Black Magic - An Urban Fantasy Colleciton

by SJ Davis

  Now, it was time to dry her eyes and go downstairs to welcome the esteemed guests to her father’s retirement party. He had been a Congressman, a war hero, and a deacon in their church. Now it was time for him to focus on fishing and would be even more active in the church. It really was high time for him to take a break.

  She put on the new white dress she’d been given for the occasion. It was comfortable; silky and lacy. Conservative, but on her anything could look regal. She was a beautiful girl.

  She greeted Mikey, Gabrielle, David, Ralph, Joseph, and Ulysses when she got downstairs. Of course Laurence didn’t show up. She then kissed her father on the cheek. Charles Angelus had aged but lost none of his powerfulness. Had he not been so uppity, he would’ve been a great man. The party had been set up and people were already arriving. She kept her eye out for Wynne and Jesse.

  When they arrived, Cass had to stop and do a double take. Jesse was a good looking man, tall and impeccably groomed. Too much like her father for her to entertain dating, but a great guy for Gabrielle. Wynne, her lovable, rough-and-tumble Wynne, was nearly unrecognizable in a good way.

  His usually spiky and messy hair was neatly groomed, he had shaved, and was wearing that gorgeous black silk suit with a deep red tie to add a pop of color. He even had a red pocket handkerchief! His shoes were polished black leather and he wore a 1940’s era hat. Cass wanted to eat him up.

  While she stood there like an idiot, Gabrielle greeted them both and gave Jesse a chaste kiss. They were cute together, even though Jesse was a foot taller than her sister.

  She finally broke the spell Wynne had her under and went to greet him. He kissed her passionately, earning him a nasty glare from Mikey, her oldest brother.

  “Wow. You clean up well,” she commented, caressing his smooth face.

  “I know, huh?” He smiled down at her. “I’m just going to go and give your old man some well wishes. Let him see what kind of man you’ve really got here.”

  “Be nice, Wynne,” she warned.

  He smirked. “Of course I’ll be nice. That’s the whole point.”

  When he walked away, Jesse pulled Cass aside. His brows were knitted together with concern and his tic with his face was going. That wasn’t good. He usually only acted like this before a big exam, so what was troubling him now?

  “Does Wynne seem different to you?” he asked Cass.

  “Aside from the new groomed look?” she asked, smiling.

  Jesse didn’t return the smile. “Yeah, aside from that. He’s been a little off since he picked me up. Quieter. A little angrier. No music on the ride here.”

  Cass arched her eyebrows. Wynne loved his music and had his iPod hooked up to speakers constantly in the car. “Maybe it’s just nerves. I’ll talk to him,” she said.

  Jesse looked down. “I know this is gonna sound weird, but just listen, okay? I started translating the books he brought me. One of them was an ancient Bible in Latin. The others were...weird. I thought one was a recipe book till I saw a bug listed as an ingredient. I think those books in that room were Occultish.”

  “Are you joking?” Cass asked, her face going ashen.

  “Wish I was. I wonder if...no, it’s silly. Like something out of a bad horror movie.” He shook his head.

  “Cut it out and tell me what you’re thinking, Jesse, please! This is Wynne we’re talking about. I need to know if he’s okay,” Cass pleaded.

  “I think there were bad vibes in that room. I think they’re rubbing off on him.”

  “Negative energy? Like in Sailor Moon or something?” Cass wondered.

  Jesse nodded. “Just keep an eye on him, all right?”

  She nodded, and the two went to join the party. She watched Wynne like a hawk, but aside from an uncharacteristic silence, he seemed fine. He even cracked a joke with David, the most easygoing of the brothers.

  She was proud of him, especially when he started talking about his expansion plans for his garage. It could possibly make him a millionaire, and her father looked at him with a bit more respect than he had previously.

  Things were going well. She sighed happily as they were about to toast her father. The night was almost over and nothing bad had happened. She was very surprised when Wynne stood up to toast her father. He was not one to kiss someone’s ass.

  “To Chuck Angelus,” he said, holding his champagne glass high. “A complete asshat who got by because of conservative ideals, his daddy’s money, and all the personality of a frozen rock.”

  Cass was caught between laughing and slapping him. He was only being truthful. He then continued, horrifying her by the venom that spewed from his pouty pink lips.

  “The man who thinks of God as a war general, who thinks anyone who makes less than a hundred grand a year is a piece of shit, and a man who treats his kids like his property or his minions, depending on which one it is. And, oh yeah, you also sanctioned the ‘friendly fire’ that killed I don’t know how many troops in Iraq.

  “So, you condescending, stuck-up, judgmental dick, tell me why we’re all here toasting you?”

  “Wynne!” Cass gasped. He had taken it a step too far.

  “Young man, get out of my home right now!” Charles bellowed, standing up to face Wynne.

  Wynne had his eyes closed, and when he opened them again they were a vibrant, blood red. His pupil had disappeared. Whatever this was, it was not Wynne.

  Swiftly, he smashed the glass on the edge of the table, breaking the top of it. He shoved the jagged edge straight into Charles’ right eye, popping it. You heard it, like stepping on a grape. Thick, whitish fluid dripped down his face, mingling with a torrent of blood.

  Everyone screamed, many of the guests running away instead of trying to help. Cass felt sick, but couldn’t bring herself to scream or cry.

  “Jesse, what’s wrong with him?” she asked, watching in horror as Mikey grappled with Wynne. It wasn’t Wynne, though. It was his body, but it wasn’t him.

  Wynne grabbed Mikey’s right arm with one hand and twisted, making a series of sick, wet cracks as her brother screamed in pain. His arm now had three new elbows and a dislocated shoulder as he slumped to the floor.

  “Wynne, stop it!” Jesse yelled.

  Cass grabbed his arm. “Whatever that is, it isn’t your brother anymore.”

  Ulysses, the one Cass considered her bitchiest brother, got into the fray, running headfirst at Wynne with a steak knife from dinner.

  “Don’t kill him, you asshole!” Cass scolded. He didn’t need death. He needed help. “He needs a priest!”

  Ulysses got within centimeters of Wynne before the red-eyed creature turned his head and snapped his fingers. Ulysses went rigid, his eyes bulging in shock as his head began to turn on its own like The Exorcist. With one crack his neck and spinal cord snapped, sending his limp corpse to the floor. He landed in Mikey’s lap, and the already hurting and frightened Mikey screamed.

  “Wynne!” Cass cried, hoping to reach the man inside. He had to still be in there, right? “Wynne, wake up! Please, stop this!”

  Gabrielle, an adept girl despite her joking manner, caught on with what was happening faster than her still living siblings. Bad thing was, she didn’t know what to do to stop it. “Listen, whatever you are, stop this and let Wynne go! He is not yours to command.”

  The thing possessing Wynne smirked. “Do you think you are in a position to give me orders, child?” It was not Wynne’s voice anymore. This was monotonous and grating, like a robot who smoked too much. He swung his finger and Gabrielle was sent flying into the far wall, smashing the glass on a painting. She was knocked out, but alive. Her back was bleeding from the dozens of little pieces of glass stuck into it. She’d bleed out if she didn’t get help soon.

  Charles gathered his wits about him, ignoring the pain he was in and went to defend his children. “I knew I never liked you, you
low class psycho!”

  Wynne laughed. “And he is in here, too, telling me how much he hates you. How he wants to see you tortured before you die. You and your whole fucking family...except her, of course.” He gestured to Cass and cocked his head. “And I think I am going to oblige his wishes; after all, he has been a good host so far.”

  He picked up the knife that Ulysses has tried to use to kill him and sent it flying, stabbing Charles in the throat. It didn’t kill him as he choked on his own blood. Instead, it kept slicing downward slowly, like a coroner cutting into a corpse for a post mortem. Cass had to look away before she went nuts at the sight. The sound, however, of the blade cutting into fresh, bloody meat could not be drowned out. This couldn’t be real, could it? Was it possible she was dreaming? No, her father’s chokes and her brother’s cries were all too real. As was the thick sound of a knife cutting through him.

  She heard a phone ringing. Maybe it was help, somehow? She recognized the ringtone: it was Jesse’s phone. He was kneeling by Gabrielle, trying to help her. The phone went on speaker.

  “Jesse Ryan, this is Sly. Look, I figured out what the symbols in that locked room were for: they were keeping something really evil in there. When I broke the seal, I let out whatever was in there.”

  Jesse and Cass’s eyes met across the room. The suit! The clothes had been amongst dust in a sealed chest. That dust was some kind of demon residue, and the suit must be what was possessing Wynne.

  “Listen, Sly, did it say how to seal it back up? Hurry!” Jess asked.

  “It was in one of the books Wynne gave to you. It’s a spell and you need holy water, bl--” The phone exploded, cutting Sly off mid-sentence.

  Wynne was glaring at his brother. “Do not even try. Your brother is begging me not to kill you, but if you keep acting like a little shit, I might have to.”

  “No, you won’t!” Cass cried. “You will get the Hell out of my boyfriend right now and go back where you came from!”

  Wynne laughed, but it wasn’t Wynne’s full-body laugh. This was pure malice. “Oh, little girl, you think you are so tough, huh? I killed half your family by now, and nothing is stopping me from killing you, too.” He held his hand out and twisted, but nothing happened.

  David, who was sobbing over his father’s halved body, looked up, shocked. Jesse and Cass’s eyes met again and they realized that this thing could not hurt her for some reason.

  “Out of juice, you sonofabitch?” she asked.

  Turning its gaze over to David, he started choking, coughing up great gobs of blood.

  “Jesse, I think I can do something about this,” she said. “Can you handle him?”

  “I’ll try. Go. Hurry!” Jesse grappled with Wynne. He knew he’d lose, but at least he could buy Cass some time to try and fix this. “Cass!”

  She turned back, her eyes wide with fright as Jesse landed a right hook at the side of Wynne’s head. “Sly said you needed holy water and something with a ‘bluh’ sound.”

  She nodded. “Got it.” Dashing up to her bedroom, she was glad her family was so devout. She blessed herself each night and morning with holy water in an ornate iron font that sat at her bedside. She assumed the next item needed was blood, but what did she do with it all? The demon was attached to the clothes, but since they were on Wynne, she couldn’t exactly destroy them. Not without hurting Wynne.

  Wynne’s guilty pleasure was horror movies. They had watched a ton of them, both classic and modern. She tried to think. What else were demons and spirits vulnerable to? Iron. Holy water. Blood was something new. Garlic? No, that was vampires. Silver was for werewolves.

  She looked over at the gag t-shirt Wynne had given her. It was a salt and pepper shaker with a cheesy romantic saying on it. “Salt!” she said out loud. How could she sneak into the kitchen? She could still hear the scuffle going on, so that was good. What now? “Now I pray,” she said to herself.

  Dashing from her room with the holy water, she made it to the kitchen without alerting Wynne. She grabbed a butcher knife from the knife rack and bit down on her lip as she sliced into her own arm, letting blood flow freely into a small plastic bowl. She blotted her arm and decided to mix the blood with some holy water and salt. She coated the knife with it, hoping that she could use it to cut up the suit, making the demon weaker. That way Wynne could oust it from his body.

  A weak idea, but better than killing Wynne.

  There was a scream from the dining room, and she knew she might be too late. She could see David, her nicest brother, hanging from the chandelier. The wrought iron and crystal were pierced through his body, hanging him there like a grotesque Halloween decoration. Blood dripped steadily from his body, and she saw Wynne catch some of them in his mouth. She had grabbed another kitchen item, a turkey baster. She filled it with holy water and shot a stream of it at the back of Wynne’s head, causing his body to bubble and boil as if he had been hit with acid. He screeched in pain.

  “Get the fuck out of Wynne!” she ordered, shooting it again. It left Jesse on the floor, clutching his wounded knee, and went straight for Cass, which was the plan.

  She grabbed its tie and cut it with the demon-proofed knife and the demon inside Wynne screeched again. She reached back and sliced at the clothes again. She smelled rotten eggs. Sulfur? Was that it? She wished she’d paid better attention when Wynne was watching his stupid horror movies!

  “You think you can kill me, little girl?” it asked, grabbing her wrist hard enough to hurt. She would not let the knife go, and for some reason the demon couldn’t hurt her. “I cannot use my powers, but I can still beat you till you die. This is a strong body.”

  “Not if I kill you first!” She swung her arm and the knife cut the sleeve off of the arm that was holding her, making it go limp.

  The demon’s good arm swung out and connected with the side of her head, knocking her back into a table that held decanters of alcohol. “You know Wynne is in here. Crying. He loves you. That is why I cannot use my powers against you. But this is better. This way he can feel it as his own body chokes the life out of you.”

  Cass whimpered, but needed to stay strong. She didn’t know any exorcisms, but she knew some Latin from attending Catechism classes every Sunday till she had made her Confirmation. “Exire, in nomine Dei!” Its eyes flashed. She tried again, “In nomine Dei, Ego præcipio tibi!”

  It roared, moving away from her. She was able to cut the breast of the suit, hurting it more. It was really working!

  “No,” it snarled, red eyes flashing with Hellfire. “No, you will go down with me!” He lunged for her, and she thought he meant that she would go down with him. That was not what he meant. He grabbed the wrist that was holding the knife and cut through its own vest and silk dress shirt.

  She was confused. Why was it killing itself?

  “Do you know what pure souls like your family’s are worth in Hell?” he hissed. “Or dark souls like this vessel’s? You know he wanted to kill your old man anyway, right? He pictured torturing him just like I did. Now he can command legions in Hell with that attitude.”

  “You won’t take him; I will not let you!” Cass vowed, yanking her hand back from him and cutting into the pants, making the demon fall to its knees, unable to stand. She reached her free hand down to rip the suit off as much as she could, but it was still faster than she was. With a quick snap, her wrist was broken, the bone puncturing through her skin and trickling blood down her arm. She screamed, the pain so severe her mind could barely register it.

  Jesse had managed to get to his feet and was coming to try and help. He got his hands on the back of the suit, ready to tear it, but the demon sent him flying into the windows, thankfully still alive. Wynne’s will was strong, and he wouldn’t let the demon hurt those he loved.

  Taking more of the holy water mixture from the table behind her she threw it at the demon, scorching the neck and chest. Sh
e hoped Wynne wasn’t in too much pain in there.

  She was tearing the suit more, making the demon lose its grip a bit on Wynne. Just a little more…

  His hand grabbed the one with the knife, crushing it but not breaking it. He yanked her forward and she watched in horror as the knife stabbed Wynne’s chest. The demon screamed, and she watched as a black cloud rose from the body and suit, only to fall to the ground in a heap of sulfuric residue. The grip on her hand went slack as Wynne’s body fell to the ground, lifeless and bleeding around the blessed knife.

  Cass screamed, realizing what had just happened. Jesse watched from across the room, his face ashen. She scrambled over Wynne’s body, knowing there was no point. He was dead, his body already cooling. He had probably been dead as soon as the demon had possessed him.

  It was all her fault for dragging him into that shop. All her fault. All her fault for making him need to dress up to impress her father. Her fault.

  Jesse limped to her side, looking down at his brother. His big brother; protector and friend.

  “The demon’s dead,” he commented, letting hot tears fall down his face, stinging in the shallow cuts made by glass. “If Wynne were in my position, he’d say you were a hero, Cass.”

  “And what do you say?” she gasped out through her tears as she watched the bloody puddle beneath Wynne grow in size.

  “That being a hero doesn’t pay. The Devil always gets his due.”

  PAPER DOLLS

  BY RUE VOLLEY

  War. You would think a word that small would not matter as much as it does. Unfortunately, it is a word that defines me and everyone on Earth. You see, I was born during war, as were thousands of others. In a time of the first wave of the invasion — an attack planned with precision by an invading force, one that came from the stars.

  I was only three when they first entered our atmosphere. It was 3286, and the Earth had already evolved in a collective attitude after the polar ice cap split in two, and all of the carbon emissions we had spewed into the atmosphere, damn near choking out the sun.