WeirdNights (9 page)

He backed up two steps. Where had that thought come from? Was
something possessing him?

Quickly, he ran through all the physical signs of possession
to see if he had any of them. No foul taste in his mouth. No rashes that he
knew about. No dryness in his mouth or throat.

Nothing that told him a ghost had taken over his body or his
thoughts. That didn’t mean it wasn’t happening anyway. He needed Foy. His
Master always knew. There had been one time, when they were younger, that he
knew a parasitic demon had latched on to Ivan, one of the other blood-oathed. Foy
had gotten it off. He’d know what was happening now.

Jonah. Come over here. Meet the guests
.

A man walked into the suddenly furnished, painted, lively
room. Tall, dark-haired, with thick eyebrows and a crooked smile. He held out
his hand to someone before blinking out of existence as if he was never there.

Jonah hollered out into the night. He knew that man. He was…
He was… He was…no one. No matter how much he racked his brain he couldn’t bring
the man’s identity into the forefront of his mind.

The door to the house flung open and a gust of wind burst
into the room. Jonah was blown backward, hitting the wall. His back stung and
for a second he lost the ability to breathe.

Jonah
.

No. He wasn’t going to stand around and let himself be beat
up by whatever the fuck was going on. Unable to stand because of the wind, he
crawled forward. Although nothing seemed to fit with the proper definition of
anything he knew he could battle evil and win. There was a weapon somewhere
that would make this go away.

All he had to do was get back to Foy’s place and find the
right tool.

Of course, he wasn’t going to make it if he couldn’t get
out.

He’d made it almost a foot toward the door when a second
gust, stronger than the one he’d already been battling, flung him backward as
if he were a bag of feathers. This time he slammed into the wall and saw stars.

“Not getting up,” he whispered, closing his lids to stop the
onslaught of colors swirling in front of his mind. The world tilted and it
occurred to him in a vague way, like an afterthought, that he was probably
concussed.

When had the world gotten so bright?

Mindy would be terrified of what happened to him. No way
would they be finding him in this strange place. Unless he died. Christian had
been brought back to life by the Blood Oath when he had passed away. Would it
do the same for him? The only problem was he didn’t actually think he was in
danger of death.

More likely he still had plenty of hours to have the crap
beat out of him by this house of horrors.

Jonah, you know the rules
. A woman’s voice this time.
You stay upstairs during the rituals.

But, Mama, I want to see
.

Not yet
. Jonah felt as if someone were stroking his
face.
There will be plenty of time for you to learn our ways.

A woman was dragged into the room. She had bruises all over
her body, which had been cuffed. She was naked and when she tried to pull away
from an unseen captor, he got a glimpse of her breasts. They were red with
welts on them.

“Please,” she screamed at him. “Please get help, little boy.
Please help me.”

His stomach twisted. “Can’t help you, lady. All of this
happened a very long time ago. And in someone else’s life.”

Because it couldn’t have happened in his. People didn’t just
forget this kind of thing.

Tears swam in his eyes. He had fought down countless numbers
of monsters since he’d taken his blood oath and never once had he wept. Why was
this happening?

“Shit.” He screamed out into the empty house.

Mindy disconnected her call. She’d never really understood
the expression to see red before but right at that second she understood it
perfectly. Sometimes in life things could take on a reddish hue apparently. All
it required was the right type of anger.

“Is it true? What he just told me?”

Braxton walked to Foy’s desk carrying a coffee carafe. He
poured the black liquid into the other man’s cup before offering her some. She
shook her head. As she currently felt, caffeine would make her head explode.

“It’s true.” Foy nodded, folding his hands on the desk. He
stared into her eyes. Others might look away from such a probing stare but she
wanted to reach over and deck him. No way would he intimidate her out of her
fury. Jonah could revere the man. As far as she was concerned, all signs did
not point to him being a wonderful guy.

“And you never thought to tell him? It
wasn’t—what—important? Not something he should have known about his life?”

“Mindy.” Foy cleared his throat. “People come to their truth
at the right time or they don’t come to it at all. You had your awakening on
the other side of a knife. The day that demon showed you true fear he
transformed you into the version of yourself you will now always be. You know
yourself even if you are still finding your feet. Jonah now has to do the
same.”

She walked over to his desk and stared down at him. “And the
only way to do this was to leave him vulnerable to this? A conversation anytime
in the last fifteen years wouldn’t have gotten the job done?”

Foy held up his hands. “All I can wish is that all my
students find protectors like you.”

“Oh. Don’t be so damn condescending.” She shook her head.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Braxton spoke through clenched teeth.
“But if something is going on with Jonah I’d like to be able to help. He’s
family to me.”

Mindy turned to Braxton. She didn’t know him and it wasn’t
fair to judge before she got better acquainted. Still, she’d made some
assumptions about the man who had been alternatively friendly and rude to her
since they’d been introduced. She never would have anticipated his feeling as
if Jonah were his family. He’d always seemed so remote.

Foy looked away from her to Braxton. “What do you remember
of Jonah from when he came here? You were here first.” Foy looked back at her.
“Braxton was my first student.”

“He was quiet. His parents weren’t dead, but he didn’t know
where he came from. Bright. Loyal. Athletic.”

Foy leaned back in his chair. “Brilliant, actually. Intuitive.
Empathic. Jonah could anticipate a move before it was made.”

Mindy’s shoulders sagged a bit; some of the tension fled her
spine. Foy did care about Jonah. She could forgive a lot from him knowing his
feelings.

“That’s what he was like in Austin. I’ve never seen anyone
fight like him. Before the Hell Hound got me, Jonah had taken out nearly all of
them single-handedly.”

“Not surprising.” Braxton nodded. “Could always count on him
to have my back.”

Foy stood up and walked to the window, giving them his back
again. “He used to weep at night. In his sleep. We would wake him and he would
have no idea what had happened.”

“Even then he didn’t remember?”

Braxton stared at her before he crossed his arms over his
chest. “You have me at a loss.”

Foy nodded. “As far as I can tell, Jonah went into some kind
of complete amnesiac state the day his parents were taken away from him. All of
a sudden he could not remember that they’d been Satan worshipers.”

Braxton hissed in his breath. “They were Satan worshipers?”

Mindy needed to sit down. Her legs were going to give out.
She made her way to the side of Foy’s desk. “Apparently big ones. The head
Satan worshipers.”

“Jonah saw that they were going to kill a woman.” Foy spoke
without inflection. “He called the police. Turned them in. I can’t imagine the
courage of a ten-year-old boy.” He shook his head. “For several years he lived
with some of his parents’ followers who took care of him. Deranged women. I got
wind of him and I was afraid for his life. If it had ever gotten out that he’d
been the reason his parents were caught.” Foy shook his head. “I intervened. I
thought I would help him get placed in a home, but then I had a vision that he
should be one of mine. And so he was.”

“Where is he now?” Braxton cut to the heart of the matter.

Mindy answered. “We really have no idea. He thinks something
attached itself to him.”

“But it didn’t?” This time the question went straight to
Foy.

“As far as I can tell he’s done this to himself. That boy
you all found—Damian—his poltergeist has retriggered Jonah’s.”

His words jolted her. “Retriggered?”

“When he first came to me, things used to move. But as he
studied, cleared his head, it passed.”

Mindy stood up. “Then I know where he went.”

“Where?” Foy moved next to her.

“He went home. He went back to where this started. Some poor
family is probably freaking out with him in their living room right now.”

Foy shook his head and she wanted to deck him. “His
childhood home remains abandoned. It’s actually all in trust for him. I’ve been
holding off giving it to him because I wanted him to remember first.”

Braxton snorted. “Is that even legal?”

Foy raised an eyebrow. “I supposed if he wanted to sue me he
could. But I’d like to point out I break the law for all of you. Quite frequently.
You might not want me to start to get really strict about that kind of stuff.”

Braxton looked away and Mindy felt certain there was a story
there. Not one, however, she had any time to delve into right at that moment.

“Then you know where this house is? We should at least look
there.”

Foy nodded before walking to his desk to pull out a folder.
A few seconds later, he grabbed a sheet of paper and headed toward the door.

“Hey.” She chased after him. “Where do you think you’re
going?”

“To get Jonah. Braxton, you’re with me.”

Mindy didn’t turn to see Braxton following. She knew he
would. “Not without me.”

“This isn’t really for you. We’re trained to do this.” Foy
turned around to regard her. “Stay here. You’ll be safe.”

“I don’t want to be safe.” She’d managed to convince Jonah
that she could be trusted. No way was Foy going to throw her back in the
proverbial cage. “Not if Jonah needs me. And if he’s going through something,
I’m going to help him. Whether you like it or not.”

Foy stopped moving. “What do you mean by that?”

Braxton scooted by them. “I’ll go get the car.”

Coward
. She shook her head. “You don’t want any of
them happy. You put yourself between Christian and Dodie and now you’re going
to try to get in my way. Guess what, pal? It’s not going to happen.”

Foy didn’t move, not even a twitch of a muscle from her
words. But when he spoke, his voice had lowered a bit. “I told Christian
something he needed to hear. He heard what he wanted to hear. In the end, I
actually saved that relationship.” He ran a hand through his hair. “All I ever
asked of any of them was to find women who could deal with the truth of their
lives. That’s hard to do. However, I see that Jonah has found himself quite a
protector in you. So stay here and wait. You can take care of him after I get
him back.”

“You wouldn’t even know where to go if I hadn’t suggested
it.”

“That’s true.” He patted her on the shoulder. “Would you
like an award? Maybe a cookie?”

“I want to come with you. I’m not staying behind like some
kind of woman out of a Western movie while the men go handle business. If Jonah
needs help, I’m going to make sure I’m there to give it to him.”

“No.” Foy turned his back on her. “I don’t have time to put
up with this. Jonah might be willing to be constantly argued with, but I’m not
infatuated with you and I don’t have to take it. Stay here or go home. Those
are your choices.”

Foy didn’t get to dictate to her what she would and would
not do. If he was going to keep her out of the loop, she was going to force
herself back in. Whether he liked it or not.

Mindy rushed forward and, using a technique she’d learned in
one of his classes, leapt into the air, landing on his back.

He made an oomph sound when she threw her arms around his
neck. No way was she letting go before she got a look at the paper he held with
the address on it. Foy could keep her from coming in the car with them but he
couldn’t prevent her from driving there herself.

Foy tried to buck her off her back but she held on for dear
life, swinging her arm forward to try to grab the paper.

“Damn it.” Foy threw himself to the side and she held on. He
wouldn’t be getting rid of her that easily. If he wanted to throw himself
backward, injuring them both, then he would win but nothing short of that was
going to get her off him without a look at that paper.

Foy stopped moving. “All right, goddamn it, come with me. But
you can face Jonah’s wrath when he sees you there. Stubborn women.”

Mindy grinned. “Thank you, Foy.” She got off his back. “That
wasn’t hard, was it?”

* * * * *

Jonah crept down the stairs. He knew several things. The
first was that his parents would not like it if they knew he spied on them. Second,
he knew he was actually twenty-nine years old and not ten anymore. But
apparently, he had to relive this. So he might as well get it over with.

His back ached and he’d be sore for weeks from the way this
place beat him up. Still, even though he understood what was happening, he kept
losing himself in the moment. How had he not realized he’d come home? How had
he not known instantly what this place was to him?

The woman who had been dragged into the house naked and
cuffed was now strapped to the table downstairs. Jonah knew what was going to
happen. He’d rescued a woman days earlier from just this situation and it
certainly hadn’t been the first time he’d done so. How many times and why had
none of those events triggered the memory of this one?

The long-gone girl of years earlier screamed, cursed and
drooled while she tried to free her restrained body. His father and mother,
always so fashionable, put together and better-looking than any of his friends’
parents, wore long black robes over their clothes. He hid on the stairs and
watched, mouth hanging open, when his mother put a hood over her head.

Jonah turned and ran up the stairs. He could hear his heart
beat in his ears. Somehow he made it upstairs without drawing any attention to
himself. With fast breaths, he closed the door behind him and threw himself
down on his bed.

The grown-up version of himself would have kicked ass and
asked questions later. But he was, in the vision or memory or echo or whatever
the fuck it was, just a ten-year-old boy. Terrified. His hands shook and he
wished he hadn’t given up his blankie the year before.

His mom and dad couldn’t be getting ready to kill that girl.
He knew all the other adults in there too. Uncle Ben who laughed too loud,
Auntie Karen who always smelled like mothballs. They were all some kind of
monsters.

He stood up. Jonah couldn’t let that woman die. She’d looked
at him; she’d seen him when no one else had and she’d asked him to save her. His
hands shook. He could not let her perish. Not like his cat who had been found
dead the year before. Something must have killed it, his father had said.

Muffin had been skinned and when Jonah had cried about it
his father had laughed. That had bothered him more than anything. He swung his
legs over the bed. There was something to do, people who could help if you
needed them to. In school they’d told them what to do.

Call the police. Jonah rushed back out into the hall. His
babysitter, the woman who should have been watching him, snored as she leaned
in her chair against the wall. Nadine had been passing out drunk when she
should have been watching him for years now.

Tonight had been the first night he’d been brave enough to
sneak around her. He gritted his teeth. They had a phone in the kitchen. He
needed to get there. If anybody questioned him, he’d say he was hungry.

But no one did. Not the whole time he crept down the
stairway and into the dimly lit kitchen. No one uttered a word when he picked
up the phone and dialed the police.

Now, as he stood in what remained of his parents’ kitchen,
he was thrown to the side. This time there was no gust of wind, just a force as
if someone had shoved him.

He hit the floor, catching himself with his hands. “What do
you want from me, fuckers?”

Were the spirit remains of his parents’ fellow believers
left in the house? Looking to torture him for bringing down their glittery
party of women-killing Satan worshipers?

“I’d do it again. Do you hear me? I don’t care how much you
beat me up? How much you try to bring me down? I’d do it again because it was
the right thing to do.”

“That’s really good that you feel that way.” Foy’s voice
filled the room around him. He couldn’t see the man. No one had entered the
house. How was it possible for him to hear his Master?

The kitchen blurred around him and while he tried to blink
away the feeling he found himself standing next to Foy in some kind of
clearing.

“Shit.”

Foy laughed, a long, hard sound. “That’s not the reaction
I’m used to getting from you.”

“I’m dead, aren’t I? Somehow I just expired and now I’m in
that between place Christian vaguely remembers from when he died.” Jonah looked
around. The other blood-oathed were nowhere to be seen. When Christian had been
dead, Jonah and the others had all been temporarily debilitated when he’d
sucked on their life force through the oath and they’d all saved his life. None
of them had been connected enough to him to save him this time?