I looked at the other three walls in the room, wondering if I needed to do the same on them. Could the lidérc pass through concrete and dirt to escape?
I glanced over my shoulder at Jane. She was fading in and out now. “How much time left?”
She closed her eyes for a moment and then held up one hand with all five fingers spread.
Shit, I had to try to get the other walls warded, too, just in case. This was my opportunity to lock this son of a bitch up before it came for my kids and me at Aunt Zoe’s.
Several minutes and squeezes on my knife cut later, the other walls had smaller but similar wards on them. I frowned at the ceiling. There was no way I could reach it to draw a ward up there. The walls would have to do. I wiped my bloody fingers off on my pants.
“I hope this works,” I said to Jane, who was by my side.
She disappeared suddenly, and then she reappeared and started waving at me agitatedly. Her eyes were wide, her forehead lined.
“Is it here?” I mouthed, not sure my voice would have worked anyway since my heart had leapt into my throat and was clinging to my uvula.
She nodded and pointed toward the hallway.
I tiptoed over, grabbed my phone, and peeked out the door. A familiar shadow hovered in the middle of the hallway, sparks showering to the floor around it.
Good, it had left Cornelius back at Calamity Jane’s and come alone. Now it was time to see if my trap was going to work or not.
I pocketed my phone and stepped into the open doorway. The lidérc was drifting away from me, heading for the stairwell. “Hey, asshole,” I called.
It whirled toward me, a turbulent storm of shadow and smoke and dripping embers.
“You miss me?” I took a step, passing the blood ward as I crossed over the threshold.
It began to billow in my direction, like it had done before in the Sugarloaf Building, only that time I had a war hammer to swing at it. Now I stood before it empty-handed. The bar for the iron grate still sat on the shelf next to the door because I needed the lidérc to win this time … at least for a little while.
As the devil came at me, its invisible hoof-like feet clomping across the wooden walkway, chills trickled down my spine. I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to do something besides just stand still like a sacrificial goat.
It stopped inches from my face, smoke and shadows undulating in front of me. Nausea spread through me, followed by a rush of terror that tightened my chest.
For a moment I saw a flash of Rex’s face, then Cornelius’s, and then Jane’s. Then, deep in the blackness, I saw a silver swirling light.
“You have nowhere to run, Scharfrichter,” it hissed from the churning smoke. A waft of putrid air blew over my face.
I swallowed a gag and lifted my chin, determined not to let it see any signs of the fear that filled me. “I’m done running.” My voice sounded firm, not a tremor to be heard. “I think I can defeat you in here.” I tapped on my temple.
It let out a low, wheezing laugh. “Then you are a fool.”
Probably so, but I shrugged. “Methinks you are a bit too cocky.” I scowled at the smoky, shapeless bastard. “Now, are we going to do this dance or not?”
“You will die.”
“We’re all dying. It’s only a matter of when and how. I’m willing to gamble with my life today. Are you?”
It pulled back slightly, as if uncertain.
Oh no you don’t. I opened my arms wide. “Let’s hug it out, you ugly, Hungarian son of a bitch.”
That was all the nudging it took. The lidérc billowed toward me, engulfing me in a shroud of blackness.
I closed my eyes, waiting, unsure what to expect. Would there be an intense burning sensation all over my skin? Severe cramping in my muscles? Or stinging needles throughout every part of my body?
A clammy cold settled inside of me, filling me from head to toe. My limbs grew leaden, too weighty to move. My head lolled forward, my neck struggling to support what now felt like a giant watermelon. My lungs were filling up with freezing cold air, making it hard to breathe.
Was this what Cornelius had experienced? Or worse? How had he forced the lidérc into that room of horrors in his head? If I lived through this, maybe he would show me how to build a secret room of my own. Somewhere I could cram the demons and monsters that haunted my nightmares.
I needed to return to the room, but I had to make sure the lidérc was fully inside of me first.
“Jane,” I croaked, straining to lift my head so I could look at her. “Come here.”
She appeared before me, her forehead grooved. She looked so sad, like I was on my deathbed. Hmm, I guess I was if my plan failed. She reached out to me with wispy arms that were flickering in and out.
“No, stay back.” I tried to open my lids wide, but they were so heavy. “Are my eyes pitch black?” I tried again.
She leaned closer and then jerked back, nodding.
“All right. Here we go.” I stepped back over the threshold and into the room, cringing as I passed the ward. Nothing happened, good or bad. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.
Every joint in my body ached now, even my toes. I shuffled backward several more steps, moving the two concrete blocks that were my feet.
“You know what to do,” I whispered to her. Cornelius was right about the lidérc being an energy drain. I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor and close my eyes. Maybe if I wasn’t fighting it …
