Chapter 17 Kate
KATE
We gathered in the library because Eddie refused to move from his favorite chair, where he’d been curled up all day with Sherlock Holmes. We didn’t argue. The rest of us had learned long ago that it was easier to bring the mountain to Mohammed.
Timmy was on the floor by the fireplace with his crayons, happily scribbling away while we talked.
He was supposed to be in bed where I’d left him, but he’d woken up inconsolable, so Stuart had brought him down when he’d joined the meeting.
Now Stuart was settled in the wingback by the window, looking more present than he had in days.
Laura and Cutter were on the loveseat, and Allie sat perched on the arm of Jared’s chair while Mindy sat cross-legged on the floor beside them.
Only Marcus and Eliza were missing. Eliza, because she’d gone back down to San Diego to help a friend move, and Marcus, because he was pulling Instructor duty and was outside in the cemetery putting the students through night training with various weapons.
Once everyone was settled, Eric and I took turns laying it out—Samarek’s freakish history. The ritual Gregory Mathes had performed twenty years ago, calling on that dangerous and powerful demon to perform a ritual that used Eric’s blood and saved my life.
And our certainty that Samarek was back—his mark on Antonio had been the demon’s calling card.
When we finished, the room was silent.
“But why is it here?” Cutter finally asked. “Revenge on Eric for using his magic?”
“Partly,” Eric said. “But I think the bigger target is Allie.”
All eyes shifted to my daughter.
“She closed the gates of hell,” Eric continued. “Locked Samarek and a huge number of hibernating demons on the wrong side. That’s not something he’s going to forget.”
“Or forgive,” Eddie added grimly.
“But it’s more than revenge.” Eric’s jaw tightened. “Allie’s powerful. Samarek would want that power for himself. To use. To control.”
“So I’m what? A trophy and a weapon?” Allie’s voice was flat, but I could see the fear beneath it.
“You’re a threat,” I said. “And a prize. That’s a dangerous combination.”
“Great.” She crossed her arms. “So we know he wants me dead or captured. What we don’t know is how he plans to get to me. He’s stuck in hell, right? That’s the whole point of closing the gates.”
“That’s what I’ve been researching,” Mindy said. I remembered that she’d been the one to hack the USB and had been working with Marcus on sorting everything out. Considering how gifted she was at research, I wasn’t surprised she was already on the trail.
“I’ve been going through everything Antonio compiled, and there’s this one bit in his notes. Hang on. She pulled out her tablet, scrolling until she found what she was looking for. “Here. This text’s about Samarek specifically. It calls him Pons Fabricator.”
“Bridge builder,” Eric translated, leaning forward.
“Exactly. According to this, Samarek is known for creating bridges between realms. Except, I don’t think you can build a bridge out of hell from the inside.”
“So he’s pissed,” Eric said, nodding slowly. “Allie locked him in the one place he couldn’t escape. Not from the inside, anyway. He’s immortal, so eventually he’d find a way. But he wants revenge. So he’s doubling down on finding an exit point to get past that closed gate.”
“By building a bridge,” I said, nodding slowly as all that settled in my mind. “And if he can’t build it from inside hell, he’s going to try to figure out a way to influence demons on this side to do his bidding and construct the thing.”
“Yes,” Allie whispered, her eyes going wide. “But it’s not a bridge.” She looked between me and her father. “It’s a door.”
She nodded to Timmy and the picture he was drawing. “Lots of little kids sense weird stuff, you see it all the time in haunted house lore. They grow out of it, but the little ones know. I think Timmy’s drawing the door that Samarek’s going to come through.”
“Going to,” I whispered, thinking about the demon attack at Allie’s party. “What if he’s already succeeded?”
I crossed to my son and knelt down beside him. “Hey, baby. That’s a pretty picture.”
“It’s a door,” he said without looking up.
“I see that. You’ve been drawing a lot of doors lately.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Where do you see this door, sweetheart? Is it somewhere in the house?”
He shook his head, crayon still moving. “In my head. I see it when I close my eyes sometimes.” He finally looked up at me, his expression impossibly innocent. “It’s in the dark place. Where the knocking man waits.”
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.
“What knocking man, baby?”
“He knocks and knocks. He’s mad.” Timmy’s lower lip trembled. “He wants to come through the door and take the girl away.”
Allie.
I met Eric’s eyes, then Stuart’s, who leaned forward, then tossed his head violently back.
“The seed of she who closed the gate.” His voice was a low rumble.
“The child of he who called me forth. Used, then hid. She who bore the key. From the blood of an innocent, I come, and all three shall feel the pain of my vengeance and the hell-traitor shall be mine.”
The words stopped and Stuart slumped forward, landing on the carpet in a heap.
“Daddy!” Timmy ran to his father. “Mommy! Mommy!”
I was there in a second, holding Timmy, looking to Allie and Eric for help, but they were already moving. Allie to take and comfort Timmy, Eric to help me get Stuart back in his chair as he woke up, confused and disoriented.
“Another one?”
“I’ll tell you about it later. Just rest now.”
“I’ll take him upstairs,” Marcus said. “You should sleep,” he added to Stuart. “Keep talking. I’ll catch up.”
Then he was walking Stuart away and I had to fight the urge to go with him. Not only because I had a job to do here and knew perfectly well Marcus could handle this. But also because I feared that Stuart wouldn’t want me there at all.
For a moment, no one spoke. Then Mindy said, “The seed of she who closed the gate. That’s got to be. Allie, right?”
I looked at Allie, who nodded. “Yeah, got there on my own.”
Mindy consulted her ever-present tablet. “Right. And then he said, The child of he who called me forth. Used, then hid. She who bore the key.”
“Well, Allie must be the key,” Laura said. “Because keys make things lock.”
I looked at the others, and everyone nodded.
“And I’m the one who bore her,” I said, meeting Allie’s eyes. “So he’s looking for vengeance against the three of us.”
“How?” Allie asked.
For a moment we all just looked at each other. “I guess we won’t know until we know,” Eric finally said. “We need to be ready for anything.”
I almost smiled. “So what else is new?”
“He must be building a portal somewhere here,” Eric said. “Somehow, he’s got help on this side, and he’s trying his damnedest to get through.”
“Then we need to find that thing pronto,” Eddie said. “Because if he comes through, we’ll all end up in hell with him.”
“The dark place,” Allie murmured. Then her head snapped up. “Wait. Mindy, what was that prophecy? The one Stuart made at orientation. The binding enchantment thing.”
“Hang on...got it. The door opens below that which binds enchantment,” Mindy recited. “The vessel of light that is shadowed. Blood calls to blood. The ruby bleeds.”
“Below that which binds enchantment,” Eric repeated. “Something that binds. Contains. Holds magic in check.”
“The whole mansion was demonic once,” I said slowly. “Monroe’s experiments. But we cleansed it. Father Corletti blessed every room.”
“Every room, including the one that was already holy,” Eddie said, sitting up straighter in his chair. “The Safe Room.”
That had to be it. The Safe Room was exactly what it sounded like, only it was designed to protect its inhabitants from bad guys both human and demonic, which was why the walls were reinforced not just with steel but with relics.
Actual saints’ bones, sealed into the foundation and mixed into the mortar.
“Saints’ bones bind enchantment,” Eric said. “Stuart’s vision must be referring to that. So what we’re looking for is below it. Below the Safe Room.”
“That makes sense,” Laura said. “There are old servant passages under the house, right? They must go pretty much everywhere.”
“He’s building a door right under our feet,” Allie said, her voice hard. “A way to reach through and grab us. Me and Mom and Daddy.”
“We won’t let him,” Cutter said.
“First task is finding the portal,” I said, standing, now hungry for action. Needing to do something—anything—to protect my daughter.
“Then we figure out how to destroy it and keep Samarek away from you three. And trapped in hell,” Eddie said.
“Kate—” Eric caught my arm.
“I know,” I said. “We don’t know what we’re walking into. But time is running out. We need to go careful, go armed, and go together. But, we also need to go now.”
I looked around the room. “Stuart, Eddie—stay here with Timmy. Get all the kids in here, too, along with Marcus and Fran and all the staff. Everyone armed, just in case. Protect the students.”
“I’m going into the basement,” Allie said. It wasn’t a question.
I wanted to argue. Wanted to lock her in the Safe Room and never let her out. She was the one Samarek truly wanted, after all. I was certain of it. She was the one he’d torture first, because that would hurt both Eric and me.
But at the same time, for all those reasons, she needed to come, too. Because along with Jared, she was the strongest warrior we had.
“Fine. But you stay behind me and your father. Jared,” I added, “you’re with us.” A few minutes later, once I was sure everyone not going under the house was safe in the library, I glanced at our little group. “All right, then. Time to see what’s hiding under our noses.”