I stared at him. “A note? A freakin’ note? From whom?”
“So…yeah,” said Doug, embarrassment reddening his cheeks. “Someone helped us, all right? And we never knew who it was.”
“Do you still have that note?”
“Strict instructions to destroy it. And I did. Someone sends me unsolicited cash, I do what they say.”
Excited at finally getting some concrete information, I faced him eagerly. “And they gave you detailed instructions on what to do?”
He nervously ran his hand through his hair. “Yup. Couldn’t believe when it happened. It was the first time anything like that worked. At first, we thought there was a mage in town, but then later found out it was that fancy book of yours.”
“But there was a mage…who sent you instructions. Don’t you get it?”
“I do now. And you think it’s that Russell witch.”
“Call Shabiri.”
Doug blew out a breath and called out, “Shabiri!”
Was anyone surprised she didn’t come?
But now Doug was pissed off. He grabbed his amulet around his neck in a tight fist. “SHABIRI!”
She popped up behind him. “No need to shout.” She looked around, taking us all in. “My, my. What a cozy little coven you’ve become.”
I put my beer down on a side table. “Yes, Shabiri. We’ve all decided to work together for the greater good.”
“So I’m just in time to sing Kumbaya?”
“Cut the crap.” Was I ever tired of her. “I want you tell me the truth.”
“Oh, of course, darling. All you ever needed to do was ask.”
If I rolled my eyes any more, they’d roll right out of my head. “Are you working with Ruth Russell?”
She smirked and lifted her hand in the Boy Scout salute. “I solemnly swear I am not working with Ruth Russell. Whoever the hell that is.”
I turned to Erasmus, who seemed to be narrowing his eyes at her. “She’s telling the truth,” he said, rather reluctantly.
“Good!” she said. “Now that that’s out of the way.” She made a move to depart when Doug threw his leg in her way.
“Not so fast,” he told her. “Then who are you working with?”
She leaned over and ran her hand under his chin and up to his cheek. “I’m working with you, Dougie.”
He swatted her hand away. “Knock it off. Who else are you working with?”
“I haven’t the least idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’re the one who told us to summon Baphomet.”
“You wanted power. He could give it to you. Turned out he was lying. Not my fault.”
He shoved the amulet in her face. “Who in town are you working with?”
She reared back, scowling at him. “I’m telling you for the last time; I. AM. NOT. Have you got that through that thick skull of yours?”
We all turned to Erasmus. He grudgingly nodded.
“Fine! Can I go now?”
Doug kept a hold of her amulet. “Kylie says we’re all here to do research.”
“Research? On what?”
I had to tell her. I took a deep breath. “I’m going to go to the Netherworld to ask Satan to destroy the Booke.”
Her expression seemed to freeze for a moment. Until she burst out laughing. “Now that is funny. Who knew you could be so amusing?”
“It’s not a joke. I’m going to bargain with him to detach Erasmus from the Booke and destroy it. And we need to find something to trade with him other than my soul.”
She stopped laughing. She looked more than appalled. She looked frightened. “You’re serious?” She stomped up to Erasmus. “And you’re letting her do this?”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“You’re an idiot, is what you are!” She pranced in front of the whole assembly of Wiccans and Ordo and looked us over. “You pathetic little creatures. Do you have any idea, any clue what you are demanding?”
I was tired but I got up to face her anyway. “Yes, Shabiri. We do. So instead of screeching like a banshee, why don’t you pick up one of these books that Doc was good enough to bring and help us research?”
“I don’t have to look at any of those books. I can tell you right now it won’t work. He’ll never do it for anything but a soul. He wants nothing more than that.”
“That may not be true,” said Erasmus.
“And you! The dumbest of them all. You fell for these pathetic humans. You think this will help them?”
“I want to help them. For the first time in my life, I want to be free of the book.”
“For Beelzebub’s sake, why?”
He cast his arm forward and pointed at me. “Because I love her.”
Shabiri staggered back as if stung. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone so completely shocked as she was. I knew she’d had an inkling before, but this was the first time he’d said it. She tried to speak, but couldn’t, until she gathered herself and placed a hand to her stomach. “You love a human? Are you completely insane?”
“No.” And then he looked at me with all the emotions he possessed written clearly on his face. So much so that I took a step toward him. “I love her,” he whispered.
Shabiri’s anger had returned. She punched her fists to her hips with a frown. “Of all the stupid things. Of all the stupid reasons. And you!” She cast a vicious glance at me. “You did this to him. You and your stupid witchcraft and Chosen Host flim-flam.”
“I didn’t do any of that—”
“Don’t think I haven’t seen men and women throw themselves at him over the centuries. Oh, the mortal race can be very appealing and very deceptive if it gets them what they want.”
I began to consider Ed. Was she playing games with him too? He seemed to think she was being honest with him, vulnerable. But was that just a lie?
Demons lie. Of course. Poor Ed.
“Erasmus knows how I feel. I’m going to free him from the Booke and then it’s going to get destroyed so it can’t pull this bullshit on anyone else.”
“You are monumentally stupid to believe that.”
“Yeah, well. That’s us mortals, all right. We always believe we can make things better.”
Shabiri stomped up to Erasmus. “You’re not falling for this, are you?”
Somewhere in between all the yelling and accusations, the pizza guy must have arrived, because Nick was setting the pizza boxes on my coffee table, walking around the ranting demon.
“We must find something other than a soul with which to bargain with Satan,” said Erasmus. “You can help us or not. But in either instance, stay out of the way.” He shoved her aside and moved toward Doc’s many ancient tomes, piled on a table. He selected one, opened it with purpose, and dropped his gaze into it to ignore her.
She looked at all of us incredulously. “I don’t want any part of this idiocy.”
“But you’ll stay and help if I tell you to,” said Doug, mouth full of pizza.
“I think you’re overstepping your bounds, Dougie.”
He dangled the amulet he wore in front of her. “Not with this, I’m not. If you aren’t going to help, then sit down and shut up.”
She closed her mouth with an audible click and sat hard on the nearest surface, which was Nick’s laptop on an ottoman.
“Oh, um…” Nick reached, thought better of it and drew back his hand. “Could you…I mean, you’re sitting on my…”
“Dear gods!” She snapped up and gave him all the disdain she had. “Take your blasted toy.”
He snatched it quick and held it to his chest. “Okay. Thanks.” He set his laptop down behind the counter, then grabbed a slice of pizza and chomped on the cheesy point.
“Okay,” said Jolene, eyes on her computer screen and one hand on a pizza slice. “As for Satan, in the original Hebrew it seems to be a general term for ‘accuser’ or ‘adversary,’ but also seems to mean ‘to obstruct or oppose.’ Someone called ‘the Satan’ also shows up in early Hebrew texts as a celestial prosecutor of sorts. He kind of gets mixed up with the angel Mastema, who persecutes evil. Anyway, Satan is supposed to carry out punishments in the name of God, and it’s also his job to tempt humans in order to test their faith. There is a huge mishmash of ideas about him. By the way, he was never actually mentioned by name as the snake in Eden, and it took till about the 1600s for him to take on the whole ruler of Hell thing. And different from Lucifer, by the way, who was a fallen angel—the first to disagree with God about Man. So he may be none of these things…or, I guess, just as easily all of these things. But Mr. Dark says that for those in the Netherworld, Satan’s sort of an absent dictator. Though not everyone has heard or seen him.”
“Have you?” I asked Shabiri around my own pizza slice.
She looked around and then pressed her hand to her chest. “Oh? Am I allowed to talk now?”
Doug got to his feet, hands knotting into fists. “I really want to slug her.”
“So do I,” I said.
“Hey!” She put her hands to her hips again. “Is that any way to treat a denizen of the Netherworld?”
Erasmus heaved a sigh. “Just answer the question, Shabiri.”
She stared Doug down before he sat again. She straightened her catsuit and shifted back against the sofa. “I’ve only seen Him once. That was many centuries ago and I don’t want to do it again.”
“Why?” I asked. “What was he like?”
“He is…” She wriggled uncomfortably in her seat. “He is very old. And very large. He knows every little thing that is going on around Him, who everyone is, and where they are. He sits in a burning pit and simply seems to…to brood, I suppose. And when He was approached by other demons, He seemed reasonable at first, until one of them made Him angry. And then He flew into a flurry and grew very, very large and very dangerous. He killed the demon with a mere thought in a very unpleasant way. We were all frightened, and I was able to slip away unseen.”
“Wow.” I hugged myself unconsciously. “So…don’t get him mad. Good note.”
“I don’t know what you can find to bargain with,” she went on, rubbing her arms. “He’s consumed with souls. He obsesses over them. Nothing is as sweet or as satisfying.” There was the merest twinkle in her eye. “Only Erasmus would know what I mean. Not all of us demons eat souls, my dear.”
I couldn’t help but turn to him, but he was studiously not looking at me.
“But this proves the point,” said Doc. “He might be all-powerful, but he is still a demon and not a god. He can be dealt with as a demon is dealt with.”
“You’re a fool,” she hissed.
“Shabiri,” Doc continued, ignoring her, “does he, too, have an amulet?”
Her jaw hung open. “You’ve got to be joking! No, He doesn’t, and even if He did, He’d know what you’re planning. He knows what everyone is thinking.”
“According to the Necronomicon,” said Jolene, “he can only tell what demons are thinking.”
“That’s all I care about, you stupid girl,” huffed Shabiri.
“Okay!” I said, cutting into what was shaping up to be a slap fight. “Can we just focus here? We need to research. The best way might be to partner up. How about Charise with Seraphina…” They both seemed amenable to that. “Nick and Jolene. Bob and Doug—”
“Oh, Christ,” hissed Doug.
“And Doc and Erasmus.”
“Yoo-hoo!” said Jeff. “What about me?”
“I think maybe you should work on what herb combinations I could use for protection.”
Jeff seemed less than thrilled with that, knowing full well it was busy work. “And what are you gonna do?”
I looked over to where the Booke was hovering. I’d known it was there. It was nudging my mind, after all. “I’ll be communing with the Booke. It has some secrets it wants to tell me and others it doesn’t. I’m going to climb in and see what I can find out.”
Erasmus stepped forward. “I don’t advise that.”
“Sweetheart, we’ve gone well beyond what’s advisable.”
He had a weird look on his face. “What…did you call me?”
“Oh, for Beelzebub’s sake!” railed Shabiri.
Erasmus snapped out of it. His cheeks became ruddy, as if he were suddenly embarrassed. It was pretty adorable.
Everyone went to their tasks. Nick and Jolene talked to each other over the tops of their respective computers. Doc and Erasmus bent their heads over worn leather volumes that were probably at least as old as the Booke, while Jeff rummaged in my buffet drawers and took out handfuls of herbs to place in a stone mortar. He knew his business as well as I did. In fact, I’d bet he was making his own wolfsbane by now.
Bob hesitantly approached Doug, but soon they were reading and conferring with each other.
Shabiri just glared at me.
I took up the Booke, went to a quiet corner, and settled in. Closing my eyes, I immediately sank into the weird dream world of the Booke of the Hidden. It showed me landscapes well beyond Moody Bog. I wasn’t even sure if they existed. And while it was calming and all encompassing, I had to drag myself back and get real with the Booke. Now look here, I want to stop all this nonsense that you’ve been doing. Are you listening to me, Booke?
Kylie…Kylie…don’t you want to play in my garden?
No! I’ve got better things to do—
But it’s a lovely garden. See the trees glittering in the sunshine? Watch the stream as it trickles along. Don’t you want to follow it?
It does look pretty… Hey! Stop that! We’re going to talk. What can I offer besides my soul? I need to give Satan something other than my soul? What else is there that humans have?
I know nothing about that. Come play!
No! Your kind of playing involves creatures who kill and then I have to kill them. It’s not fair. It’s not nice.
If you won’t play…then I’ll have to show you the darkness.
The what now?
The sun-dappled meadow with the sweet burbling water shifted. Everything suddenly went hazy. The sky darkened and sounds came out of the forest that didn’t belong. Sounds that suddenly terrified me. I looked up; the sun was a black disc against a white aura and the shadows stretched and creeped toward me. The reeds and ferns looked rotted, dripping with something dark.
I don’t like this.
This is the dark. This is what you said you wanted. Not the meadow.
I don’t like this!
I snapped open my eyes and looked around. I was suddenly back in my shop. Things were going on around me just as they had been. I took several deep breaths to calm myself and get that nightmare out of my mind, when I glanced over at Erasmus. His nose was nearly pressed into the book he was reading. He was so concentrated on what he was studying that he hadn’t noticed my staring. Looking at him calmed me—his handsome features, the twist of his lips, his narrowed eyes. Suddenly he jerked back, startled.
“Find something, Erasmus?” I asked, hopeful.
The way he looked at me made my heart give a lurch. What had he read? I was rising to go over there when he gave a half-hearted laugh. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.” And then he clammed up.
I sat back down. It sure didn’t look like nothing. But if he didn’t want to tell me, I’d never get it out of him. His eye twitched as he read, but he was all in. I decided to leave him to it.
I stared at my own Booke and scanned the cover, its worn leather, the weird lock that only I seemed to be able to open. But when I glanced up at Erasmus again, he was talking quietly and fervently to Doc.
“Doctor Boone,” he said softly, “I wonder if I may speak to you. Alone.”
“Certainly, Mr. Dark.”
The two of them disappeared into the kitchen.
What was all that about? I started rising to follow them when Emma, auxiliary Wiccan, asked me a question. I did my best to answer her, trying to look like the sage Chosen Host I’d never be. She left satisfied, though I was darned if I remember what I said to her.
Raised voices chimed in from the kitchen, though I couldn’t make out the words. Nick glanced at me and shrugged.
After a while, Doc came back into the main room and surreptitiously grabbed a candle and some herbs from my buffet. He noticed me watching and gave me a wink and a salute before disappearing back into the kitchen.
I looked at the clock. It was getting late. It would be two days until Halloween tomorrow. And we weren’t getting very far. I decided to stretch my legs and see what everyone else had come up with.
Raised voices were arguing in the kitchen again. Doc and Erasmus obviously had a difference of opinion about something, but the thick plaster muffled their voices. There was a popping sound, which probably meant Erasmus was ticked off and left in a huff. I exchanged another “What are you gonna do?” look with Nick. He shrugged again.
I stretched, letting all my vertebrae click into place—but that only reminded me of the Dullahan’s whip. I flexed up my arms and something metallic clattered to the floor. When I looked down, it didn’t make any sense. I knelt to pick it up.
My amulet. Erasmus’ amulet. I’d worn it since the moment we knew he was a demon and I’d snatched it from his neck, making me sort of in charge of him. It had a demon face with horns and extended tongue. With ruby eyes.
Except the rubies were now black crystals and where the metal had always been warm to the touch, it was now stone cold.