He bites his lip and then sighs. “Okay, you’re right. I didn’t even think they might come here….and I used the book. Shit fuck.” He looks towards the windows. “We might need to keep a lookout.”
“And we will, no one’s getting past us, but the graveyard?”
“Right. The graveyard. I was trying to figure out if I could use the hallowed ground to do a little sanctification on my book,” he tells me before he gets up and goes to the window over the sink and peers out into the night.
I laugh. I can’t help it. “Why there? We both know that ground isn’t holy. The graveyard is about as holy as any place in Sweet Tooth. Which, if I had to count, would be negative holy points. You couldn’t sanctify a mini pig there.”
Charlie whirls from the window and gives me a ‘what the fuck’ look. “What do you mean it’s not holy and what do you mean we both know that, becauseno we did not know that.How is it not sanctified? It’s a graveyard!”
“Charlie, the graveyard belonged to a cult that prayed to a demon and murdered virgins under a full moon. When would that ground ever be sanctified? You basically went to a demon paradise with your demon phone book.”
“I can’t believe I did that and my book isn’t a demon phone.”
“So you went to the unholy ground of the graveyard and that’s where you saw the demons from?”
“Yeah, I saw about a dozen of them flood from the trees and just like that,” he snaps his fingers, “they lit my house up like a bonfire.”
“If they talk to you through the book wouldn’t they have wanted that? I mean, if that’s the whole reason they were there. A fire would have destroyed the demon phone.”
“Not this demon phone,” Charlie replies before he can stop himself. He groans and glares at me. “Now you got me saying it.”
I raise my tea mug. “It’s factual.”
“Fair play. The thing is, my book is fireproof.”
I blink in surprise. “How is that possible?”
“Because it’s magic, baby. It’s indestructible, so even if they tried to barbecue me the book was always going to be fine.”
“So then the mini-demon army doesn’t want you. They want the book.”
“Yup.”
I tap my chin and think over what I know about demons, which isn’t a lot except when you stack it up against a regular person. “Demons want souls. An offering, right? If they destroy you, could they still take your soul? Why would your soul be worth so much effort?”
Charlie opens his mouth like he’s going to answer me before he closes it again. “I didn’t think about that, but now that I am, I’m scared about them taking my soul after I’m dead. They can’t do that, right? You can’t hoover a soul out after the person croaks?”
“I have no idea on the logistics of soul-sucking, but we could ask Wrath,” I say and try to sidestep the part where he said dead. There was a reason I said destroy and not dead.
Death, dying, dead.
All of it all makes me think of what happened to Nina. I can still see the dark stain of her blood on her dress before shecrumpled to the ground. I’ll never forget how that same thing almost happened to me if Buffy hadn’t rescued me.
Dead.
I’d be gone. Long gone and not even my parents would care because they would have gotten rewarded with a bigger house, more money, better rations. My hands curl into fists and the power in me grows there. It hums along my fingertips and settles into the palm of my hand. I startle when I look down and see light shining through my fist. I have to squeeze my fingers tight to stop Charlie from seeing it. I don’t think I have the mental energy to deal with mini-demons that might want Charlie’s soul and the fact that I have powers now.
Slow and steady, Meadow. One magical crisis at a time.
Sunday has been setting wards around town but the fact that they broke through once means they can do it again. I get up from the table and move to the living room windows. I pull back the curtains and scan the street. There isn’t a single light on. Everyone is asleep.
“Do you really think they’ll come here?” I ask him.
“Probably, yeah,” he whispers. “I can go,” he tells me hurriedly, “I don’t want you or anyone else in town to get hurt. I’ll-I know that I can figure this out but I thought that the demon shit was just going to be in here,” he says and taps a finger to his temple. “I never thought that they’d show up and find me like that. I’m sorry for bringing this down on you. I’m so sorry, Meadow.”
The only way to describe Charlie’s face is anguished. He’s distraught and ready to leave if I give the word. I’d never do that. I know what it’s like to wake up and not have a home. I get what it’s like to suddenly have the world change on you.
“You aren’t going anywhere. This is your home now and you’re going to be safe here.”
