Page 38 of Throwing Shade
“I can’t help him,” Laurent said. “And if you don’t, then in a matter of days, the dybbuk will take over his body entirely, and infuse itself into every part of him. Rupert’s essence or soul or consciousness, whatever you want to call it, will cease to exist. This evil entity will have free reign to live in Rupert’s body with access to magic. He’ll prey on others, his rage and malevolence causing pain and destruction.” Laurent spread his hands wide. “Unless you save him.”
I stopped. “What makes you think I can?”
“Last night. You didn’t know what a dybbuk was, but you understood there was something wrong with the man, right?”
“Only because Alex’s shadow was fucked up. Rupert’s isn't.”
“And yet you still sensed the dybbuk inside him.” Laurent ran a hand through his curls. “Banim Shovavim can kill dybbuks.”
“So do you, and you’re an Ohrist.”
“I’m the only Ohrist who can, and I had to…” Laurent stared off distantly, fur bursting out on his arms and shoulders before he blinked it away. “Train specifically to detect and dispatch them. And I don’t see anything different with their shadows. I can only scent that they’re possessed once the host spirit has died.”
“What about other Banim Shovavim? Don’t you know any?”
“Not anymore,” Laurent said. Well, that wasn’t ominous or anything.
I already had finding Jude on my plate. This wasn’t my problem, but there was a poor man in chains with his life on the line. I knelt down next to Rupert, but even with that same deep sense of wrongness, no solution instinctively presented itself.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t know how to kill dybbuks and I definitely don’t know how to help Rupert.” I softened my tone. “You’re not giving yourself enough credit. The takeover isn’t complete yet, and you knew there was one inside him. Extrapolate from your training.”
Laurent rubbed his jaw. “This isn’t my first rodeo. Other enthralleds have shown up to take me out. And there’s nothing to extrapolate. The only method open to me kills the host immediately.”
“You kill them anyway,” I said. “In the end.”
“After the dybbuk has. I’m not murdering a human.” There was a story behind his vehemence.
“Is that what you were testing with Rupert? Whether him short-circuiting could expel the dybbuk?”
Laurent rubbed his forehead. “I’ll try anything.”
“This matters a lot to you, doesn’t it?” I said gently, wishing I could take back my cruel earlier comment.
“Of course it does. If I could get enthralleds out, I’d be rolling in cash.” His stare was a hard challenge.
Sadie had given me that look before, all fierce and puffed out. I didn’t push it those times and I wasn’t going to now. Instead, I examined Rupert.
After several tense minutes, Laurent spoke again. “Look, I’m certain that you can do this. It makes sense. Why would you be able to detect dybbuks at the enthralled stage if you couldn’t help the host?”
The weight of his expectation was crushing me. I jerked on the chains. “Let him out, all right? He should spend whatever time he has left with his friends and family.” It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“It’s not a sudden takeover, you know,” Laurent said. “The second a dybbuk inhabits a human host, a tug of war for possession begins. We call it the enthrallment period to differentiate it from being fully possessed. Ultimately, the human always loses, dying at some point between the following Friday and Saturday sunsets, but during that week of enthrallment, there are times the dybbuk momentarily gets the upper hand.”
That explained Rupert’s abrupt changes in personality. And Alex? Were his sexual predator tendencies due to the dybbuk? His nerdy tie flashed in my head but I shoved the pang away. I’d never know and it hardly mattered anymore.
“Still, if it’s just momentarily—” I said.
“One moment is all it takes to blow up someone’s life.”
“I get that, but if he only has days left to live, isn’t there some way to safely release him into the custody of people who could care for him?”
“People are fallible. But have it your way.” Laurent yanked a set of keys out of his back pocket. “Have you ever seen a baby’s neck torn out?”
I flinched, the memory of my parents’ deaths hitting me like a punch to my solar plexus, and slapped his hand away before he could unlock Rupert. I pressed my hand against my stomach, fighting the nausea down.
“Stop it. You’ve made your point.” I lay a hand on Rupert’s chest. He remained unconscious but his breathing was steady.
The kitten poked her head in the door and Laurent held out his hand. She bounded toward him, purring loudly as he scratched the base of her tail.
