Pete Chambers 07: The Spirit Fix

By Mark Slade

~1~

The gold locket was gone.

I awoke one morning and some son of a bitch had taken it. My door was wide open, the spring sunshine creating malevolent shadows from the trees in the front yard.

I was feeling lonely, wanting the touch of Maggie. I hadn’t seen her ghost in a week. Before, I just felt sad for her being dead, and every time I would open the gold locket, her ghost would come to me. It depressed the hell out of me.

I missed her something fierce. I had no one to turn to with my problems. So, I just left things as they were. Big mistake. You may get through the days anyway you can, asking forgiveness from yourself. Other people are not so forgiving. I have learned the hard way.

I left the next morning to do a job for some people I really should had avoided.

When I got home, the door to the bungalow I was staying at, was wide open. The lights were off, but I could see the outline of two men. One sitting on my sofa, the other standing beside him. I closed the front door slowly as I stepped inside, looking over my right shoulder cautiously.

“I see your home,” I said. I turned the lamp on and placed my keys next to it on the night table it sat on.  “I was beginning to think you didn’t like your own home.”

Connolly was home. Slipped in without any fanfare. Slipped in like an oiled snake. He was a tall, an exquisitely dressed man with white hair and perfect white teeth. His aqua blue Italian suit was crisp, clean, no wrinkles, no lines, even with his legs crossed. He was smoking a Camel cigarette through a long filter and the ash had to be three fingers long. Pieces of it kept falling on my couch, singing the leather armrest.

His driver and bodyguard, Kurtis, was with him. A black, muscle-bound man dressed in the latest gangsta fashion, had no pupils in his eyes, and that always freaked me out the few times I’d seen him. Whenever he spoke, his eyes glowed red.

“It’s nice to know that I have been missed,” Connolly said.

“Missed? They’ve been looking for you,” I walked past them to the kitchen. I returned with a can of Dr. Pepper. “Our finest in blue really want to speak with you.”

“Oh,” Connolly chuckled. “That matter has been taken care of, Chambers. FYI, I didn’t kill Maggie. Sure, she was my wife, sleeping with you. But we lived not as husband and wife anymore. I didn’t care she was sleeping with a turd.”

I smiled at Kurtis. He snarled, his eyes glared red.

“You need to have more respect for the master, Cuz,” Kurtis said.

“He’s your master, eh? I don’t know if you know this, Kurtis….but slavery ended a while ago.”

Kurtis growled, extended his hands, and closed them slowly. I felt this horrible pain in my left arm, shortness of breath. He kept squeezing at the air, straining as if he held a stress relief rubber ball. I fell to my knees, fighting for air, nearly passing out.

I could see darkness invading. Then, suddenly, just as fast, my eyes refocused. The pain in my chest was gone, the tightness was gone. My breathing became normal again.

“What the fuck was that?” I stood, wobbly, trying to catch my breath.

“That, bra,” Kurtis said, grinning widely. “What you get when you fuck with Mr. Connolly. Bitch.”

Connolly stood, chuckled. “I know you would like to know why I am here.” He buttoned his suit jacket. “I would like you to find out who set me up. I did not kill my wife.”

“I saw you—”

“Mr. Chambers, I am a little confused by your denial of the oddities that occur in your life. You’ve witnessed too much to keep thinking the supernatural doesn’t exist. Spells can be spoken to change appearances. I also wish for you to find her soul. It is wandering aimlessly. She needs to find peace. I…..owe her that much. I did…love her at one time.”

“Why?” I said. “Why do you care? The cops don’t even care about the murder charge.”

Connolly swallowed hard. “I can’t go home. I cannot enter my own house and hang my hat, so to speak. As long as my master believes I am guilty of using my power frivolously such as a tedious murder for no gain, I am doomed to wander.

“I am…tired, Mr. Chambers. I want to go home.”

“I don’t want to do this, Connolly. I need to get out of this damned town. Get away from the weird. Lead a normal life.”

Connolly made a face, cleared his throat. “If you don’t do this,” He nodded to Kurtis to walk ahead of him. “Kurtis will use that trick again. Two more times, Chambers, and you’re dead.”

I know who set Connolly up. Maggie did. Now how do I keep from knowing this?

 I went to G’nal for my problem.

There was Little Jimmy, hawking those newspapers, walking up and down the sidewalk. He saw me and laughed. A guy in a green and white coat handed Jimmy a buck and Jimmy handed him a paper.

“Chambers, how does it go?” He said.

I took another long drag from my cigarette, blew smoke in the opposite direction from me. “Connolly is back in town,” I said dryly.

“So what?”  Jimmy handed a woman a paper and took her dollar with the other hand, placing it in the pocket of his blue jeans.

“Look, it’s not a good thing he’s back. He has me doing a task for him.”

“No way,” Jimmy grinned. “I would think he’d try to kill your ass.”

“He did that, too,” I told him.

Jimmy laughed again, slapped his knee.

“I’m glad you find my problem so hilarious.”

“Oh, Chambers, your life is always a comedy of errors.”

I sighed, flicked the cigarette from my fingers. “Ain’t that a fact?”  I looked away, rubbed my left eye. “I need to speak with G’nal.”

“You think that’s a good idea?”  Jimmy said. “You owe him a few souls, Chambers. He’s real fuckin’ mad at you.”

“I will get him some, okay. Just bring him to me.”

“Oh, man. He heard you were running with those Donaldson boys. He don’t like that affiliation.”

“The Donaldson boys are dead,” I said.

“Come on, Chambers. G’nal ain’t dumb.”

  “Just bring him, will ya?” I demanded.

In an instant, I was caught up in a cloud of black smoke. G’nal was staring at me with those burnt umber eyes. All I could do was fight the urge to piss my pants staring him down nowadays.

“What is it you want, Peter Chambers?” His booming voice still gave me a headache.

“G’nal, old friend…”

“The souls you owe me, per our agreement, give them to me.”

“I will, I swear, but I need help. Information, maybe?”

“Get me the souls—”

“Wait. I can do that. Uh, can you take redistributed souls?”

“I’m listening,” G’nal said.

“I know you don’t like the Donaldson boys… I can get them for you.”

There was a moment of silence. I was afraid he was going to strike me down or something. Maybe turn me into a statue or twist my head backward.

“I want another as well,” He said. “I want Connolly.”

“You’re kidding?”

“I want him badly, Chambers. Give him to me, and I will let you out of our contract. Along with the Donaldson family.”

“What did he do?”  I was taking pleasure in knowing about Connolly’s hardships.

“He broke our contract. In order to get out of it, he was to find a replacement—”

“Me,” I said coldly.

  “But he never brought me the Grimoir. The book that was stolen from me by the Nightshade syndicate.”

“Yeah. I’ll bring you Connolly,” And that prick Kurtis, I thought. “Now I need you to show me where that gold necklace is, and who stole it. I need to get Maggie’s soul back.”

“Go to Lexington and Dim. You’ll be surprised.” G’nal said.

“Pleasantly or….?”

“Hmmm…That depends on your way of looking at things.”

The black smoke cleared.

I was back on the street hearing Little Jimmy call out to potential customers to buy papers.

~2~

I saw her cross the street at Lexington and Dim. Behind her, a green mist formed and seemed to follow her as she walked like a cat on the prowl.

I was on that side of town collecting a few scores for Mickey and his boys. Okay, okay. You don’t have to remind me that the entire Donaldson family died a very bloody and violent death five years ago when Skeeter Sanchez had six of his men gun down everyone at Mickey’s house, including his ninety-year-old mother and his wife, kids, and the three goons who were his brothers. It all happened on New Year’s Eve, a party Mickey was throwing.

The Donaldson family ran this town. Sanchez took over.

Then he died when the Yo family hid a bomb under his Escalade. Then Yo and his crew died in a gunfight with the cops.

Supposedly, there were no more crime families in this city. Boy, was that a lie. They are still here.

And here I am collecting insurance money for them. Insurance that any living person and their loved ones would not come to harm through supernatural means.

And how did I get roped into this sort of thing?

I’ll explain that in a few.

But now, I have to say, as weird as it is being a runner for dead Mafioso, seeing a live person that resembles your dead lover is even weirder.

I couldn’t believe it.

I’ve been living with Maggie’s ghost for the better part of the year. She was murdered by her husband, who has the police force in his pocketbook. Maggie was everything to me. Her death had caused my self-appointed exile from demons, the supernatural, and any of that crazy shit. I find out later she’d cast a spell, creating a fake Connolly to murder her and be with me forever. At least her ghost told me that.

This woman had yellow hair, but I knew it was Maggie. She carried herself exactly like her. She wore long flowing dresses just as Maggie did.  

And when I was close to her, walking on the sidewalk, I could smell apricots. She wore sunglasses, but when I bumped into her on purpose and knocked her purse out of my hands; she took them off.

Behind those piercing blue eyes, I saw Maggie.

The parting of the lips before she spoke, hand on her hips. She ripped into me.

“The hell is wrong with you?” She screamed at me as I bent down to retrieve her purse. “You act like you’re blind or something.”

“I’m sorry,” I told her. When I heard her voice, my heart fluttered. “I don’t know where my head is.”

“Give that to me!” She snatched her purse from me. “A fuckin’ thief for all I know.” She walked away toward an apartment building that was more idealistic for strung-out druggies than a woman looking like a woman who wore Vanessa Bruno dresses.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of her as she pushed her way through two young girls up those concrete stairs and into that building with chipped paint.

I took her wallet out of my coat pocket. I had stolen it from her purse when she was busy screaming at me. I opened it up and saw her driver’s license. Leni Marino was her name. According to the license, the building she entered was her home.

I stayed out in front of her building another half hour to see if she left. All I saw was two homeless men fight over a box of unfrozen fish sticks one of them had found in the garbage can.

I knew where I was going to be tomorrow morning.

I was asleep by the trash cans across the street from Leni’s apartment when some shook me awake. When my eyes adjusted to the bright street light, I found no one around. But I heard a voice.

“Wake the fuck up, Chambers.” The gruff voice said.

I sat up, looked around. “Who—?”

A force took hold of me and tossed me into the trash cans, knocking them over, littering the street in the process. I shook off the pain in my shoulders and head. I tried to stand and was struck on the chin. I fell hard on the concrete sidewalk.

I decided to stay put. I couldn’t see my opponent. Plus he was a lot better at fighting than I was.

Finally, they appeared.

Four men dressed in blue pinstripe suits standing from left to right, small to big, against a brick wall.

Four of the Donaldson brothers, Henry, Boyd, Dermott, and Sean. Sean, when he was alive, was the one to worry about. He didn’t give a shit about anything or anyone. Didn’t need a reason to pluck out your eyes.

“Where’s my money, Chambers?” Henry said. He was the smallest of the brothers, the oldest, and the one who ran the crew.  Henry and I had run a few real estate scams a few years ago. We were doing okay until Boyd got too greasy with the money, invested in a crap game with the Lo family, which ultimately ended their human lifespans.

Boyd stood there, quietly smoking a cigarette.

“Surprised to see us, asshole?” Sean said and laughed, punching Dermott in the arm. Dermott rolled his eyes, tried hard not to say anything to start infighting.

“I’m sorry, guys. I missed the pickup. I’ll make it up to you. I swear.” I fumbled my words, slowly picking myself up.

Sean kicked me in the midsection and I fell to my knees, gasping for air. Sean burst into a fidgety laugh and belted me again with an open hand. It seemed the more he beat me, the more he got excited and the more he found my pain to be a cavalcade of comedy.

“Enough!” Henry ordered. Sean backed away, still giggling. He pushed Dermott out of his way. “You’re gonna go collect that money, Chambers and you’re gonna do it now. Or I’ll let Sean stick his tongue in your ear and taste your brains.”

“You let that dung head not pay this time. He thinks we’re soft and he can negotiate. No way, Jack. “Dermott said in an effeminate whisper. “Go to the club and get that dough, Chambers. If he refuses, we’ll know, and you can be sure, Dougie won’t be running the poon club anymore.”

“Okay, Dermott,” I said and tried to stand, wheezing. “I’m really sorry, Henry.”

“Yeah…you miss another payoff and you really will be sorry!” Henry said. He faded out, then one by one, his brothers were gone.

I went to the Pleasure Palace on Hyde Street. Talk about seedy. I always hate going to Hyde, you’ve got people literally sleeping in the middle of intersections. When I decided to walk away from everything, live on the streets, I made damn sure I stayed away from Hyde. There are other reasons, too. It seems something, or someone, has been snatching homeless or even those that are lost. I heard a rumor it was a shadow of some sort.  It swallows you whole, spits you out, and leaves your bones in a pile of puke in an empty alley.

Nope. Don’t wanna go out like that.

Smoke filled the place, and the smell of Pine-Sol invaded my burning nostrils. I guess you have to keep a strip joint clean, although I’ve been to places where you have to step over a guy puking his brains out just to get inside.

~3~

It was still early in the day, and there were maybe three guys watching a girl dressed like a nurse showing her ribcage to any and all.

“Chambers,” Barb smiled, her discolored teeth falling over her perfect bottom lip. Barb had a little speech impediment. Sometimes she stammered. Some guys think it’s a turn-off. I feel a little sorry for her. I believe she’d always wanted to be married and raise kids. Looks like the dancing and a long string of bad relationships had prevented that one small dream.

Barb was the manager and sometimes filled in as a dancer. She was probably a looker in her day if she hadn’t started her chemical romance years before. She tossed her brown locks over her right shoulder and took my arm under hers.

“Been waiting for your call, Pete,” She whispered in my ear. “I like Chinese food.”

I smiled back, shrugged. “Haven’t had much of an appetite for Chinese lately, Barb. Is Dougie here? Need to talk to him. It’s—uh–urgent. Actually, life-threatening.”

“You–you can’t be serious, Chambers,” Barb took a glass of bourbon from a tray as one of her waitresses glided by. She threw back her head and gulped it down. “Dougie hardly comes to work since he took up with that woman.”

“Dougie has a new girl?” I asked. There was a tinge of discomfort in my voice. Just thinking of anyone having sex with that toad turns my stomach. But Dougie has a lot of money through connections with the Donaldson’s.  His uncle ran this temple of sin before him and made fast friends with local scum. But his uncle Frankie was not a smart man. He was skimming from the Donaldson’s. Which resulted in Uncle Frankie being found in the street missing his skin. Dougie is in a lifetime debt with the Donaldson boys.

“Yes, a new girl. A blond-haired bitch…and I mean a bitch with a capital B. He stays in that musky apartment all the time.” Barb spit the last of the bourbon back into her glass and slammed it on an empty table as she walked toward the office in the back of the club.

Barb pushed the door to the office open. She stopped, smiled, and looked ruttish.  “You–you wanna…. come…. inside?”

I cleared my voice. Gave her my best, aw-shucks. “I can’t, Barb. Honestly. I mean I will take a rain check.  I swear to you I will call you sometime.”

Her face became flushed, anger filled her eyes. “Just as well,” She said and went into the office. “Why would I think my life could get any better?”

“I-uh- where does Dougie live? I really need to talk to him?”

I could see in her eyes she considered telling me to fuck off. Her nostrils flared, she parted her lips slightly, pushing air out of them in a huff. “22 Lexington and Dim. Going to come….inside Dougie’s place, Chambers?”

With that statement, she slammed the office door in my face.

22 Lexington and Dim?

That was where Leni Marino lived.

Ain’t that a kick in the head?

~4~

I was standing out in front of Leni Marino’s apartment and noticed a green mist surrounding the complex. It was a strange green mist that enveloped the run-down building in some sort of odd force field. Whenever anyone passed through it, they were lifted up in the air and carried out of the mist as quickly as they entered.

I decided to drop in on Dougie by way of the liquor store next door. I went behind the two buildings and discovered they shared a fire escape. I climbed the fire escape to the top of the apartment building. There was a roof hatch and the hatch was unclasped, probably having some work done on the roof recently.

I climbed down a damp ladder with broken rungs. Note to self: don’t climb ladders with broken or missing rungs.

Inside the apartment, there was a strange feeling that I was moving in slow motion. The hands on all the clocks inched so slowly to their destination. The numbers on the digital clocks stopped completely. I glided through the rooms, my feet feeling heavy. Then I saw Dougie.

He was sitting at the kitchen table, a corpse slowly rotting. His hands were holding a spoon resting in a bowl of curdled corn flakes. His face was frozen in a mix of confusion and pain. Right in the middle of his forehead was a bullet hole large enough for a small animal to make a home. Flies buzzed around stuck in molasses.

The smell of death was overcome with a powerful chemical smell, burning the hairs in my nostrils. I felt sick to my stomach with the everlasting feeling I was going to blow chunks.

I was able to get inside through an unlocked window. The lights were out, but that green mist was in there, too, and the apartment was illuminated with a green glow. I stayed clear of it, staying close to the walls. I went into the living room. The TV was on, but it was stuck on one picture of a man in a suit reading the news. The man was talking slowly as if he was in permanent slow motion.

That was exactly how the pedestrians walked outside the building when they were caught in the stream of that green mist.

I walked cautiously past the TV, and in the hallway toward the dining room. I stopped dead in my tracks. I saw someone sitting at the table. I swallowed hard. I had to push on. It looked like a man and I needed to talk to Dougie about the money he owed the Donaldson boys.

Staying to the side of the mist, I headed into the dining room. The man at the table never moved. Not once.  Curious. I took another step closer, ducked underneath the green mist. I was stunned.

It was Dougie.

~5~

He was sitting straight, his eyes were wide open….a death stare. He was shirtless, his huge gut lay on the tabletop, and long skinny arms rested beside a plate of untouched sausages. His mouth was left gaping, that green mist exiting his pink-blue lips. In the middle of his forehead was a large black hole with caked blood around the wound. It was also dried where it had streamed down his face to shirt lapel, where it was still dripping as if it was fresh.

I backed away slowly.  No way in hell I wanted to get caught in there by anyone else, let alone the one who shot Dougie. What the fuck? Why was there green mist coming from his mouth? Was he dead?

Whoa. I just remembered something I had read in the Grimoire. Yeah, Dougie was dead, alright. Just not a human. He was a Grievel. They were a demon that took human presence when they were here on earth. Basically, they stole souls at the time of a person’s death and sold them to the highest bidder.

I couldn’t wait around and try to fit pieces to the puzzle, especially if the damn pieces didn’t fit anywhere.

Just as I was climbing out of the window, I heard a noise. It came from the closet in the hallway. Again, staying close to the walls to avoid the mist, the shirt on my back scaled the plaster, pieces fell to the hardwood floor.  A Scratching sound was still coming from the closet. I took a deep breath and flung the door open. I threw my arms up, expecting a horrible creature to burst out and rip my head off.

No, instead it was a sandy-haired young man in his twenties, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and ripped blue jeans, black boots. His arms were tied behind his back and his legs duct-taped together at the ankles. He was gagged with the same black duct tape.

It was my kid brother, Kevin.

I bent down and tore off the duct tape from his mouth. He screamed and cursed. His upper lip stiffened and there was hate oozing from those Steele blue eyes.

“Untie me, you peckerwood!” He shouted.

I smiled. “Hello, little brother.”

We were back at the bungalow, having vodka and orange juice. I hadn’t seen Kevin in six years. He had changed. The long hair and chin stubble was gone. He was dressing down, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and track pants. He was sitting on my couch, drinking my vodka and orange juice, looking at me with so much contempt. We must’ve sat there, not talking, for an hour.

Finally, I had to say something.

“What were you doing in that place, Kevin?” I drank it all down and started chewing the ice.

“I can ask the same of you, Pete.” He cleared his throat. 

“Kev, now is not the time to start up old shit, okay?” I told him, moving closer to him.

“And now is not the time to try to build a relationship with your only brother.” He stood, slammed the tumbler on the coffee table. “I have to go. I have business elsewhere.”

“Hold it,” I stood, putting my hands on his shoulders. He turned like he was going to hit me. “That wouldn’t be wise,” I told him. “I can still dropkick you through that window, little brother.”

“We’re not ten and twelve anymore, Pete!” He backed off, but his tone was still loud. “You can’t bully me into doing things anymore.”

“Kevin,” I gathered my composure, rubbed my aching head with a hand. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. This is all weird crap…I’m telling you.”

Kevin considered what I said for a few minutes. Then he nodded and sat back down. 

“What were you doing in that apartment, tied up?” I went to the bar with both tumblers, refilled them with vodka and orange juice.

“I came here and stole a few pieces of cheap jewelry from you. I was meeting someone in an alley behind the hospital. After that, I don’t remember much.” He said. “I’m sorry I did that.”

I handed him back his glass. I stared at him for a moment. “No,” I said.

“What?” he was perplexed.

“That’s not the whole story.”

Kevin looked away, wiped his chin with a weary hand. “A lot of weird things have been happening to me since I came back to this town.”  He said. “I don’t feel like I have control over what I’m doing. Actually, I don’t even know why I’m here in this city. I left Becky and my business across the water in Davenport…I don’t understand anything.”

“You said you were hired to steal something from me. Was it a box?” I finished off my drink and stood. I took his glass, placed them with mine on the bar. 

“Yeah. I took it. There wasn’t anything in it. I mean, I opened it and I felt dizzy…kind of like I had lost time. I think I did, I saw this woman, this brown-haired woman hovering above me. I reached for her and she disappeared. I came-to. I must’ve lost a good hour and a half.”

“Who hired you, Kev?”

“That’s the thing. I didn’t get any money, per se. I called my business partner. He said I’d been gone for two weeks. Then he said the furniture store had picked it up. We were out of debt. Just like that. He said Becky was going nuts looking for me. I told him where I was and to tell her, too.”

“Who hired you?” I reiterated. 

“I don’t know their names. An older white guy, dressed like he had money. With him this freaky looking black guy with no pupils in his eyes.”

I smiled, nodded.

“You know them?” Kevin asked.

“Oh yeah.” I said, “Only too good, brother.”

“I was going to the place to meet them,” Kevin said. “The apartment you found me in. They weren’t there, Pete. This other guy was there. He called himself Dougie.  He pulled a piece on me, took the jewelry box from me. He opened it up, saw the gold locket. He opened it and we both felt dizzy. He didn’t black out like I did. Before I did, I saw this green mist form in the apartment. A couple of times I came to, I heard voices…a woman’s and two other men. Next thing I know, you found me.”

I sighed deeply. I walked over to my desk, took a small skeleton key from my pocket, and unlocked a drawer. I opened it harshly and pulled an old weather-beaten book from the drawer. The pages were yellow, almost turning brown. The words in that book were all handwritten with ink made from the skin of a dragon and tears of a newborn babe. 

It was the Spellcaster.

“What’s that? A scrapbook?” Kevin asked.

I smiled. “It’s a book, all right, Kev. The pages are made from the skin of a thousand damned men. So, in a manner of speaking, yes. Yes, it is a scrapbook of sorts.”

 I thought for a minute. “You heard a woman’s voice?” 

“Yeah,” Kevin said. “What are you going to do with that—-book?”

“Hold on. Two men’s voices?”

“Yeah. I think it was the guys I was supposed to meet. But I’m not sure.”

“Did she kind of have a small stammer?”

“Yeah…she did repeat herself some.”

Why didn’t I see this coming?

~6~

Barb and Collins are working together. What are they after and why did they kill Dougie? What the hell was Dougie going to do with Kevin? Something wasn’t right. I needed to go see Barb.

I left Kevin sleeping at my place and went back to the club at closing time. The place was completely empty. Which was strange. Dougie always had a bouncer around in case of robbery. I guess Barb didn’t know the business as well as she thought.

I walked through the front door, it was unlocked, no alarms. I saw the green mist rise up around the bar and take over the stage. It hadn’t reached the back office yet, so I rushed to get there, knocking over chairs and tables.

There was Barb, lying on top of the desk in the office. Her blouse was open, breasts exposed and her skirt up around her waist. Fear was in those bulging eyes, a trickle of blood came from her slacken mouth. Her neck had been broken.

I saw the mist coming toward me. I hopped up on the swivel chair behind the desk and climbed a bookshelf to the left as high as I could go without the thing tumbling down.

The mist covered Barb’s body, levitating it. The mist moved out of the office, carrying Barb with it.

I watched it take Barb’s limp body out of the office and into the bar, past the dance room and poles. I waited for it to completely dissipate, then I followed it. It took Barb out of an open window that led to an alley behind the club.

At the end of the alley, a shred of moonlight shone through a starless sky. The light cast on a strange woman in a cloak. She was standing there, her arm extended, her hand moved to control mist, bringing Barb’s body toward the woman.

I was afraid to go any further. So I hid behind a brick wall that surrounded a school. The woman brought the mist and Barb’s body to stand still. With her other hand turning counter-clockwise she created a window to another world. This window opened and the sounds of the tortured-from-beyond were like a horrible chorus. A blast of moans and yelps of excruciating pain.

She slowly pulled the mist and Barb inside that other world. The woman turned her hand clockwise and the window closed. A new green mist rose from under the woman’s feet. It elevated her in the air, then carried her away into the darkness.

I gasped, sat on the cold sidewalk, and rested my head on the brick wall. What the hell was that?

I needed consultation.

I had to go back to G’nal.

“You back again?” little Jimmy said. “Can’t you do nothin’ for yourself?”

“Cut the shit, Jimmy.” There was harshness in my voice. Jimmy stopped stacking newspapers and paid attention to me.

“Okay, okay, Chambers. Chill,” He said.

“Just get him out here, no more lip.”

In an instant, my surroundings had changed. A cloud of thick black smoke appeared and a nine-foot demon stood in front of me.

G’nal appeared. He didn’t look happy that I had called him out again.

“What do you want? I am in the middle of—“

“G’nal, I am troubled,” I bowed my head. This always seems to calm him. It wasn’t far from the truth, I was troubled.

The tension eased. Still, I could feel his reluctance to be queried by me.

“It’s Connolly,” I said.

‘What about him?” G’nal growled.

“He plans on opening the portal for all of Hell to enter the city.”

“Why would he do this?” G’nal asked, concern was in his voice. “The time isn’t right.”

“Whatever this thing is—it has green mist on the city to collect souls—“

“Moira,” G’nal whispered. “She is the green death, collector of souls. Whoever calls forth Moira controls the portal to Hell. “

“That’s why I have come to you for help. How do I rid this green death?”

“You can’t,” G’nal said. “You change her direction. Turn her back to Hell.”

“And how would I do that?”

“You start a war,” G’nal smirked.

“A war? Between….?” I just realized what G’nal was talking about.

~7~

I ended up at the Donaldson brothers’ place, an authentic Irish pub, the only business on Spencer Street that wasn’t a shithole. I knew for a fact they kept everyone down because I was the one taking their money and giving it to the Donaldson’s for protection.

When I went in, I noticed all the pub’s patrons were the kind of people who could pass through walls. All the old crooks from yesteryear were there, sitting at tables, drinking and swearing, sharing stories from days when a cop could be bribed and concrete shoes were one-size-fits-all.

I saw Skip Benson at the bar. He was a notorious con artist and a lady killer, literally. He was hung in 1939 for strangling twelve misguided ladies and he wore that horrible rope burn well.

To his left was Rocco Granite, a man who was a strong arm for most of the crime families in the early fifties. He hated cops more than anyone. He killed six in one night, and almost got away with it. He went to see a girlfriend who happened to be the wife of the police captain.  

But I wasn’t there to see long-dead crooks with an interesting backstory. I was there to tell some lies and hopefully not get killed for them.

“What are you doing here, Chambers?” Dermott said, laughing wildly. “You should be hiding your sorry ass and praying we don’t kill you for not paying again!”

Sean motioned toward me quickly, I put my hands up and said: “Take it easy, friend. I’m here to warn you.”

Sean stopped in his tracks. He looked over at his brothers, a little confused. Henry waved his hand. He looked disgusted at me. He nodded. “Go ahead, punk. Make your statement quick.”

I sighed. My God, I thought. Every time I step one foot closer to these guys I put one foot in the grave.

“You know, uh, how I pledged allegiance to G’nal?”

“We know your back history, Peter,” Henry said. “Get on with it.”

“Okay, okay. Well. He’s given Connolly the go-ahead to open the portal to Hell.” I said. Boy was I scared they would detect that I was lying. Usually, I’m very good at it. But in their presence, my nerves are frazzled.

Henry stood, kicked his chair out of the way. He unbuttoned his jacket. “Why would he do that, Mr. Chambers?” He said through clenched teeth. As scary as his brothers were, Henry, usually level-headed, was the most frightening person—dead or alive—I’ve ever encountered. I really believe it’s because he reminded me of my old man. Cool, calm, until provoked.

“He thinks the time is right?” I wasn’t sure about the answer and I expected to get hit by some terrible force.

Boyd stood, then Dermott. They lined themselves behind Henry. Henry spat on the floor. “That’s not a wise decision, at all.” Henry choked back his anger. 

“You want me to pull his brains out through his ears, Henry?” Sean growled.

Henry smiled faintly.”Ohhh. That would be…heaven, my brother to watch such a vile act performed on Chambers.” He stepped toward me, Boyd and Dermott followed him. “Right now,” Henry cocked his head to the left, then the right, and there was a rattle of bones as if someone was playing the xylophone.

“Look,” I chuckled nervously. “I’m just a messenger.”

Sean laughed maniacally, slapping his legs with his hands. Dermott and Boyd looked at each other, trying to figure out what was so funny.

“Shut up, Sean,” Henry screamed. He calmed himself just enough to speak again. “Chambers, you know fucking well that the portal to Hell belongs to the Donaldson’s. We promised the Lords we would not open that portal. We do not want the good citizens of the city to mingle with those in Hell. It is a part of the deal that our spirits are allowed to roam the city without hassle.”

“I’m sorry, Henry. That’s what G’nal has decided. Connolly gets the portal and he gets to open it.”

“Sean,” Henry said. “I wanna see that trick with Chambers’ brains coming out of his ears.”

Just as Sean approached me, a demon the size of a small dog leaped out of nowhere biting Sean in the face. They fell over backward on the floor. Sean screamed in agony and tried with no luck to pull the demon off. In mere seconds the whole place was overrun by these small demons, attacking not only the rest of the Donaldsons but the ghostly patrons as well. I took that as my cue and disappeared into an alley behind the bar. I saw one of Henry Donaldson’s cronies being chased by a demon. The crony turned and threw a ball of sulfur at the demon. The demon exploded. Bits and pieces of it filled the air along with black smoke.

I heard breathing behind me. I turned and found no one behind me.  Something grabbed me by my shirt collar and threw me against a brick wall. I felt a rib crack and I wailed in agony. Just for a second, I saw the face of a woman, eyes bulging out, teeth clenched—the angriest face I had ever seen. She screamed in my face and pummeled me in the chest.

I fell to my knees, wishing I was dead. I closed my eyes, expecting to be ripped to shreds by this angry spirit. I waited for a minute. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw a demon that was just a torso devouring a young woman, who now was quickly turning into a rotting corpse.

I jumped up and ran as fast as I could, hoping to avoid anyone or anything. I headed back to the bungalow, which luckily, was only a few blocks away.

I pushed open the front door and saw Kurtis holding down Kevin, his left hand clamped over Kevin’s chest. I could see the life fade from Kevin’s eyes. Connolly was seated on the couch behind them. Kurtis’s nostrils were flared, his top lip curled in a ghastly smile.

“Don’t,” I begged. Tears welled up in my eyes. “Please…” I looked over at Connolly. “Call him off ….please, Connolly.”

“I want to thank you,” Connolly said. “I want to thank you for bringing me to the one who caused me all those troubles.”

“Kevin didn’t…he didn’t frame you…” It was on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to scream IT WAS MAGGIE WHO SET YOU UP, YOU FUCKHEAD! But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to betray her.  “It was the Donaldson brothers.” I blurted out, fell to my knees. “Please…let him go, Kurtis….”

“I wish this was you, Chambers. I want you dead so bad…”

Connolly stood. “Shhh….” He said to Kurtis. His ears were pricked up. He listened. He looked at me. “Why would they set me up?”

“They want to open the portal without your consent,” I said automatically, no feeling whatsoever. “Get you out of the way. G’nal is double pissed at you.”

“What?” He trembled slightly. “There is protocol…I can’t be touched. There has to be a trial,” Connolly began to weep.

“I don’t know about that,” I shrugged. “G’nal asked for special permission from the Donaldson brothers. They gave their permission.”

“Why?” He heaved, tears streaked his cheeks. “I swear I didn’t know what Dougie was doing. He brought her here… the Gatekeeper. The Green death!”

I heard the growls before I saw two small demons tackle Kurtis. Kurtis screamed as they tumbled over each other. They were tearing into him, one with their teeth embedded into Kurtis’ neck, the other was working on his chest, peeling away his wife beater, then the flesh, digging its way to his heart.

The room was filled with black smoke. G’nal appeared. G’nal extended a hand and Connolly was raised in the air. G’nal moved his fingers and Connolly was brought into his grips. I heard Connolly beg and then I heard G’nal laugh. The black smoke was gone. So too was G’nal and Connolly.

I went over to Kevin, helped him to the couch. Life was returning to his eyes slowly. He reached into his pocket and handed me the gold locket.

I opened it, but Maggie didn’t appear.

I knew she wouldn’t. I had to try in spite of it. I knew where she was. 

The next day I noticed the green mist was gone. I was on 22 Lexington and Dim. I watched Leni Marino glide down the street to her new life. I decided I would keep a watch on her now and then.

Nothing wrong with that, is it?