After The Gods Have Died Chapter 7

Pins & Needles

Callum felt sick and it had nothing to do with the drinks he'd had last night. No his stomach rolled and protested because of something entirely unrelated to any liquor he'd consumed. In the elevator, headed up to his apartment, the exorcist had noticed a glint on his finger. That ring. That goddamned ring. He'd left it in his bedroom, he knew that he had, how in the world had it found its way onto his finger again? This wasn't something he was equipped to deal with, not on his own at least. He was going to need research, there had to be a way to turn off this targeting, tracking thing that it was doing. Wasn't their demon stalker enough? Did they really need something like this too? They must have been getting desperate to bring him home, they'd never gone that far before. He could lose the tail but the ring, that was clearly not as easy a task.

Still the minute he got in he took the damned band off, sitting it next to the sink in the bathroom. Something clearly triggered its appearances on his finger, he wasn't sure if it was just time or distance based. Callum checked his phone for the time, every few minutes he'd do a check, just to make sure he was still ring free. Now was a good time for that, he wasn't going anywhere else today. He didn't really want to do anything else today either, other than sleep but he needed to look for some more work. The bills weren't just going to pay themselves. At least looking for work didn't mean walking around hoping to find something. No he could curl up in bed with his computer and look that way. It wasn't always a super effective method but it was all he felt up to today.

Three hours later and Callum was pretty sure his luck had run out. There was nothing. All of the usual places that would have leads were either full of garbage or it listed that someone was already hired to investigate. It cost more to get to some of the false alarms than what he would make on the preliminary exams. What Callum really needed to do was find someplace the Fortuna family wouldn't usually go to and hope there was a fuck ton of paranormal problems there. Not like there was anything to keep Callum tethered in the heart of society and hell, it might even be easier for him to evade his family that way. Maybe once he was free of this black band of terror he would do it. No sense in moving if they could only track him down again. At the rate that jobs were not appearing he was going to need to move sooner rather than later. It was frustrating, he really didn't want to change careers. In fact, he wasn't qualified to do anything else.

He almost forgot to check his email before he closed his laptop, remembering just before it had shut all the way and put itself to sleep one more. Not that it mattered really, all he ever seemed to get was junk but it couldn't hurt just to check. Loading up the page for it he snorted a little to himself. A whole one new email, how exciting.

It wasn't just an email. It was actually from someone who seemed interested in hiring him. A quick read through looked promising, there wasn't anything that immediately popped out as hoaxish or joky and it didn't shy away from the topic of his fee. Usually it took phone calls before most potential clients would admit his time would actually need to be paid for, they seemed to think it should be a free service. If lives were in danger, Callum probably wouldn't just leave it alone or refuse to help until a cheque was in hand but still, he needed to make a living too. The only problem with this email was that it was vague in a few key places. The contact name was only a first name and the email address looked like it might have been a dummy one.

Suddenly this email was seeming less and less like a job opportunity and more like someone’s elaborate idea of a joke. Damn. He'd gotten his hopes up over nothing. He replied to it with his usual speech to get rid of troublemakers, basically stating he'd prefer to discuss the job over the phone, adding his number to the signature. On the off chance it was real then maybe the sender would be desperate enough to actually call, though he wasn't going to hold his breath for something that was so unlikely.

With that email sent off and out of the way, Callum decided it might be time for a nap. The ring had yet to make its way back onto his finger and he was so tired from being up all night that a nap seemed like a fairly safe way to pass the time. He just wiggled into a better sleeping position and let his eyes close. He could almost hear his body give a sigh of relief as it relaxed, muscles sinking into his bed. Perfect, this was just what he needed.

The shrill shriek of a phone ringing in his ears was exactly the opposite of what he needed.

Callum had been asleep enough that his vision was blurry as he hunted for the noisemachine, planning to destroy it for waking him. Except it wasn't a number saved in his phone book or a 1-800 line either. Clearing his throat first he answered it instead of throwing it, curious about who might have been on the other line. “Hello?”

“Hello. May I please speak to Callum Taggert?” The woman's tone seemed to ignore the groggy question of a greeting, almost chipper as she used his full name.

“Speaking.” Single word answers were about all he could manage.

“Hello Mr. Taggert. I'm calling you in regards to an email that was sent out earlier today?” An email? So it had been for a real job, thank the gods he'd had the sense to actually send out his number. “By boss would like to discuss possible employment wit you. He's aware of the fact that services such as yours are not cheap but he would like to schedule an assessment with you.”

“When and where?” Callum was already reaching for the tattered notebook he kept track of his work in, anyone who didn't seem eager to argue price with him was an automatic yes. The thing was falling to pieces and he almost lost a page in its retrieval but he wasn't about to spend more money on an agenda or something else while this one still had some black spaces left to fill.

“Well, your website states you are currently working all across North America correct? How soon are you able to make it to British Columbia?”

The exorcist had to do some serious thinking. He could bus there but it might take a few days to scrounge up the fare and the trip wouldn't exactly be a fast one. It would mean crossing nearly the entire country to get there. “Probably a week at the earliest. I have to look up what my transit times would be.”

“When you have that figured out, please send me an email with the information, my boss will purchase whatever ticket you need and have sleeping arrangements made for you.” Did this woman ever drop the cheery routine? She sounded like it was caffeine instead of blood running through her veins. Then again, her chirpy voice had just told him he wasn't going to need to find extra funds somehow, Callum should probably be more tolerant of it. “My boss would very much appreciate it if you could get to us as soon as you can. Have a great rest of your day Mr. Taggert.”

She was gone before Callum could ask who her employer even was or protest her use of mister in conjunction with himself. Even with no information about this potential client, the redhead was hesitant to give up the possible money this could bring in. If they were willing to buy his way out there then they likely wouldn't fight his quotes. At least he hoped that they wouldn't. Of course there was always a risk this was a trap set by his grandmother but Callum wasn't too worried about it. He'd dodged them enough times in the past and he could do it again if the need arose. As long as he had the funds to pay for a ticket home it should be easy enough to escape their grasp. With a possible job in the picture now there was no way that Callum could really nap, there was no need to, he had something he needed to do. Travel plans weren't just going to figure themselves out.

Callum figured out the Greyhound route he'd need easily enough, choosing what seemed like the most popular terminal in the province to be his final destination. He didn't even know what city to be looking for. It would take a couple of days on the bus he'd live. The paycheques would be nice, plus there was at least one place he knew of that he could go to for research on the bullshit of the ring. By the time he came back from this Nile would have moved on as well, which was another bonus of sorts. He liked the vampire, or rather liked him as much as one could like a demon, but blooddrinkers weren't exactly known for their loyalty or kindness towards their human lovers. Even if this job didn't work out it would have its benefits. With the route picked out he sent the information to the same email address as before. The starting point he'd picked was about a city over, there was no way he would give out his actual location so easily.

It was barely half an hour later when he was emailed a reply. In it he was told his ticket information, hotel accommodations, and other methods of transportation he might need once there. That was far more thorough than he'd expected, if he'd picked a flight instead would they have paid for that as well? He'd never know now but the hotel he was being put up in sounded fancy enough, he'd never heard of it but resorts tended to be far out of Callum's financial range. To have booked a return ticket however, the exorcist wasn't sure how to feel about that. Whoever was looking to hire him was clearly optimistic about Callum actually taking them on as a client, which he supposed was fine but his return ticket was for two weeks from now. How long exactly did they think this was going to take him? Whatever, he'd get them to change it for him when he was actually done, he wasn't going to stick around longer than needed. No time to be a tourist in his life right now. He checked the date on his ticket, tomorrow, that didn't leave him a lot of time to prepare for it, he'd need to pack tonight if he wanted time in the morning to get to a library so he could actually print his ticket out.

Packing up for this job almost felt like packing up for good. Callum had almost nothing in the way of possessions, all of his important things like his piercings and computer and clothing were coming with him. It was kind of sad that almost everything he owned could fit into just two suitcases, even if they were on the large size and he was a bit of a wizard at organizing them. Everything away like this, it felt like he was getting ready to say goodbye to the little place. Maybe this would be. Maybe it was time to move on. He wasn't sure what emotion wanted to surface when he thought about that. He would focus on the task at hand, the possible job, not the more distant future. That future wasn't really that far away but he needed to see where this job would leave him. With too many questions in his head, he drifted to sleep, not even bothering with a blanket for now. When he woke up he'd be able to just roll out of bed and go.

Though his night was a dreamless one it still felt restless, like his journey had already begun, tugging him into a foggy, unclear future. When he woke there was a weight about his finger. The ring wouldn't let itself be left behind, of course it wouldn't. The worst part about that was that he wasn't all that concerned about it anymore, there was more important things on his mind.