Strangers (Fighting the Darkness series)

Final battle plans

“ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!” I SAID IN HORROR. “I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT GUKO was supposed to be out of action. What happened?” I stood up and paced along the dark red floor of my consciousness. Red had also stood up, but stayed where she was. Then she clicked her fingers and a set of table and chairs appeared. Then I felt something wrap around my body. I looked down and I had suddenly become fully dressed. I wonder if I could do it too.

“Come here a minute Reed.” Red was sat waiting in the chair facing me, her legs crossed casually and one of her arms slung over the back of the chair. I walked over and sat opposite her. Again her face had become hard and serious and I had to stifle a laugh. It was like looking into a mirror. “First of all, I have no idea how Guko can be strutting around in someone’s body after I fried his ass, but I sure as hell don’t like it. And that necklace? He put a curse on it. When I came back I felt it from the box, but only when it had been opened. Good thing you didn’t touch it or we’d be dead.” I nodded in agreement and sent out a mental apology to Jordan for blaming him. “But I have a plan.” Red leaned forward and put her free arm onto the table. “We’re gonna get rid of him for good.” she said and smiled.

“Okay then.” I said and retuned the smile. “So how’re we gonna pull this off? I hope you made pans because I didn’t.” Then I leaned back and stretched out my legs under the table and rested my hands onto my stomach.

Red told me her plans. She was going to use the Summoning Ceremony to summon Guko instead of a low level demon and we’re going to vanquish him with one of Red’s most powerful spells: the Sword of Silence. This spell summons a demon sword that can only be wielded by demi-gods and dark angels and was created by The Creator. It is used by guardian angels mostly to sever evil souls from humans and to vanquish demon possessions; so to some up, it’s an exorcism sword.

“But we’re going to use Teddy to perform the Summoning spell.” said Red, almost sounding defensive.

“Why do you want to use Teddy? She can hardly control how she sleeps and you want her to start casting spells to summon demons? Are you crazy? What if something else came through and decided to have her soul? Have you even thought about the consequences?” I shifted my position so I fully faced her. I could see the concern on her face. I didn’t even think she knew where she was going with this, and that she was just making it up as she went along.

Red started to shift as well so that our postures matched. She kept her eyes on me, trying to act calm, but I could see it in her eyes. That uncertainty was enough to persuade me that if we were going to do this, we needed more than just hunches to go on. “Well if we’re going to do this, I suggest that we have more people present. Maybe call on Jordan or Simon or even the Gerpson Brothers if they’re still in England. And what about Lou? She’ll want to be there even if we bound her and locked her in a steel cage. She’d just escape into the air vents and watch us from above.” Red made a sound deep in her throat which I presumed was a laugh, but I couldn’t be sure. She laced her hands and put them under her chin, thinking. After a few minutes she moved her hands and spoke again.

“If Louise does come, we can use her help to lure Guko with the spell. Knowing Guko, right know I don’t think he’ll care who summons him as long as he reanimates himself in our Human Vale. Then if we act fast, he won’t kill her and we can kill him. And Teddy might feel better if Louise is there to help support her. As for the Gerpson’s and Simon, we might leave them out, but we defiantly need Jordan there. With his help, we’ll be able to cut Guko off then I can try to get in with my sword at the last minute.” A smile lit behind her eyes.

“So, do we have a plan?” Red looked up at me and gave a wry smile.

“We do.”

We discussed more about what and where to do things. We decided on a hotel in some remote area. Red would talk to Jordan about it and I would talk to Teddy, Louise (who didn’t need much convincing) and my parents. I’d simply say that we thought of going on a little weekend overnight trip. So that gave us a week to collect the stuff we need and to change the incantation slightly so that we had more of a chance at summoning Guko.

The items were easy enough to get. Just go to any G. Brothers Global store and you’ll find everything you need. Then after tampering with the spell a little, Red was satisfied that it would do. 

As for the others, it was a little different. Louise was fine with coming along with us and she even suggested a hotel and decided to book the room for us. Teddy was unsure at first but I managed to convince her by saying that I can transform into Red and help her as much as I could after school. Yes, I said school. We were in the middle of exams so that didn’t help at all. Teddy only had one left and so did Louise, but I had four and I hadn’t even studied yet. I’ll have to rely on all nighters for the time being, if I can remember what exam to study for.

My parents were a different matter. I had to think of another way to convince them that I had to leave the house. So Louise and I made a plan. I would say that I was going to sleep at Teddy’s house and she’d help me to study for my exam on the Monday with Louise. As for Teddy, all she needed to do was leave a little note for her parents, incase they came home. And because her family is never home, if our parents called, she can just leave it to voice mail. Or they can call her cell.

Then there was Jordan. I didn’t know was going to happen. It was already Friday morning and Red had just gone to talk to him. I hope she doesn’t start to go intimate on him and tell him that I have all this pent up energy and am starting to lust over him, which I totally am not. I just hope he can come along. For moral support. The more supernaturals, the better. And I was secretly hoping that he would. 

Then I remembered the necklace under my bed. I wonder if Jordan even suspected that the man he had travelled with was possessed by Guko. He should have suspected something at least, like why he suddenly suggested a vacation. No wonder I felt something very ominous; it was probably him I was feeling.

After an hour, Red came back and confirmed that Jordan could come and would meet us in the hotel lobby around four o’clock, but with Simon. Perfect. I think the five of us should be able to handle it.

--------------------

We met Teddy at the bus station in the shopping district. We had all packed our overnight bags, so we could sleep after the ordeal and so it wouldn’t look suspicious when we came into the hotel. I had the spell items in my bag and Louise had the address for the hotel. There was already snow covering the ground, which was early for this time of year. Still it didn’t surprise me. Being mid November it was pretty cold, plus with the crappy weather that comes with living in England, it was to be expected.

We stopped at the Grand Inn which was about forty-five minutes away from where we left the bus station, with an extra ten minutes added for a snow diversion. It was a remote little cottage in the middle of nowhere with about fifteen rooms out of thirty left for let. We asked for a three person room and she gave use the room at the top of the inn. Fortunately, as I looked at the rack of keys behind her, there were at least five rooms unoccupied around us. That was lucky. As we ascended the first staircase, there were a few Christmas decorations that were haphazardly tacked to the ceiling. Usually people started to decorate at the end of November, but seeing as there was no tree in the reception, I guess she must have thought to do some now, then some later on in the month.

The woman led us up to our room, which was up three flights of stairs at the ends of each of the corridors. Our door was the only one that had its own mini corridor. She unlocked the door then left without as much as a grunt. Well, she did grunt, but it was only to inform us that if we were out she locked up at ten p.m. and then gave Louise the key. It was an old fashioned brass key on a ring with a white plastic card attached that had the room number on it; RM-30.

She unlocked the door and there was a king sized bed directly in front of us. I went through to the next room and there were two single beds with a side table between them, and a door leading off to the toilet. I checked my watch for the time. It was coming up to 3.35. Only twenty five minutes to go before we met Jordan and Simon. We all dumped our bags onto the king sized bed. Then we decided who was going to sleep where when we finished our task. We all did rock paper scissors. I won Louise and Teddy but I said as a condition that I would bring up breakfast in the morning to them if it was aloud. And if Jordan and Simon wanted to stay over, they could take the singles and we could fit onto the king sized. After twenty minutes I went to the door and asked Louise to take out the substances from my bag as I went down to wait for the guys. Louise had given Teddy the key, so I left the door open a crack. Red started saying that she didn’t want anyone but herself to set up and that she would fully transform to do the ceremony. Well I couldn’t argue with that.