Fury From Hell (38 page)

Chad had taken an early break after the burly cop’s departure.  Browbeater’s departure made the bar and its beautiful flashy clients seem pointless and uninteresting all of a sudden.  He sighed as the one singular thought that had been haunting him slipped through his mind again,
Why’s she lying to me? And what’s up with the whole paranormal stuff?
Chad stared out the deli’s window into the dark night beyond.  He was agitated more than he had ever been over a woman and he had no idea why it was Jennifer — of all the women he’d dated — that affected him so much.

“Proscuitto on a roll, with provolone, and a smear of mustard; with a pickle on the side.  Am I right?”

Chad swung around and gave a terse nod. “Right you are, Max.  And I owe you $6.75.”

“What’s on your mind?  Looks like woman trouble to me,” Max leaned on the counter as Chad paid the gum-snapping bored bleached redhead at the cash register. “And if you ask me — which you didn’t — she ain’t worth it.”

Chad looked up sharply. “How can you say that without knowing the details?”

“What’s there to know?  You come in here all the time on top of the world with not a care and women falling all over you left and right.  Now you’ve got a small dark cloud over your head like you’re Eyeore or something — not good.  Whoever this chick is she has you twisted.  No chick’s worth all that.  They’re a dime a dozen.”

Chad grabbed the white paper bag and stared at Max.  He wished he could ignore the older man’s words but for some reason he couldn’t.  “Not this one.  She’s perfect.  Smart, savvy, tough and feminine all at the same time.  But…”

“She’s got issues, am I right?”

“Ahh…yeah.  You could say that.”

“You’ve been coming in here for ‘bout two years now.  I feel like I owe you this one pearl of wisdom,” Max locked Chad into a hard gaze. “If you think this girl is all that and a bag of chips, you do something about it.  You don’t let her go for nothin’.  You do whatever’s necessary to get her to talk to you, get her back or whatever it is you need to do.  Don’t let nothing stop you.”

Chad stared hard in the deli man’s stone gray eyes and something clicked.  He knew that he had to go see Jennifer…
now
. Nodding slowly at first, then more vigorously, Chad thanked him and left with a bit of pep in his step and hope in his heart.  His first stop was going to be her precinct.  He didn’t even bother to clock out at the bar as he hurried towards Gold Street.

***

Tuesday, November 13
^th
, 8:42 P.M.

Closing up the safe house was infinitely easier than getting into it.  Betty set the alarm and pulled Jennifer along with her out the door, her belongings in a rolling weekender bag that bumped down one side of the double front cement stairs while Lady Ariella took the other side.  The three women headed to the High Priestess’ car parked down the street and got in without exchanging a word.

“What’s the plan?” Betty asked.

Lady Ariella looked over at Betty in the passenger seat and smiled warmly. “Jennifer gets to meet our coven sisters tonight.”  Stunned, Betty looked at the High Priestess with her mouth slightly agape.

“But, how are fourteen of us going to gather?  Aren’t we only supposed to gather with thirteen?”

“Kamali, you may recall the lesson where I told you and the others that the whole thing about groupings of 13 is just a myth.  A gathering of one is enough for the Goddess.  I see we must go over some things.  Did you also forget that I should have a male counterpart in the form of a High Priest in the coven as well?”  Betty looked at Lady Ariella dumbfounded.  The High Priestess sighed and continued, “Never mind.  We’ll discuss this again at a later time.  Let’s get over to the Ball Field in Prospect Park.  We’re to gather there at 10:00 P.M.”

“But that’s over an hour from now,” Jennifer said quietly from the back seat.

“That may be so but we still have a bit of preparation before we begin the ceremony tonight.”

“Ceremony?”  Jennifer asked in a slightly horrified voice.  “What ceremony are you talking about, my Lady?  We haven’t had any time to prepare or —”

Lady Ariella started the car and pulled off humming “We Are Family” slightly off-key and ignored her passengers as she smiled to herself and tapped the steering wheel in time to the beat in her head which Sister Sledge would never have been able to sing along with.

***

Tuesday, November 13
^th
, 9:00 P.M.

Chad pushed the heavy precinct door outward.  As he suspected he got nowhere.  Any information about Jennifer was confidential he was told over and over again in the last twenty minutes.  The front desk on duty cop wouldn’t even tell him if she was on duty or not.  But the cop was distracted.  There were cops rushing about and EMT technicians wheeling out a man on a gurney.  It was clearly not the best time for his low priority request.   Either way, he had not advanced his cause.

Sighing he headed back towards the bar not knowing what to do next other than return to his normal routine.  While walking, he thought about what Max said.  Chad’s head was not in agreement, but something deep inside of him knew the deli man was right.  Chad hadn’t been able to get Jennifer Holden out of his mind since they met.  He had no idea what he had done to drive her away, all he knew was he had to figure out how to get in her presence again.  Once in front of her, he knew he could get pull out the real answers.  Tough cop exterior, or not, he knew that there was a vulnerable side to her that was just under the surface.  His phone beeped.

Chad fumbled it out of his back pocket and, with a whoop of joy, saw that Officer Browbeater had come through. He sent a quick text of thanks to the cop and he continued on his way back to the bar but hesitated before going in.  He looked up at the midnight blue sky and wondered if he should follow Max’s advice and go in search of her.  For some reason, he felt she needed him.  Odd as that feeling was to him — that a stranger needed him — he felt it deep in his bones.  With a weary sigh, he turned around and walked to the corner. Realizing he still was carrying the sandwich Max made for him, Chad threw it into the trash receptacle at the corner.  He crossed Court Street and headed down Dean Street.  He had decided that Jennifer’s apartment was his next destination.

***

Tuesday, November 13
^th
, 9:25 P.M.

Officer Tabitha Pettijohn clocked out at 21:25 hours.  She was showered and ready to head out when Special Agent Freeman called out to her before she slipped through the precinct’s main entrance.

“Pettijohn just wanted to ask you one more question.”

Barely restraining a growl, the Fury retreated and allowed the young officer to interact directly with the man from Internal Affairs.

“Yes, sir?”

“Any idea where the cab was headed?” He stared at her while she and the Fury scrambled for a response.  They stalled.  “Sir?  What cab?”

With the tone of a patient man speaking to an imbecile he said quietly, “The cab Feinster and Holden were in earlier this evening?  The one you chased down?  You said you saw the license plate.  Wondered if you were near enough to catch the address.” Staring at her intently, Freeman waited.

The Fury seethed and withdrew further so the woman would answer in her own way. “Uh, no.  All I heard was Feinster say ‘Step on it!’  That’s it.  I got there too late.  I was running to catch up to them.”

“Okay, thanks and enjoy your evening.  Have any plans?”

She shook her head, “No, just a quiet night for me.”

Freeman clapped her lightly on the back. “Good work today, Pettijohn.  It’s not everyday a rookie has a productive day like this.  Take it easy, okay?”

“Yes, sir.  Thank you, sir.” She nodded at him and swiftly made her exit.

He narrowed his eyes as she moved out of sight with a good amount of speed.  Following a hunch, he took out his cell and made a call.

***

Outside of the precinct Pettijohn looked around checking to see if anyone was following her.  Satisfied that no one was on her tail, she walked briskly to her car a couple of blocks away.  She drove off after checking her rearview and side mirrors — still nothing.  To be sure, she turned left when she should have turned right and took all kinds of detours before heading towards the Jackie Robinson Parkway.  At the last possible second, she veered left and went up Bushwick Avenue with a multitude of car horns blaring at her.

The unmarked car two car lengths behind Pettijohn wasn’t able to make the same maneuver and was forced to get onto the parkway.  Slamming his palm against the wheel the frustrated man picked up his phone and dialed his boss. “Malcolm, where are you?” Freeman asked tersely.

“On the Jackie Rob.”

“Any idea where she’s headed?”

“No…lost her.  She made a last minute turn and I couldn’t follow without causing a multi-car pileup.”

The agent heard his superior cursing into the phone and pulled it away from his ear as he navigated the narrow winding parkway waiting for the first exit to appear.

“Get over to Pettijohn’s place as soon as you can.  We’ll watch her as well.  She’s part of all of this, somehow.” Freeman rattled off her home address and hung up.

Malcolm blew out a breath and changed lanes in preparation for his exit.  It was going to be a long night.

***

When Pettijohn was a half a mile away from the Crystal address Abatu came to the fore and directed the new host.  It felt secure that they could head towards the Crystal Street address directly.  The Fury watched with Tabitha’s eyes as the scenery changed to shabby unkempt buildings and sporadic empty lots.  Pettijohn pulled up in front of the white house with the double cement stairs.

Abatu smiled within Pettijohn’s mind.

Pettijohn parked right in front of the address.  She climbed the left side of the stairs and rang the bell.

The Fury sensed no movement inside the large home.  The Fury extended itself and moved its consciousness into the home and searched each floor thoroughly.  There were traces of a hasty exit but no one was in the home.  Stopping in the second floor bathroom, Abatu noted a foul smell and discovered leaves and twigs still in the tub from the bath the witches had made the original host climb into.  The Fury seethed.  This bath was potent and would be difficult to overcome.  The Fury returned its consciousness to Pettijohn and gave the order for the young woman to leave.

Back in the car, Abatu ordered Tabitha to head towards the original host’s apartment.  The Fury had no other options.  It figured the only place to go was to the starting point.

***

Jennifer folded her legs under her in the back seat of the High Priestess’ Altima and waited patiently for either Lady Ariella or Betty to tell her what was next.  They were so busy jabbering between themselves and pulling others in on one or both of their cells that communicating with her was clearly unnecessary.

She tried to piece together the conversation but all she could gather was that the rest of the coven were going to meet that night and conduct a protection ritual to keep the Fury from repossessing her body and preserving her soul. 
How
that was going to be done was still a huge mystery, at least to Jennifer.

“Holly, Oak, Witches’ Broom and Cedar leaves — yeah.  Dana, gotta have those three, the other two are not as important.  Get to the supply shop quick, then!  Oh — okay.  Call Teresa and see if she’ll open the shop for you.  She’s only upstairs…I hope,” Lady Ariella said into the speakerphone before clicking off.

“Can’t we swing by and pick it up, my Lady?  We’re not far —” asked Betty.

“No!  We go straight to the site.  No stopping for us.  We have no idea where the Fury is, and I’m not taking any chances.  Besides, the bath may only be good enough for one or two hand taps.  I don’t know if it will hold up against that demon trying full frontal force —” Lady Ariella stopped and glanced back at the silent but attentive Jennifer and didn’t complete her thought.  Betty kept her gaze averted and didn’t dare turn around.  They both knew where Lady Ariella was going.

Sighing, Jennifer quietly asked, “So, how much protection will this ceremony actually bestow on me?”

The High Priestess nodded at her in the rearview mirror.  “Yes, you worded it well.  As for the amount of protection…?” She shrugged and her bright eyes dimmed with a tinge of sadness.  “The Goddess hasn’t shared that with me.  I don’t know.  You could be protected for one hour, 2 years, or for only one attack.  There’s no way to know ahead of time.”

Shock hit Jennifer squarely in the gut knocking the air out of her lungs.  She doubled over and had to take deep breaths to keep from hyperventilating.  Her mind was awhirl.

Betty found her voice first. “So, what’s the use?  Why go through all this trouble if we don’t know the end result?  We could do this and she could still get repossessed?”

“Calm down, Kamali.  We will protect her.”

“How?” both Betty and Jennifer asked in unison.

Lady Ariella slow blinked and turned her eyes to the road and kept them there.  After several tense minutes it became clear that the High Priestess wasn’t going to answer.

***

Tuesday, November 13
^th
, 10:05 P.M.

After an hour of debating with himself, Chad was still uncertain of what he should do.  He had been waiting outside of Jennifer’s building wondering and watching.  Hoping to catch sight of her he wanted to confront her and hash it out then and there.  But, as Murphy’s Law would have it, she hadn’t showed at all.  He stopped his pacing as a thought hit him.
Didn’t she say something about a safe house?  Could any of that stuff actually be true?

Shrugging off the strange quiver that worked its way down his spine Chad looked up at her dark windows.  He pursed his lips and wondered if he dared to ring the bell again.  Or, if he should wait until someone came out and slip in.  Then, he could wait by her door inside out of the chilly night air.  He continued to pace back and forth on the sidewalk across the street still pondering how best to proceed, when a dark car pulled up and a young woman with bouncy dark hair got out.  The woman purposefully strode to Jennifer’s building door.  With brute force, the woman pushed against the metal.  It groaned and gave way.  Chad saw that the door had bowed inwardly around the doorknob.  However, the woman entered the hallway as if she had gained entry the legal way.