Black Magic Bayou (29 page)

Heaving a great sigh, he withdrew the knife from the back of his belt and placed the handle in my palm.

“You.” I pointed the knife at Tansy. “Come with me.”

“Uh, no?” She was staring at the knife, and her eyes were wide with fear.

“Do you want this to end?” I asked her.

“Not if it means you’re going to kill me.”

“Not to sound clichéd, Tansy, but if I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t be wasting time arguing with you, I’d just kill you.”

She swallowed so hard I could hear the
gulp
sound in the back of her throat. When a quick glance at Cash didn’t offer her the support she was hoping for, she got to her feet and moved towards me.

“Stand in the circle.” I pointed to the salt line. “You know what this is, I take it, since you made one.”

“The book drew it,” she said. “I just copied.”

“It’s a calling circle. It’s used to summon a demon. In your case, it was used to help the demon bond with you.”

Tansy stepped over the salt line and stood inside the circle, avoiding all the items strewn about within its border.

“What now?”

I turned to Santiago, wanting his confirmation on how to proceed. I was acting like I knew what to do, but up to this point I’d been faking my way through it, basing each step on what I assumed would come next. I’d been right so far, but it wasn’t going to last forever.

“This began with blood,” he said, rising from the bench and moving to the opposite side of the circle from me. “And now it ends with blood.”

While Tansy was still watching him I grabbed her hand and sliced the ceremonial knife across her palm.

She shrieked, but I had what I needed.

I drove the knife into the ground inside the circle and screamed, “You want blood, come and get it, motherfucker.”

“What the hell, Genie?” Tansy held her bleeding hand to her chest, immediately staining the light-blue material of her sweater. Now it looked like I’d stabbed her in the chest instead of just slicing open her hand.

I ignored her question, scanning the area around us, trying to see if anything was moving in the shadows outside the building.

Though I could sense the coming dawn, it was still night for a little longer, and that made it difficult to see anything more than a few feet away from us. My night vision was good, but in human form it was limited, and I couldn’t see much outside the brick walls.

“Come on,” I muttered.

Cash had gotten to his feet when I cut Tansy, and I could see him debating with himself whether or not he should go to her now. Instead of doing his usual hero routine, he hung back and watched, but I could tell it pained him not to jump in and comfort her.

It didn’t help that she was giving him the most pathetic, sad, puppy-dog eyes I’d ever seen.

“I’ll go to the police.” Tansy phrased this as an offer, not a threat. “I’ll tell them I killed that guy.”

“Liam,” I corrected. “His name was Liam Casey.”

She fell silent.

“And yeah, if we get through this, you
will
go to the police. And you’ll tell them what happened, and I’ll find people who will corroborate what demon possession can do to a person.”

“Tell me,” came a cool voice outside one of the windows. “You seem like an expert, so I want to know. What happens when a demon can take human form?”

Tansy’s eyes bugged out so wide I thought they might fall right out of her head. Cash and Santiago both moved away from the speaker, instinct telling them this wasn’t something they wanted to be a part of.

“Please don’t let me die,” Tansy whispered.

“I won’t.”

“Promises, promises, the girl loves her promises.” Gamigan stepped into sight, darting in front of the hole that was once a large window. As quickly as it had appeared it was gone. Scrabbling sounds drew our collective attention up, until we could see it perched atop the brick wall, gazing down on us with a knowing smile.

That it was still in Tansy’s form, wearing the pretty floral dress, made this all the more unsettling.

It hadn’t mastered her voice. When it spoke, the sound wasn’t quite human, reminding me of the way it had whispered through the door to me. “Tell me what you know of hell, little girl.”

My palm was damp with sweat, and I ached to pick up the ceremonial knife just so I’d have something to arm myself with.

This wasn’t the kind of situation where weapons would be my greatest asset though. Instead I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second and envisioned my little jade stone, my mental protection ward. I pictured
Memere
and called up everything she’d taught me. When I opened my eyes again, my hands were still and dry.

I was ready.

“I know more than you think,” I replied.

“Yes, yes. You’re a wise one, aren’t you. Smart little girl, precious little girl. You were an innocent once too, you know. I know, I know. Oh, I have seen so much more of you than you realize. You wear your history around you, and it’s dark, dark, dark.” Gamigan smiled. “I know what you are.”

“Oh yeah?” I inched around the circle towards Santiago, while checking for Wilder’s whereabouts out of the corner of my eye. If this went south, I might need the other witch’s power. I’d used up so much of my energy tonight I wasn’t sure if I’d have it in me to do this alone. Likewise, I had my doubts as to whether Santiago would be able to contain the demon without some bonus assistance. He was watching the creature with careful, veiled interest, showing no indication if he was frightened or not.

Wilder, having determined there was no reason for him to block the door anymore, had wisely decided to move away from the walls and was standing next to Cash in the middle of the room. They both stared expectantly at the demon.

I really wish I’d had a chance to ask Secret a hundred more questions about demons when I’d had her on the line yesterday. Seemed like there might be a few pointers she could have given me aside from
Don’t let it touch you
.

No shit.

“Yes, yes, yes. I know what you are. I know you down to the very heart of you. To your blighted soul.”

“My soul is fine. Worry about your own eternal damnation, thanks.”

Gamigan laughed, and it sounded like dry leaves scraping a sidewalk.

“I’ll have fun with you forever.”

This made a shudder rock my whole body so violently my teeth clacked. “Why don’t we send you home, and you can wait for me there?”

“Another promise.” It scuttled along the top of the wall, and I fought back the urge to let out a small noise of horror. For all its efforts to look like Tansy, it had made no attempt to learn how the human body moved. It had disjointed her limbs so she resembled a four-legged spider, legs and arms bending in ways they were never meant to go. And it moved much, much too quickly, so fast it was almost hard to track.

I knew we had to get it down to our level if we had a hope of trapping it inside the idol, but now that the damn thing was here, I didn’t want it coming any closer to me.

“Tell me what I am. I’m dying to hear what you think.” Possibly I could have chosen better phrasing. Too late now.

Gamigan skittered around the edge of the building to the far side where it was cloaked in shadows but still dimly visible. It crawled part of the way down the wall, grotesque with its broken-looking human limbs and the unnatural way its eyes shone, like those of a cat at night.

It didn’t get all the way to the ground, instead deciding to crawl along the wall vertically. The dress it was wearing billowed lightly in the night breeze. When it came back into the light, Gamigan was totally sideways, and in the place of two human female eyes, it had eight shining spider ones again.

“Oh my God.” Tansy covered her face with her hands.

Seeing yourself turn into a monster was an ordeal. She was experiencing it twice in one night, first metaphorically and now literally. But when Gamigan was gone, she’d still need to deal with what she’d really become.

I couldn’t bring myself to muster the slightest iota of sympathy.

Wilder and Cash sidestepped towards us, as far as they could get away from the demon without crossing into the salt circle.

“God can’t help you now.” Gamigan chuckled.

There is nothing more frightening to hear than a demon telling you God has turned his back on you.

Nothing.

Tansy sat down.

More accurately, she lay down next to the ceremonial knife and curled into the fetal position.

“Eugenia McQueen,” Gamigan went on, ignoring the other girl entirely. “You are a killer.”

“And are you here to avenge all those rabbits and deer?”

“You are a killer,” it repeated. “You make the host feel guilty, but you are a murderer.”

I thought of Timothy Deerling, of his head exploding into a fine red mist. But I hadn’t been the one to kill him. I’d played a part in his death, but the woman who’d pulled the trigger was a sheriff’s deputy named Josie Dwyer.

“I’ve never killed anyone.”

The form Gamigan had taken stuttered, and a waft of sulfur and burnt skin assaulted my nostrils. I covered my nose as my eyes started to water, and when I wiped the tears away, there she was.

Skin, burnt and peeling, limbs assembled in disarray like a broken doll, the dead woman teetered towards me, her scent sickening and her appearance twice as bad.

All my confidence vanished.

I’d thought she was gone.

This same apparition had been following me months earlier, but I hadn’t seen her in a long, long time. I’d chased away the memory of her charred skin touching my face. I’d pretended she wasn’t real, that she had been nothing more than a bad dream.

Judging by the expressions on Wilder’s and Cash’s faces, I wasn’t the only one seeing this.

Just like the kids at the party, it seemed so real, even smelled real, but wasn’t. That’s how deeply this thing could get into our minds.

“Tell me again how innocent you are,” Gamigan demanded.

The burnt woman froze like a paused videotape and reformed itself as spider-faced Tansy. “Tell everyone how you’re not a killer.”

“You’re lying,” I whispered.

“Or maybe you’re the one lying to yourself.” It made a clucking noise with its tongue. “I won’t be the last one to come for you, Eugenia McQueen. There are much worse things in store for you.”

“No.”

It cocked its head to the side, blinking all eight eyes at once. “What was that?”

“No.”

“No…what?” Gamigan smiled, but I knew my response had thrown it off. The way it twisted Tansy’s lips looked forced and uncomfortable.

“You
won’t
be the one to come for me.”

And then, ignoring the only advice Secret had given me about demons, I grabbed Gamigan around the throat and hauled it across the salt line with me.

I hit the ground hard, tripping backwards over Tansy’s huddled form, narrowly missing the elaborate pentacle Santiago had laid out.

The demon wriggled furiously, screaming in the most insanely shrill tones I’d ever heard. It was like a pig squealing, but in a higher register. I wanted to cover my ears, but that would mean letting go of the thing.

“The knife,” I said, to no one in particular but anyone who might be close enough to help.

“Give her the knife, Tansy,” Santiago shouted. He was hastily putting the pieces of the spell together. He twisted the lid off the jar of blood, and the second the smell of it hit the air, Gamigan stilled.

“What are you doing?” it demanded.

I smelled it too. The blood in the jar wasn’t human, and it was no animal I’d ever encountered either. It smelled dead, rotten, and if evil intent could have a scent, this blood was thick with it.

Before I could pinpoint what it was, the sharp stink of urine filled the night. Santiago had kicked over the little silver bowl, and the tiger piss was leaking into the inner chalk circle he’d drawn. When the urine and the blood met, Gamigan started to scream again.

“I’ll go back.
I’ll go back
.” It lashed from side to side, trying to break free of my grip. I had no idea how I was able to hold on, but with my arms and legs wrapped around it, the demon couldn’t get away. It shrieked and hissed. It wrenched me so hard my shoulder popped out of its socket.

I howled, my vision going completely red from the sudden, excruciating pain. Lots of things had hurt me, but having my shoulder ripped from its socket by an angry demon…that might just top the charts.

My breath was reduced to heavy panting, and with one arm now totally useless, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep the thing contained much longer.

“The
knife
,” I pleaded. “Tansy, do something useful for God’s sake and hand me the knife.”

She moaned and huddled herself into a smaller ball.

Cash appeared out of nowhere, scrambling over the line and pulling the ceremonial blade out of the dirt. It was still stained red with Tansy’s blood, and he hesitated for a moment before tossing it to me.

It landed next to my dislocated arm, and when I tried to get hold of it, I screamed. Even the smallest motion was too much. The arm just wouldn’t work, and any effort to make it listen to my commands sent a new spear of white-hot agony rocketing through me like lightning.

I met Cash’s eyes, his face filmy through the veil of tears obscuring my vision.

“Help me.”

He didn’t hesitate again. I thought he might leave me, might take Tansy and go, or leave her and get out himself. I don’t know if I’d have been mad at him if he’d abandoned me. I’d put him through a lot, and this request was big enough I might have understood if he didn’t do it. Even if it meant me dying.

But he stayed. He hopped over Tansy’s huddled form and scooped up the knife, and asked, “Where?”

“Heart. Heart. Heart.” I said it so many times the word lost all meaning, but I kept saying it anyway. “Heart. Heart.”

He plunged the ceremonial blade right into the demon’s chest, and it let out a scream so awful I was sure my ears must be bleeding. Cash covered his own ears, and Santiago stopped his work and flinched away from the sound.