The Devil's Demeanor (40 page)

“Okay. It’s a date.”

He went down to his study to think about
what Diedre told him. There was no way Ivy was cursed. He’d known her for over
a decade; he would’ve seen signs. But Diedre’s testimony was too compelling. If
she was telling the truth, the demon had communicated through Ivy. The only way
that could be even remotely possible was because she’d carried a cursed child
in her.

Conner.

Was that enough to provide a link to the
demon? If so....

Monica!

The implications were too terrible to think
about. If Ivy was somehow connected to the curse via Conner, then it was
possible Monica was through Jordan. Don looked through the fireplace and saw
his beautiful wife going through the mail. She suddenly looked up, her back to
Don. She slowly turned around and grinned at him.

*
 
*
 
*

Jordan woke to a sound. He wasn’t sure where
it had come from, but he knew it wasn’t the TV in front of him. He was in the
den, the picture from the screen illuminating the entire room. The volume was
turned down, providing a nice white noise that had helped him fall asleep. He’d
had trouble sleeping up in his room, and didn’t have a TV up there. Though the
prospect of spending any time in the den at night spooked him at first, he
eventually got over it.

Now he wished he’d stayed upstairs, because
he heard more noise coming from the living room in front of him. He couldn’t
see up there, but it sounded like someone was coming through the front door.

Jordan slowly got to his feet and stood at
the steps, looking around the corner. He saw something up there, a silhouette
making its way into the kitchen. Jordan crossed over to the other steps that
led there. That was the good and bad thing about this house—you could get to
the den either through the kitchen or the living room. It was convenient for
those who lived here...and also for intruders.

Jordan tried to keep his eyes on both ways
into the den—the kitchen in front and the living room behind. He couldn’t hear
any more movement and had no idea where the dark shape had gone. He tried
looking around the corner into the kitchen, but it was too dark.

No, there was someone up there. He could see
a shape sitting at the small dining nook by the refrigerator. Its back was to
Jordan, so he chanced going up a few steps to get a better look.

Suddenly, one of the steps creaked.

The figure spun around.

“What are you doing?” Conner asked.

Jordan took a deep, relieved breath. “You
scared the shit out of me, fool. I thought you were a burglar.” He flipped on
the kitchen light.

Conner looked like hell. His face was pale,
and there were dark circles around his eyes. His eyes looked bright as well, as
if a light burned within. He’d looked like this once before—the night they’d
gone laser tagging.

“What happened to you?” Jordan asked him.

“Rough night.”

“Where were you?”

Conner shook his head. He didn’t want to
talk about it.

Jordan sat across from him. “Are you all
right, at least?”

“I’m really hungry.”

“There’s pizza in the fridge.” He got up and
retrieved it for his cousin.

Conner immediately dug into the pizza,
eating it like a crazed animal.

“Don’t hurt yourself,” Jordan joked.

Conner paused for a second, not quite
looking at Jordan, and then resumed eating.

*
 
*
 
*

The next few days at school were weird, and
not just because they were the last before Christmas break. Something was off,
and it took Jordan a while to realize what it was.

Travis didn’t show up.

That in and of itself wasn’t peculiar, and
no one else would have read anything into it. But Jordan felt the absence as
significant. He asked Erin about it and she said she didn’t know anything, but
she would check later on. Travis hadn’t missed a single day this year, and she
also found it strange.

When Jordan got home, he ran into his
parents getting ready for their date night. Mom was dressed in a beautiful
lavender dress with a gold necklace that Dad bought her years ago. Dad was
wearing a nice black shirt and pants that looked both formal and casual at the
same time.

“We’ll be back late tonight,” said Mom. “You
boys behave. No parties, okay?”

“Yes, Mom.”

She kissed his forehead, and she and Dad
left around six.

That just left Jordan and Conner. Conner was
in his room; he’d gone straight there when they got home from school and never
came out. Jordan decided to check on him, knocking on his door. Conner answered
after a minute of constant knocking.

He looked even worse than he did that one
morning. The circles around his eyes were darker and his pupils were even
brighter.

“What is wrong with you?” Jordan asked
slowly.

Conner shook his head the same way he had at
the breakfast table and closed the door.

*
 
*
 
*

Erin came around unexpectedly thirty minutes
later, looking frightened.

“What’s wrong?” Jordan asked her as he let
her into the living room.

“Something happened to Travis,” she said
breathlessly. “He’s...like Jack and Leo.”

Jordan took a moment to register that. “Are
you fucking serious?” he managed.

She nodded. “I went to his house. His dad
told me, and I went to the hospital with him. He’d just stopped by to pick up
some stuff for Travis.
 
Jordan, Travis
looked awful.
 
I’ve never seen him like
that.”

She was terrified, and Jordan felt terrible
for her. He hugged her, feeling her shake in his arms. He went through what she
had just told him. Travis was like Jack and Leo, possibly seeing demons every
time he closed his eyes, feeling them touch his skin.

Conner did this to him.

Jordan looked over his shoulder at the
second floor. He heard Conner’s door close quietly.

Downtown Fort Worth was a wonderful place.
Don always enjoyed coming down here, ever since he lived here with Craig and
Corey years ago. The lights, the music. He and Monica headed down one street,
passing a large book store. He could smell baked goods and coffee and see
people milling around inside. He wondered if anybody would recognize him if he
went in. Probably not.

At least, not from his fiction work. They
might do so because of the attention he’d been getting over the past few
months. Thanks to Mr. Leper and Diedre Marshall.

He kept walking, trying to push those
thoughts from his mind. He had more important things to focus on: Monica. He
couldn’t wrap his head around the concept of her being connected to the demon.
But he had seen that jackal grin...or thought he had, anyway. He’d been far
away. It could have been a regular grin. He tried to convince himself it was.

Don told himself he was overreacting, but he
wanted to be sure. Had to be sure. And he wanted to be far away from the kids,
just in case. Though he had no proof Monica was involved in any way, he wanted
to be safe than sorry. He still couldn’t believe that Ivy was tethered to the creature,
but Diedre had provided compelling evidence. He had to visit Ivy when he got a
chance. He had to see for himself.

“Honey, what’s on your mind?” Monica asked.

Don realized they were standing at an
intersection, waiting for their chance to cross. “Nothing. I was just thinking
about Ivy.”

“That poor woman. I’m just glad she didn’t
get the death penalty. They have that in Georgia, don’t they?”

“Yeah.”

“They can’t kill a woman for protecting her
child.” Monica sounded far away now, looking off into the light-strewn trees
nearby.

Christmas was around the corner. The family
planned to move after the holiday. It only seemed fitting to start their lives
in the new house in the New Year.

“Honey,” said Don, “how have you been
feeling?”

“Good, besides the headaches. Nothing
major.”

“Anything else? Nightmares, sleepwalking?”
He cursed himself for being so blunt.

She looked at him. “Maybe nightmares, but no
sleepwalking. Why do you ask?”

“Just wondering. The other night, I thought
somebody was standing at our bedroom door, and you were gone, so I figured it
was you.”

“I don’t remember anything like that.”

The walk signal let them cross. They dined
in a fancy Asian restaurant—Monica’s favorite—and then headed to the hotel a
few blocks away. The room was dimly lit and quite large. Don felt nervous all
of a sudden, as if he was hooking up with someone for the first time instead of
his wife. He’d never felt this way when meeting the whores over the years to
keep him “happy.” Just thinking of them nauseated him; he was a fool to think
those women could make him feel any sort of happiness. But he had to keep the
curse at bay if it still dwelled inside him.

Finding out Leper had killed all those
people was morbidly assuring, but discovering Conner had killed Leper in turn
dampened that assurance. Don had to take the good with the bad.

Besides, there was a chance Conner had
nothing to do with that. Someone else could have grabbed his camera and filmed
himself (or herself) killing their homicidal neighbor. Right?

“Don?”

He came back to himself once again and found
his wife completely naked before him. “Oh my gentle Jesus,” he whispered, and
she smiled.

*
 
*
 
*

Jordan and Erin went down into the den to
talk. He closed all the vents he could find, not wanting Conner to hear from his
room what they discussed. Erin watched him with a detached sense of curiosity.
He explained and she nodded.

“I’m sorry about Travis,” he said, not
knowing what else to offer.

“There has to be a way to undo it.”

“If there is, Conner doesn’t know. I already
asked him.”

Erin looked distraught. “What is he doing to
everybody? What is he?”

“I don’t know. We thought he was better, but
something changed.”

“What changed?”

“I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was
recent. He was fine until this week.” It suddenly hit Jordan. “I think
something happened to our grandpa. We haven’t been able to get a hold of him.
Maybe Conner found something out.”

“Are they close?”

“Yes. Grandpa helped him with his troubles.”

“Should we, you know, talk to him?” Erin
didn’t sound excited about that idea.

“We won’t find anything out unless we do.”

They knocked on
Conner’s door a few minutes later but he didn’t answer. The door was locked as
well. Jordan and Erin went back downstairs, into the kitchen. She appeared to
grow more anxious as the minutes passed. She’d ridden her bike all the way from
her house nearly thirty minutes ago, a mere ten minutes after Mom and Dad left,
and Jordan hoped his parents wouldn’t return while she was still there. Mom
would flip out.

Priorities,
he told himself. He had to help Travis the way he couldn’t help Leo.
He had to find out what was wrong with Conner.

“There has to be a reason why Conner acts
weird,” Erin suddenly said after a long moment of silence.

Jordan snapped to attention. “He definitely
acts weird when he’s mad about something.”

She looked at him. “Really? That might be
the trigger. Anger. Emotion.”

Jordan could see the wheels turning in her
head. She was a smart girl, and he loved her for that. If she truly could
figure out what was wrong with his cousin...

“Your mom’s a nurse, right?”

“Yes.”

“Does she have any estrogen pills or
anything?”

Jordan narrowed his eyes. “Estrogen? You
mean lady juice?”

Erin cringed, but smiled. “Don’t call it
that. It sounds gross when you call it that.”

“I don’t think she does. Why?”

“Because I think Conner’s testosterone
levels are too high. We need to get them down, or...make him think we’re
getting them down.”

She started looking about the kitchen. She
grabbed a carton of salt and a bottled water from the refrigerator. “Do you
guys have syringes?”

“My mom does.”

“Grab one. I have an idea.”

*
 
*
 
*

Jordan watched as Erin brewed up some kind
of concoction at the kitchen sink. She mixed salt with filtered water and then
filled a syringe with it. She didn’t bother explaining while she worked.

“What is that?” Jordan finally asked.

“A saline mix. You said your grandpa
convinced Conner that nothing was wrong with him just by telling him so. Well,
I’m going to do the same thing. But with some additional help.”

Jordan looked at the syringe. “A cure?”

“Yep. I think I can convince him and
maybe...maybe that hold he has on Travis will disappear.”

“Do you really think saline can cure him?”

“No. I’m not going to tell him it’s saline.
I’m gonna call it something else.”

Jordan laughed. “Where did you learn this
stuff?”

She looked at him. “Chemistry, fool. You
never pay attention in class.”

“That I don’t. This won’t...hurt him, will
it?”

“It shouldn’t. It’s just saline; doctors put
this stuff in people at the hospital all the time.”

“Should I go and get him now?”

She studied the syringe again and said,
“Yeah. It’s now or never.”

Jordan went upstairs and knocked on Conner’s
door again. This time his cousin opened up. “Hey. I told Erin about what’s
going on with you and...she thinks she found a cure. I trust her, but we don’t
have to do anything if you don’t want to. I think you should give her a chance,
though. She’s really smart.”

Conner stood there, staring blankly.
Finally, he said, “I’m willing to try anything at this point, even your girlfriend’s
cure.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Oh, well, never mind then.”

Conner closed the door, leaving Jordan
stunned. The door opened again, and Conner came out of the room smiling. “I was
kidding.”

He followed Jordan to the kitchen, where
Erin waited with the syringe in hand. The milky water looked toxic to Jordan.
He hoped it didn’t frighten Conner away.

“Conner,” said Erin, “I think I know what
keeps triggering your fits. It’s the testosterone levels in your body. I’ve
come up with something that will level those out and return you to normal.
Hopefully this one injection should be all you need.”

“What is it?”

“Do you really want to know? I promise you
it’ll work.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s estrogen.”

Conner screwed up his face in thought. “You
mean lady juice?”

Jordan covered his laugh before it could
escape his lips. Erin shook her head, grinning. “In a way, yes. But it won’t
turn you into a lady or anything. Males have estrogen in them already, just
very low levels. In your case, it’s extremely low.”

“I didn’t know that.” He sounded intrigued.

“Wanna give it a shot?” Erin raised the
syringe. “No pun intended.”

“You talk funny.” Conner raised his shirt
sleeve. “Fix me.”

Erin reached into the kit Jordan had given
her. Inside were syringes, sterilizing pads, and arm straps. Erin grabbed a
strap and tied it around Conner’s bicep. She then prompted a vein and injected
the saline. Jordan kept a close eye on his cousin. He was worried about playing
around with stuff like this. He’d taken pills he’d found in his parents’
medicine cabinet when he was five and that hadn’t turned out well. He chewed on
the capsules, causing horrible-tasting black foam to spill from his mouth. His
mother had been terrified.

And now Jordan was terrified for Conner.
Though he trusted Erin, this seemed like something an adult should be doing.

Erin removed the strap and let the saline
course through Conner’s veins. The trio waited a minute in silence. Conner’s
eyes were closed the entire time.

Jordan couldn’t take it anymore. “Conner,
how do you feel?”

Conner’s eyes snapped open at that instant.
Erin and Jordan jumped back in surprise. His eyes appeared normal. “I feel
good,” he replied. “Less weird, I guess.”

“We’ll give it some time, but I think I just
cured you,” Erin said proudly.

“Cool. I’m going back to my room now.”
Conner left the kitchen and went back upstairs.

“Do you really think it’ll work?” Jordan
asked.

“Maybe not forever, but I think I just gave
him hope.”

“Or he’s just fooling with us. Do you think
real estrogen would’ve worked?”

“I don’t know. If he changes again, we can
try it. I’ll get some later, just in case. I’m going to call Travis’s dad and
see if there’s any change.”

She started to leave the kitchen and head
for the den when Jordan stopped her. “Erin, thank you. For helping.”

They stared at each other for a moment. They
were standing very close. He could feel her breath on his face; it smelled like
mint.

“I want to kiss you right now,” he found
himself saying.

“I want you to kiss me,” she said back.

He kissed her. Just lightly at first, and
then more enthusiastically.

*
 
*
 
*

Don laid his wife down on the bed and kissed
her. It had been so long since he’d kissed her this way that it felt almost
like the first time again. He missed being close to her, to loving her the way
she deserved to be loved.

At that instant, he forgot about his
suspicions of her. No woman this lovely could ever be associated with a demon.
“I love you,” he whispered.

“I know,” she replied in kind.

*
 
*
 
*

Jordan and Erin made their way down into the
den, nearly missing the couch as they fell onto it blindly. They hadn’t stopped
kissing since leaving the kitchen. Jordan could barely catch his breath; Erin
refused to come up for air. Jordan just kept kissing her. Who needed air?

A throat clearing startled the two love
birds. They looked to the steps leading from the living room and saw Conner
standing there, grinning. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said.

Jordan and Erin looked at each other,
clearly embarrassed. “No problem,” said Jordan. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. I just got bored hanging out with
myself and wondered if I could hang out with you.”

“Oh. Um, sure.” Jordan turned on the TV.

Conner, who was standing next to it, turned
it off at the base.

“You have something else in mind?” Jordan
asked.