.”
Jason stepped closer to where I stood next to the sink and pressed his body against mine. I would never take this closeness for granted. I rested my hands on his hips and tasted his sweet lips that I never wanted to be without again, and wanted to enjoy as often as was humanly possible. “I think maybe we should go to bed early.” I punctuated the suggestion with a kiss. “That way we’ll get plenty of sleep, and we’ll both be ready to go tomorrow,” I added, followed again by multiple kisses. The want and desire for him was always there, but now it was at a point that was hard to ignore—same as his hard dick pressed against my leg.
“If you don’t take me to that bed right fucking now—” He left that thought hanging, as he leaned forward and kissed me until we both needed to break away to breathe.
“Bed. Now,” was all I managed to get out. Both of us stumbled to the bedroom as we continued to cling to each other with our lips pressed together and our tongues fighting for entrance. We both flopped onto the bed, and I laughed for a second before his mouth was on mine again.
“Why do you still have so many clothes on?” I whispered, as he lifted up enough for us to slip our shirts off. I grazed my thumb across his nipple, causing him to flinch in response before leaning down and kissing me once again. I flipped us over so I was on top, and ground down on his hardness, causing him to groan. He slid his hand into the back of my shorts and cupped my ass.
“Love this ass,” he mumbled as he continued to brush his lips down my neck. His breath tickled, and I couldn’t hold back the laugh that burst out of me. He gave me a stern look then joined in. We rolled around on the bed, both of us fighting for dominance, neither of us really caring who won. As I slid into him, I was overwhelmed with the feelings I had for him every time we were together: love. I loved him so much it seemed impossible for my heart to contain all the emotions. I brushed my thumb along his cheekbone as I cradled his face and stared into green eyes that reflected those same emotions back at me.
“I love you, Jason, I love you so much,” I whispered against his lips.
“I love you too, babe, I’ve always loved you.”
We cleaned up and decided it was probably time to make something for dinner. We spent most evenings together, but deep inside I hoped we’d end up living together.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, smoothing the lines between my brows.
“Just you, always you, Jason.” He kissed me again, and we both settled in to decide what to do for dinner—cook or o
rder in. His phone sounded with the familiar sound of Jimbo’s ringtone; the “Imperial March” was so perfect for him, it made me laugh every time he called.
“Hey, Jimbo, what’s going on?” Jason greeted him. “I’m putting you on speaker so Wade can hear you.”
“Whatever, asshole,” Jimbo mumbled.
“Watch your language, you don’t want Wade’s mama giving you a smackdown for your rude talk,” Jason admonished playfully.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever—asshole.”
“What did you want? Or are you just calling to give me crap?”
“Fuck you, Jason, I called to see when we’re going to Dean’s place?” Jason and I made eye contact, and both of us struggled for some control before he answered.
“We’re going Wednesday afternoon, if you want to go, be here around four. That should give us plenty of time to get there and be ready as soon as the place closes,” Jason said.
“Yeah, okay, I’ll be there. You explained to him about not being there after dark?” Jimbo asked, a tinge of uncertainty in his tone.
“Yes, I’m not sure he completely understands, but he was willing to go along with it. I think he wants this all to be over with, and he knows what he’s been doing has done nothing to stop the activity they keep having,” Jason said.
“I don’t think he realizes how serious it is, this is as bad, if not worse, than what we experienced in Coloma. And he has no clue about any of that beyond what was online or on TV,” I added.
“He never believed anything like that was real. I tried to talk to him when he worked there, but he brushed it off, until shit got real uncomfortable for everyone there. I don’t know how much longer he stayed after I left. But once I got a good look at old man Chalmers, that was more than enough for me,” Jimbo mumbled, still not completely comfortable discussing the events he’d witnessed there.
