As Jim cracked the seal on his salt, he realized he liked the way he felt. For better or for worse - well, mostly worse - he was built to fight, and not just because he was a heavyweight motherfucker. Conflict was in his blood and his brain and his beating heart.
He'd missed being on missions. Angling the Morton container downward, he happily smoked away as a thin white river poured out of the silver spout and onto the shitty carpet. Eddie was handling the back of the house, going down the hall and into the kitchen, so Jim headed for the living room. It was fast work, following along the baseboard while pushing dusty curtains out of the way, and it was satisfying: He felt as if he were pissing on his own territory, staking a claim.
Man, he almost hoped that bitch walked through that door just so he could kick her ass.
Talk about a sea change. In the past, he'd religiously drawn a line between men and women. He wouldn't hesitate to kill a man. Same with maiming, trampling, or cold-cocking one. Women, however, were totally different. A female could come at him with a knife drawn and he would disarm her. Period. Disabling would happen only if he absolutely had to, and in the least painful and permanent way.
But Devina wasn't a woman to him anymore. Hell, she wasn't a woman, period.
The salt whispered as he made his wobbly little line, and although it might have been hard to put a lot of confidence in something that was used to spice up McDonald's french fries, Eddie didn't strike him as a fool. Not by a long shot.
And the cigar rocked. Totally.
By the time they were finished, the downstairs of the house smelled like Florida and needed a DustBuster, and as they headed to the second floor, Eddie drew a white line across each of the steps until the stairs looked like a landing pad.
Vin and Marie-Terese had been busy, and after Eddie inspected their efforts, he told them to take a load off on the little bed and asked Jim to join him in the bathroom at the top of the landing. Using the sink as a mixing bowl, the guy put in the hydrogen peroxide, the witch hazel and the juice of the lemons along with the white vinegar, and stirred with his own hands, weaving his fingers through the solutionJust as the pungent smell wafted up and drilled into Jim's nostrils, Eddie started speaking softly as he continued to make circles in the sink. The words were barely more than breath, and in a language Jim didn't understand, but the phrase was repeated over and over again.
Abruptly, the scent rising up changed. No longer nasty in the nose, it became springtime-meadow fresh.
Eddie took his hands out and wiped them on his jeans, then reached into his coat and produced two crystal...
"Are those guns?" Jim asked.
"Sure are." The guy popped the stopper on one and submerged the thing, bubbles floating up to the surface until the belly was full. He handed it to Jim. "Put this in your holster. As opposed to your auto-loader, this shit will actually work against her."
As Eddie filled up his own, Jim turned the wet crystal over in his hands. The weapon was a goddamn piece of art, carved from clear quartz, he was guessing, and engineered with precision. Palming it, he took aim at the bathroom wall and pulled the trigger. A fine, strong line of the solution licked out exactly where he'd wanted it to go.
"Nice," he murmured, ditching his SIG.
"I'll show you how to make them." Eddie sealed up his gun's belly and holstered it at the small of his back. "The fact that you can carve wood's going to help."
When they went back to the others, Vin was pacing around and Marie-Terese was sitting on the bed. Eddie ditched his coat, and rifled around in the Hannaford bags that were now mostly empty.
Taking out the fresh sage, he popped open its plastic container and gave the bundle of leaves to Marie-Terese. "You hold on to this and stay out of the way. No matter what you see or what happens, you do not drop this and you keep this against both of your palms. It's going to offer you some protection."
"What do I do?" Vin demanded.
Eddie glanced over his shoulder. "Take off your clothes."
Chapter 38
Last time Vin got naked for a crowd the context had been way different.
As he tossed his shirt and pants and boxers onto the dresser, he made sure his gun was front and center on the pile, and when he turned around, he was ready to get whatever this was over with. Funny, he'd been operated on only once in his life, back about a decade ago. He'd had to get his knee rebuilt after years of playing basketball and tennis and running on the damn thing - and he was exactly the same way now as he had been then: Ready to get back to normal. Hoping that the outcome after the pain faded was the right one.
He glanced over at Marie-Terese. She was sitting absolutely still on the bed, holding the sprigs of fresh sage between her hands so that the fluffy leaves peeked out by her thumbs and the little stems hung free on the far side. As her eyes met his, he had to go over and give her a quick kiss on the mouth. She was scared but she was strong - and however much he wished she weren't a part of this, he agreed with Adrian: No chances with her. There could be no chances with her, ever, so they had to assume Devina had taken that earring.
Eddie took out a compass and four white candles, and after doing some Boy Scouting with his gadget, he and Jim did a north, south, east, and west, marking each of the points on the bare floor with the waxers. Then it was more salt running in a circle around the setup. As Vin watched them, he had to admit the ring-around they did was tidier than the one he'd pulled off over twenty years before, but he'd had to hurry back then. There had been no telling how long his parents would remain passed out.
"As I said, what you did was a possession ritual." Eddie went around and lit each of the four wicks. "You took the three elements of yourself as a man - hair, blood, and...you know - and offered them to her. She accepted the gifts and took up res in your spiritual skin, so to speak. We're going to clean her out of you."
"Yeah, listen," Vin cut in. "You sure we can't take care of Marie-Terese first, then worry about me?"
"No. You're the focal point. You called Devina to you. Besides, Marie-Terese has an easier tie to break, assuming that earring is in Devina's possession." The guy disappeared into the hall bath and returned with dripping hands that were held up like a surgeon's. "Jim, go into my coat and take out the leather roll that's in the right pocket."
Jim fished around and pulled free a ten-inch-long, two-inch-wide bundle that was secured with a white satin ribbon.
"Open it."
Jim's hands were quick to pull the bow free and then he unrolled the leather, revealing a dagger. Made of glass.
"Don't touch the knife," Eddie said.
"What the hell are you going to do with that?" Vin demanded.
"We're going to open you up." The man pointed to the circle of burning candles. "This is spiritual surgery, and before you ask, yup. Gonna hurt like a bitch. But when we're through, you're not going to be scarred or anything. Now lie down, head here at the north."
Vin looked at the men's faces as the pair of them stared over at him. Grim. Serious. Especially Eddie.
"I've never seen a knife like that before," Vin murmured as he looked at the thing.
"It's crystal," Eddie said, as if he knew Vin needed a second before he turned himself over to the ritual. "And yeah, take a deep breath, but we do need to get started." He glanced at his buddy. "Jim? You stay next to Marie-Terese. Eventually you'll be doing these, but right now you're just on the watch team, and if the shit gets critical, you're in charge of her."
"Do you read minds?" Vin asked the guy.
"Sometimes. Now can we get down to business? I don't know how long Adrian's going to be able to hold her."
Vin stared into Marie-Terese's eyes and hoped she read all that he wished he could speak. When she nodded as if she understood perfectly, he stepped over the salt circle and stretched out in the centeft Eddie had gauged the size perfectly: The soles of Vin's feet just touched the far edge when his head was right at the northern candle.
"Close your eyes, Vin."
Vin took one last look at Marie-Terese and then he lowered his lids and tried to relax his body. The floor was hard against his shoulder blades, his ass, and his heels; and his heart was going at a clip in his rib cage. The real shitter was not being able to see, however - not only did he feel isolated, but the sound of everything got cranked up too high. From his own breathing to the footfalls of Eddie walking around him to the whispering of strange words over his naked body, it was all in nerve-racking HD.