The Devil's Daughter Complete Box Set, page 92
part #1 of The Devil's Daughter Series
The pieces of the impending devil’s puzzle were coming together all too fast. Doodlebug was down to grasping at straws. “Moving a soul from one inanimate object to another is one thing, but the incantation that binds you two together is more than just having a magic box and reading some words out of an old book. Marjory would still need a power cord from life to hell in order to perform the ritual, and all those souls she stole have been returned to Baron Samedi. You may have the pieces, but you don’t have the power source to make them work.”
He ran a finger along her cheek like a rapist about to take advantage of her. “There’s still one thread left of the connection. You.” With the totem in hand, he turned and walked into the vault. When the door closed, the field around Doodlebug transitioned to a hologram of the bank president’s office.
“We meet at last.” Marjory Laroque closed her laptop and laced her fingers together on top of it like a school teacher about to hand out a failing grade.
The different realities were coming on too fast for Doodlebug to process. One thing is for sure—I’m never coming to this haunted island again. For a supposedly secret and secure hideaway, it seems like every one of Sere’s enemies knows how to get here. She ran through the recent events, desperate to find any weakness in the woman’s position. “I get how Aloysius found me at the World Trade Center. The Cormorant isn’t exactly known for keeping a low profile. But those fiery bats of his aren’t any better fliers than birdwoman’s flock of followers. So how did you know to find me out here on Sanguine’s island?”
Marjory performed her reappearing golden medallion trick and held the coin between her fingers. “I’ll bet you thought this was just a token to protect your doppelfools from the harvesters. If we consider the professor as relying on old-fashioned phone-line technology for his computer communications, you could think of these as my modern-day cell towers. I’d planned on a fully covered network, but thanks to your warning, only a handful of doppelgängers have acquired my enhanced technology—not that it matters. So long as you held on to that coin in your pocket, I always knew where you were.”
But it was your brother who sent the rich punks out to steal the coins, which is what made me spread the warning. Interesting. Doodlebug pulled the coin out of her pants, where she’d absentmindedly stashed it after the party. Her knees wobbled from the weight of failure on her shoulders. “So you’ve been spying on me this whole time? And I’d guess that’s how you figured out where to find my diary.”
“Oh, I didn’t rely just on your coin. Every doppelgänger who agreed to be saved from the harvesters and accepted a coin has been spying for me, whether they knew it or not. Fortunately, I never really trusted the Cormorant, so your precious little book only confirmed what I already suspected.”
The realization of complete failure forced Doodlebug to face the inevitable. “So what happens now?”
Marjory’s sickly, sinister smile was even more ghastly than Aloysius’s had been. “I’m going to drain every last spark of fake spirit from that collection of dust particles you inhabit to jump-start my devil. Once you’re nothing more than a dark stain on the ground, he’ll march his squadron right over your remains, through the gate, and out of hell. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”
Doodlebug curled into the fetal position as she suffered the familiar sapping of energy that bound her spirit to her body. Though having every one of her molecules used as a conduit for transferring a foreign spirit between dimensions had never been pleasant, at least in the past, she hadn’t endured the torture alone. Through the shared agony, the demons and human souls had been able to maintain their senses of identity. This time, however, there was no one to lean on.
As Marjory rubbed the gold coin and read from the leather-bound book, Doodlebug lost control of her thoughts. Each word the woman in life spoke seemed to be an original thought inside Doodlebug’s mind that came out through her mouth. Like a wire forced to endure too much electricity, she vibrated red hot as the incantation bound her to both the professor’s computer and the vault via the golden coin.
Inside the box, the two versions of Aloysius whipped and blended together like the ingredients of a smoothie that had been tossed into a food processor, and Doodlebug was the lump of frozen berries that was banging around the sides. I have to keep it together. If I break up, it won’t just be back to Esplanade’s neutral ground for me. I’ll end up a part of the devil.
You’re already a part of me. Aloysius’s thought confirmed that she still had a remnant of self-identity.
She latched on to what remained of her existence: learning from Sere, her existence in hell protecting the less fortunate, seeing life through the eyes of Dooly, and having a mission worthy of the suffering. Each time she focused on one of the memories, however, it got knocked off of her and blended into the evil concoction.
The human and doppelgänger versions of Aloysius Laroque locked onto each other like spinning magnets that finally lined up correctly. He took the controls of his doppelgänger body, hauling Doodlebug along as his guide. “How do I regenerate?”
“Go fuck yourself.” Though she’d viewed swearing as a release of emotional energy that was better directed toward battle, she hoped he would view the expletive as being more literal than figurative.
He squeezed his fists as a manifestation of pulling energy from his surroundings. Doodlebug lost the last remnant of her identity as exabytes of data that had been gathered from the human version of Aloysius to generate his doppelgänger body flowed from the professor’s computers into the iron box. All he would ever need for eternal life was downloaded into his human-occupied computer brain.
Aloysius spread his arms, feeling like a new god. “Nothing can harm this body that I can’t fix. Healing a broken bone is as simple as reloading a faulty program. And with this enhanced brain, I’ll be able to create new programs that will make me more than just immortal. That angel’s wings or that dragon’s body are nothing more than enhanced software that they have no control over. I, however, will be the one directing my own abilities. Nothing can stop me.”
Marjory appeared on the side of the vault as if a view screen had been activated. “I’m glad you’re enjoying your new body, but don’t forget who gave it to you. After we’ve run enough tests to prove your viability, I’ll be joining you as a fellow immortal. Eventually, all of our family will share the gift, so don’t get cocky.”
But for now, I’m the only true devil. That gives me one hell of a head start. He hoped the old bat couldn’t hear his thoughts. “Then let’s get on with it. Open this door so we can remake the world.”
As the door swung open, Doodlebug dimly sensed that what was left of her was being devoured as if razor-sharp teeth were biting into her flesh. The familiar sensation of gasping for air but only sucking in death sparked memories of drowning. This is it. This is dying. Not just being beheaded and reincarnated but actual death. The fully lit moon that had seemed so welcoming when she’d landed on the island just a short time ago diminished to a speck played with by the waves far overhead. So this is the deep waters everyone talks about. Funny, I didn’t think I’d qualify.
Just when she was ready to give into the oblivion, the teeth withdrew from her body.
“You’ve looked better.” Doodlebug thought the voice sounded like her own, but then having been a part of Marjory’s game and Aloysius’s essence, she couldn’t be sure what she honestly sounded like. Similar to how she’d felt as part of the bridge of the damned, nothing made sense in the whirlwind of stimulations.
Hands wrapped cloth around her sides. “She can’t respond yet. Lie down. This is going to take a lot out of you.” The voices swirled around her as if she were still in the vault-blender.
A snort of hot, swamp-smelling air made her gasp and open her eyes. Lefty’s three-inch-long fangs were half covered in blood. “What did you do?” The pain from the words leaving her throat confirmed she had been the one speaking.
“He fulfilled my end of our agreement.” Sere sat next to the giant alligator and patted his head. “Since you saved my immortal soul, I couldn’t just leave you in hell.”
Only Doodlebug’s neck attempted to obey her command to sit up. “Did we win?”
“No,” Sere said. “The devil flew out of the hellmouth with his squad of demons on dragon back just before Lefty swam you through the gate. There wasn’t anything either of us could have done to stop them. But you saved Sanguine.”
“Where were you?” Doodlebug couldn’t believe Sere had left the fate of all humanity in only her teenaged hands.
“It took more than a minute to get out here. I couldn’t leave Fisher’s offices until the vault was opened and I was returned to my body. Good job figuring out my predicament, by the way.”
A hand gripped hers. She turned to see Dooly lying next to her. “I never would have guessed there was a part of me capable of such heroism.”
“I thought we weren’t supposed to meet.”
“You’re not,” Sere said. “I had to break a few rules to save you. As far as I’m concerned, the two of you have fulfilled your agreements.”
Doodlebug rolled to her back. “Fat lot of good it did.”
85
Chapter 16
Sere sat on the rune-carved rock on her island in the swamp while Dooly helped Doodlebug rediscover how to function. Bart put his powerful hand on her shoulder. “What happens next?”
She put hers on his. “I need to talk to Sanguine alone.”
“You’re worried about the Cormorant?”
“Among other things.” Sere wished her angelic mother figure would hurry up with whatever she was doing in hell. There was a devil and his horde to find, a freed doppelgirl to figure out what to do with, and an evil woman whose ambitions needed containing.
Bart nodded toward the jon boat. “I’ve got resources lined up to take Doodlebug clear of the city and make sure she stays there.”
With the hellmouth open and Marjory’s devil and his contingent among the living, Sere wondered how much worse it could actually get with Doodlebug and Dooly in the same space. “Take them both to your bar. Then send Dooly back to New Orleans but keep Doodlebug with you. Somewhere out there in those sleepy little bayou towns, things are about to get very paranormal, and I might need someone who knows what she’s doing.”
“So you trust her now?”
Sere wished it were that easy. “She just stepped out of hell. How long was I here before you trusted me?”
Bart pointed at the handle sticking out of the top of her alligator boot. “As soon as you stopped pulling that knife on me. There are still a few gator hunters rounding up the last of the hell-sized crawfish. I can have one of them swing by and give you a ride back to shore when you’re ready.”
Sere scratched Lefty between the eyes. Keeping the thirty-foot alligator out of the clutches of the greedy hunters had been a challenge, but turning the bastards loose on hell’s escaped critters had earned her a begrudging measure of respect from the chauvinist assholes. “Not this time. With Aloysius on the loose, it’s time the good people of the Northshore get used to seeing the unusual. I’m going to need all the help I can get.” She got up from the rock then walked with Bart and the girls to the boat.
Sere stood on the shore, watching Bart putter the little boat into the main tributary that fed the swamp. The Doodle girls were already sniping at each other like twins who had their own language and secret history. “I swear, it’s like we just inherited two teenage girls.”
“You weren’t much better at that age.” Sanguine’s angelic voice warmed Sere right down to her doppelgänger heart.
She turned to the rune boulder. “You’re really free?”
“I’m out of the vault. I’m not sure that’s what I’d call free—more like back in the battle.”
Sere didn’t have all day, but she also wasn’t in any hurry to face off against the new devil. “Speaking of which…” She left the thought for Sanguine to follow. As the guardian angel to both Sere and her demented double, it was far past time for Sanguine to do some explaining.
“I assume you want to know about Jenna. Smoke and I chased her away from the island to protect Doodlebug and keep her from acquiring the vault, not that it mattered in the end. When I got back to the island, the box was gone. Marjory must have had a second wave of doppelgängers hiding in the swamp to take the thing once Aloysius was complete. They can’t have gotten far with it. We lost Jenna on the outskirts of New Orleans. Smoke is still on the hunt, but I thought I’d better return and check in with you. Is the girl safe?”
Though Sanguine had helped Sere escape hell, the gate wasn’t meant to be used as a revolving door. “I had Lefty bring her across. I know that wasn’t our agreement, but things have gotten complicated while you were boxed up.”
Sanguine’s feathers quivered the same way they had when Sere had done something wrong as a girl. “And you think turning a demon loose among the living is going to make things simpler?”
Though Sere’s soul meant she wasn’t completely a demon, some prejudices rankled. “If you had been standing guard like we’d agreed, I wouldn’t have had to make other arrangements. Besides, she’s not our biggest problem. Marjory Laroque has fashioned herself an immortal devil. Together with his army of demons and dragons, they’ve invaded life.”
“Shit.” Hearing the expletive from the angel’s mouth made Sere reach for her knife. Nothing good happened when the guardian angel got pissed, and that usually meant Sere had to be ready for battle. “How can I help?”
Sere wasn’t sure how to respond. Typically, those who had raised her saw themselves as the ones to make the decisions, leaving Sere to carry them out. All she could come up with was the one answer she most dreaded. “Professor Yates once said you were like the button in the buttonhole. With you missing, the demons were able to escape through the fabric that separated these two realities. I need you to close the hellmouth.”
Sanguine’s magical eyes displayed wildly different futures on their facets. “You know what that means?”
“It means we won’t be able to talk to each other. I, and everyone else, will be cut off from hell. But it also means Marjory won’t be able to send any more doppelgängers through. With Doodlebug on this side, Marjory has lost her last connection to hell, so she can’t send any human souls to hell either. Those two vaults will be like tin cans without the connecting string. Even with those golden coins she passed out, without the hellmouth, she won’t be able to make contact with her network.”
Sanguine nodded. “And you’ll be stuck facing her horde on your own. Our human family won’t be any match against Aloysius. You’re the only other being in that dimension that could stand against him.”
Sere knew so long as Marjory had her devil, she would never stop seeking immortality. Closing the gate while she didn’t have a single ally in hell, however, would make her quest as close to impossible as Sere could manage. “You and Kendell were able to corral my father with fewer resources.”
“He didn’t have an army backing him up.”
“And Aloysius doesn’t have my support team.” Knowing this might be their last chance to talk, Sere didn’t want to let Sanguine go. “What about you?”
“I have that dragon to protect me. I still believe Jenna can be saved, but getting her past this crazy idea that she’s some kind of goddess is going to take some work. If I can get her to see reason, we’ll have one more protector on this side of the divide in case Marjory figures out something clever. And now that I’m out of the vault, I should be able to calm the hurricane and return this realm to some sense of order. It doesn’t have to be a hell here, but it will take work to make it livable for all of the divergent sentient beings.” She looked around as if making sure they truly were alone. “If you ever need me after the hellmouth is closed, contact Chloe Aberrant. Our connection isn’t reliant on the professor’s equipment. No matter what Kendell might tell you, do not use her voodoo gates or Myles’s magic cane. That’s how this whole mess got started.”
Sere nodded. Though Baron Samedi had been helpful, she would never be able to bring herself to trust the loa of the dead. She reached out toward the shimmering angel. “I will miss you, but as immortals—even in different dimensions—I know we’ll meet again.”
Sere climbed on Lefty’s back. She didn’t see any point in playing nice with the gator hunters or their Northshore compatriots. Either they were going to accept her help, or she would leave them to the devil. “If they lay a single hand on you, it will be war. I have no problem leaving them to the devil and his minions.”
While Lefty swam through the swamp, she tried to figure out what to do. Marjory had made an aggressive move in turning loose her devil—possibility too aggressive. Aloysius might have achieved immortality, but the horde accompanying him had just had their lifelines severed. Sere needed to get down to the professor to find out what might have happened to his demons and dragons. If the new devil and his benefactor had a contingency plan to power up the monsters, the specifics eluded her. She wants what he has, but without a connection to hell, she’ll be stuck. Either she’ll try to reestablish contact, or she’ll steal the man’s doppelgänger body for her own the way my father did her son.
Then there was Doodlebug to consider. Left in hell, the girl would have played right into Marjory’s hands. Too long in that dimension, and Jenna would have sought her out also as a way to get at Sere. But Bart had a strong point; leaving the doppelgirl in life meant Sere needed to either accept her or kill her once and for all. I could use the help, assuming I can honestly trust her.
