Chapter 12
Trixie—who looked like Trixie but wasn’t Trixie, because she sure didn’t sound like Mary Poppins anymore—screamed at me, the veins in her neck visible even in my darkened bedroom. “I said, wake up, Steeeviiie!” she bellowed, holding Coop’s sword high over her head and preparing to bring it directly down toward mine.
Just as I was getting my bearings, I heard Coop’s rebel yell, “Trixie Lavender, no!” seconds before she leapt on the bed and knocked Trixie and the sword to the floor with one swipe of her hand.
Coop pounced on her friend, grabbing Trixie’s wrists and holding them above her head while Trixie fought her as though she were possessed, making Whiskey bark furiously.
“Get off me, you stupid half-breed! You just don’t want me to tell her that Trixie killed him!” Trixie cried in a voice I never, ever want to hear again. It was like something straight out of The Exorcist—raw, and black, and hateful. Her face was red, matching her eyes—eyes that bulged from their sockets while spit flew everywhere.
She fought Coop with everything she had, all the while letting eerie, high-pitched wails emit from her throat.
My shock gave way to panic as I watched her really give Coop a run for her money. I mean, this was Coop, for gravy’s sake. Coop could take on a football team, and Trixie was trying to knock her off her hips as though she were tissue paper.
Realizing I was rendered immobile by my shock, I scrambled to the edge of the bed, still tangled in my comforter, and fell to the floor with a thunk—and that’s when I saw Trixie’s nails.
Neatly trimmed and unpolished when we met, now they looked like black, razor-sharp claws.
Terror made my heart crash so loud, I was sure Win and Arkady could hear it, but I grabbed Coop by the shoulders to make her stop as Trixie flailed beneath her. I was afraid she’d kill her friend with such brute force.
“What the heck’s goin’ on?” Belfry screeched above the howling, buzzing about the ceiling.
I grabbed again for Coop, but she shrugged me off with an angry growl. “No, Stevie! Don’t interfere. We have to stop her before she hurts someone! Let me handle this!”
Okay. Now I was terrified. I’d never seen anything like this. I’d seen possession, but this? This howling, sweating, spitting, clawing kind of possession? Um, nope.
“Trixie Lavender, listen to me!” Coop demanded, letting one of Trixie’s arm go in favor of grabbing her under the chin and forcing her to look her in the eye by squeezing her jaw ’til I thought it might crack. “Listen to my voice, Trixie! You must fight the evil—fight it with all your might!”
Trixie twisted her body with howls and grunts, heaving her hips upward to rid herself of Coop, but the demon held on and gritted her perfect teeth. She leaned in close and soothed, “Listen to the sound of my voice, Trixie. You are good. You are kind. You will not let this evil have you. Listen. Just listen. This is your body, Trixie Lavender. You will not let it have your body!”
I had to bite my knuckle to keep from screaming at the top of my lungs as I reached for Whiskey’s collar and pulled him close to me. Poor Strike sat frozen in his bed, his feathers quivering, but I couldn’t get to him to comfort him without disturbing whatever was happening.
And then Bel did something I’ll never forget for as long as I live.
He zoomed down to land at Trixie’s ear and nestled in her perspiration-soaked hair. “Shhh, now, Trixie. Easy does it. We’re here. Coop is here. Stevie is here. Come back, Trixie. Come back. Don’t fight. Shhh, shhh, shhh,” he whispered, and then he began to hum “So This Is Love” in her ear, a tune he’d hummed to me all my life whenever I was stressed or sad.
Little by little, as Coop and Bel crooned to her, quiet, shy, nurturing Trixie-gone-rabid began to settle down until she expelled a long, shuddering breath. Literally, it was as though someone had sucked whatever had been lodged inside her right out.
Instantly, her pretty eyes cleared and she stopped struggling.
Coop cupped Trixie’s cheek, pushing her hair out of her mouth. “It’s okay now, Trixie.”
But then Trixie’s eyes went wide with horror and fear as she looked to each one of us. She gripped Coop’s forearms, her spine going rigid, and whispered, “No, Coop! Oh, God. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” She began to sob, her shoulders shaking.
Coop lifted off her and patted Trixie on the shoulder in her awkward way. “Everyone is okay. No one was hurt. I promised I wouldn’t let you hurt anyone and I kept my promise.”
And then Trixie saw me, eyes as wide as saucers as she visibly fought a violent tremble. “Stevie! Did I hurt you? Oh, Stevie! I’m sorry. Please forgive me!” she cried, pushing Coop off her to stand up.
I think I was still in shock because I could only manage to shake my head and mutter, “No… I’m…I’m not hurt.”
She wobbled a bit, and I suppose I’d wobble, too, if I’d just thrashed about the floor like a dying fish out of water. But she righted herself and grabbed my hand in her sweaty palm, her eyes watery, her cheeks beet red. “We’ll leave right away, Stevie. We can’t stay here anymore. Someone will end up hurt. I couldn’t bear it if someone got hurt.”
But I gripped her fingers and stopped her from leaving the bedroom. “Stop. Don’t move. Just give me a second to catch my breath and then we’ll talk.”
I let her go then and began to right the things she’d knocked over in her fit of histrionics, and then I sat next to Strike, who trembled and cooed softly in his bed. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I cradled him until he stopped shaking.
Then I rose, pushing my hair from my face to get a clear view of Coop and Trixie. I wanted to run out of the room, down the stairs and to the nearest border to get as far away from what I’d just seen as I could, but I didn’t. Yes, I’ve seen some scary things in my time—even from Adam Westfield when he’d come after me once—but it would never compare to seeing someone you genuinely liked being full-on possessed.
I gulped back my fear and kept my voice calm. “Explain, please. What just happened?”
Coop wasted no time when she stood in front of her friend and said, “Sister Trixie Lavender is occasionally possessed by an evil spirit who escaped from Hell.”
* * * *
“Dove! Oh, Dove! How fare thee now?”
“Thee fares pretty freaked out. But I’m okay. It’s all going to be okay.”
That was a lie. Nothing would ever be okay again. I can’t explain why I was so freaked out. I’d seen some pretty crazy stuff, but we were talking Hell here. Hell and true evil. Demon evil. It just felt so much darker than what I’ve faced in the past.
Win clucked his tongue. “I wasn’t there for you. I’m woefully sorry, Stephania. But once we bid each other adieu for the evening—”
“You go off and hunt chicks. I know, I know,” I retorted, fighting to keep the sarcasm out of my words.
“I do no such thing. I reflect. Sometimes I read. I ponder the state of the world, but I most certainly do not hunt chicks.”
We had an agreement we’d stuck to since the beginning of our crazy relationship. When I go to bed, Win no longer has access to my bedroom. We maintain a strict code of privacy, and except for the other night, when he woke me by accident with his tattoo revelation, he’s never broken the code.
I always figured while I slept, he went off and did what sexy British spies do on their downtime. Chase exotic women with a dirty martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Win says that’s not true, and Arkady backs him up.
But if allowed to dwell, my jealousy gets the better of me and I’m convinced he’s chasing women. Which is entirely his right whether I like it or not and certainly ridiculous. But jealousy and my overactive imagination are strange bedfellows and can convince me of almost anything if I allow it.
Clenching my eyes shut, I popped them back open and looked out the kitchen windows at the snow that was still falling while I waited for Coop and Trixie to clean up. There was no way I was going back to sleep now anyway. Not after that hellish display.
“Right. Whatever. It doesn’t matter, Win. What does matter is, I just watched someone I really like and could probably be friends with flail around on the floor, spit, scream obscenities, and threaten death until she was red in the face as her friend held her down on the ground and Bel sang her evil away.” I stoked Bel’s head and tucked the cloth napkin he’d curled up in tighter around him. “By the way, you were aces tonight, buddy. I don’t know if I can ever properly thank you. I love you, Belfry. I just thought you should know.”
“No sweat,” he mumbled sleepily. “And I love you, too, Boss. Now let me get some sleep. At least one of us has to be aware.”
“What in heaven’s name happened, Dove?” Win asked, his voice laced with worry.
As I explained to him the events that had just passed, I fought more tears. That it was five in the morning and I’d only had an hour’s worth of sleep wasn’t helping, but if I tried to close my eyes now, I’d only relive Trixie’s suffering, and I couldn’t bear that.
“My sweet relish pickle, I wish I was with you right now, if only to give you great big hug like bear,” Arkady said, his words gentle and sympathetic.
I smiled up at him, injecting as much warmth as I could so he’d know how much his support meant. “Thank you, Arkady. I’m fine. I’m not worried about me. I’m worried about Trixie. But we have some exploring to do now. I hate to say it. No, I dread saying it, but—”
“Maybe Trixie, in the state she was in this morning, really did off Hank.” Win finished my worst fear for me.
“That’s what she’s afraid of, too,” Coop said, making her way into the kitchen with a pale, shaken Trixie in tow.
I jumped up from my chair and rushed to her. “Tell me what I can get for you, Trixie. Coffee? Are you okay? Do you want some water—aspirin?”
Because surely aspirin would take care of a little ol’ possession, dummy. Gosh, sometimes I said the stupidest things.
But she shook her head, her eyes still rimmed in red from crying. “So, I owe you guys an explanation. I’m just not sure you’re going to believe me. But I swear on all the years I was a nun, what I’m about to tell you is the truth. Not some made-up horror movie idea.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. Here we were, a demon, a talking bat, a talking owl, two ghosts, and an ex-witch. I was way past the stage of disbelief. “I’m ready when you are. After what I just witnessed, I’m not above wondering what just happened.”
We all took seats at the table and as the snow fell, and the night filtered out, leaving a gloomy, very gray dawn in its wake, Trixie explained what had just happened.
An hour later, I poured more coffee into my cup and shoved a mug in Trixie’s direction, too—she looked like she needed an intravenous drip of caffeine. “So you’re telling me that at the convent, this Father O’Leary—someone you’d known the entire time you lived there, someone you trusted—asked you to retrieve this sacred relic for him, right?”
Her face went crestfallen. “Yep. I wish the convent had videotape of that, but unfortunately, they only have the bad parts of that night. Father O’Leary, whom I loved and adored and had followed in good faith since I was eighteen years old, when I decided to become a nun, asked me to get that relic, one that had been in the church for centuries. And I did. And then my entire life blew up,” she said, her lower lip trembling.
I took a long sip of my coffee. “And you think he was possessed by this evil spirit, and the evil spirit wanted the relic to use for evil intent.” So much throwing the word evil around.
“I have no idea why this spirit wanted the relic. It’s just a statue really, but it’s alleged to have belonged to the Archangel Gabriel. I’m not sure I ever truly believed that, but then, I don’t know that I truly believed in possession either. I don’t think any of us did even with the Vatican’s guidelines for approving possession. In fact, we used to joke it was mostly made up by movie producers. Yet, look at me now.”
Cupping my chin in my hands, I sat silently for a moment, an entirely new batch of questions running through my head. “Okay, so you got the relic for fake Father O’Leary, and then what happened?”
Trixie sighed, tucking her navy-blue sweater under her chin. “Things get a little fuzzy from there on out. But the demon in Father O’Leary cursed me, making me essentially a vessel for Hell. So basically, I’m open season for this spirit to come and go as it pleases.”
My mouth fell open. “So…you’re cursed. Like this horrible thing can come in and out of your life at random, and you can’t do anything about it?”
“That’s basically it in a nutshell,” she responded, looking away from me and out the window.
Oh, that made me so angry for her! If there was one thing I needed, it was control—of my mind and body. To be at someone’s whim was an unspeakable horror. One I sort of got, considering what Adam Westfield had done to me.
“Okay, so where did this relic go and who is doing this to you—or is the question, what is doing this to you?”
“Evil,” Coop spat, her eyes flashing. “It’s evil doing this. There’s plenty of it to go around, I can tell you true. And somehow, it wormed its way into Father O’Leary’s person. Once it has a body, or a host as we call it down there, it can do as it pleases.”
“I don’t know where the relic went,” Trixie said, a helplessness in her voice that cut me to the core. “The video of me and my…poor behavior, or should I say what got me booted from the convent, doesn’t show the relic anywhere in my possession. Of course, my fellow nuns think I stole it and put it on eBay, even after they searched my room and all my belongings. If it weren’t for Sister Meredith, I’d likely be in jail right now,” she said forlornly.
Coop did that almost-smile thing again. “I like Sister Meredith. She’s kind—even to a dirty demon like me.”
Trixie rasped an aggravated sigh. “You’re not dirty, Coop. Stop saying that! You’re just as kind as anyone I’ve ever met. If it weren’t for you, I’d have never gotten out of there alive. Give yourself some credit, would you?”
Now I was all about the facts and checking them off my list. “So the relic went missing, and Coop saved you from the evil that had Father O’Leary in its grip. How’d you do that, Coop?”
Coop—beautiful, direct Coop—didn’t hesitate with her answer. “When the evil spirit escaped, he left a door from Hell open to the convent. I jumped through it with Livingston riding piggyback. No one leaves Hell without leaving behind a ripple. I waited for the right ripple. I waited many, many years to escape, and I finally did, and I’m never going back. I’ll die first.”
“Heavens,” Win mumbled, probably as entranced by this story as I was.
I really had to fight to stay on task and not stray from my purpose. I wasn’t tired anymore. I was invested, and hearing Coop say she’d die before she’d go back to Hell broke my heart and made me that much more determined to figure this out.
“So this spirit hopped from Father O’Leary to Trixie, and you did what to save her, Coop?”
Clucking her tongue, Coop’s look became faraway and distant. “I fought it with my sword, as I’ve fought many battles before, but he got away. He was a bad, bad spirit. Black and ugly.”
Trixie ran a hand over her face, rubbing her eyes. “But in the process, she saved me from total possession. Had the spirit taken over entirely, he would have eaten my soul, and there’s no coming back from that.”
Ah. Now I understood their bond. It didn’t get much more intense than soul-stealing.
Coop’s jaw hardened. “But I didn’t save you all the way, Sister Trixie Lavender. I couldn’t stop him from cursing you.”
I held up a finger. “So this curse is what allows this thing to get in and out of your body?”
She nodded, her expression grave, her face chalky. “And makes me do horrible, horrible things—say horrible things—like what you saw tonight, and what I told you I did at the convent earlier. I’m sorry, Stevie. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It… What happened tonight hasn’t happened in a very long while. At least four months. I thought… I hoped, it had gone away. I know that’s wishful thinking, but there you have it. We even have a calendar where we count down the days since Trixie’s last possession.”
And I had the nerve to think I’d had it bad. I reached across the table and gripped her hand, giving it a hard squeeze. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know how to help. Can’t you have an exorcism or something? Why wouldn’t the nuns help you? Isn’t that their whole purpose?”
Now Trixie barked a laugh. “Because they didn’t believe me. Not after the stunt I…or should I say, the stunt my evil spirit pulled. The church has a stringent guideline for possession, and because I was sometimes vocal and challenged scripture at every turn, no one believed me. In essence, they thought I was faking it. So until we can find the relic, or find out what’s so special about the relic, there’s nothing to be done.”
Clenching my fists, I fought a scream of rage. “And Coop, you don’t know what it means?”
Coop clapped a hand on the table, making me jump, her reply as fierce as she was. “I swear on my new soul, I don’t know why anyone would want the relic or why this spirit wants Trixie, other than the fact that it can enter this realm through her. I swear this to you, Stevie Cartwright! But we can’t allow it to take her over or she’s as good as dead. I will not let that happen. Not at any cost. That’s why I can’t go to jail. Trixie won’t have anyone to protect her.”
So that’s why she’d said all those things about not letting the spirit “have” Trixie’s body. I wanted to cheer Coop’s steadfast loyalty. I wanted to tell Trixie how lucky she was to have someone as amazing as Coop, someone who would help her fight her demons to the bitter end. She could have left Trixie to her own devices after getting what she wanted, but she didn’t.
I’d lucked out with Win and Arkady, and it made me breathe a sigh of relief that Coop and Trixie had each other. But now wasn’t the time for kudos because I was getting around to asking a very touchy question. But it had to be asked.
First, I needed more coffee and a Twinkie. I went to the coffeepot and poured more, grabbing my favorite spongy cake on the way. “Do you know when this possession is going to happen to you? Can you feel it coming? Do you get any warning?”
Trixie’s shoulders sagged, and I hated the defeated look on her face and in her body language. “No. None. Though, sometimes, I see what’s happening in sort of a hazy way, but I have no control over it. Not one iota. And sometimes, I don’t even remember it.”
“That’s what we’re trying to learn,” Coop said with determination all over her face and written in her eyes. “We must learn how to control this bad, bad spirit until we can cleanse ourselves of it and regain Trixie’s freedom.”
I looked to Trixie, whose eyes were downcast, her fingers entwined. “Do you think that’s possible?”
“I suppose anything’s possible, right? I mean, who would have believed one could truly be possessed? Like screaming, kicking, red-eyed, malicious possessed. I know millions of people do, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t. You know what’s funny?”
Not possession, that’s for sure. “What?” I asked.
“Even though I was a nun, I never really believed in evil, per se. I don’t necessarily believe everything the Bible says, or believe in the horrors that will befall you if you break a commandment. In fact, I often challenged the nuns on scripture—sometimes daily. But I do believe in being the best person you can be. Yet, there really is a Hell, and it grabs hold of me and uses me as a shield to the outside world.”
That made me wonder something. “Why did you become a nun, anyway?”
“Drugs,” she said on a nervous laugh, running her fingers over the handle of her coffee mug. “I was addicted as a teen. My parents sent me to their very dear friend, a nun, at the convent I ended up pledging my life to. This nun helped me free myself of addiction and I, in turn, became a nun in her honor, and even though I’m not bound to the church anymore, I try to uphold every lesson about being a good person she ever taught me.”
My heart clenched in my chest. “And where are your parents now?” I asked.
Trixie’s eyes went sad, her posture slumping. “They’re gone. Both from cancer, and not too far apart, unfortunately. But we’d made amends long before they died. They often came to see me at the convent. I’m so grateful for the time I had with them, to try to make up for how difficult I was when I was on drugs. I miss them every day.”
“Now Trixie has us for a family, right?” Coop asked, giving her that awkward pat on her hand she’d clearly been taught was a sign of consolation.
Trixie grinned and patted Coop’s hand in return. “That’s right, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Anyway, we’ve been gone from the convent for a while now. We sort of drifted until we came up with a plan, and that plan was to open a tattoo shop. Not end up accused of murder.”
My lips flatlined. Now onto the uglier bits of this mess. “Murder… I don’t like asking this, Trixie, but I don’t have a choice. Do you think you could have killed Hank while possessed? Because the spirit or whatever it is said you did.”
Horror washed over her expression and her eyes filled with angry tears. “I… I have to be truthful. I don’t know, Stevie. I don’t know…”
“Oh, Stephania. Whatever shall we do if this is the case?”
But I shook my head, angry with the notion this sweet, gentle woman was being forced to live this way. “I’m not sure I believe that’s the case, Win. Now, listen, Trixie. I realize this thing is evil and likely lies for the sheer pleasure. In fact, I get the impression it wants you to give in so it can find a mortal host. I don’t know why or to what end, but you can’t ever give up. Never. That said, we have to consider the possibility.”
She threw her hands in the air as though she were giving up. “And how will I explain that to the police? Sorry I killed Hank, but it wasn’t my fault, Officer. I was possessed.”
But I wasn’t going to give up so easily. Nay. In fact, I was going to question everyone who I thought looked even remotely suspicious, because I couldn’t let it be Trixie. It just wouldn’t stand.
“We’re not there yet. I have a whole list of suspects to chat up still.” Speaking of, I needed to get a move on. I was hoping to catch some of the people I’d considered today so I could begin a process of elimination. I imagined it would be tough with the weather being so poor, but I was going to do whatever I had to in order to clear Trixie’s name. For sure, the cops were a dead end for information. I’d be lucky if Dana ever spoke to me again. I was going to have to go this one all alone.
Turning to the ladies, I cracked my knuckles. “No one gives up—not on my watch. Now, you two, stay here. Do not leave this house. Don’t answer the door. Don’t look out the window. Stay put. I’ll move faster alone, and I don’t want the police getting to you before I’ve had the chance to ask around.”
Trixie peered at me from her end of the table. “Do you think anyone will even talk to you, Stevie? Don’t people usually clam up at a time like this? That’s what happens on Criminal Minds.”
“This isn’t Criminal Minds, and they don’t have me. I’m pretty good at getting what I want. Don’t you worry. I’m going to grab a shower and head out. It’s going to take me a little while to get into town with all the snow, but I’m hoping the weather works in our favor and keeps everyone busy with other things. While I’m gone, you guys memorize the stuff Win had prepared for Coop—especially her new last name.”
“Weather providing, supporting documents should be here within a day or two,” Win assured.
“Who did you get to help you anyway, Win?” He’d been a spy. I’m sure that meant he had tons of contacts that could produce fake documentation, but I was curious.
“Never you mind, Stephania,” he said on a chuckle. “All you need to know is I’ve handled everything necessary to create a believable past for Coop.”
Coop looked up at the ceiling. “Thank you, uh… Winterbottom,” she said, her eyes turning oddly shy.
I smiled at her. She was too darn cute—even if she was a little over the top. “Okay, I need to motor.”
“But you’ve hardly slept, Stevie,” Trixie pointed out. “And Google says they’ve officially called this a blizzard. You need your wits about you if you’re going to drive in this. I can’t let you do that.”
I smiled as I rose and grabbed my coffee cup to put in the sink. “You say that a lot, and I keep telling you, you don’t have a choice. But just one more thing?”
Trixie began clearing the table and pushing in chairs. “What’s that?”
“Did you really moon all those nuns while you were possessed? Is that really what got you booted out of the convent?” I still couldn’t believe it.
Trixie fought an impish smile as she took one last sip of her coffee before she said, “Oh, I really did, and there’s video to prove it.”
I couldn’t help it—because it was almost too absurd—but I laughed like a loon all the way to the shower.