Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
"I’m sure he's fine," Kate said, holding onto the side of the car door as Nan Temper drove her ancient “Oldsmobuick Land Yacht” like a cross between a Formula One racecar and the Flying Dutchman. “And if he isn't, a few more minutes isn't going to kill him."
"You don't know what you're talkin' about," Nan said, screeching around a Camaro, who honked viciously in return. She held up a gnarled middle finger and didn’t miss a beat.
"You really think he might be dead?" Kate repeated, as if repetition might make it seem any more real.
"He might be worse."
"Worse?" Kate echoed. "What's worse than dead?"
Nan looked over her shoulder, glaring at Kate balefully. "Pray you don't find out, child."
"Um, truck?"
Nan looked back at the road, then swerved to narrowly avoid the pickup whose lane they were invading. Kate glanced at Prue, reflected in the side mirror. Prue had her eyes closed and seemed to be chanting something. Praying, maybe.
Kate couldn't blame her.
After a painfully short time, they pulled up to Tad's house.
His mother didn't appear to be home, so they were thankfully able to pull into the driveway.
Kate resisted the urge to kiss the ground as she got out of the car.
"And you said my driving was..." Kate started to tease Prue, but stopped short when she noticed the expression on Prue's face. "What?"
"Can't you feel it?" Prue whispered, looking at Tad's house.
Kate stopped. "Feel... what?"
"Damn. It's close," Nan said, setting her shoulders. "But it's not too late, I don't think. Now, you girls stay behind me, and do exactly what I say, exactly when I say it. Understand?"
Prue was already nodding. Kate nodded also. "What's going on?"
"Shut up. Follow me."
Kate shut up, and followed.
Nan whispered something, and then opened the front door.
"How did you do that?" Kate said, goggling.
The cane swung out, catching her on the arm.
"Ow!"
"You do exactly what I say," Nan growled. "Or we'll all get killed."
Killed?
Kate pressed her lips together.
Nan went past the cluttered, chintz-covered living room, heading unerringly for Tad's dungeon. The sounds that were coming out sounded like... slavering. Snarling, animal type sounds.
Kate swallowed hard, nerves jitter-bugging in the pit of her stomach. She stepped ahead of Prue, who seemed almost in a trance. They walked, single file, down the pine steps. Lights were flashing, and the sounds only got louder.
Kate's eyes went wide as Nan pulled out a small, sinister looking silver dagger. Fear trickled down her spine like sweat.
Then she looked over.
Tad was playing a video game. The lights, the sounds—all the game.
Kate put a hand on Nan's shoulder, relief hitting her like a fist. "It's okay," she said, and stepped in front of Nan. "Tad. Tad!"
Tad turned, startled. "What?"
"Listen, I'm sorry to just bust in like this, but..."
Kate stopped as she got a good look at Tad's eyes. They were glowing red, like barbecue briquettes.
His smile was slow. "You okay, Kate? I’m glad you stopped by."
"Ah, shit. Here we go." This from Nan, who sounded disgruntled. Kate sensed both Nan and Prue flanking her, facing Tad.
"What happened?" Kate whispered, the feeling of horror blanketed by that numbness.
This can’t be real. This is just not possible.
"Couldn't stop looking at that paper. That code thing you gave me," he explained, and his smile was not exactly seductive—there was no way you could do that on Tad's face—but more feral, and sort of viciously self-satisfied.
"Then you started hearing a little voice," Nan said, stepping forward. Kate hoped Nan didn't kill Tad, but at this point, she felt frozen into immobility — she couldn’t stop the old woman, even if she wanted to, which she wasn’t sure about.
"And it told you stuff you wanted to hear.
Like why couldn't you have exactly what you wanted, right? "
Tad stood up, inhumanly fast. The ember-glow of his eyes intensified. "And why shouldn't I? Do you know one of the things I wanted, Kate? Do you have any idea? You. I wanted you." His smile was slow and unbelievably creepy. “I wanted to do things to you.”
"Easy, there," Nan cautioned, pulling out the knife.
He turned his gaze on her, and his voice seemed to double... like it was two voices, synthesized. "Old woman, do you really think you can stop me from inhabiting this body? Taking this soul?"
Nan grinned. "Kid hasn't signed anything. You're squatting, demon. And yes, I can evict your sorry ass."
She made a gesture with the dagger, started muttering something. Then she sliced her own palm.
Kate recoiled, taking a step away. "What the hell?"
The Tad-thing winced... then grinned, taking a step forward. "Cute trick," he said. "But what makes you think I’m not friends with the loa, as well?"
"Trust me. They don't want you in this world, either."
"Everything," the voice promised darkly, "is negotiable."
He took another step, his hand reaching out towards Nan. Kate let out a tiny scream.
Then the thing paused, frowning. He looked like a mime, unable to take another step forward. Snarling, he turned towards her.
No, not towards her. Past her. Towards Prue.
Kate looked at her friend. Prue had the look on her face that she usually had during morning tai chi. She was breathing calmly, her hands out.
"You need to leave," Prue said, serene as a yoga instructor.
It snarled, Tad's body wrestling against itself. It flung itself away from Nan, towards Prue.
Prue's face set. Her hands moved, and Tad stopped like he'd hit a wall. He fell to the ground, clawing at the orange shag carpet, frothing.
He managed to grab Kate's ankle. "You," he said. "Your soul will be mine, little bitch. You will spend eternity flailing in agony."
Kate looked at his—its—eyes.
"Oh, shut up."
It looked stunned, like a dog who had just gotten hit on the nose by a newspaper.
"Seriously. Shut up." Kate felt anger push aside the fear, and she kicked away Tad's hand. "And get out of here."
Prue made a motion with her hands. Nan let some blood splash on Tad's face.
With a deafening scream, Tad's body bowed backwards, like a circus contortionist... then his eyes closed, and he fell to the floor with a thump.
Kate, Prue and Nan stared at the still body. “Is he… dead?” Kate asked.
Nan ignored the question, staring instead at her granddaughter. “You’re able to exorcise, too? Can you speak their tongue, as well? Do you have the magics?”
Prue sighed heavily, then nodded.
“Hello?” Kate interrupted. “Is he dead?”
“Prue, you and I are definitely gonna have a little talk,” Nan grumped, then went over to Tad’s prone body. She prodded him with her toe. “Hey! White boy! Wake up!”
Slowly, Tad’s eyes opened, and they were his normal eyes – brown, beady, and this time, dazed and scared.
"Wha... what happened?" He looked around. “Kate? What are you doing here?”
“You all right?”
He groaned. “I feel like somebody beat me up.”
“I’m sorry,” Kate said. “I never should’ve given you that piece of paper. I just… I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know.”
Nan grabbed a Sharpie pen off of Tad’s desk, then grabbed his hand, ignoring his startled yelp. She drew symbols all the way up his arm to his elbow.
“Keep these on,” she said. “If you start thinking anything stupid — anything grandiose — trace over them with the marker. The others should leave you alone, but this will make sure they know there’s no vacancy. A week or two, you won’t need it anymore.”
“What others? What are you talking about?”
But Nan was done with him. Grunting, she shuffled back to the stairs, then motioned for Kate and Prue to follow her.
Kate was silent all the way to the car.
“How’re you doing, sweetie?” Prue asked.
Kate swallowed hard. “So… you’re, um… able to exorcise people?”
“More or less,” Prue said.
“And you,” Kate shifted her gaze to Nan, “you can cast out spirits with, what, voodoo?”
“Vodun,” Nan corrected sharply. “Among other things.”
“And my boss is collecting people’s souls and possessing them, probably for evil purposes,” Kate clarified.
“Looks that way.”
“Oh. Okay.” Kate nodded for a second. “Hold on just a minute.”
Then she walked over to the side of the house and threw up.