by D V Wolfe
Despite being pissed at him for not having better information for us, a wave of relief rolled over me. Less than three hundred more. Around me, the others were slapping me on the back and making encouraging comments, but my gaze never left Festus. “Thanks, Festus.” I paused. “And about the prophecy and the demons here…”
Festus rolled his eyes. “I’ll keep an ear out downstairs. If I happen to hear anything useful about...anything, I’ll let you know.” He sighed. “Whatever is left of you, since you refuse to take my advice and leave before whatever Hell is brewing here, breaks loose.”
“Knew you’d understand,” I said.
Festus pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and turned towards the door. “Always a pleasure, but I’d lose the air freshener if you ever intend to host any guests again.” Then he was gone, the lit cigarette butt smoking on the white gravel as the rain put it out.
I turned back to the room. Noah was the first to speak. “Under three hundred souls, that’s something to be excited about.”
“Yeah,” Rosetta said. “Too bad he couldn’t give us any other good news.”
“At least he didn’t have additional bad news for us,” I said. “Festus’ instinct whenever anything is around is to ‘leave town’.” I looked back at the corpse-melted chair combo. “But, he wasn’t wrong about our crispy friend here. Why don’t we stuff him back down the tunnel?” I asked. “At least then we wouldn’t all have to baste in that smell.”
Stacks glared at me from behind the half-melted corpse. “Because that’s our escape route. And unlike you a-holes, I chose to be safe rather than sorry and to use the tunnel to cover my tracks. I’m not going to clog it up with a dead body.”
“Why didn’t you just bury him?” Tags asked.
“Something about him being watched,” I said. “And the possibility that it might look suspicious if we brought a half-melted corpse out the front door and started burying him in the backyard like a dead pet.”
“Just put him in a bag before you take him out and bury him,” Tags said, looking at us like we were complete morons.
“Well, you see, when he ‘ashed out’, he sort of melted to the chair. The polyester of the seat kind of melted with his ass fat and now, they’re...uh...one,” I said. I watched Tags’ upper lip curl back in disgust. “And if we try to drag him through the tunnel in one piece, he’s going to get stuck which is why I think we should use him to block the tunnel in case any unwanted guests try to come through it at night.”
“But then we would have no escape route if someone comes in through the front door,” Stacks argued.
“Moving along,” Tags said loudly over our discussion. “Did this guy act...I don’t know, strange before he ‘ashed out’?”
I nodded. “I don’t care what Festus thinks. This guy believed what he was telling us. I mean, otherwise, why would he have killed himself? He got one of those ‘oh shit’ expressions on his face like he realized he’d spilled too much when he told us about the ‘reign’ and these blood oaths they’re using the church people for. So he pulled the trigger on his self-destruct sequence and,” I kicked the melted office chair, causing more of the ash from the body’s open mouth to waft out and sift onto the corpse’s lap. “He cashed in.”
“Ok. I’m with you,” Tags said. “Festus might be the one deluding himself. The fact that this s.o.b. would rather kill himself than face up to his bosses, after telling you what he did, has to count for something. Festus said it himself. He’s out of the loop downstairs. Maybe this ‘reign’ thing is actually in the works.” Tags paused and looked at me. “Out of curiosity, how did you get this information out of him?”
“I gave him a manicure,” I said. I stood, picked the book from New Covenant up off the table, and handed it over to Tags. “At first we thought that all these churchgoers were making deals without knowing it. This is the membership book they were signing.”
Tags opened the book and nodded at the first page. “Facio,” he said. “That’s the conclusion I would have drawn.”
I nodded and continued. “But then our demon boy scout here says that they’re actually making ‘blood oaths on the stones as a part of this ‘reign’ thing.”
“Wait,” Tags said. “What exactly did he say?”
I sighed, trying to recall. “He said ‘blood oaths on black stones’.” Tags mouth fell open. “What?” I asked.
“It’s a summoning,” Tags said.
“Shit, I hate when we’re right,” Stacks groaned.
Tags pulled off his baseball cap and scratched his head before putting it back on. “I mean, blood oaths aren’t something you screw around with. It’s serious demon spellwork. It’s like taking a bag of souls and exchanging it for the golden idol of Duke Hellington’s ass. Blood oaths are even more powerful than blood sacrifices because they’re signing over their souls, not just being sacrificed as a vessel.”
“But Ber-,” I said, pausing as the lights flickered and the trailer swayed slightly. “In St. Louis. That was a summoning for...the Duke. I knew there were blood sacrifices there. All those hostages and Scratch wanted to use Noah too. But not blood oaths. There wasn’t a book or anything where people were signed over their souls as far as I knew.”
“That makes sense,” Noah said. We all turned to look at him. Noah turned the laptop so that we could all see a medieval drawing set into a page of type. “Ber-” the lights flickered again and Noah huffed. “St. Louis Friend is considered to be the ‘gatekeeper’ for the Dukes and Princes. He has to be summoned by a legion of demons. After that though, he can do the summoning to bring the rest of the gang in.”
“Great,” I said. “So there’s a big demon frat party brewing and we’re all invited.” I turned to Stacks. “Any luck on that spell?”
“What spell?” Tags asked.
“Omnio Purgo,” Stacks said.
Tags looked impressed. “You found an Omnio Purgo spell?”
Stacks looked down at the book in front of him. “Not exactly. I think we can make one though. I have the Latin figured out. I just need to compare it to some other conjurations.”
Tags snorted. “Let me know how that turns out.”
“You got any better suggestions?” Rosetta snapped, surging up from the couch next to me.
Tags immediately looked down at his hands in his lap. “No ma’am.”
“Ok,” I said standing up and putting a hand on Rosetta’s shoulder as I moved past her to get around the table. I had had about as much as I could stand of the melted corpse smell. I shoved him back down the hallway and closed the second bedroom door. “That’s better,” I said, coming back down the hallway. “So, we’ve had it from two sources now,” I nodded at Tags. “That this Reign thing is happening. And one source that it’s not happening, if we count Festus. Majority still rules. We know from the human volcano in there that they are using the churchgoers at New Covenant as blood oaths to get this show on the road. So, it sounds like our objectives, sorry, our objective singular, is to stop the freaking blood oaths. If they can’t get enough of them, they can’t summon the rest of Animal House. Tell us about blood oaths, Stacks.”
“Well,” Stacks said. “All of my research says that the blood oaths are similar to selling your soul in that well, Hell owns your soul, but they’re more like sacrifices in that the people who are handing over their souls, aren’t getting anything in return. So kind of like human sacrifices, but for the soul and willingly given by the humans.”
“And,” Tags cut in. “If you’d read St. Gerald’s account on blood oaths from Daemonia Certiminibus, you’d also know that blood oaths were most often attained through trickery and they were always given while the parties stood on ‘black stone’ which from what I’ve gathered, in updated versions, is slate specifically.” Stacks gave Tags a withering glare that Tags returned with interest. I wondered if there was about to be a showdown of lore-brarians. If so, all my money was on Tags.
“Well, that makes sense, right?”
Noah asked. We all turned to look at him. “Slate is formed from volcanic ash. Kind of goes with Hell right?” He suddenly looked as if he wished he hadn’t said anything.
Tags grinned at him and nodded. “Something about the property of black stone, or slate, can channel the demon’s spell. And since the blood oaths are for summoning, the slate allows the blood and soul magic to travel right through it.”
“What about that raised platform all the people had to step onto to sign the book?” Noah asked.
“Slate,” Gabe said.
Stacks nodded. “Those poor dumb bastards. And how much do you want to bet that there will be a new book to sign by tomorrow’s Sunday morning service along with a new crop of people that just can’t wait to sign their souls away.”
“So, the first goal is to stop any more folks from signing blood oaths,” I said.
I looked around at everyone and I saw them nodding their understanding. “What about the spell?” Stacks asked.
I nodded. “Spell is goal two. If we can stop more blood oaths from happening, the next step will be to get the ones who’ve already signed their souls away, off the hook.”
“How is Omnio Purgo going to get them off the hook?” Tags asked.
Stacks smirked. “Well, if you’d read Brixton’s Magicae Anima, you’d know that even with blood oaths, those giving up their souls have to be made aware that that’s what they’re doing. Trickery could still be used, telling people they would get something in return and then not fulfilling it. But these people have no idea that they’re giving away their souls.” It was Tags’ turn to glare at Stacks. “So,” Stacks continued. “To pull this off, I think the demons have to be working a spell of their own so that they can bypass that step and avoid a flag on the play.”
“Wow,” I said. “You actually knew a sports reference.”
Stacks rolled his eyes. “I watch soccer.”
Gabe shook his head at me. “Don’t bother correcting him.”
Tags’ expression changed from annoyance to possibility. “Yeah, if that’s the case, an Omnio Purgo spell should work, negating the spell and the oaths in one shot. If the spell fails, the oaths don’t meet the standard requirements and the magic doesn’t hold, they can’t use them and the souls belong to the people again.”
“Ok,” Gabe said. “So what’s the plan?”
They all turned and looked at me. “What?” I said. “Hang on, every one of you has given me infinite amounts of crap about my plans. One of you monkeys grind one out.”
Stacks shrugged. “I think that was mostly anxiety we were venting when we said your plans were crap. The truth was, I never had a plan to pose as an alternative to yours. I can admit that.”
I turned to Rosetta. She shrugged. “Your plans are predictable. Always suicidal and always nuts. You can always count on it. I like that in a plan.”
I looked over at Noah who was actually smiling for the first time that day. “Go Team Shit-Plan?”
I rolled my eyes and looked at Gabe and Tags. They looked at each other and then Gabe looked at me. “If you’ve got a plan, I definitely want to hear it.”
I sighed. “Well, as Rosetta said, it’s probably a little suicidal and out there, but,” I looked at Stacks. “How soon until that spell of yours is ready?”
Stacks looked down at his notes. “Tomorrow if I get another couple of hours of research in tonight.”
I nodded. “Ok, that’s your mission. Now to stop more blood oaths from happening, what’s our best option?”
“Burn down the church?” Noah asked.
I raised my eyebrows, considering his suggestion. “I like it. Not very subtle, but that’s using the old noodle. But, then they would probably just change locations and the cops would be looking for arsonists, and we’re definitely on the top of Sheriff Orville’s list.” Noah looked disappointed but nodded in understanding.
“We could try another undercover mission,” Gabe said.
I shook my head. “Even in costume, they know us now. Hex bags protected you all the last time, but what if they’ve upped their mojo and they compel you all to stab me in the ass?”
“That does sound like something they would do,” Gabe muttered.
“Ok,” Rosetta said. “So what do we do?”
“Well,” I said. “If Tags is right and they are performing a summoning, then there’s got to be some physical proof at the church; a summoning circle, the bones they’re casting, any components they have to burn to form the connection, you know.”
“Yeah, so?” Stacks asked.
“So if I can break in and find their secret circle, I might be able to mess with it enough to buy us some time. If the Purgo spell works and Stacks can wipe the blood oaths out, they’ll have to start back at square one and by then, we can stake them and hopefully keep the Princes and Dukes downstairs,” I said.
“So you’re going on a recon/breaking and entering mission,” Rosetta said.
“No, you’re not!” Noah and Gabe both said.
I rolled my eyes. “No offense, but this isn’t a parade. I’m not taking either of you with me. Noah, you and Rosetta should stock up on the holy water and stakes for a frontal assault and to defend us while we work the Purgo spell. And Gabe,” I said looking over at him. “There is still a good chance that a mob of demons is on their way to find us. The hex bags should throw them off for a bit and the salt tape should buy us a little time. But, if we’re right in our assumptions and what’s happening is related to this prophecy and ‘reign’ thing, I doubt their assassin squad will be the garden variety pissant demons we’ve become accustomed to. If they bring the big guns with them, we may be S.O.L. You have to stay and keep the rest of these dinguses from getting killed.” I didn’t wait for him to protest. “And Tags,” Tags looked up at me. “There’s probably enough room for your pendulum in Stacks’ bedroom. You really think you can find the exact location of Walter’s block with that thing?”
Tags nodded. “I just need a very big, very detailed map of Messina.”
“You might have to draw one,” I said. “I doubt Messina has a budget for oversized maps of the town.” I glanced over at Noah. “Get the kid to help you, he’s good with a pencil.”
I saw Tags look warily over at Noah and I felt an itch of annoyance. “Ok, let’s get one thing straight, all of you. Quit treating Noah like some innocent who’s just a liability. He has chosen over and over to stay on this case, to keep hunting and be a part of this. He chose it. Just like every one of us, to some degree. So he’s not an innocent anymore. He’s not a liability. He’s a hunter, just like the rest of us, so treat him like one.”
Noah met my gaze and there was relief and a smile on his face. Good. Now maybe he’d forget about whatever was eating at him. “Blood and spatter, let’s get at ‘er.” I turned on my heel and headed out to the porch to get some supplies. I heard someone follow me out and I didn’t even have to turn. I knew those heavy footfalls.
