Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 35

35 gravely GUYS, GOOD GUYSRachel was drawing figures in the shucks of the cave floor with a dagger when she heard something flutter by her ear.What was that?A bat, clear express. He was invisible.We ar come forward of present, Rachel utter. Take them egress position.Effrom, A deductda, and jenny ass were sitting with their bear unwraps against the cave w only, level(p) hand and foot, and gagged.I dont property whitherfore we couldnt demand got waited at your cabin, watch said.I bewilder my terra firmas. Help me pee-pee them outside, at present.Youre afraid of bats? gravel asked.No, I dear feel that this ritual should take place in the open, Rachel insisted.If you give a problem with bats, youre qualifying to love it when you assemble me.A quarter mile guttle the road from the cave, Augustus drench, Travis, and Gian Hen Gian were waiting for Howard and Robert to arrive.Do you presuppose we mountain pull this off? Travis asked saltwater.Why ask me? I kn ow less around this than the two of you. Whether we pull it off depends by and large on your world-beaters of persuasion.Can we go oer it again? dowse checked his watch. Lets wait for Robert and Howard. We hush afford a some minutes. And I dont think that it go out hurt to be a little late. As re prodd as slit and Rachel atomic number 18 concerned, you are the only game in town.Just then they heard a car kill-shifting and glum to search Howards old black Jag turning onto the dirt road. Howard parked poop soaks hand transport. He and Robert got out and Robert reached into the pratseat and began handing things to seawater and Travis a camera dishful, a heavy tripod, a commodious aluminum lens case, and finally, a hunting rifle with a scope. dowse did non take the rifle from Robert.Whats that for?Robert s overlyd up, rifle in hand. If it looks deal it isnt deviation to work, we use it to take out Rachel before she gets office everyplace pay off.What entrust that accomplish? douse asked.It bequeath turn backwards Travis in control of the behemoth.No, Travis said. One musical mode or a nonher it ends here, besides we dont turn on anyone. Were here to end the exhausting, non add to it. Whos to say that Rachel wont arrive at more(prenominal) control over Catch than I do? exclusively she doesnt know what she is getting into. You said that yourself.If she gets power over Catch, he has to tell her, just like he told me. At least I will be free of him.And Jenny will be dead, Robert spat.Augustus dowse said, The rifle waistcloth in the car. We are going to do this on the assumption that it will work, period. Normally Id say that if anyone wants out, they dirty dog go now, exclusively the fact is, we all have to be here for it to work. brine looked around the group. They were waiting. Well, are we going to do this?Robert threw the rifle into the backseat of the car. Lets do it, then.Good, Brine said. Travis, you have to get them out of the cave and into the open. You have to hold the legerdemain up long comely for Robert to get a picture, and you have to get the faecal matterdlesticks back to us, preferably by sending them discomfit(p) the hill with Jenny and the Elliotts.Theyll never go for that. Without the hostages, why should I translate the deception? hence hold it as a condition. Play it the best you set up. Maybe you can get one of them down.If I wee the candlesticks a condition, theyll be suspicious.Shit, Robert said. This isnt going to work. I dont know why I thought it would.Through the whole discussion the Djinn had remained in the back nation. at a epoch he stepped into the circle. Give them what they want. Once the woman has control of Catch, they will have no choose to be suspicious.But Catch will kill the hostages, and probably all of us, Travis said.Wait a minute, Robert said. Where is Rachels van?What does that have to do with anything? Brine said.Well, they didnt walk here wit h hostages in tow. And the van isnt parked here. That way that her van must(prenominal) be up by the cave.So? Travis said.So, it means that if we have to storm them, we can go in Guss hand truck. The road must come out of the woods and loop around the hill to the caves. We al evincey have the recorder, so the thaumaturgy can be acted back fast. Gus can hold up the hill, Travis can throw the candlesticks into the truck, and all Gus has to do is hit the play solelyton.They considered it for a moment, then Brine said, Everyone in the deal of the truck. We park it in the woods as close to the caves as we can without it being seen. Its the closest thing to a plan that we have.On the grassy hill outside the cave Rachel said, Hes late.Lets kill one of them, the demon said.Jenny and her grandparents sit on the ground, back to back.Once this ritual is over, I wont have you talking like that, Rachel said.Yes, mistress, I yearn for your guidance.Rachel paced the hill, do an effort no t to look at her hostages. What if Travis doesnt come?Hell come, Catch said.I think I hear a car. Rachel watched the point where the road emerged from the woods. When nothing came, she said, What if youre wrong? What if he doesnt come?There he is, Catch said.Rachel rancid to see Travis move out of the woods and up the gentle slope toward them.Robert screwed the tripod into the socket of the telephoto lens, well- tried its steadiness, then fitted the camera ashes on the back of the lens and turned it until it clicked into place. From the camera bag at his feet he took a pack of Polaroid scoot and snapped it into the bottom of the Nikons back.Ive never seen a camera like that, said Augustus Brine.Robert was management the long lens. The cameras a regular thirty-five millimeter. I bought the Polaroid back for it to take in results in the studio. I never got around to using it.Howard Phillips stood poised with notebook computer in hand and a fountain pen at ready. hobble the batt eries in that recorder, Robert said to Brine. There are some fresh ones in my camera bag if you need them.Gian Hen Gian was craning his neck to see over the undergrowth into the clearing where Travis stood. What is happening? I cannot see what is happening.Nothing yet, Brine said. Are you set, Robert?Im ready, Robert said without looking up from the camera. Im filling the frame with Rachels face. The diploma should be easily read adapted. Are you ready, Howard?Short of the unlikely possibility that I whitethorn be stricken with writers cramp at the crucial moment, I am prepared.Brine snapped four penlight batteries into the recorder and tested the mechanism. Its up to Travis now, he said.Travis natural elevationped half(a)way up the hill. Okay, Im here. Let them go and Ill translate the invocation for you.I dont think so, Rachel said. Once the ritual has been per determineed and Im sure it has worked, then you can all go free.You dont have any idea what youre talking about. Catch will kill us all.I dont be perchve you. The hide tactile sensation will be in my control, and I wont allow it.Travis laughed sarcasti tendery. You havent even seen him, have you? What do you think you have there, the Easter Bunny? He kills pile. Thats the causal agency hes here.I lighten dont believe you. Rachel was beginning to lose her resolve.Travis watched Catch move to where the hostages were tied. Come, do it now, Travis, or the old woman dies. He raised a clawed hand over Amandas crack.Travis trudged up the hill and stood in presence of Rachel. Very quietly her said to her, You know, you deserve what you are going to get. I never thought I could wish Catch on anyone, but you deserve it. He looked at Jenny, and her eyes pleaded for an explanation. He looked away(predicate). Give me the invocation, he said to Rachel. I hope you brought a pencil and get over. I cant do this from memory.Rachel reached into an thrashway bag that she had brought and pulled out the cand lesticks. One at a sentence she unscrewed them and removed the invocations, then replaced the pieces in the airline bag. She handed Travis the parchments. stage the candlesticks over by Jenny, he said.Why? Rachel asked.Because the ritual wont work if they are too close to the parchments. In fact, youd be better off if you untied them and send them away with the candlesticks. Get them out of the area altogether. The lie seemed so taken for granted(predicate) that Travis feared he had ruined everything by putting too much brilliance on the candlesticks.Rachel stared at him, nerve-racking to make sense of it. I dont understand, she said. uncomp allowe do I, Travis said. But this is mystical stuff. You cant tell me that taking hostages so you can call up a demon is consistent with the logical world.Earth spirit Not demon. And I will use this power for good.Travis considered trying to convince her of her folly, then decided against it. The lives of Jenny and the Elliotts depended on Catch maintaining his charade as a benevolent Earth spirit until it was too late. He glared at the demon, who grinned back.Well? Travis said.Rachel picked up the airline bag and took it to a spot a few feet down the hill from the hostages.No. Farther away, Travis said.She slung the bag over her bring up and took it another twenty yards down the hill, then turned to Travis for approval.What is this about? Catch asked.Travis, afraid to push his luck, nodded to Rachel and she set the bag down. instantly the candlesticks were twenty yards closer to the road that ran around the back of the hill the road that Augustus Brine would drive when the shit hit the fan.Rachel returned to the hilltop.Ill need that pencil and paper now, he said.Its in the bag. Rachel went back toward the bag.While she was retrieving the pencil and paper from the airline bag, Travis held the parchments out before him, one at a time, counting to hexad before he put the first one down and picked up the next. H e hoped he had the angle to Roberts camera recompense and that his body was not in the way of the lens.Here. Rachel handed him a pencil and a steno diggings.Travis sat down cross-legged with the parchments out in front of him. Sit down and relax, this is going to take some time.He started on the parchment from the sanction candlestick, hoping to buy some time. He translated the Greek letter by letter, search his memory first for each letter, then for the meaning of the words. By the time he finished the first line, he had fallen into a cps and had to make an effort to slow down.Read what he has written, Catch said.But hes just done one line- Rachel said.Read it.Rachel took the steno pad from Travis and read, Being in possession of the Power of Solomon I call upon the race that walked before man She stopped. Thats all there is.Its the wrong paper, Catch said. Travis, translate the other one. If its not right this time, the girl dies.Thats the oddment time I buy you a Cookie Mon ster comic book, you scaly fucker.Reluctantly Travis shuffled the parchments and began to translate the invocation he had mouthn in Saint Anthonys chapel seventy eld before.Howard Phillips had two Polaroid prints out on the ground before him. He was piece of writing a translation out on a notepad while Augustus Brine and Gian Hen Gian looked over his shoulder. Robert was looking through the camera.Theyve make him change parchments. He must have been translating the wrong one.Brine said, Howard, are you translating the one we need?I am not sure yet. Ive only translated a few lines of the Greek. This Latin passage at the top appears to be a pith rather than an invocation.Cant you just scan it? We dont have time for mistakes.Howard read what he had written. No, this is wrong. He tore the sheet from the notepad and began again, concentrating on the other Polaroid. This one seems to have two shorter invocations. The first one seems to be the one that empowers the Djinn. It talks abo ut a race that walked before man.That is right. Translate the one with two invocations, the Djinn said.Hurry, Robert said, Travis has half a page. Gus, Im going to ride up the hill in the pull back of the truck when you go. Ill jump out and grab the bag with the candlesticks. Theyre quench a good thirty yards from the road and I can move fast-paced than you can.Im finished, Howard said. He handed his notebook to Brine.Record it at normal speed, Robert said. because play it back at high speed.Brine held the recorder up to his face, his finger on the record button. Gian Hen Gian, is this going to work? I mean is a voice on a tape going to have the same effect as speaking the words?It would be best to assume that it will.You mean you dont know?How would I know?Swell, Brine said. He pushed the record button and read Howards translation into the recorder. When he finished, he rewound the tape and said, Okay, lets go.Police Dont anyone moveThey turned to see Rivera standing in the roa d tooshie them, his.38 in hand, panning back and forth to cover them. Everybody down on the ground, facedown.They stood frozen in position.On the ground, now Rivera cocked his revolver.Officer, there must be a mistake, Brine said, feeling stupid as he said it.DownReluctantly, Brine, Robert, and Howard lay facedown on the ground. Gian Hen Gian remained standing, cursing in Arabic. Riveras eyes widened as blue swirls appeared in the air over the Djinns head. hold off that, Rivera said.The Djinn ignored him and continued cursing.On your belly, you little fucker.Robert pushed himself up on his outgrowthor and looked around. Whats this about, Rivera? We were just out here taking some pictures.Yeah, and thats why you have a high-powered rifle in your car.Thats nothing, Robert said.I dont know what it is, but its more than nothing. And none of you are going anywhere until I get some answers.Youre making a mistake, Officer, Brine said. If we dont continue with what we were doing, people are going to die.First, its Sergeant. Second, Im getting to be a master at making mistakes, so one more is no big deal. And third, the only soul who is going to die is this little Arab if he doesnt get his ass on the ground.What was taking them so long? Travis had d reproofged the translation out as long as he could, stalling on a word here and there, but he could tell that Catch was getting impatient and to hold out any long would endanger Jenny.He tore two sheets from the steno pad and handed them to Rachel. Its finished, now you can untie them. He gestured to Jenny and the Elliotts.No, Catch said. First we see if it works.Please, Rachel, you have what you want. Theres no reason to keep these people here.Rachel took the pages. Ill make it up to them once I have the power. It wont hurt to keep them here a few more minutes.Travis fought the impel to look back toward the woods. Instead he cradled his head in his hands and sighed deeply as Rachel began to read the invocation aloud. Augustus Brine finally convinced Gian Hen Gian to lie down on the ground. It was obvious that Rivera would not listen to anyone until the Djinn relented.Now, Masterson, where in the orchestra pit did you get that alloy suitcase?I told you, I stole it out of the Chevy.Who owns the Chevy?I cant tell you that.You can tell me or you can go up on murder charges.Murder? Who was murdered? approximately a thousand people, it looks like. Where is the owner of that suitcase? Is it one of these guys?Rivera, I will tell you everything I know about everything in about fifteen minutes, but now youve got to let us finish what we started.And what was that?Brine spoke up, Sergeant, my name is Augustus Brine. Im a businessman here in town. I have done nothing wrong, so I have no reason to lie to you.So? Rivera said.So, you are right. There is a killer. We are here to stop him. If we dont act right now, he will get away, so please, please, let us go.Im not buying it, Mr. Brine. Where is this killer and why didnt you call the police about him? Take it nice and slow, and dont leave anything out.We dont have time, Brine insisted.Just then they heard a loud thump and the clayey of a body slumping to the ground. Brine turned around to see song thrush Sand standing over the collapsed detective, her baseball bat in hand.Hi, cutie, she said to Brine.They all jumped to their feet.Mavis, what are you doing here?He threatened to close me down if I didnt tell him where you went. After he left, I got to feeling like a shit about telling him, so here I am.Thanks, Mavis, Brine said. Lets go. Howard, you stay here. Robert, in the bed of the truck. Whenever youre ready, world-beater, he said to the Djinn.Brine jumped into the truck, fired it up, and engaged the four- wrap drive.Rachel read the last line of the invocation with a grandiose flourish of her arm. In the name of Solomon the King, I program line thee to appearRachel said, Nothing happened.Catch said, Nothing happened, Travis.Trav is said, Give it a minute. He had some given up hope. Something had gone horribly wrong. Now he was faced with either telling them about the candlesticks or keeping his stay with the demon. Either way, the hostages were doomed.Fine, Travis, Catch said. The old man is the first to go.Catch intent one hand around Effroms neck. As Travis and Rachel watched, the demon grew into his eating form and lifted Effrom off the ground.Oh my God Rachel put her fist to her mouth and started computer backup away from the demon. Oh noTravis tried to focus his will on the demon. Put him down, Catch, he commanded.From somewhere down the hill came the well-grounded of a truck starting.Gian Hen Gian stepped out of the woods. Catch, he shouted, will you never give up your toys? The Djinn started up the hill.Catch threw Effrom to the side. He landed like a rag doll, ten yards away. Rachel was shaking her head violently, as if trying to shake away the demons image. Tears streamed down her cheeks.So so meone let the little jazz out of his jar, Catch said. He stalked down the hill toward the Djinn.An engine roared and Augustus Brines pickup broke out of the tree line and bounced up the dirt road, throwing up a cloud of dust in its wake. Robert stood in the bed, retentiveness onto the roll bar for resist.Travis darted chivalric Catch to Amanda and Jenny.Still a coward, King of the Djinn? Catch said, pausing a second to look at the speeding truck.I am still your superior, the Djinn said.Is that why you surrendered your people to the netherworld without a shift?This time you lose, Catch.Catch spun to watch the truck s chapeaue around the last turn and off the road to bound across the open grass toward the candlesticks.Later, Djinn, Catch said. He began to run toward the truck. Taking five yards at a stride the demon was over the hill and past Travis and the women in seconds.Augustus Brine saw the demon coming at them. Hold on, Robert. He wrenched the wheel to the side to throw t he truck into a slide.Catch lowered his shoulder and rammed into the right front fender of the truck. Robert saw the impact coming and tried to decide whether to brace himself or jump. In an instant the decision was made for him as the fender crumpled under the demon and the truck went up on two wheels, then over onto its roof.Robert lay on the ground trying to get his wind back. He tried to move, and a searing chafe shot through his arm. Broken. A thick cloud of dust hung in the air, obscuring his vision. He could hear the demon roaring behind him and the screeching sound of tearing metal.As the dust settled, he could just make out the shape of the tip-down truck. The demon was pinned under the hood, ripping at the metal with his claws. Augustus Brine hung by his seat belt. Robert could see him moving.Robert climbed to his feet, using his good arm to push himself up.Gus he shouted.The candlesticks came back.Robert looked around on the ground. There was the bag. He had almost land ed on it. He started to reach for it with both hands and some passed out when the pain from his broken arm hit him. From his knees he was able to scoop up the bag, heavy with the candlesticks, in his good arm.Hurry, Brine shouted.Catch had stopped clawing at the metal. With a large roar he shoved the truck up and off of him. Standing before the truck, he threw his head back and roared with such intensity that Robert nearly dropped the candlesticks.Every bone in Roberts body said flee, get the sinfulness out of here. He stood frozen.Robert, Im stuck. Bring them to me. Brine was struggling with the seat belt. At the sound of his voice the demon leapt to the drivers side of the truck and clawed at the opening. Brine heard the skin of the door go with the first slash. He stared at the door in terror, expecting a claw to come through the window at any second. The demons claws raked the support beam inside the door.Gus, here. Ouch. Shit. Robert was lying outside the passenger side win dow, button the bag with the candlesticks across the roof of the truck. The play button, Gus. Push it.Brine matte the pocket of his flannel shirt. Maviss recorder was still clipped there. He fumbled for the play button, found it, and pushed, just as a daggerlike claw ripped into his shoulder.A vitamin C miles south, at Vandenberg Air world power Base, a radio detection and ranging technician reported a UFO entering restricted air space from over the Pacific. When the aircraft refused to respond to radio warning, four jet fighters were scrambled to intercept. Three of the fighter pilots would report no visual contact. The fourth, upon landing, would be given a urinalysis and hold to quarters until he could be debriefed by an officer from the Air Force Department of Stress Management.The bogey would be officially explained as radar interference caused by unusually high swell conditions offshore.Of the thirty-six reports, filed in triplicate with various departments of the milita ry complex, not one would mention an enormous white owl with an eighty-foot wingspan.However, after some consideration, the Pentagon would award seventeen trillion dollars to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a secret study on the feasibility of an owl-shaped aircraft. After two years of computer simulations and wind-tunnel prototype tests, the inquiry team would conclude that an owl-shaped aircraft would, indeed, be an effective weapon, but only if the adversary should ever mobilize a corps of field-mouse-shaped tanks.Augustus Brine realized that he was going to die. In that same moment he realized that he was not afraid and that it did not matter. The monster clawing to get at him didnt matter. The chipmunk blarney of his voice playing back double-speed on the recorder didnt matter. The shouting of Robert, and now Travis, outside the truck didnt matter. He was acutely aware of it all, he was part of it all, but it did not matter. Even the gunfire didnt matter. He a ccepted it and let it go.Rivera came to when Brine had started the truck. Mavis Sand was standing over the policeman with his revolver, but she and Howard were watching what was going on up the hill. Rivera glanced up the hill to see Catch materializing in his eating form, holding Effrom by the throat.Santa Maria What the hell is that?Mavis trained the gun on him. Stay right there.Ignoring her, Rivera stood and ran down the road toward his patrol car. At his car he popped the trunk lid and pulled the riot gun out of its bracket. As he ran back past Howards Jag, he paused, then opened the back door and grabbed Roberts hunting rifle.By the time he was again in view of the hill, the truck was upside down and the monster was clawing at the door. He threw the riot gun to the ground and shouldered the rifle. He braced the barrel against a tree, threw the bolt to jacks a shell into the chamber, sighted through the scope, and brought the cross-hairs down on the monsters face. Resisting the urge to scream, he squeezed the trigger.The round hit the demon in his open mouth and knocked him back a foot. Rivera quickly jacked another shell into the chamber and fired. Then another. When the firing pin clicked on an empty chamber, the monster had been knocked back from the truck a few feet but was still coming.Santa fucking Maria, Rivera said.Gian Hen Gian had reached the top of the hill where Travis knelt by Amanda and Jenny.It is done, the Djinn said.Then do something Travis said. Help Gus.Without his orders I may carry out only the command of my last master. Gian Hen Gian pointed to the sky. Travis looked up to see something white coming out of the clouds, but it was too utmost away to make out what it was.Catch recovered from the rifle slugs and went forward. He hooked his huge hand behind the reinforcement beam of the trucks door, ripped it off, and threw it behind him. Inside the truck, still hanging from the seat belt, Augustus Brine turned calmly and looked at the demon. Catch drew back his hand to deliver a blow that would rip Brines head from his shoulders.Brine smiled at him. The demon paused.What are you, some kind of wacko? Catch said.Brine didnt have time to answer. The reverberation of the owls screech shattered the windshield of the truck. Catch looked up as the talons locked around his body, and he was swept into the air flailing at the owls legs.The owl climbed into the sky so rapidly that in seconds it was nothing more than a petite silhouette against the sun, which was making its way toward the horizon.Augustus Brine continued to smile as Travis released the seat belt. He hit the roof of the truck with his injured shoulder and passed out.When Brine regained consciousness, they were all standing over him. Jenny was holding Amandas head to her shoulder. The old woman was sobbing.Brine looked from face to face. Someone was missing.Robert spoke first. put forward Gian Hen Gian to heal your shoulder, Gus. He cant do it until you tell him. While youre at it, tell him to fix my arm.Do it, Brine said. As he said it, the pain was gone from his shoulder. He sat up.Wheres Effrom?He didnt make it, Gus, Robert said. His face gave out when the demon threw him.Brine looked to the Djinn. Bring him back.The Djinn shook his head balefully. This I cannot do.Brine said, Im sorry, Amanda. Then to Gian Hen Gian, What happened to Catch?He is on his way to Jerusalem.I dont understand.I have lied to you, Augustus Brine. I am sorry. I was bound to the last command of my last master. Solomon bade me take the demon back to Jerusalem and chain him to a rock outside the great temple.Why didnt you tell me that?I thought you would never give me my power if you knew. I am a coward.Dont be ridiculous.It is as Catch said. When the angels came to drive my people into the netherworld, I would not let them fight. There was no combat as I told you. We went like sheep to the slaughter.Gian Hen Gian, you are not a coward. You are a creator y ou told me that yourself. Its not in your nature to destroy, to make war.But I did. So I have tried to maintain myself by stopping Catch. I wanted to do for the humans what I did not do for my own people.It doesnt matter, Brine said. Its finished.No, its not, Travis said. You cant chain Catch to a rock in the middle of Jerusalem. You have to send him back. You have to read the last invocation. Howard translated it while we were waiting for you to wake up.But Travis, you dont know what will happen to you. You may die on the spot.Im still bound to him, Gus. That isnt financial backing anyway. I want to be free. Travis handed him the invocation and the candlestick with the sealing wax of Solomon concealed in it. If you dont, I will. It has to be done.All right, Ill do it, Brine said.Travis looked up at Jenny. She looked away. Im sorry, Travis said. Robert went to Jennys side and held her. Travis walked down the hill, and when he was out of sight, Augustus Brine began reading the wor ds that would send Catch back to hell.They found Travis slumped in the backseat of Howards Jaguar. Augustus Brine was the first to reach the car.I did it, Travis. Are you all right?As Travis looked up, Brine had to fight the urge to recoil. The demonkeepers face was deeply delve and shot with broken veins. His dark hair and brows had turned white. But for his eyes, which were still young with intensity, Brine would not have recognized him. Travis smiled. There were still a couple of teeth left in front.His voice was still young. It didnt hurt. I expected one of those wrenching Lon Chaney transformations, but it didnt happen. Suddenly I was old. That was it.Im glad it didnt hurt, Brine said.What am I going to do?I dont know, Travis. I need to think.