Page 11 of Dead Evil
“Hello, my lovely,” Kaye said, when she walked into the kitchen. She gave Everly a hug and sat across from her at the table.
“Where’s Daddy and Uncle Jude?” Everly asked.
“They looked like they had something important to talk about. I left them in the living room.” Kaye reached for a plate and started making Everly a BLT. She added chips and passed it to her granddaughter.
“Man, that bacon smells good!” Jude said. “Cope’s making mac and cheese if you want me to walk you over there, Everly?”
“No, thanks, Uncle Jude. I need to behere.” Everly offered him a smile and took a bite from her sandwich.
“Does one of you want to explain what’s going on? Why Jude hustled me out of the house and why Everly looks like she knows something no one else does?” Kaye’s gaze landed on Ronan, who was building a double-decker sandwich.
“You know Paranormal Phantasmagoria is coming to Salem on Friday,” Ronan began.
“Yes, and before you ask, I’m not stepping one foot in that place. If you need me to watch the kids, I will do that, but I’m not going into that building with all of those occultists.” Kaye’s word was final.
“We appreciate that Kaye, but we got some news that we need to talk to you about. It’s not an easy topic, so I wanted to be here for support,” Jude said.
“Okay, now you’re scaring me.” Kaye looked between Jude and Ronan.
“Apparently there are a lot of people who feel the same way about the convention that you do,” Ronan began. “A midwestern megachurch got wind of the event and they’re coming here to protest.”
“All Americans have the First Amendment right to free speech and peaceable assembly,” Kaye said.
“Mom, its King of Deliverance,” Ten half-whispered.
“King of Deliverance is cominghere? To Salem?” Kaye asked, looking excited. “That’s wonderful! I’d love to hear another sermon from Pastor Shackleton. Remember we took you when you were a teenager? Maybe Everly would like to come too?”
“I remember, Mom. Everly isn’t going anywhere near them.” Ten sighed. He knew Kaye wasn’t going to simply agree with him. A fight was brewing. One he hoped he could still prevent.
“What do you mean Everly isn’t going near them? She could use a little Jesus in her life.”
“I know Jesus, Nana Kaye,” Everly said. “He’s full of kindness and love. The Deliverance people are filled with hate.”
Ten had never told Everly about Jesus. He was pretty sure Ronan hadn’t either. Did that mean someone else had filled her in on the Good News or did she actuallyknowHim? Ten shook his head. There wasn’t time to wonder about that now. “The last I’d heard, they’d turned into something of a right wing hate group.”
“That’s why we’re worried,” Jude said. “Their target for the convention are all of the witches, psychics, and mediums, but they’ve been vocal and violent toward gay and trans people recently and also with the libs.”
Kaye’s mouth hung open. “That’s not right. They’re a kind and loving fellowship.”
“Who made a fortune with their conversion camps where demons were allegedly cast out of gay teens and tweens,” Ten said. He couldn’t help wondering if Kaye had wanted to sign him up for one of the camp sessions after he’d come out to her and David when he was seventeen.
“Ten, I,-” Kaye began, but faltered. She took a deep breath. “You’re telling me all of this so I’ll stay away from them.” It wasn’t a question.
“Partly,” Ronan agreed. “The other part is that Levi Shackleton has been sued for fraud on several occasions. All of which have been settled out of court. He’s a conman.”
Kaye looked shell-shocked.
“King of Deliverance is still teamed up with the Dallas Demonologists and Duke Barrymore, who is the big ticket drawat the convention,” Jude added. “He’s going to cast demons out of people, live on stage.”
“We’re afraid the KOD protesters are going to incite a riot. Cisco is going to set up a perimeter around the convention center. He’s bringing in officers from other local departments and the Massachusetts State Police, just in case. There will be undercover officers on the convention floor.”
“You really think these people are going to bring violence to Salem?” Kaye asked.
“We hope not, but we need to be prepared if the worst happens.” Ronan paused. “Kaye, you’ve come a long way in the nearly eight years I’ve known you. I really hope you’ll consider the danger these people are to me, Tennyson, and all our friends, before you decide to join the protest.”
“Ronan, I can’t believe you’re saying this to me.” Anger flashed in Kaye’s eyes. “I love you like a son. Your friends too. I’ve admitted my thinking was wrong about people with psychic gifts and gay people. I’m feeling very attacked right now.”
“Nana,” Everly reached out a hand across the table. “Daddy just wants to keep us all safe. You, especially. They’re bad people and he doesn’t want them to hurt you like they want to hurt us.”
