Whiskey Witches, F.J. Blooding [ap literature book list .TXT] 📗
- Author: F.J. Blooding
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Andy brushed by him with a smile. “It isn’t much, but we bring the faith to the people.”
Dexx gave the other man the tough-guy nod as he followed.
Andy led him up the aisle toward the dais where the pulpit stood large and intimidating, presiding over of the entire room. “Not all churches have to be impressive.”
Then why did it seem they all tried to intimidate?
“Watch out.” Andy pointed behind him. “Step up. They’re a little skinny. Don’t slip. Yeah. Step up. One more time. You got it.” He turned to lead the way through a door on the back wall between the choir section and the organ.
Doors lined the hallway, some open, some closed. It looked like a very inviting place for a church.
Andy disappeared down a flight of stairs.
Dexx eyed them. “The basement. How fitting. Could we get any more cliché, please? Just once, I’d like to fight a big baddy in the daylight or in an attic or something. Why is it always in the bowels of the earth?”
“Stop complaining,” Alma said, pushing past him.
Dexx flattened his lips in resignation, resituated Paige’s dead weight in his arms again, and followed the old woman down the stairs to a large, open room. There were a few bare shelves in the far corner, and a table under a window so small, a child would have a hard time fitting through. An older man stood under the bare fluorescent light wearing a priest’s collared shirt and jeans.
“Father Staats, it’s been a long time.,” Alma said, offering the older man her hand.
“Please,” he said with a genuine smile, taking Alma’s hand. “Call me Reece, you should remember. And far too long, Alma Whiskey.”
“Alma.” She gave the man a worn, fragile smile of her own. “This is Dexx and Paige.”
Dexx smiled at them both. Reece looked like a sun-weathered, solid man, someone who knew his faith and what he was doing. He could respect that. “Where should I put her?”
“Oh, right there will be fine for now,” Reece said, pointing to a wooden chair Dexx hadn’t noticed. The priest sighed tiredly. “We’ll have to tie her up, I’m afraid, for her own safety as well as ours.”
“Yeah, well, I got a few tricks in my bag.” Dexx propped Paige’s unconscious body in the chair. Holding her in a semi-sitting position, he searched for Andy. “Could use some help here.”
Andy held a piece of rope like a frightened rabbit.
Dexx stood. “You tie her up and I’m going to gather a few things.”
“Son,” Reece said with the tranquilly peaceful smile that only priests or the divinely touched seemed to have. He grasped Dexx’s shoulders. “Leave this to me and my apprentice. We are properly taught to handle this.”
“Yeah, well, forgive me, Padre, but I like having a back-up plan.” Dexx shook off the priest’s hands. “No offense. I’m sure your exorcism will work out ducky and all, but I gotta have my goodies.” He walked to the table and started rummaging through his bag.
Father Staats—Reece—pulled out his Bible.
“All right,” Dexx said, grabbing his notebook and chalk. “I’m going to set down a few safe-guards and then you boys can get to work.”
Alma found a hard folding chair and sat down. “This could take a while.”
Dexx dropped to the ground, drawing the demon trap on the floor.
“Do you really think that will work?” Reece asked as if he were speaking to a small child. “It’s a bit like keeping the light on to keep the boogey man away, don’t you think?”
“Well, pardon me for needing the night light. I’ve met the damned thing.”
Reece took in a deep breath. “All right. Let’s begin.”
“When Andy and I start, I don’t want either of you to talk. You don’t enter into conversation with the demon. You don’t challenge it or enrage it. You don’t interrupt us. You let us do our work. We don’t need any…” He gestured with his hand at Dexx. “…outside influences. We’re well practiced and this rite has been in place for hundreds of years.”
Andy didn’t look well practiced, or ready to face a demon. He was an amateur.
“It’s a holy ritual and should only be performed by trained people.”
Dexx crossed his arms over his chest. He had a hard time respecting the church for this reason. Well, others, too. Reece honestly thought he was the only person qualified to send a demon home? Then again, they had opted not to use any of Dexx’s exorcisms because the victims usually ended up on a shady side of dead.
Reece met Dexx’s gaze and held it. “I don’t doubt your experience, son, but you do not have the invocation necessary in order to strike down someone so vile.”
“I’ll jump in to help if needed.” Dexx dropped his leather-bound notebook on the table. “I might not be holy or anything, but I know how to lay one of these things down. Okeydokey?”
“Son,” Reece said. “For your own protection—”
“Stop calling me son. I’m not a part of your flock.” Dexx balled his hand into a fist. This had damned well better work.
Reece drew the sign of the cross in the air, closing his eyes in prayer.
Paige raised her head, waking. “Let me guess,” she said with a British lilt to her words. “An exorcism. With a real priest even. Oh, and I do mean real. How droll.”
“Where’s Paige?” Alma asked.
“Inside.” The demon smiled handsomely at the old woman. “Really, I must thank you and your daughter for making my work so easy. A broken soul? I didn’t have to do anythin’, really.”
“Alma,” Reece warned. “Do not talk to it. Do not bait it. Let me and Andy do our job.”
“That’s my granddaughter in there.” Alma crossed her arms over her chest. “You bring her back to me.”
Reece nodded. He took a flask from his assistant, poured water into his cupped hand, and threw it on the demon. It flinched, baring Paige’s teeth. The water turned to steam on contact. “Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, The Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.”
Dexx leaned toward Alma and whispered. “You don’t honestly think that all this God crap is really going to work, do you?”
The older woman let out a long, worried sigh, but said nothing.
“Holy Virgin of Virgins, pray for us. St. Michael, pray for us. St. Gabriel, pray for us.”
“Oh, yes,” the demon said, throwing Paige’s head back. “Gabriel, come down and smite me to the earth once more.” It raised her head. “Why don’t you call Gabriel down here right now? It’d be a party, yeah?”
“All ye holy angels and archangels, pray for us.”
The demon laughed at Andy. “You’re going to need a lot more than just prayer.”
“All ye holy patriarchs and prophets, pray for us.”
Dexx rolled his eyes. “At this rate, he’s more likely to bore the demon back to Hell.”
Alma snorted.
“St. Thomas, pray for us. St. James, pray for us.”
“I’m not kidding,” Dexx said. “I now understand how the Catholic exorcism works. It takes bureaucracy to a whole new level for me.”
“St. Bartholomew, pray for us.”
“Bartholomew?” Dexx asked under his breath.
Alma bit her lips, her eyes dancing with a bare hint of humor.
“St. Simon, pray for us.”
“Bloody hell.” The demon tugged at the ropes, then caught sight of the markings on the floor. “Dexx? Is this your doin’?”
Dexx raised his eyebrows.
“Come on, Reece, I have things to do.”
“People to kill?” Dexx asked.
“Dexx,” Reece warned.
Dexx advanced on the demon. “I just want to ask one question.”
The demon straightened Paige’s shoulders. “What?”
Dexx stopped in front of it. “Why did you do it? I mean, what’s so great about this realm that you don’t have in your own?”
“You wouldn’t understand, hunter.”
“Really? Why?”
The demon narrowed Paige’s eyes. “Maybe you would. You are a protector. As am I.”
“Son, I really must ask you to—”
“I already told you to stop calling me son,” Dexx snapped at the priest. “And I’m not leaving. I need to know why these damned things keep coming back.”
“I will not allow you to interrupt this ritual, Dexx,” Reece said.
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