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An hour later, Wila pulled into the parking lot of Saint Michael’s Church. She didn’t like leaving Gammy alone at the house, but she had to trust the sigils Penny’s father-in-law Edward instructed her to paint over the doors and windows would keep any demons out of her home. It would explain why the demon waited until they entered the Arrow department store this morning before it confronted them.
But then, things had been changing so much in her life Wila hadn’t had a chance to take stock of it all. Such as the weird mix of older vehicles and rentals constantly parked at Saint Mike’s without an event scheduled. She pulled into the spot next to Father Perez’s tiny red hatchback. Since the demon hunters started pouring into Oakfield, a group of the parishioners had posted parking signs along the row closest to the church buildings. However, the signs were humorous labels for the people living and working at the little Catholic complex over the last month.
Most of the signs literally read “Demon Hunter”. Then there was “Kick-Ass Nun”, “Current Priest”, “OG Priest”, and “Mary, Wife of Jesus”. But the best were the four marked with “Soccer Mom”.
Wila pushed the button to turn off her vehicle, but her minivan/horse rumbled her displeasure via her engine.
“Baby, I told you before—” Wila stroked Scarlett’s steering wheel. “—if they put up a sign saying ‘Horse’, some idiot will leave their animal here. You’re so much better than a regular horse. Do you want some idiot animal taking a dump in your spot?”
A puff of steam floated from under the hood, and the engine stopped. Apparently, Wila’s crass point mollified Scarlett. For now anyway, but her horse would raise the issue again the next time they came to the church. Scarlett thought the Soccer Mom signs should be replaced with hers and her sister mares’ names along with their designated rider.
Wila slid out of the driver’s seat. She didn’t bother to lock the minivan anymore. If some dirtbag was stupid enough to try to jack her ride, Scarlett would deliver said dirtbag to the police.
Again.
And that was assuming said dirtbag could get past the patrols of the demon hunters and recruits guarding Saint Mike’s. Speaking of which, Lucas Manewell and Brother Giuseppe approached her.
“Buongiorno, Signora Guerra.” The former demon hunting monk bowed. For someone born in Italy during the Renaissance, he was adapting damn well to twenty-first century life in America.
“Is there something wrong, m’lady?” Lucas frowned. He’d been one of the vigilantes Francine ran into at the Oakfield Cemetery the day the dead starting rising. She had been forced to reveal her Soccer Mom persona of Famine to keep the idiots from shooting the newly resurrected folks. Unfortunately, that was when she was filmed as both human and Soccer Mom, and it ended up on the news later that night.
Lucas had recognized what Francine was, and it spurred him to volunteer his assistance at Saint Mike’s. The demon hunters took him under their wings, and in turn, Lucas had recruited his vigilante friends to be trained by the demon hunters. Subsequently, the former vigilantes assisted the local law enforcement and the Vatican demon hunters with protecting the public places where the resurrected were staying, like the other places of worship and the high school.
“No emergency yet, guys.” Wila grinned. “This is a fact-finding mission.”
Both men nodded and continued on their patrol. Lucas didn’t presume he could answer her questions, and Brother Giuseppe didn’t know enough American English to answer though he probably had the knowledge. A misunderstood fact about demons due to a bad translation could be disastrous.
Out of manners, Wila entered the church itself to let Maria Cordero, the church’s administrative assistant, know of her presence at the facility. Her husband’s name was the reason for the signage for Maria’s parking space. Jesus coached Derek’s soccer team, the Tiger Sharks.
It didn’t help that Derek had been making cracks about Coach Cordero being the Second Coming. However, that idea was a step too far for Wila to deal with right now. If it weren’t for the dead starting to rise from their graves three weeks ago, she and the rest of her sisters would be in matching straightjackets.
Gammy was right. She was tighter with Penny, Dani, and even Francine than she had been with her brother Watende.
Wila popped the memory back in its little box with the rest of her past. It hurt too much to think about his and Mom’s deaths. The irritating shrink the VA had set her up with said the trauma of the loss of her immediate family was twined with what she went through in Afghanistan. Maybe she needed to get a referral from Penny’s husband Gene. The stress of being a Soccer Mom of the Apocalypse may be the proverbial straw that finally broke her.
She knocked on Maria’s open office door.
Maria stopped typing and looked up from her monitor screen. “Hey, Wila!” A frown immediately marred her pretty face. “Sorry, I didn’t hear the motion detector go off.” That may have been Wila’s fault. Yet another new ability popping up with no clue of what she did or how to control it. But that wasn’t any reason to scare the crap out of poor Maria.
Wila smiled. “It looked like you were pretty intent on whatever you were doing. Are Fathers Perez and McAvoy here? I had a weird experience with a demon this morning, and Penny sent me over to run it by them.”
Maria’s shoulders sagged. “Another one? Those things are worse than cockroaches.”
“It’s been a week since the last nest was cleaned out,” Wila said. “One was bound to pop out of the woodwork sooner or later.”
Maria picked up the receiver and pressed a button on her phone set. “Father? Wila’s here with some questions.” After a slight pause, she added, “She says she had a weird experience with a demon.” Another pause. “All right, Father.”
She hung up the receiver. “Father Perez will be here in a moment. He hopes you don’t mind a walk back to the rectory. Father McAvoy injured himself on Saturday.” “Let me guess.” Wila grinned. “The O.G. tried to keep up with his old team?”
Maria chuckled. “He may have been the youngest member at one time, but Fathers Mbaye and Lambert as well as Laura Hudson have died and been resurrected. Father McAvoy sprained his knee, and the only reason he’s staying off of it is because Sister Joan threatened to tie him to his bed.”
“You really shouldn’t be gossiping, Maria.”
Wila turned at the familiar masculine voice behind her. It was damn shame Father Perez was a priest. He was hot and kind. Things Dani needed in abundance. The girl hadn’t even dated since her husband Heath died in a car accident six years ago. Heck, she even refused when Wila offered to set her up with Ramon, a fellow paramedic who was attracted to Dani.
“It’s not gossip when the Soccer Moms need to know who’s available in a fight, Father,” she said. “Not to mention, he is the senior living Vatican taskforce member here. We need his brains and his English skills right now. What I don’t need is McAvoy getting himself injured or killed trying to prove he can keep up.”
She looked back at Maria. “Did he go to a doctor?”
The administrative assistant shook her head.
Wila faced the younger priest again. “Then as your resident EMT, I’m going to check out his knee while I tell you guys what happened this morning.”
“Actually, I’d be grateful if you did,” Father Perez said with a rueful expression. “He’d listen to you about seeing a doctor.”
Wila rolled her eyes. “You men are all the same.” She waved at Maria. “See you at the soccer game tomorrow night?”
Maria smiled. “I’ll be there.”
Wila strode down the back hallway of the church beside Father Perez. They’d have to pass through the community center to reach the rectory.
“How’s the rehoming going?” she asked.
“All the parishioners who can have taken in the recently risen.” He shook his head. “We still have dead folks trickling in though.”
“Has the Vatican figured out the rhyme or reason for the order of the dead coming back?”
Again, the priest shook his head. “They’ve called in some of the top mathematicians in the world. It seems to be totally random. Can I ask why?”
Wila sighed. “Dani was stressed about her mom or her husband showing up on her doorstep at first. Now, she’s feeling a little left out.”
“As long as the dead continue rising, we don’t have to worry about the Sixth Seal,” he said.
“Do we know that for sure?”
“No,” he said grimly. “I believe, but I never thought I’d see the end times.”
“It ain’t over yet, Padre.” She grinned.
The community center wasn’t as busy as it had been, but a glance at the gymnasium showed it was still about a third full. Francine had been turned into a liaison between Oakfield’s city and county governments, the local religious institutions, and the regional Red Cross office. And she was damn good at it, too. She’d been getting a ton of kudos through the city while she helped manage the crisis.
Which was driving Courtney Lasser, the president of the Oakfield Parents Association, absolutely crazy.
Metal clashed in the kitchen, and a female voice called out orders with military precision as Wila and Father Perez passed by the entrance.
She glanced at the priest. “Should I ask who took over cooking duties?”
“Sister Flavia.” He smiled. “She’s a force to reckon with, but she’s one heck of a chef.”
“I can’t believe how many women worked for the taskforce when they didn’t have rights anywhere else in the world,” Wila remarked.
“Is this going to be another rant about the Mother Church?”
“Sorry, Father.” She shot him an apologetic smile. “It’s more a rant about men. My ex-husband freaked out last night about my dead grandmother living with me. Or rather, he’s freaked she’s in the same house as his son.”
“Not everyone has welcomed the resurrected people back like you Soccer Moms have.”
She shook her head as they passed the classrooms that had been turned into nurseries for the risen children. “It’s one thing to see my Gammy again, but why would God force these children back to earth after they had such horrible deaths?”
“I wish I had an answer for you.” Father Perez pulled open the door into the rectory.
“Deke!” someone shouted.
Wila exchanged looks with Father Perez before they took off at a run through the house. When they reached the sun room, demon hunters and priests gathered around someone lying on the floor.
“EMT! Move out of the way!” Wila shoved past the unhelpful observers to find the person on the floor was Father McAvoy. His friend Father Mbaye knelt next to him. McAvoy spoke, but his words made no sense.
The resurrected priest originally from Africa stared at her with panicked expression. “He’s possessed!”
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