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Brian always feels weird when he lies to the police. He’s not like Kevin, he can’t make anyone believe anything, and he doesn’t have AJ’s ability to bullshit. All Brian really has going for him is that he’s sincere, but trying to lie sincerely feels like the cops can see right through his lame story about how they were just passing by and heard kids yelling in the basement.
The cops buy it though. They take some notes and nod and tell Brian it was a good thing he happened by when he did, and say they hope his friend gets well soon, and then they leave Brian alone in the hospital hallway. When he glances through the doorway into AJ’s room, AJ is almost spread-eagle across the bed, his eyes closed. From the hallway, he looks fine. It isn’t until Brian stands next to the bed that he can see how off AJ’s coloring is. His skin is starting to look gray, and his lips are a little bit blue.
AJ’s eyes fly open and Brian jumps. “Man,” AJ says crankily. “I really need a cigarette. Get me out of here so I can have a smoke.”
“The doctor just said your heart will probably give out before the end of the month.” Brian says sternly. “Do you really think smoking is going to help?”
“If I’m going to be dead inside of a month, I should be able to have as many fucking cigarettes as I want.” AJ grumbles under his breath.
“I’m amazed you’re still alive, trying to electrocute a Bloody Bones like that.” Brian folds his arms across his chest.
AJ shrugs. “What can I say? I’m a lucky bastard.”
Lucky wasn’t exactly what Brian had been thinking. Stupid was more like it. Kevin would have said it to AJ’s face, but Brian can’t bring himself to say it out loud.
-----
The call goes straight to voicemail, and Brian takes a deep breath. “Hey, Kevin. AJ and I are in Missouri and we had a job that... Well, AJ’s hurt pretty bad and the doctor is saying he probably won’t make it very long.” Brian stops and rethinks what he just said. He didn’t want Kevin thinking AJ was on his deathbed.
“They don’t know everything we know though, right? I’m going to figure something out. I just thought you might want to know. Okay?” He closes his phone and leans up against one of the cement pillars at the hospital front entrance.
Brian had to leave the hospital to get a cell phone signal, and the wind blowing across the parking lot is cold. The sidewalks are starting to ice over, and there’s a guy in a blue uniform tossing deicer crystals onto the cement from of a five gallon bucket. He doesn’t look up as he passes, but Brian keeps one eye on him the entire time. He’s tired of being suspicious all the time, but he can’t afford not to be on guard.
He calls everyone on his contacts list, and close to half the names stored in AJ’s phone too. It doesn’t change anything. Most of the time he just leaves a message to call if they know of anything that could help, but with some he talks to someone who offers apologies and not much else.
Before he goes back inside, he calls Howie’s number and listens to Baylee tell a mostly incomprehensible story about his day. Something about a snowman and Nick and the neighbor’s dog, and how Nick and Howie are going to get a Christmas tree over the weekend. He sounds happy, and Brian wishes he knew how to just say no to AJ.
-----
He can hear AJ long before he gets to the room. Something about respecting a dying man’s wishes, which could mean any number of things, but Brian’s pretty sure most of AJ’s dying wishes involve sex, alcohol and cigarettes.
“What is wrong with you?” Brian asks from the doorway. “Leave the poor woman alone and let her do her job.”
“Hey, where have you been?” AJ ignores the nurse and her blood pressure cuff and turns to Brian.
Brian sits in the hard plastic chair next to AJ’s bed. AJ’s very awake and bored, Brian’s tired, and it’s all starting to make his head hurt. “Making some calls. Trying to figure something out for...” He trails off and waves a hand at the hospital bed and AJ instead.
The nurse finishes writing on AJ’s chart and loops her stethoscope back around her neck. “I’ll see you in a few hours. You behave yourself,” she says to AJ.
AJ grins at her. “You know I will.”
He turns the TV back on after they leave, and they sit quietly for a couple minutes, before AJ casually changes channels and asks, “Did you call Kevin?”
“Yeah. Voicemail.”
“Big surprise.”
AJ flips through a few more channels before turning the TV off. “You know, we should really get out of here.”
Brian raises his eyebrows. “This is your nicotine withdrawal talking, isn’t it?”
AJ leans forward enough to see the doorway. “Actually,” he says, almost whispering. “I’m kind of wanted by the FBI right now.”
“What?”
“It’s not like I’m on their top-ten most wanted list or anything.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.” AJ studies Brian’s incredulous expression before continuing. “It wasn’t my fault though.”
“Oh, of course not.” Brian says. “Nothing is ever your fault.”
“Okay, some of it was me. Like, the grave desecration or whatever, yeah, that probably was me, but the rest of it wasn’t.”
“What, you were possessed?”
“Kevin and I ran across this shape shifter last year. And... it had assumed my looks when it killed some people in Flagstaff. Kevin was pretty pissed off about the whole thing.” AJ adds thoughtfully.
“Good thing you don’t have anything distinctive about your appearance then, huh?” Brian says, deadpan.
AJ laughs.
-----
They stop at a small motel about seventy-five miles to the west. Brian’s too tired to keep driving, and AJ’s not up for the challenge either. Just moving from the truck to the motel room is enough to leave him winded. He’s asleep on one of the double beds, still wearing Brian’s blue hoodie zipped up to his chin, when Brian’s phone rings.
“Hey, Brian.” The voice on the other end of the line is oddly familiar. “It’s Joshua. From seminary.”
“Oh.” Brian says. Joshua had been his first year roommate. They haven’t talked in over three years. “Hi.”
“I heard about your friend. I think I might be able to help.”
-----
Joshua is in Nebraska, and AJ catnaps through most of the trip, waking up long enough to demand bathroom breaks and pretzels and that Brian turn up the heater in the truck cab. He also tells Brian an involved story about a very talented girl he met in a bar outside of Lincoln one night. AJ drifts off again afterwards, his head resting against the window. Brian is pretty sure he’s heard the exact same story about girls at bars in multiple cities. It doesn’t really matter.
They’re just under an hour away when AJ wakes up again. He squints out the passenger side window. “Where the fuck are we?”
“Still Nebraska.”
“There’s snow on the ground.” AJ says, horrified.
“It’s December.”
“Where are we going, anyway?”
“To see a specialist.” Brian says carefully.
AJ raises both eyebrows, but doesn’t push the issue any further. He spends the rest of the drive fiddling with the radio, complaining about the number of country music stations.
Joshua’s church isn’t so much a building as it is a large white tent set up in the middle of a field. Brian pulls off the highway into the rutted dirt parking lot, and parks at the end of a long line of vans and trucks with campers. A decent sized crowd of people are filing into the tent for the next service.
AJ scowls. “Are you kidding me?”
“AJ.”
“No, seriously, Brian. A faith healer? You said we were going to see a doctor.”
“I believe I said specialist.” Brian corrects.
AJ’s eyes widen. “That’s dirty pool, Littrell.”
“Maybe.” Brian allows. “But, we’re here, so it can’t hurt to try, right?”
“You know this is a scam, right?”
“It’s not a scam. Look, I went to school with the guy. I called around and checked, it sounds like this is the real thing. You know, it doesn’t hurt to have a little faith, AJ.”
AJ glares at Brian for almost a minute, before caving with a loud sigh. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
-----
Joshua is different than Brian remembers. Obviously older, and not as clean cut as he used to be. His hair is longer and mussed and he’s wearing dark glasses. It takes Brian a few seconds to realize the glasses are because Joshua is blind.
Brian’s missed this more than he realized, and finds himself enjoying the service. Up until the point where Joshua says the Lord helps him see into people’s hearts and AJ smarts off about being able to see into their wallets too, loud enough for Joshua to overhear.
“What was that, sir?”
AJ clears his throat. “Um, sorry.”
“No, that’s okay. Just be careful around a blind man, we’ve got pretty sharp ears. What’s your name?”
AJ glances over at Brian before replying. “AJ?”
Joshua nods and says, “I want you to come up here,” and Brian’s heart skips a beat, because this could actually work.
Joshua’s wife steps forward, motioning AJ to join them up front, and AJ shifts uncomfortably. “Yeah. Maybe you should just pick someone else?”
Brian smacks him on the arm, hard.
Joshua laughs. “I didn’t pick you, AJ. The Lord did.”
-----
AJ says he feels fine afterwards, but the next morning they go into town to get a medical opinion. Brian fidgets in the waiting room, and jumps up when AJ leaves the examination room.
“So?” Brian asks.
“I’m fine.” AJ says flatly. “As far as they could tell, there was never anything wrong with my heart. Or with my lungs, for that matter.”
“That’s great, man.” Brian impulsively hugs AJ, but AJ has his hands in his pockets, so it’s a little bit like hugging a pole. “That means it worked.”
“Yeah, I guess.” AJ pulls his collar up against the cold as they head into the parking lot.
“What?” Brian asks reluctantly.
AJ turns around, blocking Brian’s path to the truck. “I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this.”
“What do you mean?”
“When he touched me, something was wrong. It was cold, and I thought I saw something. Like, an old man. Some kind of spirit, maybe. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t God, Brian. I’ve been hunting long enough to trust a feeling like this.”
“Okay.” Brian says. “So, maybe it wasn’t God, but do we really have to look this one in the mouth, AJ? I mean, it worked, you’re okay, can’t we just leave it at that?”
Brian can tell from the look on AJ’s face that they’re not just going to leave it at that.
-----
Brian spends the afternoon catching up with Joshua and his wife, Eileen, and even does a little sleuthing for AJ. He doesn’t learn anything that would support AJ’s theory. Eileen tells Brian the story, how Joshua had suddenly lost his sight and been diagnosed with cancer, how they had prayed for a miracle. Even after Joshua was in a coma, she had kept praying, and one day he woke up, the cancer was gone, and soon after they realized he could heal others. That’s it, just a straightforward miracle from God.
When he tells AJ this back at their motel room, AJ leans back from the table, tipping his chair back on two legs. “There was a guy in town, same age as me, died of a heart attack yesterday.”
“It could be a coincidence.” Brian argues.
“Brian, he died at the same time that Joshua healed me.”
“Oh.” Brian says. He knows better than to chalk this up to coincidence. In all the years they had been tracking and hunting demons and spirits, something like this had never been a coincidence. "So, what do you think it is?"
"I don't have the foggiest." AJ shrugs. "I called Nick."
"And what did he say?"
"He said, and I quote here, give me an hour and seventeen minutes and I'll have an answer for you."
Brian frowns. "Why does he always do that?"
"Because he's a fucking weirdo, that's why." AJ's quiet after this statement, and after a few minutes, Brian's uneasy. AJ is never silent for very long. Brian pulls the other chair around and joins AJ at the table.
"What?" Brian asks finally.
AJ shakes his head. "You shouldn't have done this."
"I shouldn't have done what?" Brian has a pretty good idea what AJ means, but he wants AJ to say it.
"There's a guy dead now because of me."
"I don't care." Brian says firmly.
AJ raises his eyebrows.
"What was I supposed to do, AJ? I was just supposed to sit there and wait?"
AJ's phone rings before he can answer Brian. "It's Nick, " AJ says, and answers. Nick does all the talking, AJ just nods and says "okay" at regular intervals, before hanging up. "He thinks it's a reaper."
"A what?" Brian says in surprise. "Like the grim reaper?"
"No, just a reaper. He says they can take and give life. That was what I saw before. The old man."
"So, what are we supposed to do?"
"We figure out who's controlling it. Let's go back this afternoon and look around."
-----
Brian takes Joshua's house, entering through an unlocked window when no one is looking. AJ keeps an eye on the tent and service. Brian's in Joshua's study when he hears sirens, and after a few seconds of panic that he's about to be arrested for breaking and entering, he notices the fire trucks through the window. By the time he reaches the tent, a crowd of people have gathered in the parking lot. AJ is at the front entrance, one arm firmly in the grip of a sheriff deputy.
“It’s okay, officer. We don’t want to press charges.” Eileen is standing with a second deputy, one hand clasping the ornate cross at the end of her necklace. “The Lord will deal with him.”
“Son, if we catch you around here again, we’ll put the fear of God into you. Understand?” The deputy holding AJ asks.
“Fear of God, yes sir.” AJ nods, and they let him go.
“What did you do?” Brian demands.
AJ grins. “Called fire in a crowded theater. I had to stop them before someone else died.” He glances back at the tent and lowers his voice. “It’s her. She’s controlling it.”
“Who?”
“His wife. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but I think it's that necklace she’s always wearing.” He pulls his phone out. “I took a picture, I’m going to send it to Nick.”
-----
They park at the back of the lot before the evening service starts and wait for Nick to call. After the afternoon excitement, two of the deputies have stayed, one posted at the entrance, the other patrolling the field around the tent. Right as Brian's tolerance for AJ's bored fidgeting reaches a breaking point, Nick calls back.
"Necromancy? Are you serious?" AJ says, and then rolls his eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, okay. Whatever, dude. I don't need a history lesson, I just want to know how to kill it." Nick's response earns another eye roll. "Okay, free it. Whatever, man."
AJ turns to Brian after he hangs up. "He thinks that destroying her altar and-slash-or the necklace might free the reaper. And that there's a possibility that the reaper could turn and kill us once he's free."
"Well, as long as he's figured all the details out." Brian says sarcastically.
"Also, he said to tell you that he's been teaching Baylee, and now he can correctly identify fourteen different creatures and malevolent spirits."
Brian's mouth drops open. "Oh my god. He's four."
AJ drums his fingers on the steering wheel and watches people file into the tent. Both deputies are out front now. "Hey," he says after a few minutes. "Brian, how come you're doing this?"
"Doing what?" Brian looks up from the book he's trying to read with a flashlight. AJ might not need any details, but Brian prefers to go into a fight armed with a little more information than maybe destroying something will result in one of several possible outcomes.
"You know." AJ says cryptically.
"I need to find Kevin." Brian doesn't have to ask, he knows what AJ means. "And Baylee's safer with Howie and Nick right now. I mean, what happened to Leighanne, and Kevin disappearing? I've got a feeling it isn't just a coincidence."
"Yeah." AJ agrees. "So, do you think Kevin's okay?"
Brian turns to look at AJ, surprised. "Yeah, he's fine. I mean, he's probably just gone to ground. You know how paranoid he gets."
AJ nods and doesn't say anything else.
"Hey, the service is starting." Brian points out. "We need to come up with a plan."
AJ rubs his hands together briskly. "Okay, I'll create a diversion. You find Eileen and stop her."
"Wait a minute..." Brian says, but AJ is already out of the truck and walking between the rows of cars.
"Hey!" Brian hears him shout at the deputies. "Gonna put that fear of God into me?"
-----
In the end, it is Brian who stops Eileen. He comes up behind her, and when she turns, he grabs the cross in her hand and throws it on the ground, hoping it will be enough to distract her and break the spell. He doesn’t expect it to break, and for it to suddenly grow cold. He can see the reaper for just a few seconds, as it comes for her, and then it’s gone.
When AJ comes around the corner of the tent, it’s just Eileen on the ground and Brian standing over her. “It turned on her.”
“Huh.” AJ says, looking around the deserted field. “You know, us standing over a dead woman really doesn’t look so good. We should probably get going.”
It's logic that Brian really can't argue with. They make their way around the perimeter of the field to the truck. Brian's reaching for the passenger door handle, when AJ's hand brushes up against his. "Hey," AJ says.
"What?" Brian turns, and AJ steps forward, pushing him back against the door. The metal is cold, even though Brian's jacket, and he starts to move away, but then AJ leans in and kisses him.
"What was that?" Brian's a little bit stunned.
AJ shrugs. "I figured I might as well take advantage of... not being dead."
"Oh."
AJ nods, and then reaches over to smack Brian on the shoulder. Hard.
"Ow!" Brian grabs at his arm.
"Oh." AJ says. "Sorry. I just felt like we needed to butch this moment up a little bit."