whiskey witches 01 - whisky witches (23 page)

“Son,” Reece said. “For your own protection—”

“Stop calling me son. I’m not a part of your flock.” Dexx balled his hand into a fist. This had damned well better work.

Reece drew the sign of the cross in the air, closing his eyes in prayer.

Paige raised her head, waking. “Let me guess,” she said with a British lilt to her words. “An exorcism. With a real priest even. Oh, and I do mean real. How droll.”

“Where’s Paige?” Alma asked.

“Inside.” The demon smiled handsomely at the old woman. “Really, I must thank you and your daughter for making my work so easy. A broken soul? I didn’t have to do anythin,’ really.”

“Alma,” Reece warned. “Do not talk to it. Do not bait it. Let me and Andy do our job.”

“That’s my granddaughter in there.” Alma crossed her arms over her chest. “You bring her back to me.”

Reece nodded. He took a flask from his assistant, poured water into his cupped hand, and threw it on the demon. It flinched, baring Paige’s teeth. The water turned to steam on contact. “Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, The Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.”

Dexx leaned toward Alma and whispered. “You don’t honestly think that all this God crap is really going to work, do you?”

The older woman let out a long, worried sigh, but said nothing.

“Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us. St. Michael, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us.”

“Oh, yes,” the demon said, throwing Paige’s head back. “Gabriel, come down and smite me to the earth once more.” It raised her head. “Why don’t you call Gabriel down here right now? It’d be a party, yeah?”

“All ye holy angels and archangels, pray for us.”

The demon laughed at Andy. “You’re going to need a lot more than just prayer.”

“All ye holy patriarchs and prophets, pray for us.”

Dexx rolled his eyes. “At this rate, he’s more likely to bore the demon back to Hell.”

Alma snorted.

“St. Thomas, pray for us. St. James, pray for us.”

“I’m not kidding,” Dexx said. “I now understand how the Catholic exorcism works. It takes bureaucracy to a whole new level for me.”

“St. Bartholomew, pray for us.”

“Bartholomew?” Dexx asked under his breath.

Alma bit her lips, her eyes dancing with a bare hint of humor.

“St. Simon, pray for us.”

“Bloody hell.” The demon tugged at the ropes, then caught sight of the markings on the floor. “Dexx? Is this your doin’?”

Dexx raised his eyebrows.

“Come on, Reece, I have things to do.”

“People to kill?” Dexx asked.

“Dexx,” Reece warned.

Dexx advanced on the demon. “I just want to ask one question.”

The demon straightened Paige’s shoulders. “What?”

Dexx stopped in front of it. “Why did you do it? I mean, what’s so great about this realm that you don’t have in your own?”

“You wouldn’t understand, hunter.”

“Really? Why?”

The demon narrowed Paige’s eyes. “Maybe you would. You are a protector. As am I.”

“Son, I really must ask you to—”

“I already told you to stop calling me son,” Dexx snapped at the priest. “And I’m not leaving. I need to know why these damned things keep coming back.”

“I will not allow you to interrupt this ritual, Dexx,” Reece said. “St. Nicholas, pray for us. All ye holy bishops and confessors, pray for us.”

The demon tipped Paige’s head. “My brethren and I are protected by the Church.”

“Be merciful,” Reece intoned. “O God. Be merciful, graciously hear us, O Lord. From everlasting death, O Lord, deliver us.”

The demon twisted Paige’s lips into what might have been considered a smile.

“Through the coming of the Holy Ghost, The Paraclete, O Lord, deliver us,” Reece said, stressing his words to make them heard.

Alma laid her hand on Dexx’s arm. “Come on. Let’s let the good Father do his job.”

Dexx needed answers, though. He needed to know what he could do to ensure these damned things stopped coming back.

She headed toward the stair. “Let’s give them some peace.”

“That thou wouldst vouchsafe to grant peace and unity to all Christian People. We beseech Thee, hear us.”

The demon threw Paige’s head back and howled, shaking the building to its very foundations.

Andy stood splayed, his eyes wide. He looked like he might throw up or crap his pants, which ever happened first.

Alma raised an eyebrow.

Reece was shaken, but not deterred. “I shall oust you, demon.”

“You can try,” Lucius’ voice slithered out in a hiss. “But I shall succeed. My mission is to protect your unworthy race from the very thing Hell’s father believes you can handle.”

“I still don’t get that,” Dexx scoffed. “That shit doesn’t even make sense.”

Lucius chuckled. “Oh, yes, I almost forgot. Even the unbelievers believe God is good, and the angels are their protectors, while the demons are bad. Why is that? Have you read the holy book?”

“That is the power of the word of Christ,” Reece said, opening his Bible. “’When the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the trumpet blast and the mountain smoke, they all feared and trembled.’”

“You want thunder and lightning?” The demon smiled. “I’ll give you thunder and lightning.” He howled again in his unearthly voice. “Caulnudrim alphirus. Delnion oldoro.” Inky black covered Paige’s eyes. The veins at her temples burned hot and orange.

Dexx stumbled backwards. The demon trap should have kept the demon’s powers inside, like a cage. He bit his lip. Lucius wasn’t just a demon. He was a human turned demon. That had to change things, but enough to make a difference?

“’So they took up a position much farther away and said to Moses, “You speak to Him and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we shall die.”’”

“Elnequrio phosta auldero machra.”

Thunder shook the window pane.

Reece advanced on the demon, his hand outstretched as he continued to read from his Bible. “’Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put his fear upon you, lest you should sin.”’”

“Dolnia,” Lucius cried out, blasting the sound of his trumpeting word into Reece’s face. Outside, a blinding flash filled the darkened window. An almost immediate deafening roll of thunder answered.

Undaunted, Reece set his hand upon the demon’s head and continued. “Still the people remained at a distance while Moses approached the cloud where God was. The Lord told Moses, ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.’”

“I know He exists, you fool,” the demon spat. “You think that by reading some scripture, telling me of His existence that you weaken me? I was there, you spineless twit.”

Dexx stood in place. All traces of Paige were gone. In her place, reigned something ethereal, real, terrifying.

“Then look upon the power of Christ,” Reece growled, pulling a brass cross out of an inside pocket of his jacket.

“He was a man,” the demon said, his voice rich and dark with rage. He pulled against the ropes, snarling and snapping.

Reece reached out after dipping his thumb in Holy Water, making the sign of the cross. It smoked and sizzled on the demon’s forehead.

The demon roared. Thunder rattled the building for several deafening moments.

Everyone bent down to cover their ears, looking at each other in horror.

Then the demon’s head fell forward. Loose strands of hair fell on either side of the very Paige-like face.

Andy crept forward. “Are we done?”

“N
OT LIKELY.” DEXX
straightened, his expression tight. “It’s shifting, twisting its plan, trying to find our weaknesses. It’s not done yet. Trust me.”

“Oh,” Andy said in a small voice.

Reece stepped back and took in a deep breath. “Well, let’s move on then, shall—”

Paige’s head whipped up.

Dexx watched her, searching for signs of the demon. Fear etched along the edges of her face. “Paige.”

“Grandma?” she asked in a frightened whisper.

“Here, Pea.” Alma hurried to her granddaughter, stopping at the edge of the circle.

Tears sprang to Paige’s eyes. “I’m so scared. I can’t fight him. He’s so strong.”

“You can,” Alma said with the fierce belief of a mother. “You can do this.”

Paige’s face crumpled as she fell against the ropes bound across her chest. “I’m so scared.”

Alma hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the circle, wrapping her granddaughter in her arms. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll get through this.”

Paige’s expression shifted, anger slithering into place.

“Alma,” Dexx cried.

Paige lifted her head with demonic hatred. “I’m scared of what I’ll do to you, bitch.”

Andy held his hands open and low, his eyes and mouth wide.

Reece’s lips parted soundlessly.

A dawning horror lit Alma’s face. “I did what I had to.”

“Rachel might have taken Lee away from me physically, but you stripped her from my mind.” Paige’s voice was hoarse. Her gaze focused with a blinding brilliance.

Dexx reached the edge of the circle, preparing to launch himself at Alma, to knock her away.

“I’m going to strip you from my mind.” Paige released a ripping wind, knocking everyone back against the walls. Alma remained.

Dexx’s shoulder blade connected painfully with the wall before he fell to the ground.

Alma struggled against an unseen force.

“You are dead to me. Dead.” Paige relaxed and collapsed against the ropes.

Alma crumpled to the ground.

Dexx rushed to the old woman’s side on all fours. He felt like he’d been hit by a truck and judging by the way everyone groaned as they picked themselves up, no one else felt much better. He rolled Alma onto her back, lightly slapping her cheeks. “Alma.”

She didn’t stir.

He glanced up at Paige or the demon or whoever the fuck she was at the moment, but she-he-it was out cold. “Alma. Wake up.”

She moaned, raising a gnarled hand to her head. “I fell for it.”

“Yeah.” Dexx drug her out of the circle without disturbing the trap, not that it’d helped much. He hurried to repair the salt line. “You did. We both did. You o—” He took in a startled breath as he met her gaze.

“What?”

“Ca—um, can you see me?”

“Clear as day.” She stopped for a moment and reached up to touch her left eye. “I can see. For the first time in years, I can really see.”

“That’s great, ‘cause—uh—” He searched the room for help.

Alma pinned him with her strange and empty eyes. “What?”

He licked his lips, unable to meet her gaze. “They’re white. They’re both just white. No color. No pupil. No nothing. Just white.”

Shock fell over Alma’s face. “They’re what?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

Paige—no. The demon raised its head and chuckled dryly.

“Alma,” Dexx said, helping her toward the stairs. “Wait in the church and stay there.”

Alma stood in stupefied wonder. “I can see.”

“I’m sorry, Alma, but now is not the time. Go upstairs and wait for us.”

“Now that you understand the importance of this ritual,” Reece said, picking himself off the floor, “please allow Andy and myself to conduct this exorcism without interruption.”

Dexx breathed slowly. If it had chosen any other vessel, he’d be gone right now.

“God, by your name save me, and by your might defend my cause,” Reece said, never taking his eyes off of the demon.

“God, hear my payer; hearken to the words of my mouth.” Andy’s voice shook as he pressed himself against the wall.

“You can’t keep the gate closed on your own,” the demon said. “Even if you tried, even if you were mad enough to think you could, you’d fail. Horribly. Miserably. You need me.”

The older priest continued, oblivious. “For haughty men have risen up against me, and fierce men seek my life; they set not God before their eyes.”

“That’s what you think,” Dexx answered.

“See, God is my helper.” Andi’s voice cracked. “The Lord sustains my life.”

“So, send me back. What’s your plan? They’re comin’ either way.”

“Turn back the evil upon my foes; in your faithfulness destroy them.”

Dexx shrugged.

Reece set his face in grim determination. “Freely will I offer you sacrifice.”

“Save your words, priest,” the demon spat impatiently.

“Save your servant.” Reece advanced slowly on the demon.

“How would you do it?” Dexx took a step forward. “What’s your plan?”

“Let her find in you, Lord, a fortified tower in the face of the enemy.”

Lucius gave Dexx a wordless smirk.

The demon didn’t have a plan either.

“Let the enemy have no power over her and the son of iniquity be powerless to harm her. Lord, send her aid from your holy place and watch over her from Sion.”

A scream ripped through the demon’s throat that was both demonic and feminine.

“Stop,” a new voice commanded. “He’s telling the truth. You need him.”

Dexx spun on Balnore in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Lord, heed my prayer and let my cry be heard by you. The Lord be with you. May He also be with you.”