Hades (42 page)

26

See No Evil, Hear No Evil

AT first she looked like an ordinary woman, tense and wary

of the strangers standing in her doorway, but a woman

nonetheless. She was wearing a cotton chemise that

reached her knees and would have been pretty had it not

been torn, blackened, and stained with blood. Her long,

dark hair was a tangled mess around her shoulders and

she crouched by the grate of the fireplace grabbing fistfuls

of soot and spil ing it onto the bare boards. Her knees were

scuffed and cut as if she had dragged herself across the

floor. Had I been physical y present my first instinct would’ve

been to go to her aid, help her to her feet, and comfort her.

Instead I looked to Ivy and Gabriel, but they didn’t move. I

realized why when I focused on the eyes looking back at us

and saw that they no longer belonged to Sister Mary Clare.

The others saw it too, and Mol y let out a stifled cry and

edged behind Xavier, whose face reflected mixed

emotions. His expression shifted from pity to disbelief to

disgust and back again in a matter of seconds. This was

something he’d never had to deal with before and he wasn’t

sure what the appropriate response was.

The young nun, who couldn’t be more than twenty, was

crouched on the floor, looking closer to an animal than any

kind of human. Her face was twisted grotesquely, her eyes

huge, black, and unblinking. Her lips were cracked and

swol en and I could see the points where her teeth had

pierced right through the flesh. A row of intricate symbols

had been branded into the skin on her arms and legs. The

room itself was in no better shape. The mattress and linen

had been torn to shreds and scratches were gouged into

the floor and ceiling. Words were scrawled on the wal s in

an ancient script I couldn’t decipher. I wondered for a

moment how the wal s had come to be smeared with coffee

until I realized it wasn’t coffee, but blood. The demon

cocked its head to one side like a curious dog, and its

gaze lingered on the visitors. There was a long, deep

silence, until the demon snarled again, gnashing its teeth.

Its head darted rapidly from side to side, looking for a point

of escape.

Ivy and Gabriel moved in tandem, ushering the others

back and sweeping into the room. The demon’s eyes

widened as it spat viciously at them. The saliva was tinged

red from having bitten its tongue. I noticed that it didn’t need

to blink and could focus with frightening precision. Ivy and

Gabriel joined hands and the demon screamed as if this

gesture alone caused intense pain.

“Your time on this earth is over.” Gabriel fixed his

steel ike gaze on the creature, his voice ful of

righteousness and authority. The demon stared for a

moment before recognition dawned and its face cracked

into a hideous smile. I saw that Sister Mary Clare’s teeth

had been ground into uneven stumps.

“What are you going to do?” the demon jeered, its voice

singularly high-pitched and scratchy. “Vanquish me with

holy water and crucifixes?”

Ivy’s demeanor did not change. “Do you real y think we

need toys to destroy you?” she asked in a voice like water

flowing over river stones. “The Holy Spirit is alive in us. It wil

soon fil this room. You wil be cast back into the abyss from

which you sprang.”

If the demon was alarmed, it didn’t show it. Instead, it

deftly changed the subject. “I know who you are. One of your

kind belongs to us now. The little one …”

Xavier looked as if he were about to step forward and

take a swing at the creature, but Mol y gripped his arm and

with some effort, he turned his face away. “It knows our

weaknesses,” I heard him murmur to himself like a mantra.

“It plays on our weaknesses.” Xavier may not have had any

direct experience with possession before, but he’d learned

enough from Sunday School to know how the Devil worked.

“It’s funny you should mention that,” Gabriel said to the

demon. “It’s exactly what we wanted to talk to you about.”

“You think I’m a whistleblower?” the demon hissed.

“You wil be,” Ivy replied pleasantly.

The demon glanced over her shoulder and its eyes

flashed. Suddenly, a blast of wind lifted Xavier off his feet

and threw him against a wal . He slid onto the ground and to

my horror an invisible force began to drag him across the

floor.

“Stop it!” Mol y screamed, reaching for him.

“Mol y, no!” Xavier yel ed and gritted his teeth as he was

flung against the steel bed frame. “Stay there.”

“You threaten, I threaten,” the demon taunted as Xavier

struggled against its hold.

“Enough.” Gabriel thrust his palm forward in a pushing

motion and the demon cried out and seemed to crumple in

pain. It was obvious whose power was dominant. “We’re

not interested in playing games,” he said darkly. “We want

to find a portal.”

“Are you out of your mind?” the demon growled. “Do you

have a death wish?”

“We have come to reclaim our sister,” Ivy said. “And you

wil tel us how to find her.”

“Make me!” the demon spat.

“If you insist.” There was a sound like muffled fireworks

and then streams of white light began to pour from Ivy’s

fingertips. As she flexed and twisted her fingers the strands

of light seemed to enter into the body of the demon like

electric shocks. It let out a feral howl and clawed at its torso.

“Stop!” it screamed. “Stop! Stop!”

“Wil you tel us what we seek to know?” Ivy asked. She

turned her palm slowly from side to side so the beams of

light twisted inside the demon and it shrieked even louder.

Ivy was choosing her method careful y. I knew the Holy Light

would sear the demon, but leave Sister Mary Clare’s body

completely unharmed.

“Yes,” it screeched. “I’l help you. Stop!”

Ivy snapped her hand into a fist and the light vanished.

The demon col apsed on the floor exhausted.

“Easily convinced, aren’t they?” Gabriel muttered.

“No sense of loyalty,” my sister replied with disdain

before rounding on the creature. “Where is the nearest

portal?” she demanded.

“It doesn’t matter,” the demon croaked. “You’l never get

through it.”

“Answer the question,” Gabriel said. “How did you get

here?”

“Why don’t you just send me back?” the demon tried to

stal . “That’s what you’ve come to do, isn’t it? Are you real y

wil ing to let me fester inside this poor girl just to fulfil your

own agenda?” It clicked its tongue as if to indicate

disappointment. “Some angels.”

Gabriel made the Sign of the Cross very slowly and

deliberately, and when he finished, he seemed to catch

something in his hand. He drew back his arm and launched

it at the demon. Although it was invisible, the thing col ided

with the demon with incredible force and it yelped, spraying

foam from its mouth across the floor.

“There’s a place cal ed Broken Hil down in Alabama,” it

gasped. “There’s a train station there. Years ago there was

a train wreck. Sixty people died. The closest portal is

there.”

“Shouldn’t there be a portal in Venus Cove?” Xavier

snapped. “The one Jake took Beth through?”

“Powerful demons can conjure portals at wil ,” Gabriel

replied. “That one was only temporary to serve Jake’s

purpose.”

Xavier glanced at the demon on the floor. “But how do we

know it’s tel ing the truth?”

“If there was a train wreck in Broken Hil it could be true,”

Ivy said. “Traumatic events causing loss of innocent lives

can result in the formation of a portal.” She hesitated. “Stil ,

it could be lying. Gabe, can you get inside its mind—see if

it’s tel ing the truth?”

A look of repulsion crossed Gabriel’s face as he

contemplated reaching inside the mind of such a creature.

He’d told me once that a demon’s mind was thick and

clogged with a sticky black substance like tar. That’s why

exorcisms were so draining for the afflicted human beings.

Once that stuff got inside of you, it stuck. It clung to you like

glue, infecting you and spreading like a fungus until every

inch of you belonged to them. Some humans didn’t survive

the separation. It was like tearing apart two souls; only one

half didn’t want to be separated. It was a vicious tug-of-war

with the human body as the rope. I knew that once the

demon had surrendered the information my siblings

needed, they would have to tear it out of Sister Mary Clare. I

didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn away.

Gabriel closed his eyes and the demon clutched the sides

of its head as if a sudden migraine had come on. A few

moments later, my brother withdrew, disgust written al over

his perfect features.

“It speaks the truth,” he said.

“So if we find the portal we’l be able to get Beth back?”

Xavier asked.

“If only it were that easy,” the demon cackled. “You’l

never get through it.”

“There is always a way,” said Ivy in a level voice.

“Oh, yes,” the demon snickered. “Though I wouldn’t try

and trick your way in. You may find you’re not able to get

out.”

“We don’t resort to tricks,” Gabriel said.

“You could always bargain her back,” the thing

suggested, its lip curling maliciously as its empty, black

eyes fel on Xavier. “Trade him for her. And you’d do it,

wouldn’t you, boy? I can see it in your eyes. You’d sacrifice

your soul to save her. It’s a high price to pay for something

that isn’t even human. How do you know she even has a

soul? She’s just like me—except working for a rival

corporation.”

“I’d shut my mouth if I were you.” Xavier scraped his

walnut-colored hair away from his face and I caught a flash

of my promise ring on his hand. In his black T-shirt and

jeans he didn’t look celestial like my brother and sister, but

he looked tal and strong and thoroughly pissed off. I could

tel he wanted to wipe the smirk off its face, but Xavier

could never bring himself to hit a girl, even one who was

possessed.

“Hit a nerve, have we?” the demon crooned.

I thought Xavier might snap, but instead, his tense

posture relaxed and he leaned against the wal , surveying

the creature cool y.

“I feel sorry for you,” he said slowly. “I guess you wouldn’t

know what it’s like to be loved or wanted by anybody.

You’re right, though; Beth isn’t human, because humans

have a soul that they struggle al the time to stay in touch

with. Every day is a battle for them to listen to their

conscience and do the right thing. If you knew Beth at al

you’d know that she doesn’t have a soul, she’s
all
soul.

She’s fil ed with it, more than any human possibly could be.

You wouldn’t know that because emptiness and hatred is al

you’ve ever known. But that won’t win out in the end—you’l

see.”

“You’re very cocky for a mere human,” the demon replied.

“How do you know fate won’t tempt your soul to become as

black and twisted as mine?”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Ivy said with a

smile. “His soul is already marked as one of ours. Xavier’s

got a reserved seat in Heaven.”

“Now, if you don’t mind,” my brother cut in smoothly.

“We’re done making smal talk.”

The demon seemed to know what was coming and leapt

up, arching its back like a cat and hissing furiously. Mol y,

who was hovering in the doorway, ducked as if she

expected objects to begin flying around the room.

“Is this the part where you start chanting in Latin?” she

asked tremulously.

Gabriel’s gaze flickered toward her. “Get under the bed,

Mol y. You don’t need to witness this.”

“It’s okay,” Mol y shook her head. “I’ve seen
The

Exorcist.
” My brother gave a humorless laugh. “This is a

little different,” he said. “Humans need prayers and rituals to

send a demon back to Hel . But we’re stronger than that.”

He held out his hand and Ivy entwined her dainty,

peachcolored fingers with his. At exactly the same moment

their wings opened, spanning the width of the room and

casting long shadows on the wal s. The others watched in

astonishment as light began to blaze from their

outstretched wings to form a cloud around them. Their