Just before losing consciousness, I transferred the rolling lava from my chest to my shoulders. I held out my hands and felt the heat cascade through my upper arms, down to my forearms and into my palms before firing out of my fingers to create seven transparent balls of fire. I hurled all the invisible orbs at the demon.
The first ball hit the Jersey Devil in the shoulder and stunned the demi-devil. He turned to me and got pelted by five more blasts of heat. The seventh ball flew past the powerful demon’s head as he was falling on his back and dissipated into the cool October air.
A nasty aroma of burning, rancid meat filled the air, and the Jersey Devil rolled around as smoke rose from his body. The police sirens reached a fever pitch as I ran up to the felled demon. I needed trade bait for Stacy and Mabon. I wanted to detain him, but didn’t have anything. I looked for Reg and Colossus, but they were still in a state of invisibility.
I ran up and dove on top of the Jersey Devil, unleashing wild punches into his steaming face and body. I wound up to throw another haymaker, when two people grabbed me from behind and pulled me off the demon.
I screamed, “Nnnooo. You don’t understand.”
The powerful beings threw me aside like a ragdoll and went after the Jersey Devil. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized who the two huge men were. It was the same people who had dragged me back to the Deep Burrow to stand trial. They tied up the Jersey Devil’s wrists and ankles with a stretchy, space aged material, scooped him up like a feather, and stole off into the night.
A shifter in front of me reverted to human form, and as I whirled around, every shifter was following this trend. They must have been released from the magical grip that the Jersey Devil held over them. The people looked confused, stumbling around and staring at their own naked bodies.
The two cleaners quickly sped up to a sprint, turned the corner behind the food stands and disappeared with the demi-devil. Reg and my dog reappeared. I ran over and scooped up Colossus.
“Look at you, the magical dog.”
I helped Reg get back into his chair and gave him a hug. “Thank you, Reg. You saved my life.”
In typical fashion, Reg tried to downplay the situation. “You would’ve done the same for me.”
“How did you get the magic mist? You been nosing around in my lab?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “You know me. I can’t walk up the steps, but that hasn’t ever stopped me before. And maybe that upstairs door that connects both our houses, and isn’t supposed to open, does open. I did a little shopping in your lab earlier today. Looks like it came in handy.”
“I would save your life if the situation was reversed, by the way. And at least we are alive. That’s all that matters. No need to worry about stupid stuff like how your car got towed.” I assumed now was the best time to drop that in.
Reg’s smile faded. “You got my car towed?”
“I know, it’s great that we are still alive. We shouldn’t worry about that stuff right now. You been reading those books and practicing more than just with me, huh?” I coughed, and it hurt my chest.
“Who knew?” Reg shrugged his shoulders as his eyes widened. “Oh shit. Look out.” Reg yanked Colossus from my hands.
Chapter 41
THE CALL CAME TOO LATE, and an officer drove his shoulder into the middle of my back. My head whiplashed, busting open the werelion cut, and I went into the ground face first. I got a mouthful of grass and a busted lip. The officer placed his knee on the back of my head. Another cop came in and drove his knee into the small of my back.
The second officer wrangled my wrists together and cuffed me, although I wasn’t resisting at all. The cops stood me up and I spit out a mouthful of salty blood, dirt, grass, and I was pretty sure I tasted a cigarette butt.
Reg yelled at the cops, “Hey. If it wasn’t for that guy, you all would be dead right now.”
An officer screamed back, “What about all these slain officers out here?”
I informed him, “That was the demon.”
The cop laughed. “Demon? You hear that, Johnson, it was a demon.”
A familiar voice came from behind me, “It was a demon. A very powerful demon, officers.” Gretchen had come through at the last moment.
The fallen policemen started waking up from the spell, trying to figure out what happened.
The officer holding my arm said, “He’s still going downtown so he can pay for those cops he killed.”
Ambulances and EMT vehicles started to arrive, sirens blaring in the night and echoing through the city. The officers started to walk me back to their squad car. I was pretty much out on my feet from the pain and mental strain. An angelic voice captured my full attention.
“Mike. I heard there was a big commotion down here and I knew it had to be you,” Satoku said.
I smiled a true smile. Seeing her face killed the pain better than a six pack of Vicodin. I wanted to slip out of the cuffs and give her a big hug. “So about us hanging out at midnight tonight...”
Satoku laughed, but Gretchen said, “What the hell are you talking about, Merlino? Only place you’re going is to a hospital, then a jail cell.”
I must have been delirious to be in such a joking mood. “Oh, about that, there is something I need to discuss with you, G.M.”
“I knew something was going to happen,” Gretchen muttered, and walked away.
“Ready for your test?” Satoku asked.
“We need to make it quick.” I gestured with my aching head toward the two arresting officers.
She stood right in front of me and held my eyelids open with her soft, delicate fingers. Her pupils prodded me, causing a buzzing sensation in my head. The door to my soul started to slowly open, but I wasn’t opening it.
I assumed Satoku was a Soulsearcher as she pried at the sacred door until it was wide open. She stared, unfazed by anything I had done in the past. I felt her dip into the valley of my desires. She could see all my intentions, noble and un-pure. I couldn’t hide anything from her.
She was taking what she wanted to know about me. Had I been in sounder mind, I could have fought against it, but I wanted her to see almost everything except my death match with George. I hoped she hadn’t caught a glimpse of that ugly fight and the resulting event with Emily.
The thirty seconds ended and I waited for her to render a verdict. “These guys aren’t going to believe me, but you didn’t do it. And here I thought you were a bald-faced liar.”
I exhaled and couldn’t feel the pain. Even if I were going to be put to death, that meant a lot to me. I wanted to hug her, kiss her, just touch her one time. It seemed so silly to have such strong feelings for a girl I had essentially just met a week ago, but I couldn’t help it. They were overwhelming. “Wait, did you just say bald-faced liar?”
“Yeah, why?”
I smirked. “It’s bold-faced liar. Like the lie is bold, not just a normal lie.”
“Umm, pretty sure it’s bald-faced because when you don’t have hair on your face it’s harder to lie. You don’t have any beard to cover it up. It’s even more egregious and out in the open.”
I chuckled as the cops yanked me away. I wrenched my neck trying to maintain eye contact with Satoku as the two officers pushed me toward their vehicle.
Gretchen approached, and said, “You need to take him to that ambulance over there. He’s going to need some work on that shoulder.”
They shoved me into the back and I stared at Satoku as the ambulance sirens rang and the vehicle pulled away. I lost sight of her and looked up at the dying eclipse. At least I had stopped the gates of hell from being locked and redirecting demonic souls back to earth.
What a week!
The emotional roller coaster finally came to a stop and left me drained. Despite some dark and bleak times, my biggest fears were dismissed. My magic and the people around me had come through when I needed them most.
Crossing several perilous hurdles, I realized I could count on others while learni
ng another valuable lesson. Stop doubting myself. I don’t even think I need to use the Latin phrases to activate it. My magic was a part of me. It was me. If I believed in myself, the sky was the limit.
“The memory” had attached itself to me, causing me to doubt that anyone could love me and that they would eventually walk out on me. The more I thought about my current situation, I had a solid group that loved me. Unfortunately, I had been blinded by my past of being bounced around from house to house, family to family, foster home to foster home. I’d been kicked around so much that I’d never known a life where people wouldn’t abandon me.
Those days were over.
I blew a kiss to the sky, hoping my mother caught it. She would be proud of me for keeping the people safe from the Jersey Devil’s evil plan. Right? I guess I’d been chasing her love ever since she died. A small piece of me felt like I had attained that love through my noble actions. Using my brain to solve the case and learning lessons along the way hopefully caused my mom to jump up and shout, “That’s my boy.” I can hear her soft voice ringing in my ears.
I fought back the tears and smiled at the fact that I’d passed my first test/case in Pittsburgh. At least I wouldn’t be removed as the guardian of the city. I could still be a legendary wizard. Some people had lost their lives, but if the Jersey Devil had been successful, the casualty list would be the size of an encyclopedia.
I’d tangled with some of the best demons from the Red Cavern and defeated them. Considering I could have been killed about twenty times in the past week, sitting in handcuffs in the back of an ambulance wasn’t horrible.
I hoped the cleaners had taken the Jersey Devil to the Deep Burrow so that we could exchange the demi-devil for Mabon and Stacy. The devils would be foolish to turn down that offer, but you couldn’t trust a devil to act with honor.
Heavy breaths thrummed in my chest. Adrenaline from completing my first case and the excitement of a new relationship coursed through my body, replacing the pain briefly. I was still proud of Reginald and Colossus, the magical duo that had saved my life.
After thoughts that I had done almost everything on my own, I realized that I had a lot of help along the way. My anger at the police, the Gods and Alayna had caused me to forget all the aid I’d received from, Reginald, Colossus, Gretchen and even my drunken guardian angel, Artoise. I had a good support system that I’d built on my own, making it the only family I had right now. I found out that you could get by with a little help from your friends.
The adrenaline wore off and my eyelids started to get heavy. The mental and physical agony returned to my aching body. I leaned my head back against the metal wall of the ambulance and fell asleep.
Chapter 42
A WEEK AND A HALF LATER, I sat next to Satoku and Reg with my dog on my lap at the 7 a.m. Cancer Support meeting in Oakland. My injuries hadn’t healed completely, but I was lucky to be alive. I smiled, rubbing my triskele amulet that Alayna had returned to me, and listened to the woman who had just stood up.
Stacy said, “Most of you know me by now and, I’m sure, you’ve all heard the story of my abduction. I can’t remember anything from the entire experience so I’m not really sure what happened.” She smiled. “I was re-examined by a group of doctors a few days ago and they have upped my chance of survival to ninety percent.”
The group clapped and Stacy started to cry. The meeting went on as I thought about the recent events.
Obviously, I was at the meeting because the cops figured out that I had been set up after closely studying the security footage. All charges were dropped but the damage at the Emergency Room was going to come out of my pocket. I’d received a lot less money for solving the case than I had hoped for.
Without going into too much disgusting detail, The Jersey Devil ran the sex clubs to collect and hold semen that allowed him to exert his will over the donors. Coupled with their hair, the demon had total control over the shifters. Once his fur coat burned and his stomach popped, he lost his grip over the minions and his dream to lock the gates of hell. I had wanted to kill the Jersey Devil at the Point, but I was glad I didn’t. The Celtic Gods traded the demi-devil for Mabon and Stacy.
The McNights allegedly had recruited underage people for their club and had been arrested for the sex ring. Upon further investigation, the cops found evidence that the family had been deeply involved with the demon’s plan.
Glenn the Barber had disappeared, and all the shifters had been arrested, including Suzette. Most of the shifters had been moved to rehab facilities to monitor their behavior for a while before releasing them back into society or sending them to jail depending on the results.
Ruth Westerhouse got to see Darren before they took him to a rehab house. They had to perform an exorcism and other rituals on her to rid the demon spirits from her soul. I had been there and it was a freaky scene to say the least. Ruth was going to be all right and eventually reunite with her man. Even though she had made the case harder for me to solve, I had compassion for her situation.
As for me, I was back in good graces with the Golden Chamber of Celtic Gods and my mentor, Alayna. I had given them some shit over almost executing me, but I understood their hands had been tied.
I was taking things slow with Satoku because I didn’t know when something like this was going to happen again. The life of a wizard can be volatile and involving another person in it was somewhat unfair. Even wishful thinking wouldn’t allow my mind to believe that something like this wasn’t going to happen again.
I stood up. “My name is Mike, and I’m a cancer fighter.”
Everyone said, “Hi Mike.”
“I’ve been diagnosed as cancer free right now, but I remember the beginning. I remember feeling alone. So alone. I thought that was it. I had no family or friends to turn to. Then, someone came along and saved me. I didn’t want to trust her at first. I resisted. But she made me realize that I had to start trusting people or I was going to die. As cancer fighters, we need help to fight our battle. None of us could do it alone. My recent experiences have galvanized those feelings. I guess what I’m trying to convey is probably best summed up in a quote by Anton Chekhov. “You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.” I’ve learned to trust and believe in people now.”
After all the recent lessons, I decided it was time to visit my father in jail. It was time to bury the hatchet.
Graveyard Uprisings: Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series, Book 2
Jason Paul Rice
Copyright 2017 by Jason Paul Rice
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. All names are made up and used fictionally. Any resemblance to real people is completely coincidental. Any resemblance to real events is only part of the author’s imagination.
Cover Art by Ljiljana Romanovic
Chapter 1
I STARED THROUGH THE bullet proof glass as my father sat down and picked up the phone receiver. Draped in an orange prison suit, he looked different than I remembered. His slicked-back black hair and dark eyes were in stark contrast to my looks. Luckily, I’d inherited my blond hair and blue eyes from my mom. My father could easily be confused for an extra on the set of Goodfellas.
He put the phone to his ear and mouth. “Well, well, well, if ain’t little Mikey finally come to visit me. All grown up and lookin’ fancy.”
For those scoring at home, that was not a compliment and for the record, I was wearing a wrinkled black button-down shirt with the top two buttons opened, exposing my hemp necklace and triskele amulet.
He continued, “I heard about you. Yeah. Something about you’re some kind of wizard or something. Magic Mike.”
“Please don’t call me that.”
His crow’s feet and wrinkled forehead were a far departure from what I rem
embered before he went away. He said, “Well, what’s the deal? You know magic or you don’t.”
“I do. How are you doing?”
“How my doing? How my doing?” he asked, as he pointed around the room at the armed guards.
“I realize that, but you were selling drugs.”
He huffed, exasperated, “I wasn’t selling no drugs. Why can’t anyone get that through their thick skulls? I was holding something for a buddy and it turned out he set me up. I’m the real victim here, sent away to jail for thirty-five years.”
Same old dad. Still not taking responsibility for his actions and I’m not at all surprised. He’s lucky I don’t bring up the fact that he used to put cigarette butts out on me. I pushed my anger down for a second. “Even if you were only holding it, you know it’s against the law.”
He groaned. “So you’re against me too. Don’t come to see me for five years, and now you’re going to give me a lecture. Same as the rest.”
“What do you want me to do?”
He leaned forward, elbows on the table, and lowered his voice, “I want you to help me out. Why don’t you use some of that magic stuff to help me get out of here?”
The question made me realize that he didn’t know about our special blood line. I breathed a sigh of relief because, with the right training, my father could be even more powerful than me. Combining it with his raging temper made for a troubling mix.
I explained, “I can’t help you bust out of jail. That’s not how magic works. It’s supposed to be used for the good of society and keep innocent people safe.”
His tone turned sharp and angry, “Well use that stuff for the good of me. I already told you I was innocent, so help someone out with that magic. I’m dying in here, Mikey. I know we’ve had some ups and downs over the years, but I’m still your father and you got to respect that.”
Bloodline Awakened Supernatural Thriller Series: Books 1-3 Page 21
