Deadly Rising

by Jeri Westerson

  “It’s all right. There wasn’t much you could have done anyway. But what are we going to do about Baphomet?”

  “First things first. I think we need to take care of Ed.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Nick edged Doc out of the way. “We’ve got it all planned. We’ll drive Ed in his SUV up the road, get him into the front seat, and, well…leave him there.”

  “And let him think he just had a blackout?”

  “It’s better than the truth. And if Doug keeps his word and puts a spell on him, he won’t remember why he was out anyway.”

  “Oh, Doug will. If he doesn’t, it’s his head, and he knows it.”

  “Ed will likely come to me for a diagnosis,” said Doc. “Even though I’m retired, he and some of the other folks in town still come to me occasionally. I’ll just tell him that it might be a side effect of the other fall he took.”

  “When he was ducking a succubus.” I wrung my hands. “The poor guy might take himself out of policing. It’s not fair.”

  “I’ll tell him it isn’t likely to happen again.”

  “I don’t like messing with him like that.”

  “We don’t really have another choice.”

  I knew that. Of course I knew that. “Okay.” But then something else was plaguing me. “Did Shabiri ghost-kill my grandfather?”

  Jolene adjusted her clear-frame glasses. “Sort of sounds like it. I’m sure he’s okay though.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Spirits really aren’t supposed to be on this plane. It’s only when they have unfinished business…or died in a really violent way. And because of you and the book, he had a lot of unfinished business. That’s my take, anyway.”

  “But there was so much I needed to ask him. So much I wanted to say.”

  “He’s just back where he is supposed to be. But…it’s not likely he can get back here to communicate with us. Shabiri’s a real bitch.”

  I shook the spear. “I’m going to kill her someday.” I think Jolene sensed I wasn’t just posturing because she backed up a little. I really did mean it.

  It was time to get Ed out of here. Nick, Doc, Jeff, and I muscled Ed into the car and Nick drove it away. He’d leave it in some corner of town and hopefully Ed would be all right. At least that’s what Doc assured me. I’d call him sometime in the morning to make sure.

  Doc and Seraphina talked quietly about Baphomet while Jolene researched him online. I couldn’t concentrate on their conversation. As they talked, I drifted away into the kitchen, starting at the spear I’d left there.

  I watched as Erasmus breathed. He seemed so vulnerable. His black hair sprawled on the table around his face. His coat lay open and his shirt was still covered in black blood that was still drying. I just stood over him and looked at him—the heavy dark brows, the beard scruff, the elegant nose and shapely lips.

  “You needn’t worry over me,” he said in a roughened voice, eyes still closed. “I won’t die.”

  “I…I’m worried anyway.”

  He peeled his eyes open. “You saved me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  I shrugged.

  “You know what I am.”

  “Stop talking.” I didn’t want to hear it, to be reminded of it.

  “Foolish mortals.” He sighed before struggling to rise.

  “Hey.” I was at his side instantly, trying to press him back to the table. “Maybe you shouldn’t get up.”

  He sat up anyway. Staring at the poultice bundle pressed against his stomach, he slowly stripped it away. We’d cleaned the blood as best we could. Doc wanted to stitch him up but Seraphina insisted on the poultice first. But when he set the bundle aside, there was no wound. Not even a scar. He still looked pale though, slumped as he was, legs dangling over the side of the table.

  He raised his face enough to look at me. “I told you I wouldn’t take your soul.”

  “Why should I believe you?”

  He raised his brows and shrugged slightly. “I don’t know. But you did save me. I owe you for that.”

  I shook my head. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally. I didn’t know what I wanted, what I could have. “Baphomet is out there.”

  “Yes. That is a complication.”

  “Why does he want the Booke?”

  “That is puzzling. But he is one of the old gods. He knew the Ancient Ones. The book is at least that old. It’s possible he knows how to manipulate it to his will. More than the Powers That Be. They are…unhappy that Baphomet seeks it. They will be even more unhappy that he is on the same plane as the book now.”

  “Can’t they do anything?”

  He laughed unpleasantly. “They don’t do anything they don’t have to do. That’s why they have minions. Like me.”

  “So now you have to clean up the mess the Ordo made.”

  “Not just the Ordo. Shabiri.” He said her name with the right amount of venom.

  “Yeah. I’m gonna get her.”

  He must have detected the fire in my eyes because he sat up straighter with a cocked brow. “Oh?”

  “She sent my grandfather away. Now we can’t even talk to him.”

  “A shame. There was much we could have gleaned from him. Still, we have his notebook.”

  “But she got Doug that stupid spear. And she…” I shut my mouth. I wasn’t going to mention how she looked at Erasmus. Because that was not part of the equation at all.

  He seemed to read it on my face anyway and glowed with amusement. “Do you want my help?”

  My synapses were screaming at me. I ignored them all. “Yes. I need your help. There’s just no getting around it.”

  He smiled. “Good.” Hopping off the table, he stood unsteadily for a moment. I couldn’t help myself and reached out to support him. Abruptly, he grabbed me and pulled me against him. His eyes scoured my face, did a full inventory. “I will help you,” he said, lips close to mine. “And when this is over, I will not take your soul. Do you understand me? I. Will. Not.”

  I couldn’t speak. I could only nod.

  He stared at my lips a moment longer before he released me and stepped back. “Then let’s get to work.”

  When we walked back into the main room together, everyone stopped talking.

  “Look who’s the picture of health again.” I said, thumbing toward Erasmus.

  Seraphina looked ready to do battle, but Doc gently pushed her slightly behind him and approached. “Mr. Dark,” he began.

  “Warlock,” said Erasmus. Funny, I didn’t think he’d ever actually addressed any of the Wiccans to their faces before.

  Doc controlled his expression nicely, though I could tell he was taken aback. “‘Doctor Boone’ will do.”

  Erasmus bowed. “Do I have you to thank for my current state of health?”

  “Me and Seraphina.”

  He bowed to Seraphina, but she wasn’t having any of it.

  “You should go,” she said sternly. “Thank you for saving Kylie, but you’re not wanted here.”

  “Alas, dear lady, I am incapable of leaving the book. I must guard it.”

  “You don’t have to do it where we can see you.”

  “Seraphina,” I said kindly. “It’s okay. I told him he could stay. We need him.”

  “But Kylie…” She was incredulous. “He…he…”

  “He says he won’t.” His expression when he gazed at me was neutral, but I sensed something beneath it, something fiery that boiled under his skin.

  “I make my oath to you all,” he said, taking in Jolene and Jeff as well. “I will see that no harm comes to Miss Strange, from my own hand or from any other. I renounce her soul. And all of yours, just to be clear.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Jeff.

  “Later,” I admonished.

  “And what is your oath worth, Mr. Dark?” asked Do
c.

  Erasmus smiled. “Hmm. A good question. I…have never had to make an oath to a human before.”

  “There’s another mark you could wear,” Jolene piped up, her voice high and strained.

  Erasmus swiveled toward her. “What mark?” he said slowly. I had a feeling he knew exactly what.

  She turned her tablet to everyone. There was a picture of another strange sort of sigil, like the one he already had on his chest. “It would go on the inside of his wrist. It would mean you couldn’t take souls.”

  “Would you have me starve for all eternity?”

  “Yes.”

  He raised a brow. “What an unpleasant little girl,” he muttered. “It is a proper solution, I’ll grant you. But…I cannot agree to it.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “Why not?”

  “Because sometimes I am compelled to present myself before the Powers That Be and they will know instantly what I have done. Do you think for one moment I would survive that encounter?”

  “Demons lie,” said Seraphina. She was suddenly backed against the wall when Erasmus swooped in and cornered her, quicker than anyone could blink an eye.

  “You have every reason not to trust me,” he said in low tones, barely an inch from her face. She held her breath, trembling.

  “Erasmus,” I said.

  He didn’t back off. “You, who tries to recapture her youth with powders and blush but crawls ever closer to her grave, you dare tell me that I am lying, when you lie to yourself every day.”

  “Erasmus! Enough!”

  He drew back slowly and looked at Doc. “Doctor Boone. I know you understand the onus under which I serve the book. I can swear upon it, if that will help. No? Then you have no choice but to believe me. You need my help. A god is loose amongst you. You need me.”

  “He’s right,” I said. “And not just Baphomet. But remember, the Booke will release something again too. We really do need him. Whether…whether he’s telling the truth or not. But just for the record…I believe him.”

  It was a litany in my head: I have to believe him, I have to believe him…Because I didn’t know if I really did.

  His eyes were shining when he looked at me. Pride, satisfaction? I didn’t know.

  “Then I will tell you all I know of Baphomet, and we must look at the weapons we have at hand.”

  I took up the spear, still black with Erasmus’s blood. “All we have is this. The crossbow is broken.”

  “Broken? You broke the chthonic crossbow?”

  “I didn’t. Goat Guy did.”

  “Where is it now?”

  “Back in Hansen Mills, I imagine.”

  “Wait here.”

  He was gone with just a bit of a breeze mussing my hair.

  Jolene dropped her tablet to her side. “Be careful, Kylie.”

  “Everybody keeps saying that, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to actually be careful.”

  “Well, I have an idea. If Mr. Dark won’t put on the mark, maybe there’s something else we can do.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Let me do more research. How do you all feel about tattoos?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  It was barely a minute before Erasmus returned, the two pieces of the crossbow in his hands…and red blood spattered on his face.

  “What happened?”

  “One of the Ordo got in my way. I insisted on taking the crossbow. He discovered what it means to naysay a demon.”

  “You didn’t—”

  “Kill him? No. Perhaps I should have.”

  “Was it Doug?”

  He studied the crossbow pieces “No. That other one with the pentagram on his head. Pity that was the only thing in it.” He took hold of the pieces, fitted them together, and held it steady. I was about to ask, when the weapon began to glow. Smoke rose from the demon’s shoulders and he gritted his teeth. Sparks flew from the place the halves were joined and then the glow died away. The crossbow was in one piece again. He examined it, then casually handed it to me.

  I took it, felt its familiar heft. I hadn’t realized how sad I was to see it broken until it was repaired. It had served me well. “I didn’t know it could be fixed.”

  “Only I could. Shabiri may not know that. And speaking of which.” He snatched one of the arrows from the crossbow’s hilt, took it in his fist, and thrust the tip into his eye.

  He yelled.

  I screamed.

  With a grunt of pain, he pulled it out. The arrow’s tip smoldered, dripping something like acid, burning tiny holes in my wood floor.

  “Erasmus! What did you…?”

  But his eye was fine. With a leering smile he replaced the arrow into the hilt. “Specially treated. You can stop her with that now.”

  “From your eye?”

  “Gross,” said Jolene, though there was a light of curiosity in her own eye.

  “What?” said Erasmus. “You can’t poison your enemies with venom from your eye? What a waste.”

  Didn’t even bother trying to wrap my head around that one.

  “By the way,” he added, “I returned your conveyance from the Ordo’s property.” I rushed to the window. There was my Jeep, parked in front. “And I took the liberty of removing the hexes and charm pouches they added to it.” He took something out of his pocket, holding it with two fingers. “And this item. I thought you might want it back.”

  I took Ed’s gun out of his hand. “Thanks, Erasmus.”

  He bowed. “My pleasure.” Boy, he really had a charming way about him. If only he wasn’t a demon bent on eating my soul…

  An out-of-breath Nick burst through the door, slamming it closed and leaning against it. He jolted when he spotted Erasmus.

  “It’s okay, Nick. There’s a truce going on.”

  “But what about…the soul-eating thing?”

  “He says he won’t do it.” I shrugged. “I believe him.”

  His eyes darted from him to me. “Okay. If you say so, Kylie.” He rubbed his arm and tried not to look at Erasmus. “Well, it’s done. I sort of tapped the car into a tree to make it look more realistic. I didn’t dent it or anything, and the car’s still running. I’m sure he’ll wake soon. He seemed like he was coming out of it when I moved him to the driver’s side. But, uh…I couldn’t clean out all the…the blood. Of course, it doesn’t look like blood, so he might just think oil spilled back there.”

  “Thanks, Nick. I really appreciate it. But, uh…” I showed him the gun. “One item left. He’s going to notice that bullets are missing.”

  Erasmus got that look whenever Ed was present. “I presume you’re talking about your constable.”

  I ignored him. “You’re going to have to return it as it is, I guess.”

  Nick took it and scratched his head, turning the heavy gun in his hands. “That might be a problem. I guess I’ve got to go back. Don’t do anything interesting while I’m gone.” He turned toward the door.

  “Did you see Goat Guy out there anywhere?”

  He paused, looking out the front window. “Not a sign of him. Mr. Dark, what do you think his next move will be? Will he try to attack us?”

  “I haven’t the foggiest. Perhaps your girl there should look in her portal to find a way to fight him.”

  Nick looked questioningly toward Jolene. “Her portal?”

  “I’m not ‘his girl,’” said Jolene. “And I’m already on it.” She turned the tablet to show him and stuck her tongue out.

  “Nick, you’d better go.”

  He nodded, tucking the gun into his pants and securing his shirt over it. “Okay. Be back as soon as I can.” And he was out the door once more.

  Jolene scanned her tablet. “Looking at the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is only a start,” she said without an upward glance. She probably hadn’t even realized that Nick had left again. “But it led me to some of the secret writings of Aleister Crowley about the Law of The
lema.”

  “That’s nonsense,” said Erasmus.

  “It’s not,” she countered. “Have you got anything better?”

  “Baphomet feeds off of the energy of the earth—the creatures and plants. It is all food for him. He isn’t a demon. He cannot be banished with pentagrams and spells. He is a god. I don’t think your feeble books, or even that portal, can tell you how to banish a god.”

  She slammed it down into her lap. “Then, what? What do you suggest?”

  “I…I will have to go for a time. To find out. Kylie.” He turned to me. “Do you trust me?”

  The word “no” was ready on my lips, but the truth of the matter was, in my heart of hearts, I did trust him. I wanted to, anyway. “If you have to go, you have to go.”

  “I have every intention of coming back.”

  “Wait, what does that mean? Is it…is it dangerous for you to go?”

  “Yes. I must return to the Netherworld and…ask some uncomfortable questions, all without the Powers That Be discovering me. And that will not be easy.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t.”

  “It’s the only solution. Baphomet must not be permitted on this plane. It is already ripping the fabric between the worlds.”

  “Worlds, plural? I was afraid that’s what you said.”

  “Did you doubt that? You’ve seen the vortexes. The opening goes…somewhere. Where did you think that was?”

  “I don’t know. It’s well beyond my pay grade.”

  “Wait, Mr. Dark,” said Doc. “You said you needed a way to get to the Netherworld undetected. Maybe we can help with that.”

  He gave a full-throated laugh. My Wiccans exchanged glances with healthy doses of annoyance.

  “You must be joking!” he guffawed. “Truly, I haven’t laughed so hard in a long while.”

  I slapped him on the back of his head. His laughter stopped abruptly and he glared, affronted.

  “Stop laughing, idiot. They want to help.”

  “That wasn’t a joke?”

  “No. Behave yourself.”

  He frowned and deferred to Doc. “Doctor Boone, I…appreciate the gesture, but what could you possibly do to help me?”

  “Believe it or not, I have quite a few old books in my library at home. And between me and Jolene and her…portal…I think we might just be able to come up with something that’ll work.”