There was no point in not hunting it. Besides, I was running on adrenalin. Who knew how long that would last? So I followed it, letting the Booke guide me, keeping my eyes half-lidded and feeling its magic lead. Miraculously, I didn’t trip, even only half-aware of everything around me.
We heard the shriek again.
I stopped and glanced at Erasmus. “What do you suppose that is?”
“I think…I think…”
A burst of leaves and twigs, and the thing flew at me. All I saw before I went down was a pale figure with red glowing eyes and rags fluttering off of it, making that horrible sound.
I flipped over on the ground to my stomach, my crossbow out before me, armed.
The creature disappeared into the shadows. I was up and running, dead leaves flying off of me.
“It’s a banshee,” said Erasmus, running beside me.
“And what does a banshee do besides scream?”
“That’s mostly what it does. Its scream heralds the death of someone.”
“Heralds or causes it?”
He shrugged. “Perhaps a little of both.”
We continued running. Must have been my Chosen Host skills because I wasn’t tiring like I used to. When we came around a bend, we saw it perched high on a rock.
It looked like some crazy old woman with white hair blowing in all directions. Her ragged dress hung on her like a mummy’s bandages. She was wailing with her head thrown back—a truly horrible sound that jarred me right to my bones.
I raised the crossbow to my shoulder, wondering if I could get her from here when she turned and looked right at me. It didn’t stop me from pulling the trigger.
The bolt flew and stuck her in the neck. She fell off the rock, or tried to, but the fiery death that the Booke meted out caught her in mid-air, and the holes burned through her. Jeez, she wailed so loudly they probably heard her in the next county. Her cries echoed off all the rock outcroppings.
The Booke showed up, quill at the ready. I noticed I was leaving a smear of blood on the crossbow—which it probably enjoyed, knowing these Netherworld things—so there was still blood in my palm to write out what little I could describe about her in the Booke.
She burned up soon enough and the wailing became just a memory as all fell silent again.
I looked at Erasmus as I lowered the crossbow. “Why is this so easy all of a sudden?”
His eyes tracked all around us. “I don’t know.”
Another scream behind me made me whip around. This was getting ridiculous. I exchanged a glance with Erasmus and plunged down the side of the hill into the forest again.
* * *
I must have dispatched three more beasties before I called it quits and headed for home. I was hungry, and not in a cannibal way this time. It was after two in the afternoon, after all.
The Wiccans had gathered at my shop. I dropped into a chair, laying the bloodied crossbow across my lap.
“How did it go?” asked Nick, bringing me a beer.
I took a long drink from the bottle before balancing it on my thigh. “How many was that, Erasmus?”
“Five,” he said proudly.
“Kylie!” said Doc coming to sit on the ottoman in front of me. “You dispatched five creatures?”
“Six. Accidentally got a squirrel. I didn’t mean to.”
Nick sat on the floor next to Doc. “Whoa. Isn’t that, you know, a lot?”
“Yes. It is.” I took another swig of beer. “A lot to show up and a lot for me to just take down like I’m at a shooting gallery. I don’t get it.”
“So wait,” said Jolene, putting down her skull Hello Kitty backpack. “You just—bang, bang, bang—” She mimed shooting an invisible crossbow. “Like, all at once? That’s more than has ever showed up before.”
“Yup.” Another swig of beer.
“You’re being pretty matter-of-fact,” said Jeff, leaning on the top of my wing chair.
“I don’t know how else to take it. So all that spraying you guys did… The wendigo had been gone since daybreak.”
“What?” Seraphina, usually the calmest of us all had a furious look on her face. “And you didn’t call us? We went all over Hades to spray every inch of this village and then some.”
I lowered the empty bottle to my thigh. “I-I’m sorry, guys. I was just suddenly really up to here with creatures.”
“Well,” she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. “I guess I can’t blame you.”
“I’m really sorry,” I said again. I looked at Jolene and then my eyes swept over the clock. “Hey, what are you doing here so early?”
“Oh, I just skipped school today.”
“Jolene!”
“It was far more important that my friends didn’t eat each other. And don’t sweat it. I’m like six months ahead on homework.”
“Don’t let your parents get wind of it or they won’t let you come here anymore.”
“Don’t worry.”
She had a handle on it. It probably involved hacking into the school computer, but it wasn’t for me to say anything. This was more serious than running a shop or going to school.
The bell above the door jangled as Ed stomped through followed by Deputy George. “Well, we’ve got trouble.”
“What now?” I threw my head back against the chair.
He was brandishing a flyer of some kind. “Says here a town meeting’s been called to address all the mysterious deaths and happenings in town.”
Nick rose to read it over Ed’s shoulder. “Uh-oh. In every movie I’ve ever seen, that’s when the villagers start getting their torches and pitchforks.”
“No one’s going to do that,” I said. But then I saw Ed’s worried face. “Are they?”
“I will not let these villagers attack you,” said Erasmus, shoulders billowing puffs of smoke.
“Wait, wait!” I said, rising. “Erasmus…” I gestured to his smoky jacket and he turned off the fire. “No one knows what’s going on. It’s all just speculation. No matter what some people might have seen, no one’s going to believe them, right?”
No one said anything. Erasmus looked the most skeptical. I suppose he’d seen his fair share of mobs turning ugly.
“Um…so Ed, when is this town meeting?”
“Tonight. This really ticks me off. Because I think you know who is behind it.” He didn’t even have to say it.
Good old Ruth Russell.
Doc gently took the paper from Ed and looked it over. “I think it’s in our best interests to show up to this. All of us, if we can.”
“Some of those protection spells you’ve been talking about wouldn’t go amiss,” I said.
He smiled congenially. “Those are for Satan. But for this, I suppose a few charm pouches might be a good idea.”
“Speaking of Satan,” said Jolene eagerly. She grabbed her tablet and did some swiping. “Remember a while ago when we worried about Mr. Dark, uh, eating your soul?”
Who didn’t remember that? Erasmus raised his nose at Jolene. “You might remember I vowed not to do so.”
“Well,” she went on, ignoring him, “Mr. Dark said he wouldn’t agree to get a tattoo that would prevent him from eating souls.”
“Certainly not,” he said indignantly.
“But that doesn’t mean that Kylie can’t have one that keeps soul-eating away. It blocks the ability of a demon to suck out her soul. Look here.” She turned the tablet around and showed a little design that looked like some curly-cues with dots. “If we make the ink with some strong incantations, I think this will do the trick, you know, against Satan?”
Seraphina studied the tablet’s image. “How do we get a tattoo artist to use our ink?”
“If we can’t, then we do the work ourselves.”
“Whoa. Hold on,” I said. “Like some prison tats? Uh-uh.”
“It’s a simple design,” said Doc. “Yes, we can do it, if necessary.”
I shook my head vigorously. “Like I said…”
Erasmus looked it over skeptically. “Satan is no ordinary demon. But it might work.”
“Am I supposed to get this tattooed on my chest like Erasmus?”
“No, silly,” said Jolene. “On the inside of your wrist. At the pulse point. We can do the spell on the ink today. We have the ingredients to do it right now. Maybe even get the tattoo today.”
I gnawed on my thumbnail. I wasn’t into tattoos myself. Nothing against it. Well, maybe the needles. I grabbed Erasmus’ arm and dragged him away from the others. They were watching me as I turned my back to them, talking quietly to the demon.
“If I get this tattoo, then what about you and me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will you still be able to…you know.”
“What? I won’t be able to consume your soul…even though I already made a solemn vow not to.”
“That’s not what I mean. Will we still be able to…make love?”
The tense crease across his forehead relaxed and his eyes softened. “Never fear. I will still be able to touch you…as intimately as you desire.”
God, he could read the phone book and it would still come out sexy, let alone those words. Despite my worries, I was feeling a little warm.
“Okay, then. I just wanted to make sure.”
He chuckled deep in his chest. “Who’s a naughty mortal now?”
He made me smile, which was better than being afraid. I turned back to my coven. “Okay. Let’s start with the ink-making.”
“And I’ll call the tattoo guy,” said Nick. “I think he’ll do it. He’s okay.”
I started to wonder if Nick was sporting his own tattoos. I glanced toward Deputy George. He seemed to know what I was thinking and blushed before turning his head away.
* * *
Jolene was excited to help make the ink. They’d be using carbonized ashes from burned wood, along with vodka.
“Why vodka?” I asked, watching the wood burn in the fireplace.
She pushed her clear-framed glasses up her nose. “Because it’s antiseptic and has no color. Since it’s going into your skin, it’s better than just using water. It’s an ancient recipe for tattooing, really. Some used berries, but the kind of berries we would need are dormant now. This is the next best thing. How clean is your blender? Never mind. I’ll throw some alcohol in it first.”
“Okay,” said Nick, clicking off his phone. “Wendell, the tattoo artist at Moody Bog Tattoos, said he’d be okay with it, as long as the ink is fresh. I told him it was as fresh as can be. He can squeeze you in at four o’clock.”
Everything was rushing at me kind of quick. I glanced toward Erasmus for reassurance. He gave me a small nod, which was enough.
Nick and Jolene huddled together by the fire, holding the tablet in front of them. Doc and Seraphina took their places behind them. And then they all began to chant.
I caught some foreign words and some English phrases about protection and keeping the gates of my soul closed. Seraphina tossed in some herbs over the fire, which sparked in colors of green, then blue, then a deep purple as the chant continued.
They looked very much like a coven of witches with their black silhouettes bent over the jumping flames. All the while I rubbed at my wrist unconsciously.
After the fire died down and the wood wasn’t red glowing coals anymore, Jolene and Nick took the burnt pieces to the kitchen. We all followed them there as they carefully scraped off the carbon onto a clean piece of linen with a silver knife. Nick sluiced my blender with alcohol several times and dumped it in the sink, and then Jolene measured in a couple of tablespoons of ash and added a little vodka. She replaced the lid and turned on the blender. The whirring mixture looked a lot like ink to me. She finessed it with a little more ash, a drop more of vodka, and voila! Soul-eater deterrent.
“There’s one more blessing,” said Jolene.
The coven chanted together:
“O ash of burning wood,
where once you were Tree,
in whose bark keeps safe all secrets,
dance like the dust in the wind
and keep thy strange mysteries.
Deliver the one who bears your mark.
Keep closed the sacred gates.
No creature shall take thine soul as long as this mark touches thee.”
There was the slightest puff of wind and I could have sworn the ink in the blender sparkled just a little. They all stood back, satisfied.
“That’s it?” I said, breaking the sudden silence.
“Yup,” said Nick, carefully removing the blender jar from the base. “And it’s about time we get over to the tattoo parlor.”
We all headed for the door when I stopped. “How many are going?”
Doc chuckled. “Oh, well. I suppose we don’t all need to go. Nick knows Wendell, so naturally he’ll go, and Jolene found the sigil, so she’ll go. You, Kylie, of course. And Mr. Dark I imagine will like to oversee the proceedings.”
“Mr. Dark would,” said Erasmus coldly.
We all piled in my Jeep where I followed Nick’s directions to the little shack of a tattoo parlor at the other end of town. I was nervous. I’d never had a tattoo before and I didn’t relish it now, but I was beginning to feel a little better about my Netherworld journey. Erasmus seemed to go along with it anyway.
We parked out front. The lot was mostly empty, just a motorcycle and another car parked next to us. Inside the tiny shop, the walls were covered in tattoo flash, samples of the different designs the artist could do. There was a wide variety from simple hearts and four-leaf clovers, to more elaborate 3D stuff.
Wendell was a very tattooed individual with silver earrings going up the shell of his ear and spiked leather cuffs on his wrist. He was bent over a chair, where a woman with quite a collection of her own tats and piercings sat, getting something inked on her knee.
Wendell looked up and nodded to Nick. “Be with you in a sec, Nick. Just finishing up here.”
The woman looked at me and popped her gum. She never seemed to flinch.
Wendell wiped her knee with a cloth and looked it over. “Finito, Jean,” he said. “You know the drill,” he said, carefully taping a piece of gauze over it.
“Yeah,” said Jean. She jumped up right away. “That was awesome, Wendell.”
“Come back soon. We’ll get the rest of that leg done.”
She nodded, walked past me looking me up and down, and left through the glass door.
Wendell stripped off his rubber gloves, stuffed them in a stainless-steel pail, and donned more black latex. “So what have we got? That your homemade ink?” He nodded toward the blender.
“Yup,” said Nick carefully placing it on his work table. “There’s more than enough to do it. Did you get the design I texted you?”
“Yeah. Printed it out.” He grabbed a piece of tissue paper from the table. “Who’s the victim?”
I swallowed and edged forward, raising my hand. “Tattoo virgin here.”
“Hey, no problem. Have a seat. This is going inside your left wrist?”
I looked back at Nick and Jolene for confirmation. They nodded.
He spotted my amulet. “Wicked cool necklace. Where’d you get that?”
“Got it off a dear friend.” I flicked a glance at Erasmus. The demon couldn’t help but come closer, standing on the other side of me protectively.
“So this is Kylie,” said Nick, introducing us. “This is Jolene. And that’s Erasmus…Kylie’s boyfriend.”
Erasmus shot him a deadly look.
My glare at Nick wasn’t too far from Erasmus’.
“The, uh, specifications must be exact,” said Nick after clearing his throat.
Wendell glanced up at the demon standing awfully close to my chair but didn’t seem to mind. He turned my wrist over to examine it. “I got Nick’s instructions. It’s a pretty simple design.”
Wendall swabbed my wrist with what I supposed was antiseptic. “Okay, Kylie. I’m going to put an imprint of the design on your wrist and you tell me if this is right.”
He put some cold gel on my arm and stuck some tissue paper on my wrist with the design facing the right direction, as per Nick’s instructions. The tissue paper had the design on one side and what looked like a carbon paper image on the other. When he peeled it off, the design remained on my arm in a blue outline. “Look good?”
“As long as it’s filled in entirely with the ink,” said Nick.
Wendall looked toward Erasmus, but he was stone-faced.
“All right. Let me get some of that ink in a cup, and we’ll get this party started. Allergic, huh?”
“What?”
Nick leaned in. “I told him how you’re allergic to a lot of these inks and that’s why we had to make our own.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
“You should be fine with this, then,” said Wendell. He put the ink cup on his work table, and poised toward me with his machine in hand.
I sat forward. “Aren’t you going to use any anesthetic?”
He chuckled. “You know, Kylie, I’ve been doing this for like twenty years…” He didn’t look that old to me, but maybe he had good skin. “And I’m not gonna lie. It’ll hurt. Kind of stings. Lots of little needles jabbing in you at the same time. But it won’t kill you. Do you have a low tolerance for pain?”
I shrugged. “I guess not.”
“All right then. Lie back and think of rainbows and unicorns.”
Erasmus snorted but I didn’t look at him.
I rested my arm on the armrest, tipped my head back against the paper-covered lounger, and grasped Erasmus’ hand.
The tattoo machine buzzed in Wendell’s hand. As soon as he touched it to my skin, I jumped a little. Yeah, it did sting, but as Erasmus squeezed my hand harder, the pain just…went away. He was healing me. I looked up into his intense eyes with as much gratitude as I could muster. His gaze softened and he even smiled a little.
Before I knew it, it was done.
I looked at it. It was attractive in its way. The skin puffed pink around it, but it was small, no more than three inches long.
“No emersion in water,” said Wendall, sticking a gauze pad over it, “No baths, and especially no pools or Jacuzzis for a week. Keep an eye on it and change the dressing tomorrow. It will feel a little tender for up to a week, depending.”
“It feels fine,” I said. “Doesn’t hurt or anything.”
“Oh yeah? Well, good. Now toss the rest of this ink. It won’t be good tomorrow. If you want more work done, you’ll have to make more.”
“I think this is all I’ll be doing.”
“So, what’s it mean?”
It looked like Erasmus was about to tell Wendell to mind his own business so I rushed in with, “It’s a very special symbol to me.”
Wendall seemed satisfied with that. Nick and Wendall exchanged a bro handshake and hug, paid the man, and then we were back in the Jeep again.
“I don’t think I’ll be getting any tattoos,” said Jolene, looking a little green.
“So this will do the trick,” I said, glancing now and again at the gauze on my arm.
“Perhaps,” said Erasmus, “but I am not entirely convinced it will protect you one hundred percent.”
I glared at him. “You approved!”
“I said it might help. But Satan is a very powerful demon.”
“Well…we’ll just have to see. When should we go?”
Nick grabbed the headrest in front of him and pulled himself forward. “Hold on, Kylie. We still have research to do and more protection spells to cast. And we’ve got to think about the book. You had to kill five creatures. What makes you think something else hasn’t already come out?”
“We’re running out of time, Nick. What happens if the Booke is still active on Halloween? It could be far more than even I can handle. And they could still kill me.”
“I will never let that happen,” rasped Erasmus.
“They could overtake you, too, you know.”
“Let them try!”
“I don’t want to let them try. I want to stop the Booke now.”
Jolene said quietly, “We still have to research how to unbind Mr. Dark from the book.”
That shut me down. If we couldn’t release Erasmus, then there was no use in my going at all.
Erasmus brooded. He faced away from me and stared out the window. Everyone’s good mood seemed to have flown.
I pulled in front of my shop. Doc and Seraphina emerged to greet us.
“Everything all right?” asked Doc, searching each of our faces in turn.
I lifted my bandaged arm. “Everything’s peachy,” I said.
“Yes,” he muttered. “I can see that.”
I pushed my way into the shop. I could tell that Doc and Seraphina hadn’t been idle. A load of charm pouches were laid out on the kitchen table.
Erasmus walked through to the kitchen and stopped dead. He raised his arm to cover his face. “I’ll wait outside,” he coughed and vanished.
“Well,” said Doc. “That’s a good sign. Looks like these are powerful.”
I should have been mad at Doc, but I couldn’t summon up the emotion. I was glad, in fact, that they’d made these.
We each put our charm pouches on leather straps and hung them around our necks under our shirts. No need to advertise. Ed called and said that he and George would meet us at the town meeting. Now all we had to do was…wait it out.
Jolene was busy on her tablet consulting with Nick, who was on his laptop. They argued back and forth about possible unbinding spells, but nothing seemed quite to be what they were looking for.
I couldn’t resist looking at my tattoo so I peeled back a corner of the gauze. All the red puffiness was gone. I suspected that Erasmus had healed that too. I plucked the rest of the medical tape off and threw the gauze into the fireplace.
“Maybe Doc has a book or two,” said Nick. “Should we go over to yours later, Doc? After the meeting? If we aren’t burned at the stake, that is.”
“No one’s going to be burning anyone at the stake,” he said wearily.
I snorted. “I’m sure they said that in Salem, too.”
“Actually, no one from the Salem Witch Trials was burned at the stake,” said Jolene. “They were all hanged.”
“Oh. Well, that makes me feel much better.”
I wandered around, doing a little dusting. When some cars slowed by the shop, I decided to unlock the door and put out the open sign. Those customers doubled back and parked out front. I was happy to have something to do as I rang up their purchases. It was nice to get the cash register working again.
I thought about stashing my crossbow in the car, but I got the sense that I could carry the Spear of Mortal Pain with me instead. That was some ancient Irish weapon called Gáe Bulg I’d stolen off of Doug. Shabiri had gotten it for him, but now it was mine. It was a handy size that I could fit in my coat, telescoping down. I went to where I had stashed it in my kitchen and snuck it through the shop into an inside pocket of my coat, like a magic wand. I felt better armed.
Sooner than I’d thought, it was time to head over to the town meeting. What was the saying? Start every day with a smile and get it over with.