Seven Come Eleven

Chapter Six

The sound of his phone somewhere in the room startled Jake awake. For a moment he couldn’t recall where he was, and then he plunged from the bed in search of his phone. He found it in his pants, which Nadia had tossed cross the room. He located it just in time.

“Hello?” He replied, trying to sound like he wasn’t standing naked in someone else’s bedroom half asleep and dazed.

The rouse didn’t work, Alan knew where he was and had been all day. “I am going on lunch and I have some errands to run. The new security recruits show up today.”

“Lunch already?” Jake looked around for the clock, which was on the floor at an odd angle between the bedside table and the bed. It was after one in the afternoon. “So it is.”

“Yeah, I figured you slept in since you didn’t get much sleep last night. Take your time. Larry, the new guy is watching the monitors and there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll see you later this afternoon then, make sure you’re here when our visitor comes.” Jake reminded him.

“Sure thing,” Alan said before hanging up.

Jake looked at Nadia, asleep still. She hadn’t even moved. He quickly pulled on his pants and shirt before rushing out into the kitchen to get the briefcase.

The cash room was a small hidden closet in Jake’s office. Petrie had reinforced the door a long time ago. In here he kept the large amounts of cash that were paid out in winnings should someone hit a jackpot, and excess cash that the dealers were not comfortable having on the floor. He locked the door behind him when he went into his office and opened the cash room. The smell of money hit his nose as soon as the door cracked, and his toe bumped a bucket of chips as he walked in. He put the case on a shelf and closed the cash room again, as if someone threatened to barge in and grab everything in the cash room. It had never been robbed, incidentally.

Jake’s heart was pumping, he knew coffee was a bad idea. Still, he headed out through the casino main lobby and into the hot mid day sun. Clouds in the distance promised rain, a temporary relief, the humidity afterward would be stifling. Jake wasn’t really watching where he was going, he was surprised he made it to the coffee shop without bumping into someone or something.

The lady at the cash register smiled at him. “The usual, Jake? You’re running late today— wild night?”

He smiled tiredly, “Yes and I suppose you could say that.”

“Enjoy your coffee, sweetie,” she said as he made his way over to a table. He sat down with a sigh and relaxed. But he didn’t fully relax, he wasn’t sure he ever would again. This thing with Nadia had become interesting, especially with her literally across the hall. Also, he was sure she had whispered ‘I love you’ when they were making love earlier. She’d never done that before no matter how good the s*x had been. If truth were told, he loved Nadia too and had for a while now.

The lady from the cash register set his coffee in front of him, noting his spaced out expression. She assumed him hungover, it wasn’t the first time she’d seen him like that. Jake barely saw her. He nodded automatically.

Nadia awakened to find Jake gone. No shock, they never woke up together. She showered and went looking for him. On a hunch, she found him at the coffee shop a few minutes later.

“You look like something the cat dragged in,” Nadia said as she sat with him without invitation. Her sudden appearance had surprised him.

“Good afternoon, beautiful.” He flashed her a warm smile. Even in yoga pants and a tank top, she was beautiful to him. “What brings you out?”

“The case. You know where it is?” She hissed, leaning closer.

“Yes, I have it in my vault. No worries,” he said, stirring sugar into his coffee.

“Good,” Nadia said with certain relief. “I did a little reading this morning, and I found out there is a shop in town that handles spiritual issues. They sell stuff to repel demons and curses.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I saw that on-line, I didn’t believe those places existed until now. Do you think it would be worth a visit to see if perhaps we could get holy water at the least? I read we needed that but I don’t have a clue how to go about getting or making it.”

“You boil the hell out of it,” Nadia laughed, her laughter like the tinkling of bells as she accepted the cup of coffee from the lady who had brought Jake’s coffee over.

“That joke is awful,” Jake gave her a withered look but could not resist a chuckle himself. The caffeine was kicking in, and slowly he was coming awake. “You know where this shop is?”

Nadia nodded, “Yes, I do. We should drive there though. We can take my car.”

The shop Nadia spoke of was on the West side of Vegas in a strip mall built circa the seventies. This was the ghetto side of Vegas where homeless people pushed stolen shopping carts with their belongings in them and sketchy looking people made their way along the dirty street. Nadia and Jake were getting some strange looks, wondering why such a nice car would be here. The store itself had no sign. It was dank and dirty yellow on the outside, the windows blacked out with poster board. The smell of incense, herbs, and cinnamon brooms that hung drying from the store awning and around the door mingled with the smell of hot asphalt. Jake thought it was quite overwhelming.

He made a face at Nadia as they stepped around the front of the SUV. “I feel like some old man in here is gonna try to sell me something small and furry that I shouldn’t feed after midnight.”

Nadia laughed again, and she’d lost count of how many times he made her laugh in the last few days. “Oh, please. Now come in here.”

The inside of the shop smelled as strongly as the outside but without the asphalt so it was bearable. The air was heavy with thick incense smoke. The heavy smoke blended with the scent of homemade oils, candles, and herbs until he couldn’t distinguish what it was he was actually smelling. Colorful stones lined shelf after shelf, tapestries with peace signs and psychedelic art covered the walls. Various items hung from the ceiling, Jake had to duck the handmade tassels and wind chimes.

Nadia took little notice and went to the back counter where an older lady sat with a morbidly obese black cat. “Excuse me, do you have holy water?”

The elderly woman stood, focusing on Jake. “For him?”

“Yes, I suppose so. We need to cleanse--”

“He will need a lot more than a cleanse to help him,” she said in a raspy voice. Her eyes narrowed. “I have what you need. Wait here.”

Jake, who had heard the exchange, came closer to Nadia. “That was creepy.”

Nadia nodded. “I hope she has something to help.”

When the woman returned, she carried a bottle of water, a strand of braided grass, and 3 bundles of what looked like dried grass. She sat the items on the counter and proceeded, “This—this is very powerful. If you think you see the demon after you, spray him with this. Put it in a spray bottle. It won’t stop them but it will stun them enough for you to get away. Hang this sweet grass up wherever you live, it will repel evil. Be sure to sage your homes and around them with this sage to keep dark forces. Some are strong enough to get through it, but it will buy you time.”

Jake nodded and handed her a crispy fifty. “Keep the change. Thank you very much.”

“Good luck to you both. You will need it.” She watched them leave. She’d sensed the demonic aura around Jake, marking him for demons to find. She didn’t know the whole story, but she could guess he’d made an ill fated deal.

Jake found Alan in his office watching the monitors just after the night crowd started to come in off the streets. He handed his security guard a small spray bottle. Alan studied it for a moment, sniffing the cap and then looking up at Jake for an answer.

“That’s holy water or something. If you see a demon— squirt him. It won’t kill ‘em but it will give us time to get away,” Jake explained as he looked through messages on his desk. He didn’t have the time or energy to return all these calls.

Alan was a skeptic but in the last few days he was willing to believe anything. “You think they might come after us inside then?”

“I know they will. The slime balls have probably already gotten in somehow. I don’t want you to get hurt. It won’t be long until our friend returns for the case.” Jake tossed some papers into the trash.

The phone beside Alan jangled, Alan reached for it automatically. “Hello?”

“There is a very large dog running loose on the fifth floor,” a woman on the other end said, her voice was ear piercing in her terror. “I thought this was a pet free establishment? This thing is the size of a Shetland pony.”

“We are, ma’am.” Alan flicked the mouse, making the screen come to life and began moving the camera around to glimpse what she meant. “We will handle this right away.”

“Giant dog?” Jake crossed the room in three steps, peering at the screens.

“That’s what she said, I don’t see it over here, let’s hit this camera- oh, there he is. Wow, he is as big as a pony.” Alan’s brow creased at the sight. The large black canine was the largest he had ever seen. It drifted down the corridor, sniffing the bottom of each door and then stopped to test the air.

“Come on,” Jake bolted from the office, Alan on his heels. “We got to get to that damn thing before it gets to Nadia. It will use her to get me.”

“Use her? As in a hostage?” Alan bolted up the stairs behind Jake who had forgone the elevator and gone straight up the stairwells.

“That’s a hell hound,” Jake paused on the third floor landing and glanced down at Alan, who was slightly behind. Alan blanched and fought down stifling fear that rose in his throat. “Smell that burned match smell? Sulfur. They smell like Sulfur.”

“Fuck.”

Jake pushed open the door in the fifth floor stairwell as quietly as he could. With Alan on his heels he raced down the corridor and turned right. Nothing. It had to be on the other side, the halls formed a rectangle around the elevator shaft. Peeking around the corner he saw nothing.

“It’s around the next corner,” Jake whispered, his eyes locked ahead expecting to see the beast lunge out at any moment.

Alan felt a hot breath on the small of his back and stiffened. “Or it’s behind us.”

Jake’s eyes widened, he spun to face the dog. It was there glowering at them with red eyes. “Don’t move, it doesn’t want you.”

“I don’t intend to.” Alan pressed against the wall. The dog was well past his waist, it reeked. It was even larger than the wolves he had seen camping once in Colorado.

The beast spared no glance at Alan. Its focus was on Jake. It growled low, a vibration felt rather than heard. The two had locked gazes and Jake refused to show fear even though a hell hound, maybe even this one, had claimed the life of a friend earlier in the week.

“I’m not going with you,” he said defiantly. “Sorry to disappoint.”

The dog growled, baring fangs as long as a man’s finger in reply. It advanced.

Jake’s hand slipped towards his pocket as the same moment the hound lunged. Alan moved with the reflexes of a western gun fighter, spritzing the hound with the holy water from the spray bottle. The hound gave a startled yelp and skittered sideways, the area where the spray hit burst into flames. It looked back with a snarl as it faded away like a ghost.

Jake finally exhaled. “Good reflex, Alan. Remind me when this is over to buy you a house and a new car.”

“I’ll just take the car. A Lamborghini,” Alan chuckled nervously. His heart was still threatening to tear out of his chest.

“I need a drink,” Jake sighed and turned to hit the elevator button.