Page 11 of Guarded By the Gargoyle

“Too bad, because that’s exactly what I’m going to do!”she snapped back.

She jerked at my body and suddenly I lunged across the table and wrapped my fingers around the Mob boss’s throat! Then I began to squeeze with superhuman strength—strength that wasn’t mine.

Nicky Valentino’s face began to turn from red to a dark plum color—I was actually choking him! I could hear his guards banging on the door of the Spirit Room, shouting for him.

“Boss—hey, Boss! What’s going on in there?”

Oh my God, I had to stop thisnow!I pictured myself grabbing the spirit inside me—which looked like a long, scaly snake made of grey smoke. I dug my fingernails into the snake’s body and pulled as hard as I could with my psychic hands—my physical hands were still wrapped around Big Nicky’s throat.

Kitty Valentino squawked and struggled. I could hear her shouting in my head.

“No, I’m going to kill him! Let me kill him! He deserves to die!”

I had no doubt he probably did—you don’t get to be an Organized Crime Boss without committing some pretty reprehensible acts—but shewasn’tgoing to use my body to kill him. Grimly, I dug my nails in and yanked on the grey spirit snake.

“Get out of me! Get…

OUT!”

The last word came out of my mouth instead of being shouted mentally as I finally got control of my voice again.

I coughed and choked and retched as the roiling gray cloud of spirit dust finally spewed from my mouth and nose. It was likeprojectile vomiting second hand cigarette smoke and chalk dust at the same time—it left my throat and sinuses as dry as a bone and my stomach was rolling.

As soon as the angry spirit was out of me, I yanked my hands away from Big Nicky’s throat.

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” I babbled and then broke down choking and coughing—I thought I might puke for real in a moment. The inside of me felt sodry. Dry and violated.

“You fuckingbetterbe sorry!” He snatched up the fat envelope filled with bills and stuffed it into his inner pocket. “How the fuck did you let my ex-wife come through? Your Grandfather never did anything like that!”

“I told you, I’ve never done this before!” I gasped and coughed some more. “Please don’t hurt me! I didn’t mean to let her in—she just rushed right into me!”

Nicky Valentino pointed a finger at me.

“I’ll forgive you—ifyou send her back to Hell where she fucking belongs! Send her back right now!”

“All right—all right!” I held up my hands in a “don’t shoot” gesture. I didn’t know if I really had the power to send Kitty Valentino’s spirit anywhere, but I could at least pretend. Anything to mollify the angry Mob boss.

“Kitty Valentino,” I began, spreading my arms again. “Never again shall you Indwell. I send your spirit back to Hell!”

As rhyming magic went it was wasn’t much to speak of—short and to the point. But I felt a surge of power go through me—as though someone had turned up the electrical charge that was already flowing through my body. The next minute, I saw another doorway being drawn in the gray mist.

This one was outlined with a fiery reddish orange light and instead of gray smoke, I saw black curls of vapor sliding out around its edges, almost like tentacles. Was that what I thoughtit was? An uneasy feeling began to slide through me, like cold water trickling down my spine.

“Willow my love, no! What are you doing?”I heard my Pop-pop’s voice in my ear.“You must not open a doorway to the Pit!”

But it was too late to take back my words. The door opened and with awhooshI saw Kitty Valentino’s spirit being drawn into it.

“No! Noooooo!”she wailed but it was like she was being sucked into a vacuum—her screaming face was pulled backwards into the roiling blackness and then she was gone.

I expected the door to close then—after all, it had served its purpose. But it stayed open. And then I saw them—the three sets of red, glowing eyes staring at me from the blackness.

“Oh my Goddess!” I blurted, leaning back abruptly.

“What? What the fuck is it this time?” Nicky Valentino demanded. “Did you send that crazy bitch back to Hell where she came from?”

“I sent her back,” I said, my voice trembling and my gaze never leaving the three sets of glowing red eyes that were staring at me. “She’s gone—she won’t bother us again.”

“Then what are you still staring at?” he demanded impatiently. “And where’s my mother? Can you bring her out to talk to me?”

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