Conjuring Darkness (2 page)

Chapter One

Lexi quickly glanced in the mirror hanging on the wall. It was more of a habit than anything, much like the halfhearted effort she took to run her fingers through her shoulder length auburn hair before she headed out the door. Just like every day before, she deftly gathered it in a quick ponytail, shouldered her bag, and grabbed her keys.

Before opening the door, she tapped the old gold ring that she wore on the small finger of her left hand against the brass door knob. The ring was the only thing she owned that had been her mother’s, and she never took it off. After she made a few more clinking sounds a fuzzy black cat came bounding down the stairs. A series of rapid thumps resonated in the old house. They were the telltale signs of a very spoiled and very portly feline.

In a cartoon-like scene the cat’s back legs slipped as it skidded across the dark wooden floorboards and around the corner. The cat gained traction and speed as it bolted across the faux Persian runner, and then it came to an abrupt stop. The cat looked at Lexi with a wide eyed stare as if it were trying to hypnotize Lexi with its bright yellow eyes. The cat sang out a single “meow” pleading to come along for the day. “Hello there, Allie cat. Okay fine, you can come along, you bowling ball with a tail.” Together they walked out the front door.

The familiar squeaks from the worn wooden boards on the front porch comforted Lexi. She had been living in the old Victorian style farmhouse for just over a year. The realty agent was more than optimistic when he described it as a piece of history, a fixer-upper, and a handyman’s dream. He told her that it was a steal at the price and anyone with a little gumption could turn this diamond-in-the-rough into a polished gem.

Lexi learned later that the do-it-yourself old house shows on television were just as misleading as the agent had been. Anything that exceeded Lexi’s skill level and budget had to wait. Still, Lexi was proud of her creativity and the improvements she had accomplished.

When her sister saw pictures of the place, she thought it was a style created by accident. Her actual words were, “It looks like a bargain-mart truck crashed into a flea market. Then some drunken elves picked up the debris and decided to throw it all over your house, Lexi!”

Lexi smiled as she remembered Kate’s voice. It had been so long since she had seen her. She wondered how Kate was handling the grief of losing her husband, Kurt two years ago. As she opened the door to let Allie into the truck, she looked up into the large tree that reached a long arm towards her bedroom window. There was an owl in that tree the night before. Lexi recalled how it looked then as she peered through her bedroom window. She had seen the owl as a horned silhouette against the full moon. It chanted a few lonely notes into the night and then sat still and silent as if it were gazing back at Lexi
.

As she replayed the scene in her head she felt a chilly uneasiness once again. She wondered why the owl seemed to bother her.
Well, it’s
not there now. Aren’t owls an omen for something? An ancient symbol for sure. I’ve got to remember to ask Kate about it the next time we talk.
To Lexi, things like omens were simply trivia topics, and they held no useful purpose, other than to spur one’s curiosity.

Lexi’s old truck bounced and jolted its way down the deserted highway towards town. Allie stretched herself across the faded and cracked dashboard to soak in the morning sun. Lexi loved driving across the open plain towards the mountains on the horizon. After so many years of feeling stifled by the crowded and humid east coast, this new open place renewed her thirst for adventure.

Southwest Montana was a spotless sheet of paper just waiting for her to write her own future. The last thing she wanted was to be confined into one of the expected roles of the citizens in the sprawling cities. To have had accepted a fate like that would have killed her very soul. Lexi thought that too many people were already forced to wade through a pool of hypocrisy in order to survive.

For some people, picking up and moving cross country into a new life might be considered a fool’s journey, but for Lexi it was a purposeful step taken into the unknown. Montana was one of those places where she felt a person could be propelled into anything. As soon as she had received her bachelor’s degree, she found a little dusty corner bookstore for sale on an online listing, and she bought it...sight unseen. The two made their epic journey from Virginia to Montana a year prior. The ever faithful Allie was a good listener when it came to Lexi’s singing and travel commentary.

An entire year had gone by and Lexi started to feel something that was a bit unexpected, boredom. That first year was chaotic and busy, but Lexi relished in the challenge as she took on the repairs to her house and opened her store. Now that her life had finally settled into a routine, she found herself missing the hectic, yet satisfying feeling she got from conquering each new task. Lexi longed for something truly exciting and adventurous to happen to her. It seemed to Lexi that perhaps the only romance and adventure she could expect to find, would probably come from between the covers of her cherished novels.

Lexi pulled up to the curb and parked in front of her store. The large glass windows displayed an array of carefully selected new books. She had arranged some hiking guides, a few local western books, and a very visible display of books about fly fishing. In a town like this, you had to know who the paying customers were, if you expected to keep the lights on. The mountains, parks, and blue ribbon trout streams in the area attracted exactly the type of people Lexi wanted to get through her door. Large red letters prominently showed the name: “THE LEXICON, Books & More, Lexi Salenko, Owner.” 

She followed her usual sequence of turning on the lights, radio, and computer. Allie made a half-hearted attempt to be on mouse patrol as she strolled between the display racks. Once the cat felt satisfied that she had reasonably completed her duties, she transformed into a fluffy black ball on a bookshelf.

The store was small, but it had some additional space in a loft section that was accessible by ornate wrought iron spiral stairs. The upper area made a cozy place for various collectable antique books that sold surprisingly well. The old, red brick walls of the store were decorated with framed poster art that was inspired by classic literature. Lexi looked around and felt satisfied with the niche she had created for herself in Montana. Even though it depleted the remaining balance of the trust fund left to her by her parents.

The front door swung open and rang a string of small bells that dangled from the frame. A red haired, green eyed Marcie bounced to the register. Marcie’s daily arrival always brought a smile to Lexi. She leaned as far over the counter as she could, letting her long loose red curls fall forward. She planted a wet kiss on Lexi and boisterously laughed at Lexi’s reaction. “What the hell! Marcie?”

“Just checking. I guess you’re straight after all, Lex. I was kind of hoping the rumors were true. I mean if you weren’t then I would have a bunch of questions for you.” Marcie laughed again and walked toward the undisturbed Allie.

“What!” Lexi cawed. “So now, who is behind
this
rumor?”

Marcie continued to stroke Allie’s silky black coat and turned to Lexi. “Who knows? Just look at what other people see when they look at you. You’re never seen with a guy, even though you are hot as hell. You have this subtle mysterious foreign British accent. You have your own business and your own house. Face it, you intimidate the guys around here. So of course, rather than just admitting they are substandard excuses for men, they chose to run their big stupid mouths. Of course that tire changing incident probably has something to do with it also. Remember the way you went all ninja on that guy?” Marcie said as she roared with laughter.

“How could I forget? I’m sure I’m legendary for my man-hating skills now.” 

“You pepper sprayed him Lex, and kicked his junk all the way to Canada. Legendary is a good word. Legendary ball buster!”

Lexi remembered the incident that played out shortly after her arrival in town. Her truck had a flat tire, and she found herself stranded on a dark country road. The only light came from the flashlight she placed on the ground. A house was nearby, but was it was dark and quiet and Lexi didn’t think the job required any help. While she was busy working to jack the vehicle up a large shadowy man appeared next to her. He picked up the four way lug wrench that Lexi had left on the ground next to her.

“You look like you could use a man right about now, little lady.” He said. Lexi turned and was shocked by the menacing appearance of him holding the lug wrench. Instinctively the self-defense training her bother-in-law, Kurt had given her kicked in. She leaned back on one hand, balancing herself on the heel of her bent leg. She lifted her other leg and spun around in a swift sweeping semicircle. Her foot hit the back of his ankle with full force.

The stranger’s feet flew out from under him as he landed with a grunt. Before he could utter a single curse Lexi had drawn a canister of pepper spray from her bag, and doused him as if she were trying to kill a deadly spider with a can of bug spray. The coup-de-grace was a lightning quick kick to his crotch. In a scene only likely to be watched on a zombie apocalypse movie a woman in an ankle length nightgown ran out of the house, and down the drive toward Lexi. As she neared the car, Lexi noticed the green pasty skin of her face. There was a chorus of children’s screams that followed her like a flock of unseen harpies. They were pleading and begging for his life.

It became clear to Lexi that the frightening woman had been attempting some sort of badly needed facial, but was interrupted by the commotion outside. She screamed at Lexi, and cursed her as if she were a female demon that she was trying to compel back to hell. The zombie bride gathered her huddled sobbing mass of a crushed husband, and led him back to the house.

She only turned back once to utter some additional curses to ensure the damnation of Lexi the demon. The children’s pleas had become curses equally as abusive as their mother’s. Her last fading sounds were the orders she screamed at her brood on the porch as she ushered them into the house.

“But don’t feel too bad,” Marcie continued. “I heard that she threatened him a few times since then. I guess she dragged him out of a bar one night and told him she was going to have that bookstore bitch go crazy on him! So you’ve got all that going for you, Lex.”

“Don’t worry about me, Marcie. I certainly don’t need a man to get through life, and to be honest, I don’t find them all that entertaining. Take a look at that last date you set me up on. He took me to Mario’s, that trendy new Italian bistro. That was fine, except when the waiter asked if we wanted a cocktail. He started doing tequila shots.
TEQUILA SHOTS,
Marcie! Who does that at a romantic upscale restaurant? He started to puke for Pete’s sake. I don’t think he ever noticed that I got up and walked out. Thanks, by the way, for picking me up that night.”

“What are friends for? The list of available guys around here is pretty short. There is one guy you could try out, but from the stories that I’ve heard. Well, let’s just say if you want to get a little from him, you might as well ask for an apology up front and be done with it. Save yourself two minutes of disappointment if you know what I mean. So I guess that just leaves me, baby!” Marcie gave Lexi a quick kiss on her cheek.

“Oh and don’t forget Yoga class tonight! Be there, or die, or something.” Marcie laughed and headed for the door. Lexi whipped Marcie on her ass with a nearby cat toy wand as she walked away. “If I decide to switch teams you are first on my list, Marcie.” Lexi playfully went along with the theme of her joke, and she watched as Marcie blushed and bounced out the door. “Crazy kid.” Lexi whispered.

Allie jumped down from her perch and leapt up onto the counter. Her tail wrapped around Lexi’s arm, trying to elicit a gift of treats. Lexi stroked Allie Cat’s furry head. “Marcie knows I am not looking for anything, right? We’re good,” she thought to herself.
She knows that trust is really hard for me to grant to anyone. After all, she is one person I have allowed myself to open up to, so I know she gets it. When it comes to love, I may not have any experience or know what to look for, but I sure as hell know what I DON’T want. I’ve seen plenty of examples of that misery. Thank God for Marcie. Even a loner like me, needs a best friend like her.

Lexi glanced in the mirror behind the display case. She felt comfortable with how she looked. She didn’t often wear make-up or spend too much time with her long locks. She wasn’t self-conscious of her body. She had always had a petite frame, but not bony. She had ample sized breasts and a cute face. The feature she admired most was her emerald green eyes, because they looked exactly like her mother’s. Her only complaint was that at 5’2”, she wished she could be a little taller. Lexi never wanted to be a super-model anyway. She preferred her cute rounded features to the scary sunken faces on those high cheek-boned, collagen lipped things that graced the covers of magazines. She was a little embarrassed when she received compliments, but at least it fueled her self-esteem and she was getting better at accepting them.

The bells on the door announced a visitor and Lexi turned to see who was coming in. She had seen the delivery man a hundred times before and she always wondered the same thing. He seemed much too old the way he huffed and puffed from address to address. He had the look of someone who wished they were doing something else. Maybe it was retirement he looked forward to. Maybe he resented his superiors that were old enough to be his grandchildren. The old man placed a large brightly colored envelope onto the counter and held up a small palm sized piece of technology. After he punched in some numbers, he held the device out to Lexi for an electronic signature. Lexi noticed that the envelope had been badly torn and was taped together. It had black smudge marks that looked like it had been run through broken machinery and then left on a road to be run over by every delivery truck that was able to move.