GAME ON - GoM 2

6

"There's a couple of things that need to be done," Thames said. "First of all, we need to protect the town. We can make a seal to prevent demons from crossing its limits."

"What?" asked Harry in disbelief. "You can't seal an entire town!"

Thames held his eyes, as if to make him revise his last words. "Of course you can," he replied. "It'll take time, but it sure can be done." He faced the others. "We can do it by carving a very simple symbol on trees and rocks around town. If we could get some help, we could have it finished in a week, give or take."

"You mean marking every single tree and rock all around town," said Ollie, to make sure he'd gotten it right.

Thames nodded.

Claire tilted her head. "If we could find a way to get people involved, without letting them know what we're actually doing..."

"Six months to Halloween," Ollie said.

"Homework: find an excuse," said Alex. "What else?"

"We need to retrieve the Cross," Harry replied. "We cannot let Askaroth have it."

"Bormstone's right," said Thames. "Because now that he's got it, he can move on with his task. And we've got nothing to stop him from doing it."

"Oh, right, opening hell. I forgot about that," Alex grumbled. "So protecting town and retrieving the Cross. Alice said there are only two demons with Markus. How hard can it be, taking them down?"

"Very," Harry replied.

"And we should count Markus," said Graham. "So three."

"Okay, forget the how-hard part. What does it take to put them down?" asked Ollie.

Harry listed it for them. "Consecrated blades, gallons of holy water, the right seals, the time to make them work..."

"I can give you the holy water," Father Jason said.

"I know the seals and I can consecrate the blades," Thames said.

This time, Harry thought it over and kept his mouth shut.

"We also need to find out how many humans are helping the demons," said Alex. "Alice said she saw about a dozen men with Markus and the demons."

"First we need to know our ground," Harry said. "D'you guys happen to know where Ritmann lives?"

All of them turned to him as if wondering how stupid he was. The hunter raised his eyebrows while Thames looked down, suffocating a scoff. To everybody's surprise, Alex killed her beer and stood up.

"Alright. Father Jason, you guys in black come up with something credible to get people help us with the seal. Bormstone, you and I are paying Markus a visit so you can 'know your ground'."

"I'm going," said Claire, standing up too.

Alex and Ollie replied at the same time, "No, you're not."

"C'mon, Al. You guys need to see them to know how many of them are in the house. I don't need to get that close."

Alex snorted. "Okay. You're coming."

"Then I'm going too," Ollie said.

This time it was Harry who echoed Alex's reply. "No."

"We need somebody around in case Alice goes bananas again," Alex said.

"No offense, boy," said Harry. "I can take care of two. But I ain't no frigging babysitter."

Alex and Claire glared at them while Graham and Father Jason took their turn to scoff. Harry threw up his hands.

"Okay, my bad, sorry."

As all of them headed out, Thames signaled Alex to wait.

"You and I need to talk. Alone."

"I know, but not now, Father. We'll meet tomorrow if that's okay with you."

She froze when Thames took a hand to her forehead and drew a cross on it with his thumb.

"God bless you, child," he said, smiling at her surprise.