Sacrifice (Revelations Book 1) (2 page)

Meredith laughed and pushed her door open. "Not even a little bit, Father. Now, stop stalling. She's waiting for you."

He followed after Meri and grumbled. "Which one? The girl or the old beast who threw me quite literally to the wolves?"

She opened the front door and waved him inside. As he passed by she whispered, "Both."

Two feet into the house and Nico could smell the sulfur, his nose wrinkled. "Good God."

Arveda's voice sent a shiver down his spine. "I highly doubt God had anything to do with this, Father."

"You people do know I have a name, right? Or do you enjoy pouring salt into old wounds?"

Arveda rolled her eyes. "If it were up to me you would have died ten years ago from those old wounds. God apparently had other plans."

"Yeah, I remember. Thanks."

Meredith cleared her throat. "You two need to focus. The girl needs help, she's in here."

Pointing her manicured finger towards the kitchen she led the way. Nico followed and Arveda did him a favor by giving him a wide berth. Something she never did. The elder Striga usually went out of her way to continue the fight and make him uncomfortable. She never quieted. He paused to stare at her.

She snapped. "What?"

"Nothing. It's ..." he paused and eyed her again. "You must be desperate to ask for my help."

Arveda glared. She was the elder of this Striga Order, the Mother Superior to her faithful coven, and yet she appeared to be no older than her late thirties. Looks were deceiving. Meredith had told him once her mother was more than two-thousand-years old. He never quite believed the number, assuming the Striga over-exaggerated to add to their legend, but he had no doubt Arveda was older than humanly possible. Her gaze was what gave away her unnatural age, her eyes held time and wisdom far beyond anything he could comprehend. It was probably why they struggled so much. She was something he couldn't understand and he was something she couldn't forgive. She finally spoke, "Well, you seem to be the resident expert when it comes to young girls and demons. Let's hope you have better luck with this one than you did with the last."

Her words burned through him. His hands shook. He wanted to lash out, banish her, make her pay, but he didn't get the chance. "Mother!” Meri interjected, “Uncalled for. If you want his help don’t insult him, okay?"

"I was simply—"

"No," Meredith interrupted. "You need him, this girl is important. So stop fighting with Nico and let him do what he came here to do."

"Very well."

Nico blinked, Arveda never allowed her daughter to speak out of turn, let alone defend him. He could be the bigger person here, he had something to prove in all this. A second chance at redemption. "Show me the girl."

Meredith continued past her sisters who were gathered to watch the fireworks between Arveda and him. As they parted he could see a long wooden table taking up most of the kitchen. A young woman was secured to the tabletop. Leather straps held her arms, legs, and head in place. She was sleeping, or at least pretending to sleep, while a few of the Striga hovered over her. She was practically naked, left only in a pair of panties and a tattered bra. Nico quirked a brow and glanced at Meredith. "Was that necessary, or is the partial nudity for my benefit?"

"Hardly, it’s how we found her. Someone roughed her up pretty bad before we got there."

"Probably the former host of whatever demon is inside her." He rolled up his sleeves. "Okay, let's get this over with. Meri, grab me a mirror." He motioned to a couple of the other Striga. "Kara, grab me a bowl of water. Josephine, find me a stake. Preferably Pinus monophylla."

Josephine stuttered. "What?"

He glanced up at her unmoving form and sighed. "Piñon, a piñon tree. Go get a branch and make a stake."

"Oh, okay." She darted for the door as her sister filled a bowl of water.

He snatched the mirror from Meredith's hand as soon as she rushed back in the room and positioned it over the girl strapped to the table. "Let's see who we have here." He blessed himself and whispered, "Monstra te esse."

The skin on the girl’s face shimmered and rippled. Her lips turned ashen. Nico repeated himself. "Monstra te esse."

Finally, the face of the demon appeared. Sunken nose, rotted flesh, and greasy black hair replaced the near angelic face of the woman on the table in the mirror's reflection. Nico snarled. "Brimstone demon."

Meredith cringed. "Why did it work for you? We tried that."

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Meredith had been right, they did need him. "Brimstone demons were the first angels cast out of Heaven after Satan fell. They were cast out by the Archangel Michael and therefore can only be brought to surface or exorcised by a holy instrument.”

Meri’s lips twitched. “And all this time you hated when we called you by your title.”

“Shut it, I’m not a priest anymore.” He paused and glanced up, “Still, once you are touched, it never leaves you. Excommunication is a human design. Men kicked me out of the church, not God.” A low growl left his lips. “God just decided to not do a damn thing about it.”

“Face it, Father. This is your calling and this girl needs you.” She cleared her throat. “Now what were you saying about Brimstone Demons?”

Nico focused on the girl before him. “When Michael cast them out he physically touched them to throw them into the pit of hell. Michael’s action branded them, inadvertently making them the most unholy of the unholy. Which makes them extremely powerful. There is no way you would have been able to pull it out of her."

"But you can do it, right?" Meredith nervously chewed on her bottom lip.

Nico nodded. "It'll be rough. She’ll feel every minute of it. But yes, I can do it."

"Will she survive?"

"Depends. But I can guarantee she won't last long if we don't try."

"Then do it." Meredith took a step back and started to shoo her other sisters out of the room. "Do you need some of us to stay and help?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra pair of hands, but only you. I don't need this demon to start jumping from one body to another in an endless game of hide and seek." He gave her a knowing look. "I'll know if he jumps into you."

"How?"

Nico winked. "Because I know you in the biblical sense. He won't be able to hide from me inside you." He couldn't help but laugh at the shriek Arveda let out from the next room. "Don't eavesdrop then, you old hag," He called out. Meredith glared at him but kept quiet.

He worked fast to bless the bowl of water. Next he laid out his tools—the mirror, his bible, a holy cloth, a finger bone from Saint Benedict--now all he needed was the stake. He reached around his neck and pulled out one last ingredient, a Saint Benedict medal. The room shook for a moment. The tremor was all but forgotten as Josephine made her way back inside the house. She handed it to him and paused. "What?" he snapped.

"It's ... Well..." Her gaze shifted between Meredith and Nico, then glanced towards the room Arveda was in and whispered, "The Wolfman is outside. Pacing. He looks..."

Meredith clinched her hands at her side. "He looks like what?"

Josephine met her sister's eyes. "He looks like he's about to change."

"Shit." Meredith cursed and started for the door.

Nico snatched her by the arm and pulled her to a stop. "No, let him be. I need you here. Josephine, go with your sisters and bar the door. Meri," he snapped his fingers to get her attention. "Meri. He will be fine, leave him."

"But—"

"No buts. Lobo can wait, he's a big boy. Give him some damn credit, he's worried and we both know why. Let's do our job, save this girl if we can, and then you can go tame the Beast."

"Fuck off, Nico. It's not like that."

"Sure it is, doll. You're the only one still denying it." He laid the stake down next to everything else and went about reciting prayer after prayer.

The minutes ticked by. Minutes turned to hours. Almost four hours into the exorcism everyone was feeling the exhaustion. Nico wiped his sleeve over his brow. Chants and prayers were barely budging the demon inside the girl. Occasionally the demon would retreat leaving only the sound of the girl screaming and begging for help, but this time he was close. Nico could feel the surge of demonic energy coming to the surface. He picked up the finger bone of Saint Benedict and rested it on the hollow of the girl’s throat. "In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

He placed the medal of Saint Benedict on the girl’s forehead and continued, "Most glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in our battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places."

The demon was clawing its way out. Nico barked at Meredith, "Mirror, now!" She tossed it to him and the second he caught it the demon took form, exiting the girl’s body and reaching for its own reflection. Nico grabbed it as soon as it solidified. He dropped the mirror and grabbed the stake, plunging it into the demon’s chest. It screeched and the windows in the house cracked as the foundation began to tremble again. He still had the demon by the throat. Meredith covered her ears to block out the screeching death cries, but Nico knew it was far from over. Dragging the creature off the table he slammed it into the wall, digging the stake into the drywall to pin it in place.

He dusted off his hands and walked over to the bowl of holy water. "Time to go, demon."

"Go to Hell, Priest," it spat back.

"Already there, asshole."

He walked back to the demon and chanted over the bowl as the thing thrashed, cursing and wailing in pain. Nico dipped his fingers into the water, flicking the holy water onto the creature. "Crux sancti patris Benedicti."

The demon growled. "You have no idea what you are unleashing."

Nico knew this trick, the demons would talk, try to bargain and threaten their way out of their banishment. It wouldn't work. "Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur!"

"I'm telling you, I am keeping her alive. You'll regret this."

"Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Non draco sit mihi dux!" Nico gripped the demon’s jaw forcing it open.

"There is..."

Pouring the holy water down the demon’s throat, he recited the last of the prayer. "Get thee behind me, Satan, Vade retro Satana.”

The demon shuddered, the holy water bubbled inside its mouth and sounded like a fire roaring its way down the abomination's throat, but it uttered one last word before it succumbed to its death. "More."

Nico let the body fall to the floor. His eyes widened as he spun around to see the girl arching her back, she was speaking in tongues and reciting demonic scripture. Nico took a step back. "There's more."

Meredith paled. "What do you mean there is more? Inside of her? Can they even do that?”

He rushed to the girl’s side. "I didn't think they could, but somehow they did." Wiping his hand over his face he gave his tired eyes a moment, closing them so he could concentrate. "Meredith, get me more water. It's going to be a long fucking night." He picked up the stake from the floor and wiped the tip on his pants before heading back over to the table. Taking a deep breath, he began the process over again.

The sun crested over the horizon as Nico pulled the last demon from the woman. He was running on auto-pilot after sixteen straight hours of exorcising demon after demon. None were as strong as the Brimstone but all of them put up a fight. Ten in all. Their charred corpses burned in the living room fireplace. The acrid stench of burning demon flesh was masked by the herbs the Striga packed around the bodies in the hearth. Arveda ordered her daughters to start stoking the fire after Nico had pulled the third demon out. Now the flames were slowly breaking down the remains. Exhaustion took its toll on everyone.

He executed the last demon quickly and made his way over to the woman. "Hey?" Lack of sleep had extinguished any reserves of niceties he might have harbored. Giving her sunken in cheeks a light smack. "If you're alive, open your eyes."

Meredith crossed her arms over her chest. "You're a fucking Neanderthal. Check her pulse."

Rolling his eyes, he placed two fingers to the pulse point in the woman’s neck. He had one flicker of hope this time would be different, that all of his hard work would pay off and he had saved her from possession. But the lack of pulse told him he'd needlessly gotten his hopes up again. He shook his head. "It's no use, Meri. There were too many inside her, the poor thing never stood a chance."

"No, that can't be right. She can't be dead."

"She is. The Brimstone demon was probably right, they were keeping her alive."

Meredith lifted her chin defiantly. "You're wrong, she isn't dead."

"Meri, there is no pulse. It's over."

Arveda stormed into the kitchen. Nico’s feet left the floor the moment she extended her hand and the room whizzed by as he was propelled into the wall. The air rushed from his lungs at the crushing weight of his body meeting the solid surface. "The child can’t be dead. It’s not her fate to die this way."

"Sometimes fate fucks up, Arveda. Maybe fate didn't see this girl getting stuffed full of demons like a god damn piñata.” He struggled against her magick pinning him to the wall. He had a point to make and she was going to listen to him. Arveda needed to look at the situation realistically. “Maybe Fate just fucked up, wouldn't be the first time. But you can't change facts. No pulse, not breathing, equals dead. And the dead don't come back, if they do, they come back wrong."

"Ignorant ass." Arveda's spell faded allowing him to move again. "Girls, come help me tend to Abigail. I need her cleaned up for when she wakes."

"Arveda, I get you are in the running to be the mayor of Crazy Town, but the woman is dead. She ain't waking up. Burn the body and let her rest in peace." He paused watching all the Striga dutifully cleaning up the dead woman. All of them ignored him, even Meredith. He shook his head. "Are you even fucking listening to me?"

"No, Father." Arveda lifted her head and glared at him. "And do you want to know why we aren't listening? Because you've lost your faith and therefore you have nothing to say that is worth listening to. You only believe in what you can see at the bottom of a bottle. You've lost sight of the bigger picture. You could be a champion, a warrior to help win this fight. God and Satan are still battling it out for Earth and for the fate of mankind. Satan stopped playing fair a long time ago and the Church decided to act like ostriches and bury their collective heads in the sand. Ignoring this war won't make it go away, Nico. It only ensures that the other side will win, because believe me, while the church has stopped fighting the war, the demons never did."

He held up his finger. "One, I'm not a priest anymore. God doesn't want me. I kill anyone I try to help." He ticked off another finger. "Two, there is no war. And three, even if there was one I'm sure you and God could find a better person to help score you a victory."

The elder Striga opened her mouth to say something just as one of her daughters screamed. Nico whipped his head around to see the dead woman on the table sitting up. Her eyes were glazed over and her mouth was latched on to the arm of one of the Striga girls.

"She's a god damn vampire." Picking up the Piñon stake he was two strides away from burying it in the creature's chest when Arveda used her magick to slam him into the wall again. "Damn it, Witch, stop doing that."

"You will not kill her."

"The hell I won't." He struggled, but the weave of magick tightened around him. The old bat wasn't going to let him go anytime soon. The girls were working frantically to pry the creature's mouth from their wailing sister while the elder Striga kept focused on him. "Arveda, you are going to get us all killed. Stake her and burn the damn body."

"No. You might have lost your faith, but I haven't lost mine. She is the key and must be protected." She pushed back a loose strand of blond hair and smoothed out her clothing. He could tell it was all an effort to control herself. The Striga were known for their violent bursts of anger.

"Arveda, I'm begging you. Kill the creature, the woman she used to be is dead."

She shook her head and was about to speak when the girl on the table let go of the meaty arm in her mouth. She stared blankly at him, turning her head from side to side as she studied him. When she finally opened her mouth no words came out, only a hoarse gurgle.

Nico pointed at the creature and fixed Arveda with an incredulous stare. "See. Kill it."

Arveda glared at him. "She, not it. And I refuse to harm her." She closed the distance between her and the dead woman and lightly stroked her cheek. "Speak child. Just give it a try."

He had to admit for a blood-sucking creature the thing was pulling off the right amount of fear and confusion, it was no wonder the Striga was falling for it. She looked like a wounded deer, unfortunately this Bambi could probably rip their heads off and drain them of every drop of blood in a matter of minutes. Still, something inside him wanted to believe. But then she smiled, flashing her fangs and darting her tongue out over the bloody tips. "Arveda, watch out."

The Striga shook her head and cupped the girl’s chin. Her voice was melodic as she spoke, "Those are some awfully deadly teeth you have there, best to keep them hidden for now."

The girl clamped her mouth shut and peered back up at the old hag. Her words were barely a whisper and sounded more like gravel than any feminine voice he'd ever heard. "Am I really dead?"

Arveda nodded her head. "It would appear you've undergone some changes recently. Do you remember anything?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing."

Suddenly, howls pierced the air making all of the girls in the house go still. One by one, all eyes turned on Meredith. Arveda snapped at her daughter. "Go tell the mutt to leave us alone. I don't know why he bothers coming around here."

Nico knew why, Meredith did too from the deep blush instantly coloring her cheeks. She ducked her head and hurried out the door.

All attention was back on the creature. Arveda continued to keep one hand on her new guest. A low buzz faintly radiated around the elder Striga, and the sudden stillness in the air was a give-away Arveda was doing something to control the situation. As best as he could tell, she was casting some sort of spell while she comforted the young woman. "You told me your name is Abigail, but I suspected you were using a fake name." Arveda tilted the woman's chin up. "Did you know Abigail means 'my father's joy'? You are something special. God has chosen you. Can you tell us your real name?"

"I—" The woman shook her head. "I can't remember."

All the Striga murmured among themselves for a second and then hurriedly went back to the task of tending to their sister’s bloody arm to keep from looking like they were hovering. Arveda patted Abigail’s head, "Well then, we will just keep calling you Abigail, if you don't mind."

"Okay, but why can't I remember? Who was I? Or... Who am I? I don't understand any of this." The young woman's voice was slowly warming-up, the rasp of an old man who smoked four packs a day was replaced by something sweet and innocent. If it weren't for the fact she was a creature of pure abomination he'd almost say she sounded seductive.

He had to hand it to the elder Striga, she was a natural at mothering. She soothed her hand over the girl’s matted hair. "Don't worry about all that right now. First things first, we have to get you cleaned up and I'm going to look you over from head to toe so we can figure out how you got those teeth. I know it's scary, but you can trust me."

Abigail pointed at Nico. "But he wants to kill me."

Arveda shot him a glare that would make a normal person shrivel up and die. "He's an idiot. He doesn't understand your role in all of this just yet."

Abigail’s voice cracked, "And what is my role?"

"You are going to do great things, my dear." Arveda motioned for some of the girls to come closer and help the creature off the table. "Great and wonderful things.” She whispered something to one of her daughters and the group helped Abigail walk out of the room.

Nico struggled against the magick still holding him against the wall. Narrowing his eyes on Arveda he clinched his fists. “Let me go, hag.”

Arveda wove her hands as she chanted. A shiver went through him, he hated the way magick made him feel. When she was done she clasped her hands together and turned to him still pinned against the wall. With a wave of her hand she dropped the spell holding him.

His tone was sharp, "That's it then? You’re just gonna give her free reign to kill all of you in your sleep?"

"Don't be daft, Father." The older woman smiled. "She can't hurt anyone here. My spell will keep any hunger or knee-jerk reactions under control. Now, you and I need to have a little talk."

She pointed to the living room and reluctantly he followed, adjusting his collar and sleeves as he made his way into the magick laden den of the Striga. "What about?"

"Abigail, of course."

"That creature? The way I see it is—"

"She is not a creature, she is a girl, a woman by human standards, who is lost and confused."

"Fine, fine. What is there to talk about then?"

There was a long pause. Nico always hated silence when something needed to be said, it usually meant something horrible was about to happen. He met Arveda's gaze and the unexpected happened. He could see the fear she was hiding. He was never particularly gifted at picking up on subtle signs but at the moment he could read the old hag’s face like a book. She was nervous. Fear mingled with horror in her icy cold stare. It was as if her entire essence was screaming all at once 'Don't make me say it.' He shook his head, he needed answers and the night had dragged on far too long for him to play let's-beat-around-the-bush. "Well?"

Arveda took a deep breath. "I don't like this anymore than you do."

"Don't like what? Not killing that creature?"

A quiet growl came from the usually well-refined woman. "I need your help." Arveda picked up a cast iron tea kettle and poured herself a cup. She reached for another mug but he waved her off, instead he pulled out his flask and took a swig. She wrinkled her nose, but didn't say anything about his choice of beverage. "Do you think I enjoy having to ask you for a second favor? Don't you think I'm humiliated enough as it is having to rely on you to help us already?"

"Then don't ask. I'll never mention this again and we can both pretend it didn't happen."

She glared at him. "It's not that simple. I need another favor from you."

"Fine, what is it?"

"It's Abigail. She came to me weeks ago, she wanted a reading."

"Yeah, Meri told me. She was blacking out, waking up in different places, couldn't remember, et cetera. The possession explains all of it."

"No, it doesn't. She wasn't possessed at the time."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because the wards I have around this house would have made her react violently like she did tonight before you pulled the demons out. They can't stay hidden under my roof."

"Okay, and your point is?"

Arveda rubbed her temple, reminding him of Meredith at that moment. He found their shared mannerisms uncomfortable at times since one was his dearest friend and the other was a woman he’d rather see burn at the stake. The older Striga drew his attention back as she asked, "Did my daughter tell you what happened?"

"Yep, you took one look at the girl's hand and sent her away. Meri didn't say why."

"It's because of what I saw. Her future, laid out in front of me. In that brief moment I read her palm I witnessed everything. The fall of this town, the enslavement of mankind, and Satan winning the war against Heaven."

Nico's head lulled back, partially from aggravation but mostly from lack of sleep. "Get to the point, hag."

"The point is this. The Gates of Hell are about to open and she is quite literally the key and you, Nico Lynch, are the one who unlocks Hell on Earth."

That got his attention. He sat up and leaned forward. "That thing in there is the key to opening the Gates of Hell and we are keeping her alive why?"

"Because the Gates open when her blood is spilled in Dusk by your hand." She paused. "Whoever possessed her and did whatever they've done to give her blood cravings—"

"She's a fucking vampire, Arveda, just admit it."