Demon Jack by Patrick Donovan Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t hear it. I couldn’t take it anymore. The more I had tried to dismiss it the more the craving beat against the bars of its cage. It had finally broken free. If I didn’t get out of here it felt like my brain was going to vibrate out of my skull. I needed to get out of this church. There was no room left for debate. If they wanted my help they could give me that right? I deserved it; I was going to put my life on the line for them. I had listened to their offer; I had fought to ignore it that long. I couldn’t keep doing it. I needed heroin or Alice and there wasn’t any room left for debate.
    “I can’t stay here,” I said finally.
    “Eh?”
    “I can’t stay here. It’s... I’m...” I sighed, trying to get a handle on the frustration and urgency pushing at my words. Deep breath. Pause. Try again. “I’m going insane here. I can’t be inside a church, it’s not healthy for me.”
    Maggie smirked.
    “Seriously, please. Can we go for a walk, something? Anything?” Even to me my voice sounded whiny and desperate, kicked up an octave or two. My hands were shaking.
    Maggie stared at me. Her eyes softened for a moment. She pursed her lips, drawing them into a tight line across her face.
    “Please?”
    “No,” she said finally.
    Desperation morphed into anger. I stood up, or tried to rather, a wave of cramps rolling through my muscles. I collapsed back against the bed, my head thumping off the wall.
    “God damn it! Please. You owe me this,” I cried desperately.
    She moved quick, bursting into motion and grabbing my shirt. If I hadn’t been cut off from Alice, it would’ve seemed comically slow. Broken and hurting though, I didn’t even realize what was happening until she was nose to nose with me, that warm, summery perfume rolling over my senses in a heady wave. It seemed to have grown stronger with her mood. Her eyes were narrowed, burning with rage. Her face, once soft, had sharpened with anger.
    “Listen mate. Let’s get down to brass tacks ‘ere, so yer complete and thorough on exactly what you’re owed.”
    I reached out, struggling to push her away. She slapped me, hard. I could feel the warm spot rising up on my already aching jaw.
    “Yer owed not a damned thing. Matter of fact, way I see it, you owe me an I’m collectin’. I ain’t the slightest bit crazy about ‘avin to be saddled with a junkie, but there’s bigger things goin' on ‘ere than poor Jack,” she said, contempt dripping from her words.
    She shoved me back on the bed. For a long moment, she stood over me terrifying and beautiful.
    “Ya got that?”
    “Please… just a walk? That’s all I’m asking for.”
    She damn near growled at me.
    “Yer fuckin’ pathetic.”
    She turned and left, slamming the door behind her. A second later I heard the snap of a heavy lock.
    I lay there for the next hour, or maybe it was five minutes. I really couldn’t tell. With no clock the time seemed to stretch and then constrict, a minute turning into an hour and an hour turning into a second. My whole body ached, begging and pleading for just a second’s worth of peace.
    I picked up the folder, holding it in trembling hands. I needed something, anything, to take my mind off what I was feeling.
    I took a deep breath, fighting to keep my focus. It felt like an animal had been set loose in my stomach and was currently trying to claw its way out through my throat. My skin burned. My thoughts raced. For a long moment, I wasn’t able to do anything more than stare blankly at the paper and shake. I swallowed and it felt like moving a lump of concrete down my esophagus. I managed to compose myself enough to try and draw lines between each report mentally.
    I’m no expert in possessions, demonic or otherwise, but having Alice around and being somewhat of a supernatural… thing, I’d learned more than my fair share about the things that go bump in the night. I had a general idea about what they could do, what they couldn’t, what