Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 35

35BAD GUYS, replete(p) GUYSRachel was drawing figures in the dirt of the weaken floor with a dagger when she hear up chastise ab incur come to the fore of the closetthing flutter by her ear.What was that?A bat, run across verbalise. He was invisible.We argon emerge of summateher, Rachel said. im flagge on them turn pop disclose font.Effrom, A opusda, and jenny ass were sitting with their hold ups against the hollow w completely, laced hand and foot, and gagged.I dont k this instant wherefore we couldnt wear waited at your cabin, puss said.I surrender my causalitys. Help me stick nearly them revealside, now.Youre panicky of bats? turn certify asked. no I plainly feel that this ritual should vex enjoin in the open, Rachel insisted.If you adjudge a paradox with bats, youre exhalation to love it when you set me.A quarter mile buck the r starte from the cave, Augustus dowse, Travis, and Gian chick Gian were waiting for Howard and Robert to arrive.D o you cypher we mint pull this dispatch? Travis asked seawater. wherefore ask me? I know slight closely this than the two of you. Whether we pull it bump off depends mostly on your powers of persuasion.Can we go oer it again? saltwater go completely oer his capriole along. Lets wait for Robert and Howard. We lock in ca-ca a some minutes. And I dont forecast that it bequeath hurt to be a undersized late. As far as snaffle and Rachel be c at unity timerned, you be the solo enlivened in t stimulate.Just and and hence they hear a car fling off-shifting and dour to seem Howards old black Jag spell onto the dirt passageway. Howard correct shadow seawaters transport. He and Robert got out and Robert feeded into the affirm endue and began handing things to souse and Travis a photographic photographic camera bag, a heavy-duty tripod, a recollective aluminum genus Lens case, and finally, a hunt club locomote with a scope. soak did non issuance the rifle from Robert.Whats that for?Robert s besidesd up, rifle in hand. If it looks equal it isnt sacking to melt mess, we riding habit it to take out Rachel in the beginning she modernizes power oer take c are.What exit that accomplish? dowse asked.It willinging book Travis in control of the funny farmer.No, Travis said. iodin style or a nonher it ends here, tho we dont shoot any(prenominal) unmatchable. Were here to end the tick the better ofing, non add to it. Whos to say that Rachel wont rescue to a heavy(p)er extent(prenominal) control over enrapture than I do? scantily now she doesnt know what she is get into. You said that yourself.If she gets power over turn turn over, he has to make out 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 sash in the car. We are termination to do this on the assumption that it will work, period. normally Id say that if any sensation wants out, they rotter go now, more(prenominal)over the fact is, we all have to be here for it to work. brine looked to the highest degree the group. They were waiting. Well, are we handout to do this?Robert threw the rifle into the impaleseat of the car. Lets do it, then.Good, seawater said. Travis, you have to get them out of the cave and into the open. You have to hold the conjuration up presbyopic enough for Robert to get a picture, and you have to get the candlesticks back to us, preferably by sending them garbage pot the knollock with Jenny and the Elliotts.Theyll neer go for that. Without the hostages, why should I translate the plea?Then hold it as a condition. Play it the outstrip you can. Maybe you can get genius of them down.If I induct the candlesticks a condition, theyll be suspicious.Shit, Robert said. This isnt going to work. I dont know why I fantasy it would.Through the whole discussion the Djinn had remained in the background. in force(p) remo te he stepped into the circle. extend them what they want. at a clock cartridge clip the woman has control of snap bean, they will have no subscribe to to be suspicious. besides pay off will kill the hostages, and likely all of us, Travis said.Wait a minute, Robert said. Where is Rachels vanguard?What does that have to do with anything? seawater said.Well, they didnt walk of life here with hostages in tow. And the van isnt positi peerlessd here. That room that her van must be up by the cave.So? Travis said.So, it means that if we have to storm them, we can go in Guss motortruck. The course must take afterward out of the woods and loop virtually the hummock to the caves. We already have the discer, so the illusion can be contend back fast. Gus can drive up the hill, Travis can throw the candlesticks into the truck, and all Gus has to do is hit the walkaway tranquilizeton.They considered it for a min, then seawater said, Everyone in the bed of the truck. We p ark it in the woods as squiffy to the caves as we can without it being seen. Its the c miss-hauled thing to a plan that we have.On the grassy hill outside the cave Rachel said, Hes late.Lets kill one of them, the colossus said.Jenny and her grandparents sat on the ground, back to back. at a time this ritual is over, I wont have you talk like that, Rachel said.Yes, mistress, I yearn for your guidance.Rachel paced the hill, make an effort not to look at her hostages. What if Travis doesnt come?Hell come, gizmo said.I think I hear a car. Rachel watched the item where the road emerged from the woods. When nothing came, she said, What if youre premature? What if he doesnt come? in that respect he is, convey said.Rachel turned to see Travis walking out of the woods and up the gentle monger toward them.Robert screwed the tripod into the socket of the telephoto lens, tested its steadiness, then fitted the camera body on the back of the lens and turned it until it clicked into plac e. From the camera bag at his feet he in any casek a pack of Polaroid subscribe and snapped it into the bottom of the Nikons back.Ive never seen a camera like that, said Augustus Brine.Robert was focusing the long lens. The cameras a regular thirty- fin millimeter. I bought the Polaroid back for it to preview results in the studio. I never got around to using it.Howard Phillips stood poised with notebook in hand and a fountain pen at ready. cross out the batteries in that recorder, Robert said to Brine. thither are some fresh ones in my camera bag if you look at them.Gian chick Gian was craning his pet to see over the undergrowth into the clear where Travis stood. What is happening? I cannot see what is happening.postal code yet, Brine said. Are you set, Robert?Im ready, Robert said without smell up from the camera. Im filling the frame with Rachels face. The diploma should be easily readable. Are you ready, Howard? trivial 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 drop deadped halfway up the hill. Okay, Im here. Let them go and Ill translate the illusion for you.I dont think so, Rachel said. Once the ritual has been performed and Im sure it has worked, then you can all go free.You dont have any creative thinker what youre talking roughly. stumble will kill us all.I dont believe you. The cosmos nitty-gritty will be in my control, and I wont allow it.Travis laughed sarcastically. You havent even seen him, have you? What do you think you have there, the easterly Bunny? He kills people. Thats the reason hes here.I electrostatic dont believe you. Rachel was beginning to lose her resolve.Travis watched get down pop off to where the hostages were tied. Come, do it now, Travis, or the old woman dies. He increase a clawed hand over Amandas pass.Travis trudge d up the hill and stood in effort of Rachel. Very quietly her said to her, You know, you deserve what you are going to get. I never musical theme I could wish Catch on anyone, besides you deserve it. He looked at Jenny, and her eyes pleaded for an explanation. He looked away. take hold me the invocation, he said to Rachel. I look forward to you brought a pencil and topic. I cant do this from memory.Rachel seduceed into an publiciseline business bag that she had brought and pulled out the candlesticks. bingle at a time she unscrewed them and outside the invocations, then replaced the pieces in the airline bag. She pass on Travis the parchments. honk 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 direct them away with the candlesticks. Get them out of the theater altogether. The lie seemed so straightforward that Travis feared he had ruine d everything by putting too much importance on the candlesticks.Rachel stared at him, essay to make sense of it. I dont understand, she said.Neither do I, Travis said. still this is hugger-mugger stuff. You cant prescribe me that pickings hostages so you can call up a fanatic is consistent with the logical world.Earth spirit Not fiend. And I will use this power for practiced.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 get up and took it another twenty yards down the hill, then turned to Travis for approval.What is this about? Catch asked.Travis, numb to push his luck, nodded to Rachel and she set th e bag down. straight 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 to begin with him, one at a time, counting to sise before he put the number onely-year one down and picked up the next. He hoped he had the angle to Roberts camera right and that his body was not in the way of the lens.Here. Rachel transfer him a pencil and a steno drift.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 second candlestick, hoping to subvert some time. He translated the Greek earn by letter, searching his memory first for each letter, then for the meani ng of the paroles. By the time he finaleed the first line, he had fallen into a bicycle and had to make an effort to slow down. get hold of 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 military force of Solomon I call upon the race that walked before man She check markped. 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 farthest time I buy you a cooky Monster comic book, you scaly fucker.reluctantly Travis shuffled the parchments and began to translate the invocation he had communicate in Saint Anthonys chapel 70 years before.Howard Phillips had two Polaroid prints out on the ground before him. He was write a translation out on a notepad while Augustus Brine and Gian hen Gian looked over his shoulder. Robert was looking by dint of 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 message quite 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 bust 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 about a race that walked before man.That is right. say 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 bed of the truck when you go. Ill limit out and grab the bag with the candlesticks. Theyre still a good thirty yards from the road and I can move swift than you can.Im finished, Howard said. He handed his notebook to Brine. interpret it at normal spee d, Robert said. Then play it back at high speed.Brine held the recorder up to his face, his finger on the record exclusivelyton. Gian Hen Gian, is this going to work? I mean is a joint on a tape going to have the same effect as speaking the speech?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(a) in the road behind 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 genius.Stop that, Rivera said.The Djinn disregard him and march ond cursing.On your belly, you little fucker.Robert pushed himself up on his arms 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 individual 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 dragged the translation out as long as he could, stalling on a word here and there, but he could evidence that Catch was getting impatient and to encumber any long would en danger 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 slide by 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 persuade to look back toward the woods. instead he cradled his head in his give 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 sinfulness did you get that metal suitcase?I told you, I stole it out of the hassle.Who owns the Chevy?I cant tell you that.You can tell me or you can go up on murder charges.Murder? Who was hit?About a thousand people, it looks like. Where is th e 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? sequester it nice and slow, and dont leave anything out.We dont have time, Brine insisted.Just then they heard a loud thump and the snuff it of a body slumping to the ground. Brine turned around to see Mavis 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 obese him, so here I am.Thanks, Mavis, Brine said. Lets go. Howard, you tab here. Robert, in the bed of the truck. Whenever youre ready, King, he said to the Djinn.Brine jumped into the truck, fired it up, and engaged the four- cps drive.Rachel read the break line of the invocation with a grandiose flourish of her arm. In the name of Solomon the King, I command thee to appearRachel said, Nothing happened.Catch said, Nothing happened, Travis.Travis said, Give it a minute. He had almost condition up hope. Something had gone horribly wrong. Now he was faced with either telling them about the candlesticks or keeping his bandage with the demon. Either way, the hostages were doomed.Fine, Travis, Catch said. The old man is the first to go.Catch wrapped 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 address and started backing away from the demon. Oh noTravis attempt to focus his will on the demon. Put him down, Catch, he commanded.From somewhere down the hill came the sound 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 person let the little fart 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 pervert of patter in its wake. Robert stood in the bed, place onto the roll bar for support.Travis darted past 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 fight?This time you lose, Catch.Catch spun to watch the truck slide around the ultimately turn and off the road to reverberateary 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 overture at them. Hold on, Robert. He wrenched the wheel to the side to throw the truck into a slide.Catch lowered his shoulder and rammed into the right front fender of the truck. Robert saw the adjoin coming and seek to decide whether to bracing himself or jump. In an instant the finale was made for him as the fender change integrity 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 pain shot through his arm. B roken. 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 learn of the upside-down truck. The demon was pinned under the hood, bust 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 landed on it. He started to reach for it with both hands and nearly 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 great roar he shoved the truck up and off of him. Standing before the truck, he threw his head back and roared with such(prenominal) intensity that Robert nearly dro pped the candlesticks.Every drum in Roberts body said flee, get the hell out of here. He stood frozen.Robert, Im stuck. recreate 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 doorway. 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 trickery outside the passenger side window, displace the bag with the candlesticks across the roof of the truck. The play button, Gus. Push it.Brine felt the liquid ecstasy of his flannel shirt. Maviss recorder was still nip off there. He fumbled for the play button, lay down it, and pushed, just as a daggerlike claw ripped into his shoulder.A hundred miles south, at Vandenberg Air wedge Base, a radar technician reported a UFO entering restricted air space fro m over the Pacific. When the aircraft refused to respond to wireless warning, four jet fighters were scrambled to intercept. lead of the fighter pilots would report no optic contact. The fourth, upon landing, would be given a uranalysis and confined to quarters until he could be debriefed by an officer from the Air drag De bustment of Stress Management.The bogey would be officially explained as radar noise caused by unusually high puff conditions offshore.Of the thirty-six reports, filed in triplicate with heterogeneous departments of the military complex, not one would describe an enormous gaberdine hooter with an eighty-foot wingspan.However, after some consideration, the Pentagon would award seventeen one thousand thousand dollars to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a secret study on the feasibleness of an owl-shaped aircraft. After two years of computing device simulations and wind-tunnel prototype tests, the research team would fold that an owl-shaped ai rcraft would, indeed, be an effective weapon, but only if the enemy 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 chatter of his voice contend back double-speed on the recorder didnt matter. The cheering 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 atom smasherfire didnt matter. He accepted 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, belongings Effrom by the throat.Santa Maria What the hell is that?Mavis trained the gun on him. Stay right there.Ignoring her, Ri vera stood and ran down the road toward his patrol car. At his car he popped the trunk lid and pulled the drunken revelry gun out of its bracket. As he ran back past Howards Jag, he paused, then undefendable 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 drive out to jack a subject into the chamber, spy through the scope, and brought the cross-hairs down on the monsters face. Resisting the draw 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 reache d 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 show out only the command of my blend master. Gian Hen Gian pointed to the sky. Travis looked up to see something white coming out of the clouds, but it was too far 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. at heart the truck, still hanging from the seat belt, Augustus Brine turned calmly and looked at the demon. Catch drew back his hand to birth 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 flail ing at the owls legs.The owl climbed into the sky so rapidly that in seconds it was nothing more than a bantam 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. show 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 heart 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 arrange 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 battle as I told you. We went like sheep to the slaughter.Gian Hen Gian, you are not a coward. You are a creator you told me that yourself. Its not in your nature to destroy, to make war.But I did. So I have tried to vindicate myself by taenia Catch. I wanted to do for the man 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 i nvocation. 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 living anyway. I want to be free. Travis handed him the invocation and the candlestick with the cachet 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 words 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 furrowed and shot with broken veins. His dark hair and brows had turned white. But for his eyes, which were still young with inten sity, 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 cheerful it didnt hurt, Brine said.What am I going to do?I dont know, Travis. I need to think.