Chapter 44
CHAPTER
FORTY-FOUR
Carla let out a horrified cry.
“Enough of that,” the yellow-eyed man rumbled. “Help me move him.”
Bewildered, Jack grasped Enzos ankles, helped the yellow-eyed man haul him toward a stiff white rug.
Jack’s pulse quickened as he realized it was nailed to the floor.
Someone had scrawled on it with marker, setting symbols around a circle large enough to hold a man.
Maybe two. Jack only vaguely recognized some of the marks from his research and fought back a shiver.
They arranged Enzo in a fetal position, keeping his limbs firmly inside the circle.
The yellow-eyed man patted him down, then dug through his pockets until he emerged with a pistol, black and polished.
Then he took a step back to observe their work, gave a hum of approval, gestured for Jack to move out of the way, and snapped his fingers.
At once, the smell of smoke and rotten eggs filled the room.
It took all of Jack’s strength not to gag.
In the doorway, Carla covered her mouth. Boris pinched his nostrils shut just as the rug caught fire.
Jack leapt away, choking on a yelp.
“Relax,” the yellow-eyed man said, just this side of amused. The flames disappeared as quickly as they arrived, leaving behind singed marks where the outline of the circle had been. “He’s not going anywhere now.”
“What the fuck?” mumbled Boris, wide-eyed, hands balled into tight fists at his sides.
“What did you do to him?” Carla demanded, storming to Jack’s side.
“He’s just going to answer some questions,” said the yellow-eyed man. “It may come as a surprise to you, but Enzo here has covered his tracks surprisingly well. I’ve discovered little about his methods.”
“His primary residence is in the city,” said Carla. “If you were looking for anything incriminating, that’s where it would be.”
“Wait, so he’s actually guilty?” asked Jack, glancing between them.
“We don’t have time for this,” said the yellow-eyed man, shaking his head. “I want the three of you to keep clear of the circle. If you step inside, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
“Right,” said Boris, beckoning them to stand beside him in the doorway. That awful stench filled the room again as Jack hurried away. It burned at his nostrils.
On the rug, Enzo began to stir. The yellow-eyed man crossed his arms, leaned against the wall like a bored cowboy.
“What the…”
“Don’t bother trying to escape,” said the yellow-eyed man. “We’ve got questions. And you will answer them.”
“Like hell I will,” said Enzo, sitting up slowly, glaring around the room. He slapped at his chest, glanced down in bewilderment when he realized his pistol was missing. “Where’s my gun? Is this a fucking blanket?”
“It’s a rug,” supplied Boris helpfully.
“You think a rug is going to keep me here?”
The yellow-eyed man shrugged. “Go ahead. Prove me wrong.”
Enzo scrambled to his feet, unsteady and frantic. “Watch me,” he said, and went to stop over the scorched line.
Within a second, he was flat on his ass, still within the circle. “What the fuck?” he hissed, and stood again, this time far more gingerly. “This isn’t… This shit is for demons, not people. This shit doesn’t work.”
“And yet, somehow it does,” said the yellow-eyed man. “Perhaps it’s time for an identity crisis.”
Enzo tried to escape another three times. Whenever his toe threatened to cross the line, he was violently and unceremoniously tossed to the floor.
“What the fuck?” whispered Enzo, staring up at the yellow-eyed man. Terror glistened in his eyes. Sweat gathered in droplets at his temples.
“Question one,” said the yellow-eyed man, paying him no heed. “What did you summon on October sixteenth?”
Enzo chewed his lip. “None of your business.”
“What did you summon?” repeated the yellow-eyed man calmly. Too calmly. Something about his expression made Jack feel like he’d just swallowed a razor, chased it down with lemon juice.
Sweat beaded on Enzo’s forehead. “I don’t have to tell you that.”
The yellow-eyed man only shrugged.
“Honestly, I—”
Something wet and red dripped onto the rug. Blood, Jack realized. Sweat formed on his forehead. The soles of his feet prickled with the urge to run.
Another drop of blood. It bloomed like a rose on the white rug.
“I don’t know what it was,” Enzo blurted. “I just found it in my friend’s collection. A book. It, uh, said that if you summon her, you’ll gain her abilities. I thought that sounded promising and I—Jesus, am I sweating blood?”
“Nosebleed,” said Carla, wiping underneath her nose.
“You found a spell you didn’t understand and just followed the instructions?” said the yellow-eyed man, deadpan.
“Y-yes,” said Enzo. “I—Look, I wanted to know what I’d be able to do if I, uh, earned her abilities, as the book said. It was a pretty straightforward spell and—OH, GOD DAMN IT!”
Enzo bent over, spat out a mouthful of blood. No, not blood, Jack realized, staring at the solid mass. Tissue. Actual mouth tissue.
“I’m disintegrating,” slurred Enzo, spitting a mouthful of red goop. A yellow tooth poked free. “What the fuck?”
“The faster you answer my questions, the less damage the spell will do,” said the yellow-eyed man matter-of-factly.
“Shit,” whispered Carla, wide-eyed. “This isn’t—This is barbaric.”
Jack watched, unable to look away. It was as if someone had glued his eyelids open.
Boris inched closer to Jack, fingers closing over his forearm. The tremor in his hand was unmistakable.
“The less damage,” Enzo repeated, staring now at his fingers, which had begun to bloat like sausages. The skin around his nails bruised purple. “What the fuck kind of spell is this?”
The yellow-eyed man shrugged. “So, you don’t understand what you summoned?”
“Fuck, no! I never woulda summoned anything that could do this!”
“Do you understand how many people died as a result of you summoning something you didn’t understand?”
“I—No. No, I had no idea that people were dying because of me.” Enzo flexed his hand. A nail popped free, bloody and curved. It landed just outside the circle, staining the rug red. “What the fuck?!”
“Do you understand the temporal loop you created?”
“No, obviously not!” Enzo snapped. “I knew it was part of the deal, but I thought it would just be a couple of days, not this endless fucking hell!” Another mouthful of blood. Three teeth came loose, popping out of the newest blob of flesh like maggots.
“And at no point did you attempt to reverse the spell?”
“No,” said Enzo, panting now, face streaked crimson.
“I know this is beyond your comprehension,” said the yellow-eyed man, “but you’ve violated three statutes and dozens of interdimensional laws.”
Jack and Carla exchanged confused glances.
“Do you think I give a fuck? I’m melting, here!”
“Do you know how difficult it is to contain these creatures once they’re free?” continued the yellow-eyed man, oblivious to Enzo’s suffering.
“I—Contain it? I thought it would go away after the, uh, requirements were met.” Something wet dropped from Enzo’s cheek onto the sheet. Jack was afraid to look too closely. Carla made a sound of despair and buried her face in his shoulder. “You know, so many, uh, hits.”
“That could take years,” said the yellow-eyed man. “The temporal loop affects a one-hundred-mile radius. That’s over one million people who must be consumed. Over one million people who cannot escape no matter what they do once they are exposed.”
Jack’s stomach plunged into his shoes. That was why they hadn’t outrun the time loop. They couldn’t. Leaving didn’t matter. Distance didn’t matter. They were trapped here, victims of a temporal loop, doomed to eventually be consumed by that awful, awful creature.
He started to shiver and couldn’t stop.
“What is it, then?” Enzo snapped. “What the fuck is it?”
“An energy drain. Akin to a vampire, you might say.” The yellow-eyed man shrugged.
“It traps its victims in a temporal loop and slowly absorbs their essence. When its prey grows weak, it consumes them. Nothing left. Not even a soul, as you might say.” He made a show of examining his fingernails.
“Which is why it’s a serious crime to summon one.
Not to mention the insidious… requirements of the spell. ”
Jack tensed.
“If it’s such a serious, uh, interdimensional crime, then why didn’t ya do something sooner?” A pale sheen crossed Enzo’s face. Boris’s fingers tightened on Jack’s arm.
“Because there are worse crimes out there,” said the yellow-eyed man. “And we’re short-staffed. Tell me, what was her name?”
“Whose name?” Enzo demanded. His gaze darkened. Barely suppressed rage burned in his stare.
“Your sacrifice. The one I presume you buried in soil under the full moon. Or did you skip that part? I’d assume not, since the instructions were so straightforward.
” There was a nasty glint in those yellow eyes, something cold and vicious and vengeful.
Jack was suddenly grateful that they weren’t locked on him.
“Oh, uh, the sacrifice. Right, right.” Enzo scratched at his nose. A piece of skin flaked away, but he barely seemed to notice. “Well, uh, she had it coming, but, uh, I can’t say I know her.”
The yellow-eyed man shook his head. “The sacrifice must be an intimate partner, as per the guidelines.” A pale brow raised. “Don’t try to tell me otherwise.”
Shit. Jack exchanged a horrified glance with Boris, then Carla. “The body in the woods—”
“Wait a minute. How the fuck do you know about that?” asked Enzo, glowering at them. He’d begun to flush a strange shade of purple.
“You didn’t exact hide the burial site,” Boris said, scowling. “It’s right off the main trail.”
“Hey, burying a body’s a lot of work. Normally, we haul ‘em out to sea, but—” Enzo stopped, realizing he’d said too much.
The yellow-eyed man waved a hand. “Incriminate away,” he said. “But do remind me: her name?”
“Why do you need that?” Enzo’s face wasn’t turning purple from shortness of breath, realized Jack, terror writhing in his gut. No, it was from the way his veins grew more prominent, like they were inching closer to the surface of his skin…
“Wait,” said Jack, nearly choking on the saliva that pooled in his mouth. “Wait, wait. This is—you’re gonna kill him.”
“Yeah!” said Enzo, nodding enthusiastically. The tip of his nose dropped free, plopping onto the rug like pigeon shit onto the roof of a car. Blood poured from the hole in his face. “You’re gonna kill me.”
Bile burned in Jack’s throat, scorched the back of his tongue, hot and acidic.
“Again,” said the yellow-eyed man with a note of exasperation. “The faster you answer the questions, the less damage the spell will do.”
“Alright, alright,” said Enzo, groping at his face, scraping swollen fingers over his nose, recoiling when he discovered the missing piece.
“Fuck! Fuck! You’re gonna kill me. Oh my god.
” A shoulder-shaking wail. “Her name was Diana, and she was a lying, cheating whore! What the fuck else do you need?”
“We should run,” whispered Boris, breath hot against Jack’s ear. “We gotta get out of here. He’s insane. They’re both insane.”
“How the fuck can you run from something like that?” Carla hissed, gesturing to a weeping Enzo. Blood and wine stained his white shirt, now a macabre swirl of crimson and plum.
“You don’t,” said the yellow-eyed man, grinning wickedly. Upstairs, a door slammed.
Boris made a little moaning noise, wobbled on his feet. “Did you hear—”
“It’s fine,” said Jack, panic racing through him. “It’s gonna be OK—”
The yellow-eyed man took a step toward Enzo, hand outstretched, fingers twisting into signs Jack couldn’t interpret.
“Aw, fuck no!” spat Carla, stepping forward, gun drawn and aimed at the yellow-eyed man. Somewhere in the distance, footsteps pounded, quick and urgent. She ignored them. “Stop it right now, mister.”
“Weren’t you prepared to cut the head from the snake?” A pale eyebrow raised. For someone with a gun in his face, the yellow-eyed man was entirely too calm.
Jack didn’t want to know how he planned to protect himself from Carla. He tamped down the urge to intervene, afraid that anything he might do or say would only make the situation worse.
“Not like this!” she snarled, glaring at Enzo. “This is torture!”
“Your boyfriend is famous for torturing his enemies,” said the yellow-eyed man, an amused glint in his eye. “Suddenly, you’re against it?”
“Carla,” warned Jack. Footsteps sounded behind him, but he didn’t dare look away. “Carla, don’t—”
Something cold and hard pressed against the back of Jack’s head. “Don’t move.”