Demon's Play

by David McBride

  Jon had grudgingly agreed to help me under the condition that I make no mention of his involvement to anyone…ever. This struck me as odd because Jon never passed on an opportunity for free publicity, and banishing a Demon would definitely make front page news. But I wasn’t going to argue, I was just thankful he didn’t toss me out on my ear once he saw the news footage.

  I had tried to call Ben and Terri again but their cells were off, and calling the local hospitals turned up nothing. Just as I had begun thinking about scrapping my plan and searching for them personally, Lou had called. They were safe at STS headquarters, he had told me in a hushed voice, safe and resting. Ben was suffering from exhaustion and mild dehydration, but it wasn’t anything the medical staff at the STS building couldn’t handle. Terri, though, had suffered some sort of trauma that they were at a loss to explain. She was slipping in and out of consciousness, her heart rate was erratic, and she had suffered two mild seizures. When the normal treatments had failed to do anything to stabilize her condition, Lou had asked for one of the healers from St. Vincent’s to be sent over so they could take a look at her. St. Vincent’s was the local hospital in the merge; they had a full complement of human doctors and nurses plus three healers and two witchdoctors. They could serve the needs of all races, and as an added bonus deal with harmful spells and curses. The talent of the paranormal staff there was well known and made St. Vincent’s a popular health care facility not just for residents in the Second City, but for all of Oakland. To get one of the healers to make a house call Lou must have called in a few favors. I would have to remember to thank him for that.

  Another thing Lou had mentioned swam back to the front of my mind as I stood in Jon’s lot staring vacantly off into space while Lily hummed tunelessly from her spot off to my right. When I had mentioned to him about the three hunters and what had happened he had told me briefly about a dramatic spike in violent crimes in the merge in the last week. Domestic abuse, sexual assaults, assaults of both the physical and magical variety, all were happening way more than was normal. And it seemed to be spreading. The First City was starting to show the same symptoms as us, except in their case it was being headlined by an explosion of gang violence. The Spiders and the Rollers had apparently decided to try to topple Christian’s Bloodwalkers from the top of the food chain, so anyone that wore the dark red that was Christian’s gang color was now a target. It had reminded me of how removed from their side of things I was when things like gang violence and the like struck me as petty things, barely worth talking about.

  “I’ve been talking to the local police chief,” Lou had told me. “He says they’re getting reports of gunshots and fights from all over the city, but by the time units respond there’s nothing there. No people, no bodies, no nothing.” A shiver had run through me at this, crawling from the base of my spine and working its way to the base of my skull. “I’d love to tell you that those hunters that tried to take you out were an isolated incident, Frank, I really would, but the truth is that people are scared and they are looking for someone to blame. The fact that we can’t definitively prove whose behind it doesn’t make a difference. Even if we could show people that it was just a lone necromancer, it wouldn’t matter. The pot has finally boiled over and people want to know that something is being done. If you don’t come up with something soon…well, I know that the Guard has been activated, and I’ve heard rumors of a couple mercenary groups being put together by local business interests.”

  I had told Lou that I was working as fast as I could, and that if he could just keep the wolves at bay for a little longer I might be able to pull our collective fat from the fire. If I could pull off what I was planning, and Ben was fit enough for another fight so soon after his convalescence, and Christian actually stuck to his promise of giving me till sundown to get the Book, we might win this.

  But there were an awful lot of ‘ifs’ in my plan.

  “Hey,” I said, giving the trunk lid of Simon’s car a hard rap. “You awake in there?”

  “How much longer?” a sleepy, muffled voice drifted out to me.

  “Right now.” I took off my coat, slung it over my arm, and dug out the car keys. “Listen up, Simon. We’re in Jon’s parking lot on the left side of the building. I’m going to pop the trunk in a minute. When I do that I want you to take my jacket and run for the door. Got it?” There was a grunt, which I took as an affirmative.

  The key had barely turned and disengaged the lock before the lid was thrown back, nearly hitting me in the face. I staggered back as a shape flew out of it, grabbed the coat from my arm, and pounded its way towards the front door to a chant of “Hot, hot, hot!” The coat was up over his head as if he were in a torrential downpour. Wisps of smoke followed him as he dove into the open doorway.

  Lily nearly doubled over with laughter at the sight. After a moment, I closed the trunk, grabbed the box I had retrieved from the safe-house and the book Juliet had sold me the other day, and ushered Lily inside. Simon sat on one of the chairs over at the counter, Jon giving him a once-over for visible burns. Satisfied that Simon was okay, he waved away the smoke that was clinging to his clothes and walked back to the jars of ingredients to resume cleaning them with a damp cloth. It seemed that not even a combusting vampire could stop Jon from finishing his remodeling job.

  “You alright?” I asked, placing the Guide to the Demonic and the wooden box on the glass countertop and sitting down.

  “I’m good,” he assured me.

  He handed the rumpled coat back to me. It smelled like burning bacon which, disturbingly, reminded me of how hungry I was. Juliet had gone to get us breakfast on my suggestion, mostly so I could ponder on the best way to get her to agree to go home without making her feel like she was missing out on some great adventure. She wanted to help, and I knew she had a stubborn streak in her. If I just ordered her to go home and didn’t explain anything to her that would pretty much guarantee that she would either flat-out refuse to go, or she would sneak back while no one was looking. Besides, I had too much respect for her to simply ditch her without an explanation of what was happening.

  “Hey Jon, can you show Lily that room in back?” I asked. “See if she thinks it’s suitable for our purposes.”

  He frowned, clearly not comfortable with a Demon coming into his inner sanctum, but nodded anyway. “Right this way, young lady,” he said sarcastically, motioning for her to follow. In a moment both had disappeared into the back.

  Without further preamble I recapped what had happened to Ben and Terri for Simon, making sure that he understood that they were alright but definitely not in any condition to help us at the moment. He cursed vehemently but said nothing else. His face became still when I described my plan to him. By the end of it he had a composure that would have given a mannequin a run for its money. Not needing to breathe, the only way I could tell he was still alive—sort of—was the way that his lips had compressed to a thin bloodless line.

  “Are you bloody cracked?” he hissed. It was always a bad sign when Simon reverted to his old English lexicon. “We should call in the Shadowcasters. If Ben and Terri are out of the fight then they’re the only other option. We’re good, brother, but we aren’t that good.”

  I looked over Simon’s shoulder to make sure Lily was still in back. Jon was casting a sound-deadening spell to make sure Lily didn’t overhear us, but I didn’t know how long he could stall. “We don’t need to be as good at magic as they are; we just need to be smarter. Besides, you know what would happen if the ‘casters came here. One team didn’t work so what would they send next to deal with Christian? Two teams? Three? And a rogue Demon with a body? They’d send an army, and this city would be dust when the smoke cleared. I’m not willing to sacrifice the people of this city, Simon. I need to make sure I’ve exhausted every possibility before I go to the Committee.”

  Simon had his mouth open to reply when the front door banged open. Simon and I bolted to our feet, my leg catching the chair leg and sending i
t tumbling onto its side. He was a blur of speed, having drawn his gun while I was still pulling mine from its holster.

  “Food’s here!” Juliet shouted cheerily. She stopped and stared at us, the bags in her hands falling forgotten to the floor.

  We quickly stowed our weapons and hurried over to help. Simon scooped up the food and brought it over to the counter while I wrapped an arm around Juliet’s shoulders. She was trembling slightly; the shock of having guns pointed at you was something you never got used to. “Sorry Jules,” I said, patting her on the shoulder. “We’re a bit jumpy today. Do you forgive us?” I righted my chair and guided her into it. She still looked pale, even more so than usual.

  “I think I might need to change my pants,” she said, giggling a bit hysterically. “You two scared the pixies out of me!” The laughter died slowly and her gaze tracked from Simon, who was busy spreading food out, to me. “Did you call me Jules?”

  “It slipped out, I swear.” I held my hands out in surrender. She reached over and punched me on the arm, again, and again. “Ow! Cut it out!”

  “You’re lucky I don’t have a gun, because if I did I would shoot the next person that called me that.” With that, she got up and picked out a breakfast muffin.

  “Unless it was Mark,” I retorted.

  She came up behind me and smacked me across the back of my head. I put my balled-up jacket between us to ward off any more attacks. Simon started choking on the fries he was eating as I nearly fell over trying to avoid her palms of fury. “Not so tough now, are you Mr. Inquisitor?” she taunted as she circled me, raining stinging blows on my head and shoulders.

  “So this is how it ends,” said Simon, clearly enjoying himself. “Beaten to death by a young witch who’s half your weight. I don’t think you’ll make the hall of records for that, Frank.”

  Juliet, having worn herself out, sat down across from me and ate her muffin, giving me a glare that didn’t match the smirk she wore. Jon and Lily reappeared; the latter’s white slippers scuffing along the floor until she stood directly in front of me. “Your plan won’t work, Inquisitor,” she said accusingly. “That room could never hold one of my kind. Most of the wards protect from outside intrusion anyway, so I don’t see why you are even considering it.” Having said her peace, she made her way over to the food and grabbed something. She brought the wrapped food to her nose, gave a delicate sniff, and promptly tossed it back onto the counter.

  “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately,” I said passively. It didn’t bother me that she didn’t agree with my plan because she didn’t know what it was. I had told Jon to feed her some line about trying to trap her hunter in the room in order to buy me some time with Simon. Plus, something in my gut was telling me not to share any details with Lily until I absolutely had to. It was a feeling I intended to follow. Simon tossed me a sandwich. I grabbed it and stood up. Stretching, I glanced around to find Lily perusing the stacks of books, occasionally making obscene remarks about either the subject or the authors themselves. It was language definitely unsuitable for an eight-year-old. Content that she was preoccupied, I looked at the three people in front of me. “Jon, get your stuff. Simon, Juliet, keep her out of trouble.” I walked over and snatched the book off the table. In a lower voice meant only for Simon’s ears, I added, “And keep her away from the windows.”

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later, Jon and I had just about finished drawing out the two capture circles. The chalk lines glowed intermittently whenever the sun decided to peek out from behind the increasingly gray cloud cover. It would be just my luck if it started to rain now, at the worst possible time. Magical circles they may be, but they’re drawn in chalk which has a tendency to disintegrate in water. The second one, placed on the bulb of a streetlight at the far end of the small parking lot, might survive, but that was just a fall-back option. Hopefully we wouldn’t need to rely on it.

  “That should do it,” I said, getting off the ground and wincing. Pain still lingered in my ribs where Christian had hit me with his magic. I stretched a bit and tried to ignore it. “Go ahead and put the veil on it.”

  Jon moved his hands out over the circle and murmured a spell under his breath. Sweat was beading his forehead, which was wrinkled in concentration making him look older and slightly frail. I wondered if I was making a mistake in asking him for help, and then the white lines suddenly gleamed as bright as a star before shimmering and gradually fading. A moment later it was as if it was never there. “It’ll only last a couple of hours,” Jon warned.

  I looked over at the streetlight and was pleased to see that that circle had disappeared as well. “That’s more time than we need. Thanks Jon.”

  “No problem. As a repayment you could try your hardest not to get my place blown up.”

  Smiling, I pantomimed making an x over my heart. “I always try, but sometimes it doesn’t work out so well.”

  “Tell me about it,” he grumbled.

  The front door to the shop opened and Juliet strode out to us, walking right over where the circle was without even noticing it. The fact that she couldn’t sense it made me feel better. To Jon I said, “Go grab your wand. We’ll start in a couple minutes. You clear on what I’ll need?”

  “Clear as the fake crystals I sell to the tourists,” he said, and trotted off to the store.

  Juliet came up to me looking nervous and flushed. Her hands fiddled with the hem of her crème colored blouse. “Aren’t you supposed to be keeping Lily occupied?” I asked, though I was secretly pleased she was away from the little hellion.

  “Well I was, but she kept trying to see what you were doing out here. I kept trying to show her things around the store to keep her busy, but that stopped working after a couple of minutes, so Simon hung her up.”

  “He what?”

  “It’s not as bad as it sounds,” she said quickly. “He told her that if she didn’t stay away from the windows voluntarily that he would keep her away. Well of course a Demon isn’t going to take a challenge like that, so she told him she was going to walk right out those doors and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it,” she said, trying to imitate a tough-talking Demon. “So Simon grabbed her up and hung her by her dress on an old coat hook we have towards the back. I think he ruined her dress, but she can’t weigh more than sixty pounds so it’s holding her fine. After she stopped struggling and trying to claw and bite at Simon she started saying some really nasty stuff about the two of us and our families, so Simon told me to come out here and talk to you. I was supposed to tell you about that—he seemed to think you’d get a kick out of it—and he said you wanted to talk to me about something.”

  I waited to finish before I let my mind wander to the image of Lily, suspended from a brass hook and helpless. The laughter broke from me in a torrent, and Juliet joined in a moment later, reassured that I wasn’t mad about it.

  The laughter died away as we both realized what I was about to say. “Juliet, I need you to go home. Jon’s been working you too hard and you need your rest.”

  “I had a feeling this was coming. You don’t need to pretend that you’re worried about my sleep, Frank, I have an idea of what’s going on.” She looked away from me to the street edging off to the horizon and breathed deeply. “I know I’m not as powerful as Jon or Terri, and probably never will be, no matter how much I practice.” She looked back to me. “I’m going to be starting magic college next summer, and Jon’s been teaching me potions and illusions in our down time. I just wish there was something I could do.”

  I walked over to her and gave her a hug, which she returned fiercely. “You can stay safe for me. That’s all I ask, kid.”

  She backed up and smacked me on the shoulder. “Kid is worse than the other name you’re not allowed to call me.”

  “Sorry, Juliet. Better hurry though; the streets are starting to show signs of life, and I want to get this started before there’s a crowd.”

  A minute later I waved to Juliet as she pulled ou
t of the lot and drove away. Turning away, I went back to the store and called for Simon to let Lily down and for Jon to come outside. The clouds weren’t thick enough for Simon to venture out, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t be a problem for long. Jon and Lily came out, the former with his wand tucked into his waistband and the latter with her ever-present teddy bear. Lily did not look thrilled about her recent treatment. A scowl that deep and murderous doesn’t belong on any child.

  “Where’s the big secret?” she asked while walking over to me, her voice thick with accusation. She thrust a tiny finger up at me. “You treat me like a common mortal, spit on my appointment as ambassador, and for what? To protect the big secret that you’re going to try to trap a Demon in a room that’s protected against entrance, not escape. You are as incompetent as the rest of your kind, Inquisitor, maybe more so. And we had such high hopes for you, didn’t we, Mr. Bear?” She looked at the bear and shook her head sadly. “Not fit to be Guardian, no, no.”

  “What’s she talking about?” Jon asked me.

  “I have no idea. Listen, Lily, you’re just going to have to trust me in this.”

  She laughed long and loud. “Trust? My kind doesn’t trust anything. It’s a foreign concept that is unique to this realm. I personally find the very idea reprehensible.”

  “Fine,” I sighed. “We’ll do this the hard way then.”

  My power came to me like fire following oxygen. It flooded my veins and sang along my nerves, my body welcoming it like the old friend it was. Reaching out with my senses, I quested for Lily’s hidden power. It was buried deep, as the Duke tried to hide it from her hunter’s view, but I found it flowing just beneath the girl’s skin; a thick membrane of darkness that had shaped itself into the form of a girl.