Exorcized (Episode Five: The Nightshade Cases)

By Patti Larsen

When an exorcism goes horribly wrong, it’s up to Gerri, Kinsey and Ray to find out who murdered Father Harry, and what the strange symbol left behind at his death really means...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patti Larsen
• Release date: Jul 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781927464700

Patti Larsen

About me, huh? Well, my official bio reads like this: Patti Larsen is a multiple award-winning author with a passion for the voices in her head. But that sounds so freaking formal, doesn’t it? I’m a storyteller who hears character's demands so loudly I have to write them down. I love the idea of sports even though sports hate me. I’ve dabbled in everything from improv theater to film making and writing TV shows, singing in an all girl band to running my own hair salon.But always, always, writing books calls me home.I’ve had my sights set on world literary domination for a while now. Which means getting my books out there, to you, my darling readers. It’s the coolest thing ever, this job of mine, being able to tell stories I love, only to see them all shiny and happy in your hands... thank you for reading.As for the rest of it, I’m short (permanent), slightly round (changeable) and blonde (for ever and ever). I love to talk one on one about the deepest topics and can’t seem to stop seeing the big picture. I happily live on Prince Edward Island, Canada, home to Anne of Green Gables and the most beautiful red beaches in the world, with my pug overlord and overlady, six lazy cats and Gypsy Vanner gelding, Fynn.

Book preview

Exorcized

The Nightshade Cases: Book Five

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 by Patti Larsen

Find out more about Patti Larsen at http://www.pattilarsen.com/home

***

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Edited by Annetta Ribken www.wordwebbing.com

Proofed by Jessica Bufkin

***

Chapter One

The young man writhed on the bed, red-faced and screaming in a voice vibrating with hate. His hands and feet thrashed as he fought against some inner power only he recognized. The black-suited priest leaned over him, spraying his skin with holy water. The parents hovered in the doorway of the bedroom.

What’s happening? The mother’s shrieking demand for answers only seemed to fuel the young man’s agony. Sweat stood out on the boy’s skin, huge eyes spinning in his head, tongue thick and flailing as he bounced three times to the edge of the small bed, feet slapping on the floor.

Dante, the old priest whispered over his shoulder between chants of verse in Latin, calm and commanding. Get them out. Now.

Behind him, the slim, dark-haired priest stopped chanting, closing his Bible as he hurried forward, slightly less in control than his teacher. He inserted himself between the panic-stricken parents and his elder who performed the exorcism.

Please, Father Dante said in a quiet voice only calm on the surface, hoping they didn’t hear his panic. He must have privacy.

The mother bowed out with a soft sob, the father leaving second, dark eyes huge, locked on his son’s twisting face. The young priest closed the door behind himself, firmly, with precision, before nodding to the parents.

You said it wasn’t a possession. The woman’s wailing had gone quieter, at least, but the young priest winced at her piercing tone. You said this was just a precaution.

You must trust Father Harry, he said, heart clenching as he realized he’d finally witnessed his first true demonic takeover after all this time assisting the father. He knows what to do.

***

Father Harry Schaefer’s heart wasn’t as young as it used to be. And he hadn’t had a real possession to deal with in over ten years. What started out as a pretense to calm the parents had evolved quickly into this thrashing, screaming mess on the bed, a boy with the eyes of a demon.

Dear God, Father Harry thought. Protect me from my own foolishness.

A faint breeze washed over the back of the priest's neck from the open window as the boy’s eyes flared from the cold, dull red of the demonic into normal human brown the moment before they flew wide, a gasp sucking terrified air into the young man’s chest. Father Harry bent over the child as his lips moved, whispering, whispering. A demon trick, meant to lure the priest into its grasp. He knew better, learned better when he was just a young man himself and undergoing his training at The Vatican. But he couldn’t resist the panic in the child’s eyes, the absolute terror.

Father Harry knelt on the bed, leaning close. Tell me what you see, he said.

When the boy spoke, Father Harry understood. He’d made his final mistake.

***

The sudden silence troubled Father Dante so much he finally peeked inside the room, hoping to see Father Harry soothing the now demon-free child. He’d waited as long as he dared for the priest to summon him. Dante couldn’t wait any longer.

He should have been more careful about allowing the parents to follow in behind him. The woman’s scream of horror just made his own primal terror worse.

Father Harry would perform no more masses, no further exorcism. Not in this life. Not as his blood oozed from the hole in his crotch where his private parts used to be, mouth gaping wide, eyes staring at the wall. Where a giant symbol had been drawn in his blood.

All the while the now peacefully sleeping boy lay curled up beside him.

***

Chapter Two

Gerri glared at the symbol on the wall of the boy’s bedroom with growing irritation. She hated religious cases, especially now she had zero access to her friend, Dr. Kinsey DanAllart. If only the captain weren’t so shortsighted about the whole Simone Paris/Julian Black connection. Sure, Black was under investigation for drug trafficking through his club, Exotica. And yes, Simone Paris was his live-in girlfriend. But just because Kinsey was contracted through her employer, Silver City College, to translate some stupid symbols on some stupid artifacts, it shouldn’t preclude her friend from being able to come give her a damned hand.

Didn’t help her other partner-in-crime, Dr. Rachel Hunter, was also missing from the scene. Gerri’s stare of annoyance drifted from the bloody smear on the wall to the back of Dr. Daniel Druit’s head. He might keep his silver hair close cropped, his thick white mustache trimmed neat and tidy, but there was an unkempt feeling to Druit that always put Gerri on edge. Not to mention the fact he always smelled oddly, slightly off.

Like she could tell anyone that. Or use her strangely heightened olfactory sense as a reason to have Druit expelled from one of her cases. She wished. But, doing so would mean admitting out loud to those who might think she was whacked out of her cranium she was a freak.

Not going to happen. Bad enough she finally told Kinsey and Ray the truth. Gerri sipped her coffee with glowering sullenness, the icing on this particular cake shooting her a death-glare from across the room. Her partner, Detective Jackson Pierce, pretended to be a cop as he bothered Gerri’s favorite CSI, Tommy Binks. She contemplated kicking his ass out of the room and making him canvas again like a lowly uni but thought better of it. Binks could handle himself.

Didn’t help her irritation her last case still troubled her. The fact Ian Moore, murdering psychopath at seventeen, bore the same burn marks as her first weird case’s killer. There were, however, no obvious ties between Curtis Alexander and the Moore kid, nor was Ian gay or connected to the Collective of All Souls as the young bartender at the Starlet Lounge had been.

Whoever marked Ian Moore, he’d taken their identity—and his crazy—to the grave when she’d put a bullet in his head. Sure, he was dead the case was solved. But she hated loose ends about as much as anything in the world. And he was a loose end that wiggled and wriggled until she squirmed.

Gerri prodded one of the other CSIs with her foot, annoyance showing in her attitude as she gestured with her coffee mug at the symbol on the wall. You get a shot of that?

The young woman visibly fought the urge to roll her eyes, only partially stopping the reflex action before her lips curved in a smile that did nothing for her tiny face. What do you think?

Chase. Binks might have been a tall, skinny drink of water who looked partially albino and reminded Gerri of the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland, but he had a voice like a whip crack. The young woman’s attention snapped to him immediately, respect written all over her face. The detective asked you a question.

She nodded to him then to Gerri, attitude shifted. "Sorry.