Hell Blessed

Chapter 6

Over the course of the next few weeks, Ruby and I visited four different towns. That first case had turned out to be a skinwalker, just like Ruby had thought. Thanks to the lessons with Thea I could now move objects and people with only a thought.

I was in our motel going through the weapons bag when I found it. Lying at the bottom of the duffle was the silver box that Raphael had given me. I picked it up, shoved aside some clothes and sat on the bed to examine it. I could see no latch of any kind anywhere on the box, not even a seam where it could open. On the top of the box, intricate symbols were etched into the metal. I sat on the bed, staring at it until Ruby got back to the motel. She had been out all day checking out a possible case and had insisted that I stay back. Apparently I looked like I was about to collapse. Probably just a side effect of using my powers so much.

"So, did you find out anything useful?" I asked her, eager to start another case.

"Yes, actually, I did."she answered. She threw the keys onto the coffee table and pulled up a chair to sit in front of me. "A group of teens disappeared from the area in the past few weeks. They were all found in the old hospital. It appears that one of them turned, killed the others and then committed suicide."

"Wow. That's pretty morbid."

"Tell me about it. I visited the morgue to check out the bodies and I found an interesting mark on the arm of the one who turned on them. A blue handprint."

"I've never seen anything like that," I said.

"Let's go check out the old hospital tonight. Then we'll just go from there,"

" Okay," I agreed. "I'll get everything ready. We leave in an hour."

                                                                                 ⋅⋅⋅

At 11 pm we pulled up to the hospital. The grounds were completely dark except for the full moon and the headlights of our car. Surrounding the property was a tall metal fence with a gate closing off the driveway. Ruby immediately got out of the car and walked up to inspect it. It seemed that the only thing keeping us from opening it was a rusty metal lock. Ruby pulled at it a few times but it held tight. I concentrated on the lock and, the next time Ruby pulled on it, I willed it to open. It worked! The lock, now useless, fell to the ground with a clang. Ruby got back into the car and we drove up the long driveway.

"I'm honestly surprised that I was able to pull that off," Ruby said.

I paused for a second, confused, until I remembered that she didn't know about my powers. She thought she was the one who had unlocked it. "Yea, great job with that," I responded. A little more bitterly than I intended.

As we drove up to the entrance, I examined the building. It seemed to have been abandoned for years, yet, except for a few spots near the roof, the walls were mostly intact. We pulled into the parking lot and parked the car in the spot closest to the building (and the most covered in shadows). Then, I opened the trunk and started gathering supplies. First, I pulled out two shotguns, loaded them with rock salt (for ghosts and demons), and handed one of them to Ruby. Then, we each grabbed a can of salt and some iron wire and stuffed them into a bag.

"All set?" I asked, picking up the stuff.

"Let's do this," Ruby said. With that, I locked the car and we headed into the hospital.