Seven Come Eleven

Chapter Twelve

The doors began to part slightly as the hound dug at the middle of them. It revealed its snout and teeth, filling the car with its stench. Nadia refused to look, she knew she would start screaming if she did.

The elevator jolted and moved but the enclosed space made it difficult to know which way they were going. It felt as though it had dropped a few floors before it rumbled and started to ascend. When it stopped, the door was still closed, and they were trapped.

Alan grabbed the doors and forced them apart, relieved to find them on the on the same floor as the office. He exhaled. “Thank, God.”

Jake wasn’t sure if the office was safer but there was at least water in there and it might give them a moment to plan out the next move. He opened the door and ushered the other two in before closing and sliding the office sofa in front of it. The office, with with its huge windows, was sweltering in the heat. Jake went quickly over to open one window, letting in the slight breeze.

“We gotta do something,” Alan panted as he retrieved the water out of the mini fridge.

“But what? He won’t negotiate.” Jake emptied the bottle of water in a few seconds with a grateful sigh. He looked down at the tourists below, laughing and going about their shopping and gambling with no knowledge of the terror in this particular building.

The water and the fresh air seemed to revive them all. Alan sat on the sofa in front of the door and held his face in his hands, praying the best way he knew how.

Nadia stood up, placing the case on Jake’s desk. “Why can’t he just come and take it? He’s obviously stronger than us.”

Her question reflected what Jake was thinking. “I have that demons have no power over you unless you let them.”

“So because if we believe in God, we’re safe?” Nadia peered out the window beside Jake. That seemed a bit ridiculous given their situation.

“What about me? I’ve been an atheist for my whole life-- I’m a goner.” Alan chuckled nervously from across the room.

“You believe now, don’t you?” Jake turned to him quickly.

“Yeah-- I do--”

“That’s all you gotta do. That’s gotta be what’s kept him from just killing us and taking what he wants. Which by now is probably all of us in Hell.” Jake hugged Nadia. She was a mess, strands of her hair had escaped her bun and flew wildly around her head, some strands were stuck to her sweat soaked face. He didn’t look much better, he knew. After this he vowed they would take the longest shower known to man.

Alan nodded, still unsure if his new belief was enough to save him.

Jake stared motionless out into the blue sky. The breeze helped diffuse the heat, as did the shadows that were falling over the side of the building as the sun moved to the opposite side of it. Nadia and Alan had taken turns washing up in the private office bathroom.

“You should go wash up, too” Nadia suggested, placing a hand on Jake’s sweat soaked back. “You’re drenched.”

He turned with a faint smile. “I suppose you’re right. You two stay in the office and don’t open that door for anyone.”

In the bathroom, Jake couldn’t resist a sigh as he splashed his face with the cool water. He would never take it for granted again, he promised as he used a hand towel to clean up. He tied his wet hair back at the nape of his neck. When he met his own eyes in the mirror he heard a small but deep voice somewhere in his head.

“You’ve had a good run,” said the voice in his head, deep and smooth. “You were a rock star, money, drugs, cars, pretty women— all the women, a casino, more money than you’ll ever spend. You thought all that didn’t come with a price? s**t, if you hadn’t sold your soul- the devil would have probably claimed it, anyway. Let’s face it, you aren’t strong enough to fight me. Give up like your friends did, Jake.”

Jake straightened, narrowing his eyes in the mirror. He couldn’t deny it wasn’t true. Famous or not, he had been on the road to the rock star life from an early age. He shook his head, his eyes suddenly bright as he replied, “No. I never set out to ruin anyone. I never hurt anybody. You are a liar. I will never give up to you in this lifetime.

Somewhere in the air he heard Father Cresson’s voice again too, “You have the power, Jake, to fight this thing.”

“I am not a saint,” Jake looked around, wondering where the voice came from. He saw nothing but the four walls of the bathroom. “I am not qualified for this, I am a human.”

“The qualified don’t get called, boy. The called get qualified,” yet another voice said from somewhere unseen.

Jake felt panic creeping up his spine. All these voices from seemingly nowhere. He rubbed his face, muttering, “I must have gotten to hot and I’m having a heat stroke. That’s why I am hearing all these voices. It’s just some kind of panic attack.”

“It’s not a panic attack,” the third voice cut in on his thinking. This really alarmed Jake, he had only thought his words. These things could hear his thought?

“What is it then?” He gripped the counter around the sink as if it were his own sanity that he was holding on to. He searched the ceiling and walls around him for some sign of a speaker or a person. Nothing.

“Father Cresson explained it. You have the power. I can’t tell you how to tap it, you have to connect to it yourself. Go down there and face the demons, do not cower here in fear. They cannot harm you. They have no power over you at all. Unless you give it to them.” The voice, Jake realized, sounded like Dan’s.

It suddenly clicked in him that this was the only way to end this. He had to end it now or they would be trapped here in this hotel, this office, this bathroom until they perished. They were up against supernatural beings, they could hold them hostage indefinitely unless one of them caved.

He burst out of the bathroom so fast it startled Nadia and Alan, who both reclined on the couch, drowsily. Jake looked crazed. Without a word he opened his desk drawer and picked up a pair of red dice. Tossing them on the desk he smiled as they landed, one on five, the other on two. A second time, a third, fourth and fifth time in a row they landed with a clatter on the desk— one on five and the other on two.

“What are you doing?” Nadia came closer, her face tense with worry. Had he finally lost it in the heat?

“Loaded dice.” He tossed them out again for her to see. “I got an idea.”

Alan raised an eyebrow, he could already tell where this was going. “You wanna cheat the devil?”

“Maybe. But maybe I don’t have to.” Jake squeezed the dice in his hand. “I think I can beat them at their own game. Father Cresson said I could do it.”

“Father Cresson?” Nadia asked, her brow furrowed. “You spoke to a priest?”

“You have a better idea?” He slammed the desk drawer closed with his knee. “I went for help and he gave it. I just gotta step up is all. Enough running and hiding.”

“This is crazy,” Alan said quickly. “The odds are not in your favor, Jake! You know next to nothing about fighting demons, devils, whatever the hell is down there.”

“What makes you think he will even talk with you? He already has a blood seal on your soul,” Nadia sat on the desk and watched Jake toss the dice a few more times. Each time they hit seven.

“Not anymore he doesn’t. Father Cresson broke it. He don’t know that yet, though. I’m betting there’s some sort of hierarchy in the underworld, for lack of a better name for where ever he and Griffin came from. I am betting the more souls they get the higher up the ladder they go.” Jake rattled the loaded dice in his hand. “I’m betting that I can get them to take me with them into the underworld, Hell, whatever it is. I bet since they don’t own me I can escape easily, and rescue a few of those still bound by blood along the way. See what I mean? I am more powerful than they. Pretty sure.”

Alan opened his mouth to speak but stopped. A low rumbling roar in the distance caught his attention. Jake noticed it too and turned to peer out the window, looking for the source.

“Is that a plane?” Nadia moved over to look up in the sky as well.

The building vibrated. Lightly at first, then the vibration picked up slightly, growing stronger. A trailing vine growing by the window in a hanging basket began to sway and plaster from the ceiling peppered the top of Jake’s desk.

“Earthquake?” Alan said over the roar. “I don’t recall there ever being one here in Vegas.”

“There hasn’t been for a long while but that’s all we need right now.” Jake pulled Nadia closer to him and she seemed to burrow into his strong chest. She was at her wits end, grasping at the final straws of her sanity. She wanted to be angry at her dead husband for making this mess, but somehow she couldn’t.

On the lower floor, the slot machines rocked dangerously in the earthquake, the sound of the coins inside clinking like tiny bells. The glasses behind the bar crashed to the floor, shattering on the hard floor like a hail storm of crystal. TV’s mounted on the wall around the bar smashed down as well, spilling their electronic contents across the tables and floor.

Jake let Nadia go, the shaking had stopped. He was sure that had something to do with the guys downstairs. It was a scare tactic. Still, he thought. It had been effective.

“The hotel won’t take much more of that,” Alan commented, nodding towards the cracked dry wall behind Jake and Nadia. “We need to make our move.”

It was then Nadia noticed the coolness in the room. She moved to the broken window and gazed out upon rolling storm clouds quickly covering Vegas and sending tourists below into the casinos to seek shelter. “There’s a storm coming.”

“Next will be a damn plague of locusts,” Alan commented, also noticing the rapidly darkening sky. Lightning zinged by the window and thunder roared in the clouds.

“Don’t even say that, you might curse us.” Jake snapped. He felt the cold wind from the storms sudden rush of wind. “Somehow I don’t think this is a normal storm.”

Nothing else had been normal, Nadia thought. So why would something as common as a summer storm be normal? She watched another bolt of lightning hit a light pole by the front of the casino and run to the ground. She turned away before she saw the being that materialized in the small cloud of dust and sparks kicked up by the bolt.

“I’m going to head into my suite and shower, get dressed.” Jake started for the door. “I want to look together. No fear. All business. You and Nadia sneak down the back stairs and get out of the casino. Get Father Cresson and get back here. Meet me with the case and the Father by the bar. I don’t know how long this will take.”

“I understand,” Alan nodded and watched his friend go. But he was far from okay, the feeling of dread that he hadn’t shaken in the past two days was choking now. “What if-”

“Do it.” Jake kissed Nadia’s cheek and shoved the heavy couch aside as if it weighed nothing.

Nadia didn’t speak at first, But after a few moments she exhaled. “I hope he knows what he’s doing.”

“Loaded dice, how is he gonna lose?” Alan chuckled, hoping to calm her and himself with his words. But it didn’t work. Plenty could go wrong and they both knew it. This was a dangerous game.

“What if— what if he loses? What if we die?” Nadia crossed her arms across her chest to hold back the panic that was rising.

Alan pursed his lips together. “I’d rather die trying. Wouldn’t you? Come on.”

The being that materialized in the lightning strike suddenly appeared in the bar behind Griffin and Richard. Bruce was, like them, a hunter of souls. He had lost Nadia and Jake in Sedona and in any other situation he’d have forgotten about it. But the scar left by the Holy water Nadia had tossed at him was visible on the left side of his face and he had a bone to pick.

“We’ve had them holed up in the office on an upper floor for a while now. They can’t stay there forever. Humans can’t take the heat or go without food and water that long. We’re planning to wait them out.” Richard explained, sipping a martini from a fluted glass. “You can wait with us, there are three of them.”

“I didn’t know the other man and the woman had a pact,” Griffin replied, stirring his drink lightly with a glass stir stick, the clinking of glass on glass was incredibly loud in the silence of the bar, which was void of it’s usual white noise.

“I think you underestimate him,” Bruce tapped his fingers on the bar. “He has already proven to be a worthy opponent, and he’s already given you two the run around.”

It was true, because of the spiritual protections used along the hallway they were staying on, the demons could not follow them into that space. They had to wait for Jake to come to them.

The doors began to part slightly as the hound dug at the middle of them. It revealed its snout and teeth, filling the car with its stench. Nadia refused to look, she knew she would start screaming if she did.

The elevator jolted and moved but the enclosed space made it difficult to know which way they were going. It felt as though it had dropped a few floors before it rumbled and started to ascend. When it stopped, the door was still closed, and they were trapped.

Alan grabbed the doors and forced them apart, relieved to find them on the on the same floor as the office. He exhaled. “Thank, God.”

Jake wasn’t sure if the office was safer but there was at least water in there and it might give them a moment to plan out the next move. He opened the door and ushered the other two in before closing and sliding the office sofa in front of it. The office, with with its huge windows, was sweltering in the heat. Jake went quickly over to open one window, letting in the slight breeze.

“We gotta do something,” Alan panted as he retrieved the water out of the mini fridge.

“But what? He won’t negotiate.” Jake emptied the bottle of water in a few seconds with a grateful sigh. He looked down at the tourists below, laughing and going about their shopping and gambling with no knowledge of the terror in this particular building.

The water and the fresh air seemed to revive them all. Alan sat on the sofa in front of the door and held his face in his hands, praying the best way he knew how.

Nadia stood up, placing the case on Jake’s desk. “Why can’t he just come and take it? He’s obviously stronger than us.”

Her question reflected what Jake was thinking. “I have that demons have no power over you unless you let them.”

“So because if we believe in God, we’re safe?” Nadia peered out the window beside Jake. That seemed a bit ridiculous given their situation.

“What about me? I’ve been an atheist for my whole life-- I’m a goner.” Alan chuckled nervously from across the room.

“You believe now, don’t you?” Jake turned to him quickly.

“Yeah-- I do--”

“That’s all you gotta do. That’s gotta be what’s kept him from just killing us and taking what he wants. Which by now is probably all of us in Hell.” Jake hugged Nadia. She was a mess, strands of her hair had escaped her bun and flew wildly around her head, some strands were stuck to her sweat soaked face. He didn’t look much better, he knew. After this he vowed they would take the longest shower known to man.

Alan nodded, still unsure if his new belief was enough to save him.

Jake stared motionless out into the blue sky. The breeze helped diffuse the heat, as did the shadows that were falling over the side of the building as the sun moved to the opposite side of it. Nadia and Alan had taken turns washing up in the private office bathroom.

“You should go wash up, too” Nadia suggested, placing a hand on Jake’s sweat soaked back. “You’re drenched.”

He turned with a faint smile. “I suppose you’re right. You two stay in the office and don’t open that door for anyone.”

In the bathroom, Jake couldn’t resist a sigh as he splashed his face with the cool water. He would never take it for granted again, he promised as he used a hand towel to clean up. He tied his wet hair back at the nape of his neck. When he met his own eyes in the mirror he heard a small but deep voice somewhere in his head.

“You’ve had a good run,” said the voice in his head, deep and smooth. “You were a rock star, money, drugs, cars, pretty women— all the women, a casino, more money than you’ll ever spend. You thought all that didn’t come with a price? s**t, if you hadn’t sold your soul- the devil would have probably claimed it, anyway. Let’s face it, you aren’t strong enough to fight me. Give up like your friends did, Jake.”

Jake straightened, narrowing his eyes in the mirror. He couldn’t deny it wasn’t true. Famous or not, he had been on the road to the rock star life from an early age. He shook his head, his eyes suddenly bright as he replied, “No. I never set out to ruin anyone. I never hurt anybody. You are a liar. I will never give up to you in this lifetime.

Somewhere in the air he heard Father Cresson’s voice again too, “You have the power, Jake, to fight this thing.”

“I am not a saint,” Jake looked around, wondering where the voice came from. He saw nothing but the four walls of the bathroom. “I am not qualified for this, I am a human.”

“The qualified don’t get called, boy. The called get qualified,” yet another voice said from somewhere unseen.

Jake felt panic creeping up his spine. All these voices from seemingly nowhere. He rubbed his face, muttering, “I must have gotten to hot and I’m having a heat stroke. That’s why I am hearing all these voices. It’s just some kind of panic attack.”

“It’s not a panic attack,” the third voice cut in on his thinking. This really alarmed Jake, he had only thought his words. These things could hear his thought?

“What is it then?” He gripped the counter around the sink as if it were his own sanity that he was holding on to. He searched the ceiling and walls around him for some sign of a speaker or a person. Nothing.

“Father Cresson explained it. You have the power. I can’t tell you how to tap it, you have to connect to it yourself. Go down there and face the demons, do not cower here in fear. They cannot harm you. They have no power over you at all. Unless you give it to them.” The voice, Jake realized, sounded like Dan’s.

It suddenly clicked in him that this was the only way to end this. He had to end it now or they would be trapped here in this hotel, this office, this bathroom until they perished. They were up against supernatural beings, they could hold them hostage indefinitely unless one of them caved.

He burst out of the bathroom so fast it startled Nadia and Alan, who both reclined on the couch, drowsily. Jake looked crazed. Without a word he opened his desk drawer and picked up a pair of red dice. Tossing them on the desk he smiled as they landed, one on five, the other on two. A second time, a third, fourth and fifth time in a row they landed with a clatter on the desk— one on five and the other on two.

“What are you doing?” Nadia came closer, her face tense with worry. Had he finally lost it in the heat?

“Loaded dice.” He tossed them out again for her to see. “I got an idea.”

Alan raised an eyebrow, he could already tell where this was going. “You wanna cheat the devil?”

“Maybe. But maybe I don’t have to.” Jake squeezed the dice in his hand. “I think I can beat them at their own game. Father Cresson said I could do it.”

“Father Cresson?” Nadia asked, her brow furrowed. “You spoke to a priest?”

“You have a better idea?” He slammed the desk drawer closed with his knee. “I went for help and he gave it. I just gotta step up is all. Enough running and hiding.”

“This is crazy,” Alan said quickly. “The odds are not in your favor, Jake! You know next to nothing about fighting demons, devils, whatever the hell is down there.”

“What makes you think he will even talk with you? He already has a blood seal on your soul,” Nadia sat on the desk and watched Jake toss the dice a few more times. Each time they hit seven.

“Not anymore he doesn’t. Father Cresson broke it. He don’t know that yet, though. I’m betting there’s some sort of hierarchy in the underworld, for lack of a better name for where ever he and Griffin came from. I am betting the more souls they get the higher up the ladder they go.” Jake rattled the loaded dice in his hand. “I’m betting that I can get them to take me with them into the underworld, Hell, whatever it is. I bet since they don’t own me I can escape easily, and rescue a few of those still bound by blood along the way. See what I mean? I am more powerful than they. Pretty sure.”

Alan opened his mouth to speak but stopped. A low rumbling roar in the distance caught his attention. Jake noticed it too and turned to peer out the window, looking for the source.

“Is that a plane?” Nadia moved over to look up in the sky as well.