(Hello friends! Today is the final part of The Assistants! I hope you've enjoyed it so far and have been having a good October!)
Everything was dark.
Wind whipped around the cemetery in a howling rage as it scattered the remainder of the salt circle. Regina shielded her eyes against the dirt and pebbles being blown about in a frenzy. Beside her, she could hear Jack chanting the Enochian words louder. Regina had always suspected he'd memorized the passage and only used the book out of habit.
An anguished wail made Regina's blood run cold. There was something primal about the low scream echoing around her. A bellow of pure terror and distress that was turning into defensive wrath.
With shaking hands, Regina yanked another match out. The salt circle had been the only thing protecting them from the vengeful spirit returning to its bones. Sure, the holy words Jack was shouting would cause the ghost harm, but with how angry it was, she had a feeling that wouldn't slow it down. The only way to end this was to destroy the body.
"Yes!" Regina laughed with relief as a small light sparked to life. Straining her eyes in the darkness, she rushed to the grave's edge to throw the match in.
The moment it left her hand, the flame extinguished.
She was struck by something heavy and painful before she could process what had happened. The world spun as she was thrown in the air and slammed onto the ground. Stunned, Regina gasped for breath as she blinked the spots out of her eyes.
"REGINA!"
The fear in Jack's voice was jarring enough to make Regina move. Groaning in pain, she slowly sat up and looked around. Her heart practically stopped as she spotted what had thrown her.
A hazy outline of a man was gliding through the grass. He was dressed in an old-looking suit, like something Regina would see in a museum or textbook. His neatly trimmed beard was the same translucent white as his short, wispy hair. Regina had come across plenty of photos of Noah Hammond during her research, most of which made her question if he really was the spirit they were after. He looked like a harmless grandfather, who would gladly move on to the afterlife than stay behind to haunt people.
The murderous rage twisting his ghostly face into the stuff of nightmares suggested the opposite. As did the speed with which he was charging at her.
Well, she had been right about who their ghost was. And he certainly seemed angry and powerful enough to torment the Donovan family. Normally, she was proud to see her research had been correct. Now, she was jumping to her feet and wishing she had been wrong.
"Oh my God," she panted as she ran. "Oh my God, I hate this job."
Regina nearly tripped over headstones as she sprinted back to the open grave. She didn't dare glance back to see how close the apparition was. The deadly cold trailing closer and closer to her told her how much danger she was in.
"Harker, duck!"
"What?" She asked as she looked at Jack and saw he was pointing a gun at her.
Without a second thought, she dove to the ground just as she heard the bang of a gun. An unnatural shriek of pain deafened Regina's ears as the bullet tore through the ghost and it disappeared. She had been skeptical about a silver bullet working on a ghost---they didn't have bodies, so how on earth could a gun affect them?----but Jack had been insistent. Every other exorcism she'd helped with had gone smoothly, and she'd always assumed Jack was wrong about the 'ghost gun.'
It was hard to believe he had been telling the truth.
Jack walked toward Regina and pulled her to her feet. She dusted the dirt off herself, then promptly smacked Jack on the arm. "I told you this wasn't going to go well!"
"There's no way either of us could have prevented this," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "As impressive as I am, I can't control the wind."
"We could have taken more precautions. There has to be a safer way to do this, but you never want to listen to my ideas."
"If we survive this, I'll listen to every single one of your ideas," Jack promised. "But right now, we need to focus on killing this thing."
Regina frowned. "I thought you already killed it?"
"With this?" He held up the gun and shook his head. "Would be nice, but bullets only stun them. He'll be back soon, and probably madder than before."
"Great. So great." Regina could still see the spirit's furious expression. "So how are we supposed to kill it if it keeps putting out the fire?"
Jack cocked the gun and flashed her a crooked smile. "I'll cover you."
She didn't like the sound of that. "While you're trying to finish reciting the exorcism?"
"Didn't seem like it was impacting him much before so," he shrugged. "I think we can manage without it. Just get the fire going, I can do the rest."
She really didn't like the sound of that. But aside from running away and hoping the ghost didn't come after them, there wasn't another option.
"Okay." Regina pulled the matchbook out of her pocket and glared at Jack. "You better know what you're doing."
"I always do."
That was a blatant lie. Sighing irritably, Regina lit another match. Looking back at Jack one last time, she tossed it into the pit. The remnants of gasoline easily caught on fire. Flames crawled across the singed corpse at too slow a pace. She tossed another match in when the light breeze tickling her face began to blow harder.
BANG.
She flinched at the gunshot and threw another lit match in. Three small fires were beginning to fill the grave, but it still wasn't strong enough. This was one of those times when Regina wished Jack would listen to her; bringing a spare gallon of gas would be extremely useful right now.
BANG.
The apparition was coming back faster than before. Jack may be an excellent shot, but he'd run out of silver bullets eventually. The bones needed to be destroyed before then.
Fighting panic, Regina dug through her bag and pulled out her research. Pages and pages of meticulous notes, news clippings, and old books were quickly added to the fire. The heat warmed her skin as she watched the growing flames. Better, but still not enough.
She began to tear clumps of dried grass from the ground and threw them in. They had vandalized the cemetery already, she doubted anyone would care about the lawn at this point.
The gentle warmth began to burn brighter as Regina added more and more grass. Soon it was painful to hold her hand over the blazing grave. It had to be getting hot enough now. Jack just needed to keep the spirit at bay for a little bit longer.
BANG. BANG. Click.
"Of course," Regina uttered as she heard Jack swear angrily.
"Harker, we may have a problem."
Grimacing, Regina turned to see the irate spirit flying at Jack. She checked the fire---only a few more minutes---and prayed it wouldn't go out before grabbing the salt. She ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. The things this ghost had inflicted upon the Donovans had been terrible. She didn't want to know what it would do after she and Jack had pissed it off.
Skidding to a stop next to Jack, Regina faced the apparition. It was moving too quickly for her to see anything more than a glowing blur. Taking a breath and hoping she wasn't about to sign her death warrant, Regina unscrewed the lid on the salt container.
"Just die already, you asshole," she shouted as she tossed a handful of salt directly into the apparition's face.
The spirit paused as the salt passed through it with a sizzle. That wasn't nearly enough to vanquish it or hold it off. All it had done was buy them a few more seconds. When it was no longer stunned, it turned its horrific sights on Regina.
Jenn was right, Regina should have been a more responsible adult and purchased life insurance.
Closing her eyes, Regina braced herself for the worst.
An unexpected shriek of agony made her jump. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see the apparition frozen in place, mouth open in a silent cry. The body must finally be burning enough to sever the connection between this world and the spirit. Its form trembled violently before it exploded in a fading mix of dust and ashes.
Mouth open in disbelief, Regina couldn't move until Jack clapped a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, that was a close one." He chuckled like they hadn't almost died. "It's a good thing I have an assistant that can think on her feet. So, want to clean up this mess and then grab something to eat? Or did you still want to quit?"
Turning slowly, Regina stared at him. His smile was too bright after what they had just been through. But there wasn't any indicator that he was faking his relaxed demeanor. It made her wonder about all the cases he'd done by himself and how many times he'd risked his life for this strange job. How many times would she risk her life if she stayed? Any smart person would cut their losses and quit.
Regina placed her hands on her hips. Jack's smile faded when she didn't answer right away. Finally, she shrugged.
"Fine. But you're refilling the grave. I've done enough digging for tonight."
Jack's grin returned as he laughed and nodded. "Alright, I guess you earned a break."
"Yes. Yes, I have." She smiled and walked with him to the grave. "And a raise."
"Consider it done. Once I get the money. In the meantime, I'll write you two I.O.U.s per job."
"How generous."
As far as jobs went, this one wasn't great. The practically non-existent pay was crap, most of her clients were slightly out of their minds, and her boss was the most annoying man alive. Still, as she rolled her eyes at Jack's stupid jokes in the McDonald's drive-through, Regina was glad she'd followed her sister's advice and given the job another chance.
Maybe being Van Helsing's assistant wasn't all that bad.
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