Darker Days (10 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Three days left…

“Jessie!”

At first, all I saw was a mass of black hair. I smelled fabric softener and the faint, lingering hint of chocolate. When I tried to move my legs and found them stuck, I pulled back.

Oh, hell in a hail storm…

Now I understood why Mom sounded so pissed, and under the circumstances, I really couldn’t blame her.

My leg wouldn’t move because it was wrapped around Lukas’.

“Whoa. Whatever it is you’re thinking, this
isn’t
it.”

Lukas stirred. When he opened his eyes and saw me, he paled and tried scooting away, but we were too tangled. He tumbled off the couch to the floor, pulling me down, too. I landed hard with my arm folded awkwardly behind his back. Something metallic under the couch caught my eye. I untangled myself and pulled it out, giving it a quick shake. “Oh, look. I found your keys!”

She didn’t look particularly thankful. “Not my keys.”

I managed to stumble upright and stuffed the key ring into my back pocket. “I couldn’t sleep. Lukas was awake. I guess we fell asleep talking.”

Without taking her eyes from me, she said, “Lukas, do you mind giving us a moment?”

Ah, craps. I knew that tone. The demon crap was about to hit the fan.

With a quick nod, Lukas scurried from the room. He got to the doorway and looked back once with a frown before disappearing around the corner.

Mom stepped around the couch and came to stand in front of me. “Would it be redundant for me to ask what the hell you’re thinking?”

I forced a smile. “That’s a dumb question. I don’t think, remember?”

“Jessie—”

“Seriously. This
wasn’t
anything. I couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You looked pretty sleepy to me.”

“It really wasn’t what it looked like, you know. I felt bad for the guy. Trust me, it was painful. He’s seriously annoying. Likes to insult me every chance he gets.”

“So annoying that you curled up on the couch with him?”

I rolled my eyes. “I was on the other end of the couch. It was probably the teddy bear syndrome.”

Eyes wide, she asked, “The
what
?” I’d stumped her with that one.

“Don’t give me that look! You know exactly what I mean. You fall asleep on a plane or in a car or something, and end up with your head on some stranger’s shoulder. Just habit.”

She opened her mouth, probably to tell me I looked as full of crap as I felt, but the phone rang.

Saved! I hitched a thumb toward the stairs and shuffled to the right. “I’m just gonna go get ready for school.”

“That sounds like a great plan,” she said, reaching for the phone. I left her scribbling notes and went to get ready.

It took me thirty minutes to shower, dress, and gather my stuff for school. As I was getting ready to head downstairs, my phone beeped to remind me there was an English paper due sixth period. Perfect. That would give me something to do to keep from falling asleep in science. Mom had been trying to get Dubois to transfer me to honors classes, but he insisted I wasn’t bored—just lazy. When Mom pointed out my grades, he insinuated I was a cheat. The guy really hated me.

When I got back to the office, Mom was at her desk sifting through papers. I decided not to push my luck and went to find Lukas. One more late entrance and Dubois would have me scrubbing toilets. He was famous for slave labor punishments.

Halfway down the hall, my phone chirped. I pulled it from my pocket, expecting to see an
I’m Sorry
text from Kendra for trying to kick my ass at Flankman’s yesterday, but it was from Garrett.

Meet b4 class?

Not sure I’ll have time
, I replied, and pocketed the phone.

It dinged in response almost immediately.
Make time. Important.

Important? The only thing I could think of was something related to the job we’d just done for his family—Garrett and I weren’t friends. Not really. We didn’t hang in the same social circles.

I couldn’t worry about it now, though. We had sixth period math together. I could hook up with him then. I stuffed the phone back and got about three steps.

“You wanted to help, right?” Mom came up behind me waving a small pink slip of paper. Garrett and the text were forgotten. “Can you make a stop on the way to school? With everything going on with Lukas and your father, I’m starting to get backlogged—and the calls keep coming. There just isn’t enough time, and we still have bills to pay.”

“Sure,” I said, hoping for something good. I wasn’t picky. A nasty possession. Gruesome haunting. Even a rogue witch would have made me happy.

She handed me the paper. A name with an address on the edge of The Pit. “Time to make good on that promise.”

Alarm bells. Flashing neon lights and foghorns. I wanted to hand back the paper without even looking at it, but I couldn’t.

“It’ll be fast—I swear. You won’t even be late for school.”

I sighed. “What is it?”

“It’s a pet possession.”

“I kind of got that… I meant, what kind of pet?”

She flashed a smile, but said nothing. She didn’t have to. Her silence said it all.

A dog. I had a thing about dogs…

…

“So demons can possess animals?”

Lukas was fascinated when I’d told him about our little side trip. Either he was over the whole demons are the
tools of Satan
shtick, or he
really
liked dogs. Either way, his enthusiasm was funny—and a little creepy, too.

“Demons can possess anything. It makes for interesting work. Remind me to tell you about the demonic toy box! You haven’t seen freaktastic ’til you’ve seen Thomas the Train try to gnaw your leg off.”

“So I’ll get to see one? A demon?”

“You
have
seen one. You met my dad.”

“Like a real one. Evil.”

I rolled my eyes. Like a dog with a bone, he was. There was a better than average chance Dad would be insulted if he found out Lukas didn’t consider him a
real
demon. We hopped off the bus by the mall and walked the rest of the way. The house was a small blue Cape Cod with a narrow stone walkway. The lawn was a bit overgrown, and the hedges were in desperate need of a trim, but it was cute. I loved our apartment, but I’d always fantasized about the whole white picket fence thing. I’d always wanted a tire swing.

I flipped my phone to vibrate—Mom had a thing about the cell ringing in the middle of a job—and hammered on the door. A moment later, an elderly woman appeared.

“Are you from the pound?”

“The pound?”

Lukas stood tall and squared his shoulders. “We’re here to slay your dem—”

I slapped my hand over his mouth.

A man stepped up behind her. “Yeah, Mom. These are the animal control people. I called them, remember? About Mr. Winkie? He’s very sick…”

Mr. Winkie? Mom had assigned me to exorcize a demon named
Mr. Winkie
? That was just insulting…

The old woman frowned, then nodded and smoothed a hand over her snow-white hair. She held the door open, expression sad, and said, “Oh, yes. Please see that he doesn’t suffer? He was my husband’s dog…”

The man gently nudged the old woman aside and waved us in. “Thank you for coming so quickly. My father’s
dog
is—we think it has—
rabies
.” The man gave me several awkward winks that I guessed were code for
My mother doesn’t know the doggie is possessed
,
can we keep it that way?

I took the hint and glanced over at the woman. “I’m so sorry about your dog. We’ll make sure he doesn’t feel a thing.”

She nodded and hobbled from the hall into the kitchen.

“My cousin suggested I call you. She said you helped her once with—” he swallowed and leaned forward, peanut butter laced breath puffing out across my face, “—a ghost.”

Since we obviously didn’t advertise our supernatural cases, most of our Otherworlder clients came to us through referral. Luckily, my family had been doing this a long time so there was no shortage of them—which was a good thing.

“Where is—” I took a deep breath and forced the words out, “Mr. Winkie?”

The man pointed down the hall.

Setting down my bag, I pulled out the Fairy Dust. Next came an empty spray bottle, which I handed to the man. “Fill this halfway with warm water. Not hot, not cold.”

He nodded and dashed from the room as a horrible wail split the air.

If I had to guess, Mr. Winkie wasn’t happy to see us.

Lastly, I pulled a set of spongy earplugs from a small satin pouch. Normally, I would have flipped on my iPod and cranked up the volume. I usually went with Beethoven for exorcisms, Bach for ghosts, and Sick Puppies for information digs. But since I’d rushed this morning, the player was still sitting on my nightstand.

The man returned with the water and pointed to the door at the end of the hall. “It’s in the last room on the left.”

“I have to warn you that the chances of saving the dog are slim.” It was much harder—nearly impossible—to salvage a possessed animal compared to a human. People had more to hold on to. Families, friends, material things… Animal minds were simpler and therefore far more frail. It sucked, but barely one in ten animal possessions had a happy ending. “How long has he been this way?”

The man hesitated, then looked back toward the door. “My father died a few weeks ago. We noticed a change shortly after.” He looked uncomfortable, fiddling with the coins in his right front pocket. “It’s—it’s okay if you can’t save him. The dog will just remind her of Dad anyway. Make things harder, ya know?”

Wow. What a humanitarian. I turned away from him and looked to Lukas. He wasn’t going to be fascinated with this in a few minutes. Motioning for him to follow, I started toward the room. When we came to the door, I put the ear plugs in and said, “You’re gonna want to cover your ears.”

I turned the knob and pushed it open. Disaster. That was the only word that came to mind. A twin-sized mattress laid overturned and shredded in the far corner of the room, springs poking obscenely through the top. The curtains hung in tatters, their edges blackened and smoldering. I took a step forward and something crunched beneath my feet. Glass. On the far side of the room, a full-length antique mirror laid in pieces on the floor.

Playtime was over.

Pulling the vial of Fairy Dust from my pocket, I tipped it into the spray bottle full of water. It fizzed and sizzled for a moment before turning the appropriate shade of violet. Cap tightly back in place, I looked around the room.

Nothing.

“Are you sure it’s in here?” Lukas scanned the room with a disappointed expression. He let his hands slip from his ears and took another step inside. When nothing jumped out at him, he picked up the edge of the mattress and peered underneath.

I took a deep breath and tried not to gag. “Smell that? Sulfur. It’s in here.”

As if on cue, a low growl rose from the wreckage. A moment later, in a puff of inky black smoke, the dog popped into view. Squat legs and tall, pointy ears, the dog was beige and white with a stubby tail.

A corgi. The demon had possessed a
corgi
.

“Here puppy, puppy,” I said, waving the spray bottle. “Time to go home.” Pressing the lever down, the quartz mixture spritzed toward the dog. Winkie was fast, though. He snarled and leapt out of the stream with time to spare. “Dammit!”

In a beige and white blur, the corgi streaked across the room. When I caught sight of him again, he was crouched on top of a small wooden dresser by the door.

“
Absum ex meus os potissimus abyssus
.” Spray bottle ready, I took a step forward.

The dog jumped from the dresser and shot across to the other side of the room.

“Stand still or I’m going to neuter you!”

He responded by letting out a hair curling growl—and disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

“It’s gone!” Lukas breathed, darting to where the dog had vanished. He nudged a pile of sheets with the toe of his shoe.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.” I tossed my bag to him. Holding the bottle out, I pressed the handle and started spinning in a circle, blanketing everything in a wash of water. “
Per putus sal salis of orbis terrarum, EGO transporto vos tergum ut diabolus regnum.
”

Another growl. Then a very undog-like yelp.

“
Absum ex meus os potissimus abyssus
.”

With a hiss, Winkie reappeared on the ruined mattress, lips pulled back to reveal several rows of black, razor teeth. Hackles up, it charged.

I didn’t have time to react. One minute it was on the mattress, the next it was flying through the air—straight at my head.

With more force than you’d think possible, the little demon dog hit me, sending us both to the ground. The spray bottle flew from my hand and rolled out of reach, skittering to a stop when it hit the wall. I was on my back, the dog perched on my chest, just staring. Neither of us moved.

“What should I do?” Lukas whispered. There was a hint of panic in his voice.

“Whatever you do, stay calm.”

The dog cocked its head back and forth, probably trying to decide what part of me to chomp first. A finger or chunk of shoulder. Maybe a tasty nose.

I had no desire to find out, because really, I liked my nose fine right where it was. Slowly, I extended my arm in the direction the bottle had bounced. “Try to kick the spray bottle over.

Lukas took a step to the right. The dog’s head swiveled at a wholly unnatural angle and it growled.

“Okay—
bad
idea.”

Mr. Winkie must have agreed, because he chose that moment to shoot forward…

And drool on me.

Warm drops of thick, foul smelling slime trailed down my cheek and neck as the thing’s ragged tongue covered my face.

“Oh my God! Get it off!
Get it off
!” Last year, I’d been bitten by a demon dog and it had been like losing a limb—but this was a thousand times worse. Its saliva was sticky and smelled like rotting fish. After a few attempts, I managed to push the dog off and stumble to my feet.