Cards of Death Box Set

by Tamara Geraeds

  We all step back in unison.

  Vicky’s hand slides into mine and squeezes. “We’ll find a way to break it in time.”

  The sparks pull away the blanket and Mom’s nightgown to reveal wriggling black liquid all over her stomach and chest.

  I groan and turn my head away.

  Mona orders the sparks to cover Mom up again. “It hasn’t reached her arms and legs yet. We have some time. A couple of days at the least.” She gestures at us to step back further. “I’ll take her upstairs.”

  When I watch Mom float to the top floor, it’s as if a giant hand squashes my throat. My head spins and I reach out for support.

  “I’m here.” Vicky’s beautiful frame is hazy. “Keep breathing, Dante.”

  I want to say I can’t, but my lungs are empty. No air comes through anymore.

  “Stay with us.”

  The ground underneath my feet disappears and soft arms catch me.

  “What do we do now?” I hear Vicky asking.

  Blinking rapidly, I turn my head. Two boots step into view. A blurry face bends over me.

  A hand smacks me across the cheek hard. “Snap out of it, master, we need you.”

  “Jeep!” Vicky’s voice is shrill. “You can’t do that!”

  “Come on.” Another blow, this time in the stomach.

  I double up with a groan.

  “Stop it!” Vicky yells.

  In the corner of my eye I see his fist coming towards me again. I gulp in some air and move sideways. He misses me by an inch and I use my momentum to haul myself to my feet.

  “That’s right, get up and fight,” he yells. “No time to lie around crying.”

  I raise my hands in defense. “I’m up.” A grin forms around my lips when I realize my voice is back and I can breathe again. Everything and everyone around me comes back into focus.

  Jeep hops from left to right in front of me.

  “There you are,” I say. I hold up my hand and he gives me a high five. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” He shoots Vicky a meaningful look. “Sometimes a tough hand is needed.”

  She folds her arms. “I can be tough.”

  He winks. “I know.”

  I point upstairs. “Let’s go see how Mona’s doing.”

  The fairy godmother is already coming down again. “Your mother is fine. For now. I put her in the front room, where there’s lots of light.”

  I open my mouth to speak, but she won’t let me.

  “I checked the salt lines in every room.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I can stay here if you want, to watch over her. Then you and the Shield can focus on the tasks at hand. Didn’t you have another soul to save?”

  Jeep adjusts his hat. “We do.” He bows and vanishes into thin air.

  “Are you sure you won’t mind staying upstairs?” I ask Mona, while the others follow Jeep to the kitchen. “I can bring you something to drink or…” I smack myself in the head. “Damn, I forgot the groceries.”

  Mona pushes a lock of blonde hair back into place on her head. “Do you have a list? I can drive to the supermarket for you.” She motions at the ceiling. “Quinn can keep an eye on Susan while I’m gone.”

  I frown. “You called him?”

  “No, but he’s on his way.”

  I shake my head in confusion. “Right. Eh… okay then.” I hand her the keys to the car. “Please be careful with her.”

  “Of course.”

  We go downstairs and when I step into the kitchen, Quinn pops up, looking pristine again in the white suit that makes his dark skin even more radiant. His serious dark eyes are locked on me.

  “See you soon!” Mona yells as a warm breeze flows through the front door. “Hi Qaddisin, bye Qaddisin!”

  Quinn wastes no time on hellos. “I’ve got some good news.”

  “Great, we could use some.” I drop into my chair and gesture for him to take a seat, too.

  “I found a way to activate your memory of the premonitions about the Devil. Or dig them up, to put it more accurately.”

  “That could help us save your mom,” Vicky says.

  An uneasy smile creeps upon Quinn’s face, but I ignore it. I can’t handle any more bad news right now.

  My friend’s gaze darts across the table to where D’Maeo has put down the Cards of Death. “Oh, but I see you got a new set of cards. We should look at those first.”

  “We already did,” Jeep responds. “We just haven’t had time to discuss our thoughts with Dante yet.”

  Quinn leans forward. “Let’s do that first then. I can stay for a bit, maybe help out.”

  “Thanks, Quinn.” I relax a little. “Food and drinks are on the way.”

  I quickly fill him and the Shield in on everything that has happened. The expressions around me change from worried to anxious, except for Vicky’s. She just smiles brightly and raises a fist. “We have managed so far, and we will keep fighting until we win. The Devil is irritated because we already screwed up his plans twice. Him taking your mom was an act of despair. He is looking for ways to get you to stop fighting him. Which basically means we’re doing a great job.” She winks.

  I look her straight in the eye and mouth I love you. She grins.

  Quinn clears his throat. “She’s right. I hadn’t thought of it that way before, but these souls you’re saving must be even more important than we thought. And now that we know the circles of Hell are real, we’re on the right track.”

  I rub my face hard. “I hope so.”

  “So one of the cards…” D’Maeo holds it up, “is covered in sand.”

  “Like the demon Mona and I fought,” I comment.

  “Yes. But we were able to get it off and it revealed a circle, a nose, the letter K, a large house and a medal. I drew a picture of the symbols. The other card has a wavy line and a fist.”

  I take out my phone and search for the nine circles of Hell. “Okay, so we’ve dealt with the last two circles, which means we’re dealing with the seventh circle of Hell now. According to this picture, sinners condemned to this circle committed a crime of violence. So that’s what the fist means. The wave points to the way he dies. And…“ I gasp. “Hey, this is interesting.”

  Vicky leans over to me. “What is?”

  “The people condemned to the ninth circle are punished by means of ice.”

  Taylar taps the table with a finger. “So?”

  “In circle number eight, the punishment is boiling pitch,” I continue.

  Jeep tosses his hat in the air and catches it with his head. “Let me guess. The seventh circle uses burning sand for punishment?”

  “Exactly. Which means we know what kind of demons to expect next.” I scroll down. “Fire, water, smelting gold-“

  Taylar smacks the table. “Now that could be useful.”

  “We’ll see,” I answer. “And after that, rain and black snow, wind and…” My eyes skim the last lines. “There’s no punishment mentioned for the first circle, but I’m guessing it’s something fun.”

  D’Maeo turns the cards around in his hands. “Does it also say how to vanquish the demons that live there?”

  I scan the rest of the page and shake my head. “No such luck.”

  Quinn takes the drawings from D’Maeo. “A circle, a nose, a K, a villa and a medal. I’m guessing it has something to do with some sort of sport?”

  “An Olympic sport maybe? Because of the circle?” Jeep suggests.

  I give him a thumbs up. “That could explain the large house.”

  Everyone has something to say, except for Maël, who is very quiet. I hope she’s not losing energy again. These burning sand demons will be hard enough to fight with the whole Shield. We can’t afford to lose her again.

  “But why the nose?” Quinn interrupts my thoughts. “Are there sports where you have to use your nose?”

  Taylar snorts. “I’d like to see a nosebal
l championship.”

  “Boxing,” Maël suddenly says.

  Quinn puts the piece of paper with the symbols on the table. “A broken nose and a boxing ring. That could be it.”

  “Nice going, Maël,” I say, opening Google again on my phone. “So we’re looking for a boxer who earned a medal, broke his nose and lives in a villa?”

  “Maybe he didn’t break his nose yet,” Jeep says.

  Taylar rocks his chair back and forth. “Or he breaks other people’s noses.”

  “Good thinking.”

  I type it in and hit search. “Lots of boxers own a villa and have won medals. Some of them broke their noses, but none that start with a K. Except for Kadashi, but he died last year. So I think he’s already in Heaven or Hell.”

  “Maybe we got it wrong. Maybe we’re looking for someone who had a nose operation.”

  “After he broke his nose,” I add.

  “Yes, yes, we get it,” Quinn says. “We’re looking for…” He pauses and tilts his head.

  We all jump when the front door flies open with a loud bang.

  CHAPTER 15

  “Sorry! My hands are a bit full,” Mona yells.

  D’Maeo vanishes before I can react. “Let me help you, lovely lady,” he says from the hallway.

  Vicky touches my hand and whispers, “I think he likes her.”

  The two enter the kitchen. D’Maeo a bit flustered, Mona with her usual wide smile. “Snacks are here!”

  “Yes!” Jeep and Taylar say in unison.

  She makes some wrappings float to the table. “Dig in.”

  Jeep’s hand shoots out and grabs a hamburger. “Yes ma’am.” He unwraps it and almost sticks his whole nose into it. “This smells so good.”

  “Give it here, love,” Mona says. “I’ll heat it up for you.”

  He jerks it back before she can take it. “No thanks, this is fine.”

  Mona watches with raised eyebrows as he bites off half of the burger. “Okay.” She puts some juice in the fridge and D’Maeo eagerly hands her the sodas and beers.

  She gives him a smile and shoots me a look over her shoulder. “Did you get anywhere with those cards?”

  I shrug. “We thought they pointed to a boxer, but we can’t find any with a K that fit the description.”

  She stands up and stretches her back. “Have you thought about magical boxers?”

  She gets blank stares back and laughs. “You’ve never heard of that?” She gives Quinn a reproachful look. “Not even you?”

  I swat my hand in his direction. “He didn’t even know the circles of Hell were real.”

  Now it’s her turn to look surprised. “The circles of Hell?”

  D’Maeo sighs. “It’s a long story.”

  “Tell me some other time.”

  He straightens his shoulders and brushes his fingers through his silver hair. “I’d love to.”

  Jeep coughs loudly. “Okay, can we get back to the magical boxing thing? I’ve heard of it, but I thought it was banned a couple of hundred years ago.”

  Mona tilts her head. “Oh, it was. So naturally the business flourished. It’s still big underground these days.”

  Jeep cracks his knuckles. “Do you know where to find it?”

  “I can find out. Give me a minute.” She snaps her fingers and vanishes in a cloud of sparks.

  I groan. “I’m so jealous of all of you, being able to vanish and appear in the blink of an eye.”

  Quinn smiles sadly. “Most of us weren’t always like this.”

  I squint at him, not because of his words, but because of the look in his eyes. A glimpse of a memory tugs at my thoughts. I remember seeing his eyes somewhere, not too long ago, with the same sadness shining through. But there was something different about them.

  “Hey, have you been spying on me?” I blurt.

  His brow furrows. “I check in on you regularly, you know that. I don’t sneak around, if that’s what you mean.”

  “No…” I peer at him again. “It’s strange…”

  Suddenly it strikes me and I gasp.

  “What?” Quinn says.

  I lean back so fast I almost tumble over. “Vicky,” I breathe.

  Unease falls over my friend again when I say her name. I contributed half of his restlessness to worries about me and Mom, but all this time it was Vicky who made him nervous. Finally I know why. Now I understand why he avoids looking at her as much as he can.

  “What is it?” Vicky moves so close to me that our arms touch and a tingle shoots up my spine.

  “Vicky, can you look Quinn in the eye for a second?”

  Quinn raises his hands. “Don’t bother, her magic doesn’t work on me.”

  “Oh no, it’s not…” I tilt my head to change my perspective. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. “You can’t read my mind?” I ask Quinn.

  “That only works when your thoughts aren’t all tumbled up,” he explains. “Why? What is it?”

  “Just look at each other, please. Vicky, tell me if his eyes remind you of something. Of someone.”

  Quinn sighs and looks at the girl in black. For a moment, they just sit there in silence.

  I string my fingers together and wait. The rest of the Shield watches with interest. I can almost hear the questions Taylar and Jeep swallow.

  “Hmm,” Vicky says after a minute or so.

  “What does that mean?” Quinn asks.

  I tap the side of my head. “You can’t read her mind either?”

  “No, that doesn’t work on ghosts.”

  Vicky turns her head towards me. “There’s something familiar about his eyes.”

  The corners of my mouth move up. “I know. I think Quinn here has some explaining to do.”

  I see him stiffening. He never gets nervous, which convinces me more than anything that I’m right.

  “About someone in Vicky’s family,” I continue. “Am I right?”

  “I prefer not to talk about it,” he says. Sadness has taken over more than just his eyes now. His whole body screams heartache.

  Jeep and Taylar lean forward so they don’t miss a word.

  “Well, I think Vicky is entitled to the truth. Don’t you?” I stand up, take a couple of beers out of the fridge, put them on the table and hand Quinn one of them. “Here, this might help.”

  He grumbles a bit and avoids my gaze. But I don’t back down. I wave the bottle in front of him. “Take it, silly old man.”

  Suddenly, Vicky gasps. “The man that found my grandmother!” Her eyes are bigger than I’ve ever seen them. “You’re related to him?”

  Quinn finally takes the beer and gulps half of it down in one go.

  I stroke Vicky’s back. “Not related, Vick. He was him.”

  Her mouth falls open. “No way. You were dating my grandmother? Why didn’t-?”

  Before I can stop myself I blurt out another question. “You were white once?”

  Quinn puts his empty bottle on the table. “Yes, when I was human.”

  Vicky meets my eyes and I see the desire to push Quinn to answer all of her questions. But it’s obvious that Quinn’s reluctant to talk about Mary. The hurt was visible on his face when Vicky asked him about their relationship. He must have loved her a lot. And if I can see the pain on his face, Vicky must be able to sense it even more clearly with her empath power.

  To my relief she lets go of the subject for now. Her eyes scan his body. I know she’s thinking the same things I am. “Why did you change so much? You were white, old and skinny.”

  Tears form in his dark eyes. “I wanted to change as much as I could, because I loved your grandmother. She was my whole world. When I lost her, I wanted to leave everything from that life behind me. The pain of all the memories was too much for me to bear.” He grins, but there’s no joy in it. “Besides, I wanted to be irresistible for once, not just because I became an angel, but because of my looks.”


  She wiggles her eyebrows at him, no doubt to ease his pain. “Well, that worked. You are rocking this look.”

  “Hey!” I nudge her and Jeep chuckles.

  “Oh, but you’re not my type,” she adds quickly.

  A chortle escapes Taylar’s mouth. “Yeah, right.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I ask Quinn.

  He reaches for another bottle of beer and offers the others one, too. Jeep and Vicky take one.

  “I didn’t want anyone to get distracted from the mission. Not me, not you and not Vicky.”

  “Well, that didn’t work out so well,” Vicky sneers.

  “Do you know what happened to her grandmother?” I interrupt, opening a pack of cookies to keep my hands occupied.

  “I was told it was not my business.”

  Vicky slams her hand on the table. “And you listened?”

  “Well yes.” He gives her a small, sad smile. “It was God who told me. He made me an angel so I could help the one who was destined to solve the mystery of Mary’s death. Someone by the name of Dante Banner.”

  All eyes turn to me. Vicky leans on me and I wrap my arm around her waist.

  “Oh great, more weight on his shoulders,” Jeep mumbles.

  I shake my head. “No, it’s okay. This means I can help Vicky find out the truth about her family.”

  She presses my hand firmer into her waist. “Yes, but after you save your mom.”

  In a flash of light Mona comes back. “You’re in luck. There’s a big fight tomorrow, underneath the school.”

  I let go of Vicky and pick up my phone. “Great, which school and what time?”

  Mona beams at me. “Your school of course. At eight pm.”

  My head swerves to Quinn, who seems preoccupied by his memories. “Did you know about that, Quinn?”

  He looks up. His eyes are a bit watery. I’ve never seen him like this. “What?”

  “Never mind.” I turn my attention back to Mona. “What do you mean ‘your school of course’?

  “Well, most magical boxers are young. A high school is a good place to find young people and they like to stay close to home.”

  A thought occurs to me. “Could it be that most students at my school are magical, just like the majority of the Blackford population?”