Summoning Trouble, page 12
“Okay, well, why don’t we get on with the exorcism and you two can argue about it later,” I said. “Also, while you argue about it, if you could come up with a reason why someone would want a possession to end at dawn and get back to me with an answer, that would be fabulous.”
“Well, I know why Xerxes did it,” Azrael said.
“Excellent, tell me later,” I said, already beginning to gather my magic for the mass exorcism. I was about to push the magic out when I heard Miguel begin to shout. I stopped in case the shouting had something to do with me or the exorcism. I turned to look at him and he blushed.
“Sorry, go ahead,” he said, and I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll explain later.”
“Okay then, so you want me to proceed, right? Well, everyone except Uriel, but Uriel never wants me to proceed, so ya know.”
“Yes, please,” Miguel replied, and I gathered my magic together again. I was ready to push it out when I heard Miguel shout again. This time I ignored him and completed the exorcism spell. Suddenly, hundreds of people collapsed into individual heaps and began to moan and groan. Being possessed by a demon, even a little one, sucked. It was physically and emotionally tiring, as well as a little painful. Collapsing was common at the end of an exorcism, as was gorging on food until they got sick. While possessed, the demon uses up most of the calories a person takes in during the day to bolster its magic. It was unlikely anyone in this group had been possessed long enough to feel they were starving, but different people tolerated it differently, so some might. The AESPCA agents were now handing out those foil blankets, because being cold was another side effect of exorcism. I wondered if anyone had thought to bring hot chocolate or coffee for them. Probably not. I figured the AESPCA would have expected to need the emergency foil blankets but hugging a cup of coffee or hot chocolate just made the world seem better. Or maybe that was just me.
Exorcism done, I gathered Miguel and headed back to the hospital. He was stiff as he stood next to me, waiting for me to open a portal. I wasn’t sure why, but I was willing to bet it had something to do with Uriel. Uriel often rubbed people the wrong way. He could be such an asshole. Aside from being related, I wasn’t sure why most of his brothers put up with him. And he was getting worse. One of his purebred perfect angel children had been arrested a few years ago and since then, he’d become insufferable. My father’s philosophy was that he needed more tolerance and love since the arrest of Francesca. I thought what he really needed was a swift, hard kick in the ass. The portal opened and we both stepped through it into the parking lot of the hospital. I glanced quickly at Miguel out of the corner of my eye.
“Whatever Uriel said to upset you, ignore it. He’s a dick to everyone, and if he’s yelling at you, it’s a sign you’re doing your job correctly, which infuriates him,” I said to Miguel.
“He told me to arrest you,” Miguel said after another couple of heartbeats. “He said you were untrustworthy, and he had no doubt you and Magda Red were behind everything, including shooting Penelope.”
“Wow. As I said, he’s a dick,” I commented dryly.
“I don’t know why Uriel hates you, but would your Uncle Azrael actually cause him serious harm? Should I call someone? Because Azrael was firmly on your side and told me Uriel would frame you and Magda for all this, but that there’s no way you were responsible.”
“Uh, huh,” I frowned. “Yeah, we should call my dad and maybe my Uncles Michael and Gabriel. Gabriel can bail Azrael out of jail if he’s arrested, and Michael can keep Uriel from dying.” I said, reaching for my phone. “Uriel’s gone a little off the deep end since his daughter was arrested for masterminding a plot to bring demons over to Earth permanently.”
“He seems to blame you,” Miguel said.
“Yeah, I discovered the plot.” I nodded. “So, if you’d call Gabriel, I’ll call Raphael and have him call Michael.” Miguel nodded and then asked me for the number. I gave him Gabriel’s number and called my father.
I explained as quickly and succinctly as possible and told Raphael where we left Azrael and Uriel and that he might call Michael to at least be on standby. Not surprisingly, my father agreed with Miguel’s assessment; me being accused of attempted murder and multiple instances of causing demonic possession did not make my father very happy, either. When I hung up, I wondered if I should call someone else to ensure my father didn’t damage Uriel. After about twenty seconds of this thought, I called Michael myself.
“I heard about Penelope getting shot and Janet being missing. What do you need me to do?” Michael said by way of hello. I explained the situation with Uriel and Azrael and Miguel’s shouting and concern, and then the call to my dad. Michael swore loudly and then told me he’d come to the hospital. I protested that Uriel might need him more and he informed me he had no intention of helping Uriel, whatever happened to him was his problem, and Michael was tired of his shit. It sounded to me like there might be more going on between the brothers than I realized, and I wanted to ask questions, but I didn’t really have time. “I’m coming to you because I might be able to help find Janet. My healing power allows me to see life force and sometimes that can help locate where a person is,” he told me. I responded by telling him I hadn’t seen Janet in nearly a year and had really only heard from her maybe four times, and he informed me that didn’t matter and then told me to shut up. So, I did, and we ended our call.
Chapter Ten
After talking to Raphael and Michael, I realized Miguel was still on the phone with Gabriel and he seemed to be reassuring my uncle he did not suspect me or Magda Red of any crimes. I decided to call my mom. Mom told me she was coming to the hospital and hung up on me. Well, okay. Miguel finally got off the phone with Gabriel and looked at me.
“Is there some kind of feud happening in your family?” Miguel asked me.
“I was wondering that myself,” I said with a shrug. “It seems like there is, but I don’t know anything about it. However, my mom and my uncle are both heading this way while my father goes to find Azrael and Uriel. Maybe we’ll find out.” I shrugged again.
“Gabriel is also going to find Azrael, Uriel, and Raphael,” Miguel said.
“That is probably a really good idea. I suspect before night gets here, I may have to contact Samael and Haniel too, because something is going on and I am now very concerned and thinking calling my father was not a good idea.”
“Will your mom use a portal to get here, or will she drive since she has the newborn?”
“My mom’s family is basically mortal. She has some hearth magic, but that’s it,” I told him.
“Your mom is a registered witch.”
“Yes, but she’s descended from Hecate,” I responded.
“Oh, yeah, I remember reading that somewhere when I thought you might be responsible for a crime.”
“By the way, I appreciate you changing your mind about that,” I said.
“Well, at first, I didn’t feel like I had a choice, but after spending some time with you while you summoned demons, I realized that if you caused a possession you’d do a better job than they did, and you wouldn’t have summoned demons to talk to me about it,” he said.
“Well, whatever. I still appreciate that you no longer think I’m a criminal.”
“I didn’t say that. I said I don’t think you’re responsible for these crimes,” Miguel said with a smile as we walked into the hospital. The place was crawling with police. I exchanged looks with Miguel, who shrugged and went up to one of them.
“...a call said there was a demon roaming the hospital killing people,” I heard the officer say as I tried to walk past him to where I’d left Jerome, Remiel, and Magda Red. There were two officers standing outside the room, blocking the door. I identified myself and one of the officers grabbed my wrist and slapped silver handcuffs on me.
“I’m nephilim, silver doesn’t affect me,” I told him, jerking my wrist, cuff attached, out of his hand. “And why the fuck are you handcuffing me!?” I shouted.
“You’re Soleil Burns, correct?” the officer asked me.
“Yes.”
“We are arresting you on suspicion of attempted murder,” he responded, grabbing my wrist again, harder this time.
“What the fuck!” I shouted, unsure how to finish the sentence. Either he was stupid or there was a serious problem or both. However, I didn’t think it would endear me to the St. Charles police department to say any of those things out loud. “Miguel!” I shouted instead.
“Just go with them Soleil, we’ll get it sorted out!” Miguel shouted back. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t the one being arrested. I frowned at the officers and put my other wrist out for them.
“May I at least check on my son before you take me away?” I asked.
“Yes,” the officer said, and stepped sideways away from the door. The other officer opened it for me. Magda, Remiel, and Jerome all looked worried.
“Remiel, take care of him until we clear this up,” I said, and then I leaned into Jerome. I couldn’t give him a proper hug. “Who did the demon try to kill?” I whispered.
“We have no idea. Suddenly the police stormed the place and said you’d summoned a demon to kill someone,” Jerome whispered back, wrapping his arms around me and giving me a hug.
“Good to know. Uriel tried to get the AESPCA to arrest me this morning, too. Azrael and he were fighting when we left. My mom and Michael are both coming to the hospital. Michael thinks he might be able to help locate Janet because he can see life forces,” I said, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“We’ll call Gabriel,” Jerome said.
“No, he’s going to Azrael and Uriel, just in case either Azrael or Raphael needs a lawyer.” I said. “I’ll just sit until the AESPCA gets things figured out. I mean, Miguel was with me the entire time I was gone. Surely that qualifies as an alibi.”
Jerome let go and I stepped back. He looked like he was about to cry and if he started crying, I’d bawl and probably become hysterical. I stepped out of the room and back into the larger waiting room and turned to the officer that had handcuffed me. “Come on, let’s go,” I said. Miguel was now arguing with someone that looked like a supervisor and when we walked past them. Miguel stopped arguing and followed us out of the building into the parking lot.
“I’ll figure out what’s going on,” Miguel told me as the officer opened the car door. “This has to be some kind of misunderstanding.”
“Yeah,” I said, with an awkward shrug and shake of my head. “Maybe I’ll get a nap while I wait on you to figure out what’s going on. I’ve been awake a little over twenty-six hours now.” With that, I was placed in the back of the cruiser and the door slammed shut. After a few minutes, both the officers that had been inside blocking the door to the waiting room my family had been inside got into the front seats. They didn’t speak to me for the entire trip, not even to explain the charges against me. I did have quite a few questions, but working with the police over the years, I had learned that usually the guys in unforms didn’t give a lot of answers. I’d have to wait for a detective. Hopefully, it would happen fast, so I could get on with the napping. I was positive I should be more concerned with this turn of events, but after hearing Uriel had tried to have me arrested earlier this morning, I kinda felt like Uriel had something to do with this arrest and Miguel was perfectly capable of fixing it. The radio crackled several times, but that was the only noise in the cruiser for the entire ride back.
Once at the station, they took my mug shot and fingerprints and had someone cast a magic binding spell on me. Then I was put into a cell. It was a fancier cell than the one I’d been in when I was arrested for causing the possession of my former brother-in-law. This one was had a door with a window and the walls were cinderblock on every side; in other words, it lacked bars completely. The door was reinforced steel, and I had no doubt the window was Plexiglas and not real glass. There was a cot, but no pillow or blanket, which made me a bit sad. Naps were easier with blankets, even when it was warm outside.
I plopped down on the cot and was wishing I’d worn a jacket when a buzzer sounded. It wasn’t the same buzzer I’d heard when the door was sealed behind me, so I got back up and went to the window. The buzzer was replaced by the screeching claxon of an alarm. Fan-fucking-tabulous. What the fuck was going on? I saw two officers sprint past the window, heading to the main part of the police station. The alarm suddenly shut off but the officers that had just sprinted into the other room didn’t come back. I had a knot in my stomach—something bad was happening and I was locked in a cell with my magic unavailable, thanks to the binding spell. Fuck! Fuck! And fuck! Then I heard gunshots. Oh, double fuck! I pushed open the little metal slot on the door that I guess was meant to allow food trays to enter or something and shouted for someone, anyone, to come get me out of the cell. More gunshots echoed through the hallways. Now I could hear shouting and it was getting closer. A lot closer.
A moment later, several officers burst through the main door for the holding cell area, shotguns aimed down the hallway, and took up positions in the holding cell area. I shut the flap on the door; maybe I didn’t want them to notice me after all. I was about to move to the back of the cell when I heard something that sounded like part of the building had collapsed. Was the fucking police station under attack? If so, by whom? Two officers discharged their shotguns in quick succession. One of them was shouting, but I couldn’t make it out exactly, something about me I was fairly sure. Then the door blew inward and a large dark shadow tore into the room. Or rather, it would have looked like a large dark shadow to the police officers. To me, it looked like the hell prince Belial. Holy fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This was worse than I had imagined. Belial swiped at the closest officer, and she flew backward across the room. As I watched, the hell prince grew larger. Oh fuck. We really needed my sister. And maybe Jerome. And maybe the AESPCA. And probably Azrael. And some bigger, better weapons. Not even a shotgun was going to do much to Belial’s spirit form. I saw an officer come over to my cell door. He was shouting at me to make it go away.
“You guys bound my magic; I can’t do shit!” I shouted back, pushing the flap back open.
“You summoned it after we bound your magic, make it go away!” he shouted and then the barrel of a shotgun appeared in that flap. I didn’t have time to protest or move before he pulled the trigger. I felt the slug enter my midsection. I’ve never been shot with a shotgun before, it really fucking hurts. Belial bellowed, and I felt him slam against the wall. The officer pulled the trigger again, hitting me a little higher this time. I felt the slug enter my chest and blood filled my lungs. I collapsed to the floor. I was fading when I heard someone shout.
“That’s not helping, she didn’t summon it!” I wanted to respond no shit asshole, but I couldn’t. I had no air. My last thought was at least breathing is fucking optional for me, and then my vision went black.
Chapter Eleven
I awoke to find machines beeping loudly and people whispering. I opened my eyes. My chest hurt and I briefly wondered if I still had my soul. I tried to sit up and found I was handcuffed to a hospital bed. Great, I was still under arrest. What the fuck. They had shot me. I wanted to tell them this but found there was a tube down my throat. Fuck. I was on a breathing machine. Fuck. Did Belial kill anyone? Did they get him sent back? Did they find who summoned him? Did I still have my soul? I could answer one of those questions, I poked around. I still had my soul. Thank fucking god. If Belial had stolen my soul, I would have gone to the Stygian and ripped his head off. No. I would have gone down there and ripped his soul out.
“She’s awake,” I heard Jerome say. “And she’s pissed.”
“That isn’t surprising,” I heard my father respond. What the fuck! I shouted in my head, trying to ensure Jerome heard it.
“She wants to know what’s going on, not in those exact words.” Jerome said. I tried to sigh but couldn’t.
“They did surgery. You’ll be on this machine for a few more hours and then you can be taken off. But right now, you have stitches in your lung, and they want to be cautious about letting you breathe and swear on your own,” my father told me.
“Oh, he has no idea. Where are the fucking police and that asshole cop that shot me?” I asked.
“She wants to know about the cop that shot her, twice,” Jerome said.
“Miss Burns, my name is Detective Lazaruk. The officer that shot you did so in an attempt to stop the summoning spell they thought you were performing.”
“They bound me with a fucking spell when I got there, how the fuck would I have summoned a hell prince?” I tried to shout at him. Instead, I made muffled noises and the tube moved around at my mouth.
“Do I need to have them sedate you, so you stop trying to talk?” my father asked.
“Fucking really!” I shouted with my head.
“Maybe you should give her paper and a pen, because I can’t repeat most of what she’s saying,” Jerome said. “She says she’ll wash my mouth out with soap if I get in the habit of using the F word.”
“She’s one to talk.” My father chuckled. “Fine.” My father dug a small notebook and pen out of his coat and handed it to me I wrote down that I’d been bound and there was no way I could have summoned a hell prince and I sure as fuck wouldn’t have summoned Belial.
“After the officers shot you and the demon didn’t go away, they realized you hadn’t summoned it. They did not catch the person that did. The archangel Azrael had to come exorcise it,” Detective Lazaruk responded.
“Are you fucking kidding!!” I wrote down.
“No.” Detective Lazaruk answered. “You are being held on suspicion of attempted murder via demon.”
“What? Who did I attempt to kill? And why would I use a demon, that’s a terrible murder weapon!” I scribbled.
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