| |
Morning dawned with a cool crispness to the air that we had yet to experience this fall. I was awakened by the smell of coffee brewing and my furnace burning off the mustiness that had accumulated in the eight months since February when it was last run.
When I’d bought the house, everything was electric. It was the only feature I learned to detest. When my original house in this spot burned down, my parents had taken over rebuilding Jerome’s and my life, including our house. I had made two requests—that my parents not go overboard and that I get a gas stove, water heater, and furnace. My parents had fulfilled two of the three. I lay there and appreciated the trace whiff of gas and the mustiness burning off. Eventually, I would install a gas water heater and have more hot water but for now, I was just thrilled that the stove and furnace were gas.
I was much less sore today, although I felt stiff all over. Noises were starting to drift to my ears, making me feel satisfied and safe. It was the assortment of noises that made a house a home. As I’d told Helia the night before, my house felt more like a home when Jerome, Ariel, Aurora, and Helia were knocking about the place, going about their normal routines of the day. After another 20 minutes of just lying there listening to the girls’ giggle, squeal, and be little girls, I got up. I had made a decision, and I hoped it was a better decision than most were of late.
Suddenly, my bedroom door flew open and my father marched into the room. He was obviously angry, and I blinked at him.
“Get up, we have to go!” My dad told me as he pulled open my closet door and tossed a shirt on my bed. I struggled to get out of bed.
“Coffee,” I said.
“It’s being fixed while you get dressed. Come on girl, we have got to go.”
“What?” I asked him, feeling slow and stupid.
“There’s been another demon box delivered. At least five are dead at this exact moment and more are to follow,” Dad said as he yanked open my dresser drawer. He threw a bra on the bed, and I was so stunned by what he said, I didn’t even complain about it. Jeans were tossed on top of it a moment later and he followed up with socks. I grabbed all of them up and headed to the bathroom. I could hear Jerome arguing with my mom.
“He comes!” I shouted to her. “Helia, too. Mom, you stay with the girls. You hole up in this house and keep them safe. Angel will help.” I felt a small amount of panic rising and tried to quell it. I had no clue what was going on. Why would they need protection inside my house? I wasn’t sure, but I felt it in my bones. So far, there weren’t any fatalities from any of the demon boxes and I wasn’t sure why there were now, but the thought made the panic worse. I attempted to push it away. I ripped off my pajamas and as I stood nude in my bathroom, my sister entered the room. Without a word, she jabbed me in the butt with a syringe.
“I feel okay,” I said after she’d done it.
“It will help with new injuries. What good will I be there?” she asked.
“You can keep the crowd calm, and if there are shadow people like yesterday, you can see them and help freeze them while I deal with them. People struggle to be afraid around you, it’s your superpower. Demons feed on fear, pain, confusion, and anger, none of which are easily felt when you are around. So, you are coming,” I told my sister. She nodded resolutely and I could almost see her trying to build up her own fear resistance as we stood there. I hugged her. “You’ll be great, just do what comes naturally,” I told her and let go. I dressed quickly and we exited the bathroom. Our father still stood in the bedroom. He was looking at his phone, and I could hear a news video playing. Aurora and Ariel both had big, shiny wet eyes as Helia told them she loved them and she’d be back as quick as she could. I almost told her to stay home right then, but we might need her. It sounded like this demon box was somewhere public, based on the news clip Dad was watching. All four of us loaded up in the car and took off without another word.
There were cops at my house again. No doubt my neighbors would be moving soon. It was the second time in two days. I was surely dropping property values with each visit. But as we got in the car, I realized we had yet another escort. Dad drove. I gave Jerome the standard do as you’re told and stay close to an archangel lecture and wondered if I was hampering the teen in my attempts to protect him. He was every bit as powerful as me or Remiel, if not more so. The difference was that he was untrained and his magic was raw and a touch unpredictable at times, but then all of our magic was unpredictable around these boxes.
We drove even faster today than the day before. I watched the speedometer hit 170 on the highway and max out. I considered telling Dad to slow down, but I didn’t figure he would listen. I scooted as close to Jerome as the seat belt would allow. Helia, who still had wings, was sitting up front with Dad.
I looked out the window and saw winged beings filling the sky. Angels of all sorts, from cherubs to archangels, were all flying the direction we were driving. Fairies also flew above us, and I saw a few beings that I thought might be witches flying. It was possible for a witch or wizard to fly with enough magic and something to focus on, which is where the legend of flying on brooms had come from. I’d never seen it before, and the sight raised my concern level even more. Jerome at 15 wasn’t yet old enough to get his flying license, but eventually he would. He was definitely powerful enough.
“Where is it?” Helia finally asked.
“Six Flags,” Raphael said. “When the park opened this morning, they found ten of them. Not realizing what they were, they were all opened. The wards that protect the park have kept everything inside of its fences, but there’s been a roller coaster crash.” That explained the casualties. “The Governor of Missouri, the mayor of the city of St. Louis and the Mayor of Eureka were all in attendance because the park was opening a new coaster and a new kids park that have both been under construction for a couple of years. They were expecting record-breaking crowds today. At the time the first box was opened, there were already 3,000 guests in the park. By the time a hell prince came out of the fourth box, there were close to 8,000 and the park had only been open for two hours.”
“Which hell prince?” I asked.
“Mammon,” Raphael replied. “However, at the moment, Mammon and Belgaphor are both there and the boxes won’t stay closed. The fear of the crowd is feeding them in ways we’ve never seen before. They are spewing forth demons and wildlife with incredible rapidity, and the size of the being doesn’t matter. Your uncles should all be there by the time we arrive.”
“How did the park get so full, so fast?” Jerome asked. It was a good question. It was just now 8 a.m., when the park normally opened.
“They had early hours to showcase the grand opening of the new stuff,” Raphael said dryly. Well, that’s just fucking terrific.
“The crowd will need to be checked before they are allowed to leave. We need to ensure none of them are possessed,” I told him.
“We know. Every magical being that can identify a possession is headed there.” Dad made a complicated gesture at the sky.
“Damn, we should have brought Angel,” I said. “As a hellhound, she can sniff out demons.”
“Oh shit, I knew there was something I was forgetting,” Raphael said with a hiss. “I meant to, then you said Angel would protect Mom and the girls and I forgot.” I thought it was weird when I was young that Dad referred to his wife as Mom. But 40 years later, I realized it was just convenient.
“If we need her, Soleil and I can bring her to us through the Stygian,” Jerome said.
“You can do that?” Helia asked.
“She’s a hellhound,” Jerome quipped in a tone that said, “duh.” We reached a point where traffic was being redirected away from Eureka, Missouri, where Six Flags was located. Mom and Dad bought Jerome season passes for the year and we came seven times this spring and summer. With the craziness of this week, I forgot about the new attractions opening. We already agreed to wait until next year to try to check them out. The lines would be even more insanely long since they just opened this year.
Police waved all of us through, and our convoy of police cars and Dad’s Mercedes AMG G63 custom Angel Edition slipped through the barricades and around the cruisers that lined the road. Heads turned as we passed. I was not sure if it was because we were going to deal with the problem or if it was Dad’s SUV. He had it custom built for him, as most archangels did, because wings are a problem in a car, and archangel wings are even bigger than average angel wings. It garnered attention and was far more impressive than my Cadillac, but I could barely afford the payment on it, while my parents were able to pay cash for theirs.
Police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, and news vans lined the five miles from the turnoff to the park. There were also military vehicles, and I noticed men in fatigues setting up barriers in fields and on side roads. Even the National Guard had been called out for this event. Makeshift landing zones were built to accommodate both supernatural flying beings and helicopters. The two were significantly far apart, which was good. Encountering the propeller of a helicopter would be difficult for even a supernatural to recover from.
I recognized one of the witches that just landed as my business partner Janet’s sister, Penelope. I didn’t know she had a flying license, but I knew she was slightly more powerful than her sister. As we were ushered to the main gates, they were opened for us. I knew they moved, but I’d never seen it. Dad drove his SUV inside. I felt parking here was probably a bad idea unless Dad was serious about being on the waiting list for the yet-to-be-released Ferrari Purosangue SUV.
We got out and looked around. All the rides were stopped as if frozen in time, but it wasn’t quiet. People screamed from every direction, and it echoed in the park. I got the impression they tried to evacuate and were stopped by whatever was loose within the gates. An emergency hospital was set up in the first parking lot outside the gates. People shouted and screamed from that direction. I tried to block out all the noises of anguish and pain.
“Helia, head out of the gates and deal with those that managed to evacuate,” I told my sister. She nodded and headed back out the large gate Dad had driven through.
“Oh, thank God!” Remiel said, running toward us. He was covered in blood.
“Soleil and Jerome, Mammon has a bunch of children trapped in the Looney Tunes theater. Do you need a map?”
“Nope,” we both said, and started jogging that direction. I didn’t hear what assignment was given to my father or ask what Remiel was doing.