| |
School spirit assemblies were a very popular event and open to the public in Fairlight. Standing room only left for people straggling in, trying to go unnoticed. Kind of hard for a muscular woman that stood six feet two. Velvet noticed two security officers with radios on their shoulders, on their utility belts were things that hung down and clanked when they moved, but she saw nothing that halfway resembled a real weapon. She looked back toward the gym floor as the cheerleaders began to chant and dance. One cheerleader held her interest. Keesha Miller according to the file she referred to in her hand.
Keesha was the smallest girl dancing and shouting. The squad’s pet no doubt. Without makeup, the teenager could pass for twelve. Even so, Keesha didn’t quite fit the profile. Her skin was light complexioned, but no one would mistake her for being at least half Black. Most of the girls, light or dark, had blonde or blondish hair. And all of them had blue or gray eyes. Plus she was fifteen, for the others the cut off age had been thirteen.
“Hey, hot stuff.” Velvet closed her file on Keesha Miller to turn at the sound of the voice and the arm across her shoulder.
“Boy,” she said stiffly, letting him know she did not like his over friendly, uncalled for style.
“Uh, sorry.” He dropped his arm and backed up off her. “Miss Washington.”
“Terrell,” she replied dryly then looked back to the floor. “You sure you need to be seen talking with an enemy of the public good? I’m still a suspected murderess, you know.”
“Aw, everybody knows if you killed another witch the council would’ve had your fine ass a long time ago. Besides, I’m a reporter. I can’t let public opinion and prejudice get in the way of my job.”
Velvet tried to hold the chuckle back. “You work for a high school newspaper.”
“Excuse me, Miss Washington. It’s called video news these days.” He watched her watch the action on the floor for a few seconds. “You know all that stuff that went down a few months ago at the Grove was big time. Went global as a matter of fact. Also, I doubt a more seasoned crew could’ve handled things so well that night. Don’t you agree, Miss Washington?”
“I already told you, Velvet Washington and Associates appreciate your help. You did very good work that night. If you want a paycheck, come down to the office or give me an address to mail-”
“Wow, lady. Do you mean to be mean or do you just hate me?”
“Hate is a strong word,” she said, her eyes still tracking Keesha. “Besides, when I owe someone, I pay them.”
“I didn’t do it for money. I live in this community too, you know. You ain’t the only one that wants a better Fairlight.”
“You still in the closet?” she asked.
“What if I am?”
Velvet closed her file on Keesha then turned to look Terrell in the eye. “I don’t hold with people passing for what they aren’t.”
“Like it’s any of your business.”
“See son, that’s where you are wrong. Although it is indeed your choice, and I have no business interfering with your life and how you choose to live it. It’s when you want to interject yourself into my business, I’m going to tell you what I can’t accept. In my business, which is essentially my life, I don’t allow people in that I can’t trust. I can’t trust someone that hates himself.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“Watch your mouth, boy.” She turned back to the gym floor. “Your school and parents might not mind a trash mouth.”
“And this is how you gonna just treat a person,” he asked the back of her head. “You don’t care to hear the other side of all that? Gee, I thought superheroes were supposed to be polite.” That didn’t turn her around even though the cheerleaders were bouncing and skipping from the gym. She moved down the wall heading for the exit. “Miss Washington?” He followed her out into the hallway.
“Where are they going?”
“Their lockers or classrooms to get their things. School is pretty much concluded once everyone gets enough spirit.” He looked around at the swelling and moving crowd around them. No one was paying them much attention. “Look, I’m not ashamed of what I am. I just want what everyone wants. You think if people knew, I had superhuman powers they’d give me the same opportunity as a normal? My folks aren’t well off, I need a big scholarship to get into a really great school. That scholarship is in the bag after the expose` we did on vampire activity in Fairlight. All those arrests and Firestrom’s sudden disappearance made a fantastic follow-up!”
He was right. He was in a position to write his own ticket to whatever university he desired. He was a hard working kid and he deserved it. “I appreciate what you are saying, Terrell, except all your reporting is done on your own kind, and your own kind isn’t interesting unless the theme is evil. Do you really believe we’re evil? More evil than normals?”
“I guess not, but...”
“Go on.”
“Normals are the majority. They set the standards, make the laws. You tried to be a cop. How long did that last after they found out you were a witch?”
“About a minute. But I’m doing better work now. Work that I believe in. Being kicked out of the police department was the best thing that happened to me. I don’t need or want acceptance from a bunch of frightened bigots to feel part of this world.”
“You’re a witch and I bet your whole family is witches.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“My family is normal. I have to think of them before anything else.”
“Say what? Then how are you-”
“I’m not going to get into that with you.”
“Do they know you are different?”
“My mother does. But she’d have another heart attack if she thought someone else knew.”
Carmen popped into her mind, then Leroy and Milly. She frowned thinking of Carmen being raised by Milly. Thank God, she had the good sense to put her foot down on that. “Does your attitude come from them?”
“I can think for myself. I just happen to agree that there is no reason to flaunt my other side.”
“Right,” Velvet agreed with heavy sarcasm. “Don’t flaunt it when it comes to yourself. Just exploit the hell out of it from others.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Hypocrisy isn’t hard to get a handle on.” Terrell looked at her like she just slapped him in the face. “About the worse quality in a human being I can think of,” she added, heading for the front exit.
~*~
Four cheerleaders came out together and piled into a cute little pink Jeep, neither was Keesha. They sped off laughing and waving at a group of lettermen, posing against a classic seventies blue Mustang convertible. One boy caught her staring, to her dismay, he started walking his big stout self over to her car. She froze not knowing what to do. Imagine being spotted by a jock.
“Hey,” he said, poking his dirty blond head inside her window. His thumbs pulled down on the front of his jeans. He wasn’t smiling. “You looking for something, lady?”
“Just waiting for someone,” she replied mildly.
“Adults really ain’t got a reason to be hanging out in the student parking lot.”
“Then why are you here?”
“What?” He jerked up banging his head on the car’s interior. His thumbs fell from the belt loops. He backed up warily as Velvet got out of the car. A short handled ax appeared in her left hand, a clay bottle plugged with a cork stopper in her right. “What the- Who are you?”
“I’m Velvet Washington,” she informed him. “Keep your body in front of me.”
“Wha- what for?” He looked toward where his jock friends stood socializing with a group of girls, paying him no mind at all. “Hey look, I wasn’t gonna start nothing.”
“You don’t belong here.”
“Lady, this is my school.”
“This is his school.” Velvet hissed and pointed the ax in the big boy’s face. “I’m not talking to him.”
“Lady-”
“Loll.” It came to her as she said it. It was his name, she knew it just like she knew the moment he spoke he wasn’t the boy he appeared to be. She unplugged the bottle, pulling the stopper with her teeth. “You want to fight first, or how about just jumping in the bottle?”
“Jump in...” He gaped back at her as if she were crazy. “I’m not gonna fight a woman!”
“Avaricite, don’t try to stall me.”
“Avaricite? My name is-” His gaze went over her shoulder then expressed relief. She half turned, positioned herself next to Loll. The ax blade was under his throat. “Dang, lady.” His Adam’s apple went up and down.
“Yo!” Terrell came sprinting across the lot. “What the hell you doing?”
“Getting ready to send Loll here back to whatever dimension he came from.”
“Loll?” Terrell frowned, confusion all over his face. “He’s-”
“A body snatching demon.”
“Say what? I ain’t no-” Pressure from the ax blade on his Adam’s apple cut off his voice.
“Let him go,” Terrell said in a reasonable voice. “He’s not what you think. Anyway, I thought you were after one of the girls.”
“What do you know about the girls?”
“Lady, I think you done cut me.”
“He’s scared to death,” Terrell said. “You’re not cut, man. You’re just sweating.”
Velvet felt his body slacken against hers and he wasn’t making any aggressive moves. She glanced at Terrell, he was one nervous hip hopper. Worried about his friends and classmates noticing the confrontation. Frankly, Velvet was too. Nervous kids weren’t good. “He’s a demon,” Velvet told him. Maybe not an Avaricite, but he had a human’s body, so he was possibly a body snatcher.
“He’s harmless,” Terrell insisted. “Come on, let the kid go before his crew realizes something is going on.”
Velvet stepped away, bringing the ax down her side. Loll didn’t attempt to break and run, just put a thick hand to his throat. “She your moms, Terrell?”
“Naw, just a friend.”
“You got dangerous friends, man.” Loll pulled a striped hanky from his back pocket and proceeded to wipe his face and neck. “But I see she ain’t really old enough to be your moms, now that I look at her.” He wasn’t looking at her so much as her legs coming out from under her skirt. “Why you pull that ax on me? I just came over to talk to you. Warn you about security.”
“Right.” Loll blinked his blue eyes in confusion. A big dumbass, Velvet surmised. He wasn’t even scared anymore. As if he’d read her quick assessment of him, he lowered his eyes training them on his sneakers. “Uh...” Hurting a kid’s feelings made her feel about two inches tall. “Loll, I’m sorry.”
“My name is Lance. Loll has been gone for a long time.”
Velvet looked at Terrell who shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m me.” He tossed back his bangs, raising his eyes again. “Even if I was still Loll, you don’t have any business coming on a school campus with an ax attacking students.”
“She’s Velvet Washington, Lance. She’s on a case. I can vouch for her, she’s one of the good guys.”
Lance looked at her like he doubted that very much.
“Loll, er, Lance. You came at me and you still register that demon, I assumed you were an Avaricite. I didn’t come here to hurt you or your friends. I was just watching for now.”
“What’s an Avaricite?” Terrell asked.
“Lance, you know, don’t you?” That big dumb ox act had to be fake. “Lance? You know what’s going on?”
“What’s going on with the girls?” Terrell asked. “They got demons after them or something?”
“What are you-” Loll stared at him wide-eyed then pressed his lips together.
“What?” Velvet watched both the boys. They both knew something, and they kept saying girls, not just Keesha. “What were you about to say, Lance?”
“Nothing,” Terrell said. “You weren’t about to say anything, were you, Lance?”
“Don’t bully him with your voice, Terrell.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were trying to use your will on him like a vampire.”
“That’s ridiculous. How could I do such a thing?”
Cocky little bastard. Did he think she wouldn’t expose him? Just keep that crafty look on your face, she thought. Nobody was playing around here.
“Terrell, I know what you are,” Lance stated. “You appear to be a regular human, but you ain’t. I can smell another demon.”
Oh really? Velvet’s face brightened, but she remained quiet hoping the boys would keep talking.
“You just said you weren’t a demon,” Terrell reminded him.
“I was born human, but I had Loll for a long time. I guess he’s part of me now. Miss Washington, Loll was a body snatcher, but he wasn’t an Avaricite.”
“When did he leave you?”
“Freshman year. Nearly three years.
“How did you get rid of him?”
“I think he died.”
“You don’t think he jumped to someone else?”
“He was too old for that kind of thing. Besides, he liked my body. When I started getting big, it thrilled him and he was having fun. Only it seemed like my mind became dominant, I was more in control of what we did.”
“He didn’t try to get out?”
“It was too late. Anyway, he was okay.”
“Did your folks know?”
“My aunt knew. She could see him. She tried to exercise him a few times. But Loll knew how to fake leaving. He was good at that.”
“Or the exorcist was lousy,” Velvet said, then another thought occurred to her. “Were you fond of Loll?”
“What?” Lance’s face went bright pink. “I don’t know what you are trying to get at- I was the victim.”
“Lance, you aren’t the first person to find being possessed beneficial. He helped you, didn’t he?”
“School used to be hell. I could hardly understand what I read. Loll was there reminding me about stuff until it became easy. And then there were other things he helped me with like when I was scared, he took over and got me through rough patches.”
“Is that why you helped him hide?”
“I guess so. He wasn’t evil like folks think. He just needed a body.”
“Lance, you realize your body incorporated Loll? You are part demon now.”
“I guess. I know I’m not the same. But I’m still me,” he insisted.
“Is Terrell the only other demon in this school you can smell?”
“Now, hold it a minute!” Terrell interjected. “You can’t ask him to out someone! Lance you don’t have to tell her anything!”
“I know that, Terrell. But I will if I want to.” He addressed Velvet. “It’s Keesha them?”
“Is she possessed?”
“Yes and no. Keesha-”
“Lance, hold up. We’re talking about our classmates here.”
“Naw, you hold up,” Velvet said. This kid was edgy. No beads of sweat on his brow, but he was suddenly stressed about the girls. Not that he was concerned about their privacy, something was up with him. The little weasel. “You’re working on a story!” Velvet accused. “Another expose`.” He didn’t want her to break the case before he got what he wanted. “You know what I’m on to.”
“All right, fine. I sensed a change in Keesha a while back, but she seemed basically all right. So I didn’t see any need to be getting all into her business.”
“Aw man,” Lance scoffed. “You know it’s more than a change. You made me in seventh grade and I wasn’t doing anything. You’ve got a radar, I know it.”
“So what?”
“You know what! But you let it go because she’s the only girl that gives you a little bit every now and then.”
“You mean sex?” Velvet jerked her head up at Terrell. “Tell me you haven’t been with her since it happened.”
“Since what happened?” He didn’t know yet. He wasn’t as gifted as Lance. Or more likely, trying to play dumb.
“She’s got a demon,” Lance said. “A strong one. And she knows I know it.”
“Are you sure?” Velvet asked. “You think it’s an Avaricite?”
“I just know it’s angry and hateful. And it’s not the only one. Deidre and Eva both been snatched too.”
“Well, so what if they got demons?” Terrell demanded to know. “They haven’t broken any laws.” He watched the look that passed between Velvet and Lance. “What?”
“Nothing, man. Your mind is just gone,” Lance muttered.
“I resent that. You’re just mad she never gave you the time of day.”
“Check this out, my friend.” Lance pushed off the hood of Velvet’s car and straightened his letter jacket. He’d lettered in everything. “I’m popular. Always have been. Keesha them only come out strong last year. Nobody had them up until now because they were a bunch of stuck up little bitches. Pardon my language, ma’am. The only knuckleheads salivating about them is fellas like you. Sure she’s cute- and that’s about all, man.”
“What you say those other girl’s names were?” Velvet asked.
“Eva and Deidre. Eva’s a sophomore. Dee’s a junior, but she’s real smart and got promoted in grade school. She’s only thirteen.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” Lance said. “That means something?”
“Is she a blonde?”
“No. She’s Black.”
“What about Eva?”
“Naw, she’s a red head, and Latina.”
“Really?” Then there was no pattern for the girls except that they were petite and young. Damn, that meant it was going to be harder to predict potential victims. Which meant she had to speed things up. “I don’t see the girls.”
“They’ll be out soon.”
“Look fellas. Whatever you do, don’t approach those girls. These Avaricites are powerful and won’t hesitate to kill you.” She opened the driver’s door to her car and got in.
“Where are you going?” Lance asked. “I thought you were here to deal with them.”
“Not today. And don’t either of you tell them I was here asking questions.” She was almost sure Lance was on board with her. She studied Terrell’s drawn face. He wasn’t digging her taking over. “Look, my aim is to release the girls. If you tip off the Avaricites, we might lose the girls forever.”
“Don’t worry, Miss Washington. Terrell and I know how to be cool. Right, dog?” Lance punched Terrell in the arm.
“Yeah,” he said. “Sure. Get on out of here before we have to explain why we’re talking to Velvet Washington in the student parking lot.”
“Boys, this is serious. If they know you know about them, you will be in immediate danger.”
Neither boy was paying her much attention. She scanned the parking lot to see in just a few short seconds the climate had changed. A lot of students were now milling around, and a couple of cheerleaders stood with a small group of boys on the front steps of the school’s entrance. Holding their books up to their chests were Keesha and Deidre. Eva was missing. No, not missing, simply not in sight. The two girls watched her openly with the boys. They were not curious like the others. They had made her. Felt or smelled her supernatural nature even though she had been shielding herself since Lance had noticed her so easily. “Damn.” She wasn’t ready for this, not at this moment. She needed back up. The girls had real powerful demons that wouldn’t care the parking lot was full of students. Most likely they preferred it that way.
“You gonna fight ‘em?” Lance asked.
“Seems like it.”
“Why? Deidre and Keesha don’t care about the Avaricites snatching them.”
“I’m not here to hurt the girls, but free them before they die. Avaricites don’t share with the host. They take until there is nothing left then jump to another host. I’m speculating, but I believe they have to have small young teenaged girls. They don’t care if they kill the body as long as there are other viable bodies near.”
“You mean the girls might die from it?”
“If I can’t drive the demons out and capture them.”
“In that bottle? You were gonna do that to me!”
“Lance, you and Terrell get these kids out of here, especially the girls. I’ll try to keep the Avaricites occupied while you accomplish that.”
“Why don’t you just get the hell out of here?” Terrell said. “There ain’t no reason to fight at this school.”
“You think I want to fight them now without backup? Look at them, Terrell. You think they are going to let me leave?”
“Shit,” Terrell muttered after studying the dark intensity on the girls’ faces. “You’re right that is not Keesha or Deidre.”
“You boys step away from me now.”
“Aw, heck no!” Lance declared. “I ain’t running from no cheerleaders.”
“They aren’t cheerleaders,” she said, but she knew what he meant. They no more could leave a campus full of students unprotected from body snatchers than she could. And they weren’t exactly defenseless either. But still, the situation was her fault and her responsibility. “Fellas, let me handle this on my own, please.”
“Oh, hell no,” they replied together moving as one to the front of the car blocking her from Keesha’s sight.
“My, how gallant,” A young girl snickered from behind Velvet’s back.
“Eva.” Velvet swirled around holding her ax and the bottle.
“Now, just who the fuck are you?” Eva asked. “And what the fuck do you think you’re going to do with that bottle?” Eva walked right up to Velvet and backhanded her across the face. For a little girl, she packed quite a wallop. It surprised Velvet she’d moved upon her with such swift boldness. Risking a glance at the boys, she slid down against the car, moving down to the trunk area. The boys were watching her back. Keesha and Deidre had left the front of the school to the parking lot, sizing up the boys.
“Chica, I asked you a couple of questions,” Eva said, rounding the side of the car. “Answer me!” She cried as she dived over the trunk with outstretched hands reaching for Velvet’s throat. “Who are you?” She demanded and took Velvet down to her knees. “Oh, I’m sorry. You can’t speak with me crushing your windpipe!”
“Not on my worst day!” Velvet cried, propelling them both into the air. With an elbow, she cuffed Eva on the chin, catching her off guard. “And I think you know quite well what the fuck I’m going to do with this bottle.”
~*~
Eva’s demon was dumbfounded. Velvet had obviously faked being overcome, had allowed the attack in order to get them into the air. Eva screamed because her demon could not fly and they were elevating at a fast rate up to the clouds. She had to hold on to the witch that was planning to shut her demon inside a bottle, that or fall back to earth.
Velvet snatched Eva’s ponytail, forcing her face close to hers. In a muted whisper, she began to chant. Eva’s demon whipped her head from side to side. She had to break free even if it meant killing Eva. There was still a chance. It was a long fall and still plenty of schoolgirls in the parking lot. A jump was possible. But damn the witch, she was strong and that enchanted ax kept hovering near Eva’s head.
“One chance,” Velvet spoke to the demon. “Jump in the bottle or hit the ground with the child. Don’t think for a second, you’ll be able to take another body before Eva dies. Those children below are now protected from demonic interference.”
“You are bluffing. It would take more than a chant to- aaah!” Velvet yanked Eva’s arms from around her. Eva’s wide, frightened eyes met hers. “No! You can’t!” But she did. She pushed Eva in the chest forcing her off and was watching her fall. She didn’t care about the child! “Oh, you bitch!”
~*~
On the ground, Terrell and Lance were being tossed around like rag dolls and they kept getting up. The last of the student body, about fifteen in all, threw books and anything from their gym bags at the girls who evidently were not their classmates. A gut-wrenching scream drew their attention to the sky.
“Catch me!” Eva screamed. “Oh God, somebody catch me! Mommy!”
Velvet sailed past her, putting the cork in the bottle. Before touching down, she gestured at Eva. The girl’s body decelerated, then floated in slow motion to the ground. She landed, crying hysterically on her feet. She collapsed on the pavement, curled herself into a ball and began to shiver.
“What the blazes!” Deidre cried then pushed a boy ninety pounds heavier than she out of her path to go after Velvet.
“Dee!” Keesha’s tone seemed to order her to stop and come back to her. Holding hands they ran across the lot to a car. They sped out burning rubber on squealing tires.
Rather than chase two body snatchers she wasn’t prepared for, Velvet went to see about Eva. Her eyes were open but unfocused, her body was cold to the touch.
“It’s one of them dark ladies from the news, y’all!” a boy wearing thick eyeglasses announce to everyone. “She’s a witch!” He touched her hair as if to prove it. “My mom is going to freak out!”
“Eva, can you hear me?” Velvet took her frigid hands in her own. “Eva?” She wasn’t doing well at all. “Somebody call an ambulance, quickly.”
“I just did,” a very tall and thin girl stepped up to say. With that big bushy natural she appeared about six feet. She stared at Velvet then Eva. “She’s not going to make it that long for an ambulance.”
“We’ll see about that,” Velvet said and lifted Eva in her arms.
~*~
The nurse and principal along with a few more of the staff and faculty stood outside the door peeking in. “She needs to heal her core,” Velvet said. Eva began to whimper and shake.
“I called the police,” the assistant principal informed everyone in general. “What are you doing,” he asked when Velvet stretched her body belly to belly alongside Eva’s on the cot. “Get your arms from around that child!”
“I’m so cold,” Eva whimpered. “It hurts.”
“It’ll ease up soon,” Velvet said.
“You feel warm.”
“What’s wrong with her?” the school nurse demanded and finally crossed into her own office.
“She’s freezing to death,” the assistant principal said. “I called the police. She took that girl up to the clouds then dropped her.”
“Look! She glowing all over that child!” The volleyball coach screamed and backed further out into the hallway clutching the whistle on her lanyard cord as if it were a holy relic. “She’s casting a spell!”
“She is not.” The tall girl from student parking came into the nurse’s office. “It’s just a release of energy.”
“Jezebel, this is no place for you, young lady!” The nurse tried to push her right out of the door. Jezebel paused her by grabbing hold of the door frame. “Jez, you go on about your business.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“Poor Eva is in no shape for conversation.”
“I meant the witch.” Jezebel easily overcame the nurse to walk over to Velvet and Eva on the cot. She met Velvet’s eyes. “What the hell took you so long? And where is your team?”
“Now, isn’t the time for whatever this is,” Velvet said calmly. “If you think you have an issue with Velvet Washington and Associates, you make an appointment.”
“Fine. I’ll see you soon.”
~*~
By the time the police and an ambulance arrived, Eva was snoozing away under two blankets the nurse finally thought to provide. Velvet walked out into the main parking lot and two uniforms promptly detained her. She cooperated of course and let them lead her to the backseat of a squad car. About twenty minutes later, Detective Frank Mosby joined her, lit cigar and all. Velvet sat quietly. Frank puffed his cigar deeply, filling the backseat with angry smoke.
“The girl’s folks are quite livid. You can expect them to press charges.”
“Fine,” Velvet said. “But in the meantime, I advise you to rethink harassing me. I don’t have time for it, Frank. And my nerves are too far on edge to allow it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” With a fingertip, she touched the glowing end of Frank’s cigar. It exploded with a dull pop. He looked dumbly at the ragged tobacco butt stuck to his lips. “Now, leave me alone and go do what this city pays you to do.”
“And what do you imagine that is, Miss Washington?” Frank rolled down the window and tossed the butt out to the pavement. He regarded her as he wiped the back of his hand across his lips. He pointed a thick pink finger in her face. “Thanks to you and that team of yours, this is my job. In my youth, it was robbery and homicide. Now, it’s witchcraft and vampires! Creepers and crawlers! All day, all night! You shook up Fairlight, and everything fell out. You couldn’t leave well enough alone. Had to have it your way. This city is ruined. After all the hard work and centuries of keeping peace and order. Because of you, underworld crime is so bad that the police had to create a task force. And that task force is me! Why don’t you just get out of town? Huh? Go somewhere else so decent folk around here can get a good night of rest once in a while?”
“Maybe if you were a real cop, you could sleep at night. Or if you were a real cop, it wouldn’t matter who your victims happen to be. A real cop wouldn’t badger people he knows are innocent. A real cop would investigate why a fourteen-year-old cheerleader would suddenly attack a known battle witch in the student parking lot, and why her friends got into a brawl with the student body.”
Frank’s ruddy cheeks filled with air, he let it out and snatched his crumpled hat from his balding head. “All right, ma’am. Why don’t you just tell me what happened? I mean the whole story for once. Start with telling me why you were here in the first place.”
“It’s a case, and that is all I’m telling you.”
“You better rethink your attitude. We are talking about children, Miss Washington. I don’t play around where kids are concerned.”
“Neither do I, Frank.”
“Witnesses claim, two other girls were involved. You planning to go after them?”
“Yes.”
Frank considered her a moment, staring at her with those blue eyes. For some reason, his eyes bugged her. Didn’t make sense but she always found it a chore to meet them levelly. Or maybe it was just Frank.
“All right, Miss Washington,” he said as if he made up his mind about something. “From this moment on, you treat me with the consideration and respect I deserve as a police detective, and I’ll put my personal opinions about you on the back burner. Now, you tell me why you and a parking lot of students attacked three cheerleaders.”
“They attacked first. Eva, Keesha and Deidre are victims of demonic possession.”
“Okay,” Frank sat back against the door to face her while she spoke. “About what I figured. But why these girls?”
“These particular demons are called Avaricites. They seem to either prefer girls or can only take girls. I’m told with each taking, they get stronger and are able to bring forth more of their kind, which is making our earthly demons nervous.”
“Our demons? What do you mean by that?”
“Avaricites are foreigners. From other worlds.”
“What? A demon is a demon. Neither one belongs here. God created the heavens and the earth. Man and woman. The good book ain’t said nothing about demons.” ”
“Frank, until I met you, I had no idea a human being could be so damn ignorant. I suggest you study your source before you go calling yourself referring to it.”
“Just tell me why you are fighting them, risking kids’ lives. People get possessed and an exorcist gets called in, simple as that.”
“Because Avaricites don’t just borrow a body, they destroy it and in this case, I think it is just for fun.”
“You mean, use the girls for carnal delights and such?”
“We haven’t been able to find any other motive.”
“What can the police do?”
“Nothing as usual.” She pushed the door open and climbed out of the squad car. She wasn’t under arrest and he wasn’t detaining her any further when she should be out there tracking down Keesha and Deidre. She hoped they hadn’t jumped and snatched someone else during the time she was wasting with Frank.
“I meant,” Frank said, climbing out as well. “What can I do to help?”
“This isn’t police work.”
“Ma’am, please don’t try to tell me what my job is. You might look like Wonder Woman, but after what happened to poor Mister Rankin, I think you know you can’t do it all. Not by yourself, ma’am.”
“Oh no, you didn’t just say what I heard come out of your mouth.”
“Oh yes, I did, ma’am.” He boldly walked right up to her and continued. “Now, think. Is there something I can be doing for those girls, for this city?”
She wanted to twist his neck until it snapped. How dare he insinuate Rankin’s decapitation was her fault? Rankin had fallen in battle while she indulged herself thinking he had her back, having no idea he was Jerome’s target that night.
“Ma’am?”
“You just stay out of the way, Frank. That’s what you can do for this city.”
“All right. This is your show.” From his shirt pocket, he produced another cigar.
Damned right, it is. You useless bastard, she told him in her head.
“For now,” Frank told her as he removed the clear wrapping from the cigar. “It’s your show.”
She turned and walked away vanishing into thin air.
“For now,” Frank repeated. “And God, help us all.”