Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity) (14 page)

“I didn’t do anything wrong! I wasn’t trying to harm you or your sons. Damn it!  Do you take that much pleasure out of tormenting me?!” she screamed.

The planchette slowly slid onto the board and stopped on top of the word ‘yes.’

Lindsey took two steps back, her hand covering her open mouth.  A small rush of wind flew out of the closet and past the place where she stood. Without thinking, she ran forward, grabbed the board and planchette, and took off down the stairs. She threw them both into the fireplace and grabbed the box of matches from the mantle. Her hands were shaking so badly that she broke the first three match sticks before she managed to get a flame to erupt from the red tip of the fourth.

Maybe if she burned the damned board she would get rid of the menace, too. She lit it on the side closest to her, watching as the varnish curled up and bubbled beneath the flames. She took a pile of papers from the recycling bin and shoved them under and around the burning board, causing the flames to stoke. The wood underneath eventually began to steadily char and the plastic planchette slowly melted into a boiling, gelatinous glob. She sat on the sofa and watched the damned thing turn to ashes.

Please, God, let this work. Help me get rid of this menace
, she prayed. It was there that she fell asleep, the embers of the crumbling board still glowing red hot.

When her breathing had evened out and her muscles relaxed in slumber, a dark figure moved from the corner, hovered in front of the fireplace, and then shot straight up through the ceiling.  Two smaller figures drifted down to the floor from near the painting Darby hung, the painting of the house. They slowly made their way to stand right in front of Lindsey’s unconscious body.

Ten

“You must be Elion,” the young woman said. “Please hurry and check the situation out. For now, I must go. I’m not supposed to be here.”

The woman left quickly and Elion went to work. He walked the perimeter several times, his hands on his hips and the corners of his lips turned down in a frustrated frown. There had definitely been a rip in the veil separating the land of the living from that of the dead. The aura surrounding the hole was small, giving him hope that it was easily mendable. It was palpable that whoever opened this vortex had done so recklessly, abandoning what he considered common protocol when messing with the barrier between the two worlds. 

Novice
, he thought.

But taking care of errors such as this was his job, his calling.

He stood there and contemplated the job ahead of him for several moments. He generally had the how’s, when’s, why’s, and where’s when starting a job. This time he had very little information on which to go forward. He would have really liked to know what supernatural tool had been used in order to mend the hole quickly, but it wasn’t a necessity.

He walked around the large bedroom, which was painted in the soft pinks and purples of the fading sunlight that poured in through the large window. The muted lighting made the spectrum around the hole shimmer brightly, electrically, like the flowing currents in a plasma globe. Elion held his hands above his head and focused his energy so as to channel the essence of the room and the tear.  He sensed the presence of only one spirit around the vortex.  The owners of this house had been lucky. It was rare that only one restless soul escaped.

He had been lucky, too. This job would be simple enough since he was dealing with a lone energy. He would first locate the entity, help it cross back, and then seal the hole. Of course rip sealing could sometimes be tricky which was why he liked to know the source, but with enough ingenuity the task could be done. It was time consuming work, too. Add in the fact that the owners didn’t know that he’d been contacted so he had to work around their schedules so has to not be noticed...  But still, he’d seen worse. Much worse.

A noise behind him caught him off guard – the jiggle of a doorknob. The owners of the home were unaware that he and his brothers had been contacted about the spirit. Elion didn’t want to alarm anyone, so he slipped into the back of the walk-in closet, hidden completely by clothing, hanging purses, and stacked boxes. He’d wait for the owner to leave and then he’d continue with his work without interference or distraction. 

Elion prepared himself to channel again, to search the home psychically for the spirit while he waited, but every molecule in his being seized when the girl walked into the room.

She was dressed in a pair of shorts and a white swim suit top. She was beautiful to look at, sure, but that wasn’t what had captivated him. After all, he’d seen many, many beautiful women during his lifetime, but none had ever mesmerized him like this one. Everything from the shimmering whites and light pinks of her aura to the fruity scent that emanated from her being entranced him. She brushed her long brown hair back out of her face and glanced nervously around her room as she kicked her flip flops off. Her big, blue eyes were full of apprehension and fear.

Could she sense that she wasn’t alone? No, he felt that she was fearful of the entity that had broken through. Was
she
the one who allowed it entrance? She must be. This was obviously her room. She sighed and fell face-down on her bed.

Elion felt his own being lurch towards her as if she was a magnet and he was nothing more than a metal thumbtack. Just as he thinking about stepping out of the closet and explaining who he was, a dark shadow entered the room through the floor and hovered near the head of the bed.

This spirit was a seething, pulsing, angry emanation – full of deep, muddied reds and forest greens intermingled with the deepest black. It leered at the girl before reaching out and shaking the bed on which she rested. She looked up, startled, and it moved up to her face where it hissed softly.

Everything in and around Elion turned red. He would not allow this girl to be tormented by this thing. He prepared to charge the dark mass, expel it right there in front of the girl.

The spirit sensed Elion’s presence and looked toward the closest. It didn’t speak, but Elion could hear his thought. “You’re not welcome in my home!”

Elion concentrated on the spirit and tried his best to convey a stern message, which wasn’t easy with the unknowing girl in the room. “This is no longer your home, fiend! You have violated the law set forth by your Creator by crossing the veil. By His holy name I command that you leave and return to whence you came.”

The anger rolled off the spirit like sprayed venom. “Command? You
command
? I think you need to catch me first, boy!”

The girl had yelled at it, too, but Elion was concentrating so hard on sending his own message telepathically that he didn’t hear what she had said. The spirit seemed to understand her, though. It turned and leered at her while flying straight toward Elion and his hiding place. Instead of attacking, though, it rumbled around the top shelf near the door. It threw a box out at her and disappeared. Elion refocused his energy, making himself forget about the girl in an effort to concentrate on finding the crevice in which the spirit was now hiding. The girl gasped, grabbed something from the floor, and ran from the room.

Elion left the house in a hurry and made his way back to the priory. When he couldn’t find Uriel, he called out to his friend and colleague. “Calliel! I need your help,” he yelled into the empty hallway.

“Eli, is something amiss? You’ve never called to the Brotherhood for help with a case before. Is this one more than we thought?” Calliel asked, running down the hallway.

“I did not think so at first, but now I do not know. Have you seen Uriel?”

“He is conferring with Camael. He will be back in time for sunrise assembly. Can I help with something?”

Elion placed his right hand on Calliel’s bronze shoulder. “Yes. I must ask you for something that will not make sense, though. I need you to stand guard over the girl at Retreat House until I return. You must keep her safe, but you must not be seen. I will be quick.”

“Where are you going?”

“I must speak with Uriel at once. Please, go protect the girl.”

Calliel looked at Elion, surprise written all over his face. “Girl? Elion, please tell me that you aren’t thinking what I think you are thinking. You know the ramifications of such an action! We’ve seen it happen too many times.”

“I have made no such decision. The girl is in danger and in need of our protection. I really need to speak to Uriel but I do not want to leave her vulnerable to another attack from the entity. Please, brother. Go to the house, watch over things there until I return. I shall be quick.”

Calliel shook his head and went to the door. He was worried, but he would do what his brother asked.

Elion spent the time traveling to Camael’s in a state of deep reflection.
Calliel’s right
, he thought.
This is insane. I should just take care of the ripped veil, banish the spirit, and return to my post here at the priory. But the girl… I have to make sure that she survives this unharmed.

Upon arrival, he made his way to his superior’s room. He knocked once and waited on Uriel to allow him entry.

“Elion! My brother, what brings you here? Surely the case at Retreat house isn’t that bad?”

The rector placed his hands on Elion’s bowed head softly.

“My dear brother, I sense that this case is not like anything you’ve seen before. Tell me what the problem is my son.”

“Uriel, I fear that this case will take longer to close than we expected. I do not know how the rip occurred and the spirit is evasive – it does not want to be returned to the bleakness from which it escaped. I ask your permission to return to the house and confer with the girl that is being stalked.”

“Elion, I thought that the rip was small, the entity human instead of demonic. Is an extended stay really necessary?”

Elion could not lie to the rector, so he stood in the doorway looking his commander in the eyes, pleading silently with him for permission. He just needed to talk to this girl. Just once. He knew it was foolish. Such actions were, more often than not, very costly. He’d seen brother after brother falter and lose everything. He had thought them insane for falling to temptation. But something about this girl was different and he longed to talk to her, to know her, to have her know him.

“Ah.  This has nothing to do with the rip or the spirit. You’ve found a soul mate.”

Eli hung his head in shame. He had known far too many brothers who had fallen prey to physical temptation. He had always felt sadness at such an unfathomable decision.  He swore that he’d never allow that to happen to himself. Yet here he was.

“I understand, Elion. But first I want you to talk to a woman who lives near the area in question. She knows first-hand about that which troubles you now, and about the consequence of the choice you are about to make.”

Uriel pulled a pendant from thin air and handed it Elion. “Take this. Give it her and she will tell you everything you need to know. If you still feel that you need to get to know the girl, you have my permission. If you decide to leave the Brotherhood, though, you will need to see Camael. But please talk to me before you make such a decision.”

Elion clasped his superior’s hand. “Thank you, sir. And please do not fret. I have no intention of doing such thing. My calling is too strong. I just want to know what the big fuss is about.”

“So say them all. God speed, Elion.”

Elion followed the rector’s directions and found himself in front of a small, yellow house. A chorus of frog croaks and cricket chirps echoed in the humid night air. Fireflies floated around his head and the smell of Confederate jasmine and ripe honeysuckles tickled his nose. He climbed the three brick steps and stood on the small concrete porch in front of the whitewashed door.  He rang the doorbell and waited, the heavy bronze pendant dangling from his hand.

An elderly woman answered the door, opening it just a crack and peeking out below a gold metal chain. “Can I help you,” she drawled.

Elion held up Uriel’s pendant and said, “I was told to give this to you, that you would understand and be willing explain something for me.”

The woman shut the door. He heard her unlatch the chain. When she opened the door she was smiling warmly.

“They allowed you come just like that did they? They didn’t give you any grief?”

“Nay. But I haven’t done anything, nor do I plan to. I just want to ask you some questions. If, after this meeting, I still want to get to, well, let’s just say that I have been given permission to do so. I am not set on that path yet, though.”

He followed the woman into her sitting room. A multihued crocheted afghan was draped across the back of a small, leather loveseat. A fan sat on the coffee table, circulating the heavy air around the room. The woman handed him a glass of iced tea and a coaster. She took her time putting her own glass on the table in front of them before turning to him.

“I’m probably the last person you want to ask about this. I’m gonna tell you to go for it. If you feel the pull, she’s worth it. But ask me what you will, son, and I’ll tell ya what I know. And if you need help, I’ll do what I can.”