The Edge Of The Cemetery (11 page)

Eric was doling out beverages as our group began to congregate in the dining area. Carol and Phil were the last to arrive. I grabbed a beer and planted myself in a chair, then I looked around the room. Pete and Billy wore matching stony expressions—that usually meant bad news—and Phil's normal enthusiasm seemed to be on a break tonight, which I took to mean he hadn't found anything new. Aris was his usual impassive self and Carol was looking around curiously, much like I was.

I looked at Billy. “Where's Calvin?”

“Upstairs,”

“Alone?” I hadn't seen GG all day and didn't like the idea that Calvin was unmonitored.

Eric answered, “No, he's with Jonas.” I frowned. I didn't know anyone named Jonas. Eric smiled. “He's one of our younger members and just turned nineteen. I thought Calvin would be more comfortable with someone closer to his own age. They're playing video games in Calvin's room.”

I turned back to Billy. “Are we hoping Jonas can get something out of the kid, or did you get everything we need?”

Billy sneered at me. I wasn't being sarcastic, so I didn't think I warranted her wrath. Her mood clearly hadn't improved since our little chat earlier in the day, and I let out an exasperated breath.

Aris said, “Billy, were you able to extract any additional information from Calvin?”

Her tone was flat and tense. “Calvin said that for most of the time Edgar was there, he doesn't really remember much. He said on a couple of occasions he'd find himself far from home with Edgar and Gilles and neither of them would tell him how he got there or why. He said it's happened several times in the last couple of weeks. I think Edgar used that voodoo-brain shit on Calvin, and with Calvin's help he was able to talk to the demon and they put together the attacks…or…,” she paused and looked around, “the demon was possessing Calvin.”

“Is that even possible? I thought you guys couldn't be possessed,” Phil said incredulously. He shook his head like he was trying to dislodge an ugly thought, which I suppose he was.

Aris replied, “As far as I am aware, there have been two documented occasions of a demon possessing a ghost killer. The first occurred sometime in the early 1720s in a small village in Northern Ireland. The ghost killer was of the lowest level, an orphan and essentially homeless, relying on the kindness of the villagers for food and shelter. He was considered at the time to be witless, and his constant ramblings about apparitions and their misdeeds seemed to confirm that. Our network was small in those days, but word of the boy made it to England, and a higher level ghost killer was dispatched to determine if the boy was one of us. Upon arrival, the Englishman discovered that a rather nasty demon was haunting the boy, and possessing him rather frequently, causing the boy to commit atrocious crimes against his fellow villagers. The ghost killer was able to vanquish the demon, but unfortunately the villagers had had enough and attacked the boy out of fear; he died soon after. The second occurrence was in 1956 in Alberta. This ghost killer was not quite of the highest level, but very close to it. He was not a favorable man and frequently used his ability to coerce the ghosts and demons to do his bidding. He befriended, so to speak, a rather nasty demon and eventually allowed the demon to possess him. He and his demon were killed by our people.”

Phil said, “So we have three possibilities; the kid's mental…
shortcomings
…are allowing the demon to possess him, or he's just allowing it to possess him…or Edgar's making him do it.” His expression was dismal. “Man, this ain't good.”

Billy said, “I think if it is possessing him, he's not allowing it.” There was empathy in her tone. She seemed to be developing some sort of attachment to the kid, which was understandable considering what she'd been through at that age, but it worried me too. We needed her to be objective about the kid and our current situation.

She continued, “He said Gilles has been around for years, since he was at least ten. I asked about Sam Smith. Calvin said that his mom hired him to tutor Calvin, which Sam did until last year when he quit and left town. I asked if Sam could see the ghosts and Calvin said he could, and they talked about it sometimes, but he wouldn't elaborate, so I moved on to Vokkel. Apparently Vokkel and Edgar visited a couple of times a year for as long as Calvin can remember. They talked to him about his studies and a little bit about the ghosts he could see, but not much else.”

“So, I'm guessing this Sam Smith guy was a ghost killer too. Do we know anything more about him?” I asked, looking to Phil and Carol.

Phil's hangdog expression screamed guilt. “I'm sorry, I got caught up in business stuff today, and didn't get a chance to look into anything.” Phil tended to think he should drop everything for us, but he had a regular business and we all understood it required his time too. Aris gave him a quick nod, his way of saying “it's okay”.

“So we suspect he killed his tutor, and Phil thinks he killed his uncle, and we all know he killed two people in Marin the other day….” I raked my hands through my hair. “What are we dealing with?”

Carol shrugged. “It could have been Vokkel or Edgar who killed Smith…like I said, it's unresolved, and that particular motel has a reputation as a druggy hangout, so the kid the maid saw could have been anyone. Anyway, I posted a notice with Smith's license picture on Ghosts and Ghouls just to see if anything popped, and got a hit about an hour ago.” She looked down at her tablet. “It says, '
That's Samuel, don't know last name. Freelancer, known to work for both sides, has connections to V and others like him.
' ” She looked up and around, her eyes settling on Aris, she asked, “Should I try and find out more about him, or is this enough?”

Aris steepled his fingers, his brow furrowed in contemplation. “Yes, please try and find out where he originates from and if possible, who he has worked for in the past.” I didn't think this request had anything to do with our current situation; it was just part of Aris's job to know everything he could about the bad guys, and it was Carol's job to help him. Sam was dead and couldn't do any more harm, so he was no longer part of the equation as far as I was concerned.

Pete said, “I know all of this is important, but I think we need to switch gears and come up with a plan to get this demon
and
Edgar eradicated.” He turned to Billy. “Did the kid say if he knows how to get in touch with Edgar?”

She blew out an exasperated breath. “They were staying in touch with pre-paid cell phones, but Calvin said he ditched his after he took off on his bike. He doesn't remember where, and he said he never wrote the number down.”

We broke up for a few minutes so people could use the bathroom and stretch. We still had to put a plan together to find the demon and Edgar. Billy disappeared upstairs, I assumed to check on Calvin. I walked to the front of the house and peeked out the windows, which faced Golden Gate Park. The fog had started to move in and was swirling in ghostly gusts between the street and the forested perimeter of the park. For all I knew Edgar could be standing right across the street and we wouldn't be able to see him. When I turned away from the windows I was faced with another ghostly image, only this time it was GG.

“Hi,” I said, smiling a little. “Have you been here the whole time?” She smiled faintly and nodded. I asked, “GG, you can talk to Calvin, with words?” She tilted her head, incomprehension in her eyes. “He said you told him to come to us, and where to find us last night.” Her brow furrowed and she shook her head. “Did you tell him to come to us? That we could help him?” She nodded. “But you didn't tell him where we were last night?” She nodded again. Almost to myself, I said, “Then how did he know where to find us…?” She gave me a blank stare. I'd suspected the kid was lying, and now I knew for sure. “Do you think he knows where Edgar is?” She cringed at his name, then shrugged. “What about the musketeer demon…can you help us find him?” She shook her head furiously, a terrified look on her face. “Are you afraid of him?” I asked. She frowned and disappeared. I really hated it when she did that.

* * *

When we reconvened, Jonas had joined us and introductions were made. He was the same height as Calvin, but instead of a thin and lanky frame, he had a solid build. His eyes were bright and intelligent and his curly brown hair was neatly trimmed.

Billy said, “Calvin was tired and wanted to go to bed.”

Jonas expanded. “The kid's pretty wiped out and confused, but I got him to open up a bit. I couldn't get him to talk about the demon, but he did tell me some stuff about his childhood. He said he never knew his dad and he doesn't remember living anywhere but Valley Springs. I asked him if he ever talked to his mom about seeing the ghosts. He said she didn't like to talk about it, but she didn't seem to mind if he talked to Sam about it.” Much like Billy, Jonas seemed to be growing sympathetic towards Calvin, but based on what GG had just told me, it was probably misplaced. Although I had previously suspected he was lying, or at least holding stuff back, now I knew, at the very least, he lied about how he'd found us at the bar. But I couldn't deny that the kid was probably being used by both the musketeer demon and Edgar, which did warrant some sympathy. They were clearly taking advantage of his low intelligence and naiveté regarding his power.

Aris asked, “Did Calvin tell you anything else, Jonas?”

Jonas nodded. “Yeah, but it was kind of weird; he's obviously not all that bright.” He paused, looking a little embarrassed. “I mean, he seems kind of slow, if you know what I mean.” Aris nodded. “That's what was weird, he started asking me really focused questions…quite a few.” Jonas's brow wrinkled. “He seemed really interested in the library that Phil's building. He said Billy had shown him the house earlier today and he thought that room was really cool. At first I thought it was Carol's computers that had caught his eye, but he kept asking about the books and journals and what they contained. It was a strange line of questioning coming from a kid who's clearly not that smart.”

“What sort of questions did he ask about the contents, specifically?” Aris asked, angling his head curiously.

“He asked how far back the information went. I told him I wasn't sure, that Phil had been collecting whatever he could from everywhere, and some of it was probably pretty old. Then he asked if we had journals and stuff from Vokkel. I told him we probably didn't, that Vokkel wasn't exactly on our side and wouldn't have shared his papers with us. He let that drop and asked if we had information on where the demons were buried.” Jonas paused, as if trying to recall the exact wording Calvin used. “He said, 'chamber maps' or something like that. I sort of laughed and told him we didn't know who these monsters were, dead or alive, so we couldn't know where they came from or where they were buried. He got sort of annoyed and clammed up.” Jonas looked at Aris with concern. “It was okay to tell him that, right?”

Aris nodded, but there was suspicion in his eyes.

Billy looked at Aris. “Do you know what he meant?”

Aris frowned. “I do not.” He looked to Phil. “Have you come across any references to chamber maps?”

Phil shook his head. “Nope. I came across references to 'chamber,' but not 'maps.' But I'll see what I can find.”

“I saw GG in the living room while we were taking a break. She said she didn't tell Calvin where we were last night.” I glanced at Billy. She wasn't surprised, which told me she'd come to agree with me that he'd been lying to us. “I asked her if Calvin knew where Edgar was, and she wasn't sure. I also asked if she could help us get to Gilles…based on her response, I think she's terrified of him.” I turned to Phil. “I did an Internet search on Gilles. Turns out he was a bit of a celebrity back in his corporeal days…he was a serial killer.” I heard Billy grumble “figures” under her breath, but ignored her. “I left the printout on your table. Maybe you could check to see if anyone's come across him before.”

“I'll try, my man, but most of that stuff is still uncategorized.” He didn't sound hopeful.

“So now what?” Billy asked. Her voice was strained and I could tell she was tired.

“I'd like to think about our next move, tactically, and meet again tomorrow if that's okay?” Pete asked.

“I want to drive up and see the mother tomorrow…maybe she'll talk to me,” I said.

Billy's tone was cool. “Why would she talk to you and not Pete?”

I gave her a lofty look. “Because I'm a nice guy and people like me. Pete's a nice guy too once you get to know him, but he looks and acts like a soldier, and that can be intimidating.” I looked to Pete and said, “No offense.”

He shot me a tight salute and said, “None taken.”

Carol said, “I want to set up a sensor on Calvin's bedroom door.” She had an unsettled expression on her face as she looked from Billy to Eric to me. “We don't know what's going on yet. If that demon is possessing him, and if he did kill Sam, it means he's capable of killing another ghost killer….” She was right and I nodded. Carol winked at me and said, “Good, you can have tonight's watch.” Apparently my nod of agreement meant I'd volunteered to monitor Calvin's sensor for the night. If the kid got up to take a leak, I'd know all about it. So much for a decent night's rest.

Aris and Pete left and Carol went about setting up her alarm. Phil spent a few minutes gathering some papers and journals from the library, then he left too. When Carol was done she showed me how the alarm monitor worked. If Calvin opened his door during the night, a bell-like ding would go off and hopefully it would wake me up before he went on a demon-fueled rampage. Eric directed Billy and I to our new guest quarters and retired to his room. I was hoping for a nice quiet night.

I'm not a big fan of dreams, the kind the sandman brings that is. The aspiring kind are just fine and everyone should have them, but my nighttime dreams are usually freakishly strange and unusual, and I prefer not to remember them. It was a preference I was denied when I woke up in the Lincoln Way guest room at exactly 3 a.m., the witching hour (for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, it's time of night when ghosts, demons, and other unpleasant things are said to be the most powerful).

Calvin's sensor hadn't activated in reality, but it did in my dreams—in the dream I was startled out of sleep by an obnoxious ding-ding-ding sound, and realizing what it was, I rushed out to the hallway to find Calvin, but he wasn't alone. Gilles was holding Calvin's hand and I could see the electroplasmic juice flowing between them. It got brighter and brighter and I realized they were trying to converge, but without the help of another ghost killer. As I watched in horror, Gilles and Calvin moved closer and closer, and before my dreamy eyes, the two became one. Suddenly Calvin seemed to glow with all the evil of Gilles. Even though Calvin was simple-minded, he was a powerful ghost killer, whether he knew it or not, and I knew they'd become a monster we'd never be able to kill. I screamed. Thankfully my shriek didn't permeate reality or I'm sure I would have caused quite a stir with my housemates.

I slept restlessly for the remainder of the night, and when the real sensor went off at 6 a.m., I was hesitant to investigate…and maybe a bit scared. Calvin was standing in the doorway of his bedroom, rubbing sleep from his eyes. When he finally noticed me in the shadows a few feet away, he said, “Hey.”

“Hey yourself. You okay?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I'm hungry.”

“Me too.” I wasn't, not really, but it occurred to me that this was my opportunity to do some questioning of my own, “Let's go find something to eat.”

I didn't want to make too much noise with pots and pans because I didn't want Billy or Eric to wake up and interrupt our little tête-à-tête, so I offered to make Calvin a fully loaded turkey sandwich with some chips on the side. Calvin watched in quiet anticipation as I prepared our unconventional breakfast, and when I placed his plate in front of him, he attacked it. Since I wasn't really hungry in the first place, I pushed mine to the side.

“Calvin, I know you don't know much about what's going on.” He looked up from his sandwich, but didn't appear to be all that interested in what I was saying. “When I was a kid I started seeing ghosts. I couldn't talk to them like you, not yet anyway. When my mom found out, she had some stuff done to me so I wouldn't see them anymore. She was scared I would be like her. She was really, really strong, and this thing, seeing ghosts, its hereditary. Anyway, she didn't want the bad people, like Vokkel, to find out about me and take me away like they did with her when she was a kid.”

Now Calvin was paying attention. He put his sandwich down and shifted uncomfortably, “What'd they do to her?”

“They kidnapped her and killed her parents…they tried to get her to do bad things, like Gilles and Edgar did with you.”

“What'd she do to you?” he asked. It was interesting that he didn't acknowledge my insinuation that both Edgar and Gilles were using him for nefarious purposes.

“She had me hypnotized so I wouldn't remember them. Every time I saw a ghost, my mind would erase it right away and I'd just go on like nothing happened.”

“When'd you start seeing 'em again?” He picked his sandwich up and took a large bite.

“A while ago.” I didn't think telling him I'd only been at this for six or so months was a good idea…it might lessen any credibility I was attempting to build with him. “We're special people, Calvin. We can see the ghosts because most of them are bad and they're hurting people, and it's our job,
our legacy
, to kill them. Have you ever killed one?”

His head dipped to one side, perplexity in his expression. I rephrased the question. “Did you ever notice that when you see the ghosts, someone nearby is sick or disfigured or something? If you were to kill the ghost, that person, that
suffering
person, would be cured.”

“They told me to stay away from them, that they'd hurt me and my mom.” He shrugged. “I saw them hurt other people and I believed them.”

“But you're not afraid of GG, are you?”

He shook his head and took another bite, after he swallowed he said, “She's a nice one…I can tell.”

“How can you tell?”

“I know about the sick people…I mean, I'm not stupid or anything. I figured that out a while ago, so I knew that the other ghosts would hurt my mom. But GG's different.” Another shrug. “She doesn't have a sick person around her, so I know she isn't bad.”

That was true…she didn't haunt people. There are others out there like her, ghosts that aren't bad. Most of them just want to move on, and I try and help them when I can.

“Calvin, you don't seem to be afraid of Gilles either. How come?”

He stiffened. “He…I was in the beginning, sort of. I mean, he didn't hurt anyone I knew.”

“Calvin, did Gilles hurt your uncle?”

Something flashed in his eyes, and he quickly, but not all that convincingly, said, “No. That was an accident…my uncle was being stupid and drunk and it got him killed!”

That reaction was interesting. As if he sensed my misgivings, his eyes began to fill with tears and he said, “I miss him a lot.”

“Calvin, Gilles is going to keep on hurting people if we don't stop him. What he did in Marin, do you understand what happened there?”

He nodded slowly. “We told those other ghosts to hurt people, but I don't really remember killing people. I didn't mean to….”

I decided to switch gears. “Calvin, how come Gilles isn't haunting anyone?”

Calvin angled his head. “He just wants to be human again. Edgar said he'd help.”

“How was Edgar going to help?”

Another shrug. “He said he would get you or Billy to do it.”

“Calvin, Edgar knows we'd never do that.”

Calvin was shaking his head. “He said to get lots of ghosts to make people do things, and when you guys were trying to fight them, we'd take one of you and then whoever we didn't take would do what we said to get the other back. But….” His eyes misted again and his speech sped up. “You guys were too good, and we couldn't control the other ghosts enough to grab one of you and it didn't work, and Edgar got really mad and hit me….” He fell back into his chair and lowered his head.

“So Edgar didn't really want to kill us in Marin, he wanted to capture one of us? That's a little different from what you told us earlier.” I looked at him expectantly.

He looked up and I caught another sudden flash of…what? Intelligence? Menace? I wasn't sure, but it lit Calvin's eyes for a split second and sent a chill down my spine. Then it was gone and that lost little boy look returned. He shrugged and ashamedly said, “Edgar's mean. He really scares me… that's…that's why I came to you guys. But I thought if I told you everything the other day, you wouldn't help me….” His eyes filled with tears again and he wiped them away.

“It's okay, I get that, and you're right…Edgar is one scary, mean guy.” I didn't believe him…something was very off here. “Calvin, how do you and Gilles get all those demons to come to you, to do those bad things?”

“I don't call ʼem, Gilles does. He goes away, and when he comes back they're with him. Then my head gets all fuzzy and I don't remember stuff.”

I assumed this was similar to the surges Vokkel had unleashed. He had one of his GKs communicate with the ghosts and demons to get them to do his bidding, with the understanding that he'd arrange for a powerful ghost killer to converge them. What Vokkel forgot to mention to his ghoulish army was that the ghost killer he had in mind to do the convergences was none other than myself. But I'm a good guy, and even though he had kidnapped my dad and planned on using him as leverage against me, I had Billy, the Watchers, and a whole gaggle of good ghosts (thanks to GG) on my side, and we kicked their asses.

“Calvin, when your head gets fuzzy, has Edgar been around every time that's happened?”

“Sometimes….” Calvin began fidgeting, reminding me of a child who desperately wanted to be dismissed from the dinner table.

“Okay Calvin, one more question. Can your mom and dad see ghosts and demons too?” Generally ghost killers inherit their ability from one side of the family, but if both sides have it, they tend to be more powerful, like Billy and like me. My grandfather was adopted, and neither he nor my dad ever showed any ghost killing ability, but based on my power level, someone in that gene pool was a ghost killer too. I thought it was safe to assume that both of Calvin's parents came from a long line of GKs, and that might be important.

He was staring down at his nails when he suddenly shot me a suspicious look from under his lashes…it was quick, but I caught it. He shrugged and said, “'Dunno. My mom never said nothing about seeing ʼem, and my dad was a one-night stand thing.”

Billy shuffled sleepily into the kitchen and mumbled, “'Morning,” as she headed to the cold, empty coffee pot.

“I'm going to my room,” Calvin said while pushing away from the table, leaving his crumb filled plate behind. I got up and put it in the sink, then sat back down heavily.

After she finished making the coffee, Billy sat next to me, crossed her arms on the table, and rested her head on them as she looked at me. “What's up?” she asked as she stifled a yawn.

“You look tired, Billy. You should go back to sleep,” I said.

“I wasn't the one screaming in the middle of the night.”

A flush of embarrassment crept up my face. “Bad dream; sorry if I woke you.”

“You didn't…I was coming back from the bathroom. It wasn't loud, but I checked on you anyway. Looked like you were asleep, and there wasn't anyone in your room murdering you,” she yawned again, “so I figured it was a dream.” I tried to smile. She said, “So…,” and nodded her head in the direction that Calvin took. “What'd he say?”

“What makes you think he said anything?”

She pulled my uneaten sandwich toward her, looked at it, and took a bite. After swallowing, she said, “I heard you guys come down, and I know you've been dying to talk to him alone. So what did he say?” The coffee maker beeped and she got up to attend to her caffeine needs. When she returned to the table, I still hadn't answered her question and she was showing signs of irritation; lack of patience, lack of caffeine, and lack of sleep weren't helping either. She said curtly, “Spill it George.”

I got up to get my own cup of coffee while I filled her in on the basics of our conversation. I ended with, “I think it's likely that Gilles was possessing Calvin…I'm just not sure if it was with or without Calvin's permission, or how much of Edgar's influence was involved.”

She closed her eyes, and with a slight sigh, she asked, “And?”

“Well, he's lying to us. There are quite a few inconsistencies with his version of what's happened.” She looked at me curiously. “Okay, well one minute he can't remember the details of his last encounter with Edgar or what happened in Marin, the next minute he can, and when I call him on it, he falls back to the 'my head gets fuzzy' bit, or the 'Edgar scares me' bit. And, I don't know, I just get this weird feeling from him, like the whole simple-minded thing isn't right either.” Maybe I was being too hard on the kid, I said. “The question is, is he doing it deliberately, or is he just confused about what's been happening to him? So maybe you and Jonas can try and find out.”

Billy nodded unenthusiastically and started back on my sandwich. I left her there and headed to my room. It was a long drive to Valley Springs and I wanted to get on the road.