Familiar Spirit

His mouth met hers and they kissed hungrily. But it wasn’t Brian’s mouth; it wasn’t Brian’s kiss. And, she realized, it wasn’t Brian’s familiar body she was pressed against. In the space of less than a second everything had changed again.

Sarah broke away from the kiss, her breath coming hard, and she stared at Pete, hating him because he wasn’t Brian. Pete reached out for her, and she wondered who he saw, who inspired that longing on his face.

“Stop it,” she said sharply. She pulled his hands away from her breasts. “Pete, stop it! You’re letting Jade control you. Fight it!”

“I don’t want to fight it, Sarah,” he said. “I want you.” His fingers tightened on hers and he pulled her to him again, his head coming down to kiss her.

Perhaps he would turn to Brian again in her arms, she thought, first letting him kiss her and then kissing back. It would be only an illusion, but an illusion was better than emptiness. Her arms slipped up his back—Pete’s back—and pulled him closer, and their kiss increased in passion. He wasn’t Brian, but that wasn’t important. She had always liked Pete, and now his mouth on hers was compelling, his desire sparking her own. She couldn’t help responding to his hand on her breast, his tongue in her mouth. He wanted her and she wanted him, and where was the harm in that?

Beverly, she thought. There was the harm. Easy enough to give in now to the moment’s desire, but what about later, when they had to look at each other, and put their clothes back on, and go home and lie to Beverly?

She broke away from him. “Pete,” she said breathlessly. “Pete, listen to me. We can’t do this. It isn’t fair—it isn’t fair to Beverly!”

Passion made his face a stranger’s. “Is it fair to me?” he asked. “Are you being fair to me?” He caught her hand and pressed it against the bulge in his pants.

She jerked her hand away, angry for the first time. “We didn’t come here for this! Use your head, Pete! You wanted to come here to say the License to Depart. Let’s do that, then, and—”

“Later,” he said, reaching for her. “Later, we can do anything you like.”

“Not later! Now, before it’s too late!” She pushed him away, and bent to pick up the book he had dropped. When she came up, he caught her to him and kissed her hair and the back of her neck. Sarah squirmed, trying to avoid his caresses, and paged through the book, looking for the marked page.

“Sarah,” he murmured into her hair. “You’re driving me crazy. If you only knew how much I want you . . .”

She found the page with the License to Depart. She prayed that it would work, without the consecrated circle and without both their minds concentrated on it. She shifted and twisted away from Pete’s lips and hands and hoped that she, at least, would be safe from Jade. He can only fight us one at a time, she thought. In a trembling voice she began to read.

“O Spirit . . . Jade, because thou hast diligently answered me—answered Valerie’s—demands, I do hereby license and command thee to depart, without injury to man or beast. Depart, I say, and be thou very willing and ready”—she slapped at Pete’s hands—“to come, whensoever duly exorcised and conjured—”

Pete grabbed her head and held it still, kissing her mouth, silencing her. Sarah brought the book up in both hands into his stomach, but it was a weak and ineffective blow. Still, she managed to break away from him, and moved backwards hastily out of his reach.

“Depart, I say,” she resumed breathlessly. She looked for her place on the page. “And . . . be thou very willing and ready to come, whensoever duly exorcised and conjured by the sacred rites of magic. I conjure thee to withdraw peaceably and quietly, and may the peace of God continue for ever and ever, between me and thee. Amen.”

She looked up and saw Brian standing in the center of the chalked circle. Looking at the floor, she saw that she was outside the circle, and that her footsteps had smeared and broken the line. She bit her lip. She would not give up. Not yet. Perhaps it wasn’t spoiled. It might not be too late. Quickly she found the second marked page in the book—an exhortation if the spirit be reluctant to leave—and began to read it aloud. She was painfully aware of the man standing only a few feet away.

“I command you by all the holy names, by Adonay, Amay, Horta, Vegadoro, Ysion, Ysey, by the Holy Name by which Solomon did bind up the devils and lock them up, Ethrack, Evener, Agla, Goth, Joth, Othie, Veneck, Nabrack, by all the holy names and powers that be, Beroald, Berald, Balbin, Gab, Gabor, Agaba, by the grace and power of God, depart and leave us in peace.”

She looked up. She still saw Brian. Tears filled her eyes. She dropped the book on the floor, raised her arms above her head and shouted at the top of her lungs, hopelessly yet still hoping, “BAST!”

She opened her eyes and saw Pete. Relief flooded her. Tentatively she smiled at him.