whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches

by S. M. Blooding

  FORTY-ONE MILES DOWN the road in the town of Denham Springs hid Brian’s priest. Dexx had an hour to kill with no time to lose. Paige slept in the back seat. Alma guarded over her. Which left Dexx all alone in the front seat. Back to normal.

  The highway stretched in front of him like a licorice whip, no lights to brighten the way, no cars to help pass the time. Just him and Jackie and a really long road of pitch black forever.

  He gnawed on his thumbnail. Jackie flew smoothly over the pavement. They were in deep trouble. He knew that. He just didn’t know how to get them out.

  He threw back his head in frustration, resting it against the seat as he drummed a beat on the steering wheel. No music. He didn’t want to wake up Paige. One, because she needed the sleep. Two, because he didn’t know who would wake up first, her or the demon.

  He had to send the thing back. No doubt about it. But what about the consequences? What about Paige? If it came down to sending the demon back, or keeping Paige alive, which would he choose? He knew which one it had to be. As soon as they showed their ugly asses, he revoked their visas. No questions. No talking. No playing. Just “send me a postcard from Hell and enjoy the trip.” Quick. Easy. Simple.

  He checked his mirror, watching Alma’s weary form in the darkness.

  Paige made it not easy. He didn’t know if he could do what had to be done. He cared about her, even knowing how stupid it was. With his job, the traveling, the danger. He couldn’t promise her he’d be home every night. That was the normal side of things.

  Her gift. He’d known about years ago. Hell, before he’d met her, he’d been sure she was the devil. She made demons, something so simple, more complicated; gray, not black and white. And now? Now that she was an open door to the demons she summoned? What was he supposed to do? With her? For her? What could he do?

  He had no idea.

  The world went from black, to grays, to hesitant color as the sun rose in his review mirror. He had to come up with a plan. That’s all he knew.

  But when he parked in front of the church, he hadn’t gotten any closer to a real plan.

  As the car purred in idle, he leaned down to look at the church through the passenger window. “I sure hope this works. You know, having a priest do it instead someone like me.”

  Alma squinted through the bright morning sunlight. “She’ll probably be waking up soon.” She pushed the seat in front of her forward, and dragged her aging body out of the car with a groan. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

  Dexx followed her lead. He popped the trunk, handing Alma his bag of goodies before retrieving Paige’s unconscious body out of his backseat. His shoulder screamed at him.

  Strike that. It moaned. Loudly. In protest.

  The main door to the church opened enough to show a man with brown hair.

  Alma turned to Dexx, her white hair a frazzled mess, her clothes rumpled. Dexx hoped he didn’t look that bad, but he wasn’t holding any bets on that one. “Dexx, this is Andy. He will be assisting Father Staats.”

  “He, um, he likes to be called Reece.” Andy wrung his hands, his expression anxious.

  “Great.” Dexx flashed a pained smile. Andy was the epitome of green-behind-the-ears. His jeans were nice, and his button up shirt was pressed. Dexx raised his eyebrows instead of offering a hand. He hitched Paige a little higher, glancing down at her expectantly.

  “Is this going to be, like, a real exorcism?” Andy rubbed his ear. “Like, really?”

  Alma crossed her arms over her chest.

  Dexx just stood there, Paige getting heavier with every “uh” and “like.

  “Oh, right.” Andy scratched his head. “Right, right, right. Gotcha. Yeah. Let’s, uh.” He held the large wooden doors open. “Yeah, um, get her inside.”

  Dexx carried Paige through the threshold, into the large interior of the room of worship. His eyes crept higher and higher until they could go no further. The pale morning sun filtered through the small windows, shedding little light into the massive room. Pictures in gold frames of various saints lined the walls. He didn’t know his saints. He didn’t know his angels. He knew the Bible existed, sure. Had he ever read it? Hell, no. His mother had made him go to church occasionally. Had he paid attention? Again, Hell no.

  Andy brushed by him with a smile. “It isn’t much, but we bring the faith to the people.”

  Dexx gave the other man the tough-guy nod as he followed.

  Andy led him up the aisle toward the dais where the pulpit stood large and intimidating, presiding over of the entire room. “Not all churches have to be impressive.”

  Then why did it seem they all tried to intimidate?

  “Watch out.” Andy pointed behind him. “Step up. They’re a little skinny. Don’t slip. Yeah. Step up. One more time. You got it.” He turned to lead the way through a door on the back wall between the choir section and the organ.

  Doors lined the hallway, some open, some closed. It looked like a very inviting place for a church.

  Andy disappeared down a flight of stairs.

  Dexx eyed them. “The basement. How fitting. Could we get any more cliché, please? Just once, I’d like to fight a big baddy in the daylight or in an attic or something. Why is it always in the bowels of the earth?”

  “Stop complaining,” Alma said, pushing past him.

  Dexx flattened his lips in resignation, resituated Paige’s dead weight in his arms again, and followed the old woman down the stairs to a large, open room. There were a few bare shelves in the far corner, and a table under a window so small, a child would have a hard time fitting through. An older man stood under the bare fluorescent light wearing a priest’s collared shirt and jeans.

  “Father Staats, I assume,” Alma said, offering the older man her hand.

  “Please,” he said with a genuine smile, taking Alma’s hand. “Call me Reece.”

  “Alma.” She gave the man a worn, fragile smile of her own. “This is Dexx and Paige.”

  Dexx smiled at them both. Reece looked like a sun-weathered, solid man, someone who knew his faith and what he was doing. He could respect that. “Where should I put her?”

  “Oh, right there will be fine for now,” Reece said, pointing to a wooden chair Dexx hadn’t noticed. The priest sighed tiredly. “We’ll have to tie her up, I’m afraid, for her own safety as well as ours.”

  “Yeah, well, I got a few tricks in my bag.” Dexx propped Paige’s unconscious body in the chair. Holding her in a semi-sitting position, he searched for Andy. “Could use some help here.”

  Andy held a piece of rope like a frightened rabbit.

  Dexx stood. “You tie her up and I’m going to gather a few things.”

  “Son,” Reece said with the tranquilly peaceful smile that only priests or the divinely touched seemed to have. He grasped Dexx’s shoulders. “Leave this to me and my apprentice. We are properly taught to handle this.”

  “Yeah, well, forgive me, Padre, but I like having a back-up plan.” Dexx shook off the priest’s hands. “No offense. I’m sure your exorcism will work out ducky and all, but I gotta have my goodies.” He walked to the table and started rummaging through his bag.

  Father Staats—Reece—pulled out his Bible, preparing.

  “All right,” Dexx said, grabbing his notebook and chalk. “I’m going to set down a few safe-guards and then you boys can get to work.”

  Alma found a hard folding chair and sat down. “This could take a while.”

  Dexx dropped to the ground, drawing the demon trap on the floor.

  “Do you really think that will work?” Reece asked as if he were speaking to a small child. “It’s a bit like keeping the light on to keep the boogey man away, don’t you think?”

  “Well, pardon me for needing the night light. I’ve met the damned thing.”

  Reece took in a deep breath. “All right. Let’s begin.”

  “WHEN ANDY AND I start, I don’t want either of you to talk. You don’t enter into conversation with the dem
on. You don’t challenge it or enrage it. You don’t interrupt us. You let us do our work. We don’t need any . . .” He gestured with his hand at Dexx. “ . . . outside influences. We’re well practiced and this rite has been in place for hundreds of years.”

  Andy wasn’t.

  “It’s a holy ritual and should only be performed by trained people.”

  Dexx crossed his arms over his chest. He had a hard time respecting the church for this reason. Well, others, too. He honestly thought he was the only person qualified to send a demon home? Then again, they had opted not to use any of Dexx’s exorcisms because the victims usually ended up on a shady side of dead, so . . . yeah.

  Reece met Dexx’s gaze and held it. “I don’t doubt your experience, son, but you do not have the invocation necessary in order to strike down someone so vile.”

  “I’ll jump in to help if needed.” Dexx dropped his leather-bound notebook on the table. “I might not be holy or anything, but I know how to lay one of these things down. Okeydokey?”

  “Son,” Reece said. “For your own protection—”

  “Stop calling me son. I’m not a part of your flock.” Dexx balled his hand into a fist. This had damned well better work.

  Reece drew the sign of the cross in the air, closing his eyes in prayer.

  Paige raised her head, waking. “Let me guess,” she said with a British lilt to her words. “An exorcism. With a real priest even. Oh, and I do mean real. How droll.”

  “Where’s Paige?” Alma asked.

  “Inside.” The demon smiled handsomely at the old woman. “Really, I must thank you and your daughter for making my work so easy. A broken soul? I didn’t have to do anythin,’ really.”

  “Alma,” Reece warned. “Do not talk to it. Do not bait it. Let me and Andy do our job.”

  “That’s my granddaughter in there.” Alma crossed her arms over her chest. “You bring her back to me.”

  Reece nodded. He took a flask from his assistant, poured water into his cupped hand, and threw it on the demon. It flinched, baring Paige’s teeth. The water turned to steam on contact. “Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, The Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.”

  Dexx leaned toward Alma and whispered. “You don’t honestly think that all this God crap is really going to work, do you?”

  The older woman let out a long, worried sigh, but said nothing.

  “Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us. St. Michael, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us.”

  “Oh, yes,” the demon said, throwing Paige’s head back. “Gabriel, come down and smite me to the earth once more.” It raised her head. “Why don’t you call Gabriel down here right now? It’d be a party, yeah?”

  “All ye holy angels and archangels, pray for us.”

  The demon laughed at Andy. “You’re going to need a lot more than just prayer.”

  “All ye holy patriarchs and prophets, pray for us.”

  Dexx rolled his eyes. “At this rate, he’s more likely to bore the demon back to Hell.”

  Alma snorted.

  “St. Thomas, pray for us. St. James, pray for us.”

  “I’m not kidding,” Dexx said. “I now understand how the Catholic exorcism works. It takes bureaucracy to a whole new level for me.”

  “St. Bartholomew, pray for us.”

  “Bartholomew?” Dexx asked under his breath.

  Alma bit her lips, her eyes dancing with a bare hint of humor.

  “St. Simon, pray for us.”

  “Bloody hell.” The demon tugged at the ropes, then caught sight of the markings on the floor. “Dexx? Is this your doin’?”

  Dexx raised his eyebrows.

  “Come on, Reece, I have things to do.”

  “People to kill?” Dexx asked.

  “Dexx,” Reece warned.

  Dexx advanced on the demon. “I just want to ask one question.”

  The demon straightened Paige’s shoulders. “What?”

  Dexx stopped in front of it. “Why did you do it? I mean, what’s so great about this realm that you don’t have in your own?”

  “You wouldn’t understand, hunter.”

  “Really? Why?”

  The demon narrowed Paige’s eyes. “Maybe you would. You are a protector. As am I.”

  “Son, I really must ask you to—”

  “I already told you to stop calling me son,” Dexx snapped at the priest. “And I’m not leaving. I need to know why these damned things keep coming back.”

  “I will not allow you to interrupt this ritual, Dexx,” Reece said. “St. Nicholas, pray for us. All ye holy bishops and confessors, pray for us.”

  The demon tipped Paige’s head. “My brethren and I are protected by the Church.”

  “Be merciful,” Reece intoned. “O God. Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Lord. From everlasting death, O Lord, deliver us.”

  The demon twisted Paige’s lips into what might have been considered a smile.

  “Through the coming of the Holy Ghost, The Paraclete, O Lord, deliver us,” Reece said, stressing his words to make them heard.

  Alma laid her hand on Dexx’s arm. “Come on. Let’s let the good Father do his job.”

  Dexx needed answers, though. He needed to know what he could do to ensure these damned things stopped coming back.

  She headed toward the stair. “Let’s give them some peace.”

  “That thou wouldst vouchsafe to grant peace and unity to all Christian People. We beseech Thee, hear us.”

  The demon threw Paige’s head back and howled, shaking the building to its very foundations.

  Andy stood splayed, his eyes wide. He looked like he might throw up or crap his pants, which ever happened first.

  Alma raised an eyebrow.

  Reece was shaken, but not deterred. “I shall oust you, demon.”

  “You can try,” Lucius’ voice slithered out in a hiss. “But I shall succeed. My mission is to protect your unworthy race from the very thing Hell’s father believes you can handle.”

  “I still don’t get that,” Dexx scoffed. “That shit doesn’t even make sense.”

  Lucius chuckled. “Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Even the unbelievers believe God is good, and the angels are their protectors, while the demons are bad. Why is that? Have you read the holy book?”

  “That is the power of the word of Christ,” Reece said, opening his Bible. “’When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoke, they all feared and trembled.’”

  “You want thunder and lightning?” The demon smiled. “I’ll give you thunder and lightning.” He howled again in his unearthly voice. “Caulnudrim alphirus. Delnion oldoro.” Inky black covered Paige’s eyes. The veins at her temples burned hot and orange.

  Dexx stumbled backwards. The demon trap should have kept the demon’s powers inside, like a cage. He bit his lip. Lucius wasn’t just a demon. He was a human turned demon. That had to change things, but enough to make a difference?

  “’So they took up a position much farther away and said to Moses, “You speak to Him and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we shall die.”’”

  “Elnequrio phosta auldero machra.”

  Thunder shook the window pane.

  Reece advanced on the demon, his hand outstretched as he continued to read from his Bible. “’Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put his fear upon you, lest you should sin.”’”

  “Dolnia,” Lucius cried out, blasting the sound of his trumpeting word into Reece’s face. Outside, a blinding flash filled the darkened window. An almost immediate deafening roll of thunder answered.

  Undaunted, Reece set his hand upon the demon’s head and continued. “Still the people remained at a distance while Moses approached the cloud where God was. The Lord told Moses, ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.’”

/>   “I know He exists, you fool,” the demon spat. “You think that by reading some scripture, telling me of His existence that you weaken me? I was there, you spineless twit.”

  Dexx stood in place. All traces of Paige were gone. In her place, reigned something ethereal, real, terrifying.

  “Then look upon the power of Christ,” Reece growled, pulling a brass cross out of an inside pocket of his jacket.

  “He was a man,” the demon said, his voice rich and dark with rage. He pulled against the ropes, snarling and snapping.

  Reece reached out after dipping his thumb in Holy Water, making the sign of the cross. It smoked and sizzled on the demon’s forehead.

  The demon roared. Thunder rattled the building for several deafening moments.

  Everyone bent down to cover their ears, looking at each other in horror.

  Then the demon’s head fell forward. Loose strands of hair fell on either side of the very Paige-like face.

  Andy crept forward. “Are we done?”

  “NOT LIKELY.” DEXX straightened, his expression tight. “It’s shifting, twisting its plan, trying to find our weaknesses. It’s not done yet. Trust me.”

  “Oh,” Andy said in a small voice.

  Reece stepped back and took in a deep breath. “Well, let’s move on then, shall—”

  Paige’s head whipped up.

  Dexx watched her, searching for signs of the demon. Fear etched along the edges of her face. “Paige.”

  “Grandma?” she asked in a frightened whisper.

  “Here, Pea.” Alma hurried to her granddaughter, stopping at the edge of the circle.

  Tears sprang to Paige’s eyes. “I’m so scared. I can’t fight him. He’s so strong.”

  “You can,” Alma said with the fierce belief of a mother. “You can do this.”

  Paige’s face crumpled as she fell against the ropes bound across her chest. “I’m so scared.”

  Alma hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the circle, wrapping her granddaughter in her arms. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll get through this.”

  Paige’s expression shifted, anger slithering into place.

  “Alma,” Dexx cried.

  Paige lifted her head with demonic hatred. “I’m scared of what I’ll do to you, bitch.”