One Handsome Devil (35 page)

Katra forced a moment of bravado. “Great. That's where Jack will look first when he gets here."

"I shot him. He's dead.” Derrick sounded almost panicky.

"He's a demon. You can't kill him."

"
I
can.” Derrick was too dumb to be afraid. “Mona, why don't you run and get my whips ready? We'll have a little party for Katra."

"I can do anything she can do.” Mona put her hands on her hips and puffed out her ample chest.

Derrick had found exactly the right approach to anger Katra's sister.

"Then you can take this for her.” He reached out and slapped Mona across the face. “You'll do what I tell you."

Slapping Mona distracted him just enough for Derrick's knife to waver from Katra's throat. She used that momentary opportunity to grab his arm with both hands and twist away.

"Finally.” Sara brought a pottery replica of the nativity down on Derrick's head. He collapsed to the ground with a thud like a wet mop.

"I should have know you would be here somewhere,” Mona said. “Did you kill him?"

Katra knelt down and felt Derrick's pulse. “He's still alive."

"I'll tie him up,” Mona said. “I've learned some new knots over the past week.” She efficiently stripped off Derrick's belt and used it to hogtie him.

"You sure you know whose side you're on?” Katra asked.

"Which side hit me?"

"Good answer.” Katra stooped to pick up Derrick's knife.

"Where did the other one go?” Sara brushed the remains of Reverend Bob's nativity scene from her hands and looked around the wreck of an office.

"Bert? He should be over by the desk.” Katra gestured toward where she'd been hiding. No Bert.

"I think we're in trouble.” Mona stepped to the office door, closed it, then snapped the lock.

A thought popped into Sara's mind so quickly she wondered if Jack might still be connected to her somehow. “I'll bet the Reverend Bob lied to us about Derrick's criminal record. Let's drag him out the way we came, call the police and tell them he assaulted us, and turn him in. He'd be the one in trouble and we won't even have to lie."

Mona shook her head grimly. “He'd get fifty of the Reverend Bob's followers to testify against you. Still, getting out of here is a good idea.” The door shook as something heavy smashed into it. Probably one of the Reverend Bob's followers’ heads.

Sara grabbed one of Derrick's arms and Katra grabbed the other. Together they strained to drag him out the exterior door where they'd entered.

Mona peeked out that door, then slammed it. “Uh oh."

"What?"

"It's the Reverend Bob with some of his pet police."

"Oh, yeah, we're in trouble all right,” Katra said. “There's only one thing to do."

Sara peeked out the barred window. At least eight patrol cars sat in the storefront church's parking lot, their flashers blinking and their radios creating a cacophony of sound. “What? Surrender and hope for the best?” It was all Sara could think to do.

"Castrate Derrick before he rapes anyone else,” Katra shot back. “We'll toss them his balls so they know we mean business."

Mona nodded her agreement. “Rope him, geld him, and brand him. That's the only way to treat that kind of creature."

Sara had forgotten about the year Mona had spent in the rodeo circuit. She'd probably learned some of her rope tricks there too.

"I really don't think castration is the answer we're looking for,” she said with as much calmness as she could muster. “There's got to be some way we can get out of here."

Reverend Bob's phone rang.

Mona started for it, then stopped. “Should we answer that?"

Sara considered ignoring it, then nodded. “The police already know we're in here. Maybe we'll have some good luck for a change."

"Okay.” Mona picked up the phone. “Hello."

A brief pause. “No, my sister and her friend were just visiting me at the compound. I don't know what Bert told you but he had a fight with Derrick.” Another pause. “Well, maybe he's trying to cover it up so he won't get in trouble."

She put her hand over the microphone. “They don't believe me."

"Tell them that Derrick attacked you and Katra,” Sara suggested.

Mona started to explain exactly that when the sound of a helicopter drowned her out.

"Drop your weapons and come out with your hands up,” the magnified voice urged.

Mona hung up the phone, then stared down at the now-conscious and struggling Derrick.

"I'm going to love seeing you three in court,” Derrick gloated. “Assault, kidnaping, threatened bodily harm. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't throw the book at the lot of you. Ten to twenty for sure."

Sara caught Katra while she was still in the middle of a windup to kick the bejeezus out of him. “He's just trying to get us to mark him or something."

"Let's give him what he wants then,” Katra said. “We're in trouble anyway. We might as well do something to make it worthwhile."

"Katra, you've got to think of something.” Mona's voice caught and a tear rolled down her cheek. “I don't want to go to jail."

"You're right. I think it's time to put your romantic problems behind you,” Katra said, apropos of nothing that Sara could figure out.

"Are you talking to me or her?” Mona gestured in Sara's direction.

Katra glared at Sara. “Come on, Sara. We need his help. And don't pretend like you don't know who I'm talking about."

Sara shivered. A part of her wanted to call on Jack, to rest in his arms again as they flew over Dallas even if it meant surrendering her soul. It was tempting, but she didn't have to give in to the temptation. “You don't understand. He's more dangerous than that mob of idiots out there."

"Keep that demon away from me,” Derrick wailed, his confidence of a few minutes ago forgotten. “I'll kill all of you if you bring him in here."

Katra put her hands on her hips and glared at Sara. “The reason we need him is that he
is
more dangerous than the lot of them. He has to be."

"But—"

Katra kicked at Derrick's hand as it reached for a chair. “Finish tying him up, Mona. Sara is calling in the big guns."

"If everyone learns that we've been doing magic—"

"Get real,” Katra interrupted. “It's too late to worry about the little things. Where do you think my teaching job is going to be once the Reverend Bob spins this story?” She plunged ahead, answering her own question. “I'll be out on my butt. Of course you'll never have a chance to start your exploration business. And Mona won't be able to do anything even she's started to get her head straight."

"I resemble that remark."

Katra and Mona broke up together and Sara felt the beginning of a smile. Despite everything else that had been going on, the beginning of a reconciliation between the sisters was good news.

She forced the incipient grin from her face. “He possessed you, Katra. If I called him back, I'd be betraying you and myself."

"I already told you, he helped me. Not just with my math skills, either. He let me look at my whole life in a new way."

"But—"

"I asked him in. I suspect you did too, although you didn't know what you were asking.” Katra's face took on a far-away look. “I can understand why it scares you, Sara. I mean, to me, he was just a demon. But when he came into me, it wasn't just him in me, it was me in him. I could see his feelings, his fears. And trust me, there are things he's afraid of although you wouldn't guess it from the way he acts. With a guy I loved, that sort of possession compared to sex would be a nuclear bomb compared with a hand grenade. ‘Course you got both."

The helicopter swung back. “Surrender now and it will go easier on you."

As the chopper climbed away, Sara heard the deadly sound of shotgun shells being chambered.

An uneasy feeling had invaded Jack's workplace making it hard for him to think. He puttered with his book, flipped through those human texts he hadn't taken time to assimilate when he'd been in Hell, and occasionally checked on Sara. How could she put herself into that kind of danger?

"Jack.” Sara's voice called to him through the hole he'd created between dimensions.

Sara's thoughts were too filled with anger, fear, and a sense of betrayal for him to bear, yet he continually returned to them like an addict unable to resist a fix that he knows is destroying him.

"Jack, we need you."

He tried to ignore her, to return to his book. Impossible. The shadow of Sara's voice which penetrated through the flaw in the dimensional wall washed away all of his ability to reason.

He scowled at his precious library, then strode to the gap between the worlds.

"Jack, we need your help. Please, before it's too late."

He pressed his hands against the gap but too little of his matter remained for him to widen it further. He was trapped in this in-between world, unable to help. Able only to hear the suffering of the woman he loved.

Why had it seemed like heaven to him before?

"Jack, they're going to hurt us."

He had to answer, yet the only way he could answer was through the link he'd created directly in Sara's mind. The link he had created during that brief moment when her defenses had been down and he'd allowed his spirit to merge with her soul.

I can't come to you.
The denial lasered between universes.

"I know I betrayed you, but I really need your help."

Even if I dared, I couldn't come. I've lost too much of my matter to exist in your plane.
Even if he made it through the barrier, the soul winds would soon sweep his spirit back to hell.

"You came before."

I had centuries to accumulate the matter I used to create my body. Now that is gone.

"We have a lot of matter here."

I can't absorb just anything. Not so quickly anyway.

"What could you absorb?"

He thought about that. If an angel happened along, it could share ethereal matter. No angel would agree to help a demon. If Sara attracted enough imps, he could absorb their mass/energy. Except in his current weakened state, they would absorb him rather than the reverse.

The only thing I can think of would be real human matter. I'd need quite a bit, like what you'd get from a human sacrifice.
It was the time-honored way of bringing a demon across the walls of hell. For most demons, it had the added advantage of allowing them to add to their mass rather than deplete it as Jack had done to his own. It was also exactly the wrong thing to suggest to Sara and he knew it. Still, he chose to tell Sara the truth.

The bond between them had grown to the point where he felt Sara's shudder and hear her words.

"He says lighting a few candles aren't going to do it this time. He wants a human sacrifice.” Sara's disgust and horror overrode his protest that he'd just been answering her question.

"Derrick won't be much of a loss,” Katra said. “Would he absorb him completely so there wouldn't be any evidence?"

"Katra."

Derrick's moan echoed through Sara's mind and on to Jack. “Keep that demon away from me."

"That would serve ol’ Derrick right,” Mona agreed. “That two-timing scum deserves to die."

Maybe I can help without being there,
Jack offered.
Tell me your condition.

Sara started to talk but then simply concentrated on what she'd done, how the women had gotten to where they were.

With every step, Jack felt despair closing on him. He couldn't affect that many minds through the walls between the dimensions. If he was to accomplish anything, he needed to be there.

Pray
, he suggested.

"He wants us to pray,” Sara echoed.

"For all the good that will do me,” Mona answered. “I pray every night that I'll wake up fifty pounds lighter and I never do."

Sara's thoughts froze, then blurred faster than Jack could follow. “Does all the mass have to come from one person?"

Jack considered. It shouldn't matter.
No.

"Do they all have to be in the same place?"

Close enough to touch.

How much do you need? Absolute minimum.

It wasn't a question with an easy answer. Five pounds would be enough if he had to pop in, answer a question, then return to Hell. Two hundred pounds would make him perfectly happy. Somewhere in between he'd be weakened, but strong enough to withstand the spirit winds, to survive.

Maybe one hundred and twenty.

"We've got to come up with a hundred and twenty spare pounds between us,” Sara said. “Mona, can you really spare fifty pounds?"

"Only if I wanted hips like yours. Like I wouldn't kill for them."

"Can I decide where they come from?” Katra wanted to know.

"Can she?"

It was an absolutely insane idea. Always before, he'd been able to harvest the dying remnants of a whole animal. Still, there was no law that said it couldn't work. Maybe it would.
I think so.

"Cool. He says you can give up whatever you want."

"I should have finished that gallon of ice cream before I left,” Mona groaned.

"You did.” Katra's voice turned thoughtful. “I can give up ten from my hips, five from my waist, and five from my thighs."

"I can't believe I'm getting demonic liposuction.” Mona actually giggled. “Who would have thought human sacrifice would be so easy."

"Derrick looks like he could stand to lose about fifty pounds so that would do it,” Katra concluded. “Make sure he takes Derrick's nuts as part of the deal."

"No.” Derrick's denial was practically a scream.

"Don't listen to him,” Katra urged. “Nobody would believe him if he went around saying a demon had cut off his nuts."

It must be voluntary.
They were so close.

"I could give up twenty.” Sara's voice sounded uncertain and Jack knew why. Sara's body had been slimly perfect when he'd been with her. Since then, she'd lost ten pounds. She was already at the point of being too thin.

No.

"I guess I could give up my boobs.” Katra sounded doubtful. Too doubtful. Her doubts would destroy the spell.