Silent Lucidity

XXXVII

[Sacrifice]

RESTAURANT

Jody Mills sat at a booth in a nice restaurant as Nancy, a waitress, walked up behind her with a glass of red wine and set it in front of Jody.

"On the house, Sheriff," Nancy said.

"Oh, thanks, Nance, but I didn't order–" Jody trailed.

"So..." Crowley began as Nancy quickly turned her head to see him walking up and then back again to Jody.

"Good luck," Nancy mouthed.

"...what are we drinking?" Crowley finished, sitting across from Jody.

"Roderick?" Jody guessed.

"Wow, Jody. Words cannot begin to describe the injustice that that picture does to you."

Jody chuckled. "Come on."

Time lapsed as the two sat and talked and Jody smiled at Crowley.

"What?" Crowley asked.

"Look at you," Jody commented. "The fancy career, the suit. I'm pretty much what I am -- small-town girl."

"We do share something, you and I."

"What?"

"Loss."

Jody's smile faded as she flashed back to the time her husband and son were killed. She'd been happy her with her husband and son and then her husband laid in a pool of blood after her son turned into a zombie and killed him. A gunshot sounded and Jody winced in emotional pain.

"My son and my husband. How did you know?" Jody wondered, her hands clasped on the table as she asked the question.

Crowley reached his right hand over the table and placed it over her hands and gave a gentle squeeze. "I've lost someone, too."

Jody began to cry then suddenly stopped and laughed. "It's not a date till I've cried." She wiped a tear away with her right hand.

"So now you've cried."

Jody brought her right hand down to cover over the hand that Crowley placed on hers.

---

Jody burst into the restaurant bathroom and walked to the mirror to fix her makeup. "Oh, this is crazy." The door closed. "This is crazy." She chuckled.

She dug through her purse. "I'm crazy."

---

Crowley was back at the table unwrapping a piece of cloth that had a red symbol on it that has a small pile of sticks with yarn wrapped around them in it and placed the candle that was already lit on the table at the top of the cloth. He smiled.

---

Jody, who was still in the bathroom, applied lipstick. "He's attractive, though, right? He's hot."

---

Crowley took out a picture of Jody with a symbol written in blood across her face and leaned it against the base of the candle stick. He looked around to see if anyone was watching then he chanted over the prepared spell.

"Manu mortis accesso spiritus vitae recedit," Crowley chanted.

---

As Crowley chanted, Jody looked curiously at a hex bad that she'd found in her purse. She bent over in sudden pain.

Jody began to gasp, choke and retch in pain and blood began to pour out of her mouth into the sink in front of her.

---