The Reaping: Language of the Liar (9 page)

When she came to herself, she was leaning back against the seat of the car, her hand on the side of her face, and Lennox was twisted around, staring at her with wide eyes.  “You okay there, lass?”

Dorian nodded, gulping in a few breaths of air as she tried to calm herself. “Yeah um… not really sure what happened.”

“He’s fighting you,” Dash replied, glancing at her through the rearview mirror.  “The charm will protect you, but he’s a strong one.  Keep a firm hold on your mind and I promise it’ll be okay.”

Her hands trembling, she clasped them in her lap and nodded.  There wasn’t anything else she could do.  For now, the mounting panic was gone, but the echoes remained.  If it really was Nic trying to fight her, she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to hold him off.

Dorian only had a few minutes to worry about it, however.  Their destination was only a few miles away, and within a handful of minutes, Dash pulled in front of a curb and shut the car off.  The neighborhood was just outside the main city, one of those suburban, cookie-cutter housing developments with red-tiled roofs and adobe plaster walls.  The lawns were all manicured, identical to one another.  The only way to distinguish this house from the others was by a string of wrought iron butterflies nailed to the wall beside the front door.

Letting herself out, Dorian stepped aside as the guys pulled the bags from the backseat.  Dash slammed his on the trunk, ripping open the zipper, and he pulled out a silver pot, a vial of thick red liquid, and one of the powder sacks.

“Here,” he said, shoving the vial and bowl over to Lennox.  “Get our stuff ready and I’ll prep his potion.”

With a frown, Dorian stepped back to watch them work.  It really was similar to a chemistry class.  Dash was holding out a water bottle half-full, tipped to the side as he used a tiny spoon to measure out the powder.  He added a few drops of clear liquid from a dropper he kept in his pocket, then capped it and gave it a shake.  The liquid in the bottle turned yellow, shimmered with an unnatural light, then began to bubble like it had reached a rolling boil.

Holding the water bottle tightly, Dash muttered a sentence under his breath, and before Dorian’s eyes, the liquid settled and the color went from bright yellow to clear.  With a satisfied hum, he shoved the water bottle into the pocket of his coat and turned to Lennox who was mixing something in the bowl.

“All set?”

Lennox nodded and took a tiny paint brush from his pocket.  Dipping it into the liquid, he waited until Dash rolled up his sleeves, exposing his pale forearms.  With careful motions and a muttered incantation, Lennox began to draw intricate, swirling symbols all along the naked skin.  A few times Dorian saw Dash wince, and she remembered the burn of her own markings

When it was finished, the symbols glowed for a second, then faded into the skin and the men traded places.  The ritual was the same, Lennox bracing himself as Dash wove the spell around the other Exorcist.  When he was finished, Lennox took the bowl and turned to Dorian who was staring at him with an apprehensive grimace.

“Me next?”

He shook his head.  “You’re good for now.  But you let us know if anything out of the ordinary happens.”

Dorian’s eyebrows shot up.  “Out of the ordinary?  At an
exorcism
?”

Dash laughed and slung his arm around her shoulders as they started toward the door.  “You know what we mean, love.  Expect to see some strange things here, but anything starts to feel like it’s taking you over, you let us know.”

Letting out a slow breath, she nodded.  “Alert you if I get possessed.  Got it.”

Dash chuckled again as he dropped his arm to ring the bell, and a few moments later, a woman answered the door.  She looked tired, a little frayed with her brown hair pulled into a messy bun and her pale face splotchy over her cheeks and chin.  She was wearing a pair of yoga pants and a zippered hoodie, and her nails were painted a fierce pink.

She beckoned everyone inside, and Dorian brought up the tail end of the group, staying planted behind Dash as they walked into the living room.  The place was large, two story, carpeted, cream colored walls with a smattering of art.  The furniture was earth tones, simplistic design, and well lived in.  Dorian could hear a faint barking from somewhere in the house, indicating a small dog, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of a cat’s tail.

“Thank you for coming,” the woman said as she beckoned them through an archway and into a tiled kitchen.  Dorian peered around Dash and saw a young boy no older than ten sitting in a large recliner, eyes glued to a handheld game.

“Have you explained to him what’s going on?” Lennox asked as he set his bags on the table.

The woman shook her head, giving Dorian a sharp look before speaking.  “I told him you were people who could help with the nightmares.  He seemed okay with it.  For now.”

Dash hummed his reply, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the water bottle.  Instead of handing it off to Lennox or the woman, he turned to Dorian.  “Why don’t you go over there and introduce yourself, eh?  Get him talking, and see if he’ll drink this.”

Dorian’s hand hovered over the bottle, surprised by the request, but the boy’s mom quickly spoke up.  “Wait a minute.  Who is she?  And what are you trying to give my kid?”

“Don’t worry, Beth,” Lennox said, holding out one hand, “she’s an expert.  She’s been in your son’s shoes before.”

Beth’s eyes went wide and she ripped her gaze back to Dorian.  “You have?  The dreams?”

“And worse,” Dorian replied as she took the water bottle.  “But I know what he’s going through.”  Then Dorian realized what the boys were asking of her and she froze.  She’d never done anything like this before and she wasn’t sure what to say.  “Do you um…”

Dash immediately pulled her to the side, gripping one shoulder tight.  “You work with kids every day, right?  Just talk to him on his level.  We need him to take the potion willingly and honestly, Len and I are both rubbish with kids.”

Dorian let out a puff of air, then nodded.  Terrified as she was, she figured she might as well make herself useful.  This could all be some elaborate hallucination, or some faith-healing circus kind of nonsense, but she had to see it for herself.  She had to know what she was getting herself into.  “Yeah.  Yeah okay, no problem.”

The boy’s mom seemed reluctant, but didn’t argue when Dorian walked across the kitchen and into the sitting area.  The place was set up like a game room, a couch, recliner, and large TV mounted to the wall with a couple game systems sitting in a nest of wires on the floor.

The kid in the chair glanced up, his blue eyes wide and fearful, but Dorian could tell he was trying to remain calm as he jammed on the game’s buttons.  She knew how he was feeling.  She remembered well the abject fear of those dreams, the fear of going to sleep.  To this day, she lived in a fog of perpetual exhaustion, and it wrenched her heart to think of another child this young suffering.

“What are you playing?”  She lowered herself onto the edge of the heavy coffee table near his feet.

There was a pause before he answered.  “Vampire Apocalypse.”

Dorian grinned.  “Awesome.”  When the kid looked up in surprise, she gave a shrug.  “I teach an art class, and about half the kids there are obsessed with that game.”

“Yeah.  It’s alright, I guess.”  He let the game hover over his thigh before dropping it.  “You one of those doctor dudes?”

Dorian shook her head.  “No.  I’m sort of their resident expert on what you’re going through.”

His eyes narrowed, challenging her.  “Oh yeah?  An
expert
?”

She almost laughed, but knew she would damage the weak rapport they had going.  “I have the dreams too.  About the dark room and open doors.  The man who glows bright but the light never touches anything?”

The kid’s eyes flared open wide.  “How’d…”

She shook her head.  “I’ve been having them since I was a little kid.  And I know it sounds crazy, but these guys can help.  They can make it stop.  Forever.  No more panic attacks about open doors or windows.  No more getting nervous when you stand in front of a mirror.  No more strange people invading your private thoughts.”

He regarded her for a long moment before staring down at the water bottle in her hand.  “And that?”

“Just something to help.” She held it out to him, and after he looked at his mom for conformation, he took it from her hand.  “Get it down in one go, it’ll make it easier.”  She had no idea what she was talking about, really.  She wasn’t sure what the potion did, or what it was for, but she used her soothing teacher tone and it was working.

“It ain’t bad, kid,” Dash called.  “Kind of like a flat fizzy drink.”

The kid pulled the top off and gave it a sniff.  “Smells like skittles.”

“Should be easy then, right?” his mom goaded, her voice trembling with nerves.

With a sigh, the kid tipped the bottle to his lips and sucked it down in one go.  He gave a little shiver, swiping the back of his hand across his mouth, before he sat back and let the bottle fall on his lap.  “So you do all this too?  This dream doctor stuff?”

Dorian shrugged.  “Sort of.  My situation’s a little more complicated.”

The kid gave a hum, and his eyes began to droop.  “I feel kind of funky.  What’s your name, lady?”

“Dorian.”

His sleepy eyes flared wide for a second and he leaned forward.  “Oh.  Oh no. I’ve heard about you.  They talk about you.  They say…”  His words stopped and he slumped back, his eyes falling shut.

Heart racing, Dorian lunged forward, taking his head into her hands and she felt for a pulse.  It was there, just under her fingers, strong and fast.  “What the hell did you give him?”

“Relax.”  Dash, who was directly behind her now, put his hand on her shoulder.  “Just a light sedative with the potion.  We’re going to have to rip the doorway wide open before we can close it for good, and it’s best when they’re asleep.  Especially this young.  It’s not something he’ll want to remember.”

Beth, who was still in the kitchen, looked like she was near vomiting.  “What now?  What do you do next?”

Lennox stood up, his arms full of their supplies, one bag slung over his shoulder.  “Now we exorcise him.  Can you show us to his room?”

Beth led the way as Dash carried the unconscious boy in a cradle hold, and they went up the stairs, down a short hall, and into his room.  It was decorated like a typical pre-teen.  Monster posters, a few toys here and there, a television in the corner with another gaming system.  The bed was unmade, some clothes on the floor, but otherwise it was tidy.

Dash set the boy down on top of the sheets, shoving the blankets to the side, and Lennox set his supplies down on the bed.  Turning to Beth, he put his hand out as she tried to step further into the room.  “We’re going to need a lot of quiet, and it’s safer if you wait downstairs.”

“But…”

Dash quickly cut in, stepping in between Lennox and Beth.  “I swear your son is going to be fine.  This is a relatively simple ritual and he won’t remember a thing.  He’ll wake up a brand new kid tomorrow with no more nightmares, no more anxiety.  Nothing.  You have our word.”

Beth’s face went tense, then relaxed and she let out a breath.  “Okay.  I’ll… I’ll be downstairs.”

Dash shut the door after her, and twisted the small lock.  “That was easier than I thought.  A lot of the parents fight us when we ask them to leave.”

“Two strange dudes performing strange rituals on their kids?” Dorian asked, a hint of sarcasm coloring her tone. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Ouch,” Dash said with a wink as he went over to the desk and pulled out one of the larger vials of red liquid.  He handed the second one over to Lennox who picked up one of the wider brushes, and the pair began to paint symbols all along the room.  With each one, the air in the room seemed a little thinner and a little hotter, and by the time they got to the closet, Dorian was holding her middle, leaning heavily on the kid’s desk.

“What’s happening?” she asked, her head swimming.  “I feel… off.”

“These are part of the spell.  It’s bound to make you uneasy.  They exist to open the doorways, and your amulet is trying to keep yours shut.  I promise it won’t last long.  Everything will fade out once the exorcism is finished.”

She took in a few breaths, trying to ignore the persistent burning on her wrist, and instead paid attention to what the boys were doing.  At first glance, the symbols seemed pointless.  Strange scribbles placed haphazardly on open spaces along the wall.  But after a little while, she noticed a pattern.  As Lennox and Dash would reach a clear space, they’d hover their brushes until their arm twitched.  Then they’d paint and move on.

“Is what you told her true?” Dorian asked when the guys put their stuff down on the desk.  “Is this totally safe?”

They exchanged a dark look and Lennox shook his head.  “There are
always
risks.  Especially when you’re dealing with other worlds.  Usually, if a person hasn’t been possessed, there’s nothing there to fight the exorcism.  But occasionally we’ll hit the ritual as one of the demons is using the body to cross dimensions and… there can be complications.”

“Meaning the person being exorcised can die.”