Chapter 22 Part 3 – Call for Obstruction

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So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan.

After Margery sets up Barry as a decoy and Vern loses his head, Barry agrees to help Trisha, an angel’s apprentice stop the sacrifice. He finds a map of tunnels to the ranch where the sacrifice will take place and gives it to Trisha. While Barry is outside the warehouse, Nina tries to escape. Fed up, Margery intends to posses Nina with a demon she sends Oscar and Barry to retrieve from a vending machine.

The Courier Series is about Barry White, a twenty-something computer geek with an overbearing mother, no prospects of finding a girlfriend, and an unemployment record that’s made him pessimistic he’ll ever be happy.

The Courier was originally written as a twitter novel @TheCourierNovel in 2009, and the same year it won the Annual Textnovel Writing Contest. Later parts of the story are still tweeting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

W. J. Howard lives near Denver and writes horror, fantasy and sci-fi with a bit of comedy mixed in. Wendy is also the Co-op Manager for Visionary Press Cooperative, leading an innovative way to publish.

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Back at the garage, I ask Oscar, “If Nina can’t run, do you think Margery will let her stay here, with you, while we go to the ranch?” Even possessed, I doubt she’d last long around the demons out there.

He sniggers. “Highly doubtful with that demon in her.”

“What do you mean, that demon?”

Oscar opens the door to the back exit and points for me to go outside first. He doesn’t answer though. Before I can ask him again, we’re distracted by what’s up in the sky. White warriors, at least twenty of them, flying over the warehouse and the surrounding grounds.

Oscar’s staring up into the sky, his head scanning left to right. “Is this your doing?” he asks, then turns his head and glares at me.

“Hell, no.” I rush to answer and shiver, knowing damn well I’m partially responsible. Trisha must have sent them, no question in my mind.

“Trucks are down there, at the loading docks. Keys in the ignition. Drive them up here to the door, then come back inside.” He turns and reaches to open the door.

“Wait. What did you mean when you said ‘that demon’?”

“I lied to you. I shorted Margery’s offering. By now, she’s possessed Nina with a demon marked for destruction.” The guy appears happy for the first time.

I can’t bring myself to speak. I just stand there, hunched over, mouth gaping.

“It is doubtful the demon will behave any better than Nina. Agares demons are only destroyed when they are out of control and stray, but don’t worry. It will take several hours before it rebels. By then, the gates will be closed. And in the end, you will thank me.”

“What! Why!” I choke on my words.

“I want you both gone. You’re trouble and I don’t trust you,” he says. “Once the gates close, you take Nina and run. Run as far away as you can and never come back. The demon in Nina will show you how to hide and evade your contract.” Oscar turns to go back inside. “Enough said. Now go move the trucks.”

I don’t try to stop him. The guy is way more protective of Margery than I suspected, and he just gave me an escape plan.

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