Witches and Devils

Billie Dean Howard

Michael takes my hand and with a flash we are standing outside of a beautiful LA home, I look around, but can see little around the house, due to the late hour. "Michael, this is beautiful. You grew up here?" I turn to him.

"Not here, the house next door. But my father grew up here and still lives here."

I walk up to the gates that are chained closed, "why outside the gates, why not on the property?"

Michael sighs, "when y left, I didn't leave on the best of terms with some of the spirits inside. I'm afraid if I were to step foot on the property they would go into hiding for a very long time." Michael looks down to me, "This is something you will have to do on your own and you only have a few hours." I look up to the house and nod, "I will be in the house next door when you're finished."

I nod and walk up to the gates of the house, trying to think of how I can get through the gate, without Madison and Chablis knowing I was here. I think for a moment and stretch out a bit, before pushing a large gust of wind under me to push me over the gate and onto the lawn. I turn back to Michael who is smiling, rather proudly. I turn back and walk toward the house, which looks more intimidating then it did when I was on the other side of the fence. I walk up to the door and reach for the door knob and to my surprise, it is unlocked, the door creaking open. I take a deep breath before stepping in and looking around. I can hear souls crying out for help and in pain. "Hello?" I look around a bit, "is anyone here?" I walk around the ground level of the house. Exploring and looking around. As I start down the hall, I hear the door close. I jump and look around, chuckling softly, once I calm myself, "now I know you're here."

I can't risk leaving any trace behind by doing a spell, but I don't have time or the resources right now to try anything else. I look around the ground floor a bit more and shake my head as I get back to the parlor. "It's worth a try, I suppose." I take a deep breath and shake my head, stretching out again. Closing my eye, "Monstra te spirituum. Monstra te spirituum. Monstra te spirituum." As I continue this chant I feel the air in the house change and when I open my eyes, the house looks lighter than before. I glance around and see a woman walking across the hall. I chuckle, rather proud of myself. I look around and a ball rolls out, stopping as it hits my foot. As I bend down and pick it up, a man comes out of the shadows of the side room. I smile as he laughs and smiles, "hello, I'm Rose."

"Beau," the man smiles.

I roll the ball back to him and his disappears back into the shadows. Then I hear someone in the living room, "I've told you this a million times. You're my psychiatrist. You're supposed to help me."

As I approach the door, I hear another man speak, "I have helped you. We've had daily sessions going on a few years on."

"I feel like the only reason you're talking to me is 'cause your wife refuses to talk to you."

"Let's leave her out of this."

"Well, then let's talk about your daughter. 'Cause that's what I really need your help with."

I open the door and laugh, "call me crazy, but I don't think relationship advice from a man who's wife won't speak to him is the best idea."

"Who are you?" The younger of the two men turns to me. The other is facing the door already.

"Someone who can help you, if you'll let me."

The younger man chuckles, "what kind of help can you offer? We're stuck here, princess."

I shake my head, "I don't intend to set you free. But I can help you with your girl problems."

"Can you?" The younger man's eyes light up. "Really?"

I nod, "do you try to speak to her?"

"Yes, every chance I get."

I take a deep breath, "that's what needs to change."

"What do you mean?"

"If you're around her all the time, she doesn't have time to miss you or think about how happy she was with you, if she was at all."

"So I need to give her some space."

"If anything is going to get better, yes. And you need to be prepared for a long wait."

"Could you talk to her? Maybe lessen that wait?"

The other man chuckles, "what is she going to say? You set fire to your mom's boyfriend, you shot and killed over a dozen high school kids, you helped kill her parents, plus you impregnated her mother."

I gasp slightly, "in your case, I would be ready to wait for a very, very, very long time. But you have an eternity."

"I'm different now," the younger man looks between the two of us as I just shake my head, "yeah, I'm... You know, I'm dead and... and... and I'm hot and I know she has feelings for me."

"Wait a minute," the other man shakes his head, "how is it you can see and hear us? Who are you?"

"I am Rose Sinclair," I smile between the two men, "a witch sent here all the way from Louisiana, to gather some.... Information about a boy who used to live here."

"I'm Ben Harmon," the older man stands.

"I know," I take a deep breath, "you were killed in this house, several years ago. Although it looked like a suicide, didn't it?"

"How do you know that?"

"I can read souls. There's a vast difference between someone who took their own life and someone who was killed."

"The fuck is going on here?" The young man begins to play with his fingers, "we decide when we want to be seen."

I shake my head, "I'm afraid not with me. Anyone else who comes into this house would see me talking to myself. But I'm using a spell that allows me to see you. I would like to limit my disruptions on your lives, but I do need to ask you some hard questions about Michael Langdon."

Ben wipes the corners of his mouth as he looks over to the younger boy, before looking back to me, "and if we don't want to talk to you? Are you gonna make us more dead?"

"I would be able to help make your eternity more comfortable. But I will need your help with that and a few other things as well."

The young man shakes his head, "even people protected by magic aren't safe in this house."

"I'll be fine. And if not, then I guess I will spend my eternity helping those in this house."

"I'd watch my ass if I were you," the younger man turns and walks out of the room.

I sigh and look to Ben, "it's very important." Ben looks down, "my coven is in the process of buying this house so that no one will ever bother you again."

Ben shakes his head, "sorry, you got me at a bad time, I'm busy."

"Ben, you have eternity, what do you have to do?"

"I got to look out the window and cry, while I masturbate. It's my daily thing."

I shudder as Ben walks past me. I walk back into the parlor and look up the stairs to see two young girls, who look as though they died in a fire, "hello." I smile up to them. They giggle and run back upstairs.

"Be careful," I hear a woman call out, "you don't want to mess with the spirits in this house. They aren't all as gentle as those girls or Beau."

I look over the woman, "you're not a ghost."

"No, I am a friend of the house and it's residents. They don't take kindly to strangers. Billie Dean Howard, medium to the stars."

I smile, "I thought you looked familiar. I'm Rose Sinclair."