Tonight?
“Yes, child. The time has come.”
Ivy clapped her hands. “What are you two talking about? I can hear something, but not quite. It’s a sort of murmuring just inside my ear.”
I shook my head, and said to Millicent, “Is nothing sacred?”
Millicent laughed. “Patience.”
“There you two go again. I hope you’re not talking about me,” Ivy said.
“Nothing bad,” I said.
“The two of you can speak telepathically?” she asked.
“We can,” I admitted.
Ivy clapped her hands. “Oh, cool! I can’t wait to try that! So what do we do now?”
“We destroy a demon,” I said.
“And then we can practice telepathy?”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “One thing at a time.”
My phone rang, and I glanced at the Caller I.D. Restricted Call. I had gotten this same type of call just yesterday, when Detective Smithy had called. I had no doubt that it was him again. I also had no doubt that it was going to be bad news.
“Hello, Detective,” I said, answering, and waving for Ivy to keep quiet.
“Liz Turner was found dead in her jail cell an hour ago,” he said without any preamble.
“Dead? How?”
“Bit off her tongue, bled to death in bed.”
“But I thought she was on suicide watch.”
“She was. And they thought she was asleep. By the time they suspected something was wrong...it was too late.”
“Shit,” I said.
“I second that,” said the detective.
Chapter Twenty-three
The house, if anything, seemed even more ominous as it loomed before us.
And why wouldn’t it? Now that I knew a demon had been roaming within it for nearly a century, I was, I would freely admit, scared shitless.
Ivy and I stood at the bottom of the driveway, holding hands. Ivy, for her part, stood with wide-eyed wonderment. Millicent had warned me that the girl was reckless. I would have to be wary of that. Or, at least, stay on the lookout for it...and maybe rein it in, if possible.
I was more than a little concerned that Billy hadn’t been answering my calls. Once I established a connection with someone, I could generally reconnect with them later. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to re-establish the connection with Billy.
That, of course, concerned me even more.
In fact, I’d never not been able to re-establish a connection. What it meant was too horrible to consider.
I saw again the image I had seen days ago, when Billy had first appeared to me via the Psychic Hotline. It was an image I had been doing my best to ignore. So, I pushed it aside now...and walked up the driveway with Ivy by my side. We continued holding hands. There were no cars in the driveway this time.
As we approached the front door, the house seemed even bigger than I remembered. Perhaps knowing that it was also the residence of something sick and sinister had changed my perception of its beauty. As we approached the darkened porch, I couldn’t help but feel that this was a very, very bad idea.
No, that wasn’t it. This was a good idea. Ridding the Earth of this...thing...was a good idea. I knew, in fact, that I was terrified to face it. I nearly turned around a half-dozen times and fled. In fact, it was Ivy’s steady grip that propelled me further.
She and I were, of course, not alone.
There, standing at the front porch, drifting on the currents of space and time, was Millicent. I doubted Ivy could see her at the moment. It took, I knew, a high level of second sight to see into the spirit world. I wasn’t quite as adept at it as, say, Samantha Moon, but I was getting stronger, and my second sight was getting clearer. Millicent wasn’t very clear. She was, in fact, an amorphous Millicent-shaped figure. By the way she stood, I knew her hands were clasped before her.
The plan had been simple. Millie would scout ahead, if possible. I knew that she didn’t have access to all places at all times. Some folks set boundaries around their home. Something as simple as, say, a saging of a house, or a blessing, or anything else designed to keep spirits away. Whether good or bad, all spirits were forced to recognize and respect such intentions.
“There are many lost souls within,” she said, her words appearing just inside my ears. “But he is alone.”
I nodded. “Good.”
“But Allie...”
I knew what she would say. “I know,” I said, taking in a lot of breath.
“You know what?” asked Ivy.
“I’m speaking with Millicent,” I said.
“Oh, right. I wish I could do that someday.”
I suspected she would, but for now, I looked at my spirit friend. “He’s gone, isn’t he?”
“Completely, child. He is lost to us.”
I nodded. Shit.
“Who’s gone?” asked Ivy.
I filled her in quickly and quietly. The street was quiet. In fact, I had heard no cars and had seen no pedestrians. It was a perfect night for demon hunting.
“There’s more, child,” said Millicent. “There is death inside. Be prepared.”
I nodded, although I wasn’t sure how to prepare myself. I warned Ivy as well. “Inside, there is death. Are you ready?”
There was, of course, a slightly wicked gleam in her eye. Yeah, she might be trouble. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
I didn’t bother with knocking. Instead, I raised my hands, and, summoning the power that was always waiting within me—a power that swirled in and around and through me—I blew the front double doors off their hinges.
“Holy shit!” said Ivy when all the crashing finally subsided and the dust settled. “How did you—”
“Never mind that,” I said, grabbing her hand. “C’mon.”
Chapter Twenty-four
The stench was overwhelming.
I tried to fight the vomit that rose as I searched for a light switch. No good. As my groping hands hit a switch, I let go of Ivy’s hand, turned my head and launched what I’d eaten for dinner tonight. I held myself up against the wall, as more of my dinner and probably some lunch and breakfast came up, too.
Ivy wasn’t having the same problem. As I stood, wiping my mouth, she was already moving through the house.
“Wait—” I said, holding my stomach.
“It’s coming from the kitchen. Stay here. Let me have a look. I have a feeling I can handle this stuff better than you. I played a crime scene investigator in my last movie and there was a lot of fake gore. You should have seen the gross things that I had to do...”