PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Wait, you fought Ose before?” Esais asked.

  “A long time ago. He’s one of the few who escaped.” I pushed away the images of the mentor I had lost with that fiasco. “So, what is different?”

  I leaned back as the waitress came back with John’s food. John cut into his pancakes with his fork. “You know he’s one of the Goetia, right?”

  I nodded. “I’d found a copy of one and came across that little gem.”

  “You mean the first part of the Key of Solomon?” Esais asked. “It lists the demons that King Solomon supposedly bound.”

  John cut his eyes at Esais, and his smile faltered for a moment. He kept forgetting Esais was part of the conversation. I elbowed him, and he jumped.

  “The Key, including the Goetia was one of the books created by demons to trick humans into summoning them,” I said. “They claim King Solomon himself wrote it. They wanted to make sure no one else could bind them like he did.”

  “I have one at home,” Esais said. “It’s an interesting read.”

  I looked back to John. “So, is that it?”

  “He’s not following any of the Thrones.”

  My fork fell from my still hand and bounced across the table. “That’s not possible.”

  At the same time, Esais said. “You must be mistaken.”

  John glared at him. “I’m not. The Throne of Greed has put a price on his head. I hear Wrath isn’t happy with him either.”

  Dante and Virgil didn’t have the infernal world quite right. Hell was divided into seven Thrones, each with its very own devil to rule. They played off of the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride, of course, sat at the top. The names had changed, but the concepts had remained the same since well before I was born. The Thrones held on to what they had with iron grips. What had Ose done to break away?

  “So what is he doing here?” I asked.

  John shrugged. “You should probably start at the Carnival.”

  I leaned under the table to my bag and pulled out a piece of paper. I winced as my shoulder throbbed. John watched me scribble a list down before I handed it to him. He whistled, looking over the list.

  “This may take some work,” he said.

  “Can you get them?” I asked.

  “Probably. Give me a few days.”

  I nodded and returned to playing with my food. “Is Ose truly mad?”

  He hesitated a moment before nodding. I sighed. This complicated things. I had enough jet in my bag to make charms. I hoped they would hold strong.

  “Well,” I put my fork down. “I think we all have work to do.”

  “I should get to work on this list.” John looked to the remains of our breakfast. “Should I?”

  “Please, let me,” Esais said with a ghost of his smile. “You’ve done enough.”

  John smiled at him and leaned over to kiss my cheek. “I’ll be in touch.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Esais held the door open for me as I adjusted the large bag on my shoulder and stepped out onto the sparsely crowded sidewalk. A few cars were parked at the meters, and a mother and her teenage daughter stared into the window of a boutique across the street. The sun reflected off one of the windows of the boutique and right into my eyes. I put my hand in front of my face. The world wanted to remind me what a wonderful morning this was while I just wanted to crawl into a bed somewhere and slip into oblivion.

  “So you and John are lovers?” he asked.

  I dropped the bag on the sidewalk. “What? No, just friends.”

  “Hmm, he wasn’t acting that way.”

  “I’m sorry for that. I don’t know what it was about.”

  “He seemed to play the jealous boyfriend.”

  “He’s not.”

  Not that I hadn’t thought about it. John tried to lightly push for more every time we met, but I’d always rebuffed him. He made me smile in the direst of circumstances. I didn’t want to lose my confidant, and if we became intimate, this would take a bad direction. My love life was cursed. Truly.

  “If you say so.” Esais watched me lift the bag up again. “Where are you going?”

  “I need to find a new hotel. Though we need to make plans for the carnival.” I chewed my lip.

  “Stay with us.”

  “Won’t he have something to say about that?”

  I nodded to where a white car sat parked several buildings down. Adrian watched me from the driver’s seat with a narrowed eye. He probably had a gun ready to shoot me if I made any untoward moves at his brother.

  “Probably,” Esais said. “Tres and I will outvote him, though.”

  “Where is the little brother?”

  “He’s not in danger, so probably chasing after a girl.”

  “Your range is that good?”

  He shook his head. “I have a special connection with Tres.”

  I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Adrian stepped out of the car as we approached him. He placed his hands behind his back and gave me a glare before turning to his brother. “Well, did you find out anything useful?”

  “You couldn’t wait at home?” Esais asked.

  “He was concerned about you.” I couldn’t keep the small bit of smugness from my voice.

  Adrian cut his eye at me. “We don’t all believe your little story.”

  “We can discuss this at the house,” Esais said. “Gabby will be staying with us while we are here.”

  “What is wrong with her hotel?”

  The roar of a motor prevented me from answering. A midnight blue truck towered over the rest of the cars as it sped towards us. Marguerite's face flashed by as she passed us. The truck swerved and parked with the squeal of tires. She hopped out of the car and marched over to us.

  She said, “I have lost the D-boyz trail. I need to hurt something. Where’s the devil?”

  “This is your partner?” Adrian asked, his voice cold. “Funny, you didn’t mention her.”

  My heart sped up, and I licked my lips. Fencing came in a variety of ways. I excelled at several. I missed having a good opponent, but perhaps I’d found one in Adrian. His words sometimes proved to be as sharp as mine.

  “No, I just met her early this morning, fighting a new demon.”

  “New as in you didn’t bother to see if it had a hand in this?”

  “If I could keep up with every demon on Earth, well, let’s just say we may not have to be here today.”

  Esais sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Adrian, not now.”

  “Who the hell are you two?” Marguerite asked, crossing her arms.

  “Marguerite, this is Esais and Adrian Van Helsing,” I said waving a hand at the brothers. “Boys, this is Marguerite.”

  “And what does Marguerite do?” Adrian asked.

  “Would you like me to show you?” She brought her hand up with her fists clenched and stepped back with her left foot.

  “By all means, try it.”

  I stifled a yawn and blinked my eyes. “As amusing as this is, we all have things to do.”

  “Wait, you crossed the salt, but these two could be demons,” Marguerite said, looking at me.

  “I see trust is going to be an issue on all sides,” Esais’s eyebrows drew together.

  Marguerite crossed her arms and the corner of her mouth lifted up.

  “I have some of your holy water,” Adrian said. “Maybe she’ll turn out to be a demon and we can kill her.”

  “I’d like to see you try,” she said with a snort.

  “I believe I already offered you that challenge,” Adrian said.

  “Marguerite has demon taint. I’m not sure how much we can trust her.” I pushed my thought out, hoping Esais’s telepathy would pick it up.

  He shifted his eyes to me. “You want me to check?”

  So, he could pick up thoughts sent to him, good. I nodded, crossing my arms and pretending to watch the two continue
to bicker. He sighed and kept his gaze steady on Marguerite. He needed to concentrate to scan the thoughts of others.

  “You know, I could just find this devil on my own,” she said.

  “How are you planning to do that? You don’t know anything about him,” I said.

  “Fine,” she said, and pulled out her flask.

  She stepped up to Adrian and flung some of the liquid in his face. She jumped back, readying her stance with a look of anticipation. When he took the handkerchief out and wiped his face, her shoulders slumped. She moved to Esais and did the same.

  “She’s not working for any demons. The opposite, actually.” Esais’s voice echoed through my mind.

  “So what’s her story?”

  “That’s for her to tell.”

  “Now it is your turn,” I kept my face neutral.

  The woman held her arms out, looking at the brothers. Adrian pulled a flask of his own out and splashed the woman. Water dripped from her hair onto her face, running down her cheek like teardrops. She brushed them away with a scowl.

  “Happy?” she asked.

  “No,” he said. “But you aren’t a demon.”

  I moved to the rear door of the car. “Can we go now? Marguerite can follow us to the house.”

  “I didn’t agree to letting you stay.” Adrian remained standing by the hood of the car.

  “Let’s talk about it off the street, eh, Ader?” Esais said. “I’ll ride with Ms. Devereux.”

  Marguerite shrugged and walked with him to her truck, leaving Adrian and I to our silent battle. Her tires flung up dirt and gravel as she squealed away. Cars flew by, and people stared as they passed us in the street. Yet we remained, each of us not willing to give any ground.

  “You have lost this one,” I said. “By now your brothers are at home with Marguerite.”

  He unlocked the car and slid in. The engine started as I threw my bag in and he sped off as I slammed the door. I stared out the window as we passed buildings but this time I wasn’t looking at the souls of the people but the soul of the town. Humans had a deeper influence on places than they thought. Their emotions bled into the land around them, leaving an impression that faded slowly. Instead of colors, I saw the time of the strongest impression.

  A saloon stood where the diner was. A dirt road replaced the paved streets and sidewalks. Men and women dressed in regalia of past times walked the streets, chatting among themselves. They were spirits bound to the place. The town itself appeared to be normal. The sky, however, was a different matter. A sickly yellow cloud mixed with red-black lines swirled like a funnel to the north of the town. A smaller funnel gathered to the west. I rubbed my eyes and leaned back. I was betting one of those places was the carnival. So, what about the other one?

  We turned onto one of the side roads. Houses lined each side of the street, each almost identical to the next with their manicured lawns. Adrian parked in the driveway of one home that stood one story and was several shades of brown, from the bricks to the siding. It looked small. He walked to the trunk and pulled out a large crate.

  “What sort of protections do you have?” I asked.

  “We haven’t placed any yet.”

  A chill ran down my spine. The hellhound could have come in and killed them in the night and I wouldn’t have known. I marched to the door and yanked it open, letting it bounce against the outer wall with a bang. Esais was in the living room with his brother and Marguerite. Tres sat on the couch, leaning forward with his thighs pressed together and his eyes squeezed shut as tears rolled down his blotchy skin. Marguerite stood by the window with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. Esais looked up from the book he held in his hands.

  “I brought the Key with me,” he said.

  “Why do you have no protections? Any demon can come in here,” I said.

  He pushed his glasses up. “I’m not sure I have any.”

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose. To come here without anything to protect themselves was just inviting Ose to take them. I thought at least Jonah or Lucy would have shown them something, but it looked like they had expected me to do so. Esais continued to stare at me with his brows knitted and his lips pursed. Lucy had taken care of everything after Ose's initial attack on their family so Esais probably never knew what was needed. I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. Adrian brushed past me and set his crate down in the living room.

  “Can you tell them about the carnival?” I asked Esais. “I need to make sure we are safe.”

  He nodded. I grabbed my bag from the car. No sleep for the wicked, so I couldn’t get any either.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  I examined each room. Five bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. The house lay open with doorways connecting the halls and public rooms. A stack of worn, leather-bound books sat on the dining room table with one open in front of a high-backed chair. The air conditioner rumbled to life, blowing cold air into the already chilled house, and I shivered, rubbing my arms. I carried my bag into the first of the bedrooms. They could blame me for breaching privacy when we were safe behind protections.

  I pulled out a small vial of ink and shook the bottle. Almost full, but it wouldn’t be after I finished tonight. I had to pick up more of the alchemical mixture when I had the chance. I scooted the furniture away from the eastern corner and pulled up the carpet. I bent over the concrete and started scribing the symbol. The spiral pattern of the tiny markings would pull in and dissipate demonic energies and the iron in the ink would strengthen that power. I moved to each corner, until I had finished all four in an hour’s time. The whole house would take all day. I stood and massaged my shoulder as I craned my neck to stretch the muscles. Work like that had aggravated it from last night.

  “That looks like it hurts. I could help you with it.”

  Tres smiled at me from the doorway. I nodded and he motioned to the bed. His hands ran along my shoulder blade. Warmth flowed from his hands into my arm, and the soreness faded like it had never been.

  “Do your brothers know you can heal people with your touch?” I asked.

  “Esais knows, but I don’t think Adrian ever paid attention.”

  His fingertips trailed down my back to my waist. I caught his wrist and turned to face him. His cinnamon skin radiated heat under my hand and contrasted with my own olive color. It was a shade lighter than Esais but a few shades darker than Adrian’s. His white teeth flashed at me in a grin, and a lock of his hair fell in front of his face.

  “Didn’t you learn from whatever it was you tried with Marguerite?”

  “Worth a try,” he said.

  “This is your bedside manner?” I asked. “I should file for harassment or something.”

  He chuckled. “Good thing I’m not your doctor. Besides, you’re pretty irresistible.”

  “Dig deep for that inner resolve. You’re too young for me.”

  “Well, if you knew my great-grandfather, then anyone alive is too young for you,” he said with a smile still on his face.

  I returned his smile, thinking of Dimitri’s laughing eyes. Tres’s grin lifted a little higher on the left side, like his. I released a small bit of sadness welling up in me with a long breath

  “I was too old for him too,” I said. “So how powerful is your healing?”

  He raised his left hand up. “I can heal any wound I’ve come across, but there are consequences. If I do too much, I start to feel pain. It only subsides when I hurt someone with this hand.” He lifted his right hand.

  “The ability to harm and heal. Interesting.”

  “I suppose. I try to stick to regular medicine for most injuries.”

  “You’re a doctor? Aren’t you twenty?”

  He chuckled. “Twenty-two, thank you. I received my degree in Romania. I think most of my practice will be from my family. Hunting and all.”

  “Such an achievement.”

  “With my family, being mediocre gets you killed.” He stood and walked to the corner of the room. “What are thes
e?”

  “Babylonian devil traps. They work on demons too. So, what have I missed?”

  “Marge and Esais are out investigating and Adrian is in his lab, working on god knows what.”

  “Marge?”

  He scratched his cheek and snickered. “Yeah, Esais started calling her that, and it stuck.”

  My shoulders shook with the laughter I tried to hold in. I could imagine Marge’s face turning red and her lips thinning every time someone used the nickname. I wondered how long it would stay.

  “So, I hear you’re staying with us.” he said.

  I nodded.

  “For the record, I’m against it,” Adrian said.

  He leaned against the frame of the door with his arms crossed. His good eye narrowed at me, blazing with heat. If he could burn me with a look, I would have been on fire. He wore a black tank top that showed a hint of muscle. He wasn’t a body builder, but he definitely worked out. He kept his beard groomed, allowing it to grow along his jawline. The dark contrast to his pale skin pronounced his cheekbones.

  “I’m sure your protest was noted,” I said.

  “Come on, Adrian, both women have information we need,” Tres said.

  “Then they can provide information and live someplace else,” Adrian said.

  “Esais thinks we need to be protected, and we can’t do that separated.”

  The younger one stared at his brother with earnest eyes. He laid on the charm, but his brother wasn’t swayed. He shook his head, his face keeping a look of cold disdain.

  “She isn’t one of us,” Adrian said.

  “Like you have room to talk.” Tres clenched his fists, his smile slipping from his face.

  “First of all,” I said, “stop arguing about me like I’m not here. Second, Esais has a point, we have too many enemies to live separated. Third, you may not see it, but I actually care about your family.”

  “Why?” he asked, letting his gaze bore into me.

  “Because I made a promise,” I said, my voice softening.

  “Supposedly to my great-grandfather, yes. I don’t know how you fooled him, but I’m not falling for your tricks, and I won’t let you sway my brothers,” he said in an icy tone.

  “I’m not trying to trick you,” I said.