by Tim Miller
Maria made no expression as the firefighters helped us get the girl out of the car. We wrapped her in blankets, placed her on the cot and zipped the cover closed. After we loaded her into the van, Maria spoke to the officers, filled out some paperwork and joined me back in the van. We hadn’t spoken the entire time we were at the scene. We rarely did. When people see the funeral van show up, the scene gets really quiet and people watch our every move. We were always careful to be respectful of the body, and whatever friends or family who may be watching.
“Did they say how old she was?” I asked as Maria climbed in.
“Nineteen. She’s a UT student here on spring break.”
“Wow, that’s too bad.”
“Yeah.”
We didn’t say much the rest of the way back. When we reached the funeral home, I took the body to the back and began cleaning her off. Maria had to stop by her office and drop off the paperwork. While she was doing that, I’d prepare the body for her to embalm. Since I wasn’t a licensed funeral director I couldn’t do the actual embalming, but I could assist. I got the body in the embalming room. I placed her on the table and removed her clothes so I could wash her off. After I’d finished cleaning the body, I noticed Maria had yet to return.
I took off my apron and gloves and headed back to her office. It wasn’t like her to not get a body ready right away. As I approached, I heard her laughing in her office. There was another voice laughing too- a man’s voice. You don’t often hear laughter in a funeral home, so I had no idea what was up. When I walked in her office, Maria was sitting at her desk, smiling and giggling as the man told her some story. He looked up at me and I recognized him right away, even though I hadn’t seen him in a few years.
“Charlie! How have you been, buddy?” He said.
Lucifer.
“Well, um, hi. What brings you here?”
“Charlie!” Maria squealed, “You don’t ever talk about friends or anything. Dennis here said you guys were good friends in college and he was in town! So nice to hear stories about you as a kid.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said. Lucifer winked at me with his devil-may-care grin. “Could you excuse us for a minute Maria? I’d like to catch up with my old friend for a few. The girl is all ready to go.”
“Oh, of course,” she said as she stood. “It was so nice meeting you.” Maria shook his hand and he held it for just a little too long. She headed back to the embalming room, so I closed the door once she was gone. I then turned and punched Lucifer in the arm, causing him to jump.
“Ow!”
“So you feel pain now?”
“I’m kind of in flesh here. I do that from time to time.”
“What are you doing here? Last time I saw you, you told me to stay away from you and poofed away with your tail between your legs.”
“I don’t have a tail. That’s just a myth. But you freaked me out a little bit last time.”
When he last saw me, t had been with the Bishop, who we now know was Jesus Christ himself, having his last revival service in the Alamodome. I’d just turned over fifty thousand people in attendance into a hoard of zombies and zapped the Bishop unconscious by reaching my fingers into his skull. Apparently some things were too scary, even for the devil.
“Well you left me hanging after all that. What do you want?”
“Yes, I saw. The crucifixion was a nice touch.”
“Yeah, thanks. Next time we’ll make it a tailgate party.”
“Don’t be a smartass, Chuck.”
I cringed. I hated that nickname, particularly coming from him. “What. Do. You. Want?”
“Okay. Your handiwork last time turned everything onto its ear. The whole cosmos is in a tailspin.”
“Spare me the dramatics. What are you talking about?”
“The Old Man Upstairs wasn’t so thrilled with his boy failing to a Nephilim, of all things. So Christ is now in the Abyss.”
I almost fell out of my chair. The Abyss is what we know as hell. It’s just an eternal void of nothingness, yet you are fully conscious. There is no sound, sight, smell - nothing. Just you hanging in empty space alone with your thoughts and sometimes the sounds of others screaming. I would imagine it sucks.
“Are you serious? Why didn’t he just come after me? He put His own on into the Abyss?”
“I hear it may not be permanent, but just enough to get his attention. He most likely will come after you, just using a different approach. As you know, things get sticky when They cross realms. There are rules and limitations.”
“Isn’t the Old Man the One who made those rules?
“Not exactly. The universe sort of has a will of its own.”
“Okay. So you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here? You obviously want something.”
“You’re so smart Chuck. Okay, you saw the thing on the news about the church in Mexico, everyone dead?”
“Yeah, the Feds and Texas Rangers were here asking me about it.”
“Well the Old Man has sent the Ghost to finish what the Bishop could not. He will be a bit harder to stop.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because he’s a ghost genius.” Lucifer rolled his eyes as if I were too stupid to bother explaining it to.
“So what? You expect me to stop him, too?”
“You’re the man, my friend.”
“And how? Turn him into a ghost-zombie?”
“You’ll figure it out,” Lucifer stood. “I gotta run. I can only maintain this body for a day or two at a time. So I’m going to go have some fun with it while I can. I’d ask you to come hang, but looks like you got your hands full with your senorita in there.”
“Whatever. You going to be in touch, or am I on my own again?”
“I’ll be in touch,” he said.
“Wonderful.”
Chapter 4
After Lucifer left, I sat there thinking. It turned out that sinking feeling I’d had earlier wasn’t a fluke. My fear was very real. It was all starting again. Once again, I would have to battle God, a part of god, or some godlike creature. However you summed it up, it wasn’t going to be a fun experience. The first time around almost killed me. There was no telling what would happen this time around. I stood and headed to the back to find Maria, when it hit me. For the first time in years, I had a vision of a sinner I needed to kill.
This one was a man here in Del Rio. He was a police officer, but he was dirty. For years he’d been taking payoffs from the drug cartel. He would hide evidence for them, get charges dropped, look the other way at their dealings. He would sometimes even execute hits for them. Other times, he helped dispose of bodies. For a man sworn to uphold the law, he made little attempt to do so. His side job had made him a rich man. Ultimately, though, he would have to die for his sins. I still had no idea where this vision came from. For most my life I had thought my visions came from God. I thought God had been using me as a weapon to carry out His will. During my dealings with the Bishop, I learned that wasn’t the case, however. I still didn’t know the source of my visions, or what drove me to do this work. I figured since I was part Nephilim, it may have something to do with my celestial DNA.
During my encounter with the Bishop years ago, I had read everything in his mind. I had seen the mind of God. Trouble was, I couldn’t remember anything I’d found. I’d tried over and over to recall those things, yet I drew a blank every time. It was somewhere in my head, but would have to surface on its own.
“You all right?” Maria asked as she stepped out of the embalming room.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You sure? You look kind of pale. What’s up with your friend?”
“Oh, nothing. He’s leaving town today and just wanted to say hello.”
“Oh, well that’s too bad,” she said, looking dejected.
“Why is that too bad?”
“Nothing, he just seemed like a nice guy.”
“Uh no. You don’t want anything to do with him.”
“Why, Charlie? You almost sound jealous!”
“No, I’m not jealous. Don’t be ridiculous. He comes across as nice, but he’s just bad news. Trust me.”
“Geez, Charlie. You sound like he’s the devil or something,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, he’s a serious trouble maker. A big reason I hadn’t seen him in a while.”
“Okay, then. Well, the girl is all done. The family will bring some clothes in the morning so we can dress her up, even though it will be a closed casket funeral. Not much I could do with her face. I’m going to go get lunch. You hungry?”
“No, not at the moment. I was going to straighten up here. Then I have an appointment this afternoon.
“Okay. Well call me on my cell if you need anything. You really need to loosen up though, Charlie. Nothing wrong with being around other people once in a while.” If only she knew.
“I know. Just not something I’m good at.”
“No worries. See you later,” she said as she headed out.
Once she stepped out, I took a shower and changed clothes. I had work to do. Once a vision hits, the urge to complete it would eats at me until I carry it out. I needed to pay Officer Cortez a visit. But first, I needed to prepare. This was going to be a mess. I had no location, no tools, nothing. It had been two years since I’d killed anyone. So before anything else, I had to make a trip to Home Depot. The hard part would be finding a suitable location.
I climbed in my Explorer and headed to the west side of town. I figured there would be some place there I could use. Cortez worked the evening shift, from four until midnight, so I had some time to get my things together. If nothing else, I’d have to wait until tomorrow. I didn’t want to rush it, but the urge was now burning inside of me. I was like a man who hadn’t eaten in weeks running toward a buffet of food. There was no stopping me, but I couldn’t let my urges make me careless. It was going to be a long night.
Chapter 5
Maria returned to the funeral home after lunch and found Charlie hadn’t returned. He looked exhausted earlier, so she wouldn’t have been surprised if he was done for the day. He often would come in, get whatever work he had to do for the day, and leave early. She didn’t mind, though. If she needed his help, he always came when she called. She put her gloves on and headed back to finish with their most recent client.
The girl’s name was Carmen Medina. Maria had gotten her embalmed earlier, and the family agreed to a closed casket funeral due to the damage to her head and face. Maria soaked a cloth and gauze in embalming fluid and stuffed the gauze into the opening where Carmen’s face used to be. She then wrapped the cloth around the head, and then wrapped another layer of dry cloth around her. The chemicals smelled horrible, but since she had such large open wounds, the regular embalming process wouldn’t help her face. So the chemicals and gauze would slow down the decomposition and hopefully keep the bugs and maggots off of her until she was buried. Once she was wrapped up, Maria covered her with a sheet and wheeled her into the hallway behind the embalming room.
As she stepped into the hall, she was startled by a noise from the from behind her, near the garage. That was the darkest part of the hallway, even during the day. Maria didn’t spook easily, having grown up around a funeral home. She’d been around dead bodies since she was five years old, so it would take a more than a few noises to scare her. When she looked at the end of the hall, there appeared to be a person standing there.
“Hello?” she said. “Who are you? Can I help you?” She walked toward the end of the hall. By the time she reached the door, the figure was gone. She opened the door and looked around in the garage, but there was nothing around. She checked behind the van and hearse, but there was no one.
I must be tired, she thought. I’m too young to be losing my mind. Maria headed back inside and finished taking Carmen’s body into the hall, placing the gurney gently against the wall. There were two other bodies there. Both were cleaned and dressed. This back hall served as a staging area once bodies were ready for their funerals. It was out of the way and out of the sight of the public. The other two bodies’ funerals were in the next couple of days. It was unusual for there to not be a body back there. Bodies meant money for her and her family. It was kind of sad, but Maria saw her job as a calling. She was the final person to take care of her clients before they were laid to rest. Hers was a calling she was good at, and one she took great pride in. Once she had Carmen organized, Maria heard the banging again.
She walked further into the hallway and heard it again. It sounded like someone banging a frying pan against the wall. This time it was coming from her office. She walked toward it to find the door standing open. She remembered having closed it. If this was Charlie messing with her, she would deck him for sure. As she got closer, the banging got louder and louder, a shrill piercing thump, repeating itself. The noise didn’t frighten her as much as irritate her. She had a lot of work to do, and wasn’t in the mood for someone playing games.
“Hello? Charlie, is that you? I don’t got time to be fucking around. I’m gonna kick your ass if that’s you messing with me!” She stepped into her office and the pounding stopped. There was a police officer standing in front of her. He was tall, Hispanic and wearing a Del Rio police uniform. He was covered in blood and had gaping wounds on his face and neck.
Maria took a step back at the sight of him. The blood and gore didn’t bother her. It was the fact that he was up walking around in that condition that terrified her.
“Maria,” he said. His voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
“Are you okay? I should call an ambulance. Please, let me help you.”
“Help yourself, Maria,” he said. “Stay away from Charlie.”
“What? From Charlie? What about Charlie?”
“He’s not what you think. He is dangerous. Run away from him. Save yourself.” The man walked toward her, reaching out his hand. The coppery smell of the dried blood on his uniform made her eyes water. She backed up against the door, not sure what he was about to do. He came within a foot of her and she stepped to the side. He opened the door without looking at her and stepped out into the foyer. She walked out behind him, but when she reached the foyer he was gone.
What the hell was that? Maria thought as she crossed herself and shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Looking around, she could see no blood on the floor, no footprints of any kind. Even the coppery smell of death and decay were gone. Looking at her hands, Maria noticed they were visibly trembling. She tried to hold back the nausea that started to sink in, or else lose her lunch in her office trashcan. Seeing dead bodies in a funeral home was not an unusual event. Seeing one walking around and talking was odd, for any location. Shock must have been setting in, causing her to feel that way. She took a few minutes to ponder the warning. It concerned her that it mentioned Charlie. Charlie had never hurt a fly, so she had no clue what this thing was talking about. That is, if she wasn’t completely crazy.
She grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and called Charlie as soon as she caught her breath.
“Hey Charlie,” she said as he answered. For the first time, she noticed how calming the sound of his voice was.
“What’s up? Everything okay?” He asked. She hoped he couldn’t sense the stress in her voice.
“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. Just wondered what you were doing.”
“Oh, I was just catching up on some personal errands. Didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Oh no, not at all. Just making sure everything was okay.” She hung up and sat the phone down. What was going on?
Save yourself Maria.
Chapter 6
I hung up the phone and placed it back into my pocket. It was odd for Maria to call me like that to check on me. Something had to be wrong. As badly as I wanted to go check on her, it would have to wait until I was through. I put the thought aside as I walked over to Officer Medina. He was easier to catch than I had expected. I found an old warehouse on the west
side of town in his patrol zone.
I put in a call to the cops when I was a few blocks away, complaining of a suspicious person looking into people’s windows. I wanted the call to have enough priority that he’d come out in decent time, but not enough to send out multiple units. Medina got out of his car, saw me walking around, and asked what I was doing. I had changed into my hoodie, so I kept my hood up and head down as I kept walking, pretending I didn’t hear him. He finally ran up and grabbed me by the arm. I spun around and hit him on the side of the neck with a brachial stun. He stumbled back toward his car as I grabbed him from the front. I wrapped my arm around his neck in a guillotine hold and squeezed until he stopped moving. The whole thing only took a few seconds. Once he was out, I placed him into the passenger side of his car and drove to the warehouse.
Once I had him tied up, I took his car to the other side of town, ditched it in an abandoned lot and took a cab back to the warehouse. Police cars had GPS in them, so I didn’t want to lead the cops right back to the warehouse, though they’d find it eventually. I would be long gone before then, hopefully. I watched as Medina began to come to. I didn’t have a cross to tie him to like I did at my old chapel. I had to settle for some pipes in the back of the building that ran along the walls.
“What the fuck is this?” Medina said, blinking his eyes rapidly. I had stripped him to his underwear and stacked his uniform and gear on the floor a few feet from him.
“It’s retribution time, officer,” I said.
“Who the fuck are you? I’m a cop, asshole! What kind of bullshit is this? You untie me now! You have no idea who you’re fucking with!”
“Well, aren’t you a bossy one. With a foul mouth, too. Do you talk to your cartel pals that way?”
