Chapter 27
I took Jenny to the hardware store and bought all new locks for the exterior doors, including deadbolts that required keys on both sides. That way, I could make sure she didn't go wandering when I had to leave the house. I had to promise her that we'd go to the mall and do some clothes shopping and then have dinner on the way home. She was tired of being cooped up and the house all the time.
She had become very passive, if not totally submissive, lately. She went along with most anything I suggested. Actually, I had better results if I made my requests into demands instead. But, Jenny seemed determined to go shopping, she wanted new lingerie. I suppose there were worse things on which to spend time shopping.
She was miserable at the hardware store, trudging along behind me, dejectedly. Once we arrived at the mall, she made a beeline for Victoria's Secret, and her mood improved significantly. She tried on several new ensembles, and we left with some new corsets, stockings and garters, a couple of bras, and three thongs.
Jenny was very affectionate during dinner, almost playful. She wanted to get naughty under the table, but I wasn't in the mood for it. I had so many things on my mind. She drank heavily. By the time we left, she was staggering badly, and I had to help her walk.
When we got home, she was fast asleep, and I had to carry her from the garage into the house. As we crossed the threshold, it felt as if someone had tased me. I nearly dropped Jenny as I staggered back. I had seen a flash of blue light and felt electricity shoot through my body.
From somewhere in my mind or my memories, a voice spoke to me. "The wards have been broken, and a counterspell placed upon your domicile."
I instinctively knew what to do. It was as if I were on autopilot, and someone else was driving. I gently placed Jenny onto the cushioned bench in the bay window of our kitchen, then moved quickly to the knife drawer and retrieved the dagger Krieg had left me. I felt a tingle in my hands as I picked it up and could have sworn it sparkled.
I unsheathed the blade, and the runic markings on the side glowed with a soft blue light. I closed my eyes and crossed myself, in a manner similar to Catholics, with the dagger as I said out loud, in a voice I hardly recognized as my own, "Atoh Malkuth ve Geburah ve Gedulah, la-olahm. Amen."
I felt power coursing through my being, filling me with Divine Light. I held the dagger before me, blade upright, and scanned the room. I saw them, floating in the air, one just inside the door from the garage and another in front of the back door. Two large, glowing pentagrams that seemed to be formed of red flames hung there, spinning slowly. They were each about three feet across and floated at chest height.
The pentagram in front of the garage door also seemed to cast a yellow light and sparkled electrically. I was surprised to know what it meant. "We triggered their ward when we came in," I said out loud to no one. "I must have touched it. They know we're home."
I stepped up to the sparkling pentagrams and said, "Shaddai el Chai" as I slashed through it with the dagger. There was a bright flash of light and the distinctive scents of sulfur and ozone in the air. When the glow dissipated, the pentagram was gone. I walked over to the other pentagram and repeated the process, destroying the ward.
I performed the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram in the room, sealing the entrances and replacing our protective wards that appeared as blue flaming, upright pentagrams. When I was finished, the room felt safe, and the heaviness I had been feeling was gone.
I checked on Jenny; she was sleeping peacefully, so I left her there and continued searching the house. I found two more of the red sigils, at each of the other entrances into the home, and destroyed them. I took the time to perform the banishing and sealing on each door, then made my way upstairs.
As I approached our bedroom, the door was ajar, and an odd light seemed to pulsate in the room, slowly turning from a lurid green to a blood red and back. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and nearly doubled over. I raised the dagger and called out for protection to the Archangel Michael. I heard a hiss from inside the room, as if in response.
I nudged the door with my foot. It slowly opened, revealing a macabre scene. It looked as though a giant spider had filled the room with a complex and chaotic myriad of webs. They hung from the ceiling, rose from the floor, and extended from the walls, all centered around the bed.
Lying in the center of the webs was a hideous monster, with black skin, horns, and a long, spiked tail. It appeared female, as it had large, sagging teats and wide hips, with wiry strands of pubic hair hanging from its crotch. The demon hissed, and the sounds formed into words, in an ancient tongue, long-dead among humans.
"De Ferrieres! Thou hast returned," she snarled. "Have you come back to enjoy yourself?" As she spoke, she spread her legs wide and ran a taloned hand against her pussy, spreading the lips open and exposing the pink, dripping, inner flesh. "You always were so good at fucking me."
"I know you, Zezar-el," I said, the words coming out on their own volition. "Have you attached yourself to Lazarus now?"
Zezar-el screeched, and it turned into a bestial cackling. "You think you know so much, mortal, but you are a fool. I came here to warn you."
"Warn me?" I scoffed. "Warn me of what?"
"The girl your modern avatar seems so fond of," the demon spat out the words.
"Jenny?" I said, sounding alarmed.
"Yes, this one," Zezar-el said, as she moved closer to me. "She belongs to another now. The girl you thought you knew is gone. You cannot save her. Lazarus will kill you and feed your liver to his pets. You are not strong enough. You never were."
I stepped forward, raised the dagger confidently, and shouted, "I am a Servant of the Light! I command you to leave! Get thee gone, Succubus! Daughter of Lillith! Whore of Abasallon and Abaddon! Return to the seventh ring of Hell!"
Zezar-el seemed to wince briefly, then cackled louder, advancing toward me. "The Gate has been opened, the Seal broken! You cannot command us any longer! Your time as masters of this world has passed! The Dawn of the New Age is upon us, De Ferrieres."
I drew a cross in the intervening space between us with the dagger. A golden cross of light appeared. "With this sign, I banish you! I command you, Zezar-el, leave this place, or I will destroy you until nothing of you remains! Return from whence you came!"
Zezar-el rolled her eyes.
"I have always been fond of you, Sir William. All those nights you spent in my company during your imprisonment in Acre endeared you to me. I care about you, my pet. I would not wish you suffer again."
I felt the floor tip, and I was falling.
Chapter 28
Acre
