Denny thanked the guard and lowered her voice to Brianna. “What, exactly, is this?”
“A drum circle,” Brianna answered. “For witches.”
Denny cocked her head. “Oh really? Witches.”
Brianna nodded. “Really. If you weren’t so involved with your ghost and your haunted house, you might learn a thing or two about the other paranormal residents of our great city. You live a pretty myopic life, Denny Silver.”
“Myopic? Me?”
Brianna shook her head. “You have so much to learn, Silver. When the time comes, and you need some answers, you know where to come.”
“Thanks.” Denny nodded as she grabbed Victor’s arm, smiled, and headed for class.
“What the hell you do that fo’? She obviously thinks you’re hot and you don’t seem to give a damn.”
“A witch? Are you insane? I need a witch like I need a hole in the head.”
Victor stopped walking and turned to her. “Better a hole in your head than the one you keep tryin’ to fill in your heart with a damned ghost.”
“She’s more than a ghost, Victor.”
“She a temporary filler, Denny. Temporary. You remember that.”
Denny shook her head and went to class, all the while wondering if what Victor had said was true.
***
A
fter class, Denny went back to the coffee shop. She wasn’t sure why, except there was something about Brianna she found intriguing, something that seemed to pull her like a tractor beam to the buxom blonde.
“Can you take a break?” Denny asked softly.
Suddenly, she felt like she was cheating.
While Brianna let her co-worker know she was taking five, Denny made her way to the only free table and wiped off the crumbs.
When Brianna joined her, she handed Denny an Awake Tea latte. “On the house.”
“Thank you. That’s very sweet.”
“I have to say, I am surprised to see you. I figured I scared you away. You know...drum circle and all that.”
“So...a witch, huh?”
Brianna laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I am, and my sisters and I wanted to thank you for sticking up for us when that Neanderthal interrupted our drum circle. That was very brave of you.”
“Brave or incredibly stupid. The jury is still out.” Denny smiled sheepishly. “I’m kinda surprised you’re so out and about with the whole witch thing. I mean...you’re really a witch?”
She leaned forward, her bosoms resting on the table. “In the flesh, but tell me, Denny Silver... just what are
you
?”
“Me? I’m nothing. Just a girl trying to get by after dealing with the death of her parents and the incarceration of her brother and sister.”
Brianna tilted her head. “Your sister is in jail as well?”
Denny laughed. “Convent. Same thing.” She sipped her tea. It was extra hot. “But trust me. I’m only trying to negotiate life’s maze, nothing more, nothing less.”
Brianna shook her head. “You’re quite wrong on that score, Golden. All of us felt it. It was all we could talk about after that gorilla got his face pushed in.”
“Felt what?”
“There’s some sort of...energy surrounding you. It’s like light in a cardboard box. There are rays shooting out of every crack and crevice. You’d have to be blind not to see it.”
“Well then, the majority of the world is blind because there isn’t anything special about me except that I happen to live in a famous haunted house and have an infamous brother.”
“You are so, so wrong there. You are something...special. Something...different. You just don’t know it yet.”
Denny looked at her. “You’re not kidding, are you? I mean, this isn’t a come on, is it?”
Brianna smiled softly. “I wish it were, but no, it’s not. At first I thought it was residue from living with a ghost, but it’s not that. It’s something inside you. Something buried deep beneath the surface of your soul. You are...something amazing. I just don’t know what yet.”
“I don’t live with a ghost.”
“Whatever you say.” Brianna grinned. “You needn’t confess what we both know to be true. Besides, your secret is safe with me.”
Denny grinned. “I’m an open book.”
“Who doesn’t live with a ghost.”
“Right.”
Brianna laid her hand across Denny’s. “I am glad you came by. I wanted to thank you for what you did for us. I really appreciate it.”
Denny shrugged. “Those guys were assholes. They deserved it.”
“Yeah, but no one else would have stopped them. I can’t believe your friend popped him right in the mouth. That was a dangerous thing to do. Those no-neckers protect each other.”
Denny felt the back of her hand get warm. “Victor’s really a pussy cat at heart, unless you mess with the people he cares about, and then he becomes someone you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley...or a light alley for that matter.”
“It’s clear he cares for you a great deal. It’s good to have friends like that.”
“Victor’s one of my best friends. There isn’t much he wouldn’t do for me, and vice-versa.”
Brianna removed her hand and wrapped it around a mug that read
Covens not Ovens.
“Well, please let him know how much we appreciate it.” She sipped her coffee. “Not many guys would have gone up against a pack of wolves lead by that asshole Pat Patterson.”
Denny leaned forward and whispered, “You
really
a witch?”
She nodded. “Most prefer
Wiccan
. Witch conjures up the negative Hollywood image of pointy hats and broomsticks, and we are not that.”
“A Wiccan, then.”
“Then yeah, I am. Most of us in the drum circle are.”
“What were you ladies doing out there with your drums anyway?”
“We’ve started a club and we’re trying to get members.”
Denny smiled as she sipped her tea. “Recruiting wit––uh––Wiccans on our campus can’t be easy.”
“Oh, it’s easier than you might think. There are more of us around than meets the eye.” Brianna stared into Denny’s eyes. “Oh. I get it. You believe in ghosts but not Wiccans?” She chuckled. “Interesting.”
“I never said I believe in ghosts.”
“You don’t need to. It’s written all over your face. Hell, your very aura exudes spiritual energy unlike any I’ve seen. You not only believe in them, you come in contact with them. Probably on a daily basis.”
“Spiritual energy, huh?”
“Yeah. It’s like...residue from coming in contact with a ghost or supernatural being. They slough it off like we do dead skin cells and it sticks on those capable of reading it.”
Denny casually leaned back. “Residue. You’re telling me that ghosts have
residue
?”
Brianna frowned. “Please don’t tell me you live in a house with a ghost and haven’t done
any
research about what makes them tick?” She leaned forward, her eyes blazing. “Oh, but you have, haven’t you? This––” she waved her hand dismissively in the air, “is all a ruse––this pretense of not knowing or understanding.” She leaned back. “Okay, if that’s how you want to play it, I’m game. I get it.”
“There’s nothing to get, Brianna. I’m not
playing
at anything. I’ve just never been told I’m walking around wearing ghost dandruff.”
Brianna laughed. “That’s a good one. I don’t know how much you know about psychometry, but there’s residue on just about everything.”
Denny shrugged but said nothing.”
“Fine. Psychometry is the modern day term for scrying.” She waited for a sign of recognition. “Scrying is divination of future events or the reading of an object to understand more about it.”
Denny was beginning to feel a little cornered––a little vulnerable––by this intense woman who seemed to look into the core of her being. It was disconcerting. “I’m just more interested in living in the real world right now, you know? It’s hard enough trying to get good grades and––”
“Then go out with me.”
Denny blinked. “What?”
“Go out with me.”
“On a...
date
?”
Brianna laughed again. “If you want to call it a date, then sure. Go out on a date with me. You want to play in the real world, then come play with me for an evening.”
Denny kept blinking. How on earth did the woman get through her well-constructed walls? She hadn’t been asked out since she was sixteen.
Date?
That was so very much a Rush word.
“Under normal circumstances, I might, but I told you, I am sorta seeing someone, and I just discovered my brother might be innocent. That’s taking up my time and attention right now.”
“So you can’t eat?”
“Eat?” Denny’s angst had reduced her to a mocking bird.
Brianna shook her head. “I find you a fascinating enigma, Silver. If you ever stop your super-sleuthing long enough to grab a bite to eat, call me.” With that, Brianna set a business card on the table and scooted back behind the counter.
“Another card?”
“That one is special.”
Denny picked it up and realized it was Brianna’s coven card. Apparently, she was the vice president, or head, or grand poohbah of a circle of witches.
Wiccans.
Denny pocketed the card and made her escape while she could. Her world was becoming stranger by the minute.
***
T
his enabler demon’s job was to
enable
the darkest part of a person to take control of the rest of their being while also recruiting others who preferred to walk in the darkness that exists in man’s corrupt world.
There were so many humans who liked dark paths, and gang members were a wonderful breed. Already on the dark path, they were so near to being blinded, it was amazing they could see at all. Their way, their darkness, even the brightest of light could not penetrate it.
They loved their shadows.
Pushing drugs, running weapons, pimping women––these monsters needed no demons to wreak their chaos. They did not need The Brotherhood. They were their own malevolent force, sucking the life out of every neighborhood they touched, like some light-seeking vampire feeding on the hopes and dreams of others.
As big and bad as they were, they were easy to manipulate. It was scary how malleable they were. A few well-placed drive-by bullets could start a war that might cost dozens of lives.
The ED grinned. The latest stats not reported by humans were more like twenty thousand gang-related deaths in the United States, home to over one-and-a-half
million
gang members.
One-and-a-half million little soldiers.
How this so-called superpower of a government didn’t merely blow them to smithereens had been a topic of conversation at many a meeting. How did the country with the greatest army allow these mini-militias to terrorize neighborhoods? Why weren’t they stopped?
Because humans were stupid. They cared about all the wrong things.
So the darkness grew, fed by a population of unwanted undesirables with no one––
no one
—to stop them. It was just a matter of releasing them into the population––much like releasing wild animals into a village. The damage, while not predictable, would still be severe.
That was what this demon was preparing to do. He would release them tonight to spread fear among the citizens by taking out one of their strongest...one who was revered by the population.
It was sure to be a fun night.
***
D
enny was more than a little surprised to come home to find Sister Sterling cleaning up the kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Denny shrugged off her sweatshirt.
“Never could get Pure to wash her own dishes,” Sterling said, drying her hands on a faded dish towel. “I’d hate to see her house when she is a mother.”
Leaning against the doorframe, Denny folded her arms. “Isn’t there some rule about housecleaning with your habit on?”
“Very funny.” Folding up the dish towel, Sterling sat down at the table. “Do you have a minute?”
Denny sat across from her and nodded. “What’s up?”
Sterling stared down at her hands. “I came by because I’m worried that you’re going to let Quick pull you into his darkness.”
“And here I thought you came to visit me.”
Sterling sighed loudly, her eyes never leaving her hands. “Please don’t be so flippant, Golden. It’s a bad, bad idea you getting involved in his mess.”
“What
mess
? Trying to help Quick, or trying to talk to Mom?”
“Both.” Sterling finally looked up. Don’t you see? He’s always had that influence over you, and this whole notion about talking to Mom isn’t just absurd, it’s...unnatural.”
Denny tilted her head. “Unnatural?”
“If the Lord had wanted Mom to be able to communicate, he wouldn’t have allowed her to remain catatonic.”
Denny’s eyes narrowed. “
Allowed
? Jesus, Sterling, if you really pray to a deity who actually
allows
tragedies of this sort, maybe you should have shopped around more.”
Sterling pulled the car keys from her pocket as she rose. “You always go on the defensive when you don’t like what someone is saying. Mark my words, Golden. Stay out of it. You have a life to lead and you don’t need Quick’s cockamamie stories distracting you from your path.” Sterling turned one last time before she got to the door. “Whatever he
really
wants, Golden, is no good. Please. Let it go.”
“I’m not letting it or our brother go, Sterling, and quite frankly, I’m shocked that you’d think I could.”
“Then ignore it for the sake of our little sister. She deserves a peaceful and calm childhood, not more chaos at the hands of our loose canon.”
Denny shook her head. “Pure is almost eighteen. She’s not a child anymore. She knows the score.”
“Do what you want. You always have. Just mark my words...you won’t like what you find.” And with that, she left.
Denny was still sitting at the table going over Sterling’s words when Rush appeared.
“Don’t you start, too,” Denny growled.
Rush sat cross-legged on the table in front of her. “I’d just waste my breath. I can tell when you’ve made up your mind. Pity Sister of All Saints can’t.”
“I know it must sound crazy, but I just need to see this through. That’s all.”
“You don’t think Quick knew the one button he could push to get you to jump? He always has, you know?”