Slayed (17 page)

“And I thought vampires were scary,” Kiki deadpans.

I swallow the bile rising in my throat. “I know demons are supposed to be bad, but why would Lilith do that?”

“Revenge.”

I shudder and can hear the awful voices in my head as if the lamia were in the room with us.

The little man hops off his stool and picks a large white crystal off the counter. “Come closer; one at a time—mind you don’t cross the salt.”

“I’ll go first,” Tyler says.

The man reaches over the line and I realize he’s missing two fingers on his remaining hand. He waves the crystal up and down like a metal-detector wand. “You’re good.” He tilts his head toward me. “Now you, Red.”

After Kiki and I both fail to elicit a response from the crystal the man steps over the line and walks to a bookshelf. “Can’t be too careful. I’ve had demons come in looking like right ordinary people before. I don’t trust anyone anymore.”

He hobbles over to a bookshelf and scans the titles. “You there, big guy. How’s about you get that book for me—the one with the red cover.”

Tyler walks over and takes the book the man is pointing to and gives it to him. The man places it on a table crowded with bowls of different kinds of polished rocks and a bowl of what might be dried rat tails.

He flips through the pages, clucking his tongue and shaking his head until he turns to a page showing a drawing of the creatures we saw last night.

“That’s them!” I say.

He smiles appreciatively at us. “You can count yourself lucky you had a sighting. Can’t say there are many people who get a chance to gaze on a rare creature such as this.”

“Lucky us,” I mutter.

Mr. Woods clucks his tongue again. “There are varied stories about the origins of Lilith and the lamia, but she or something like her appears in Jewish, Greek, and Sumerian lore, just to name a few. Some accounts say she was the first wife of Adam who refused to lie beneath him and flew out of the Garden of Eden to cavort with demons, giving birth to hundred of the lamia each night. God sent three angels to bring Lilith back to the garden. When she refused, they threatened to kill her children and they did—a hundred a day. Lilith and her demon offspring fly out at night seeking revenge by taking the lives of innocents.”

Kiki raises an eyebrow. “You seem to know an awful lot about this.”

Mr. Woods shut his book. “I did a lot of research when I heard what was going on. I heard there was a big payout for whoever could help the town out. Unfortunately, the only way you can stop Lilith from rising from hell is to summon angels or a sympathetic demon. I don’t know anyone who’s summoned an angel and lived to tell the tale.” He holds out his disfigured hands. “And with demons there is always a price.”

“Angels are good though,” I say. “Why wouldn’t they want to help?”

Mr. Woods laughs. “Angels consider themselves far
superior to the likes of us, and don’t like to be called like dogs to attend to human affairs. They’re more likely to strike you down dead than to help you. Many demons, on the other hand, enjoy getting out of hell. The trick is not to let them get the upper hand. So to speak.”

Tyler looks at Mr. Wood. “Do any of the stories offer suggestions about other ways Lilith can be stopped? Or ways to protect yourself from her?”

“Jewish lore says a charm or amulet engraved with the names of the three angels sent after Lilith can be worn around the neck and the sight of them repels her and the lamia.”

“A charm with a couple of names on it can repel demons?” Kiki asks skeptically.

Mr. Woods looks at her with narrowed eyes. “There’s a lot of power in a name. That’s why demons go by so many, so you can’t guess their real one and control them. But there are a lot of simple things that repel demons too.” He points toward the counter. “Can’t get any simpler than salt, and burning sage—they loathe that.”

“Do you have any of those charms you mentioned?” I ask.

“I can make ’em for you. I do a lot of custom charm work. Takes a bit of time,” he says, clanking his metal claw on the table for emphasis.

“We’ll wait for them. One for each of us,” Kiki says.

Mr. Woods eyes her. “You got three hundred dollars?”

“Yes,” she replies.

He scrunches up his face. “Dang, I should’ve charged you more. But if you’re willing to pay three hundred I’ll get to work right away.”

“Do you have any information about summoning angels and demons?” I ask.

“Look on the shelves—reading’s free.”

Kiki looks skeptically at me. “Do you really want to go there? I mean, look at what happened to him,” she says in a hushed voice.

“It won’t hurt to read about it. And who’s to say he knows everything there is to know about angels?”

“We’ve got nothing better to do,” Tyler says.

Kiki nods. “Let’s hit the books.”

An hour later we leave the store with our amulets dangling on silken cords tied around each of our necks. Mr. Woods engraved angel wings on the front and the names Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelat on the backs. We’re loaded up with a boxes of salt and incense that could be used to summon either a demon or angels, if we decide to go that route.

As Sam pulls away from the curb Kiki picks up the
incense and runs it under her nose. “Blech! If I were an angel I certainly wouldn’t want to have to appear in the smoke from this stuff. I’d totally
smite
down anyone who tried it.”

We’d read that if you were to evoke an angel that the “ethereal smoke” from incense was the substance in which they could be seen. The book used the word “smite” a lot, which had Tyler leaning toward trying for a demon. Mr. Woods recommended a few demons people had some success controlling that might be convinced to close the opening to hell—for a price.

“I think it would be really foolish to try for angels,” Tyler says. “They’re too powerful.”

“But I’m partial to keeping my hands and fingers intact,” Kiki says, waving jazz hands in Tyler’s face.

“Yeah, I’m really leaning toward angels too. It seems counterintuitive to get some unreliable demon to do our bidding and not know if he’ll take a limb in return.”

Tyler looks at me. “That might be bad, but it could be worse. Have either of you ever seen the movie
Raiders of the Lost Ark
?”

Kiki nods. “Like, a gazillion times!” She fans her face. “Harrison Ford was so freaking hot! Why did he have to get old and wrinkly?”

“I’ve seen it too.” I smile at Kiki. “And I agree with your assessment.”

Tyler gives me a look.

“Don’t worry,” Kiki says. “Daphne thinks you’re totally hot.”

Tyler’s red cheeks mirror mine.

He takes a deep breath. “Anyway, do you remember the end when they opened the ark and unleashed the power of heaven?”

Kiki’s mouth drops open. “Oh, my God! All of their faces melted off.”

Tyler nods.

“That was just a
movie
!” I insist.

Kike bites her lip. “I like my face, and I paid too much money to get my nose fixed only to have it melt off. Besides, Mr. Woods was pretty adamant about not summoning demons over angels.”

“Are you forgetting he lost a hand and a half to one?” I shoot back.

Sam clears his throat. “My grandfather was a preacher and he warned his parishioners that if they ever desired divine intervention never to summon angels—”

“See!” Kiki says.
“Never summon angels!”

“May I finish, Ms. Crusher?” he continues.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah.”

“He told them to simply ask for God’s help and if the Lord deemed the request worthy, He would send the necessary angel.”

“Did your grandfather ever do it?” Kiki asks.

“Yes. If he’s to be believed, angels led a school full of children trapped in a fire right through a flame-filled doorway.”

I look at Tyler. “See? Angels!”

Kiki leans back in her seat. “I don’t want to get smited, though.”

“God and Lilith go back a long way. I’m thinking he’s not going to want her running amok again.”

“Okay, I guess I’m in. Angels it is,” Tyler says.

Kiki nods. “Based on Sam’s recommendation, I concur.”

“Good,” I say. “We’re agreed. And really, I’ll bet angels are way better than dealing with vampires.”

Kiki grimaces. “Now we just have to figure out where the opening to hell is. Let’s just hope we come out with our faces still on when we do.”

We pull up to Kiki’s cottage
around four o’clock and she gasps. “My parents are here! Sam, did you know they were coming?”

He looks at Kiki in at the rearview mirror. “It’s just your mother. She called me to see how you were doing. You might want to take her calls once in a while, by the way. But I may have expressed some concerns. She was planning on coming out anyway. Apparently she has some news for you.”

Kiki leans over the seat and swats him gently on the shoulder. “Damn it, Sam, this is like the worst time ever! You should’ve told her not to come!”

We get out of the car and the front door opens. Kiki’s
mother stands in the doorway with her arms spread wide. “Maybelle! Darling, let me look at you.”

Kiki groans. “Mom, don’t call me that!”

“She’s
Maybelle
?” Tyler whispers to me.

“I thought you didn’t watch the show.”

“Okay, I did kind of sometimes watch it.” He turns to me—eyes wide. “If you tell anyone, I can’t be responsible for my actions though.”

Mrs. Crusher sweeps down the stairs with her long brown hair flowing around her waist instead of done up in the usual sleek Disco Unicorn “mane” she sports on TV. “Sam told me you had some new playmates.”

She smiles at Tyler and me while Kiki scowls.

“I’m not three,
Mother
; these are my
friends
, Daphne Van Helsing and Tyler Harker.”

Mrs. Crusher puts her hands together as if in prayer and bows. “I’m so happy to meet you.
Namaste.
”

Tyler and I copy her and bow in return. “Nam-as-ty,” I answer back, butchering the word. I hope I haven’t said anything highly offensive in whatever language she was using.

Mrs. Crusher puts an arm around Kiki. “As much as I’d love to have your little playmates stay and meditate with us we have some very important business to discuss.”

Kiki gives me a look. “Business. Right. I’m fine by the way.”

She pats Kiki on the top of her head. “Of course you are, darling. Perhaps your friends can meet up with you after I leave.”

“You’re not even staying the night?”

“Alas, no. I have a five a.m. interview with
Good Morning, Portland
and I need to meet with our press secretary to find the best way to do damage control now that Sugar Leblanc is with child.”

Kiki’s mouth drops open. “Sugar got knocked up?” She laughs. “Wow.”

“Maybelle!” she snaps. “This is no laughing matter. We just launched a new line of Sugar action figures that we won’t be able to give away now.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Kiki asks.

“Darling, we want you back on the show! We had focus groups look at your photos while listening to your recordings and you got a favorable rating with ninety-one percent of our respondents when you were billed as Princess Peony, the Lost Unicorn Princess. Our focus group is wild about your new look, and we can announce to our fans that our beloved daughter is joining us onstage for the first time in twelve years. The press will eat it up, and Sugar’s indiscretion will be relegated to a one-inch blurb at the back of the tabloids.”

“Unbelievable,” Kiki says.

Mrs. Crusher beams. “I know! It will be so nice to have you back on the Pink Pony Playhouse stage. But let’s head inside so we can discuss the details.” She turns to Tyler and me. “So very nice to meet you, and don’t forget—think only pinkish wonderful thoughts!”

Kiki glares at her mother.
“Mom!”

“I’d be happy to give you both a ride home,” Sam says.

“Thanks.”

Tyler holds the door open for me and I marvel how my world has been completely knocked out of its orbit in the last few days. The saddest part is, when we leave South Bristol, it’ll be right back to where it was—as if Kiki and Tyler had never existed.

Dad pulls the van up to The Rusty Rudder. “You sure you want to do this?”

“I don’t have anything else to do—might as well see if I can score a few more for Team Van Helsing.” And call Kiki and Tyler and tell them I’m leaving early. Hopefully they can come down so I can see them before I have to go.

“Team Van Helsing?” Mom asks.

“It’s nothing. Just something Kiki made up.”

“Okay, then,” Dad says. “We’ll finish getting our things together, pick you up, and then it’s off to Providence. You probably don’t remember much of the city, Doodlebug.
You were pretty little last time we were there, but we took you for a camel ride at the zoo.”

“Wow. Sounds awesome,” I deadpan.

“Watch the attitude, missy,” Mom says. “Maybe you can actually make a few decent kills now that the Crusher girl isn’t around to hold you back. She was a gamble that definitely did not pay off. This whole job was a nightmare from start to finish.”

“But we’re not finishing it—we’re running away.”

“Enough,”
Mom snaps.

I squeeze my eyes shut and bite my tongue to hold back a string of expletives. “I
really
think we should stay and look into the lamia. If we could stop them we’d be saving a lot more innocent lives”—I turn to Mom—“and make
a lot
of money.”

“We heard everything you had to say about it, and we made our decision,” she says. “We’re not going to deal with angels or demons, Daphne. We’ll leave that to the Harkers.”

“But Mr. Woods said they’ll be most powerful on the night of the new moon. Look.” I point up to the sky. “No moon. And two babies have already died. Do you want more deaths on your conscience?”

Mom stiffens. “What do you mean by that?” she asks tersely.

My heart races. “I didn’t mean what happened to your family,” I blurt out.

She whips around to face me. “
Damn Harkers
. They told you, didn’t they?”

“Tyler thought I already knew. But it wasn’t your fault, and that’s not what I meant before. I was just talking about the babies and how we should try to help before the lamia get any more of them.” I bite my lip. “But why didn’t you tell me?”