by Rain Oxford
“Not easily. I write occult books, and there isn’t a huge market for it right now.”
“So you became a librarian?”
“No, I’m here to investigate supernatural activity in this town and four others.”
“Are you a member of the wizard council?”
“No, I’m not, but my father was and he asked me to do it because he was too busy. I’ve been to the other four towns, gathering information.”
“What kind of supernatural activity?”
“I would tell you, but I’m about to pass out. I need a healing potion.”
“I’m not making you a potion.”
“I already have one in the freezer. Please, just let me get it.”
I backed up into the kitchen, keeping the staff aimed at him. It didn’t do any good, because I couldn’t do magic, but he looked frightened, so it worked for me. I opened the freezer door.
“It’s right there, in the door. The silver flask.”
“If you make one wrong move, I’ll break you beyond anything a potion can heal.” I pulled it out and tossed it to him. He automatically tried to catch it with his left hand and screeched with pain again. After it clattered to the floor, he awkwardly picked it up with his right hand, uncapped it, and drank it. “How long does it take to start working,” I asked, curious.
“It’s mixed with Southern Comfort; it starts working immediately.” He tossed the empty flask on the destroyed couch, went to the box, and started digging through it.
I set the staff on the breakfast bar and joined him next to the box. I knew he could do magic without the staff, as he was a real paranormal, but I doubted he could do it without a tell.
Using only his right hand, he pulled out a map of the Midwest and pointed to a tiny town. “It started here, in a town called White Hills. It’s the center of a number of ley lines and attracted paranormals. Almost everyone in that town is a paranormal. In all five cities, there has been everything from strange murders to random people suddenly gaining magic.” He pointed to another town. “A woman drowned while watching television, with no water in sight.” He pointed to another one. “Here several people killed their families and friends and swore that angels told them to do it.” He pointed to another one. “This town disappeared off the face of the Earth for a week and had absolutely no idea that anything had happened.”
“What do they all have in common?”
“Nothing, which is really weird. Three of them, including this town, reside on multiple ley lines. Another town was built on sacred Native American grounds. This is the really weird part, though.” He took a sheet of clear plastic and a marker out of the box, set the cover on the map, and drew lines between the towns until it looked like a pentagram.
“Hasn’t that been done before in movies?”
“That’s because it’s happened in real life before, and that’s why we spotted the pattern so quickly. If you’re not here to kill me, why did you look for me?”
“I told you; there are children missing.”
“And your coven master sent you? Are you a vampire cop or something?”
“I’m a rogue.” He flinched. “I’m not going to kill you just because I’m a vampire. We’re not all murderers.”
“The council thinks otherwise.”
“I’m well aware. Since you’re studying supernatural stuff, maybe you have information on what’s going on. I believe the children that have gone missing are going to be sacrificed to a demon. What do you know about summoning demons?”
“I have some books on it.” He left the room and returned a few minutes later with a pile of books. “What do you need to know?”
“For one thing, how is it done?”
“Well, there are different ways for demons to be summoned. How many kids have gone missing?”
“Seven, but we found Lilly.”
“Have any adults gone missing?”
“Rome’s mother and Jeana’s parents have, but they might have just been eaten.”
“If that’s the case, I think I know what it is.” He opened one of the books and read for a few minutes. “One ritual requires the sacrifice of seven children, and it has to be done under the full moon.”
“The kids aren’t just being taken by a person, though; there’s a demonic creature after them. The school counselor, Dr. Brian, was sending the creature to collect them. The creature killed him when he was telling me, but another child went missing a few hours ago, so we think he had an accomplice.”
He grimaced. “In that case, you have to stop it before it takes another child. Tomorrow is the full moon.”
“Can you find who is doing it?”
“If we were in a regular town, I could use magic to find other wizards, but this entire town is full of magic. It’s like finding a particular needle in a pile of needles.”
“Well, do you mind if I borrow your books?”
“They’re really rare…”
“You tried to set me on fire.”
“Okay, you’re right. Just… please take good care of them and return them safely. These are limited editions, very old, and extremely powerful.”
* * *
Before returning to the motel, I went to the diner. The same waitress was there and after ordering, I asked her if she ever went home. She jokingly asked what “home” was.
I returned to my motel room and unlocked the door. Since they could tell the sound of my car apart from others, Deimos and Phobos were quiet. Lilly was asleep on the bed with her head in a witchcraft book and the boys were on either side of her. Phobos grumbled as I entered. “I know I was late. Another kid went missing. I followed the cop to a farmhouse, and then I talked to a wizard librarian.”
I set their steaks on the floor and ate my burger and fries. It had been a few weeks since I had eaten food, though, so my stomach couldn’t handle much. After eating a few bites, I opened one of the books and started skimming the pages.
I spent some time learning how people were picked as sacrifices. Apparently, there were different requirements depending on the type of summoning and even the demon they were trying to summon. After several hours, I learned that sending demonic creatures after people was not unheard of. The ritual required was tricky, but it could be done on an object. Doing so basically made a shortcut. Instead of attaining a personal item from the victim and doing a ritual to send the creature after them, all they had to do was get the target to touch one particular object. The only stipulation was that it had to have the mark of the demon on it.
The demon coin that Logan found in Lilly’s room.
* * *
Logan returned before Lilly woke. “Did you get any new information?” I asked.
He set a can of salt on the table, took off his jacket, sat down, and started eating my leftovers. “Ginger Hull disappeared from her room. The windows were locked and her mother was in the living room, so she couldn’t have snuck out the door. She also never visited the counselor at her school.” He pulled a small, pink book out of his jacket and set it next to the salt. “Her mother said she didn’t act strange, but she wrote in her diary that strange stuff started happening to her yesterday.”
“That makes sense with what I found out. It looks like the person trying to summon the demon needs seven children, and it has to be on the full moon.”
He pulled out his phone and checked the time. “Then because Micah didn’t fit the creature’s needs and Lilly escaped, they’re getting desperate. They need one more by tonight or they’re going to have to wait a month. I doubt it can take the child during the day time, especially since most children are going to be in class in four hours. They’re probably going to choose someone today for the creature to take tonight before the summoning ritual.”
“Assuming it hasn’t already taken another kid and we just don’t know about it.”
“It hasn’t,” he said simply.
“How do you know?”
“While it was messing with you, I was learning the signs. Wha
t else did you discover?”
If he were anyone else, I would have used my thrall on him. He was frustrating as hell. If I used my thrall, I might have been able to get a little bit of information from him, but then I would have to finish the case without him. His knowledge of the occult was invaluable. Although I hated the thought that I needed his help, we both had skills necessary for this.
It pissed me off. He knew I couldn’t force his hand and he used that to his advantage. This was why no one crossed him.
“I discovered that the coin you found in Lilly’s room is more than just the demon’s sigil. I believe the counselor marked the sacrifices simply by making them touch the coin.”
“Then Lilly was marked by accident.”
“As was I. The creature is after me, but it probably knows by now that I’m not a child.”
“It can still kill you even if it can’t use you. What happened after you discovered Ginger’s disappearance?”
“I followed the cop who was on the case, the same one we met at the station. He went to a farmhouse, but I didn’t see anything strange. I take it you’re going to keep working on helping the kids because you don’t want Lilly to think lowly of you.”
“She is the only one who believes I am a nice person.”
“Because you’re not one?”
“No. I’m a hard man to love, and she somehow does. You’re not going to damage that.”
“I’m not interested in damaging your relationship, especially since I plan to use it to my advantage.”
“You can walk away from this. I know you weren’t expecting demons when you came here.”
“Some paranormals get out of control and go on killing sprees, and humans can’t do much about it. Astrid has hunted rampant paranormals for more than ten years, but now she’s missing. She’s done too much for me not to help her. If she were here, she would be doing this, so I’m doing it for her.”
“You’re here to repay your friend. I can understand that.” He stood and put his jacket back on. “I should take Lilly to our room.” He picked her up and left.
Since the sun was starting to peek over the horizon, I got in bed. Just as I was starting to nod off, the boys growled. I heard something odd, so I hushed them. When they fell silent, the sound of scratching in the walls became very clear. I got up, grabbed the salt, pulled the bed a few inches from the wall, and used the salt to make a wide, crudely-shaped circle around the bed. Deimos and Phobos watched me worriedly, afraid I was going nuts.
“Don’t mess up the salt,” I said. Phobos sniffed it and stuck out his tongue to eat it. “Don’t lick the salt!” He grumbled, hopped on the bed, and turned the television on. “You’ve had enough cartoons.” I took the remote and turned it back on. Phobos rested his head on top of mine. “Cut that out.” I elbowed him in the chest and he started drooling. “Damn you, mutt!” I tossed the remote across the room and he ran after it. “Just keep the volume down.”
I got under the covers and tried to fall asleep. Phobos settled on the bed next to me and rested his head on the small of my back.
Chapter 10
An explosion shattered my dream, but it was the onslaught of sunlight that had me diving blindly for the space between the bed and the wall. Deimos and Phobos growled and I heard someone shrieking. It was a person. Deimos’s growl faded slightly as he ran outside to fight the culprit while Phobos stayed behind to protect me.
“Get the robe Logan gave me.”
Phobos got up on the bed and draped it over me. He then dragged my bag up the bed and dropped it on me. Still using the bed to block the light, I carefully took out a black satin shirt and a pair of black leather pants, dressed, and pulled the robe on over it. I put the hood up and stood, keeping my hands out of the light. Phobos brought my socks and boots.
“Go help your brother,” I said.
Phobos grumbled.
“I’m fine!” I lied. “Don’t argue with me!”
He reluctantly left. As soon as he was out of earshot, I sat on the bed and clutched my stomach. In the split second I was exposed to sunlight, I had received severe burns. I needed blood.
“What happened?” Logan asked, walking into what was left of the room. I couldn’t turn to look at the damage, but from the amount of light pouring in, I figured at least the entire window was gone.
“I don’t know. Something blew up. The boys are tracking down the one responsible.”
“I’m going to take you to my room.”
“I can’t be exposed to---”
He didn’t listen; he picked me up easily with one arm under my knees and his other around my back. Rather than fight him and get dropped, I made sure my skin was covered and let him carry me outside. This was the second time I let myself be in such a vulnerable position with Logan. I didn’t like it.
After a moment, he moved his right arm to open the door, then kicked it closed behind him and set me on the bed. “The curtain is closed. You should be okay now.”
I lowered the hood and he was right; there was no sunlight getting in. The room was identical to mine, except there were two beds and the table was pushed towards the window. Lilly was sitting at the table, watching us cautiously. In front of her were a McDonald’s bag, a flare, a stack of old, heavy books, and a small chest.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then I need to go. I’m extremely close to finding the kids. Do you need anything before I go?”
I shook my head. He left us with an awkward silence. “You don’t want to stay here,” she said after a few minutes. “My brother can find the missing kids. You’re just going to get hurt if you stay.”
“I’m a vampire. I think I can take care of myself.”
“You must not have faced a demon before.”
“What do you know about them?”
She held up one of the books. “More than you, apparently. You may have your thrall, but all paranormals are naturally matched with wizards. Even the minor demons are at least ten times more powerful than wizards.”
“Are you not afraid of your brother dealing with it?”
“My brother has a way of winning.”
“More importantly, I found out that the coin you found in the counselor’s office is marking people.”
“Then we need to find it before others get marked.”
“We will, but I can’t go out until nightfall. Thinking about it, I really need to be able to see the creature.”
“That would not be pleasant.”
“But is it possible? Do you know enough magic to enable me to see it?”
She looked like she was considering it. “I think I know how to do it.” She picked up one of the books and flipped through it.
“If your parents are against witchcraft, where did you get the books?”
“Logan sends them to me. He has some of the rarest books of the occult in his private library, but he sends me some of the less-powerful books. I have to make all of my materials myself, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be. I need a white candle. One of those thick ones that doesn’t need a holder.”
“I don’t carry candles around.”
She sighed, pulled out her cell phone, and started texting. “I’ll have Logan pick one up. A candle is the one thing he didn’t get me from my room.” She looked up at me with a worried expression. “Do you need blood?”
I nodded. Wounds caused by sunlight needed fresh blood to heal. In fact, real blood was better than synthetic, but even Sanguatine was better than nothing. “I have bottles of it in my room, assuming it wasn’t destroyed in the explosion.”
“Go into the bathroom. I’ll get the bottles.”
“No, it’s too dangerous for you to be on your own. Your brother may be able to handle himself, but I’m pretty sure it would hurt him if you got killed.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s next door.”
“Does your brother know you’re such a brat?”
“No, and you’re not going to
tell him.”
I laughed as I went into the bathroom and shut the door, then groaned, because laughing pulled on my charred flesh. I didn’t bother to turn on the light and instead sat on the rim of the tub and started a cold bath. I was going to need to sleep while the blood was healing me and the cold water would help. Ten minutes later, I started to worry. After fifteen minutes since I entered the bathroom, I stood up to go after her.
Something wrapped around my wrist. Startled, I jerked away, breaking the hold. When I turned, I expected to see nothing, but that wasn’t the case; the tub was full of blood and a clawed hand was reaching out, trying again to grasp me.
I pulled the dagger out of my boot and stabbed the hand, which quickly vanished into the blood. I opened the door and went out to the main room. Lilly was still gone, the lights were out, and I felt the dark presence of the demonic creature.
I grabbed the flare off the table and started for the door, only to be slammed against the wall, just like in the hospital. Unlike before, however, I felt a clawed hand on my chest. There was only a dark, blurry shape. I tried to kick and punch the creature, but although it could push me around, I couldn’t make contact with it.
Five invisible claws dug into my skin and my shirt soaked with blood. I tried to strike the flare. The creature was wise to that, though; it pulled me off the wall and then slammed me back hard enough to break the drywall.
Phobos howled outside and started attacking the door.
I felt the creature sniffing my face, and then, to my horror, it licked my cheek. Its tongue was long, narrow, slimy, and cold. At least, I hoped that was a tongue. The tongue ran over my mouth and I gagged. It smelled strongly of rotten blood. I continued to struggle until the creature dropped me and growled. It was strange, more like a sensation than a sound.
The creature stabbed my right shoulder with its claws. Before I could react, it struck me in the stomach and slashed in an upward motion. I was pretty sure it broke at least most of my ribs. Then it grabbed me by the arm and slammed me to the floor, easily breaking my arm.
