Mathieu (18 page)

Write soon

—G—.”

He placed the letter down and then reached over and took one out of the middle of Eddie’s stack. He became even more alarmed as he read.

“Dearest Amanda,

In answer to your question: Yes. The blood must be your own. It cannot be from a base animal like a chicken or pig because those animals do not possess souls. It cannot be from another human because the bond we are going to form is encompassed and built on your blood on your side, as it will be built by my blood on my side.

My dearest love, I know you’re frightened but don’t be. When we are together, I promise I will embrace you and cherish you and give you power and joy beyond measure. Together we will have untold, immeasurable power that will span the worlds.

Remember
to study the characters in the books in the library so that you’ll know how to write exactly what I tell you.

Soon we will be together and will know the truest of love-bonds.

—G—.”

“God in heaven.” Mathieu put down the letter and rested his head in his hands. “It wanted the fifth binding. It used her own mind to seduce her and got her to inscribe that spell so that it could try for the fifth binding.”

Marcus put down his letter. “The fifth binding is what exactly?”

Mathieu broke a piece off his cookie and crumbled it between his fingers before looking around the table at all the expectant faces. “Love.”

“Love?” Jenn repeated. “That sounds kind of… you know… hokey. Like bad movie hokey.”

Sighing heavily, Mathieu brushed his hands off over the plate. “There are supposedly five bindings that Demons can use to bind a human to them in order to be able to use us to hold their power and knowledge. Pain, fear, blood, sex, and love. The first four are easily accomplished in one act and will bind a human very effectively. The iron chain with four links….” He touched his neck and shuddered. “The fifth binding—love— is supposed to be the most elusive and the most important of the bindings. I think it’s a legend, personally.”

“Why do you say that?” Marcus leaned forward, listening intently.

“Supposedly the fifth binding will give the Demon unprecedented power because then it would have access to a soul given willingly to him. With a willing soul, they’d be able to travel to other worlds that are closed to them now, cause more mischief here, have greater spans of control and possibly take more than one human in bondage to store their power, which would make them even more powerful again. Supposedly it turns the chain to gold.”

“Sort of like a mystical Viagra, right?” Eddie quipped from his side of the table.

“
What does that mean?” Mathieu asked after the nervous laughter died down.

“Uhm. Let’s just say that it means it’s supposed to pump up something small into something bigger and better. Or at something operational.” Eddie giggled at his own humor while Susan shook her head.

“Ah. Yes, you could say that but I would assume this Viagra you refer to exists. I’ve yet to see any evidence that the fifth binding does. I’m quite sure that our friend in the letters didn’t achieve it.”

“You’re awfully sure of that. Why?” Marcus waved his hand over the piles of letters. “He put a lot of work into trying to get it from her, so why don’t you think he succeeded?”

“Beside the fact that this house is still standing and humanity isn’t involved in a world spanning war against evil?” Mathieu shrugged. “I think that they’re incapable of love and incapable of inspiring it in others. They want to command that which cannot be commanded and they have no way of comprehending why they can’t.”

“It sure sounds like she was going along with it from these letters, though. Nice little terms of endearment and references to their ‘mutual joining’.” Susan read the phrase from the letter in her hand and winced. “Christ, she had to be a virgin to fall for this shit.”

Mathieu leaned forward and tapped the pile of letters in front of him. “Just because it made her write a lot of letters doesn’t mean that she was going to fall in love at first sight, either. My thought is that the creature became frustrated when she wasn’t able to gift it with the fifth binding the moment it appeared and took matters into its own hands to force the other four on her and try for the fifth later. That’s common with them.”

“You’re talking about rape, aren’t you? You’re saying it raped her. That doesn’t make any sense at all.” Susan wasn’t angry this time, just not comprehending.

“
I keep saying that everything with them is about power. The act itself is not about sexual desire but the desire to exert power over another. Inflicting pain gives them power. Humiliation gives them power. Control gives them power.”

Dwayne cleared his throat and looked down pointedly at Mathieu’s hands. He’d mangled the cookie without noticing what he was doing. He gave a sheepish look and brushed his hands off over the plate before pushing it away.

“It seems kind of short sighted to think that you could make someone love you after you did that to them first. I’d say three of the first four are mutually exclusive of the fifth.” Carol swept the mangled cookie away and replaced it with a fresh one.

“That was always my thought on the matter.” Mathieu said. “In the long run my thoughts didn’t matter much.”

“No?” Dwayne asked quietly.

“No.” Mathieu pushed the letters in front of him into a neat pile and turned to Marcus. “We need to find out the history of this house. It is not normal for a house to hold a creature able to exert its will on you to write letters to yourself, much less have you take them out to the mailbox to find the next day.”

“That’s an understatement and a half.” Marcus reached over a pad of paper and started making a list. “Eddie, you need to run into town first thing tomorrow and do some research down at City Hall. Pull the deed and see who the previous owners were.”

“I would very much like to know who the current owner is as well.” Mathieu said quietly. “I have a strong suspicion that your friend is not the owner, or not the only one.”

Marcus nodded. “And any liens or mortgages, Eddie. Anyone or anything connected to the ownership of this house, we need to know. Susan, go with him and check out the local library. They’re big into local history here and I know this house is listed in the Historical Register. There’s got to be something about the construction and original owner there, and if there are any local legends or stories about them.”

“
You want copies of everything, of course?” Susan smiled grimly.

“Absolutely.” Marcus took a quick swig of his coffee and made another note. “Carol and Jenn, you two know more about the stuff in the Foundation archives than anyone else here. I need you to find those books to which our letter writing fiend was referring.”

“Check.” Jenn nodded and rubbed his shoulder. “What about you?”

Indicating Dwayne and Mathieu, he said, “The three of us have got a date to go check out something in the woods in the morning and then to see if we can adapt that spell downstairs to something we can use to force that thing into giving her back.”

Mathieu frowned but held his tongue and nodded.

“Anything else?” Marcus looked around the table, meeting each set of eyes before looking back down at his list. “Hugh is going to be here late tomorrow afternoon. Why don’t we meet here for lunch around 1:00 and go over what we’ve found before he gets here. Eddie, Susan, can you pick up something in town? Maybe some Chinese?”

“As if they’d have decent Chinese food around here.” Eddie sniffed derisively.

Susan rolled her eyes and laughed. “Great. You had to get him started, didn’t you? Everywhere we go, it’s the same thing. No place is ever going to be as good as his dad’s restaurant.”

Again there was laughter around the table and Marcus shook his head and smiled. “Everyone get some sleep.” He looked over at his partners for tomorrow. “Dwayne, I need your head clear tomorrow. Mathieu, I need you…” He paused and then continued, “I need you here.”

“We’re still sleeping here?” Susan asked.

“I don’t see any reason not to. Nothing has happened to any of you the past few nights. I think whatever it is got what it wanted.”

“I agree,” Mathieu said. “I don’t feel any ill intent here, just the blankness of heavy warding.”

“
I call the couch.” Dwayne leaned forward and started collecting plates and mugs from the others.

“You just call it because you know that’s all you’re going to get anyway.” Jenn laughed as she began to help him.

“I told you I could see the future,” Dwayne answered in a mock-sad voice. “Actually it’s because the kitchen light shines right through the door and lights it up real nice during the night. Keeps it from getting too dark. Nite.” He left the room.

“Sleep well, Dwayne.” Jenn turned to Mathieu. “Where do you want to sleep tonight? We can let you have one of the bedrooms to lock yourself in, if you want.”

Mathieu considered and then shook his head. “I think I’ll sit outside and watch the stars. I thank you, though.” With a polite nod to the rest of them, he left.

After a long moment Carol spoke. “I assume at some point you all will be telling the rest of us the story behind that. Doesn’t eat. Doesn’t sleep. Knows entirely too much of the forbidden knowledge, and knows even more about things that I suspect would be forbidden if we knew about it at all.”

“It’s not our story to tell, even if we knew the whole thing.” Marcus shrugged. “Just leave it at he knows what he’s talking about and he wants to help.”

“And the rest of it? I’m really not comfortable with us almost coming to blows earlier. I don’t even want to think about the knife.” Carol crossed her arms and waited.

“He’s fragile.” Jenn said before Marcus could answer. “But when everyone holds it together like just now, he’s fine. He’s just really, really sensitive to people and emotions.”

“Especially negative emotions. That’s why Susan and Eddie are going into town tomorrow while we’re staying here.” Marcus said. “No offense to you two, but it was Susan who started that whole mess. When you’re not fucking each other through the mattress, you’re screaming
and
throwing dishes at each other. We don’t need another incident to derail us from what we’re here to do.”

Eddie shrugged and grabbed Susan around the waist when she started to protest. “It’s the nature of the passionate relationship we have, I’m afraid. Speaking of which, it’s time for bed. Good night.”

Susan pulled away for a moment. “Marcus, Jenn. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I know that I get out of control sometimes. I promise I’ll try harder to keep calm.” She waved and then she and Eddie left the room, their steps becoming more uneven as they tried to kiss and climb the stairs at the same time.

“Well, it’ll be at least an hour before any of us can get to sleep now.” Carol sighed and then looked back at Marcus. “Dwayne feels some kind of attachment to your friend as well. I trust your judgment and I trust Dwayne’s instincts. He’s incredibly wise in his innocence.” She smiled grimly and then listened for a long moment. “I think the hallway might be all clear for us to get to the bedrooms without any splatter from those two.”

They left, leaving the kitchen light on so that it would illuminate the library for Dwayne.

C
hapter Twenty - Seven

Dawn came and painted intense pinks and oranges across the sky. Mist rose from the woods down the hill and softened the colors and faded them into the blue of the sky.

Mathieu quietly opened the screen door and stepped up onto the porch. Closing the door behind him with a small click, he opened his senses and felt the first stirrings of movement in the rooms above.

He glanced back down at the base of the hill—back to where he’d spent the night watching the stars. The wards on the house and the wards in the woods had made it seem as though he’d been miles from anyone else and had made this third night with his new companions the easiest yet, even if being alone with his thoughts had been harder.

The door to the house opened and Dwayne shuffled out, ruffling his hair and smacking his lips. “Morning,” he grumbled as he stretched, the bones in his spine and neck popping and crackling.

“Good morning.” Mathieu nodded in return.

Dwayne peeled open one bleary eye and looked at Mathieu. “How the hell do you do that?”

Looking around the room and then back at Dwayne, Mathieu asked, “Do what?”

“Look as fresh as a daisy. I know for a fact you didn’t sleep a wink and I know for a fact you spent the night down in the field. I watched you.” Dwayne rubbed his face and grumbled quietly. “I bet your breath doesn’t even stink.”

Cupping
his hand in front of his mouth, Mathieu blew out and inhaled. “No. Should it?”

“Let me get some caffeine in me and I’ll tell you all the reasons that question is so completely wrong.” Dwayne shuffled back to the door and opened it, gesturing Mathieu to go first.

They walked together down the wide hallway and into the kitchen where Dwayne began a shambling search through the cabinets. “Coffee. Coffee. Damn it. Coffee,” he muttered under his breath.

Mathieu shook his head and sat at the table, picking up one of the letters left there from the night before. He stared at it for a long moment before opening it and starting to read.

“Totally fucked up.” Dwayne poured water into the coffeemaker and pressed the start button before coming to sit at the table across from him.

“That’s one way to put it.” Mathieu finished the letter in his hands and picked up another. “Probably the most apt way as well.”

“It really is amazing how a little bit of obscenity can describe just about anything to a T.”

“It’s a gift,” Mathieu answered absently as he read.

“Are you learning anything new from that?” Dwayne cocked his head at the letter in Mathieu’s hand.

“Only how skillful the one who did this was at blinding your friend to its true nature.”

Dwayne sighed. “Yeah. You’d think she’d have had twigged into something when he started talking about using her own blood.”