AN: Señor bendícenos = Lord bless us
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CHAPTER 6
Voices in the Dark
Eliot sat on the floor with his back braced against the couch in Julio's living room. He'd planned on calling Julio but when he'd walked out onto the loading dock to use his cell, he'd just kept walking.
Chrissa had answered the door and let him in without hesitation, but Julio wasn't home. She'd sent a quick text to Julio and assured Eliot that Julio would be home soon and led the way upstairs to their living room. He'd stood around in the middle of the room but couldn't settle.
"Here." Chrissa stood in front of him and gestured to a spot on the floor in front of the couch. "You can sit on the edge of the couch or the floor.
He tilted his head a little and a small frown creased his eyebrows.
"Julio says it helps to have something solid underneath him. The couch is too soft but in the winter his knees don't like getting off the floor."
Eliot nodded and sat on the edge of the couch. After a moment, he settled to the floor so the he could feel the solid bulk of the couch behind him. He noticed Chrissa tug the armchair a little to the side so that he could clearly see the front door and then she moved to the window in front of him and moved a plant on its stand to the side so that he had a clear path to the window. She settled deeply into the armchair and kept her hands on the arms of the chair.
"Julio said he'd be home in a few minutes." She smiled. "Do you need anything else?"
Eliot shook his head. "How, why…?" He looked from the door to the window trying to figure out how to ask how she had known to do what she did.
"Sometimes Julio will wake from a nightmare or something else during the day will trigger something for him. It's not exactly a panic attack or a flashback, he just ends up feeling spooked, and it helps if he's got a line of sight on at least two exits and is sitting on something solid." She shrugged. "You had that same look."
"Had or have?" It had been a while since he'd felt like this. He felt a push in the bonds and accepted the complex feeling of safety, comfort, courage, and peace.
"I'm sure it will fade." She looked sympathetic. "Do you know what did it? Sometimes it helps Julio if he can identify what did it and why."
"The witches. Talking with Ms. Teo about the witches." Eliot took a long, deep calming breath.
"It's just me." Julio called before he opened the door slowly. He saw Eliot sitting on the floor in front of the couch. He went to the kitchen and brought back a couple of beers. He kissed Chrissa's cheek and moved to sit on the floor next to Eliot. He handed Eliot a beer and sat there with him for a moment.
"Eliot was just telling me what spooked him." Chrissa pulled her legs up to curl in the armchair.
"The witches." Eliot glanced to the side at Julio. "We'd decided to help them. They're trying to improve themselves and that means something to us." As a group of thieves and hitmen, someone trying to be better than they were and put old ways behind them, it really resonated with them. "I still didn't trust them and I know they are evil so I went in to talk to them alone. They said they wanted to tell me a story." He frowned and a shiver rolled through him.
"But?" Julio gripped Eliot's shoulder firmly.
"But they didn't use words. I don't know exactly what they did but it was like I was there. They showed me what they used to do. It was so much worse than the stories." He took a long swallow of beer.
"Why would they show you that?" Chrissa leaned a little forward.
"I don't think they could hide what they had done and make me understand how Ghould came to be. He was a mist at first and he fed off of people who were grieving. It aged them, made them sick. Sometimes they died. The mist got stronger and became a man."
"Señor bendícenos." Chrissa whispered.
Eliot nodded at her.
Julio frowned in thought and Eliot noticed the look of concentration on his face. Julio sipped his own beer. "I thought you said it was a land grab."
"Yep. Ghould is buying up the whole block and doing his best to run the witches off."
"It sounds like he was using the aftermath of what they did to get what he needed. So why would he want to get rid of them?" Julio mused and took another sip of beer.
Eliot smiled a cold smile. "When I started working for the PMCs I got a reputation for wetwork. There were a lot of people who wanted me for what I could do. When I stopped doing that and tried to make a name as a retrieval specialist there were a lot of old clients that tried to put me in a position where killing was the only option." He took a swallow of his beer. "I'm sure that's what's going on here."
"I don't follow." Julio frowned.
"The witches have been bound to the place they are now and something about that means that they aren't killing people anymore. They are blending in with the neighborhood." He gave Julio a nudge with his elbow. "You were right. Hardison went back as far as he could and crime has been lower in their neighborhood than it has in the rest of the city for decades."
"So if they leave, they start killing people again?" Chrissa summarized.
"Right." Eliot growled.
"You need a Scooby snack to go with the beer?" Julio quirked an eyebrow when he heard the more than human growl rumble in Eliot's chest.
Eliot spit beer as he laughed. He couldn't help it as the laugh of surprise grew to full on hilarity as the tension from earlier broke. He'd thrown his head back and as the laughter died away, he slumped against the couch with a groan. "Thanks man. That was exactly what I needed."
"Were you just needing a sounding board when you came by?" Chrissa picked up Eliot and Julio's empty bottles and took them to the kitchen.
"Not exactly. At least I hadn't thought so until now. Anyway, I'd already talked with Ms. Teo about what happened, and she said that I should wear the gris gris bag she had given me and come and talk to you because she didn't know what to do about a ghoul other than call a priest."
"But since you don't know a priest, you thought a pastor would do?" Julio gave him a half smile.
"I talked to a priest friend of Nate's, and Father Paul said that the Catholic Church didn't believe in ghouls as such, but that they do believe in demons and demon possession. He said that a priest could perform and exorcism on a place or person, but the church needed extensive proof before they would act." Eliot sighed. "I don't think we have that kind of time or proof."
"I've never been a part of an exorcism. But I have an idea." Julio smiled.
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Eliot and Quinn carried a heavy collapsible table down the street to line up with a couple of others that they'd put up already.
"What are we doing again?" Quinn asked as he walked slowly backward.
"A fall block party and prayer walk." Eliot smiled at an older woman who had come out to watch them.
"And what on earth does this have to do with the job?" Quinn flipped down the table legs on his end of the table and locked them in place before they flipped the table upright and lined it up with the last table they'd set up.
"What I learned from the witches is that the ghoul feeds on people's grief and…"
"Not too many people grieving when there's free food." Hardison commented as he went past with a cooler of drinks.
"How does the prayer thingy work?" Parker asked as she walked with Eliot and Quinn back to the van. "Do they take the prayers for a walk like you would walk a dog?"
"Kinda." Chrissa smiled. "You walk and you pray at the same time." She was waiting by the van and pulled Eliot into a hug when he got close. She hugged Parker and Quinn in turn.
"Why would you do that?" Parker looked back and forth between Chrissa and Eliot.
"Because the prayers of a righteous man avail much." Julio joined the group.
Parker looked at Eliot.
"Means it'll get the job done." Eliot pulled Parker into his side with and arm around her shoulders. "You and Hardison get everything nailed down?"
"Yep." Parker took Hardison's hand as he walked up.
"Brian and some of the other staff that were willing are coming to help. Overtime pay, but if we can wrap this up it'll be worth it." Hardison rocked on his heels with his other hand in his pocket.
In no time more people from the neighborhood came out and it went from a few random tables set up on the sidewalk to an actual party. There had been several members from Julio's church that lived nearby and others from the church came as well. Eliot leaned against the corner of the van and watched for a few minutes.
His phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket. Gemma's happy face showed on the caller id. "Hey darlin'."
"Hardison says I'm missing quite the party."
"Really? When did he tell you that?"
"Just a minute ago." She smiled at the rumble of his voice. "He said everyone was having a great time except for one poor wallflower who was hanging around the van all by himself."
Eliot chuckled. "I'm surprised he could say anything with his mouth full of burger. Gotta be the third burger already."
"So why aren't you over there having a burger with him?"
"Just keeping an eye on things."
"That's all?" She wished she was there so she could see his face. "It's not the thing with the witches still upsetting you is it?"
"A little. It stirred up a lot of old memories and gifted me with some horrors from the witches' memories. It'll just take some time to really settle."
"What kind of memories?"
"The kind I don't want to talk about if I don't have to." He remembered how it had felt when Gemma had told him there were things she didn't want to talk about over the phone. "I've told you that I've done some bad things and I'm gonna talk with you about them. I just don't want to talk about them over the phone."
"That's okay. I'll admit that I wondered what you meant by that but I don't want past things to get in the way of things now. So we'll talk. But right now you need to quit being a wallflower and go and enjoy your pack. They're worried about you."
"Did Hardison say that?"
"No. But three texts from Quinn, a video call from Hardison, and over a dozen texts from Parker makes it pretty clear that they're worried."
"I know. I can feel it." He frowned. "I just don't know what to tell them."
"Don't tell them anything. Just be with them. Go and hang out and enjoy your friends."
"Okay." He smiled.
"I miss you."
"Miss you too."
"Call me later."
"Okay."
She hung up and he slid his phone into his pocket and went to join his pack. Streetlights were flickering their way on as the day slipped into an early fall evening. He picked out several people from church slowly making their way around the neighborhood. He was sure they were participating in the prayer walk and he smiled at that thought as he sat next to Parker.
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The man had hurt him. All he'd wanted to do was curl up in his new den. He liked this place. It smelled of people, but not the stinky sprays that people put on or the chemicals that they used to bathe. No this smelled like real people. If he couldn't be near his mothers than at least he could be here. But the last time he'd tried to use his door the man had hurt him.
He'd been careful this time. The yellow hair girl was the only one here and she was afraid of him. Maybe he would catch her, eat her. He liked it when they smelled scared before he ate them. He smiled as he climbed to the roof.
He went to his door but it wouldn't open. He pushed and he shoved. Why? Why would they close his door like this? Why wouldn't they leave him alone? It wasn't fair.
It wasn't fair.
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There was that loud metallic clatter that Trey said was someone messing with the vent cover on the roof. Charlie looked around the empty gym and went to lock the door. It had been a slow day and only a couple of regulars had come just after five. They'd both left an hour ago and she wasn't expecting anyone else for at least another hour.
She went back to the desk where she could keep an eye on the door just in case someone did show up. With everything that had been happening, Trey had offered to take closing until they found someone else to cover the late shift. But Charlie knew that the evenings seemed to be when Trey's wife needed him most so she'd insisted on taking closing.
She thought about calling Trey or Quinn when she heard the vent rattle again but she decided she could handle a scary sound on her own. The door was locked the vent had been bolted down and she was the only one in the building.
"Safe as houses." She muttered.
The rattle and clatter started to sound more violent and persistent. She grabbed her extendable baton and hit the speed dial on her phone. "Quinn?"
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The theme song to Rocky trumpeted from Quinn's suit pocket. He dropped his fries and his smile, as he hopped up from the bench he'd been sharing with Hardison.
"Charlie?"
"I think the ghost is trying to break in again."
"Are you safe?"
"Depends on how much longer it takes to rip the vent cover off."
Quinn could hear the loud clang and rattle of someone beating the vent cover clearly over the phone. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the rest of his pack moving toward the van. Eliot waved his arm motioning Quinn to follow.
"We'll be there as soon as we can. If there's a room you can lock from the inside get in there and lock the door." Quinn hopped in the van and slid the door closed as Eliot pulled away.
~~o0o~~
It wasn't the fastest trip that had ever been made to Treyson's but since it was a van and not his Hellcat Quinn felt like they'd made good time.
As they stepped out of the van they could all hear Charlie scream. They ran to the building and Eliot wrenched the door open. Charlie screamed again and they could all hear the commotion coming from the storage room. Quinn sprinted down the hall with Eliot on his heels.
Quinn kicked the door open and couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face when he saw Charlie standing over Atsutsa. There was blood on her baton, her, and most of the room, but she had come out on top.
She'd spun toward the door with her baton raised but when she saw Quinn and Eliot she dropped the baton and threw herself at Quinn. He wrapped his arms around her, gently patting her back as he pulled her to the side to let Eliot past.
"It's okay." He let her go but she didn't let go of him so he went back to patting her back. "You did good. You took care of yourself until we got here. All those self defense classes finally paid off, huh?"
She sniffled and pushed away from him. "No. No I was an idiot."
"Hey, don't say that. You did great." Quinn cajoled.
"What sort of idiot locks herself in a room with the guy she's hiding from?"
"What?" Quinn looked from Charlie to the unconscious man on the floor.
"I ran in here to hide like you said but I forgot about the vent in this room." Charlie pointed to the vent near the ceiling.
"Well ya made up for it by not being a victim." Eliot reached under the dead man's arms and wrapped his arms around so that he could interlock his fingers behind the man's neck. Straightening up Eliot drug the man down the hall. The deep groove in the man's skull would have killed him if he hadn't already been dead. Eliot kept his grip on the dead man and was prepared for anything after Quinn's experience with the guy coming back to life.
As Eliot neared the end of the hall the man started to twitch and then thrash. "Hardison, a little help here."
"And just what do you think I can do about zombies?" Hardison came closer but was still far enough back that the man couldn't reach him. "I only fight zombies in video games."
"I need you to tie the band on his left wrist." Eliot applied more pressure to the guy's neck but it wasn't helping. "Hurry up. The band is in my right pocket."
As Hardison moved closer the man started flailing his arms. "Hey now!" He batted the arms away a couple of times but wasn't getting any closer to Eliot's pocket.
"Dammit Hardison!" Eliot was struggling to keep his grip on the man that was now thrashing wildly.
"Here." Parker held the band out to Hardison. She'd managed to pick Eliot's pocket without anyone realizing she was even there.
Hardison took the band by the strings. "And now what? He's all flappin' and thrashin' and whatever!" Hardison glared.
Eliot flashed yellow eyes at Hardison. "As fast as you can."
Hardison smirked and moved with a speed that turned everything he was doing into a blur. When he stopped, the man went limp in Eliot's grasp.
They all watched as the man seemed to age backwards until it was an older teen boy that Eliot was holding onto. Suddenly the boy gasped and Eliot tightened his hold for a moment.
The boy made a choking sound and his breath wheezed from the angle that Eliot was forcing his head and neck into.
"Can you understand me?" Eliot asked. He relaxed his grip a fraction and the boy nodded. "You gonna cause trouble if I let you go?" The boy shook his head.
Eliot let go and took a step back.
The boy turned to look at Eliot. "Did Josette and Alexandra send you?"
"More or less." Eliot gestured to the door. "We need to get you outa here."
"The boy did something wrong didn't he?"
"You are the boy." Parker frowned at him and pulled out her stunner.
The boy shook his head. "I'm Carmine. As long as I wear the band, I am Carmine."
"Well Carmine, nice to meet you and everything. But El is right we gotta get you outta here." Hardison used big arm gestures to herd everyone out the door and toward the van.
Eliot got everyone situated in the van, with instructions to give Carmine a spare set of sweats, and hurried back to the gym. Quinn had taken his time with Charlie and made sure that she hadn't seen Carmine.
Quinn was standing, arms crossed, facing Charlie, who was seated behind the main desk. "Trey will understand if you close early tonight."
"No. There is no reason to close early." She crossed her arms in a deliberate mimicry.
"Sure there is." He scowled. "You just fought a crazy person. You should take some time to process what happened to you."
"I won. That's what happened to me." Charlie stood from her stool and glared back at Quinn.
Eliot stepped close enough to break the staring match. "I have a great idea."
Charlie and Quinn both turned to him.
"Quinn you'll stay here as security since Charlie can't lock the door." He gestured to the bent lock that wasn't allowing the front door to close completely. "And Charlie, you'll call Trey and tell him what happened. He can decide what to do about the door."
Quinn quirked an eyebrow at Eliot.
"And the rest of us will take the guy Charlie stopped to where he belongs." Eliot also crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
Quinn snorted and relaxed his posture. "Fine."
"Fine." Charlie echoed.
Eliot smiled and winked at Charlie. "Fine." He turned to leave but stopped at the door. "We'll bring your car by in a while."
"Don't let Parker drive." Quinn had a panicked image of his car bent around a light pole.
"I could take you home." Charlie offered.
Quinn gave her a half smile. "Thanks." He looked at Eliot. "Guess I won't need my car."