Fury From Hell (24 page)

“Can we at least put a protective magic circle somewhere on the floor just in case?  This way, if she doesn’t wake up she’ll still be protected while we sleep.  I can do it in her bedroom and we can all camp out in there later.  What do you think?  I promise I’ll be quick!”

“Kamali, you’re stuck on this.  What are you feeling?”

Coloring slightly, she shrugged and looked over at Jennifer with a protective gaze.  “I just want to make sure she’s safe.”

“My, my.  I should have realized it sooner.  Kamali, you’re ready for your own coven, aren’t you?  You need sisters of your own to protect.  Yes, I should have seen that coming.  By all means go create the magic circle.”

Betty moved with a swiftness that surprised Lady Ariella.  In mere moments, Betty had pulled the box of salt from her bag along with a fat piece of chalk and rushed into Jennifer’s bedroom.  Lady Ariella could hear Betty shifting furniture.  After only a short three minutes, Betty came back into the living room.  She put the items back in her bag and rejoined Lady Ariella by the couch.

“My, that was quick.  Well done.  Shall we begin?”

With a small smile, Betty nodded.

Positioning themselves so that the sleeping Jennifer was encircled in the center of their joined hands, the women raised their voices in supplication to the Goddess.  Lady Ariella led, and Betty repeated the intonation.

“Earth Goddess, we beseech you to hear our prayer.  We come to you to ask for your Divine protection, clarity, light and energy to come through us and into your child, Jennifer Holden.  You’ve already favored Jennifer once today with your presence.  You saved her from the Fury and we ask that you undo the spells and the damage the Fury has wrought on your child, Jennifer Holden.  While Jennifer is not familiar with your ways, she is clearly a chosen vessel of yours or else you would not have intervened.  Dear Mother Goddess, the Fury has wiped Jennifer’s memories away; has caused the death of at least one man — that we know of — and has planted the seeds of evil in Jennifer’s soul in preparation for taking it to the dark side.  But, Earth Mother, we
know
this is not your plan for Jennifer Holden.  We
know
that this child is meant for special things…
divine
things.  We implore you to give Jennifer back her memories and undo all that the Fury has done!”

Lady Ariella let go of Betty’s hands and placed her hands on top of Jennifer’s cool limp hands.  Betty leaned back and watched in awe as light emanated from Lady Ariella’s hands.  The soft white light had all of the colors of the rainbow within in it.  It shot through the spaces between Lady Ariella’s fingers and out of their tips.  The High Priestess’ hands snaked towards Jennifer’s head.  Each hand rested a few millimeters from the sleeping woman’s temples and moved no more as the soft light bathed Jennifer’s head and enveloped it in a shining white swirling cloud-like crown.

As Betty watched, Jennifer’s eyes flickered open.  They were unfocused but calm.  Her mouth opened and formed a perfect “O” and a soft sound rushed out like the sound of a busy beehive.  Lady Ariella sighed and closed her eyes and said softly, “Say a prayer…any prayer that comes to your mind, Kamali.”

Without thought the 23
^rd
Psalm popped into her mind.  It had been her mother’s favorite passage.  She had read it over and over to Betty throughout her childhood.  With great serenity and a strong feeling of rightness Betty recited it.

When she finished, Lady Ariella nodded at her. “Well chosen.”

“Now what?”

“We wait and see if the Goddess wants her to have the memories back.”

“Why wouldn’t the Goddess give them back?”

“It could be too painful and damage Jennifer’s soul irrevocably.  We just don’t know.  The Goddess knows best.”

“How long do we wait?”

“Until Jennifer — or the Goddess — speaks to us.”

Worry flitted across Betty’s face.  She checked her watch.  It was almost one o’clock in the morning.  They needed to be at the precinct by 7:30 A.M.  Betty sent up her own prayer to the Goddess that Jennifer would wake up
soon
.

***

Monday, November 12
^th

Fury Abatu was getting tired.  The strain of the imprisonment, the energy expended on influencing the dog and now the hellacious rush through the night was creating an unbearable hunger in the Fury.  Abatu tried to ignore the hunger but its energy to move was dwindling by the second.  The demon knew it needed to feed especially since it did not have a host body to shelter it.  Slowing, the Fury searched for an easy victim.

Within minutes, the Fury spotted a likely target.  A plump bowed over man sitting on a bench with a brown paper bag wrapped bottle in his limp hand.  The Fury’s sharp teeth and fangs came out as it readied itself for a juicy meal…

***

Jennifer’s unseeing eyes were beginning to freak Betty out.  They were so…
empty
.  Betty shuddered and continued to wait and watch just as Lady Ariella was doing.  It had already been forty minutes and Jennifer had not twitched.

“Is she all right, Lady Ariella?”

“Yes,” she murmured.  “Just keep sending her white light and positive energy.”

“Do we both need to do this?”

Lady Ariella gave Betty a sidelong glance and smirked.  “The cop in you needs to do something.  Very well.  Did you bring candles?”

Betty pressed her lips into a firm straight line and tilted her head to the side. “Am I a First Degree witch?  You know I did.”

“Excellent!  Since you’ve prepared a magic circle it would be good to light white tea candles and put one in every entryway.  That would include all windows and doors.”

Betty shrugged, feigning indifference but a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. She headed for her bag and rummaged through it.  The bag was filled with an array of things from a ball of twine, colored ribbons, marbles, chalk, baby powder, gunpowder, magnetic sand, envelopes of herbs and a host of other things.  Finally, feeling the corner of the large box, Betty pulled out a full box of white tea candles and unzipped the side pouch and grabbed the lighter.  Satisfied, she headed for the kitchen to start there first.  The unlikely witch chanted a short protection spell by every window and door until the entire apartment was softly lit by the glow of over two dozen candles.  Betty walked around and cut off all the electric lights once she finished her candle protection ritual.  The bedroom with the magic circle was her final stop.  Pleased with herself, Betty went back into the living room, deposited the candles and lighter back in her bag and rejoined Lady Ariella and the still sleeping Jennifer by the couch.

Betty looked down at Jennifer and a faint murmur in her mind urged her to bolster Jennifer’s aura.  Betty visualized wrapping white light around Jennifer body.  She imagined first a white layer of light covered by a soft pink layer followed by a soft green layer of light securing the other two layers firmly around Jennifer’s body.

The white was for the Goddess’ protection, the pink for healing, and the green was for love and well-being.  Betty got up and stretched.  She wanted to ensure all was well and quickly checked the candles.  A few had gone out and she went about relighting and replacing the two that did. On her way back to the living room, she shivered.  Betty wondered at the sensation and hurried back to Lady Ariella and Jennifer.

“All are lit?”

“Yes, my Lady.”

“Good then — ”

All of a sudden a huge slamming sound could be heard reverberating throughout the apartment.  Something had hit the side of the building nearest Jennifer’s bedroom.

“What the —?”

“Watch your language, Kamali!”

“Yes, High Priestess; what was that?!”

Jennifer bolted upright shocking both women speechless.  In a monotone voice and no discernable expression her face, a voice completely unlike Jennifer’s answered.

“Fury Abatu has returned to try and reclaim Jennifer Holden.”

Lady Ariella and Betty genuflected immediately awed beyond words.  The High Priestess said reverently, “Earth Mother, thank you for the warning.  What shall we do?”

“There’s a potion that this body must bathe in daily to keep the Fury from possessing this vehicle again.  Take this down.”

Betty grabbed pen and paper from her spiritual emergency bag and ran back to the couch to scribble down the herbs the Earth Mother wanted them to use.

“I tire and must take my leave of this vehicle.  The memories I will not restore.  It will destroy her mind.  The Fury made her kill the blond man she saw in her dream and another who would have attacked her when Fury Abatu was in full possession of her vehicle.  Those two are not of her doing.  Jennifer Holden’s own fears made her kill two others.  Jennifer Holden may be able to forgive herself for the last two; those were in self-defense, those two would have harmed her physically before ending her life.”

Lady Ariella and Betty stared at one another.  Both of their expressions mirrored the other’s perfectly — rounded eyes, a perfectly rounded mouth and eyebrows that tried to hide in their hairlines.

The Earth Mother continued, “The items she is puzzling over are items of cleaning, fire accelerants and cigarettes purchased to try and cover the Fury’s tracks for the murder of the blond man.  Her law enforcement persona came to her aid.  When the Fury fell asleep after the large feeding, Jennifer awoke to the carnage and went into shock but her training kicked in —”

A booming, rending crash cut the Goddess off.  The loud noise bounced off the walls making the women eye their surroundings as they wondered about an escape route.

“The Fury is trying to break through the protective spell.  I will strengthen it but will have to leave you.  This vehicle cannot be alone from this point on.  Jennifer Holden is vulnerable and does not know our ways as you have said.  Protect her!  She is key.”

Jennifer’s body flopped back onto the couch.  Lady Ariella and Betty stared at the serene face of Jennifer whose eyes were now closed.  She appeared to be sleeping as if nothing had happened.

Betty was the first to recover. “What the — heck — is that thing doing
here?
  Didn’t we bury it in Queens?  And what did the Goddess mean that Jennifer is key?  Key to what?”

Ignoring her first two questions, Lady Ariella replied tersely. “I don’t know, Kamali.  No matter, dear.  What’s important right now is that we must try and wake Jennifer up.”

“Okay.  Here’s the other thing…how are we going to be able to leave the apartment to get these herbs so the Fury can’t jump back into Jennifer now that Fury Abatu is right here up our asses?!”

Lady Ariella shot Betty a look of pure fright.  The pit of Betty’s stomach lurched.  Fear was something that Betty had never seen in the High Priestess’ eyes.  The foreign emotion left Lady Ariella’s eyes a moment later as resolve took its place.

“Child, watch your language.  You are not a cop in this moment.  To answer your question, one of us has to leave and procure the herbs.”

Betty’s mouth hung open.  “Leave?  Leave how?”

“Quick!  Strengthen the circle!  Add more salt to the outer ring.  You were right, Kamali!  I am very happy that I listened to you.  Your spirit knew.”

Jumping up from the couch, Betty rushed to her bag and pulled out the box of salt.  She went into the bedroom to thicken the layer around the perimeter of the circle.  As Betty did so, she intoned the protective spell as she poured additional salt.

“I’m bringing her in!” shouted Lady Ariella.

Another loud smash was heard.  This time, the Fury was attempting to get in through the living room window.  The high-pitched shrieking sounds the demon made almost burst the witches’ eardrums.

Betty heard her dear friend and mentor dragging Jennifer into the bedroom.  Betty hurried over and helped get the still unconscious woman into the center of the large circle without disturbing the thick ring of salt or smearing the chalk.  They put Jennifer in a slumped over kneel and took positions on opposite sides of the outer circle but still within the salt ring.  They both mentally began the process of layering the entire circle in white, pink and green bands of light for further protection.

“Kamali!  The center needs a candle!”

“Damnit!” She raced into the living room to her bag once more.  In her haste, the slight wind she kicked up blew out the candle on the windowsill in the living room.

The Fury’s eyes gleamed brightly as its evil grin grew broad.

Betty screamed and grabbed the box of candles and the light and raced into the bedroom shouting, “It’s coming in through the living room window!” Betty kicked the bedroom door closed and rushed carefully into the circle fumbling with the box trying to get a single candle out without dropping them all.

The Fury smashed through the window a second after Betty’s pronouncement and streaked into the living room.  Hearing the bedroom door slam, Abatu swerved and headed towards it but was slowed by all the powerful spells and charms permeating the room.  To the Fury, moving through the spells felt like swimming through a vat of molasses.  It wore the Fury down and it took three times as long to get to the bedroom door.  By the time the Fury was in front of it, the life essence it had just consumed was practically a memory.  Roaring with frustration, Abatu willed the door open but it only jerked.

Inside the women had gotten the candle lit and Jennifer was beginning to awaken.

Betty looked at Lady Ariella with wide glassy eyes. “So now what, my Lady?”

Unnerved by Betty’s demeanor, Lady Ariella took some deep cleansing breaths and closed her eyes to center herself.  Calling on the Goddess, the High Priestess prayed for clarity, light and direction.  Moments passed and there was no sound.  The Goddess had not sent Lady Ariella any images, and she did not know what to do next.

Pulling on her intuition, the High Priestess got up and went into the en suite bathroom and looked around.  Nothing popped for her.  Heading back into the bedroom, she saw a largish oval gilt edged mirror that did make an impression upon her.  Grabbing it, Lady Ariella walked into the center of the circle and placed it in front of Jennifer who was groggy but awake.