The Devil You Know (29 page)

“He’s
out, all right. Help me get him on the bed.”

Twenty
minutes later, the creature that looked like Tyrone Power began to stir.
Shortly, it opened its eyes and found itself secured to Marie’s bed with heavy
ropes. Remembering how the incubus had changed the shape of its hands to slip
from the ropes in Laura’s apartment, Marie knew she could waste no time, so she
stepped forward. She had already slipped off the little wooden cross, and now
she held it over the incubus’ face. Her earlier fears were gone; instead, she
felt determined not to let this monster get away from her as she had at Laura’s
when she had been completely unprepared.

The
creature stared at the cross for a moment, its eyes bulging in its head. It
writhed against the ropes, but the power of the relic within the cross was enough
to keep it from changing its shape to free itself.

“Creature
of Satan,” she began, reciting the exorcism prayer she had committed to memory
after getting away from Laura’s apartment. “In the Name of the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, I command you to leave this body.”

The
incubus’ face transformed as she spoke. Gone were Tyrone Power’s good looks and
deep, wide eyes. In their place, the thing’s pupils changed shape, and it
looked at Marie with the eyes of a goat.

Jasper
had shown her several accounts of exorcisms, some more sensational than others,
and she had thought she was ready for the manipulation and trickery the demon
might attempt to get away from her. Reading it and seeing it were two different
things, though, and Marie jumped back for a moment when the thing began to
transform itself before her. Immediately, horns burst forth from its forehead,
and when it opened its mouth to hiss “Fucking cunt!” she saw that its teeth
were long and sharp; its forked tongue slipped past its lips to flick at Marie.
She almost panicked at the thought that it would free its hands next, but then
she remembered the way the cross had burned the incubus at Laura’s, and she
forced herself to lower her hand and press the cross to the monster’s forehead,
just between the horns.

It
gasped and tried to shrink away from the cross, sweat breaking out all over its
face. Then it began to moan.

Marie
continued, her voice trembling, but she reminded herself that this was a prayer
and that it wouldn’t work if she didn’t believe it would be answered. “We drive
you from us, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, all satanic powers, all
infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects.”

The
creature began foaming at the mouth and making strange guttural sounds. Marie
feared it would vomit on her before she was done. It was covered in sweat, and
tears flowed from its eyes.

“In
the Name and by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, do may you be snatched away
and driven from the Church of God and from the souls made to the image and
likeness of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb.”

With
the last words Marie uttered, the creature gasped, sucking in a final breath
before it lost consciousness. The skin grew ashen. Tears streaming down her
face, Marie watched, astounded as the face began to fall in on itself, the
horns seeming to deflate. The eyes sunk into its head, and the lips curled from
the now rotting teeth. A few seconds more, and it crumbled into dust. All that
remained were its clothes, lying absurdly empty now on Marie’s bedspread with
piles of dust at the neck, sleeves and ankles, the now loosened ropes resting
impotently where the body had been.

“My
God,” Tom said. “It worked.”

Marie
was breathing hard, as though she had just run up several flights of stairs.
“Oh, sweet Jesus,” she gasped. It was not a prayer. “It would have killed us,
Tom. It would have torn us to pieces if it had gotten away. Did you see?”

He
nodded. “I saw.”

She
wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Do you think that’s it? Could it…just have
gone back to Julian?”

“No,”
Tom said with certainty, shaking his head. “Not after what you did to it. It’s
gone. I know it.”

She
just nodded.

“I
think you’ll want a new bedspread when this is done,” Tom said.

It
was obvious to Marie that he was trying to lighten the mood after what they had
just seen and done, but she did not respond. She was trembling and only felt a
slight relief when she slipped the leather thong over her head again and tucked
the cross back under the sweater. Then she put her hand over it to press it
more firmly against her skin. Closing her eyes, she said a short prayer that
was as much an expression of gratitude to Jasper as anything else. She hoped
that whatever form his spirit had taken, he could hear her prayer and know that
he had been right.

When
she opened her eyes, she looked gravely at the empty suit on the bed and
nodded. Giving Tom a hopeful glance, she said, “We’ll do it. We’ll get these
bastards yet.”

“You’re
sure there are four more?”

“Reasonably
sure.”

“And
how do we keep Piedmont from making more?”

“Colin
Krebs,” she said. “I don’t know, but he’s our way in. He’s got to be able to
get the book or tell us how.”

Tom
nodded, his concerned expression showing some doubt.

“But
first we’ve got to kill the rest of these…things,” Marie said. Killing this one
had been scary, but now that it was over, she felt exhilarated, as though she
was finally doing something for Elise. Four more of these beings still roamed
Hollywood, and she felt eager to have them gone. She gave Tom a pleased grin,
and he returned it. Then they turned away from the dusty remains on the bed.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The
enthusiasm Marie felt after dispatching the first incubus had faded by the
sixth hour of her hunt on the following day. Her feet hurt. She had walked the
distance between Grauman’s Chinese and Musso and Frank’s Grille more times than
she could count; she had eaten at the Grille and had drinks in the bar in
between trips back to the theater. If she kept this up, she knew, the waiters
would begin to look at her funny. When she had set out this morning, it had
been with enthusiasm, as she told herself the next demon would be as easy to
find as the first. But of all the handsome men who had given her appreciative
glances up and down the boulevard, none looked like Piedmont’s demons.
I’m hunting hunters
, she thought as
walked back to her car in discouragement,
and
they’ve already found their prey.
It pained her to think of the women who
had been lost today while she had been looking in the wrong places. Still, she
thought as she pulled open her car door, there were other places to try.
Sliding in behind the wheel, she slipped off her shoes to rub her feet for a
moment, wondering if she should try Schwab’s or the Brown Derby.
There’s no pressure
, said the sarcastic
voice in her head,
it’s just some other
woman’s life hanging in the balance.
She pulled a cigarette from her purse,
and as she lit it, the voice added,
Or
mine.

It
was four-thirty when she parked her car on North Hayworth and walked around the
corner to Schwab’s. The little drugstore on Sunset had become part of Hollywood
myth as the site where Lana Turner had supposedly been discovered, and it was
like a magnet for fresh-faced farm girls straight off the bus, their high heels
and print dresses screaming “bargain basement” to anyone who had been around
Hollywood for more than a month. When Marie walked in, she was in the same
black heels she had worn the day before when she had dispatched the Tyrone
Power look-alike. She had also opted for a tweed skirt and red cotton blouse
that she knew would make her look good at the soda counter, the slit in the
skirt letting her knee poke through when she crossed her legs, and the blouse
not fully buttoned to her chin.

The
drugstore was loud and crowded; tourists who walked in to gawk at the counter
and look for celebrities outnumbered paying customers. Many snapped pictures of
the soda fountain, and Marie wondered how many photo albums she was going to
end up in by the time she was through dispatching incubi.

Before
finding a seat at the counter, she headed for the phone booth in the rear of
the drugstore. She had checked in twice with Tom throughout her long day and
figured it was best to catch him up again now. He answered on the first ring.

“Marie?”
he said.

She
could hear worry in his voice, but at the same time couldn’t help smiling at
how protective he was. “Yes, dear, and I’m fine,” she said.

“Thank
God.”

“Is
that the way you’ve been answering my phone all day?” she teased.

“No
one else but you has called here. I figured it had better be you again. Where
are you?”

“At
Schwab’s. I’ll give it a bit longer and then call it a day.”

“No
luck anywhere?” he asked.

“Nothing.
I wonder if they got scared away when their playmate didn’t come home.”

“Maybe.”

“Have
you been terribly bored?” she asked.

“It
hasn’t been too bad between the radio and your old magazines. Your cat can be
pretty lousy company sometimes, you know?”

She
smiled at the thought of Tom and Murphy spending the day together in the house.
“Everything’s on his terms. But he’s still a slave to his stomach.”

“I
found that out, too. Now we’re best pals.”

“Good.
I’ll call you back if I’m leaving here empty handed, okay?”

“All
right,” he said. “You know, I kind of hope you do. Maybe we could take a walk.
Get a glass of wine somewhere. Start fresh tomorrow.”

“Mmmm.
I like the way you think.” She felt strongly tempted to leave the drugstore and
go to him right away, but another quick glance at all the tourists at the soda
fountain convinced her she should stay for a while at least.

She
felt warm inside after saying goodbye and leaving the phone booth, and the
thought of Tom waiting for her at the end of this long day made her feel better
about continuing with it. With a deep breath, she walked to the counter and
found an empty stool.

It
was almost six o’clock when she ordered her fourth root beer and told herself
she would leave when the glass was empty. She had begun to feel discouraged
again. It had only been a joke when she told Tom the incubi were scared to come
out today; still, there was a chance, she realized, that Julian had reigned in
the monsters after the Power look-alike had failed to return to the mansion the
night before. More likely, though, she had simply been in the wrong places all
day.

As
she again began to consider ways to convince Colin to help her some more, a man
looking an awful lot like Errol Flynn walked into Schwab’s. Marie stared in
disbelief and then quickly scanned the room to see how many other young women
had noticed him as well. He didn’t look exactly like the man Marie had seen
upstairs at Julian’s, but she also recalled that Colin had said the incubi
seemed to change their appearance a bit every day. Observing his confident air
as he walked through the door, though, she began to feel certain that she had
another one in her sights, and her heart began to pound in excitement, fear,
and anticipation. She could not shake the memory of the way this same creature
had stood in that other doorway the night of the party, his organ bobbing in
the air just begging to be touched. Not for the first time since that night,
she thought of how close she had come to giving in to temptation, and she
shuddered inwardly.

Pushing
aside the memory of the party, she prepared to approach him. With one more
glance up and down the counter to make sure none of the other star seekers in
the drugstore was about to move in on the incubus, she slid off her stool and
adjusted her collar and skirt. Taking a deep breath, she began to make her way
toward the door. But then she stopped, frozen in place as if time itself had
come to a stop. Another man had walked into the drugstore a few seconds after
the look-alike, and he stood behind him now, clearly appraising the room and the
people in it.

It
was Colin Krebs. He stood slightly in shadow just inside the doorway, and the
Flynn look-alike’s shoulder hid part of his face from Marie’s view, but she was
sure it was him. And in the instant she recognized him, she knew that her
exorcism of the demon the day before had truly been successful; the creature
had not simply fled bodiless back to the mansion. Julian Piedmont was not
sending the incubi out alone to do their dirty wok. They had escorts now, and
Julian had assigned Colin to shadow the Flynn look-alike. Marie suspected that
Colin’s job was to watch the incubus as he chose his victims, watch for any
sign that the demon was in trouble, and then meet up with him again after the
deed was done. They might already have gone through the routine once today, and
Marie imagined some poor girl lying naked in her bed with a blank stare in her
eyes, the face of the Errol Flynn look-alike one of the last things she would
remember seeing. And Colin Krebs had her misery on his conscience.

For
another second or two, Marie hesitated, considering her choices. Then she
resumed walking toward the door and the look-alike. She considered herself
lucky that Colin was the handler for this demon; had it been another of
Julian’s followers, she would have had no idea that the man following the
incubus into the drugstore was there to keep an eye on it. She did not know how
Colin would respond to seeing her, but knew there was a good chance he would do
nothing. Guilty over his complicity in the incubi’s actions, he would likely
let her go, even if it meant the loss of the Flynn look-alike and having to
face Julian’s wrath when the demon didn’t make it back. That was her hope.

Pretending
to check the time on her wristwatch, she bumped into the creature and looked up
at him in surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, smiling at him.

“No
need to be sorry,” he said, stepping aside so she could pass. “Getting this
close to a pretty girl isn’t really reason for regret.”

Marie’s
smile broadened, and she looked shyly at the floor for a second. Then she
glanced back up, making sure she made eye contact with Colin first before
looking again into the handsome man’s face. Colin looked shocked. The last time
he had seen her, she had looked quite different, with hair, make-up and clothing
more fitting a church secretary than a star struck young woman fresh off the
bus. Even so, Marie could see from his expression that he recognized her. He
half opened his mouth and made a motion forward, as though he were about to
insert himself into the budding conversation. But then his mouth closed, and
his body relaxed. He would say nothing now, Marie knew; he had figured out what
she was here for and had just made himself an accomplice. She did not know how
far he would let his complicity go, but she told herself that she couldn’t
worry about that now.

Instead,
her task was to reel in the incubus, and she turned her attention back to him.
“That’s awfully sweet of you to say,” she said. Then she looked more closely at
his face, and turned her head slightly, as though puzzled. “You’re not…?”

His
grin broadened. “No,” he said. “But I do get asked a lot.” He shrugged
disarmingly. “A hazard of living in this town, I suppose.”

Marie
could see how charming he was. If she really were the woman she was pretending
to be, the sort that the incubus had been targeting and preying upon for weeks,
she would have stood very little chance. As it was, she had to walk the same
fine line that she had walked the day before with the Tyrone Power look-alike:
making herself appear interested and desirable while not letting herself get
pulled in by his charm. She had to be the predator now, but one whose strength
depended on appearing to be the victim.

“I
wouldn’t think being mistaken for Errol Flynn was a hazard,” she said.

“No?
Why is that?”

She
shrugged and smiled coyly. “It seems to me you’d never get lonely.”

He
chuckled. “No. Loneliness is not one of my problems. I don’t suppose it’s one
of yours, either.”

She
adjusted the collar of her blouse and watched as his eyes darted down to look
at the exposed skin above her top button. His eyes met hers as he glanced back
up, and she grinned a bit wickedly to show that she did not mind having caught
him. “And why would you say that?” she asked.

“You
know exactly what I mean, my dear.”

“I
might. Just what problems do you think I might have, though?”

“You?”
He squinted at her, making a show of looking deeply into her personality. “I
would say your biggest problem is that sometimes you don’t get all the
excitement you crave. You get bored easily, don’t you?”

She
gave an exaggerated nod that she punctuated with a little pout. “And I hate
being bored.”

“Has
it been boring for you in here?” He nodded toward the soda fountain.

“Well,
I didn’t exactly come in for a phosphate,” she said.

“And
whatever you
were
looking for, did
you find it?”

“It’s
looking that way.”

Again,
he looked closely at her, but this time the look did not seem playful. Marie
felt flushed, knowing he was scrutinizing her now. It was as though he was
trying to peer into her, to see if there was more to her than she had presented
herself as. “Do you do this sort of thing often?” he asked quietly.

She
forced herself to hold his gaze and then smiled a bit demurely. “I don’t know,”
she said with what she hoped passed for a playful shrug. “It’s not every day
you meet Errol Flynn, after all.”

Hoping
that she had passed whatever test he was giving, she watched as the incubus
turned briefly to look at Colin, who had moved away from the door while the
pair had been speaking. Marie knew then that the creature was being cautious
and that it was looking to Colin either for his approval or to let him know
that he considered her a safe prospect. When Colin gave a slight nod, she knew
she was in. Feeling equally frightened and relieved, she let the incubus link
arms with her and lead her out into the evening. She supposed that Colin would
be expected to follow, but something told Marie he would find a way to let the
demon out of his sight. He had given the monster over to her now, finally
taking part in the fight he had been so reluctant to join.

* * * * * * * *

On
the drive down to Melrose, he told her that his name was Eric Charles and that
he worked in advertising at Paramount. He also told her that he had met Errol
Flynn a few times at studio functions and that the actor, while pleasant
enough, had been unfazed by any resemblance between the two of them. In fact,
he could not see what people meant when they mentioned the similarity and got
annoyed when it kept coming up.