Good Intentions

[ursula]

Visiting the land of the dead has always been easy; the hard part is coming back. Theo and Prue bought pizza (with anchovies) and discussed their options.

“There’s a cave somewhere, I think,” said Prue.

“Where’s somewhere?”

“Italy, probably. All the cultural stuff is there. Or maybe Chicago.”

Theo did not believe there were caves in Chicago; and anyway, they had barely afforded the pizza, let alone plane tickets. Demons had an unfortunate tendency not to carry cash.

Prue blotted grease off her third slice. “Sacrifices are traditional.”

“D’you really think that would work, these days?”

“I don’t know. Don’t you need, like, a pure black sheep or something?”

They considered the difficulties inherent in bringing a pure black sheep into downtown Philadelphia. It might be almost as expensive as the plane tickets.

“Well . . .” said Theo. “Dying’s cheap . . .”

“We’re kind of hard to kill, though.” Prue managed to look prim and serious, even maneuvering a floppy slice of pizza.

“But we don’t want to die all the way. Just mostly.”

Prue pointedly did not look at Theo, whose pale arms displayed, between the curling tattoos, a particularly impressive set of scars. Theo had claimed, at various moments, that they were derived from a rakshasa, a pruning accident, or attempts to carve her husband’s name into her bones.

“Don’t look at me!” said Theo. “It was a wyvern!”

“I guess if we got really drunk . . .” said Prue.

***

A human being can drown in two or three inches of liquid. Theo arranged the ritual: two baking tins full of water, scattered with a powdery dry herb, and candles. They gathered all the candles they owned, long white ones, blue, a fat half-melted orange that made Theo sneeze.

“Are we planning to burn down the building?” Prue asked.

Theo was intent on lighting candles.

They drank red wine. Theo had a wine glass; Prue, a jam jar. They had three bottles. When each was emptied, Theo threw it from the window, and listened for the crash far below. After the third there was no sound.

Theo blew the candles out.

***

Comments

[eva-c.livejournal.com]

*feels fangirly* <333

I love the demon talk. And one even them even uses, "like". Very funny.

[ursula]

Yay, American setting!