Authors: Danielle DeVor
I finally unrooted myself and stepped forward. “Okay.”
“Lucy was levitating.”
“Levitating how?” Tabby asked.
“I could see underneath her body when I changed the bag for her feeding tube. She… she was levitating as far as the chains would let her.”
I nodded. “So why is Will getting drunk?”
Tor slammed her Bible shut. I winced.
“Because he’s an asshole! ‘Couldn’t take it’, he said.’ ” She pushed the book across the table. “Am I the only one that sees that there is a problem if he’s supposed to help with the exorcism?”
I sat there in the chair beside her. Tabby started unloading her bag to get ready to make the holy water.
“If he’s drunk, he’s not going in that room,” I said. “He’ll be vulnerable, and that sets him up for possession. I’m not taking that chance.”
“That means I have to do it,” Tor said. “Damn him.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to be there. I’m doing the exorcism now. Tabby is going to be there. If you want to watch, you can watch the monitor on the security system.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Thank God.” She got up, grabbed her Bible and stowed it in a drawer in her center island.
“Do you have a large pot I can use?” Tabby asked.
“What do you need it for?” Tor asked.
“I’m making holy water.” Tabby held up the roses.
Tor walked over to the pantry and pulled out a large stock pot. “This okay?”
It was the biggest damn stock pot I’d ever seen, definitely something meant for restaurant use.
“That’s perfect,” Tabby said, her eyes wide with excited energy.
Tor handed Tabby the pot. She turned to me. “Why aren’t you making the holy water?”
I smiled. “I’m not a priest.”
Tor sighed. “I’m just going to pretend that makes sense.”
She sat back down in her chair. Tabby got to work. Really, it went pretty quickly, at least the mixing of water, vodka, and rose petals.
Then the prayers began. Tor watched, fascinated. I was interested too, but for a different reason. Each prayer or spell she said, I saw a layer of color appear on the holy water, then slowly fade away.
That brought me back to this “mark” thing. I couldn’t ignore it. When Tabby stopped her ritual, I decided I needed to talk.
“Have you ever been to that store before?” I asked her.
Tabby looked at me strangely. “Why?”
“While you were inside, this old guy with long hair talked to me.”
Tabby giggled. “What?”
“Never mind,” Tabby and I said in unison.
“Okay, weird old guy, check,” she said.
I sighed. “He talked about things. Stuff with magic.”
Tabby raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh.”
“He said, and I quote: ‘You have the mark.’”
She pursed her lips together. “What mark?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know.”
“Jimmy, After all of this is over, I think you need a nice holiday.”
I slumped in my chair. “I don’t even know why I bother.”
Tabby walked over and patted me on the head. “Just be a good little exorcist and get ready.”
I was doomed.
“That’s just it, I don’t know.”
###
Walking up to Lucy’s room as an exorcist was way different than going up there for any other reason. It was like the mere thought of what I was about to do was so oppressive that I could hardly breathe.
I reached into my right pant’s pocket, yes my rosary was there. In my left, there was a flask of holy water—it was the best I’d been able to do under the circumstances.
Over top my regular clothes, I wore the vestments and the purple stole. I almost felt like a kid dressed up for Halloween. When the clothes appeared, I hadn’t put much thought into it. And, no one at the house even had access to a church to get them. I chalked it up to someone, maybe the real Lucy, trying to help me.
I knew I looked ridiculous, Hell I felt ridiculous. Here I was, wearing a suit coat, (borrowed from Will), a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans. On top of this I wore a collar and a purple stole. I felt like a clown.
Tabby walked behind me, carrying some extra holy water. It was crazy, it was intense, but there was something about the excitement I liked.
Was I scared? Oh yeah, but my fear didn’t matter. I had a job to do.
Strange growls seemed to float along the walls as we walked. They were animal, but no animal I had ever heard sounded like that.
I paused in the middle of the staircase.
“What’s wrong?” Tabby asked.
“I am supposed to confess before the exorcism.”
“Does it have to be to a priest?”
I laughed a little. “We’re not exactly doing this by the book anyway.”
She nodded. “Okay, what do you have to confess?”
I sighed. “I’ve had impure thoughts about you. I’ve been angry with Will because of his weaknesses, and I have wanted to run and not do this.”
“Is that all?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Okay, you’ve confessed. Let’s go.”
I took a deep breath and started back up the stairs. The sounds continued. Then, a smell so foul I gagged met us on the landing. It was sulfuric and had a wonderful undertone of rotten meat.
“What is that?” Tabby asked.
“The smell of the demon,” I said. I felt so sure when we started that the climb up the stairs. “It does these things to show us its power. It wants us to doubt our abilities.”
“Don’t listen to it,” she said.
“Neither should you.”
###
When we got to her door, Lucy laughed her choppy laugh.
I stopped and turned to Tabby. “Bow your head.”
She looked at me strangely, but did not question me. I closed my eyes.
“Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, Thrust into Hell Satan and the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”
“Amen,” Tabby said, quietly.
I took a deep breath, then turned and opened the door to Lucy’s room. She was levitating against the chains.
“Hello, Priest,” Lucy said.
Tabby and I stepped into the room. It was cold enough to see our breath, and yet, Lucy was covered in a full sweat.
“Hello, Lucy,” I said.
“Lucy isn’t here anymore, Mr. Holiday,” it said. “But you already knew that.”
Tabby and I sat down on the floor around the bed.
“I don’t know if Lucy is in there or not, but I have faith that she is.”
It cackled. “Poiba Toohnyet sgoloveh.”
I shook my head. “I don’t speak Russian.”
It grinned. Its bloody eyes seemed to glow slightly. “Shall I translate for you?”
“Yes.”
“A fish rots from the head down. God is dead, we are in power now.”
“Lies, Mr. Demon. All you can do is tell lies.”
It laughed again. “I have more truth than you know.”
I rolled my eyes. This was getting tiresome. I began to pray. “Our Father who-“
Lucy thrashed against the bed. “Fuck you! Fuck you!”
I ignored it. “Art in Heaven: Hallowed be thy name! Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven!”
She snarled and spit at Tabby. A blood clot landed on Tabby’s face. She wiped it away with a tissue.
“Give us this day our daily bread. And deliver us from our Trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil. Amen.”
Lucy rolled around on the bed, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her mouth hung open. And then, diarrhea began spilling from her mouth onto the floor.
“Is that possible?” Tabby asked.
“Normally no, but this is not a normal situation.”
Lucy laughed. “Your sister said to tell you, ‘Hello’.”
I froze. “How is she doing?”
Lucy smiled, her brown teeth looked black. “She’s just laying around.”
There was no way that Lucy could have known my sister hanged herself, no way in Hell.
“What is your name?” I asked it.
It laughed. “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”
It was then that I noticed that the feces was gone. It had all been a parlor trick.
Lucy’s eyes snapped towards me as if she knew exactly what I was thinking. “You don’t want to get me angry now do you?”
I changed courses. “Is Mr. Black around?”
Lucy smiled again. “He’s around. She’s around. We’re all around.”
I looked at Tabby. She pointed to the Roman Ritual.
I had lost my place. I didn’t know what I was doing. I was in way over my head. I got up and placed a hand on Lucy’s forehead.
“I exorcise you, Most Unclean Spirit!”
Lucy laughed at me. “You are pathetic.”
I got angry then. “What is your name?”
Tabby pulled me back.
I stared at it, willing it to do what I wished.
Lucy turned her head towards me. “I am the one who has no control. I am the one who feeds – feeds on the flesh and the blood of the life while you are the one who bleeds.”
I threw holy water across the demon in the shape of the cross. Blisters appeared on Lucy’s skin where the water hit. There was a sound so strange, I didn’t know what it was at first. Then, I realized, it was the sound of a child crying.
I looked at Lucy. “What is your name?”
“I want my mommy!” It wailed.
I’d been waiting for this trick. It was too soon, too easy.
I crept closer to the bed. “What is your name?” I asked softly.
Then, Lucy tried to punch me, but I didn’t bend close enough.
“What’s wrong? Did too much so you have to watch your parlor tricks?”
Lucy growled a growl that seemed to shake the house. “Lucy goosy likes to eat pussy.” She smiled at me with the sweetest smile she could muster. The bloody eyes and the black teeth kind of spoiled that effect.
“When are you going to stop playing this game, Black?” I asked.