by N. P. Martin
"So go and find this witch, make her lift the hex."
"That's what I said, but apparently the bitch in question was Scandinavian or some shit. She was just blowing through town on her way to somewhere else. She's gone."
"Alright, fine. I'll look into it for you. Although you may tell your cousin to wrap himself in bubble wrap for a few days. I won't be able to help him until then. I got other stuff going on."
Big Joe considered me for a moment with his darkly hooded eyes. "You better not be playing me. I'll come find you if you are."
"Sure thing, Big Joe. Just give me the drive now."
After a moment's hesitation, during which time I thought I was going to have to forcefully take the drive myself, the werewolf handed it to me and then sat back as if he held all the cards. "Don't keep me waiting, Creed."
"I'll try not to," I said as I walked out the door.
5
A Dark Briefing
I landed back in Forsyth's Riverside Hill's mansion about an hour after I left Big Joe's garage with the flash drive in hand. Forsyth was still in the same room I had left him in, working behind his desk, shuffling through papers. "Creed," he said expectantly as I walked in. "Did you get it?"
Nodding as I approached his desk, I said, "I got it. Don't you ever sleep? It's the middle of the day."
Forsyth looked relieved as he refilled his wine glass with a bottle that sat on his desk. "I'll sleep when I'm dead. Oh, wait..." He giggled sarcastically. "Did you send those mutts a message? Did you spill some blood?"
Taking the drive out of my coat pocket, I placed it on the vampire's desk. "Don't worry. They got the message. And according to Big Joe, this was all a big misunderstanding. They didn't try to rob you."
"Oh really?" Forsyth said, waving his wine glass about. "So they didn't mean to kill Marcus and steal the drive? Lying mutts."
"Apparently a few pack members got into a fight with Marcus and Marcus lost. They were after cash when they discovered the drive in Marcus's pocket." I sat down in the leather chair opposite Forsyth, still feeling weary and more than a bit drained on every level. "Needless to say, they never broke the encryption."
"Too dumb that's why." Forsyth shook his head. "And they just handed the drive over without quarrel?"
I didn't tell Forsyth about the deal I made with Big Joe. "I had to hurt a couple of them first. Big Joe was eager to co-operate once I explained the situation."
Forsyth looked doubtful. "Eager?"
"I said you would kill him and his whole pack if he didn't give the drive back."
"I still am going to kill them."
I shook my head. Vampires. Always had to be the alpha. "There's no need for that. It was a misunderstanding. You got the drive back. What's the point in killing them?"
"You're defending the werewolves now? Who's side are you on here, Creed?"
"No ones, as you well know, Forsyth. I just get the job done whatever way I can."
Smiling, Forsyth said, "And that's why you're the best, Creed. You always find a way, don't you?"
I hope that remains true, I thought as I stood up, thinking about Baal again. "I have to go."
"It was nice seeing you, Creed," Forsyth said as he twirled his wine glass around with his long fingers. "Don't leave it so long next time."
"I'll be in touch if I need you."
"You can always count on me, Creed."
"Thanks Forsyth."
As I was leaving the room, he called out to me again. "By the way, those two girls you vanished earlier?" There was a grave look on his face as he paused. "Both dead."
I couldn't keep the shock from my face. "What? How?"
"You somehow moved them into the dog pens. Not much left of them now, I'm afraid."
"Jesus Christ." The guilt was already welling in up me as I wondered how I could have done such a thing.
But then, Forsyth laughed. "Relax, Creed, I was just kidding. Jesus, you should see your face."
Bastard.
"Funny, Forsyth. Fuck you."
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. Both girls are fine, sleeping in one of the guest rooms."
Shaking my head in disgust, I walked out of the room without saying another word and slammed the door behind me.
Forsyth was still laughing to himself as I walked down the hall.
On the way back to the Sanctum, I stopped in my neighborhood butcher shop and picked up half a dozen T-bone steaks, figuring Blaez would be hungry when he finally came around. I couldn't remember the last time I'd eaten something myself, and when I saw the steaks in the butcher shop, I was hit with a sudden hunger and couldn't wait to get home to throw one on the frying pan.
Only I didn't get the chance to eat when I got back home because there was somebody there waiting on me. It was Baal, or Gabriel as he had christened his new human form (not that I would be humanizing him with that name because in my mind, I was still dealing with a demon, and I preferred to keep that in mind at all times, so Baal it was).
Baal was sitting in the living room in one of the armchairs, his long legs crossed as he sat reading from one of my books. The demon looked up and smiled his creepy smile at me, casually, as if we were housemates. "The Book Of Many Hells And Demons," he announced, holding the book up slightly. "Surprisingly accurate about most things, although this picture of me...not a very good likeness."
I said nothing for a moment as I stood staring at the demon in my living room. He still wore the same brown slacks and beige shirt he was wearing when I last saw him, although he had since added a tweed coat to the ensemble. He looked even more like an English Lit professor than he did before. I wasn't sure whether to be worried at Baal's presence or relieved that he had finally shown up again, hopefully, to tell me who he wanted me to find so I could just get on with it and get it over with (if indeed it would ever be over). I decided to be both worried and relieved at the same time. It seemed fitting. "That book needs locking up again," I said. With everything that had been happening recently, I had neglected to return the book to the trunk in the Library Of Dark Magick down below.
Closing the book, Baal smoothed his hand over the dark cover. "Why would you lock such an exquisitely beautiful thing away? It deserves to be on display."
"So it can infect people's minds with its darkness?"
Baal smiled, his large hooded eyes full of composed evil. "Yes."
I stared back at him a moment as he continued to smile, then I walked off into the kitchen and placed the steaks in the fridge, pausing for a moment afterward to compose myself before walking back into the living room and taking a seat opposite Baal.
The demon placed the book he was holding gently on the floor as if he feared to hurt it. The book itself seemed to come alive in the presence of such ancient evil, the skin on its cover pulsing like blood was pumping through it, the pages jumping and flickering with apparent excitement. As soon as I felt the book's dark power try to invade my mind, I stood up and went to lift it, intending to through it down into the basement for the time being, but Baal stopped me, an amused smile on his face. "Leave it," he said.
"It's distracting me."
"I know."
I stood for another moment, inwardly sighing before sitting back down. What a dick, I thought as I strengthened my psychic defenses against the dark magick that tried to claw its way into my mind. It was difficult enough dealing with a monster like Baal at the best of times. I could have done without the book and its power distracting me. But I suppose that was the whole point for Baal. Maybe he wanted me to feel uncomfortable, unsure of myself and the situation, which would have made it easier for him to wrong-foot me if he had wanted to. Or maybe, as I thought in the first place, the demon was just being a dick.
"Alright, Baal," I said. "Are you going to tell me who you want me to find now?"
"Gabriel, please," he responded with a tight smile. "Didn't I warn you about using my true name? I don't want to have to cut your tongue out."
I couldn't help swallow
ing. "Gabriel, then."
He kept staring at me, the faint hint of a fire burning deep in his eyes. "You seem troubled, Mage. What is it?"
I was surprised by the question. Why did he care if I was troubled or not? Or was this another one of his attempts to rattle me? "I don't see--"
"I'm asking, that's why." Baal leaned forward in his seat. "You will answer."
At that point, I felt something penetrate through my psychic defenses. A small amount of dark energy, but enough to trigger in me a range of dark emotions that I hadn't felt since facing off against Mr Black. I shifted in my seat and tried not to let my emotional turmoil show. Clearly, Baal wanted some measure of truth to spill forth from me. Lying to him in any way would only serve to piss him off. I had to remind myself then that the demon could snuff me from existence with the click of his fingers, or worse, plunge my soul into the bottomless depths of the Underworld. Neither fate was very appealing. If the demon wanted to play shrink, then I'd let him.
"I killed my father," I told him. "A thing like that has an effect on you."
Baal shook his head and smiled like he was pitying a clueless child. "You humans and your emotional ties. You would prosper far better without them."
"Then we wouldn't be human anymore, would be? We'd be like..." I trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence out loud.
"Like me, you mean?"
"Monsters come in all shades."
"Monsters, demons...just labels. There is only power. That's it. Only power matters."
The dark magick was still rapping on the door of my mind, demanding to be let in. Damned if I was going to let it corrupt me again, so I hardened my defenses against it. "Are you here for a philosophical discussion? I thought you were here on business."
"I am," the demon said, resting back into his seat again. "I was merely curious. A greater man might use those conflicting emotions inside of him. You have such dark potential, Creed. I saw that when you embraced the dark magick at my summoning. Who knows what terrible things you may achieve if you just let the darkness consume you completely."
"Is that what you want? To see my soul irreparably corrupted?"
"It is in my nature to turn light into dark. I was born of the darkness, a greater darkness than you could ever to hope to imagine in a thousand lifetimes. And ever since, I have wallowed in the darkness of my own making."
"Always?"
I expected a resolute yes answer to that question, but instead, the demon hesitated for a split second. Long enough for me to sense that he was hiding something. "Always, Mr Creed."
"You never get tempted to try on a different suit from time to time? Does the light never tempt you the way the darkness tempts some?"
Baal stared back at me, his gaunt face darkening slightly, the infernal fire in his eyes burning that tiny bit brighter. "Temptation haunts every being in the universe. The temptation to grasp for more, the temptation to experience more. But it is only temptation, and it can it be controlled."
"Not always," I said. "That's the nature of temptation. At some point, for however long, you always give in."
Crossing his legs and interlocking his fingers, Baal took a long, deliberate breath as he kept his eyes on me. The intensity of his stare made it difficult for me not to look away. His stare was the most withering I had ever come across. You just couldn't help feeling small and insignificant in his presence. It was humbling and terrifying at the same time. "I like you, Creed. You aren't afraid of me."
I would have begged to differ, but I could see what he was getting at. "We're just doing business, right? You have no reason to hurt me." Even as I said it, I realized how ridiculous that was, to think myself safe from the demon's malevolence just because we had some deal together.
"Just business. Yes..." The sinister way he said that didn't exactly fill with me confidence, but it was the only reassurance I was going to get from a heartless, soulless bastard like Baal.
"Anyway," I said, breaking the long silence that crept up between us, during which time it felt like it was just me and Baal in the whole universe and nothing else. I can't tell you how deeply unsettling that was. "This person. Who is he?"
"She," Baal said. "Who is she."
There was an odd note in his voice when he emphasized that last word. Something like rage or betrayal. Not business, but personal. Again, I was surprised he cared enough about anything or anyone to take things personally. Perhaps there was some hint of a soul inside all of that evil, buried so deep it was barely anything, but yet still managed to send out a signal of its existence now and again as if crying out defiantly, "I am here, and you will pay attention to me!"
I could have been overstating things, of course. Maybe I was just misreading Baal, which wouldn't have surprised me, given the amount of attention and mental energy I was giving to keeping the dark magick from finding its way inside of my mind. But I didn't think so. There was something there, I was sure of it. "Okay. Who is she, then?"
"A witch." The anger in his eyes was plain to see. For a being that supposedly didn't deal in emotions, the demon sure was showing his fair share. This witch he was talking about had undoubtedly pissed him off in some way. Clearly, she was on his shitlist. And neither could he find the witch himself. Otherwise, he wouldn't be asking me to.
But then, Ray did say that Baal was known to be a master manipulator, always having a hidden agenda. Who's to say he wasn't playing me right then? Dropping faint hints of emotion into the mix to make me think it was all personal for him? But to what to end? Already my head was hurting thinking about it. It was impossible to tell if I was being conned or not. The only way to tell was to let it play out. It wasn't like I could just get up and walk away, was it? I had no choice but to see it through and hope that I was just paranoid. But how the hell could you not be paranoid around a demon? It was the only safe way to be.
"So what did this witch do that you want her found?" I asked. "I'm assuming she betrayed you in some way."
Baal nodded his head slightly. "Your assumption is correct. Her soul belongs to me. I want it back."
"I have to ask. How did you...lose it in the first place?"
The brown in Baal's eyes got overtaken by the intensity of the burning orange-red that usually was no more than a fleck in his dark retinas. His lips peeled back as he made a snarling sound, and for a second, I thought he was going to pounce on me for asking the question. I stiffened up out of fear as I heard his claws pierce the fabric of the chair he was sitting in. "That," he said, the rage simmering just beneath the surface in his face, "does not concern you."
I held my palms out towards him. "I thought it was a fair question. I'm sorry."
"It wasn't."
I said nothing more as I was forced to wait on Baal as he simmered back down and regained his previous composure. Jesus, I thought, what the hell did this witch do to him?
Whatever it was, it must have been bad. Which made me wonder at the type of person this witch was. I didn't know whether to fear her for what she had plainly done to Baal or respect her. For the time being, and until I found out more, I thought doing both would be wise.
When Baal had calmed down, he went on to tell me a little bit about the witch. He gave me a description of her but warned me that she could change her appearance and hide in plain sight. Baal also said the witch was somewhere in Blackham or one of the surrounding counties. He didn't tell me why he couldn't locate her himself, and I didn't ask. I assumed it was because the witch was using magick to hide from the demon. If so, it hinted at the power she held if she was able to hide from someone as powerful as Baal.
"What do you want me to do if--when--I find her? I asked him.
"Hand her over to me, of course."
I nodded, but said nothing.
As if taking my silence for doubt, Baal said, "That is your only course of action. I hope you are very clear on that, Creed."
"I'm clear, don't worry."
"Good." The demon got to his feet, looked like he was ab
out to leave, which I couldn't wait for him to do if only to get out from under the suffocating influence of the dark magick book which still lay on the floor.
"What's this witch's name?"
Baal's lips pursed as if he was struggling even to say the name, and when he did, his teeth were almost clenched. "Margot Celeste."
I nodded. "Alright. I'll get to finding her right away. If she's here, I'll find her."
Baal smiled his creepy smile. "I hope so, for your sake. Oh, and just to give you a little extra motivation, if you fail or try to go up against me in any way, I will take the soul of that pretty girlfriend of yours. She will suffer for eternity alongside you."
I could only stare back at him, speechless, devastated that he had brought Leona into this. I knew it would be useless to argue with him. As far as Baal was concerned, his word was law, and unfortunately, it was law for me too.
My heart sank in my chest.
Leona's life--her eternal soul--was now in my hands.
Baal vanished on the spot, teleporting off to God knows where. Probably to torment some other unfortunate soul. Either way, I was glad he was gone, and I exhaled a huge sigh of relief, then swallowed hard and gritted my teeth at the fact that I had allowed Leona to be brought into this.
If she dies...
Christ, it didn't bear thinking about.
I leaped out of my chair then and grabbed The Book Of Many Hells And Demons that still lay on the floor, the dark festering magick within its pages still emanating from it. As soon as I touched it, the book's attacks on my psyche became magnified to the point where I thought my head was going to explode through the tension of mounting my continuing defense. I practically ran with the foul text into the kitchen where I flung open the door to the basement and immediately threw the book down the stairs, quickly slamming the door closed again. The book could stay down there until I felt up to locking it back up in the Library Of Dark Magick where it belonged.
"Jesus," I said, leaning against the basement door, breathing like I'd just run a three-minute mile. "I need a fucking drink."
