As We Know It
Chapter 15Taylor knocked on the door, already questioning himself, but entirely too frantic to care. Logic was primarily for people with options, or at the very least, time. He couldn't explain why he thought to go to Madame Estelle's, but he really couldn't explain much of anything that happened to him anymore. He had learned to just kind of go with it.
The door opened a crack, and he could already smell the overwhelming incense that permeated through the door and crept to the other side. He could see Madame Estelle's eyes peeking through at him, intrigued. She inspected Taylor carefully for a moment before pulling the door completely open.
"Taylor, you've finally come back," she said serenely, not taking note of the frantic look on Taylor's face at first. When she finally did, she simply smiled at him.
"You seem troubled," she added.
"Yeah, well..." Taylor trailed off. "I need your help with something." It didn't seem worth the effort to lie at this point.
"Anything, of course. What can I help you with?"
"How much do you know about possession?"
"Hmmm," she said, thoughtfully winding a lock of her dark hair between her fingers. "I usually have about one or two exorcisms booked a week, but the numbers really slow down around the holidays. Not sure why..."
"That's all I need to know," Taylor said quickly, and Madame Estelle stepped back to let him inside.
Taylor could immediately tell that she was in dog training mode, rather than psychic mode. Several small pugs were sitting on the couch, looking up at him expectantly.
"Taylor, I'd like you to meet Vinny, Precious, Fluffy, and Killer? Don't be nervous, they're really quite darling," she said, and Taylor nodded towards them awkwardly, just to be polite.
"Good, this is perfect," Taylor said. "Now, do you know how to do... oh, I don't know, I guess it's sort of like an exorcism, but... in reverse?"
"I'm very experienced in allowing entities from the spirit world enter my physical being," she said, her voice in a low whisper.
"Cut the bullshit, please," Taylor said, rubbing at his temples, his patience already worn down to the bare minimum.
"I'll go get my stuff," she said, her normal accent slipping back into her voice.
Taylor paced back and forth fretfully as he waited, and he reached under his shirt to pull out the chain around his neck. He turned it over in his hand, examining every inch of it for a sign. He'd looked at it closely before, he'd stared at it a hundred times, trying to figure the whole thing out, and every time, he'd felt disappointed. Micah had given it to him for a reason - or rather, he'd been instructed to give it to him for a reason. The pendant seemed more alive now, more active than ever, and Taylor, for the first time, finally saw it.
There were four sides on it, each one different, each one giving a different sense as his fingers grazed it. Four sides to it, it finally made sense to him. It had burned the hottest when he was in their presence.
Madame Estelle rushed back into the room, her arms full of books, herbs, and candles. Taylor continued to pace as she set up the scene - he could feel the pendant growing warm and knew that they didn't have much time. They were going to find him soon enough. Madame Estelle set out to work, setting up the makeshift altar and pushing aside the dog treats. The pugs whined. The necklace burned red-hot in Taylor's hand, and he braced himself for the fall out.
"All right," she said finally, "we should be set for-"
The door opened suddenly, and the four women were standing on the other side, looking smug and victorious.
"Taylor, dear, what are you doing running away like that? And with, of all things, a demon?" the redhead remarked as she strode in through the door. Behind her, the blonde giggled and flicked her cigarette butt to the ground.
"Yeah, you just can't trust people these days," she said through a mouthful of giggles. Madame Estelle looked at the four of them in alarm, unsure of what to do.
"Hurry," Taylor muttered to her, and the four women approached him. Madame Estelle hesitated before opening up the book she had laid out in front of her, and started to recite the words.
Taylor could vaguely hear the words in the background, strange and foreign to him. He didn't recognize the language, but it sounded like one of those serious, mystical ones. Maybe Latin or something. Whatever it was, it got the attention of the women, and their heads snapped in her direction, one by one.
As Madame Estelle spoke, he knew he didn't have much time left. He was cornered, and he was out of ideas, except one. Maybe it was divine inspiration, or maybe it was just a hunch, but he closed his eyes and threw the necklace towards her. And by the grace of God (or whatever annoying deity was on his back this week), it whizzed past the four women and Madame Estelle reached up to catch it in one smooth, graceful move.
Taylor wasn't sure how fast things happened from that point. It wasn't more than an instant, but time seemed to stretch and slow enough for Taylor to absorb the scene, because there was a moment - nothing more - of recognition on the face of the leader - the dark one, Death. A moment only of resignation. She stepped away from the fray, her eyes focused on Taylor.
One by one, the girls lost their form, dissolving from something dangerous and feminine into some misshapen mass. The redhead, War, was first, flaming out into smoke, followed by Famine, the dust of her bones clouding up the air; then Pestilence, who faded into a smog like mist. Death, she lingered still.
"You lost," Taylor said, his nerves giving way to boastful confidence. For the first time, he saw her expression change, her indifferent features stretching into a smile. Not smug or malicious like the other girls, but calm and knowing and far more terrifying.
"I never really lose, I only have to wait," she said, before she closed her eyes and faded quietly.
Madame Estelle shook her head, and it looked like she had just then woken up from a trance.
"That was fun," she said dreamily, and she looked at the pendant that she was still clutching in her hand. "Well, isn't this just an odd little thing. What does it do?"
"It's a, uhm... Charm, for a dog collar. Very unique." It occurred to Taylor to make some sort of joke involving the word "bitch," but he just didn't have the energy for it, and he imagined that Zac would have appreciated it much more than Madame Estelle anyway. He'd had enough, and he was too exhausted to feel the relief that he had been expecting to feel. He had no time for relief either - Micah was going to find Zac, if he hadn't already, and he was going to kill him.
"Thank you so much for your help, you were amazing," he said to her as she continued to stare at her books and herbs in some kind of awe. As soon as Taylor said that, she looked towards him, a bit more alert.
"Hold on a moment."
He waited as Madame Estelle picked up a notepad sitting on the coffee table and scribbled something that looked like a number. She ripped the shoot off and handed it to Taylor.
"Possession is $50 an hour, plus materials. Thank you for doing business here."
Taylor again felt the strong urge to use the word "bitch." Instead, he took the paper from her hands and gave her a quick nod, already halfway to closing the distance to the front door before she could speak again.
"I'll accept other forms of payment, too!" she called out as Taylor reached the door, watching him as though she couldn't stand to see him go.
"I'll get back to you on that," he said, and walked through the door.