Ghost of a Summoning

by J E McDonald

  How could this be? The summoning circle was right there. For all he knew, it could have been there before they even moved in. Or maybe there was some other explanation, because he’d touched all three of them and none of them wore the mark of a summoning on their souls.

  Regret filled his chest. He’d made a mistake. He’d misjudged the witch. His touch caused her pain.

  His gaze passed over shocked and wary expressions. He didn’t belong here. These were good people, and his tainted soul had no business even being in their presence. Aubrey didn’t need him. He had a young demon living with him for fuck’s sake. Having coffee and cookies with normal people was so far beyond him, it was laughable.

  On top of everything, whatever trust he’d built with Aubrey was gone.

  “I’m sorry,” he said to Stella’s bent head, and he met Lucas’s eyes. “It won’t happen again.”

  He met Aubrey’s horrified eyes, turned on his heel, and left.

  Aubrey couldn’t move, only stared at the space where Roman had stood. The front door slammed, making her jump. Out of the corner of her eye, Stella clutched at Lucas as he murmured words of concern over her bent head.

  What just happened? She needed to understand. Aubrey stared at the black circle on the floor, remembering the day it had been created, how she’d dropped the dinner-plate-sized ring she’d been sold at the antique store and it had spun on itself and opened the portal to another dimension.

  But Roman had thought it was something else and hadn’t given her time to explain. Aubrey finally looked at Stella. An icy sensation chilled the blood in her veins. What had he done to her best friend to make her shout like that?

  She’d invited Roman inside with the hope he and Stella could come to some sort of understanding, that they could bear each other’s company for at least a few minutes. How could she have misjudged things so badly?

  “Stella?” she asked, her heart pounding in her chest, her panic continuing to rise. “Are you okay?”

  Coming out from Lucas’s embrace, Stella nodded. “He mostly startled me,” she said, her fingers rubbing her wrist where he’d touched her.

  He’d taken off his gloves to touch Stella. He’d done the same with Cole, and with her earlier today when they’d kissed. His touch hadn’t hurt her, but affected her in completely opposite way. But why? What did it mean?

  Anger competed with her panic. She had to know. Anxiety clawing at her chest, she darted to the front door.

  “Aubrey,” Stella shouted after her, but she was already outside, running down the steps, past their two vehicles parked in the driveway.

  On the sidewalk, she looked left then right, searching. Kids played soccer in the street, a makeshift net placed in the middle where they’d need to move it if a car came along. A flash of Roman’s brown coat disappeared around the last house on the block.

  She ran after him, shouting his name when she rounded the corner. Her voice stopped him, but he didn’t turn around and she didn’t stop running until she was almost within reach of him.

  “Why did you do that?” The question made her stomach roll as she caught her breath. “Why did you touch her? Why do you wear gloves all the time? What did you mean by summoning?” Panic continued to build through her body. “What do you know about those circles that I don’t?”

  But he didn’t answer, didn’t turn around, and her desperation grew. “Please, tell me. I need to know. I need to understand.” She needed to understand why a man who’d been so kind and thoughtful on the side of the road, helping her with her panic attack and kissing her like she was special, could have reacted like that.

  Finally, he turned around, his features hard. But he didn’t answer her questions.

  “Please,” she pleaded again. Answers were the only things that would make her breaths calm, make her heart stop feeling like it was wedged in her throat. She pressed a hand against the tightness in her chest to ease the ache.

  His face softened and he took a step toward her. “I can see the state of people’s souls when I touch them.”

  “Their souls?” she asked, not really understanding.

  He nodded. “The brightness of them.”

  “And you thought—” She stopped the statement when she didn’t know what to ask. What had he thought?

  “The circles in your living room, they’re what’s left after a demon is summoned. I’ve seen it many times. It marks a person irreversibly, taints their soul.”

  She shook her head, some of her panic easing. “That’s not what happened. I tried to tell you.”

  “Tell me now,” he said, taking another step toward her.

  Letting out a long breath, she said, “There was this device someone sold me at the shop, and it turned out to be a portal opener thing and I accidentally made it go off in the house.” When it looked like he was going to ask questions, she said, “It’s rather a long story, and I don’t really want to get into it right now.” Because her mind was still trying to process what had happened in the living room. He’d touched her best friend to see the state of her soul? He’d made her shout to appease his curiosity? Aubrey’s stomach churned.

  “When it comes to Stella, she wins over you,” she whispered, her chest tightening again.

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said without hesitation.

  The way he said it, like he didn’t matter, made her heart hurt more.

  “She’s my only family,” she added as a way of explanation. But she’d hoped he’d be someone important in her life too. She rubbed at her breastbone, wanting everything to stop hurting so much.

  He nodded, then looked away, down the street to the kids playing. “I’m sorry. I had no right to touch her. I hope she’s okay.”

  “I think so,” she said, swallowing, but she needed to go back and make sure. Lucas was with her, and Stella had told her a while ago that Lucas was a source of energy for her. He’d be able to help restore whatever had been taken.

  “Cole is a good person,” Roman said out of the blue, like they were having a completely different conversation. “He probably doesn’t deserve you, but you should put your focus on a guy like him or one of those hairy ones from your app. Forget me, Aubrey Karle.”

  His expression fierce, his eyes apologetic, he backed away, then turned, striding down the street. Whatever calm she’d gained by his answers ebbed away as she watched him go. Despite everything, she didn’t want him to leave, and her heart hurt to watch him disappear around the next corner. He didn’t look back once.

  Pressing a hand to her chest, breathing through a new kind of panic, she headed home. When she arrived at the house, Lucas sat beside Stella on the couch, rubbing her spine. They both stood when she entered. The sage Stella had lit earlier had burned itself out, but the scent remained heavy in the air.

  “Are you okay?” Stella asked, stepping toward her.

  “I should be asking you that,” Aubrey said, shutting the door behind her and not wanting to meet her gaze. But she could already see Stella was doing better. Color graced her cheeks, and the tension she’d had in her shoulders earlier was gone.

  Stella ran a hand over her hair, “Like I said before you ran out, he mostly startled me.” Standing beside her, Lucas scowled.

  Numbness settled over her like a heavy blanket. Aubrey walked into the living room and sat down on her recliner, her legs tired.

  Tears in her throat and guilt in her chest, Aubrey finally built up the strength to look her best friend in the eye. “I’m so sorry Stella, I shouldn’t have invited him here. I thought—”

  “I was wrong about him,” Stella interrupted, making Aubrey blink.

  “What?” Aubrey asked, not understanding. With everything that had happened, Stella’s initial assessment of him seemed the only certain thing.

  Stella sat in the opposite recliner, where Roman had been sitting. “When he touched me, I got a better read on all the darkness inside of him. I was wrong. I thought it was about a struggle between good and evil
, with the evil winning, but it’s not. I wouldn’t have known without him touching me.”

  Aubrey’s mouth went dry, not really understanding what Stella was telling her. “If it’s not about good and evil, then what is it?”

  “He’s complex and complicated, layered like no one I’ve ever encountered before, but over everything, there’s anger.”

  “Anger at what?”

  “I don’t know, but entwined with it is a lot of self-loathing.”

  Aubrey’s chest contracted. “He’s sad.” She’d known it since the day she met him, saw a reflection of herself in him.

  “Yes,” Stella agreed, her voice quiet. “But the reason for him touching me was very clear, the intent vivid. He cares about you. He did it out of concern. He thought he was doing the right thing.”

  Rubbing her temples, Aubrey exhaled a slow breath. She needed time alone. She needed to close her eyes and forget everything she thought she knew about him so her chest would stop hurting so much. With her arms wrapped around her middle, she headed toward her bedroom.

  “I probably took more from him than he did from me,” Stella said, making her pause.

  Aubrey knew Stella’s skills allowed her to take energy as well as give it. With the exception of Lucas, she refused to take energy from people or animals, instead accepting if from plants or the earth. If she’d taken something from Roman, Aubrey knew it was an accident, but also knew Stella would feel guilty about for a while.

  “And,” Stella continued, “if he had truly meant any of us harm, he would have broken the wards on the house. They’re still in place.”

  “Doesn’t make what he did any better,” she said over her shoulder.

  “No,” Stella agreed, her voice soft.

  She would have continued on, but Lucas’s question stopped her. “Did he tell you why he did it?” His voice had a bite to it she rarely heard.

  Partially turning, she couldn’t meet either of their gazes. “He thought Stella had summoned a demon. If he touched her, then he could tell by the state of her soul.”

  “He sees souls?” Stella asked, her voice only above a whisper.

  Aubrey nodded once, then continued on to her bedroom, shut the door behind her, and buried herself under the covers.

  19

  Wickwood was a curse. Nothing good had ever come from the place. Both his parents had died here. He’d been marked by a demon here. Anytime he tried to interact with the general population, something bad happened. Loss filled his body, but he wasn’t even sure he could explain why. He’d lost so much in this life, why would the events of today matter?

  He should get Moe right now, pack up, leave town, and never look back.

  But he couldn’t. Not when Aubrey could be in danger from whoever had run them off the road. Was someone after him? Were his instincts correct about the man at the estate sale, or was it something else? He couldn’t leave town if it had something to do with Aubrey or with uncertainty hanging over him.

  Halfway back to his rental house, a text made his phone buzz. For a moment, the thrill of Aubrey reaching out to him had him hating himself even more.

  Active: 3808 W 550 S

  The coordinates were followed by the name of the nearest town and its zip code. The tension in Roman’s shoulders increased. A rural address from Our Lady of Sacrifice, one a few hours away. Ever since the secretary had taken over sending him his missions, it was always the bare basics. At least when Robertson had been in charge, he’d open up with asking how Roman was doing. Sometimes he received more information on a possible infestation, but without it this time, it was his job to assess the situations and remove all threats.

  He returned the text: Will proceed.

  Picking up his pace, he took a shortcut through a park, skirting old downtown altogether to get to the rental house faster. As soon as he opened the back door, he paused at the sight above him. Moe gripped the ceiling with his claws, picking dead bugs out of the kitchen light fixture, his skin the contented mauve color, the hair on his body quivering.

  “We’ve got a job,” Roman said, shutting the door.

  Moe dropped from the ceiling, landing on the corner of the kitchen table with a light thud, his feet and hands underneath him. “Oooooo, yes, a job. Is it time to end the Orphan Karle? Has Ro come back for the biggest, nastiest weapons? Yes?”

  “No.” The word came out sharp, and Moe’s skin darkened slightly. Roman gentled his tone. “It’s a new job out of town.” Sometimes they turned out to be nothing. He hoped it was the case this time. He went to his bedroom and opened the safe in the closet to grab his toolbox.

  When he returned to the kitchen, Moe hung off the open refrigerator door like a swing. “Snacks? Yes?”

  “Sure,” he replied, opening the toolbox. “You take care of that.”

  “Yes. Yes. Moe is very good at snacks.”

  While the demon rummaged around in the fridge, Roman opened the combination on the toolbox. On top of everything lay his father’s journal. All he’d learned about demons came from that book, the four main types and the symbols used to summon them. And what hadn’t been in there, the things Roman learned on his own, including Moe, he’d added to the blank pages in the back. He had most of the book memorized, especially the words on the very first page. The pure of heart cannot enter Plight. He’d always thought his dad had written it there to remind himself to always make the right choices so he wouldn’t end up in Hell.

  Gently, he set the journal aside and scanned the rest of the contents. Extra knives and holsters, cleaner, towels, vinegar, baking soda, med kit, rags, sharpening stone, barbecue lighter—everything was where it was supposed to be.

  If it were only a couple of fire demons, then all he’d need were his blades and the first aid kit. The best way to kill a demon and make sure it stayed dead was to take off its head, avoiding contact with its claws. Even a small scratch hurt like a motherfucker, burning skin. Not knowing the particulars of the suspected infestation, he needed to take the whole box.

  “Where are the snacks?” Roman asked when he was ready and Moe stood in front of him empty handed.

  Patting his stomach, Moe gave him a satisfied grin. “Safe in Moe’s tummy. Yes.”

  “I hope you aren’t planning on sharing,” Roman said, shaking his head. Regurgitated leftovers weren’t one of his favorites. At Moe’s stricken look, he added, “It’s okay. I’m not hungry.” He’d lost his appetite the second he’d seen the circle on Aubrey’s ceiling.

  A device that opened a portal. That’s what she said had made the black circles in her living room. A device? He’d never heard of such a thing. The urge to go to Robertson and ask if he’d known something like that existed almost outweighed the need to finish this upcoming job quickly. If not Robertson, maybe Jude had come across something similar. He shook off the thought as soon as it occurred to him.

  Where was the device now? He should have asked Aubrey. He should have asked more questions and gotten more answers. But at the time, all he’d wanted was to get as far away as possible from her and the wounded look in her eyes.

  After grabbing a change of clothes, Roman punched the address of the job into the GPS app on his phone, then headed out the back door. He secured the toolbox and clothes in the bed of the truck beside a jerry can full of gas, then jumped into the driver’s seat. Moe was already inside, sitting with his knees bent by his ears.

  “Can Moe stick his head out the window? Yes? Breathe the air like the furry lollipops? Yes?”

  Roman started the truck and backed out of the gravel section of the backyard that served as a parking space. “If you keep on your camouflage and don’t fall out this time.”

  Moe opened the passenger side window wide enough for his head to fit through, his outline barely visible against the glass of the window. The sight made some of the regret Roman had been feeling over the past hour dissipate. At least he had Moe. It wasn’t like he could have a normal life when he had a demon for a constant companion. But befo
re the incident at Aubrey’s house, he’d had a couple thoughts about how to introduce Moe to her. Roman pushed those thoughts aside. They were pointless now.

  The GPS app directed them out of town via the north freeway, then off an exit heading northwest. But the quiet drive gave him too much time to think.

  How could he have messed up a job so badly? Especially one that had to do with him personally? The responsibility of stopping the destruction of Wickwood had been set in his lap for whatever reason, and he’d botched it like a rookie. Aubrey hated him now, and her friends would make sure she had nothing to do with him even if she didn’t. There’d never been a bigger fuckup in the history of fuckups like the second he touched Stella’s hand.

  He shouldn’t care that Aubrey hated him now, but he did. He cared too much because every time he thought about the last look on her face, he felt wooden inside.

  But he had to push all of that aside to concentrate on the job ahead. One distracted thought could end his life, and he was already feeling more tired than normal. He knew better than to let emotions get in the way of completing a mission.

  The early evening sun hung low in the sky by the time they neared the property line of the address he’d been given. The convoluted back roads took time to navigate. They were in the middle of nowhere. Not a good sign. The worst possessions seemed to happen in starkly rural areas where no one was the wiser of evil taking over a whole family. He’d been to a few in larger city centers, but they were usually one demon on their own. When he was out in the country, he never knew what he’d find.

  The house wasn’t visible yet when the scar on his wrist began to burn. He stopped the car on the edge of the road, shifted into park, then jumped out. Moe wasn’t far behind him. A wave of fatigue washed over him, and he wondered at it. Too many sleepless nights?

  Pushing the thought aside, Roman grabbed the toolbox out of the back and set it on the front seat. He took his time strapping survival knives to his thighs, making sure they were comfortable and secure before taking off his jacket to lay it over the toolbox.