Visions (Hell Portals, Book One)

Chapter Six: Hunting Tabitha

THE NEXT MORNING, JACK AND NATE WOKE UP WITH PURPOSE. They were feeling strong and ready. They quickly geared up and headed to the Waffle Hosen Diner for some breakfast and to see if the atmosphere at the diner had changed due to the gruesome murder of one of their waitresses and her kid.

The TV news the night before had been saturated with the discovery of the brutal, ritualistic murders at the home on Holcomb Lane. No mention had been made of two bikers being dead at the scene, which told Nate and Jack that their dead bodies were not found. They decided that when they died in battle, nobody would know. Farnsworth cleaned things up. So their decapitated bodies at the site of the 18-wheeler accident most likely weren't present either, meaning their families weren't having to go through losing them. This gave them some comfort. They could go about this business not worrying about that at least. Not having to think about their families grieving the loss of their children and siblings, attending their funerals and all that nasty business. They were truly under the radar.

Except, they decided, if they were somehow caught by police at the scene of a crime, and detained as being suspects in the murders, that could be very bad. Farnsworth might not be able to clean that one up. So they needed to continue to try to avoid that scenario at any cost.

As they walked into the diner, the bells on the door jingling, they immediately noticed a darker atmosphere in the place. Other waiters and waitresses didn't have their usual smiling faces, but instead went through the motions of serving patrons in a more somber way.

They sat at the same booth they had sat at a couple of days before. A waiter approached and said simply, "good morning guys. Here are some menus. I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order."

Jack and Nate felt terrible. They were responsible for this misfortune having taken place. And now they could see how it was affecting other innocent people. This sucked.

The meal was quiet. Jack ordered corned beef hash with hash browns and two eggs, poached over medium. Nate, having a lack of appetite, ordered a side of sourdough toast and some link sausage. They each drank a couple cups of watery diner coffee (black, if you could call it that) and ate with a minimum of discussion. The food was more or less to give their bodies the strength they would need later that night, when Tabby was to meet her maker.

"We know what we're up against this time," Jack said. "We can't let that bitch phase into her true form. I think—and I wish I knew for certain—that in human form she can't just fling us around and wave her hands and make shit move like she did before. She phased right before she nailed us."

"I hope you're right. Then if I don't freeze up this time like a friggin' douchebag, maybe we can get off a good shot and end her. Fuck. This is serious shit. There'll be a lot of innocent people around the bar tonight."

"We have to plan this I think, bro," Jack said. "No mistakes this time. We need to get her before she enters the bar. Maybe stake out the parking lot beforehand. Maybe keep on our helmets and goggles and bandannas so she doesn't make us before we strike."

"Sounds good to me, dude. And we need to find another diner. This place is depressing as hell."

"Yeah," Jack said, looking around the diner with a frown. "Let's head over to Rosie's before dark. Early enough so we're sure the demon cunt's not there yet."

"Yep, for sure."

The rest of the meal was silent.

* * *

At 7:30PM the boys were settled into a moderately hidden clearing to the rear and to the right of Rosie's parking lot. Earlier they had parked in the lot and had staked out the area, looking for a place to lay in hiding while waiting for the orange Pacer to arrive. They had seen a distressed, partially paved road heading out past a pile of large tree trunks that looked to have been abandoned on the property years before. After becoming confident enough that there weren't any patrons outside the bar watching, they had exited the lot via the old road, and found that the area behind the log pile gave them a perfect vantage point to watch for the Pacer while concealed, and then ride in when it arrived, giving them enough surprise to take Tabitha's demon down quickly and without incident.