Evil in Me, page 18
“Go away!” Ruby cried.
“I not kill them. I not kill your friends.”
“You did. I saw you! Stay away from me.” Ruby swooned and would’ve fallen, but Vutto caught her, steadied her. Ruby yanked her arm away. “Don’t touch me!”
The demon flinched. “Lord Sheelbeth make me kill. I am her slave. Tell her, Beel. Tell her how Lord Sheelbeth make us slaves.”
And in that moment, Beel found himself pitying this wretched creature. How similar their fates. But he looked at the scar on its forehead, knew it was only a matter of time before it healed. And when it did, what then? Would this beast hunt them down and kill Ruby? Yes, of course it would.
Beel glanced at the burning house; the angel blood was gone, there would be no more, the magic book as well. Ruby still had the taint; the ring was still on her finger. What chance did they have now against this demon or any other?
Ruby kept walking.
“Look in my eyes,” Vutto pleaded. “See. I am free now. The man, he free me.” He tapped the scar. “I am good now. I come with you. Yah. Keep you safe. I am friend.”
“You’re a monster!” Ruby snapped. “You murdered them! Get away from me!” She stormed off, leaving the demon staring after her.
“No leave me,” Vutto pleaded. “Please … no leave me.”
* * *
It’s me, Richard.
I could stand it no longer, first the strange singing, then what sounded like wailing, followed by screams, all coming from inside the house.
I really didn’t want to leave my hiding spot, but a terrible thought came to me. What if something happened to Ruby? If she was in trouble I had to save her, and believe me, the irony wasn’t lost on me. For at that moment, I could think of no worse tragedy than someone murdering her before I did.
Another crash and there. What was that … smoke, fire?
I dashed for the front door, pistol in hand, intent on just going in, on taking her, and too bad for anyone who got in my way. I tried the door. It was locked. The flames were spreading everywhere. I jumped down the steps, heading around back, when I heard voices coming my way and ducked behind a large bush.
It was Ruby, making for the Cadillac. Perfect! I put my revolver away and drew out the pepper spray. But as she passed, I caught movement behind her and hesitated. A man was following her. He entered the glow of the flames and I forgot all about Ruby, for it wasn’t a man at all, but … but what?
I froze, unable to move.
The thing was hunched and a good foot shorter than Ruby. A crown of curling horns sprouted from its head. It had tiny slanted eyes and scaly skin, feet like those of some monstrous lizard, and a coiling tail that turned into a snake. My mind tried to tell me it was a costume, but then I saw its other face. There, where its stomach should’ve been, was a gaping mouth full of jagged teeth, and upon its chest, a nose and eyes—greedy, hungry eyes. They met mine and it stopped, stared at me.
“Evil thing,” it hissed at me and took a step my way. I’m sure I would’ve died then and there had Ruby not slammed the car door.
“No!” the creature cried, and dashed after her. “Stop!” it pleaded with both of its faces, its guttural words coming out of both of its mouths. “Please do not leave me. I beg you.”
I realized I’d forgotten to breathe and sucked in a lungful of air. My knees felt weak, and I grabbed the hedge in an effort to remain standing.
Ruby started the car and the creature placed its hands on the window. “I am good. I am good egg. Tell her Beel. Tell her I am friend. Yah!”
Ruby refused to look at it. She threw the vehicle into reverse and backed out. The creature followed her all the way down to the road. Ruby put the car in drive and took off, her wheels squealing.
The creature, this demon, just stood there watching her go, its shoulders slumped. If it wasn’t so terrible, it would’ve been pitiful.
It looked my way, both of its faces mournful, its lower lips jutting out like some lost child. It almost seemed to be seeking my help, then it ran off, racing down the street after the car.
I managed to move then, made it to the road in time to see it cutting across a yard, heading for the main road.
“What’s going on?” someone asked, and I realized people were coming out of the neighboring homes. I could hear distant sirens.
“No idea,” I said.
Two women came running up.
“It’s on fire!” one shouted.
“That’s Dr. Gold’s house!” the other cried. “Lord Jesus, is he in there? Has anyone seen him?”
More folks arrived and I slipped away, no one giving me a second look, all fixated on the eerie green flames coming from the burning home.
I made it to my van, crawled in, and just sat there, trembling.
“No more,” I whispered, and in that moment, I was sure this was all witchcraft, some ritual gone bad. Where else would that creature, no that demon, have come from? I clutched the wheel. “Unless, unless I’m insane.” I stared at the green fire. “No, it’s real. All of it.”
Flashing lights zipped past, snapping me out of my daze. Police, followed by a fire engine.
I cranked up the van and drove off. I wasn’t sure where I was headed, just as far away from Ruby as I could get.
I found the highway and made it about twenty miles out of town before I pulled over.
Ruby’s song faded, I could no longer hear it, and in its place heartache as I’d never known, more so than after a loved one’s death. I felt hollow, depleted, felt tears running down my face. “Demons … witchcraft, I don’t care. I will have her. Nothing else matters. Nothing.”
I turned around at the next exit and headed back.
“Hold on, Ruby. I’m coming for you.”
TINA
A pop from somewhere near, sounding like a gunshot. Ruby opened her eyes. It was night. It took her a moment to understand she was in the back seat of a car, the Cadillac. She’d fallen asleep, passed out more like it. She felt drained, barely able to lift her head, her very bones ached. Her eyes slowly fell shut, and she began to drift off again.
Another pop, this time closer. Ruby sat up.
It was still dark, but a hint of morning gloom was edging up along the horizon. She wiped clear a spot of condensation from inside the window. She was in a lot behind what appeared to be an old graffiti-covered warehouse with bars across the windows. A few scrap cars and several piles of junk shared the lot with her. She could see shoddy apartments further down the block.
Where … am I? she wondered, trying to put it together. The last thing she remembered was fleeing the doctor’s burning house.
Look at the ring, came a voice from within.
Ruby yelped, then realized the voice had come from inside her head, and it all came back. “Oh, fuck!” she said. “You’re still here.”
The ring, Beel urged.
Ruby looked at the ring and felt Beel’s distress as though her own.
Her fingernails had all turned black, her fingers dark purple, the color of a deep bruise, strings of the darkness wormed their way up her wrists just beneath the skin.
Look, Beel said. The blood … it is wearing off.
She could see the metal of the ring shining out from beneath the thinning crud in several spots.
We have no more blood, he said. No more! It was all lost in the fire.
She didn’t have to ask what that meant.
“Maybe we can find more?” Ruby said. “Maybe—”
More? Where? His tone turned acid. Perhaps in one of your supermarkets?
Ruby grimaced, stared out the window, watching a distant streetlight flicker. She shifted in her seat, bumped her arm, letting out a cry. She pushed up her sleeve and held her arm up into the light. She was greeted by rows of little teeth marks—angry red, and swollen. Demon bites, she thought and took a moment to try to get her head around that. It’s not real, none of this is real. It can’t—
It all hit her again, the searing flames, the screaming ghosts, demons, and … “Oh, God, Josh!” She saw his face, the terror as those things, those demons, tore into him. She let out a sob and the tears came spilling out. “Oh, Jesus Christ, what’ve I done?” She fought to get herself under control, then just gave in, just let it all out, cradling herself against the seat as she began to bawl.
She wasn’t sure how long she sat there like that, but it was morning now, overcast and gray. She heard yelling nearby and peered around, sniffling and wiping her nose. She sucked in a deep trembling breath and looked at the ring, at that fucking cursed ring.
What now? she wondered, desperate to hear Josh’s reassuring voice. To ask him what to do. But Josh was gone. Dr. Gold was gone. I’m on my own, she thought. No, worse than alone. I’ve got a demon inside me. Then, of all people, it was her mother’s voice she heard: “You need to buck up, young lady. Get your shit together.” She’d always hated it when her mother said that, but right now she knew it was right, because if she didn’t, nobody would.
She looked closer at the ring. “Hey, Beel … maybe there’s some other way. Another spell. Maybe we can find a—”
The spell book burned, everything burned. There is no chance without the book. Do you not understand? No place to run … to hide. Nothing to be done. We are damned. It is only a matter of time.
His utter despair flowed outward, threatening to consume her. Damned, she thought, and shuddered as images of shrieking demons, drowning souls in lakes of lava, flashed before her. She tried to push it from her mind, but Hell, whatever Hell was, had never felt so real, felt so near.
Her eyes found Mr. Rosenfeld’s suitcase, it was on the floorboard next to her. “Oh, Pam. God, Pam … I’m so sorry.” She needed to call Pam. No, she thought. I can’t … can’t face her. Not after this. I just can’t. She felt the tears returning. Stop it, she told herself. Buck up, get your shit together.
She grabbed the suitcase, popped the latches and opened it, began digging quickly through, almost frantically, suddenly sure that there’d be something to help them. She pulled out a pair of slacks, a couple of shirts, underwear, a sweater, toothbrush, socks, flashlight, a pack of cigarettes, but no magic books, or talisman, no vials of angel blood. She kept looking, not stopping until she’d dumped everything onto the seat next to her.
She spotted an old envelope and snatched it up, tearing it open, hopeful for a spell, a lead, something. It was full of cash—hundreds and twenties, at least a thousand dollars’ worth. She sighed, shoved the cash back in the envelope and then into her jacket, figured she’d send it to Pam if she ever got the chance. She then remembered she’d left home without anything, not even her wallet or purse. She took out a handful of the twenties and stuffed them into her front pocket. “I’ll pay you back, Pam. Promise.”
One of Josh’s favorite sweaters lay on the floorboard, she picked it up, gently, almost reverently, folded it back up and laid it atop the suitcase. She patted it; it felt and smelled like him. The tears came again. “Josh. Shit … what am I gonna do?”
There was something shiny amongst the socks. She picked it up, once again hopeful, only to find it was just the old man’s pocket knife. She flipped out the blade and stared at it for a long time, looking from the blade to the ring on her finger, back and forth, over and over.
She licked her lips. I’ll never play the bass again. She almost laughed. Her life, her very soul, were at stake and she was worrying about playing the bass.
What are you doing? Beel asked.
“I’m out of choices,” Ruby replied, and placed the blade against her finger, right below the ring. Her hand began to tremble.
It will not work, Beel said sternly. Hear me. It will not work.
“Why not?” she snapped.
The ring, it is alive. You know this. It’s a demon of sorts. But a very stupid one, only capable of doing what it is told. Lord Sheelbeth told it to seize you, hold you. So that is what it will do … no matter what. You cut off your finger and it will jump to another. You cut off your hand and it will burrow beneath the skin of your belly. I have seen this more times than I can remember. It will never let you, or me, go … not until either Lord Sheelbeth orders it to, or the spell is broken.
“Why should I believe you? Maybe I’m your only chance and you don’t want to be left behind in the ring.”
Go ahead … cut it off. Why should I care? You and all God’s chosen people are selfish, closer to the demons than the angels. I will never understand why God graced such as you with his blessings instead of the shedim.
“You’re lying,” Ruby said, and pressed the blade into her skin. A drop of blood pooled and, to her horror, the ring sucked it down. She felt it pulse, then clutch harder, biting into her flesh. She let out a cry and yanked the blade away. Slowly, the ring let up.
“Fuck you!” Ruby shouted at the ring and stabbed the knife into the seat next to her. “Fuck you!” she cried. “Fuck you!”
Maybe it will be better if we do as Lord Sheelbeth tells us, Beel said.
“What?”
Maybe if we scrub the blood from the ring. Maybe then at least she will take some mercy on us. Maybe not send us into the fire.
“No! No fucking way I’m gonna just hand my soul over to this Lord Fuckass. What’s wrong with you?”
It is better than burning. Anything is better than burning.
Ruby shook her head. “The song, the spell is mine now. David said so. We just need to find some more spirits or ghosts to sing it. Right? I mean the taint, it’s drawing them to us. Right? So it shouldn’t be too hard. Maybe we can find another spirit bowl … like in a museum or something. Or even some book on how to do a séance. Hell, even a fucking Ouija board might do the trick. We gotta try? We gotta at least try.”
There came no response.
“Beel, you there?” She knew he was, could feel him brooding.
Still no response.
“Hey! I’m talking to you!”
You want to open more doors? After what happened. You feel that is a good idea?
It was drizzling and Ruby stared at the raindrops gathering on the windshield, trying to come up with something that might make sense, anything. She started humming absently, singing softly to soothe herself. It was the song, the magic song. She didn’t even realize it at first.
“‘Gotta give me all your heart and soul, gimmie all your heart and soul, Devil’s never gonna let me go, unless you give me all my heart and soul.’”
The song calmed her, cleared her head a bit. It seemed just singing it brought a touch of the magic back. She felt warmth in her arm where she’d cut the symbol into her flesh, surprised to see that the wound had healed, leaving a dark scar.
“Hey, Beel. You said that Lord Motherfucker uses souls to sing her spells. Those souls … aren’t they human souls?”
He didn’t answer.
“They are, aren’t they? And aren’t these the same souls everybody has? I mean living people. Gotta be, right?” She nodded to herself. “Then why can’t we just get some people to sing it? Wouldn’t that be the same? I mean, okay, maybe we needed the ghosts and spirits to make the song, to bond it to me and all. But that part’s done. So why can’t we just get some people to sing it now? Am I missing something here?”
She sensed some interest from Beel and this encouraged her. “Maybe we can just hire a choir.” She thought of the cash. “A whole fucking choir to sing the damn thing.” She was getting excited.
I do not think it possible, Beel said. Lord Sheelbeth has hundreds of trapped souls that give her her power. More, they are not just singing, not just absently repeating words. No, their song comes from their hearts, they are singing out of love, or maybe their great fear. Either way, there is passion in their song, there is heart. Can you pay a choir to give you their heart?
Ruby let out a frustrated sigh, went back to staring out the window, and again found the song on her lips, surprised at how catchy it was.
She sat bolt upright. “Beel!” she cried. “I got it!”
What now?
“You said sing it from the heart, to put emotion and soul into it … passion.”
Yes.
“The song. We just make a song out of it! A real song. Play it to a crowd. Get them to like it. Don’t you see? If they dig it, they’ll sing along. Sing it with heart and soul. Get the magic flowing!”
It will not work, he said.
“Why not? Can you tell me with certainty that it won’t work? Can you?”
He didn’t reply for a long, long moment. Finally, he said, Perhaps there is some small chance.
“Yes!” she exclaimed, her voice full of excitement. “A band. We just need to get a band together. And I’ve got the cash to hire—” She blinked. “Wait.” She laughed, slapped the back of the seat. “Where’s my head? I already got a band.” She slapped the seat again. “Tina and me. Hell yeah!” Her heart was racing. “The Night Mares!”
* * *
Ruby double-checked the map as she drove across town. She’d never been in such a big city before and kept getting lost. She found Atlanta to be composed mostly of endless suburbs, old and new, one neighborhood melting into the next. She’d passed at least two sprawling malls, vast multilevel structures that seemed like cities unto themselves. But as she neared the heart of the town, the looming buildings took her breath away, seeming impossibly tall, and despite everything, she had to pull over just to take them in.
Ruby watched a young black man busking on the corner, while panhandlers hassled sharply dressed business folks as they hurried along their way. Taxis and buses barreled past as food carts and trinket sellers set up shop. Smells of fancy restaurants and bus fumes mixed in the air. The energy and vibe were like nothing she’d ever experienced in Enterprise. It made her sad, because she knew how exciting this would all be to her if one of her best friends hadn’t just been murdered, if she didn’t have a demon breathing down her neck.
Ruby continued on, leaving the large buildings behind and heading into a neighborhood of small, older homes. Plenty of trees lined the streets, mostly sprawling oaks. Several of the houses were painted in bright colors; she passed one with a tie-dyed Deadhead flag, another with a peace sign painted on the mailbox. She felt sure this must be the Little Five Points area that Tina had written her about, and judging by some of the colorful folks she’d seen, decided it must be the artier part of town.
