Chapter 4 Sagitta #2
I steeled my nerves as Chase writhed. I hated watching exorcism rituals, but it was a necessary evil. Chase was in no pain. The thrashing was a mechanical reaction, like a tightly coiled spring being released.
Yet part of me still wanted to comfort him. To put my hands on his shoulders and promise his suffering would be over soon.
It was odd. I had never felt the urge to physically comfort a client before. It seemed... unprofessional.
Chase bent forward at the waist and tumbled out of the chair.
Instinctively, I reached to help him up. Something I had never done before, either.
But then Chase sputtered and coughed, slapping his palms against the hard floor. His head snapped up and he glared at me.
“What the hell was that, asshole?” he demanded.
I blinked.
Normally people were woozy and soft-spoken after their exorcism ritual, as if waking up from a deep slumber. And usually they were much more grateful.
I chalked it up to Chase’s obnoxious personality. “You’re at peace now. The demon is gone.”
Chase coughed again, wiping his mouth on his forearm. “The demon is gone, my ass! He’s laughing his fucking head off!”
The bottom of my stomach fell out.
“What?” I whispered.
Grunting, Chase rose to his feet and shot me a dirty look. “You made me deepthroat an arrow and it didn’t even do anything!”
My jaw unhinged in disbelief. I ran back my actions, trying to remember if I’d made an error during the ritual.
But I hadn’t. The exorcism went perfectly.
It should have worked.
Chase must’ve been lying. After all, he was buddies with those dumb frat boys. They loved idiotic pranks like this.
“Hello?” Chase yelled, waving a hand in front of my face.
My patience had worn thin. I fisted the front of his shirt and growled, “Enough. Your joke isn’t funny.”
Chase looked irritated and baffled. “I’m not joking, man. I still hear his voice.”
“Are you finished?” I asked, unamused.
His eyes widened. Then he laughed bitterly as he wrenched himself out of my grasp. “Oh, cool. So you fucked up my exorcism, but you think I’m screwing around. Pretty shitty business model, Sagitta. I’m giving your temple a one-star review.”
The blood drained from my face.
Oh god, he was serious about the demon.
In the blink of an eye, my irritation transformed into panic. I grabbed his arm.
“Wait,” I cried. “Don’t leave. You can’t go back into public like this.”
“Like what?”
My voice grew hysterical. “Possessed! By Faust!”
“Dude, what else am I supposed to do? I’ve got a job and a life! I can’t stay here forever just ‘cause you messed up an exorcism!”
“Keep your voice down,” I urged, suddenly terrified we were being eavesdropped on.
Chase rolled his eyes. “Why? Is the manager gonna fire you?”
I grimaced. If only.
No, if my colleagues and teachers found out, that would be bad enough.
Despite my young age, I was a highly respected senior exorcist. I had never once failed a job before.
I’d never even required assistance. I was independent.
Hard-working. If I asked for help now, my perfect reputation would be sullied.
But the idea of my brother finding out about this failure chilled me to the bone.
“Nobody needs to know about this,” I said under my breath. “We’ll try another exorcism.”
“Oh hell no,” Chase argued, stepping away from me. “I am not letting you shove arrows down my throat again. Or anything else for that matter.”
Frustration surged in my chest. This idiot was still possessed by a demon. A terrible one. Didn’t he understand how dangerous that was?
“There are other methods,” I explained. But as the words left my mouth, I saw the doubt etched across Chase’s face.
How dare he doubt me? Exorcism work had been my entire life since I was young. It was all I knew.
So if I wasn’t good at this... what was I good at?
Chase grimaced. “I dunno, man. Your failed exorcism doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.”
Failed exorcism.
The ground turned to jelly beneath me. My entire being felt unstable, like my existence itself was faltering.
I had failed. I was a failure.
And now Hell’s most infamous demon was roaming the streets in the body of an annoying gay jock.
I didn’t know whether to be angry or depressed. Right now, I was both.
I dug my fingers into Chase’s muscular forearm.
Half begging and half demanding, I urged, “Stay the night. Please. Give me one more chance tomorrow. I won’t fail again.”
Chase’s gaze softened around the edges, like he hadn’t expected me to plead. But I was desperate. News of my failure couldn’t get out. I had a reputation to uphold—and a city to keep safe from demons.
Chase hesitated.
My chest clenched with alarm. Was he about to say no? I couldn’t let him refuse.
“Anything you want is yours,” I offered. “Just ask. I’ll do anything as long as you don’t leave the temple grounds until tomorrow.”
Chase mulled it over. Then he cleared his throat. “Um, there’s a slice of birthday cake at my apartment. I don’t want it to go stale, so... could you bring it here?”
I stared at him.
He could’ve asked for anything, and all he wanted was a slice of birthday cake?
“I’ll have someone fetch it for you,” I agreed.
Chase lit up. “Awesome. So do I get a guest room, or do I have to sleep in this creepy place?” He wrinkled his nose. “I can’t take any more incense.”
My shoulders slumped in relief. Now that I was certain Chase wouldn’t run out into the streets while possessed, I felt more at ease. But that didn’t stop the doubt from creeping over me.
I’d already failed once. What if it happened again?
It can’t. It absolutely can’t.
“Yes, of course. I’ll show you to the... guest quarters,” I said, pushing the door open.
We didn’t have guest quarters in the temple. But Chase didn’t have to know that. As long as I acted natural, he wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong.
Because it wasn’t. Everything was fine. I would fix this mistake and get rid of the demon before anyone found out about my slip-up.
As we stepped out of the chamber into the outdoor halls, I felt a prickle at the back of my neck. We were being watched.
Of fucking course we are.
“Chase,” I said calmly, “follow that hall all the way down until you reach the end. Your room is the last one on the left. Wait for me there.”
“You’re not coming with me?” Chase asked, sounding vaguely disappointed.
He didn’t seem to notice the interloper. The person watching us was well hidden. Lurking in the shadows, as usual.
“I’ll be right there,” I said, then manufactured an excuse he’d find believable. “I have to return the prayer beads to the storage room.”
“Oh, uh, sure. See you soon.”
He turned to leave, then hesitated—as if hearing the blasted demon’s voice—but he didn’t disobey my request. Soon he’d disappeared around a corner, and I was alone with my brother.
“May I help you, Cygnet?” I asked, a sharp edge to my tone.
Cygnet’s black robes billowed as he stepped out from behind a wooden pillar. The layers of dark fabric made him look bigger than he was, although his short stature had never made him any less intimidating.
“Sounds like you need my help, Sagitta,” Cygnet said sharply back.
I bit my tongue. At twenty-four, he was younger than me by five years, but he’d stopped addressing me with the proper respect for an elder a long time ago. I was used to his haughty attitude by now. At least, that’s what I told myself as a brace against his stinging remarks.
“Not at all,” I replied. I forced a confident expression that I didn’t necessarily feel. “I’ve got everything under control, so you can return to your business.”
Take the hint and quit stalking me.
But Cygnet didn’t blink. When his black eyes narrowed with suspicion, my skin crawled like I was an insect and he was the needle pinning me in place.
As soon as Cygnet was old enough to train at the temple, he’d followed in my footsteps to become an exorcist. And unlike me, he was an instant genius. The difficult skills it took me hundreds of hours to learn were trivial to him.
I was proud of him, of course. But it was also frustrating. Especially because he was such a sore winner.
Honestly, I was tired of our rivalry. I didn’t even want one in the first place. I just wanted to be normal brothers again.
When Cygnet didn’t reply, I sighed. “What do you want? I told you, I’ve got everything—”
“That man is still possessed, isn’t he?” Cygnet asked.
It took every ounce of willpower to keep my face from cracking.
I should’ve lied to him the same way I’d lied to Chase. But I didn’t want to lie to my younger brother. Not even in this awful situation.
“That is not your concern,” I said instead.
Cygnet didn’t buy it. “Not my concern? It is when you let a demon walk free!”
“It’s not walking free,” I insisted, a bit coldly. “It’s contained. He’s staying overnight in the temple.”
“Overnight? Where?”
I exhaled from my nostrils.
“My room,” I admitted.
Cygnet laughed. “Wow, that’s intimate. You must really like him. Do I need to remind you that exorcist-client relationships are forbidden?”
I wasn’t in the mood for his not-really-jokes.
“Enough,” I said.
“Where are you going to sleep? The storage room where you keep your prayer beads?”
“Cygnet,” I warned.
He could tell he’d touched a nerve, so he finally backed off. “I’m just saying. Don’t get caught with a client in your room. I won’t tell, of course.”
He veered in a swirl of black fabric and walked away. Even his footsteps against the polished wood floor sounded judgmental.
Before Cygnet disappeared around the hallway corner, he called, “I’m trusting you, p?i chaai.”
I winced. The Thai term for ‘older brother’ sounded sarcastic coming from him. The worst part was that it didn’t used to.
Swallowing a sigh, I went to find Chase.