Page 15 of Dead Evil
Everly shook her head. “His aura is loud, like when you turn up the music in the car, but it’s not saying anything.”
“Raven said the same thing to me.” Ronan didn’t like this one bit.
“I call upon the righteous name of Jesus Christ! I cast you out, demon! Back to the fiery pits of hell where you belong!” Barrymore shouted. He set his hands on either side of the man’sface. “Out, I say! OUT!” He released the man who fell to the floor and started to thrash around. “OUT! OUT!”
The crowd joined in the chant while the man continued to flail. Nearly a minute passed before the man stilled. He slowly sat up, holding his hands out in front of himself.
“How do you feel?” Barrymore asked, offering a hand and hauling the man back to his feet.
“I’m free!” He jumped into the air. “I feel light as a feather. Like I could fly! Thank you!” He wrapped his arms around Barrymore and hugged him.
“Due to popular demand, Dallas Demonologists has been granted special use of the auditorium for the opening night of Paranormal Phantasmagoria! “Our session begins in fifteen minutes! Get your tickets now! Come and be healed!” Barrymore turned toward the exit, his robe spun out behind him as walked away. Droves of people followed him and the other demon hunters as they left the floor. Where ten minutes ago the convention was booming, now the room was nearly half empty.
With Everly in his arms, Ronan walked back to the West Side Magick booth, which was now empty, but for the psychics. “What the hell just happened?” Ronan asked.
“I told you they were showmen,” Jude said, taking Everly from Ronan.
“We had seventy people signed up for readings,” Ten said. “What the hell do we do now?”
“No refunds, that’s for damn sure!” Carson crossed his arms over his chest. “Boy am I glad we had everyone pre-pay for the readings.”
Ronan took Ten’s hand and led him away from the booth.
“Is Everly okay? She looked a little unsettled.” Ten’s eyes were on their daughter, who was still wrapped in Jude’s arms.
Ronan shook his head. “She said she didn’t like Barrymore, but couldn’t really explain why, just that he was too loud but she couldn’t hear anything.”
“He and the others were projecting so that the psychics in the room couldn’t read them,” Ten said softly.
“What do you mean projecting?” Ronan asked.
“Imagine singing ‘Row Your Boat’ over and over in your head. You sing louder and louder until you’re shouting inside your own mind. A person doing that can’t be read. All I would be able to hear was the song, or worse like Everly, nothing.”
“Does it mean they’re hiding something?” Ronan asked.
“Possibly,” Ten admitted. “What the demonologists do is on the paranormal fringe. Most people who believe in the paranormal believe that psychics can see into the future, that mediums can speak to the dead, but demon deliverance, is something else altogether. Groups like Barrymore’s are bringing it more into the mainstream, but all I see when I look at them are charlatans. Barrymore made gay people like me think they were possessed by demons. He offered alleged cures for a price. That little demonstration just now will bring new customers to them in droves. You watch and see.”
“It turns out not everyone is going to the demon deliverance,” Carson said. “They’re charging five hundred dollars per ticket. Some of our clients are coming back and I bet you, dollars to donuts, they’re all going to want to know if they’re being possessed like that man a few minutes ago.”
Ten nodded. “Let’s figure out how to handle that question.” He gave Ronan’s hand a squeeze and followed Carson back to the booth.
As Ronan watched, people began filtering back onto the convention floor. He wished things could go back to the way they were fifteen minutes ago when Everly was making friends with Raven’s twin daughters, but all he wanted to do now was grab his daughter and get her the hell out of the convention center.
Everly said there was something off about the demon hunters and Ronan wasn’t going to stop digging until he found out what it was.
7
Tennyson
Later that night, after Everly had finally gone to sleep, Ten grabbed his laptop and went into the kitchen. He had several things to discuss with his husband and knew Ronan wouldn’t like what he was about to hear.
Ronan was waiting for him with two cups of hot peppermint tea. “Did Everly say anything else about Barrymore?” Ronan asked
“No.” Ten took a sip of tea. “She still can’t narrow down what’s off about him. Carson and Cole got the same uneasy feeling about Barrymore. Carson wondered if it is because of possible demon contamination.”
“Demon contamination?” Ronan asked. “What the hell is that?”
“On the Dallas Demonologists website, they mention that over the last twenty years, they’ve exorcised over ten thousand demons. It’s absolutely possible that the demons would crash into or pass by Barrymore and his crew.”
