Avenger (3 page)

Luke swallowed hard at the knowing look in those baby brown eyes. They narrowed into slits, and then the baby opened his mouth in an ear-splitting shriek.

In a blink of an eye, the mother was back in the room and a blink was all it took Luke to render himself invisible again. The mother cooed to her son and held him, patting his back. After few sniffles, the baby quieted down and she pulled the curtain to change, her back toward Luke and baby.

I can’t do it,
Luke said.

Look at those eyes,
Celestine said.

Yes. Babies didn’t have red-rimmed irises. The mother couldn’t see the savage way with which the babe stared at where Luke stood. The spirit couldn’t see him, but it knew he was there. Still, that didn’t reduce how wrong this exorcism felt.

As soon as the mother exited the fitting room, Luke strolled toward the exit. Luckily, the mother was at the cashier so she didn’t see him. Unfortunately, a shop assistant saw him step out of the fitting room.

“Sir!” She called after him. He didn’t pause. “Sir! This is a respectable outlet, we don’t’ allow this type of shenanigans in our shop.”

He ignored her. Surprisingly, Celestine didn’t nag at him for the failed extraction.

Outside the mall, Luke rounded a corner into an alleyway and leaned on the wall.

“You should strive to avoid situations that could lead to your corruption. A woman in a state of undress is one such situation,” Celestine said sourly as Luke jogged back to Pru.

He frowned. “You’re not angry that I couldn’t do it?”

After a moment of hesitation, Celestine said, “Your reaction is understandable, however, we must find a way to handle this situation in the future.”

“You don’t think it’s one off?”

“I do not know. What concerns me the most is your purity.”

“Let me worry about my purity, you should focus more on finding out why a baby was possessed. How about asking your Laymour buddies about this oddity?”

“You are right. If you are not hunting tonight any more, I will travel to the Laymour.”

Something held Luke back from discussing his intention to find Pru again. He shook his head. He knew too well what held him back. Celestine, an ethereal entity, hadn’t seen, heard, or sensed her, and until Luke confirmed he wasn’t imagining things or going insane, mum’s the word.

“No more hunting tonight. I promise.”

Chapter Four

Having cleared the matter with his charge, Celestine shot through the planes toward the Laymour to update the Pit Keeper on earthly spirit hunting matters. Serenity, tranquility, and hushed telepathic whispers calmed him, drawing him into the peaceful fold of his peers’ existence. Walking among humans tended to draw on his peacefulness, and working with Luke pulled all his strings and looped them into one tight knot.

With a sigh, Celestine glided on the white surface towards the levee. He nodded at one of his brethren and continued to the Dome. Naiten, the Pit Keeper, welcomed him with a nod and studied him from his high perch on the Watching Point above the pit. “You appear disheartened, Celestine. Are you still struggling with your ward?”

“It is more of a challenge than a struggle. Luke is unsettled and reminds me incessantly of the circumstances surrounding his acceptance of the spirit-hunting task.”

Naiten rose and descended the steps leading to the granite slap where Celestine stood. “We are aware of his disposition. It is difficult to give guidance to someone as stubborn as he.”

Celestine nodded. “He carries out his job well, in that regard I have no complaint. Nonetheless, he is not careful with his body, using it whichever way suits him because he knows Lidwien is within him to heal his wounds.”

Rubbing his beard, Naiten peered at Celestine. “Are you still confident he does not indulge in stimulants that cloud the judgment?”

“He never used any in my presence and upon questioning him, he denies it. Drugs are not my concern. Knives, bullets, and other methods of harming the body worry me more. He takes unnecessary risks.” Celestine shrugged. “I do not know how to bond with him.”

“You cannot have a solid relationship with all your wards. Perhaps Luke, with his tempestuous nature and wild ways, is meant to remain as your charge only.”

Celestine agreed, Luke might be the exception. As the Spirit Guide, though, Celestine hung in the middle, not with his brethren in the Laymour and not with any human on Earth. It was a lonely subsistence. Furthermore, Naiten’s predecessor, Keigan, had frowned upon the closeness Celestine shared with the previous Spirit Hunter. Perhaps she had discussed those worries with Naiten.

“We are having a situation on Earth,” he announced, steering the conversation to the reason for his visit.

Naiten glanced at the Pit’s turbid surface to gauge the level of the liquid. Previously, the liquid on the Pit’s surface had reduced and weakened the enclosure. As a result, the spirits escaped. Those spirits then
allowed
the Spirit Hunter at the time to capture and send them back to the Laymour. It took Celestine and the Domines sometime to figure out that the escaping and returning were means of communication between spirits on Earth and the ones in the Laymour. The Domines united their powers and came up with a better approach to securing the Pit. Now, beside the Pit’s enfolding liquid, mystical and unbreakable shackles were added to their security. The removal of those restraints required the presence of two Domines simultaneously.

Celestine said, “It is not another rush of escapees but incidents of unexplainable possessions.”

“Explain,” Naiten said.

“A possessed man on death row and a possessed infant are abnormal possessions. The first one took place during the previous hunter’s time. I cannot fathom what the spirits gain from residing in and bonding with imprisoned or immobile hosts.”

Naiten ran a finger over his lips and paced. As the convergent thinker among the Domines, Naiten weighed a problem’s consequences from all angles to develop a solution. Only then he would act. “How many of these incidents are there?”

“So far, I came across two. I am sensing it is a pattern of sorts.”

“Hmm. Patience is our best recourse. This could be a coincidence, a transit reckless spirit in an infant or a prisoner until it settled in a more suitable host. However, if you encounter more anomalies, we will have to develop a strategy.”

The possibility that the spirit might move to someone else eased Celestine’s guilt at not sharing Luke’s inability to extract it out of the baby. “You do not think this is part of the previous breach?”

“I will need more evidence to answer your question. What did Luke think?”

Celestine shifted uncomfortably. “He did find it odd that a spirit was within an infant, but we did not discuss it in details.”

Naiten asked, “Why not?”

“He was having an odd session, speaking to himself. Then he proceeded to explain he was conversing with a spirit. I heard and saw no one with him.”

Facing the Pit, Naiten entwined his hands behind his back. “If Luke is not using drugs and he is carrying his responsibilities without fail, I do not see how this can be explained.” He turned, facing Celestine. “Keep an eye on Luke. I do not think him a liar, but he might be deceived.”

Chapter Five

The public park’s small artificial lake was part of a breath-taking view. The reflections of lights from the other side danced off the water’s surface as though drifting gently towards the shore. Pru enjoyed that view as she sat on a wooden bench overlooking the lake.

Sat
wasn’t the right word, for she hovered over the bench. It was either that or go right through it. She was too stubborn to let go of that semblance of real life. Pru considered her options. She couldn’t keep on wandering about, alone for the rest of her life. A soft
meow
drew her back to her friends and she smiled at them. A couple of cats surrounded her, while occasionally a squirrel dashed in and out of trees. Few dogs barked and pulled on their leashes as they passed her by with their owners. She wasn’t truly alone. Her connection with animals remained even in this state. She didn’t lack companionship, she lacked communication
with
someone. Anyone.

She reached out to a cat. “I can’t ask you to sit on my lap, you’ll fall through, but how about you come closer?” The cat purred, stretched out, and finally swaggered toward Pru, without any fear or hesitation. In midstride, however, the cat went still.

“What’s wrong?” Pru asked, smiling. A crunch of leaves made her jump and turn around. Leaning on a cherry tree, Luke twirled a dry leaf between his fingers as he studied her silently.

“Oh, you,” she said with dismay and settled back on the bench, her gaze fixed on the lake. She wasn’t
that
desperate.

Without a word, Luke took the seat next to her and studied the same view.

Why is he here?

Reminiscing was out, since he still carried that sour-lemon expression on his rigid face. But,
God, his sandalwood earthly scent was heady, he must’ve been running or something.

“So, what will it take to let me exorcise you?”

He just had to open his mouth!
Since when did a hoodlum exorcist require permission to exorcise a ghost? That was beside the fact that she wasn’t some goddam ghost. “I should bribe you to exorcise me out of what? How does it work for you, really? Tell me.”

He twirled the leaf and leaned back further. “You know damn well you must stay still and allow me to inhale you to send you back.”

Of course. How else would it be?
Okay, so he had some ability to see the…whatever she had become, that didn’t give him the right to pervert the whole situation. “What am I? A fix? Look here, no one is going to do any snorting.” She paused as a thought occurred to her. “Or you know what? Go ahead. I give you my permission to inhale away.”

To her surprise, he first studied the night’s clear sky, leaned forward placing his face right by hers, and inhaled deeply. He’d mercifully closed his eyes for the act, his thick lips pursed together as though he was going to kiss her. Her heart still beat in her chest within her body, and she was willing to bet good money its rate had gone through the roof at this closeness to Luke. She closed her eyes, only to snap them wide open when she found herself about to sniff him back in return.

After what felt like an hour of inhaling, he murmured, “It’s not working.” He sounded confused and downright pissed.

“Earth to Weirdo! Why would it work?” Her voice quivered. She didn’t like that.

He wet his lips, confused still. “How come you don’t have an aura?”

Pru shook her head. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Everyone, except you, has an aura.”

“I guess I’m a freak of nature then.”

Luke smirked, mumbling something that sounded like, “that you are.”

She snapped at him, “What was that?”

Instead of answering her, he studied the cats now sitting further away from them. “How come they were sitting by your feet?”

Pru huffed. “You’re full of questions, aren’t you?” When he remained silent, she said, “Remember how I was with animals back in the day? Well, as it turned out, I have an affinity with them. They are drawn to me as I am to them, which explains why I chose my field of work.”

She studied his rugged and muscular body, his hard merciless eyes, and the dimple in one cheek whenever he smirked. “What have
you
become? It’s as though I never knew you.”

He sniggered. “Most of your kind know
of
me.”

Tired of his cryptic, short responses, she asked, “And that is?”

“If you don’t know then I won’t tell you. Why haven’t you settled in a body yet? There are many suicide-prone, drug addicts, and sick people around. Shall I tempt you into entering one?”

“And why would I want to do that? I still have my body.”

He sat forward and glanced around in feigned amazement. “Where is it?”

Whether he was a medium or not, she wasn’t about to tell him how to find her defenseless body. Pru wouldn’t put it past him to do something sick with it.

He sighed. “I want to send you to where you belong, except you’re not helping.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at her forehead.

Consciously, Pru touched her hair. “What now?” she asked.

“The cut on your forehead. Its trace is still visible after all these years.”

She caressed the scar in question and smiled. “A childhood trophy to prove I owned the neighborhood.”

Instead of a smile, he blinked slowly at her, as though in thought. So far, his way of thinking wasn’t all that encouraging.

He turned away from her and cursed wholeheartedly. “This isn’t going anywhere and I need some shuteye.”

“So, you’ll just leave?” Pru bit her tongue. Yes, she was that desperate for company.

Luke’s jaw convulsed with a tick. He shook his head, rose, and walked away from her. Was he going to ignore her? Hell if she’d let that happen.

While she played cat and mouse with him, Pru found herself gaining a bit of confidence, some reassurance that her existence wasn’t hopeless, that there might be a way to get back in her body. She didn’t want to lose the one person who made her feel human. She waved goodbye to the cats and fell in step with him, determined to haunt him like the ghost he tagged her to be. “You’re going home?”

A side-glance. “Yes, and you’re not invited.”

Who needs an invitation?
Pru had decided they were going to become best buddies until she found someone civilized to talk to or until she got her body back. Whichever came first.

Chapter Six

At the shriek of the alarm clock, Luke flung the bed cover and sighed his frustration at the worst sleep he had ever had. He rechecked the time, it was indeed half past three in the afternoon.

No privacy in my own house
.

Pru had followed him home last night and shadowed every move he made, except when he went to the bathroom. He finally fell into a restless and very much interrupted sleep despite her chatter about the moon and the stars. After that, the night of his death played again through his dreams.