Fury From Hell (19 page)

Jennifer speared her with a sharp look before launching her retort. “I don’t frequent those kinds of places.  I don’t even know where it is!”

“All right, all right.  I had to check.” Going back to the sheets she said, “He was a big guy; 6’ 2”.  Educated at Yale.  He was a lawyer.  Left behind a wife and two little girls…”  Betty looked up and saw Jennifer beginning to turn green.  She flipped through and started reading something else.

“Says here he had a history of stepping out on his wife.  Shortly after this came to light — ah, earlier today — Damn!  This bimbo said that she had an affair with him and she’s pregnant with his child.  A call girl in some swanky Upper Eastside pad that she says he paid for…”  Betty looked up at Jenn with wide eyes before glancing back down.  “Can you believe this?  To the tune of $7,500 a month!”

Jennifer whistled. “That’s a lot of dough every month.  I wonder how he hid that?”

Betty shrugged and plopped herself into one of the kitchen seats. “So, he wasn’t the best of guys.  You might have done the world a favor.”

“That’s not funny!”

“What I want to know is how you managed to hook up with someone like him.  You went from being man-o-phobic to a man-magnet in a couple of days.” Betty gazed at her for several long moments but Jennifer refused to respond. “So, other than the blackouts and the dreams…anything else going on?  Do you remember tripping, hitting your head…?”

“I did not bang my head and become schizophrenic if that’s where you’re headed.  The only tripping and falling I remember is a few weeks ago while at the Barnes murder site.  I tripped while gagging.”

Betty’s eyes narrowed.  “At the murder scene?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Weird place to trip.  You hit your head?”

“Good smack against some new glasphalt they poured earlier that day.  It had a tarp on it and I wanted to make sure I didn’t contaminate the scene, so in my haste,” she shrugged sheepishly, “I guess I just tripped on the body, the tarp — I can’t remember.  All I know is I fell and hit the side of my head.  Had a scratch ‘cause there was a bit of blood on my head but it was nothing when I got home and checked.”

Betty tilted Jennifer’s head to the side and leaned over to inspect her forehead.  “Nothing.”

“I just said that.”

With an inquisitive look on her face, Betty got up and walked into the living room.  Jennifer trailed after her.

At the bookshelf, Betty was flipping through a thick old fashioned looking tome with gilt edges.  Her finger whizzed across a page every now and then before slowing down.  However, after several intense minutes of reading and skimming, Betty’s left index finger poked at the book, and with a grunt she muttered something.  She then took her time to study the passage while mumbling to herself some more.

Jennifer crossed her arms and tapped her foot as she waited.  She knew better than to interrupt the pointed concentration.  As Jennifer stood there, her mind wandered to Betty’s secret.  How the hell had she kept this huge part of her life hidden from a bunch of cops?  Jennifer wondered if her friend had any other secrets.

Betty looked up at that moment. “That would explain Bastille’s reaction.”

“If you would let me into the conversation I would deeply appreciate it.”

“You ever hear of a Sprite or a Fury?”

“Sure, the first one’s a soft drink and the second’s that thing I’m about to get into if you don’t tell me what the hell you’re talking about.”  Her voice rose with the fear she was trying to keep at bay.

“Hell is right.  That’s where these things are from.  I’d say it’s probably a Fury because of the aggression against men…men who have perpetrated evil towards women.”

Jennifer blinked three times and spun on her heel and said, “Okay, I’m outta here.  You’re bonkers!”

“Bastille!  Come here, now.”

Still heading toward the door, Jennifer saw a black streak pass her and the door was barred by the snarling cat that was now menacing.

The Fury came out to see what the commotion was about.  It saw the pentagrams and the hissing cat and became uneasy.  Abatu couldn’t afford to have the witch and her familiar throw it in jeopardy just yet.  Kyma’s killer had yet to be found and the Fury was just beginning to have some fun.  The demon hissed back at the cat.

Watching Jennifer hiss at Bastille spooked Betty.  As she stifled a cry, the heavy book fell from her hands and thudded to the floor.

In seconds, Jennifer felt something heavy cover her from behind.  It was some sort of heavy cloak but the fabric was white.  She thrashed but couldn’t get free.  She heard Betty saying words she didn’t understand and heard splatters hit the heavy cloak but did not feel anything.    When the excruciating sound of the gong came, something deep inside of Jennifer quaked and rattled her to her teeth.  With a strangled wail Jennifer fell into a crumpled heap.

***

Abatu was incensed!  The host was unconscious and it was suspended in midair by the lady cop, cum witch.  Snarling and snapping its claws at the witch was proving ineffectual.  The Fury tried to possess the witch but when it tried to breach the woman’s spirit Fury Abatu encountered a spirit wall that completely encased the blasted witch.  The demon shrieked.

“That’s right you mean little sucker.  You can’t jump into me!  I’m on to you and your kind.”  Hands outstretched, Betty held the Fury in stasis in an impenetrable sphere.  Watching the diminutive demon squirm and writhe in hopes of escaping, Betty almost laughed, but knew better.

“You’re so damned tiny!  It’s hard to believe that you’ve caused Jennifer all this trouble.  But unlike our world, size doesn’t matter in the spirit world, does it?”

The Fury hissed and turned to glare at its captor.

<<
“What do you want from me?  I did not bother you…”
>>

Betty was taken aback.  The voice was deep and menacing as it reverberated inside her mind.  “You already know that I want you to leave my friend alone!”

<<“I cannot.  Your friend has accepted me,”>>
the Fury crooned using its power of persuasion.

<<“She wanted my assistance in removing the trauma from her memories…”>>

“That’s a lie!  You jumped into her from the dead woman!  When Jennifer hit her head!”  Betty made the connection as a rusty tinderbox sound of laughter that seemed to come from all around her made her elation waver.

<<
“Not quite, witch.  A very good deduction but no cigar.”>>

Betty chewed on her lip wondering if the Fury was trying to mess with her mind.  She increased the number of protective spiritual light layers around herself and her aura; this Fury was insidious and she couldn’t underestimate its powers.  The effort of protecting herself and entrapping the Fury was taking a toll on her.  Betty began to sweat.  She quickly sent a telepathic prayer-message to Lady Ariella, the High Priestess of her coven.  Within thirty seconds, her phone rang.  Keeping her concentration trained on maintaining the protective sphere, Betty walked to the phone on the credenza near the entrance to the kitchen.  She picked up her landline phone on the second ring.

“You’re never going to believe this one, Lady Ariella.”

“Try me.”

“A fellow officer got herself snared by a Fury.  I’ve got it trapped in a spirit sphere and I’m fresh out of ideas on what to do next.”

“You’re home?”

“Affirmative.”

“See you in fifteen.  Can you hold out that long?”

A long pregnant pause passed as the High Priestess sent a prayer-message to her eldest coven member.  Betty grunted to let her know the message was received.

“I’ll try to get there faster.”

“Thank you, my Lady.”

The line went dead.  Dropping the phone onto the base she leaned over and scooped up a small round object near the phone.  Walking back to the spirit sphere, she inspected her magical sphere and the Fury within whose back was now turned.

“What are you up to in there?”

“Ponder well upon my likeness,

You’d do well to quote my speech.

Here in your world of light and darkness;

The balance has been lost!

Rains, winds and the hounds of Hell,

Hath ruined the fields of the Dell.

No need to look for clues,

All you need is to book your cruise —

To the Underworld from where I arise;

I will take you back with thunderous drums

And peel the skin right from your bones and

Grate your skin into my nose to be as petals of a rose gone old.

I feel you quake, shiver and roll as my rage grows evermore!

Stop this charade of imprisonment do!  Or else you too shall rue

The day you interfered and broke the chain from host to Fury Abatu!”

The Fury’s incantation grew in pitch until the onslaught of sound brought incredible pain into Betty’s head that was impossible to ignore.  Fighting with every ounce of strength, Betty bit down hard on her tongue until she tasted blood.   The pain ground to a halt and the Fury watched, salivating, as a thin trail of blood leaked out of Betty’s mouth.

“Come and get me you old bitch.  Come and get me if you dare,” whispered Betty.

The Fury bellowed and ran straight through the sphere bursting it into tiny glass shards that rained down on the still unconscious Jennifer wrapped in the white cloak.  It zoomed straight toward Betty who was bouncing on the balls of her feet like a third baseman trying to strike out the favored runner.  She smirked at the small ball of furious demon hurtling towards her.  At the last second, Betty pulled the round object out and trapped the Fury inside a polished spherical paperweight made of lead crystal.

Betty immediately kneeled and prayed as the High Priestess instructed her via that last prayer-message.

“Peaceful Mother of the Earth, hear my prayer.  I beseech you to triple my powers of concentration, tolerance and patience to hold captive this pugnacious visitor from the Ancient One who wishes us more harm than good.  Give me the sustenance that I require to maintain this entrapment to protect the soul and life of Jennifer Holden.  I ask this of you, and so shall it be!”

Little pinpricks of light began to dot the room until the room felt lighter than air; lighter than the coolest mountain breeze.  As the room filled with the ephemeral beauty of the Earth Mother goddess, Betty felt her fatigue drain away as the radiant light buoyed her and made the task of keeping the Fury contained not even a slight difficulty.

Betty grinned as she saw the light envelop Jennifer’s prone body and the white of the cloak shined bright as the light slid over her friend.

Unbeknownst to Betty, the Earth Goddess was healing the damage the Fury had caused in Jennifer’s mind, body and soul.

Time crept on tiny feet as the Goddess did her work.  The deity distributed Her white light into every corner, under every nook and poked Her brilliance into each crevice until no dark spaces could be found anywhere in Betty’s house or on the grounds the home rested upon.

Betty felt a caress upon her cheek and closed her eyes to take in the wondrous feeling.  She allowed herself to relax into the Goddess’ healing and smiled her pleasure when the Fury was iced, then silenced, by the Goddess.  The icicle-laden lead crystal sphere fell to the floor with a thud.

The light diminished slowly as if a dial was being turned down until the room returned to normal luminosity.

The doorbell rang.

Rising slowly, Betty went to let Lady Ariella in.

***

“You’ve done very well, my sister,” Ariella’s sliver earrings studded with turquoise, rose quartz and obsidian touched Betty’s shoulder as the mature matronly woman moved to embrace Betty.  The High Priestess wiped Betty’s brow with her thumb and tasted it.  “Much agony and fear; I see the Mother answered your call and made you strong again.  I’m glad you called on Her.”

“Kind of had no choice and you told me to call. Besides, there was no way I was holding that thing off until you got here.  It ran right through my spirit sphere!”

The High Priestess looked over at the white-cloaked bundle on the floor.

“We need to speak with her now.  We must know what she remembers.”

“But — the Fury?”

“The Goddess has entrapped it.”

“For how long?  What do we do with it?  Is it gone?  Is Jennifer safe?  She murdered a man!”

Shooting Betty a stern look, the High Priestess moved over to Jennifer and pulled the cloak off of her, being mindful of the tiny glass shards.

“Haven’t you learned the ways of the Mother yet?  All is as it should be.  The Mother brings things back into balance.  Sometimes we understand and other times…we do not. Take care and remember that.”

Puzzled, Betty looked at the High Priestess and prayed that one day she would become as calm and wise as the woman before her.  She went to help the High Priestess assist Jennifer onto the couch.

“She’s coming to.  Should I get her some water?”

“No, she will be refreshed from the Mother’s healing.  She’ll be fine.  Name?”

“Jennifer Holden…Detective Holden…uhm, also called
Holy Holden
— atheist.”

“Right, your colleague.  So, no practicing religion of any kind?  Not even as a child?”

“Not that she’s ever said to me.  This is not a regular topic among cops, Lady Ariella.” “Hmm.  Family practices?”

“Ah, no real family structure to speak of; not even sure if her mother’s still in the picture.  Raped by her uncle.  She just divulged those deets this afternoon.”

“Oh dear…”  Lady Ariella looked down at the slim woman now settled on the couch and frowned.  More to herself than to Betty she muttered, “I wonder what our Divine Mother has in store for you.”

Lady Ariella took Jennifer’s hand and patted it three times.  Within moments, Jennifer’s eyes fluttered open and she stretched as if she was surfacing from a restful night’s sleep.

When she focused on who was touching her, she drew her hands back and exclaimed, “Oh!  Who are you?!”