“What’s a crossroads demon?” Levi looked over to Frankie for an explanation.
“Actually,” the woman spoke up before Frankie could, “I’m a goddess, not a demon. My name is Hecate. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
Frankie kept his eyes locked on Hecate. “She’s a disgraced goddess. When the ancient Greeks stopped worshipping her, she lost a lot of her power. Now, for all intents and purposes, she’s nothing but a demon.”
Hecate scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“And because she’s basically a demon, she’s stuck doing crossroads deals,” Frankie told Levi. “And my guess is, she’s pretty bitter about her fall from grace.”
“Excuse me,” she snapped. “Were you there? Have we ever met before? You don’t know the whole story!”
“What part did I get wrong?” Frankie challenged.
Hecate lifted her hand that held the skeleton keys and examined her nails. “That’s neither here nor there.”
“Okay, will someone explain to me what’s going on?” Levi pointed at Hecate. “If she’s a demon, then she’s bad, right?”
Frankie kept his eyes on the disgraced goddess. “Very bad.”
“What do you want?” Hecate snapped. “I didn’t come to you myself. You sought me out.”
“A friend of ours had a vision about something bad happening here at this corner,” Frankie started.
“So you decided to call up the forces of a goddess to—”
“Former goddess,” Frankie corrected.
She rolled her eyes. “Either way, you decided to track me down simply to entertain your friend’s déjà vu?”
“Our friend is an oracle,” Levi corrected.
“So it’s not like she just made up this whole scenario in her mind,” Frankie added. “Besides, you showed up when I pulled the box out of the ground. And that means that there is value in the vision she had here.”
“Well, if she had a vision, then why do you need me to answer any questions? Shouldn’t you be talking to your friend about all of this?”
“There’s something blocking her power from getting a full picture,” Frankie said. “Something bad.”
The witch and the fallen goddess met each other’s eyes with fierce intensity, both of them sizing the other up.
“What are you trying to hide?” Frankie asked.
Hecate returned her focus to her nails. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Frankie’s fingers squished the tribute box tighter in his hands as his anger flowed through him. “Look, if you want to play games, we can play games. I’ll find an exorcism that’ll send you straight back to hell, no matter if you have anything to do with this or not.”
Hecate tossed her head back and laughed. “Oh, please! As you’ve pointed out, I’m doing crossroads work now, which means that I control the gates of hell. If you send me to hell, it would be nothing for me to simply open the gate and allow myself to come back to this world.” She smirked at him. “Nice try at a threat, sweetheart. Next time, do your homework.”
The witch felt embarrassment flow through him, but it was quickly overpowered by his anger.
“Then what are you doing?” he demanded. “What are you trying to hide?”
“What makes you think I’m hiding anything?” she insisted.
“Why else would you be here?” Levi asked.
Hecate raised her eyebrows at him. “I’d be mindful of the company you keep, young man. Associated with the likes of us could get you in trouble.”
“Enough with the condemnations. Answer the damn question!” Frankie’s fingers broke through the top of the tribute box, which caused Hecate to clutch at her chest.
“Easy with that!” She held out her free hand and the box flew out of Frankie’s grip and right into her possession. With another flick of her hand, she magically placed it back in its resting place in the ground and the hole covered with dirt again. When her eyes returned to Frankie’s, they were black for only a second.
“You don’t want to touch that again,” she warned. “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
Before Frankie and Levi could do anything more, she disappeared in a puff of black smoke.