“Except you are some big name.” Markus leaned on the table, staring directly at her. “The demon in your head was someone big and powerful, and I’ve no doubt he sent minions out to watch over you. To see what kind of Reaper you’d become.”
The idea that Nic was sending his demons to gather information about her was horrifying, and she sat back with a huge sigh. “So what? I stop training?”
“Far from it. If your powers are active, we need to get you ready. The more exorcisms you participate in, the more demons you fight back, the stronger you become. You need to be quick on your feet. Learn the spells, control what you have inside you. We need to double our efforts.”
Dorian fought back a groan. She was already working from dawn to dusk, and now he wanted her to double that?
“We need to get another Exorcist before we get all hyper about throwing Dorian in the field,” Briar cut in.
“Already taken care of. In fact, I have your first job. We’ve got him restrained, but…” Markus trailed off, and Dorian noticed a flicker of pain cross his face. “It’s a delicate situation, and I’ll give you more details later on. We have a week or so before the exorcism becomes necessary.”
Briar looked confused, but shrugged and walked to the fridge to grab a drink. “Fine. We’ll get going on her training in the morning. You can leave it to me now that her powers are active. And no,” she said as he opened his mouth to argue, “I won’t listen to why you need to keep working with her. I’m the Reaper, not you. It’s my job.”
Markus deflated, then checked his watch. “Fine. I need to head out for a few days, but expect the Exorcist sometime around noon. I’ll be back by the weekend.”
No one said a word until the garage door shut and Markus’ car pulled down the street. When he was gone and everything was quiet, Dorian dropped her forehead to the table and groaned. “Why does it feel like everything’s about to get so much worse?”
“Ah because it is, lass,” Lennox said, and gave her a gentle pat on the back. “But at least you’re in good hands. Besides, we’ve got some renovators coming in this week to prepare ramps.”
Dorian’s head snapped up. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
Lennox grinned. “Aye. It does. Dash’s coming home.”
***
“The words of the spell are a conduit, you don’t need them, but it helps focus your power. Every human on the planet can use magic like this, but it takes skill to control it.” Briar circled the table where Dorian sat, her gaze focused on the wick of a tall, white candle.
“So it’s demon. The magic we use. We channel it from the demon realms.”
Briar nodded, stopping at the head of the table. “People like us have a stronger connection because we can reach through the doorway. Also when the demons were exorcised, they left a little bit behind, and that allows us the control over the magic.”
Dorian let out a breath, then looked down at the writing on the paper. She was supposed to be able to understand it, even though it looked like jagged scratches across the page. Her powers should automatically translate what she saw there, but right now she was feeling nothing.
After a few moments, Dorian let out a frustrated growl. “I’m not seeing anything.”
Briar nodded, pacing a little as she spoke. “Don’t try forcing it. You know you’ve got it. Whatever is inside you, it’s strong.”
“Yeah,” Dorian said from behind her breath. It was strong, almost too strong. If it was true, if she still had a little piece of Nic inside her, she wondered what she might be capable of. He was a monster and it triggered a small fear inside her that she could be one too.
When she glanced back down, the writing on the paper was fuzzy. She blinked, attempting to clear her vision, but as she did, the marks on the page began to reform. Not like English, but her brain could understand them all the same. She muttered words that sounded like gibberish to her ear, and yet it came fluid, like a language she’d been speaking her entire life. “Matzal plurarin.” The words rolled off her tongue, and she let out a gasp when the candle in front of her roared with a massive flame.
Briar jumped back with a shout, Dorian pushing against her chair as a wave of heat hit her. It was intense, melting half the candle in an instant, and then it fizzled out to a bare flicker.
“Is that… was that…?” Dorian stammered.
“Supposed to happen?” Briar supplied from her crouch on the floor. She stood up, brushing dirt from her jeans as her head shook back and forth. “No. That was not supposed to happen.”
“Jesus.” Dorian dropped her head into her hands and let out a shaking breath. “First I’ve got nothing, and then I get magic on steroids? What the hell is going on?”
Briar opened her mouth to reply, but a sudden banging noise from upstairs interrupted her. It continued on for long enough that she threw her hands up in surrender. “They’ve started on the ramps. There’s no way we’re getting anything more done. Why don’t you take the stuff upstairs and go over everything. Try to memorize the spells I wrote down for you. The phonetics,” she clarified when Dorian frowned in confusion.
Shuffling through the papers, Dorian found the hand-written spells which she would be using during her first exorcism. “Okay.”
“Just don’t say anything out loud. I don’t need you blowing the goddamn roof off the place.” She said it with an air of humor, but Dorian could hear the warning underneath the light tone.
“Look, maybe I should just…”
“Markus wants you prepped. I’ve only got so long before they relocate me, and tonight the new Exorcist is supposed to be coming in. Markus is being all hush-hush about this exorcism coming up, which probably means it’s internal.”
Tucking the pages under her arm, Dorian leaned over the table and blew out the flame, ignoring the huge pile of hardening wax on the wood. “What do you mean, internal?”
“One of ours. Probably someone from the Community’s got a kid they never had exorcised. It happens more than you’d think.” Briar beckoned Dorian up, and they immediately fell silent. The workers were contracted through the Community, however Markus made it very clear no one was to mention a word about the internal issues in the house. Dorian’s in particular.
They passed through the kitchen, up the stairs, and stopped on the landing. “Okay, so I’ll study. Then…”
“Lennox wants to meet for dinner tonight. So we’ll do that. It’ll be good to relax for a while, and I know he’s spinning in circles trying to make sure everything’s ready for Dash’s homecoming.”
Dorian’s head bowed. “So when he gets here, what’s going to happen?”
Leaning on the wall near Dorian’s bedroom door, Briar crossed her arms. “You mean what’s he going to do?” Dorian nodded, and Briar let out a breath. “Well, he’s been training with Adelaide, and as far as I know, he’s taking over as a Seeker for the region. He’ll be good at it, trust me. He’s always had a knack for those kinds of spells.”
Dorian nodded, still feeling an ugly hole in the pit of her stomach. Guilt, she knew. Guilt because she was the one who forced him into this position. It might have been Nic, but it was her body, her lack of strength to hold the demon back. “I know I should just be glad he’s coming home and things can get back to normal but…”
“I get it.” Briar reached out and squeezed her arm. “You weren’t here long, but change is still change. And everything is shifting. The moment you’re trained up, I’ll be reassigned and you’ll take over for the city. It’s not easy. I got comfortable here, too.”
Dorian’s eyes widened when the realization hit her. “I displaced you.”
Barking out a laugh, Briar shook her head. “No girl, you didn’t displace me. That’s the life of the Reaper. You’ll get reassigned too, once a new kid comes along ready to take your place. It’s no big deal.”
But it was. At least, it felt like a big deal. And not just because Briar would have to adjust to change. This might be some sort of family
, a tight-knit community of powerful people fighting demons, but she would still never have a home. Nothing solid. The connection she felt with these people might always be there, but she would be moved around and around. She’d never plant roots.
And perhaps that was the point of her life. Maybe that was something she was meant to do, but it didn’t make it easier to cope with. Since she was a kid she thought if she could only get better, if she could only find a way to conquer her broken brain, she might be able to stop being shuffled around. She might find a place to call home.
And now, it looked like that would never be the case.
Her heart a little heavier, she went into her bedroom and shut the door. In the four months she’d been there, the room had become hers. It was decorated, apart from the warding spells plastered across the walls and ceilings, with light colors and floral prints. She had a dresser with a mirror, a window she kept wide open, her clothes hung neat in the closet, and every now and again Briar or Lennox would bring her pictures or trinkets they found when they would go out.
It was her home. And it could be months or years, but eventually she’d be leaving it. She supposed that was why Briar had nothing more than a couple trash bags full of clothes at Dash and Lennox’s apartment. Travel light when you were always on the move.
Lord how she understood that.
Setting the pages on the bed, Dorian leaned against the pillows and closed her eyes. As she took in a few deep, meditative breaths, the memory of the bar parking lot floated to the front of her mind. She would never forget the pressing ache in her chest as the power burst forth. The feeling, like manipulating a fifth limb, tossing the demon across the gravel. It was terrifying, and it also felt good. Much like erupting the candle into a pillar of flames. Letting out her magic like that, it was a release. Pleasurable. She wanted more of it, and even now her fingers twitched, aching to grab the spell pages and cast them.
Something was wrong with her. This wasn’t normal, and she knew it. Briar had her game-face on, but Dorian wasn’t stupid. They were trying to figure her out now, and she had to wonder what they would do once they figured it out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Excited’s not the word,” Lennox said as he twisted the glass of beer in his hands. “Bit nervous though.”
“Eh, he’ll be fine. He’s been half-Seeker this entire time anyway,” Briar said, waving her hand in the air.
Dorian, who was sipping on a gin, watched the exchange. She’d been with them a while now, and accepted as family, but she still felt apart from it. She was dealing with the strange manifestation of her powers, and she felt very alone.
“…yeh, lass?”
Dorian’s gaze snapped up to Lennox who was staring at her. “Sorry, what?”
He laughed, then shook his head. “You’re a thousand miles away. Penny for your thoughts?”
Rubbing her hand down her face, she gave him a sheepish smile. “I guess. Just kind of…”
“Dealing with your freaky new powers?” Briar offered. When Dorian’s eyes widened, Briar rolled hers. “Oh like I wouldn’t tell him about your attempt to burn down the basement.”
Cheeks red, Dorian looked down at the table. “I didn’t mean to.”
There was a tense pause before anyone spoke again. After a moment, Lennox reached across the table and put his hand over hers. “It’s okay.”
Her laugh came out almost bitter, and she looked up at him. “Is it, though? I mean be straight with me. Is it okay? No one’s had anything like that before. Have they?” Her last question came out like a plea, and when Lennox’s face fell, she let out a frustrated laugh. “That’s what I thought. I mean, you can be as encouraging as you want, but the both of you know as well as I do, we don’t know what any of this means.”
Her words were interrupted by the arrival of food, but she wasn’t hungry now. She pushed her plate away from her and sat back in the chair. It made her feel a little like a petulant child, but she deserved a moment of being frustrated. No one had answers for her. For months she had nothing, and now this? She was tired of being a science experiment.
“Markus is working on it, I promise,” Lennox said after he swallowed a bite of his burger. “And you can trust him.”
Dorian’s tongue darted out along her bottom lip. She knew the entire Community trusted Markus, but there was something off about him. Maybe it was his rigidity, or his focus. Perhaps those things came across as a lack of empathy. Maybe it was because she didn’t know him all that well. But whatever it was, something about him didn’t sit right.
“I just want answers. I just…” She paused, looking away from both of them. “I want to feel normal. Even in the abnormal world I’m a freak, and it’s exhausting.”
Briar’s face was still, but her eyes widened just a fraction and she gave a sharp, stiff nod. “I get it. And once we figure it out, once you figure out your own abilities, that feeling will go away. I promise.”
Dorian let out another breath and nodded. Maybe Briar was right. She had to figure every Reaper felt that way. Dealing with being possessed, the feeling like you were losing your mind, that wasn’t easy. And when it was all ripped away, you were thrust head-first into the demon world with powers and spells and things no average person could hope to understand. So yeah, Briar probably did get it.
Half-way through the meal, Lennox’s phone rang and he rushed out to take the call. It wasn’t long, and when he got back, his face was pale. “That was Markus. We need to move.”
Dorian’s brow furrowed as she stood up. “What’s wrong?”
“Problem with our next job, and the new Exorcist’s was delayed until tomorrow morning. We need to head over to the safe house and strengthen the wards.”
Dorian felt panic well up in her stomach. She’d only attempted the one spell, and she was not prepared to use more magic. “I don’t…”
Lennox grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close. “The most important thing you can have, especially with powers that are leaping out of control, is faith in yourself. Faith you can do this. You’ve got me and you’ve got Briar. And we believe in you. So try a bit of belief in yourself.”
Letting out a breath, she nodded, determined to try. She couldn’t hide forever, doing nothing more than melting candles in a dark basement and memorizing spells on paper. She was going to be in the field. One day she would be the sole Reaper in the house, and she had to be worthy of that title.
Close on Briar’s heels, they darted into the parking lot and took Lennox’s car. He peeled out of the parking lot, onto the main street, and headed east. Ten minutes into the drive took them deeper into the woods, and a few miles later, he turned down a bumpy dirt road.
“Where the hell is this place?” Briar asked, holding on to the door handle for support. The road was unmaintained, and it was throwing them from side to side.
“Never been,” Lennox said as he navigated around huge dips and bumps. “Markus didn’t give me a lot of information. Just uploaded the coordinates.” He tapped the side of the GPS which was blinking directions.
Briar shook her head, glancing back at Dorian before speaking again. “Is it just me, or is he acting shady?”
Lennox let out a puff of air. “Things have been off. And I don’t know why.”
The silence in the car grew tense, and Dorian wondered if maybe her gut feeling about Markus was right after all. She hadn’t forgotten that the demons she overheard talked about a leak in the Community. She didn’t want to believe it was Markus, couldn’t believe it was him, but the paranoia was there all the same.
They reached the house twenty minutes up the dirt road. Climbing along the path at an agonizingly slow pace, they crawled to a stop near a clearing of trees, and Lennox shut the car off. Around the side of the small cabin, Dorian could see Markus’ car parked, and several of the lights upstairs were on.
“Is this like the rehab facility? The glamor spells and everything?” Dorian peered through the front window, trying to se
e through any illusions.
“I don’t think so,” Lennox said as he reached onto the floor of the car for a small bag. “Just wards.” He pulled out a couple of pentagram amulets which he handed to Briar and Dorian.
Dorian slipped the chain around her neck, feeling the warm pressure of a protection spell enveloping her, and she reached for the door handle. “And he didn’t say what this was about?”
“Not specifically. Only that he needs assistance with the current possession. We’ll be performing an exorcism once we get our newest member. For now, we just need to contain the demon.”
Dorian felt a shiver of anticipation and nerves running up her spine. She hadn’t dealt with a possession since her own, and the memories were pounding against her head. How could she look this person in the eyes and tell them it was going to be okay knowing it might not be. Knowing things could go as bad as hers went. Or worse.
Steeling her nerves, she stepped out of the car into the chilly night, and followed Briar and Lennox up to the front door. As before at the rehab center, there was a small pad beside the door where Lennox scanned his wrist. The lock on the door fell back with a loud snick, and the three walked in.
Markus was there to greet them immediately. He looked stressed and tired, puffy black circles under his eyes. His hair was mussed, and though Dorian wasn’t sure it was possible, it seemed more grey than just a few weeks prior.
He gave the group a tense, watery smile and beckoned them down a short hall into an expansive modern kitchen. Lennox pulled a few barstools out from the counter, and while Markus went to the fridge, the trio took a seat.
“I appreciate you cutting your evening short,” Markus said. He paused when a loud thump sounded over the room, and he shook his head, his eyes downcast. “My brother’s here. He’ll be out in a few minutes.”
The Reaping: Language of the Liar Page 21
