The Reaping: Language of the Liar (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Morning came and though she hadn’t slept much, Dorian felt more rested than she had after sleeping off the effects of the attempted exorcism.  Although the house was growing in number with arriving members of the conclave, the mood around everyone remained tense and silent.

When she went down for coffee, there were three men she didn’t recognize talking to Markus.  Although he offered her a good morning nod of his head, he offered no introduction and the strange men regarded her with obvious unease.  She felt exposed, like an animal in a zoo as they stared at her, fixated on the spells woven around her arms in the red symbols.  The exorcism would be worth it if only to get them to stop treating her like a rabid beast about to attack.

She could also feel the wards increasing.  With every member arriving, more spells were woven around the house and it made it hard to breathe and harder to think.  She knew it was the work of Adelaide, the resident spell-caster, so she asked for her and was directed down to the basement.

The idea of venturing down there where everything had gone so wrong sent her into a spiral of panic, but she wanted to face her fears.  She needed to confront everything before she was chained down again and forced to fight Nic or die.  Or both.

With a straight spine, Dorian opened the door to the basement and peered down the stairs.  She could see a soft glow from candles, and it was warm but not overwhelming, so she took the stairs one at a time, her steps slow and deliberate.  The door shut hard behind her, making her wince, but she kept going, and eventually stepped into the open space to see Adelaide crouched over a low table.

The basement was still in a state of disrepair, the walls and floors cracked, but the rubble and broken furniture had been cleared out and replaced.  There were new symbols on the walls and floors, though different from the ones Lennox and Dash had drawn, and the candles were all sitting on shelves instead of hovering in the air.

“I was wondering when you’d come down here.”  Adelaide’s voice was soft, but carried over the quiet, still air.

Dorian licked her lips nervously as she crossed the distance between them.  She saw the young girl bent over a large, aged map spread out over the table.  At the edge she had a small, silver mixing bowl and a dagger propped against the side.

“I came to ask you about the new spells,” Dorian said as she stood at the opposite side of the table.  “They’re getting a little…”  She trailed off, tugging at the collar of her t-shirt.

“I know.  I apologize, but it can’t be helped.  The more Exorcists that show up, the more I have to expand and strengthen the wards.  The ones Markus called in are all high profile, and tend to have demons tailing them.  Can’t risk your exposure.”

Dorian rubbed her hands on her cheeks, trying to chase away her frustration.  Her gaze darted around the room, and the memory of Dash’s injury still fresh in her mind threatened to surge forward.

“He doesn’t blame you, you know.”  Adelaide’s voice cut through Dorian’s thoughts, making her startle.  “He’s worried about you, but he wants you to survive.  I think he’s mostly upset because he can’t be here.”

“Is he ever going to work again?” Dorian asked, her voice trembling just a bit.

“As an Exorcist?”  Adelaide shook her head.  “They’re not going to be able to do much for his legs, and you can’t run from demons if you can’t
run
.”

Dorian felt her stomach surge up into her throat, threatening to spill her breakfast.  “God.”

“He’s okay with it.  He’ll probably be trained as a Seeker.  He’s got the gift for spell-casting.”  Adelaide sounded unbothered by the whole thing.  She looked up at Dorian, her eyes wide and curious.  “It’s what happens to most Exorcists when they’re forced to retire.”

“
When
?” Dorian pressed.

Adelaide let out a small laugh.  “Yeah.  That’s how most of them go.  Either killed or damaged at the hands of demons.  Luckily they’re not as rare as the Reapers.”

Dorian remembered the statistics, how many of the post-possessed exorcisms resulted in survival, making Reapers a rare breed.  “So he’s going to be… he won’t be…”

“Cast out?  Hardly.  He’ll be around.  He’ll probably be assigned to your house eventually, once he’s gone through more training.  It’s not like Lennox would let him go very far, besides.”

It did offer some bit of comfort, knowing Dash wasn’t cast out of the only life he’d ever known.  And knowing that Seekers were often Exorcists injured on the job made the transition less terrible.  “What about you?  How’d you get this job?”

Adelaide looked up again, her face passive.  “I wasn’t an Exorcist, if that’s what you mean.  I’m only thirteen and they don’t let kids work in the field like that.”  She leaned on the table, her hands spread out over some of the map.  “I was born with the gift.  I could see things.  Demons mostly, though at the time I thought they were ghosts.  One night a demon came after my family, slaughtered them in their sleep.  Came after me, too, but I was able to hold him back.  Eventually I got found by another Seeker and brought in.  I was six.”

“Oh my God.”  Dorian couldn’t begin to fathom that kind of trauma.  In a way, she’d been lucky she didn’t remember her mother.  All she’d ever known was the system, and she didn’t want to think of how broken she might be if she’d known love, even for a little while.

Adelaide was looking at the map again, and after a second she hummed and reached for the dagger.  Slicing the top of her finger, she drew a symbol in blood and muttered something under her breath.  The blood flared bright white, and when the light faded, the map was clean.

“What are you doing?”  Dorian took a step back, afraid to disrupt the spell, but Adelaide seemed unbothered.

“I’m trying to pinpoint where the stronger demons are.  In fact…”  She motioned for Dorian to come closer, and when she did, the Seeker grabbed her and made a quick, deft slice in her palm.  Dorian let out a small cry as Adelaide squeezed her hand over the bowl, drops flowing into the clear liquid sitting at the bottom.  “Sorry, but your blood is perfect.  It’s tainted with his.”

Dorian took a step back when Adelaide let her go, putting the wound to her mouth and sucking on it.  It tasted coppery and unpleasant, but it soothed the pain a bit as she watched Adelaide mix some white powder into the bowl and say another incantation.  After a moment, steam rose from the bowl, and Adelaide lifted it, dumping the contents onto the map.

It hissed, sending Dorian stumbling back, and as she watched with wide eyes, the reddish liquid ripped across the map, leaving smoking trails in its wake as it gathered around twenty different points.  The puddles of liquid lit up, bright and glowing, then fizzled out, leaving a black smear like a burn mark.

“What was that?” Dorian asked, unable to help herself.

Adelaide swiped her hand across her forehead before she looked up.  “That was my spell.  Your blood was really effective, actually.  It’s going to be a shame to lose that.”

Wincing, Dorian wasn’t inclined to agree with that statement.  Still, it was interesting to watch the Seeker work.  She stayed silent as she watched Adelaide pull out a notebook and make several marks on a blank sheet of paper.  When she was done, she set the book aside and smiled over at Dorian.

“I think you’re going to do just fine, you know.  With the next exorcism.”

Dorian let out a surprised cough, and shook her head.  “I’m not so sure about that.  I feel like a huge mess.”

“You
are
a huge mess.”  The Seeker walked around the table, leaning back on it and folded her arms over her chest.  “I know I’m just a kid.  Magic or not, I’m thirteen, you know?  But I’ve seen a lot, and you’re not the kind of person who cracks under magical pressure.  Plus, Markus is an idiot and I think Lennox was on to something.  That demon doesn’t want you to die.”

“So you think if the exorcism looks like it’s going to succeed, he’s going to let me go?”

Tapping her chin, Adelaide hummed in thought.  “I think so.  I can’t be sure.  A lot of what you have going on,” she waved her hand up and down Dorian, “is impossible for me to see.  Which sucks, if you must know.  Hard to do my job and everything.  But I really do think so.  Maybe not without consequence, but I can’t feel your death nearby.”

Dorian had no idea what that meant.  She couldn’t begin to imagine how far a Seeker’s powers extended, especially one born into it.  It was frustrating not knowing the ins and outs of how everything worked, but she was learning.

“Anyway,” Adelaide said, interrupting her thoughts, “we have your exorcism spot.  It’s kind of a dead zone area where your demon will have a hard time getting to you.”  She pointed to the sole spot on the map which had been left clear of the burning liquid.  “It’s a bit of a drive, but I think the guys will be up for it.”

***

By late that night, all the Exorcists had arrived.  They were a fair mixture of men and women, all various ages and experience.  Most of them weren’t American, but spoke English well enough for Dorian to make proper introductions, and then they shut themselves in the basement for their rituals, leaving Adelaide, Briar, and Dorian alone in the kitchen just waiting.

“Don’t they need to like… I don’t know, anoint me or prep me or something?”  Dorian scratched at the marks on her arms until Briar slapped her hand away.

“They do that after they’ve got you chained up.  They’ll take your wards off and get you all set to rip that thing out of your head.  I’ll give it a shove through the door, the Exorcists will seal it shut, and that’s that.”

Dorian let out a bitter laugh.  “Except if that really was that, if it was that simple, I’d be cured and Dash wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed unable to walk.”

“Dash has only himself to blame for that.  I warned them both.”  Briar’s voice was dark and angry, and her hands were clenched into fists.  “I’m not kidding.  If either of those two
ever
try to blame you for that…”

“They don’t,” Dorian cut in.  “Or well, so far Lennox hasn’t, anyway.  But it’s hard not to feel responsible.”

“Well, I think you know that I get it better than anyone,” Briar reminded her.  She jumped up and grabbed a couple beers from the fridge.  Adelaide tried to grab one, but the Reaper held it out of her grasp.  “You might have eons old powers, kid, but you’re still thirteen.”

The Seeker pouted as Briar popped the tabs and offered one to Dorian who took it without hesitation.  The bubbles made her stomach jumpy, but the alcohol helped calm her nerves a bit.

“You don’t need to be jumpy,” Adelaide said, after noticing the tremor in Dorian’s fingers.  “I’ll be back here at the house, but connected to the ritual.  I’m going to feed some of my power into Briar and give her that extra edge.  We wouldn’t be in this mess right now if Lennox and Dash called me for a spell to bind your demon another couple days.  Those two are always jumping the goddamn gun.”

“Language,” Briar chastised.

Adelaide rolled her eyes and looked away as Briar took a seat at the table and kicked one foot up on the edge.  The mood in the room was tense, Dorian petrified for her own life and the pain to come, and the other two obviously anxious to get it over with.

“Did Lennox tell you about the spell?” Dorian asked after some silence.  She addressed the question to both women, but mostly to Adelaide.

“The one that might close all the doors?”

Dorian nodded.  “Or open them.  Those demons sounded like they knew what they were talking about.”

Adelaide let out a puff of air and shrugged.  “He mentioned it to Markus who has a few of his Seekers on research.  They’re also looking for a possible leak which I think is a more pressing problem.  Even if there was a spell like that, I’m not sure with the power of every Seeker in the world they could pull it off.”

“Even if they had possessed Seekers?” Dorian asked.

Briar leaned forward, her brows knitted down.  “Impossible.  Seekers are all exorcised.”

Dorian looked surprised, and Adelaide spoke up.  “No.  That’s not true.  I’ve never been.”

Briar, who was taking a drink of her beer, coughed and sat up straight.  “What the hell do you mean you haven’t been?”

“I’m not a doorway.  I had powers when I was born, but I wasn’t exorcised.”

Briar looked concerned and she glanced at Dorian before speaking again.  “I think we need to put a pin in this topic, but it’s a discussion I want to have with Lennox and Dash once this is all over.  Are you sticking around here for a while?”

“Depends on where Markus needs me, but if this demon leader is as bad as we think, and if he really is invested in Dorian, I think he’s going to want me around her.”  Adelaide finished with a shrug, sounding casual which set Dorian further on edge.

“I thought after the exorcism he couldn’t get to me anymore.”  Dorian crossed her arms tight over her chest, feeling her breath constrict, but it was comforting.

“Oh no.  He won’t be able to get in your head but…”  Adelaide was waving her hand, and turned to Briar.  “You explain it.  I don’t fully understand how it works.”

Briar let out a breath, clasping her hands on the table.  “We can see demons.  As Reapers, we have a connection to the…mental highway, if you want to call it that, which connects the human mind to the demon dimensions.  And we can see them when they’re in our realm.  So if he wants to find you, he can.  Your doorway won’t be open, but there are millions of them out there.”