Succubus

Chapter 33: The Chaperone

The gym doors were propped open with little clown statues. Long strings of triangle flags hung from wall to wall, and they were wrapped in blinking Christmas lights. In front of the bleachers were handmade carnival stands for all the clubs. The baking club gave out cookies and brownies to anyone who could explain how leavening worked; everyone else had to pay. The baseball team set up bottle pyramids for throwing balls at. The basketball team had organized a free throw competition. The jazz club and the light music club were taking turns to play, so the carnival soundtrack shifted between improvised riffs and yesterday's hits. No one seemed to mind though.

The only person who didn't look like they were having a good time was June. She sat up on the bleachers and watched teenagers have fun. She felt on edge because the right teenagers weren't there.

Tara wasn't there. Neither was Charles, which put Barb in the uncomfortable situation of having been stood up by a middle schooler. She was coping by micromanaging any problems that appeared. Currently she was adjusting the pinata that the king and queen would get to knock down.

June looked inward to Paimon for guidance. She felt the demon there exuding endless patience. Like a wolf content to chase a herd down for hours until the right prey finally stumbled. It was the push June needed to stop doing nothing and distract herself until it was time to act.

June stepped off the bleachers and landed like a cat. She began making rounds through the dance. Her presence was enough to stop any misbehavior. The dancing partners took a step back so they were at arms length. A flask went back into the jacket pocket where it had been smuggled in. Everyone felt as though an enormous weight was pressing down on them.

A gangly sophomore was unlucky enough to be manning the baseball booth when June stopped by.

"Do you mind if I throw?" she asked him.

He shook his head and set up the pins. He took a few steps back. Something instinctual told him that it was in his best interest to do so. It was similar to how an animal has no idea how a gun works, but knows that it's dangerous from how confidently the human carries it.

How do plastic bottles shatter? June found a way. While one member of the baseball club ran off to find a dustpan the remaining member had to find some kind of a prize for June. A member of the baking club took pity on him and passed a brownie over to his stall. He offered June the brownie and she took it with a nod and a smile. The brownie was good enough that June almost missed it when the right teenagers began to show up.

First was Peter, wearing a brown suit that smelled like cigarettes. He had his gym bag slung over one shoulder and a cross with three slats around his neck. He'd made the mistake of coming in through the entrance by the dance floor, so he had to awkwardly sway while he waited for everyone else to show up.

June saw him and took another bite of her brownie. She crossed the dance floor, weaving between students in an unusually jerky way. It was the only time she didn't seem fluid as a snake.

Peter didn't see June sneak up behind him. He felt a finger press against the base of his spine and knew he didn't need to turn around. One push of her finger and he'd be wheelchair bound.

"Are they coming?" June whispered.

"Yes," Peter whispered back.

The finger withdrew. Peter turned around but June was gone.

Barb finished hanging the pinata and took a breath. Someone offered her a cup of punch, which she accepted gratefully. She turned around and saw Charles there with his hair combed.

"You want to dance?" he asked.

"I'd love to," she answered.

They moved toward the dance floor and swayed as the jazz band took turns riffing and filling. It was the old 1920's kind of jazz that people can actually dance to, not the modern jazz that people only pretend to like.

Peter managed to dance through the crowd to get near Charles and Barb. Doing so was difficult because he was still holding the gym bag. Standing near Charles didn't help, because the middle schooler danced like he was in a Step Up movie. Once he was close enough Peter leaned down so he was near Charles's level.

"You're the brother, aren't you?"

"That's right," Charles said back over the music. "You're the reason Tara disappeared."

Peter shrugged. "I thought she was a danger to the town. She's changed my opinion."

"You've spoken with her since?" Charles asked.

"We have a plan. Depending on how it goes it may save you too."

"Well, you're not the only one with a plan. If yours doesn't work out, maybe mine will."

"What is yours? Maybe we've stumbled onto the same idea."

"I'm not telling you, what if you tell Miss. Kim?"

Peter scowled and danced away. For all of Charle's demonic charisma he was still an annoying middle schooler. A small, tiny part of him hoped Tara was wrong. Charles would have to shut up once a holy sword was pointed at him.

From the front doors two figures came into the gym. For a second it seemed as though they were bathed in light, but the moment passed and they looked normal again. Everyone was left wondering if they'd imagined it, but it had been so strange that no one asked the person next to them if they'd seen the same thing. How could they have?

Tara was wearing a beer maid outfit that had been in the back of her closet. She'd bought it a few months prior for a trip to a renaissance faire and hadn't had a chance to wear it since. On anyone else it would have looked ridiculous. Tara wore it well enough that everyone else began to feel like they should have been dressed like medieval Germans. One girl frowned at her boyfriend and wondered why he wasn't wearing lederhosen. Later she would lie awake in bed and wonder why she'd thought that.

Standing next to Tara was Adriel. He wore a white suit with a white rose tucked into the lapel. Tara had a matching rose on her bodice. Sometimes the light would shift and the rose would seem to match her hair.

People were so fixated on the new arrivals that they didn't notice as someone stepped out from behind the bleachers.

Watching Tara and Adriel enter the dance felt like watching the royal wedding. Tara and Adriel waved magnanimously, as though they were up on the ramparts looking down at the commoners.

Everyone had assembled, but June had disappeared. The teens tried their best to act natural and blend in, but the longer June failed to appear the more worried they became. A snake in the open is never as scary as a snake in the grass.

The music faded out as someone tapped a mic from up on stage. The lead bassist for the jazz band was holding an index card.

"Someone passed me a note which said that refreshments are being served outside. There will be an ice cream truck as well."

A fire couldn't have vacated the gym as effortlessly. Everyone streamed out to the schoolyard, where sure enough the tinny sound of an ice cream loop was playing through old speakers.

Tara made to follow, hoping that June wouldn't jump her if she were in a crowd. As Tara took a few steps toward the door she felt something slowing her down. The closer she tried to get the more it felt as though a rope were pulling her back away from the door.

The last person stepped outside and Tara saw a trampled trail of salt blocking the exit. She looked closer and saw the salt piled along the wall, all the way around the gym.

On the other side of the gym Charles was facing a similar problem. He tried to get near the emergency exit, but the salt was keeping him away.

"It's fine, I'll just move it," Peter said. He stepped forward to scrape the line away with his foot. Without much warning something dropped down on him.

June had been waiting up in the metal support grid where balls usually got stuck. She reached down and pulled the gym bag off Peter's shoulder and slung it over her own. Four horns appeared on her head. She turned toward Charles and Tara.

"Your mom is done waiting. She's taking you back to hell, bodies or no bodies."