Chapter Eleven

 A sonic boom vibrated throughout the surrounding hills as Balthazar stood by the road. He looked around for a plane, to be disappearing over those hills, but found none. Then, he turned and looked down the long, neglected driveway which was blocked to him; and knew it was coming from that place he couldn’t get into.

This pissed him off to no end.

Running his hands through his wet hair, he stalked back to his car, got in and drove away. He had to find another way to get those two out of there - and to collect the soul he was promised: the soul of Diane Wilson.

 

A wash of exhilaration hit her as the sonic boom exploded across the salt lake, and the lightning’s last flash was imprinted on her retinas every time she blinked.

“That lightning imprint will go away.” he said, pulling his feet out of the salt, shaking them, “How cool was that?”

She pulled her feet out and grinned, “Woah! I can’t believe we did that!”

“We? That was all you… after I got you to relax and trust me, you did the rest.” Thomas smiled putting out his hand to walk her back to the two vans, “And because I could withstand the power you hold, it’s probably a good idea if your Uncle Frank stays away from you while you hone your skills as a …” he stopped, “I’m not sure what you are.”

Diane walked out to the lake’s edge, “Mary, you’re a White Mage - like I am.” she pursed her lips: “But you need training; which was something I should have done when you were little.” she turned and regarded her brother, “You Uncle here has been bugging me to get in and train you - but I didn’t want you to attract anyone of the likes of Balthazar into your life.”

“It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?” Mary said, “And what about that book? Is it yours or mine?”

“Technically, it’s mine, but seeing you’ve come into your full powers, it’s now yours.”

Frank stood from his sitting position against the bull bar of the van, “Well, first off, she needs a staff.”

Thomas smiled, “And a broom - both of which you must make yourself.”

“Oh goodie. This sounds like fun.” Mary laughed, “I have no skills like this.”

Her mother smiled, “This is the beginning of your training, my daughter, and you will have to learn fast - seeing that demon wants my soul; and he wants it sooner than expected.”

“Why?”

Diane sighed, “That sonic boom you both put out reached outside this dimension, and he would have felt and heard it. Now, you really pissed him off.”

 

He pulled his vehicle into a vacant parking lot at the local shopping centre in Allora and stepped out into the hot sun. Straight away, Balthazar could feel the stares penetrating him from all around, from everywhere. He looked around, and anyone walking past stopped and looked him up and down, from windows, store doorways … they all stopped and stared at him, making him feel as though he did not belong.

And in this reality, he didn’t.

But he didn’t really give a shit, he needed to ask questions of this township, and find out why he felt so ostracised by everyone here and yet he hadn’t said a word yet.

Stepping up onto the footpath, he pressed the remote to his car and the black vehicle blooped, lights flashing, locking itself.

He looked around and the people still stared at him, “Hey, folks, I’m looking for some answers if I could ask a question or two please?”

One man walked up with a bottle of water in his hand, took the lid off, drank a mouthful, then spat it in his face. As soon as it made contact, the most painful, burning turned his face red, as his skin began to light up and turn to ash, rotting as it did, “Why would we talk to you, Demon?” he poured the water over Balthazar as he turned his back on the man, and the demon began to burn and smoke, and he dropped to his knees.

A gutteral voice came from his throat, “You will help me, because I’ll rip your soul from you if you don’t!” Balthazar turned, thrusting his hand into the man’s body, through his ribcage - where the sound of breaking bones sounded like dry twigs - and ripped out his still-beating, blood-engorged heart, showing it to the man as the light of his life drained from his face and eyes as he dropped to the ground. Balthazar took a deep breath, stood and looked around as his skin healed from the burns from the holy water, “Now, be good little Humans and tell me where I’d be able to find your closest pretty little white church.”

The group of people watching on, pointed in one direction as some of them stared at the dead, bleeding body of their friend and local shop-keeper, Robert Brown - the son of the original Bob Brown who ran the hardware store; and still did until now.

“Thank you all.” he turned away from them, with the heart still in his hand, drying blood dripping from his fingers, he walked across the baked, hot road to the pretty little white church they had all pointed out to him. As he approached the building he began to laugh, knowing they were all still standing on that footpath, not a single one of them wanting to move to pick up their friend - too scared to do anything.

 

Frederick looked up from his readings at the end of the aisle. He had been practicing his sermon for this coming Sunday when the double doors of the church blew inward, slamming against the adjoining walls.

“Oh great, you’re back.” he muttered, sighing, “What can I do for you, Balthazar?”

The demon swaggered up the aisle shifting the freshly-plucked Human heart from one hand to the next, as he glowered at the Grigori. Then, he came to the front of the church and dumped the heart on the open book Frederick was reading from, “You can tell me which of your people this came out of.”

He didn’t have to touch it to know it came from the Brown family - along-standing, well-known family in Allora. The scent of how good this man was, how generous and beautiful he was as a Human invaded Frederick’s senses, and he took a few steps back, recoiling from the man’s untimely death at the hands of such a horrible entity.

“How could you? What did he ever do to you?” he stammered.

“Well…” his eyes looked at the heart and then back to the Grigori, “I have a problem with how you’ve been brainwashing your little town, Padre.”

“Brainwashing? I’m not brainwashing them.” he snapped, “I’ve been preparing them for the likes of you.” the his demeanor changed, and he chuckled, “Oh, I see, Robert got you good with Holy Water I take it.”

“Shut up!”

“And the whole town could see you for who you were as soon as you showed up in that city-slicker, black, late-model wanker-mobile, right?” he smiled, “And here I am, an Earth-Bound Angel, and all I do is guide my flock so they get into Heaven the right way, the honourable way… and you come along and rip out the heart of Robert Brown; all because he called you out.”

“Where is she?”

“Who?”

The demon growled as he balled up his blood-stained fists, “Diane Wilson! Who do you think I’ve been talking about?”

“Oh… and I think you have the shortest memory of a demon I’ve ever seen.” Frederick smiled, “You seem to forget what I eat.”

“Souls.”

“Yes, but what kind?”

Balthazar’s eyes widened, “How do I end up here all the time?” he turned to run, but found Frederick in front of him, his sword drawn at the ready.

“The question should be: how are you going to get out of this one?” the priest said.

 

Uncle Frank took Mary out to the large barn and opened its doors, presenting the place for what it was: a workshop. He had staffs, parts to make magical tools, brooms and other things stored here instead of animals.

“This is the magical supply store of all magical supply stores.” he smiled, “And here there’s all kinds of crystals, broom handles, powders, potions, books, and, well, anything you can think of to use in everyday and extra-ordinary magic needs.” he turned to Mary and Thomas.

“You’re so proud of your collection of goodies, here.” Mary smiled, “I never had anything like this growing up.”

“Well, let’s start you out with a broom, and then you can work on your staff.” he walked over to the line of broom handles, “Which type of handle would you like? Ash, oak, willow? They’re all here, ready to be used.”

“Oh… I don’t know.” she shrugged, “Mother never told me anything about any of this. It was all ‘do your school work and you’ll get into a good university.’”

Frank’s ruddy, beaming grin fell, “Oh, I see. It wasn’t in any way a part of your life? Okay… the best one to use is Ash.” he pointed to it, “You pick it up. It’s your broom.”

Mary picked up her broom handle and Frank turned to show her a bundle of twigs and small branches which were nearby to tie to the handle. He told her how to attach them, wrapping the area where the twigs were going around it with sage, rosemary and other herbs to purify the broom.

This took a few hours to get done. Mary enjoyed making her first broom and Thomas was so proud of her - seeing he’d made three brooms in his life; for different stages of his life.

“That broom is a great one, seeing you’ve never made one before.” he smiled, “And it’s strictly a very female thing for women to make.”

Frank nodded, “Men make brooms, but they’re not very male-orientated, this is a very feminist things for female mages and witches.”

“Do I fly on it?”

Her uncle burst out laughing, “Oh boy! You’ve been watching a lot of Hollywood films. No. Not unless it’s an emergency; and even then, you don’t want anyone seeing you do that - it’s just…” he looked over at Thomas for help.

Thomas grimaced: “Embarrassing.”

He agreed, “Yeah, trying to explain the whole flying witch thing is like telling everyone that Samhaine is a god from Hell who loves to try to break out every six hundred years - and brings friends along for the party.”

Her eyes widened, “He is? He does?”

Frank groaned, “Okay, time to have dinner, you my girl, you need to study up. You’ve missed out on so much and have such little time to catch up on it all.”

 

Over the next few days, Mary and Thomas worked on her spells and studies. He couldn’t believe how little she knew about her powers, the world of magics and how much she had to catch up with it all, with Balthazar looking for them.

 

Balthazar pulled his vehicle into an empty spot in the parking lot in the middle of the Allora township. Looking around, this felt very familiar - how, he wasn’t sure. But it was feeling as though he had done this before.

He turned off the vehicle and got out of it, stepping out into the hot sun, and getting the feeling he was being stared at by the locals, as though he really didn’t belong here.

In truth, he didn’t, not in this reality.

And he didn’t give a … shit.

He looked around himself, down at his hands. They were stained with blood, “Hang on!” he looked at the footpath, to find the body a dead local man there, “This isn’t right!”

 

Frederick stood nearby, smiling knowingly as his spell worked a real number on Balthazar. He knew it would take a little while before the demon figured out a way to get out of it - but not long.

The Grigori turned and walked back to the church. It was time for him to leave this place. He had left a letter of resignation on the altar for the organist to find and locked up the doors - lining it them with salt - before leaving. He walked down the side of the church and to the little house out the back where he had resided for a little over a year, picked up his two old-fashioned suitcases and put them into the boot of his car.

Yes it was time to leave.

The one thing he hated about this was not saying goodbye to anyone. This part always bugged him - the vanishing without a trace part - not matter how long he’s been on Earth, he’s hated just leaving the Human’s he’s gotten to know without a trace. It breaks his heart a little more each time.