Page 90 of Death Wish

Why had I insisted to drive Laurence’s car? Because I wanted to, mainly. It’d been a long time since I had done such a basic human thing, and I wanted a crack at it. I couldn’t be as bad as Cole. But after missing the exit I needed to get off at and having to circle back around again, I realized I probably should have taken the passenger seat.

I wasn’t awful. If anything, I was driving a little too slow. I just stuck to the basics—steering, gas and brake pedal, blinker—and stayed away from all the fancy buttons on the dashboard.

When we pulled up to Wyatt and Sean’s trailer, I threw the car into park and climbed out. Laurence did, too.

“Where are we?” He took in the junk cars and scrap metal all over the property and small trailer in the middle, boarded up and marked with strange symbols. It looked like they had added a few more since my visit with Cole.

“Some friends.” Wow, I sounded like Cole, didn’t I? “Let me do the talking here, okay?”

Laurence nodded, appearing thankful more than anything else.

“Throw some protection spells around the house, will you?” Even though I knew most of those symbols were meant to keep out certain creatures, we could use all the protection we could get.

Their German shepherd, Angel, barked from inside the trailer, but instead of Wyatt and his gun meeting us at the door, I spotted his suspicious glare through a boarded-up window as I walked up to his porch.

“Uh, hey, Wyatt. It’s me,” I said with a little wave. Why did I feel like even though I couldn’t see his shotgun, it was still pointed in my direction?

“Who’s that?” the old man asked, nodding toward Laurence, who was walking around the trailer, hands up and chanting. “And what is he doing to my house?”

“That’s Laurence. He’s a sorcerer. He’s placing more protection to your house.”

Wyatt snorted.

“Can I come in? I have something to ask you.” When he didn’t move, I added, “Please. It’s important, and I’m on a strict deadline here. Lives are at stake.”

He still seemed unimpressed. “Lives are always on the line,” he said. “Where’s Masters?”

The mention of Cole’s name brought back the anger. And surprisingly, sorrow. I hated that part of it. It meant Cole had managed to worm his way into my heart somehow.

“Not here,” was all I said. Wyatt had known Cole longer than I had, so telling him the truth about our split could make him not want to help me. “He might meet us later.”

Not a total lie. Cole would come back here eventually, and hopefully when that happened, I wouldn’t be around. He had to be looking for me by now, realizing I hadn’t just gone to a vending machine or to grab a slice of pizza.

Wyatt nodded toward the front door. “Stand on the welcome mat.”

An odd request, but okay.

The mat, which had a faded Christmas tree on it, looked normal enough, so I did as he asked and waited. Nothing happened.

Then the creaky storm door opened to reveal Wyatt and the shotgun at his side. “All right. Come in.”

“What was that all about?” I asked, stepping inside.

Angel rushed toward me, pushing her large head under my hand so I could pet her. I scratched her behind the ears.

“Demon trap under the mat. Just in case.” Wyatt set his gun down against the wall and walked over to his armchair. Angel took her place at his side. “So, why’re you back here?”

“I need a way to summon a demon. From Hell.”

His eyes widened. “And why in the world would you want to do that? They need to stay in Hell. We shouldn’t be helping them get out.”

“Xaver, the one who impregnated my friend, kidnapped her and took her into one of the Hell dimensions so I can’t reach her,” I said. “Is there a way to summon him?”

Wyatt slumped in his oversized chair and sighed. “There is, but it’s extremely difficult. And messy.”

Messy?

“We’re going to need blood. A lot of it, too.”

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