Succubus

Chapter 34: Shedding

Tara stepped away from the door and grabbed Adriel by the sleeve. "Do it, before she gets someone else."

Adriel opened his jacket and began pulling necklaces from his pockets. He had crucifixes, rosaries, relics in little glass jars, even a few scripture passages stamped onto metal squares.

One by one he began to place them around Tara's neck. A sound like throwing raw chicken onto a grill could be heard and Tara's head began to smoke. She bit her tongue as more of the necklaces were placed on her. Adriel apologized with each new piece of jewelry.

June kicked Peter in the side. He collapsed and tried to feel if his lung had been punctured. June turned her attention to the other children. She seemed to glide across the gym and landed a punch in the middle of Adriel's gut. The angel folded in half as he slid across the polished wood floor.

June reached forward to pull a necklace off then stopped. Tara's head couldn't be seen through the smoke. For an instant June looked panicked, but then she took a breath and stepped away from Tara. She crossed the gym to where Adriel was sprawled. She pulled him by the collar back over to Tara.

"Start taking them off," June ordered.

"I cannot. She wished for this, and the town wishes for this even if they do not know it."

June kicked Adriel in the side and he crumpled. She looked around for Barb, or to see if Peter was back on his feet. She almost failed to look up.

The Pinata's string was cut, and the paper horse fell toward the floor. The brightly colored paper looked more vibrant in the flickering lights of the gym. It collided with the ground and burst apart.

There wasn't candy in the pinata. Instead, water spilled out into an enormous puddle. Broken water balloons floated on the surface of the water as the puddle spread out from the mid-court line.

Just as the pinata hit the ground June launched into a backflip. She landed up on the bleachers, mostly dry. Her shoes were smoking from where the water had managed to soak through. June grimaced and kicked her shoes off. She would have to fight the kids in her socks.

"Holy water?" June asked, her voice echoing through the gym.

"Just salt mixed with tap water," Charles said from the other side of the gym. He was standing on the opposite set of bleachers with Barb. "We looked up the recipe last night."

"Wasn't too hard to get them inside the pinata either," Barb said. "Everyone's so used to listening to me that they didn't question it."

"Was it part of your plan to miss?"

Charles opened his mouth and closed it. In his head the plan had ended with all the salt water landing on June. Whatever divine force was in salt water would draw Paimon out and send her back to the underworld. Everyone would realize what a hero Charles was. The night ended with Barb and Tara fighting over who got to be his girlfriend.

June smirked triumphantly, but then the smile left her face. Tara had not backflipped out of the way when the pinata fell. The girl was face down in the puddle, and was giving off enough steam to move a train.

They watched as Tara's back began to peel open. Something began to crawl out from inside her. It was like watching a cicada pull itself out of an old skin.

Tara got to her feet. Sticking out of her back was the head, neck, and shoulders of a beautiful white haired girl. Vine looked around and tried to pull herself out more, but her arms were stuck.

"Erlik, how the hell did you miss mom?" Vine called across the gym.

In the confusion Peter had managed to get to his feet. He stood up and saw a girl crawling out of Tara's back. He saw Barb and Charles arguing over who was to blame for missing with the holy water. His eyes went from the holy water puddle to June's smoking sneakers.