Chapter 29

A Month Later

Dell’s House

Olympia Washington

“Dell, you have got to get your shit together!” said a frustrated Sam.

Sam couldn’t believe the state that his partner was in. Dell was gaunt and looked strung out. Every few minutes he would stare into space, shiver and whimper softly.

“Sam, I don’t know what to do. I can barely eat or sleep. I see their faces again and then I’m inside their heads, inside their bodies and I watch myself do things to them, but it feels like I’m doing it to myself. I feel every single thing, taste, touch, pain, fear over and over again.! It never ends!. So much hurt, so much humiliation!” shrieked a distraught Dell.

“And this started when they put that contraption on your head?” asked Sam.

“It took a few hours before the visions started but they haven’t stopped since!” replied Dell.

Sam wasn’t sure what was going on exactly. He hadn’t thought that the Fae could summon this kind of powerful magic. They were a devious bunch though. Since it was an artifact maybe it was technology and not magic or some hybrid combination of both? Sam was perplexed but he still needed a mostly functional Dell to allow him to stay in the shadows.

“We’ve got to get you out of this Dell!” said Sam, pretending sympathy.

“Those weirdo cosplay types said it would be really, really bad if I tried to undo whatever it was they did to my head. They said I could only make it stop by trying to ‘atone’ for the things I did, whatever that means,” said Dell.

Sam was pretty sure what they had done to Dell was booby trapped somehow, but he had to do something to get Dell back to more-or-less normal.

“Maybe there’s ritual magic or something you could do that would help?” Sam almost flubbed his cover by adding ‘like the ritual where I first saw you’.

“I dunno Sam, these whackos sounded pretty serious about not trying to remove it,” said Dell.

“Hey you mentioned once you had a friend who knew some magic. Maybe she could help?” suggested Sam.

“That crazy bitch? She’s nuttier than squirrel turds! Hot bod though. Maybe, I guess, I could see if she’s still around, anything’s better than this,” said Dell.

“That’s the spirit Dell! After all what could it hurt to try?” said Sam as he clapped Dell’s shoulder

Later That Week

Dell’s House

Olympia Washington

The busty red-head chanted in some stupid language endlessly on and on until all Dell wanted to do was to take her obsidian dagger and stab her with it. This was the same dagger that she had used to slice Dell open during the last ritual. Dell rubbed the scar he still had on his left wrist and determined that if this didn’t work he was going to make her pay, even though he knew it would just cost him like the others in his head now.

It hadn’t been hard to track her down through mutual friends but Dell had been very surprised that she was willing to try and help him out. Their last meeting hadn’t been all that friendly and he had punched her in the head hard enough to nearly knock her out.

Unknown to Dell though, that apparently failed ritual had made Deirdre’s name in the Seattle occult scene. There had been so many strange sightings and disappearances in the Bell Town area immediately after the ritual, that many senior occultists had credited her with a very rare, legitimate demon summoning. She was really hoping for a repeat performance and even more paranormal street cred.

They were in Dell’s large 4 car garage standing on the calling point of a slightly different pentagram than the one they had used in the first summoning. This one was drawn in red chalk on the smooth concrete surface. Four of Deirdre’s acolytes clothed in ornate red satin robes were arranged around them assigned to different points of the pentagram.

Deirdre’s own robe of gleaming black silk contrasted with her wavy red locks and pale white skin. Her flawless assets were propped up on the shelf of a lacey black bustier and were heaving with the effort of casting the spell. If Dell had even an ounce of libido left he would have spent it on her. She could give a statue wet dreams. He’d almost forgotten the lust that had gotten him a ticket onboard Deirdre and her crazy train in the first place.

Finally she stopped the monotonous driveling and turned to Dell gesturing for his wrist. Dell turned to look over at Sam standing in the corner observing and raised a questioning eyebrow. Sam replied with a shrug and a ‘get on with it’ gesture.

Dell wasn’t sure exactly why he trusted his friend and closest advisor, Sam, but he did. What the hell? Nothing could happen that would be as bad as he was going through now. Dell presented his wrist to Deirdre who grasped it firmly and sliced it once again with the shining black obsidian blade.

This time there was an immediate reaction as a flash sparked off the blade where it touched Dell’s skin and the pentagram flared to life in roaring cold flames. A dull thrumming sound saturated the suddenly dank air. Dell and Deirdre and the other’s were trapped frozen at the points of the pentagram unable to move.

Finally a jagged eerie chiming sound peeled out. Silence fell as a huge leering fire figure slammed into reality in the center of the pentagram with a roar. The creature’s skin was flowing magma and his breath was the black smoke of an erupting volcano. Dell could tell Deirde had lost control of her bladder as he could smell the hot piss as it streamed down her leg and spread in a puddle across the concrete. His own bladder was not far behind.

“You rang?” the figure gleefully laughed, addressing Deirdre. “Just kidding, you didn’t summon me sweet cheeks. He did,” said the figure raising a stony molten finger and pointing to Dell. “You were warned about the consequences of trying to remove the Crown of Thorns. This is them, and you are well and truly fucked.

“You see, I and others now get to torture you until we decide we are through. If you had born the consequences of your actions your torture would have ended when you died. Stars now burning, will go cold before we are through with you,” The figure laughed again then glanced at Deirdre. “And you of the bodacious boobs, I think those wobbly flesh bits have gotten you about as far as they are going to., Others were on the way here to snatch you when I took precedence. This is your lucky day, you will never be this lucky again,” said the fire figure.

“Hey Baltour is that you?” said the demon now known as Sam from the corner.

“Hey Bakasura, how’s it going? Fancy meeting you here!” said the figure.

“Yeah you know, just stirring up shit,”

“Well, be careful we all know what happened last time!” said the fire figure.

“Yeah, no kiddin! Tell the boys I said ‘Hey’” replied Sam

“Will do. Time to get going. Got to get this one to the deepest pit I can find. Not even the gods will know where he is! Haha!” said the Fire demon.

The fire demon reached out with fiery fingers and snatched Dell from the perimeter of the pentagram. Dell started shrieking horrifically as the skin began melting from his arms where the demon held him.

“We are going to have so much fun together! By we, I mean me. You aren’t going to be enjoying this at all,” quipped the fire demon to Dell.

The eerie chime sounded once again and in a smoky flash the demon and Dell winked out of existence. Deirdre and her acolytes collapsed bonelessly to the floor. Sam debated whether or not he should consume Deirdre and her followers. They had witnessed a demon address him as a colleague after all. But he was rather full at the moment, they probably all tasted like pee or worse, and he wasn’t sure how much these idiots would be believed if he left them alive or missed if he didn’t.

In the end laziness won the day and Sam simply walked away.

Three days later

Sisters of Charity of Perpetual WIsdom and Adoration of the Blessed Sacred Heart Nunnery

Tacoma. Washington

Sister Mary Stigmata was perplexed by the new wannabe novitiate. The girl seemed very sincere in her belief and was obviously desperate to gain admittance to their order. But it didn’t add up. For one thing, the girl had the face of an angel but a body built for sin, they got few applicants of this type these days. Well of any type, truth be told. Recruiting was at an all time low.

“So what do you think Mother Superior? Should we give her a shot?” said Sister Mary as her and Mother Superior Lavinia Viceclobber looked across the courtyard at a disheveled but still beautiful Deirdre.

“Well, I don’t think we’re hearing the full story about why she wants to join. In fact, it seems she has likely traveled a very dark road to get here. But on the other hand, who of us doesn’t have some sin in our past, right sister?” said Sister Lavinia with a twinkle in her eye.

Sister Mary blushed slightly and smiled. Sister Lavinia as Mother Superior of their Order knew all about Sister Mary’s time employed at Deja Vu.

“Umm, yes that is very true sister. But as in my own experience perhaps that will make her even better qualified to spread the word of God,” replied Sister Mary.

“Let’s give her a chance then Sister Mary, it at least ought to be interesting,” said Sister Lavinia.

Later That Same Week

Chadsworth Mansion

Unnamed Caribbean Island

Harvey Chadsworth of the Bar Harbor Chadsworths was firmly ensconced behind his fortress of a desk. The desk had once been part of the reinforced hull protecting one of the cannon of the frigate USS Constitution and he irrationally felt safer here behind it while he looked out through the armored glass of the top floor of his private island mansion. He took a deep breath. Nothing could get to him here.

This was his fortress of solitude. In the distance he could see concrete evidence of his untouchable place in the world. His multi billion dollar yacht, the Titannia II, sat peacefully alongside her dock. If need be he could escape on her or one of his 3 private jets on standby at the private airfield nearby. His wealth and attendent power were unassailable.

But still, all was not well in his world at the moment. In the last 2 weeks all of his associates that had participated in that damnable auction had been the victims of accidents or more bizarrely had committed suicide in the most unlikely of ways. One had bled to death when his dick had gotten caught in his zipper. Another had inexplicably driven his Bentley over a cliff. Yet another had committed suicide by smearing ketchup over his body and throwing himself into the feeding pen of a pig farm. The list went on and on. None of the deaths had yet been ruled a homicide and no persons of interest were named.

Harvey had tried to push and prod local, national and even international agencies for more information and action but nothing was forthcoming. It was like chasing ghosts. He had upped his own security of course. It was unfortunate that they mostly spoke only Russian and couldn’t communicate all that well with his existing team, but he had been assured that they were the most ruthless in the business and nothing would get through them.

What was even more troubling though was the financial fallout from the demise of so many of the world’s wealthiest and powerful men. Their personal fortunes had either been wiped out or been turned back to recapitalize the companies they had founded. In some cases their entire fortunes had been donated to charities. It was completely inexplicable. His financial investigators had reported an indecipherable snarl of transactions and shell corporations that would take a hundred years to unravel. It was giving him a huge headache and he didn’t even have one of his playthings around to relieve his stress.

Harvey buzzed his personal assistant. “Siegrfried send in some Earl Gray and some tylenol,”

“Siegrfried is a little tied up at the moment, but someone will be there shortly,” said a strange voice in a slightly Slavik accent.

Well that was odd, but maybe someone on the new security team was filling in at the desk while Siegfried was on the potty.

It was just a moment later when the $50,000 Brazilian Cumaru wood door swung open and one of the maintenance staff strode through. Harvey was annoyed. Then concerned when it appeared that the maintenance man was not, in fact, a maintenance man. Then he was scared spitless when he got the first glimpse of the figure’s eyes. Those eyes pinned him like a bug under glass and were completely pitiless.