Page 24 of Dead Evil
Ten nodded. “I’ll call Devin in the morning and see if there’s a time when you can go visit her in private like we did today.”
“Thank you, Dad. I know it was hard letting me go visit her. I could feel how scared you were, but she needed me to see her. I’ve never felt pain like that before. There were a lot of bad feelings and so much sadness. When we left, I could tell she felt a little bit lighter.”
“That’s what you do best,” Ten said. “You make everyone around you feel better.”
“I know you’re a little mad at Daddy and Uncle Jude for wanting to let me see the doll, but will you think about letting that go?” Everly giggled. “Be Elsa, Dad!”
Ten laughed with his daughter. “I’ll do my best.”
Ronan watched Ten and Everly with a smile on his face. His husband might be angry at him for the moment, but the look on Everly’s face was worth it. She’d done a good thing by offering to be Agatha Louise’s friend.
Ronan hoped that friendship wouldn’t come back to bite all of them in the ass.
11
Tennyson
Ten felt like he was going to throw up. It wasn’t from the awful convention stand chicken nuggets or the fact that his daughter had just made friends with a doll who happened to be a serial killer. It was from the fact that their seats were five rows from the stage. Jude had bought the tickets early and had his choice of where to sit. Whatever was about to happen with the Dallas Demonologists and King of Deliverance, Ten would be front and center.
He'd been shocked earlier in the day when Pastor Levi Shackleton came to the West Side Magick booth on the convention floor. Ten knew the preacher didn’t just happen to walk by. His visit had been intentional. What Ten didn’t know was why? Obviously the pastor was in Salem to bring more sheep into the fold, so why had he confronted Tennyson? Jealousy? To deliver a warning? To throw Ten off his game? Or to make him feel guilty?
Thanks to Ronan Ten felt no guilt at all when it came to how he lived his life. Not even when he and Ronan raided the fridge at midnight to refuel for what was to come. The only logical reason Ten could think of for Shackleton’s visit was because the man was an asshole and wanted to put the fear of God into Tennyson.
“Are you okay?” Ronan asked from his left side. Everly was on his right, next to Wolf, then Jude and Cope. “You seem a million miles away. You’re not still mad at me, are you?”
“I took Everly’s advice to be Elsa and let my anger go.” Ten patted Ronan’s knee. “I was just thinking about Shackleton’s visit to the booth this morning. What do you think the point was?”
“To shake you and throw you off your game. He sure as hell wasn’t there to swap recipes with you.”
Ten snorted. “I’d have gladly given him the one for humble pie.”
“Yeah, well you served him a double helping by calling out some of the women he’d slept with.” Ronan snickered.
Ten was about to agree when a man walked onto the stage. The crowd erupted into applause.
“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for the Dallas Demonologists?”
Hoots and hollers accompanied the frenzied applause.
“I’m Dixon Barrymore, son of our founder, Duke, and I’m here to deliver a couple of rules before I bring out the holy trinity of demonologists.”
The crowd booed.
Dixon held his hands up in an ‘I’m innocent’ pose. “I know, guys rules suck, but don’t hate the messenger. Please do not interrupt the proceedings with outbursts or trying to run on stage. You will be arrested and persecuted, er,prosecuted, rather. For all of you who bought deliverance tickets, please be aware that due to time constraints, we might not be able to get to all of you. Lastly, video and/or audio recordings are strictly prohibited. Security will be walking through the auditorium. If you’re caught, you will be removed and your ticket will not be refunded. Got it?”
“Got it!” the crowd chanted back.
“Awesome, guys!” Dixon offered the crowd a winning grin. He was a dead ringer for his father with his white-blond hair and icy blue eyes. If Ten didn’t know better, he would have thought the young man was Duke’s clone. “Join me in welcoming the DallasDemonologists to the stage! Christian Dwight, Ellis Cantor, and Duke Barrymore come on out!”
The demonologist ran out onto the stage, each of them giving Dixon a high five. “Hello, Salem!” Duke called out, causing the crowd to go crazy with applause and adulation.
“Let’s get started. Where is Maria Harper?” Duke called out, his eyes scanning the first few rows of the auditorium.
“Here!” An older woman hopped out of her seat and started jumping around like she’d just been called to be a contestant on thePrice is Right. One of the security guards approached her and checked her ticket, before leading her to the stage.
“Hello, Maria,” Duke greeted when she’d made her way onto the stage. “Tell us a little bit about yourself.”
“I’m a wife and mother of three sons. I work as a nurse at South Shore Hospital and my husband is a lawyer in Boston. With the boys playing all kinds of sports, we lead very busy lives.”
