Cursed [Book 1] ✔

Chapter 18: The Beginning of the End...Again

The Uzita demon was a hard man to find.

Harder still since he was more than human. I expected a vision to come along, but I couldn't seem to catch hold of Rafe's future that had once been so easy to find.

A stop by the costume shop did nothing to reveal his whereabouts either. The store was dark and locked up, waiting for Rafe to return or for the lease to run out. Either way, I couldn't wait. I had to move on and hope that clues would pop up along the journey, especially with Rosalind reminding me to deal with the Djinn and Lillin overtaking the cities.

Since my prescience had a limited range, I practiced honing the newfound telepathic ability, to no avail. I had no idea what I was doing, and couldn't pick a single thought out of the din. A gnat in my ear, Rosalind promised to coach me on focusing my mind.

First step, I had to block out random and unwanted thoughts at will. Imagine your mind as something to protect, and what better way to protect it than by erecting a stone wall around it, she told me. I was quick to envision a mental wall, but I could only master blocking one or two thoughts at a time. In a room full of strangers, I became distracted, and my imaginary wall crumbled, intermingling my own stream of consciousness with dozens of others.

Rosalind commended me on my progress, but we had to continue training. Took me years.You'll get it eventually, she said.

Next, she taught me how to pick out the thoughts of an individual. I found this simple because it was similar to when I had to read someone's future. Pick a thread, and hold on.

The last and most important part of Rosalind's training was what she called "fishing." In order to fish, I had to cast out a psychic net allowing me to scan the minds of people miles away. Your mind is like a radio receiver now, she explained, and if you want more transmissions, extend your antenna. Headache after headache, I tried casting a net, but I couldn't grasp the concept of scanning minds. After watching me struggle, Rosalind mentioned a few other ways to track demons.

The most obvious was by sight. Each demon had a silver glint to their eye and a hardness to their skin that was imperceptible to the average human. Unfortunately, sight required time and luck, two luxuries I couldn't depend upon.

Smell was an easy way to track demons. Samael, Lillith, and their progeny featured distinctive scents. I was confident that I could pick up a gnarly trail to follow.

One place to start clue-mongering was the infamous parking lot. Yet, I didn't know the exact location of where I had died. I thought hard, chewing on a pen with "HCC Southshore Campus" inscribed on the side. The pen had come with the cheap hotel room I resided in, furnished with stained plaid chairs and musty sheets. As a demon hunter (and formerly belonging to the dead-persuasion), I couldn't exactly get a day job. Rosalind had anticipated this and had given me a wallet full of perpetual funds. It was a brown leather bill-fold, and it looked rather worn. The remarkable thing about it was that whenever I opened, the money was just there. Twenty, forty, even five-hundred dollars. If I emptied the wallet, I could feel secure knowing that it would yield funds the next time I was in need.

However, I had one task that required greater urgency.

* * * * *

To track Rafe, I would have to go to the place where he had ended and the Uzita demon had begun. Thinking back, the Uzita had admitted to possessing Rafe in our bedroom, which seemed at least a viable place to start.

Turning the key in the lock of the apartment we had briefly shared was both strange and familiar. Thanks to a pile-up of excess mail, the door was very resistant, and I pushing it open took a bit of super strength. 

The air in the apartment was thick, and muggy. It was a sad smell, and also one that made me want to gag. I swallowed the reflex and wandered to the master bedroom. On the way, I paused to peek inside the nursery. Everything was still the same, crib, dresser, playful scenes on the wall. Our baby had never really existed, and I thought of the room as one from a model home, nice but never to be lived in.

Our bedroom was the opposite. Upon entrance, it was as if I and Rafe had just left. Usually the bed was made, but the covers were thrown back on the floor in a heap. Two slight indentations could be seen on the bed covers, and I could detect a faint scent that was out of place.

I got on the bed on all fours and sniffed the bed linens and pillows, like any self-respecting dog would have. The dominant scents were mine and Rafe's but there was a third that had a sickeningly sweet edge to it. Mixed in was an odor I knew very well: the burning-bacon stink I had associated with Lillith and Samael.

From the scent, I tried to find the Uzita's thread, to see where he would be next. I reached out with my mind, reaching far, extending with all my mental might, and still nothing. It was as if he had never existed at all, or perhaps he was blocking me with a mental wall of his own. Then I remembered that the shaman had told me that Ipotane's were immune to most magics and supernatural manipulations. So, I would have to find him by tediously following his stench.

"I know what he means to you, but you have other vows now besides marital ones."

Rosalind never appeared before me anymore, but when she had something to say, I heard her. She had become my passenger, and a welcome passenger, most of the time. Sometimes, when she annoyed me, she was a dark passenger.

The television in the bedroom came on with an electronic hum. On the screen, a perfectly dictioned and perfectly coiffed news anchor relayed the news: the murder rates in the city of Graydon had increased dramatically over the last year, and disappearances were also on the rise. Most notably, a young girl had disappeared from a popular nightclub downtown, one area police were investigating because of the murders, drugs, and disappearances that seemed to run rampant in that particular part of town.

Finished illustrating her point, Rosalind let the television peter out.

"It's time to finish your mission. You've trained mentally and physically for a reasonable amount of time. Put it all to good use, tonight."

I exhaled my breath in a string of invisible concentration. I half-hoped flames would follow, but I wasn't angry enough to manifest them.

"All right. I'll go to that club."

"And after that, use what I taught you to continue on. Scan the minds of the patrons for information. Catch the scents of the demons while you're there. Read the newspaper, watch the news, walk the streets in search of your enemy. After this first hunt, it will get easier, and this business of demon hunting will become like second nature to you."

"I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about—"

"Your husband." Rosalind's voice became soft. "Your fates are intertwined. You'll find him. But, it's not time now. As you go on, you'll find that you're getting closer and closer to him."

I closed my eyes and nodded. "I believe you."

"Now go," Rosalind urged in my ear, "you have work to do."