Chapter Ten
By the time we hit the noon hour, my lips were chapped, and my boyfriend had just about lost the will to live.
A monk known simply as Brother Adolph wrote it, and it had detailed drawings of hundreds of demons in alphabetical order.
Handy. The only downside was that it was written in Old High German, which made deciphering the handwritten pages rather difficult.
I had to feed it all into an online translator and hope it was accurate.
Come to find out that Old High German was not the same as modern German, so I had to just look at the pictures and match up root words. It was not particularly helpful.
“This is not cool, Brother Adolph.” I sighed as I closed the book and then sat there staring out at nothing.
Monique was upstairs taking a cleansing bath.
Tray and Roxie were out looking for salt and boxes of snack cakes.
The salt was for making a circle to trap the mare rider while the snack cakes were to replenish any lost life energy.
After sliding my fingers under my glasses to massage my tired eyes, I slurped down some cold coffee.
We’d need energy to keep us awake. No naps allowed this time around.
“You called me?” Phil called.
“No, I was talking to Brother Adolph,” I replied and rose from my spot on the worn carpet, bending left and right to crack my back.
The pops were loud. “You wouldn’t happen to speak Old High German, would you?
” I padded over to where he was hooking up cords to contraptions while sucking down energy drinks.
There were four empties by his beanbag chair.
“You might want to slow down on those. Your heart will explode.”
He glanced from his trusty camcorder to the cans lying like dead soldiers near his big sneakers. “Point made. I’ll switch to coffee. Just don’t want to fall asleep again.”
I knelt down beside him. “I feel that. How goes the tech side?”
“Pretty good. I have things more prepared than last night.”
“Excellent. Prepared is good.”
“If you wanted to know about German speech, there’s those old German ghosts out at the apple orchard,” Phil commented before testing a battery on the tip of his tongue.
“Hm, yeah, but that’s too time-costly. I’d really like to get to the hospital, talk with the friendly apparitions to see if they have any insight into the rider, and then get things set up to try to capture, calm, and converse with it.”
He made a sour face and tucked the battery back into his equipment case. “So, not to sound like a moron, but what is the plan exactly? Are we waving a Bible around and casting the demon back to hell?”
“No, that’s not our wheelhouse.” I sat down in a lotus next to him. “Monique’s magicks and mine are more positive energy based, so while we can lure and then trap the entity inside a ring of haint paint and salt, we’re going to have to work on getting it to agree to leave this realm.”
His gaze grew wary.
“It’ll be good. We have plenty of paint.
” I motioned to the can of paint sitting by the front door of the shop.
The shop had remained closed today due to family illness, the sign read.
“I’m not sure what works the best, as this isn’t anything I’ve run into before, and the Kee book is sparse on how to handle demons.
I’m kind of flying by the seat of my pants with this one.
Hoping that with discussion, mantras, and a bit of luck we can steer him from being a negative force into a positive one. Like a dharma protector.”
“Oh-kay. So basically, you’re going to ask the monster that made me cry over my childhood bad dreams to just stop being a bully?”
He was more than a little unsure. He was downright not buying it at all.
“Well, something like that but with a bit more positive energy and gentle karmic persuasion. There’s a reason he’s there.
And a reason he lingers. If we can get to the core of what has him trapped in that asylum, then we can free him.
” Phil’s expression was cold disbelief. “That’s the plan, anyway.
I feel good about it. We’re covered with charms, protections, and one seer that he seems not to wish to dick with. ”
“Yeah, you’re strong. What about me?” He did his best, but I caught the slight waver in his voice.
“I’ll protect you from him. I promise.” I leaned in to grasp his hand. His sight locked with mine. “He will not touch you again.”
That was a vow I knew I could uphold. If the mare rider didn’t want to play the game our way and made a move for Phil, I’d open myself up to taking the wraith into me.
I’d done it before, and all had been fine.
Mostly. Aside from being in bed for a week.
Yes, that had been a child, not a pissy, full-grown phantasma, but there was no way I was letting Phil get hurt again.
“Okay, sure, that’s good. I love you. Don’t do anything reckless,” he whispered, then stole a soft kiss before the sound of footsteps on the creaking stairs warned us of our team descending toward us.
We pushed to our feet to meet them. Roxie and Tray were stoic but ready.
Grandpa shuffled over to force a few more bracelets onto our arms. Phil and I now looked like Keiran Culkin with all the bangles.
Monique was dressed in white, with an ivory turban on her head, a white robe with red lining and trim, and plenty of necklaces, earrings, and other charms that jingled when she moved.
Tiny white boots peeked out from under the voluminous robe.
A long, lacy shawl sat delicately on her shoulders.
A cloud of scent engulfed us as she neared.
The herbs she had bathed in were rich and heady, a combination of mint, sage, and perhaps basil.
She’d not said, and no one had dared ask, what those herbs meant.
She made me and Phil look like poor college dudes in our jeans, tees, puffy coats, and leather boots.
Which was what we were, but yeah, we paled in comparison.
“You should go. The night is dark and full.” Monique kissed me and Phil on the cheek, a loving peck for us both.
“Do what Monique has told you to do,” Grandpa said to both Phil and me.
We dutifully nodded. “Remember that even the most vile of souls can be turned to the light if the lantern leading the way is pure. You are a Kee. Your inner eye will show you the correct path to take. If all else fails, call upon your ancestors for guidance.”
“I will. Everything will be fine.” I said that with an assurance I didn’t quite feel but had to project. Roxie and Tray both hugged us and gave us little trinkets.
“Please do be careful,” Roxie said softly as she placed a tiny amulet with a lotus flower emblem in my hand. “Your grandpa told us once that your mom loved this flower. Maybe carrying this with you will keep her close.”
I hugged her hard. “I’ll wear it all night.” I dropped it over my neck and tucked it inside my shirt. Roxie looked shaken, but she hid it as best as she could.
Tray passed Phil a Liverswell Lions keychain. “To help you remember that you’re a lion at heart.”
“I fucking love you, man,” Phil coughed. After a long round of bro hugs and shoulder claps, we headed to the door.
“Hold us close to your hearts. That love will lead you back home,” Monique called. I could smell the faint aroma of mint on my clothes from her embrace.
“See you guys later,” I said, hugging my grandfather, then followed Phil out into the cold.
Snowflakes danced around us as we clambered into Phil’s truck.
Grateful that his older model truck had a bench seat, I shimmed next to totes and bags filled with an eclectic assortment of things from Monique.
To be used when needed, she had explained earlier over a light lunch, and I would know when.
I wished I had her confidence in me. I belted myself in and waited for Phil to get himself settled.
Phil was quiet, his demeanor subdued. Not scared really, I didn’t feel, just resolute in what we were facing.
With a pithy smile, he started the old gal up and began fiddling with the stereo.
“I need good tunes,” he explained, but I already knew that. This was nervous chatter. “We usually listen to my playlists. Is that okay? Do you want something more religious or something? I might be able to find something on Spotify that—”
“Phil, baby, your tunes are awesome.” Phil stopped scrolling through playlists from other people and got one of his loaded. As soon as the first song started, I gave my boyfriend a curious look. He smiled sheepishly.
“I’m in my Simple Minds era,” he confessed as we pulled away from the curb. I glanced at the store and saw Reg standing at attention just inside the front window, saluting us. I snapped one back to him just as the band began singing about dancing alone.
“I love this movie.” I sighed as we made a left to leave our loved ones behind. “I know it came out in like ?85, but it related so well to my years in high school and the music was amazing. I had such a mega crush on Judd Nelson’s character when I was younger,” I confessed.
“No really? I totally thought you’d have been into Emilio Estevez’s character,” Phil said as we cruised past the local grocery store, lights flickering off as they closed up for the day. “You do like jocks.” Phil gave me a tiny wink.
“Yeah, well, now I do, but when I first saw it, I was like twelve and that bad boy thing really struck a chord. I would have given anything to be tall, badass, and White when I was falling face first into puberty. I’m pretty sure John Bender wouldn’t have taken the shit I did back then.”
“Kids can be cruel.” Phil sighed and took my hand, resting on a cloth bag that reeked of cigar smoke. “You’ve grown into the sexiest, smartest man ever. Any of those twits who poked fun at you back then can go pound sand.”
“Thanks, babe.” I bent over to kiss his knuckles. “They can lick a frozen pole.”
“Yeah, they can go blow glass!”