Chapter 13

"¡Oh, guerrero plagando ésta tierra humilde! Vete ahora, pues el infierno está llamando tu nombre, y nosotros anunciámos tu salida. ¡Tu tiempo se ha acabado, y el cuerpo en que te hospedas está rechazando tu interjección diabólica! ¡Sal ya, o sé salvo en el Cielo!" I chant two times making sure I pronounce everything perfectly with my Spanish accent. The words are harsh, but I love how my native tongue flows from my mouth. It gives me courage that what I'm doing is the right thing.

I stop and blow out ten of the candles, leaving only three, then, I repeat the chant in Spanish for the third time:

"Oh, heathen, plaguing this humble earth! Leave now, for Hell is calling your name, and we are ushering you out. You are wearing your stay thin, and the body you are residing in is rejecting your demonic interjection! Leave now or forever be saved in Heaven!"

Suddenly Susannah is screaming and all of the candles are out, leaving the room in total darkness, and then only light I can see is the light glowing from the demon's red eyes.

My stomach feels as if it's about to fall out and I have a very bad feeling about what just happened. Then my fears are assured when the table breaks and the demon leaps off of it.

The demon laughs a harsh choppy laugh. "You fool!" It screeches at me, "You have exorcised your precious human companion! She is now doing the Limbo, and you will never stop Callide!" I am too stunned at my failure that I don't even move an inch when the demon runs out of my house and into the darkness of the early morning.

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"What the fuck was that?" Kate asks me, after Peter and Michael leave voluntarily to look for the demon. Her aura is glowing and she's breathing heavily. She's scared.

I don't respond to Kate's outburst. I just sit down in the middle of my kitchen and place my head in my hands. What have I done?

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"Where's Suze?" CeeCee asks me when I walk into her hotel room after Peter and Michael came back to my house with no news of the demon.

"I have failed," I say to her my shoulders slumped. I have no idea how to fix this travesty and I don't know what I did wrong.

"WHAT?" CeeCee shouts at me her arms flinging out. "WHAT DID YOU DO?"

"I exorcised Susannah's spirit instead of the demons, I think."

"How'd you manage to do that?" Stephen asks walking from the bedroom to the living area, which CeeCee and I are occupying.

"I am not sure," I say truthfully in response to his question.

"Oh, well this is one hell of a pickle we have ourselves in," Stephen says, and CeeCee looks over at him, and then glances at me. I can tell she's trying not to laugh.

"The demon, who has been occupying Susannah's body, said that her soul is doing the 'limbo'…Do you have any idea what that could mean, CeeCee?" I say while sitting down on one of the couches.

"I can look up some info on it," CeeCee says excitedly. I glance up at her and nod my head, silently thanking her. Then I look at Stephen, who is gazing at CeeCee. I shake my head and get up. "I need to be alone for a while," I say to CeeCee, whom I know will understand.

"I will call you if I find anything worth-while."

I nod my head to CeeCee first, and then to Stephen, who only glances in my direction.

I leave the hotel room and listen to the click of the door close behind me. How will I ever right this?

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After I return to my apartment, I pace around, trying to think up of someone or some way that will bring my Susannah back to me. I refuse to believe that she is completely lost to me. We are meant to be together. Through thick and thin. And I am aware that we have not made this pact with God yet, but we have made it with each other: Till death do us part. I absolutely refuse, refuse I say, to believe that mi querida is…

I trail off in my own thoughts, collapsing onto the couch, holding my tongue. She isn't. She cannot be. Then my thoughts take over my soul, and I am suddenly in Shadowland again.

"I hate this place," I spit and begin to pace around, thinking of how I will get myself out of this place.

"Well, lookie here. If it isn't Rico."

Spinning around, I already know who it is. His cold voice can never be mistaken, nor masked.

"Slater," I greet him harshly, with a curt nod and a grimace.

"Whatcha doin' up here in my turf?" Slater asks while stepping forward.

"This is not your 'turf'. This is a plane. You cannot rule everything," I say suddenly remembering all the pain he put Susannah and I through personally. Revenge would be oh so sweet.

"Not even my own thoughts…" Slater says somewhat disgusted with himself. I find a small smirk climb onto my face, but I try to hide it, deigning to be the bigger man. However, that is impossible, when Slater is not even a man. Slater turns to me, his nostalgic moment forgotten, "You didn't answer my question."

No way was I telling Slater about my problem with the demon and Susannah. No way would I let my pride suffer because I've messed up horribly, and quite possibly lost Sus…No!

"What's happened to Susannah?" Slater asks me as if reading my mind.

I look at him blankly, trying my best to suppress the urge to just begin pounding my clenched fist into his face. Oh, how I would revel in the sound of his nose crunching underneath my knuckles.

"You gunna give me an answer, de Silva? Or just wait until it gets worse?" Slater says forcefully.

"I believe…" I trial off. Looking into Slater's face, I notice the look of triumph in his face. But for the better of Susannah, I go on. Maybe Slater can actually help somehow. "I believe I have exorcised Susannah."

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"You did what?" Slater yells while coming at me and grabbing my shirt by the lapels. I brush his hands away angrily.

"I didn't mean to."

"Hopefully not, or you are not the man I thought you were," Slater spits at me and takes a step back. He breathes in, and then looks at me while he exhales. His blue eyes pierce my gaze, and make me feel insecure about my abilities to beat him bloody.

I shake my head and the feeling disappears, which makes me feel much better about this situation.

"Tell me exactly what went down," Slater says sternly.

"Can we leave this place, first?" I ask him, looking around a little.

"Is poor Rico, scared?" Slater smirks.

"No. The longer I remain here, the larger my headache is when I return to our normal plane," I say somewhat smugly.

"See your point," Slater says, and then in the blink of an eye, I'm back on my couch. My eyes dart around the dark room, searching for Slater. Then the lights come on, and I see Slater leaning up against the wall in front of me. He's nowhere near a light-switch I notice.

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"Why didn't you just let this Stephen guy deal with the exorcism?" Slater asks me thirty minutes after our return from Shadowland. I have just finished telling him 'what went down'.

"I thought I could handle it. I didn't know that it was possible to remove the other spirit within the body," I reply truthfully.

"Of course it is!" Slater says heatedly. "Don't you know anything?"

"I'm afraid the human side of Mediation is new to me still."

"I can tell," Slater mutters, while getting up and pacing the living room. I watch him, and notice how we are a lot alike.

"If you are just going to be here to insult me, then you can just leave," I say suddenly snapping.

"And what? Let you and Webb deal with this catastrophe on your own?" Slater says while glaring back at me. "I'm sorry, but no matter how much research the girl does, she will never catch up with me. Plus, I'm thinking that you have to have my certain skills to pull this off."

I cock my head at me. "Pull what off?"

"Getting Susannah back," Slater breathes.

"Oh."

There is only the sound of our breathing and Slater's footsteps on the hardwood floor for a moment. Then Slater turns to me.

"I'll stop with the insulting," he says while trying to grasp some of his leftover pride.

"Gracias," I say and he rolls his eyes at my native tongue.

"Let's go get Webb."

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Slater and I are in the elevator riding up to CeeCee's hotel room. The sound of elevator music failing to sooth my tensed muscles. I still feel completely comfortable around Paul. I cannot seem to be able to put my guard down. At the sound of cracking knuckles I quickly glance over at Slater and realize that it was him. He's nervous too.

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, Jesse?" Kate says into my ear, and I just about jump a mile from shock.

"You just about gave me a heart attach!" I exhale.

"You're not that old," Kate giggles, and then turns to Paul, giving him one of her beautiful smiles.

"I'm Kate," she says while holding out her hand.

Paul looks at her, glances at me, and then takes her hand in his, and raises it to his mouth. He places a soft kiss on the top of her hand and lets his lips linger a while on her creamy skin. I glance away and look at Kate's face. She's blushing, which I find somehow incredibly absurd.

"I am Paul."

"Hi," Kate says nervously while moving closer to Paul. Then she looks at me, and smiles. "Jesse, you never told me about Paul." When she says his name, she pats his forearm, and he looks at her, his eyes lighting up.

"I am very sorry," I apologize and then the ding of the elevator delivering us to our floor saves me. The three of us step off of the elevator and I lead the way to CeeCee's room.

Behind me, Kate and Paul are conversing, and out of consideration, I try not to listen to their conversation. When I arrive at CeeCee's door, I knock, and Stephen answers a second later, a spoon in one hand and a pint of ice cream in the other.

I usher Paul and Kate in, and then before I can step over the threshold, someone says my name. After turning around, I regret it instantly.

"It is you!" Lauren squeals and bounds over to me. She pulls me into a hug and I resist the urge to throw up into her hair. She smells like expensive perfume, but all I can smell is the alcohol, which was on her the last time I saw her. "What are you doing here?" She asks while poking my chest.

I do my best to be polite and smile down at her, "I'm here to visit a friend."

"She's one lucky girl," Lauren says almost angrily.

"She is just a friend," I hear myself say. I look around, trying to see a way to escape. The door has clicked in its place, and I am locked out. The hallway lights hurt my tired eyes and I sigh.

"How are you?" Lauren says while placing a hand on mine. I pull away slightly, not being able to overcome our last encounter.

"Dandy," I spit out one of Susannah's favorite sarcastic replies and step back away from Lauren.

Suddenly I am saved when I hear the door behind me click open.

"Jesse?" Kate says, "What are you doing out here?" I glance behind me and see her eyes widen as she sees Lauren. Kate rushes past me and stops right in front of Lauren. There is no way to communicate to her. I cannot tell her to stop what she is thinking of doing without sounding like a complete lunatic.

"Are you okay?" Lauren asks me, while shoving her hand through Kate to reach me. At this, Kate gets infuriated and glares at Lauren. Then Lauren shivers and suddenly trips on nothing at all. Kate stands over Lauren and laughs a little.

"Stay the fuck away from him," Kate says calmly and glances over her shoulder to me. Her eyes order me to get into the room, and I follow them.

"I have to go," I say as some sort of parting word to Lauren and then get the hell into the room.