Now I’m more than a little creeped out. This place is lit with only candles and there are bones that I recognize as human on the floor making a circle with a pattern inside it. There’s a dense smell of death in this room. It begins to coat my throat so badly that I have to stop myself from breathing to tolerate just being here.
“What’s the ritual for? You said you had found Lucy; where is she?” I ask, completely confused. I look to Garrett who is as baffled as I am.
“I did find her. She is being held by the unquiet mass at that mortuary. They are devouring her energy. They grow stronger, and I can’t allow that. You must get her out before they grow too powerful to combat.” He seems bent on the urgency of the situation but I’m wary of him.
“What is this ritual you plan on performing?” Garrett asks the question for me, thankfully. However, Paco is clearly upset that we’d dare question him and not simply do as we were told.
“A hard prospect, boy, to do battle with things you cannot touch. Even if you go to the place they hold her Lucy, you couldn’t get to where they have her, or free her. This will let you do those things. Let you move freely in their space.” He stops staring at Garrett and goes back to sprinkling ashes around the circle of bones.
“It is difficult for those without practice to perceive the thin film that separates their world from ours. I have found an ancient art that allows for one to pass physically through that film without breaking it. The ritual is the sentio callide mortuus. I call it ‘the subtle death’.”
He opens a moldy book and begins to thumb through its yellowed pages, until he finds what he is looking for, then he begins sprinkling blood on the ground in the center of the circle.
“It only allows you to cross over for a short time,” Paco continues his explanation. “Too much time spent there, even for ones of your affliction of blood, would prove fatal. The decay that is the core of that world would break down all that you are and leave nothing but a husk. Do what you have to do quickly.”
He turns to glare at us, what passes as his face was drawn more tightly than usual for emphasis. “Once you are in their realm, you will not be able to communicate with anyone on this side, unless like me, they have sensitivity to the spirit world. You will be on your own. Only breaking these two iron charms will bring you back to this world.”
He hands one to each of us. They are an ugly gray, and shaped to look like hands.
“You must snap them in half. If you lose them you will be trapped there, so hold onto them tightly.”
Garrett puts his in his coat pocket and buttons it. I don’t have that luxury. Mine goes in my bra. Close to my heart because it means my life, I guess.
“You’ll both need to lie down in the circle.” He points to it and then smiles at me.
“Don’t worry, pet, this time you just need to lie still. I don’t need the same performance as last time.” He says it with a giggle that makes killing him seem too nice a reaction.
Garrett looks from me to Paco and back and then as I get in the circle of bones he follows. I know he feels awkward now, but not nearly as much as I do.
“I guess we just grin and bear it?” Garrett says as we both lie down, and then he takes my hand.
“When the ritual is complete, I will take you in my van to the funeral home. I suggest the ride only because I doubt you would want to encounter some of the things that roam freely in the spirit realm. I don’t believe you’re prepared for that.”
Paco begins to mumble some words and there is a stinging pain that courses through both of our bodies. I let out a little yelp at the unexpected sensation and Paco laughs.
“Did I forget to mention that it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch?”
***
Paco stops his van on the far side of the parking lot of the Sikes Funeral Home and parks. He looks over his shoulder, back into the empty rear of the van, and tells us it’s time.
We step through the side of the van, making a sticky-wet suction sound, and stand on the sidewalk. We both take a few steps forward into the lot and stand looking at the building with dread.
We’re both familiar with what this place looks like normally, but seeing it in the spirit realm is something that neither of us was at all prepared for. The building itself is more grey than the white painted exterior of its living world counterpart, and it’s covered in stress cracks caused by the walls moving slightly in and out. It’s like the whole damned building is breathing.
There’s an almost black light glow radiating out from inside and flowing through the windows out into the lot where we’re standing. It gives the building an ominous sense of devouring. As though this is where life and light both went to die.
I look at Garrett and, with as much of a smile as I can give, tell him, “If we’re gonna keep seeing each other, you’re gonna have to start taking me out to better places.”
It seems odd to me as we’re walking up to the building that I’m wearing the same thing I was the last time I came here, when I met Garrett. Clothes carry memories for me, and even if this is what I was wearing when we first met, I might have to burn it on general principle. I don’t want to come back to this place.
As we approach the doors Garrett pulls the cross from his pocket and I get a better look at it than I have before. It’s silver, and clearly very old, but not all that ornate or pretty to look at.
He knows what I’m thinking and answers, “It belonged to a monk. He made it. It wasn’t supposed to be artistic; it was meant to be functional.”
As we walk into the building it begins to shine, and I have to agree with him. I’m happier right now, that it’s functional and not pretty.
There are giant black demons screaming and moving all around us trying to stay out of the light of the little silver cross. The shadows that I fought with are a lot scarier now that I can see what they actually look like.
These things are shaped like people, but on a much larger scale, and they have wings like bats. They have horns growing out of their heads, some of them have dozens of them, and their eyes are a sickly smoldering ember orange.
Had I known what I was getting into I might have made a different choice, but it’s way past the point of backing out.
I take the locket that Lucy gave me out of my pocket, and like Paco said it would be, it’s glowing. I turn around and when I see it glow brighter I jerk on Garrett’s arm. “This way!”
With him close enough to me that we are almost one; we all but jump into a room that I know should be for funeral services. Things in this world are very different though. I almost fall into a pit just inside the door.
Looking around I see a hole on the other side of the room with stairs leading down. The light from the cross is beginning to fade as I point Garrett where I want to go and we take turns pulling each other across the cracked uneven floor.
The demon things are all around us. Evidently they weren’t kidding when they called these things unquiet, their shrieks are mind piercing and there are dozens of them wailing. They keep clawing in at us, their skin burning in the light, but they seem to heal as fast or faster than I can.
I can’t believe I agreed to do this without more backup or preparation. Lesson learned.
Heading down the staircase the glow from Lucy’s locket gets brighter. “We’re headed in the right direction!”
More swirling black arms and wings crash in around us and I come to two frightening realizations. The first is that these things’ bodies don’t follow the same rules and laws I’m used to; their limbs keep sprouting out of different parts of them as they swipe at us. The second is that the light from the cross is getting smaller and smaller.
“How long does that thing last?” I ask as the light draws in a little closer again, letting them circle in tighter as well.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he answers, tugging me tightly into him as a clawed hand rakes through my hair.
“That was not the comforting statement I was looking for!”
&n
bsp; At the bottom of the crude set of stairs, I’m fairly certain that we are well off the architectural plans. I spin around again with the locket and find our heading. By now Garrett has picked up on the drill and takes off with me in unison.
We pass through an archway and I can see her. She’s in the center of the room in a cage. She’s glowing white, and obviously in pain as energy is being pulled out of her, exactly like the rotting sleaze ball had described. Bound and beaten she lays on her side with a massive iron collar, covered in runes and carvings, around her neck.
It’s a vision out of some surreal fairytale, where the pure of heart heroine in her flowing white gown is held prisoner in a cage by monsters, fearful creatures of darkness and evil. I watch these things swirl around her; they certainly fit the bill. I actually forget for the most fleeing second that this is actually my life. This is all far too real.
She sees me as I enter and shrieks for me to get out. I don’t care what she says, we’re here to rescue her, and by God I intend to do it.
We’re running toward her so fast that I don’t realize why she was telling us to get out until it’s too late. The closer we get to her cage the dimmer the cross is getting as its energy is also being drawn away. The claws swipe close enough now to rip lightly into my back. Just this shallow rake leaves me with unbelievably searing pain and I think I wet myself a little.
This is not going to be one of those amusing stories to tell at parties years from now.
We get to the cage and I rip the door off. Garrett looks impressed; evidently he didn’t know that I actually can toss a car around when I need to.
I pull Lucy out of the cage while Garret attempts to hold the unquiet spirits at bay. Their screams are almost to the point of making my head pop now.
I have Lucy in my arms and that’s when it happens. The light of the cross dies out completely. The room is now almost pitch-black, lit only by Lucy’s locket. There are hundreds of orange eyes swirling all around us, and their screeching begins louder than before.
Lucy looks up at me weakly and says, “You have to go. Get out now. I can’t leave with this thing on my neck and they’ll tear you apart.”
I start to reply to her but then a bus hits me in the face at full speed, or at least I imagine that’s what a bus would feel like. I thought these things hit hard in the real world.
“Lucy, I’ll be back for you!” I shout. “Garrett, break it! Break the charm!”
I take the charm Paco gave me in my hand as I’m being tossed in the air and then spiked to the floor like I was the ball in the most aggressive game of volleyball ever played. I hold it out in my hands to break it and I see Garrett, across the room now, do the same. We snap them and I feel the electric sting of the pull back to our own world.
The last thing I can see before my vision goes black is Garrett being pulled to the floor screaming, with clawed hands ripping into him.
Suddenly I’m back standing in the entryway of the funeral home alone. I wait for a few seconds pacing around and still no Garrett. This can’t be happening.
I run out of the building and across the parking lot to where Paco is waiting in his van.
I jerk the door open and scream in at him, “Garrett’s charm didn’t work! He was being held by the spirits. You’ve got to send me back in.”
“No! You idiot. Why would you lead them back out here?” I grab his arm as he tries to pull away from me to start his van.
“You are going to send me back in to save him!”
“I’ve already done too much for you, for what little pleasure you had to pay with. I will not aid you further and risk putting myself in the way of the unquiet souls’ vengeance. You’ll have to find your own way now.” He pulls free and starts the engine.
“So help me I will find a way to make your life miserable. I will dedicate myself to your suffering if you leave him in there like this.” I spit the words at him with all the bile and vitriol I can muster.
“Need I remind you that attacking me would violate Jacobi’s rules, bloodsucker? I did what I could to help you. You failed. I will not suffer from your failures.” He drops his van in gear and tries to close the door.
Pointing back over my shoulder he begins to scream some unintelligible slurs. I turn back just in time to see the shadows pouring out of the building and moving swiftly, like some demonic oil slick racing to envelop us.
“Get in, you idiot, if you want to live!” He’s starting to pull away from the curb as I dive into the van. The tires squeal and that place becomes a memory.
There’s no conversation on the drive back to the treatment plant. He and I are at an impasse and there’s nothing else I can do. When we pull up next to my car I get out and look back in at him.
“This isn’t over, you smug bastard. I swear to you it isn’t.” I say the words with ice cold hatred, letting him take the door from me.
“You’re right. They will extract what they feel to be justice for your less than successful trespass into their home. I will not be a victim of their reckoning. Live with your failure.” He slams the door and pulls away quickly.
CHAPTER 18
WHY IS IT THAT EVERY TIME I stand up and dust myself off, I get knocked in the dirt harder than the last time? As I pull up the driveway I look forward to seeing my family, but feel like everything has just unraveled further, and I’ve failed them again.
Depression is starting to pour down over me. Frank will be happy I guess that something bad happened and I shouldn’t have gone like he said. He may even be happy that now Garrett is being held by those things too.
At least with Garrett beside me I felt an emotional bond to someone that took a lot of the weight off me, like my load was the same but lighter because he was sharing it.
I guess I’ve let him down now, too.
The garage is full so I park on the side of the house. Evidently Frank took Piper or Leslie to get a car for something, and it looks like my VW has been moved. That’s strange, but not horribly out of place considering all that’s gone on lately. I take my leather jacket out of the back seat and use it to cover the wounds that still haven’t healed on my back. I walk around to the front of the house and stepping up on the front porch I see that they’ve put in my new front door.
Frank has a carpenter who works exclusively with antique restorations set to work on trying to put what’s left of my stained glass in a similar era door. I appreciate the effort, but it’s going to take a lot more than a new door to make this place feel like home again.
I open the door, and step into the front parlor and see Julie sitting on the sofa smiling at me. “Hi, boss. I’m back.”
Okay, now that brings home a little bit closer.
She stands up and holds her arms out and I practically run over to her. I wrap my arms around her and squeeze tightly as she and I both start to cry.
“Are you really you?” I ask it aloud but I can feel her, the emotion pouring off of her. My Julie’s back.
“As much as I ever was.” She beams a smile at me through her tears and I squeeze her firmly again.
Piper and Leslie stroll in from the kitchen, both grinning like the little succubi they are.
“Nobody called me.”
“We weren’t sure how long it would last, and we didn’t want to get you excited over nothing,” Piper explains.
“She just woke up a few minutes after you left, confused and wanting breakfast. So, ten pancakes, some bacon and bath later…here she is.” Leslie is glowing as much as Julie and I are.
“I don’t know what happened, V. The last thing I remember was that guy coming at me and then I woke up in bed.” Julie is trying to give me explanations I don’t need right now.
“We’ll figure that out. All we need to focus on is that you’re back, and how lost we all were without you.”
The four of us spend over an hour together in the parlor telling Julie what she’s missed, and I tell them what happened with Lucy and Garrett.
They are conc
erned but clearly happy that I’m actually back with them again and not so caught up in all the drama for the moment. Sometimes I forget how close we actually are, and how distant I can become. It’s only at times like this that I’m aware of how far I’ve gone from those who matter so much to me.
“I just can’t lose you, Julie. I’ve already lost so much so fast. I built so much on you, and I don’t mean that to be a burden on you, but I just can’t deal with losing you. You’re like my right hand. Not like a servant, or even a friend, but a part of me.” I break down a little and the tears come back.
Julie tells me not to cry, but the four of us all continue.
Frank walks in and seems apologetic for a moment for interrupting. Then he asks if he can talk to me privately. I step out into the backyard with him and he tells me that Lewis has warned him to stay clear of the Jefferson House if I was going to be here. The police it seems are supposed to be watching the place.
“Why would they be watching our house?” I’m confused, but at this point unsurprised to get bad news.
“Witnesses have come forward and identified you as the ‘murderer’ of Calvin Hocker. There was evidence recovered at the scene where his body was found that places you there.” I start to speak but he waves me off, speaking over me. “It gets worse. Geoff Peters and Jerry Atkins, the two missing clients I’ve been looking for, they’ve come forward with charges that you have been running a house of prostitution and trying to blackmail them.”
He pauses to let that sink in as my eyes widen.
“Yeah, you like that? They allege you tried to kill them when they refused your blackmail attempts.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I wish I weren’t, really wish I weren’t. But there are multiple warrants for your arrest. This is not a safe place for you to be during the day, just in case.”
Frank asks about where Garrett is, and I’m impressed. I can tell he actually wants to know, it’s not just a nicety for my sake.