I'm Coven A Good Time VI

Grimsby's Cantankerous Circus Carnival.

What Irwin hopes to be their penultimate destination for this case for, after all, they already knew of their prey's identity and their modus operandi and a way to kill it. The only thing missing is their prey's location.

The Witch Scry spell is the key to their problems, however, they were, ironically, missing a key ingredient to finish the spell. An item used by the witches, recently used was the exact wording. The fresher the conduit the more specific the location they will receive. Irwin could, of course, use the mounted skull or the stuffed eagle, but he'd rather use a newer item given that he is a newbie to the spell and magic in general. A more powerful or experienced could track him down or see through his scrying attempt and doing it with a fresh item would lessen the risk of the witch moving away while they find another item to use. So, with a need for a recently used spell conduit, the two hunters headed towards their latest clue.

"This is where Meghan, our eagle victim, was last seen alive. She must've gotten the love potion from here." Garth read off the report made by Deputy Gillham who still thinks this investigation is an invitation from his colleagues to discover his recent dissemination of active case files. A rather serious crime for law enforcement in the early 21st century. "Oh, by the way, I got a call from Detective Murphy. He got a hit from his brother-in-law about two deaths involving an animal part in the victim's heart. It's somewhere in Nebraska, a national park, I think.

"James, amigo. He sent pictures which I didn't you could do. That's so cool."

As if not hearing his partner's words, Irwin continued to scrutinize his surroundings with a stony gaze.

Unlike most carnivals, he had come across or worked for, the bare metal poles and scrap tarpaulins used as the base foundation for the Carnival proper gave the whole area a depressive and brooding aura to it. It did not help that the Circus Carnival looked like it oozes OSHA violations starting with its military-like trucks, with the name: Grimsby's Cantankerous Circus Carnival written in red bold letters to the side, where they stored the more important items.

"Where's the owner of the Carnival? Is it a Grimsby?" Irwin asks Deputy Gillham.

The deputy nodded and led them towards a grumpy brown-skinned old man whose wrinkled skin told countless stories as he yelled at the frowning workers.

"Sir... Sir..." Deputy Gillham called out a few times before gaining the attention of the old man who harrumphed the deputy.

"Whadda ya want?" The old man asked briskly.

"I'm Deputy Gillham from the sheriff's office. And this is FBI Special Agent James Bryce and Michael Crawford. We, uh, we called in earlier about the dead woman."

"Oh, yeah? Well, we fucking called you cops four days ago and you didn't do ahit about it, huh? My boss and her two little brother's going missing and you fucking tell me to wait? Now, look at this shit? We're leaving and not earning money because you shitholes can't be bothered to look for a black woman." The old man yelled in an impassioned tone as he furiously pointed his fingers and cane at Deputy Gillham.

Deputy Gillham widened his eyes in shock before yelling back. "Shut your fucking mouth before I arrest your black ass! Maybe the bitch just ran away, we don't fuckig deal with that shit."

Seeing their screams attracted the attention of the workers and passers-by, Irwin clapped Deputy Gillham on the chest, eliciting a wheeze out of him. "Why don't you take a breather, Gillham? We'll take it from here."

Deputy Gillham was taken aback by Irwin's words before finally taking notice of the crowd's looks. He clicked his tongue, glaring at the old man before huffing away in anger.

"What a bitch." Garth remarked, eliciting a chuckle from the old man.

"Sorry about that, Sir. We're FBI and are just looking for any information regarding this woman." Said Irwin as he pulled a picture of Meghan from his suit jacket. "She's been seen here about a few days ago alone."

"Yeah, also, if you do help us, we'll promise you to take a look at your missing siblings. We just need to find her killer." Garth added, earning an approving look from Irwin.

The old man who introduced himself as Grendel, general manager of the Carnival Circus and paternal figure for the Grimsby siblings- Elaine, Markus, and Derek Grimsby- shook his head with a sigh. "Alright, I know her. Follow me to my office. I have a ledger with her name in it."

Grendel shooed away the onlookers, ordering them to return to their jobs in a not-so-polite way.

Grendel's office was no more than a large grey camper van with a few chairs strewn outside of its doors. Stepping inside, one could smell the salted earth and chlorine-like ambience that pervaded every corner of the office.

"Sorry about the smell. You guys know about hoodoo?" Grendel asked as he crouched down a drawer and set about finding the ledger.

"Yes, sir." Answered Irwin. "Let me guess, smoking goofer dust and angel root?"

Grendel laughed as he stood up with a grunt, book in hand. "Hah. You know your stuff. Keeps the bad spirits away... needed to be sure, is all. Now, let's see..."

Irwin noticed Grendel being cagy about his reason, but decided that a blunt approach would fail miserably. "Yes, I do, sir. My aunt, well, let's just say that you don't wanna be in her room when it's Halloween. Real spooky stuff and bad smell to boot." He said with a laugh, easing their somewhat tense first impressions.

Grendel snorted as he sat down on the leather seats of the camper van and placed the book down on the top of the drawer. "Yeah, tell me about it. My Tati Akenol used to burn wood for her Gris-gris bags. Anyway, this is the ledger for this week."

The Circus Carnival's ledger contains the numerous expenses and income during their week-long deployment in Iowa. The income part only involves the purchases made in their auctions and other stands that need additional permits from the local government.

"So, this white girl of yours brought.... uh... a love potion about four days ago. Bought it from Elaine before she went missing apparently." Grendel said as he read from the ledger. "Now, the reason I know her is that we use to pass around here every couple of months, a week or so every time. She bought a love potion about six months ago from Elaine... and, uh..." Grendel trailed off, apprehension marring his wrinkled face.

"Do you guys believe in real Hodoo?" He asked, eyeing the two fake agent's reactions.

While Garth was bewildered, Irwin merely smirked and produced Erishkigal's amulet hidden around his neck.

Grendel's eyes shone with familiarity and a smile came out of his mouth. "You hunters?"

"Yes, sir," Garth answered almost too fast which earned an eye roll from Irwin. "What? He was asking."

Irwin shook his head. "We are hunters, sir, and we're looking for a powerful witch and a-"

"Demon. Yeah, well, fuck me." Grendel groaned as he grunted out of his seat and went back to the drawer before returning to his seat, a piece of document in hand. "This makes things easier. My stupid niece did and went and got a deal with a fucking demon for the Circus' success. Now, she was smart. Didn't do the whole 10-year time limit, but opted for the more scary stuff. In exchange for the Circus making money, we host auctions once in a while full of the real stuff. Dangerous stuff."

"Like dead stuffed animals."

"Damn right. Now I told her she was making a mistake, and her brothers too. But the girl is stubborn, too fucking stubborn and ambitious too. Being successful wasn't enough for her. So she went back to the demon and, well, I don't really know what happened but she came back that night. Stole a bunch of the cursed stuffed animals and left. The morning after, her brother's noticed her missing so they went after her." Grendel scoffed, cursing at his kids before pointing towards a nearby cupboard. "Grab me that whiskey there, boy."

Obeying the command, Irwin grabbed the half-full bottle and began pouring a shot on a nearby glass before Grendel hastily grabbed the whole bottle and chugged it to a quarter-full. "That's the stuff." He said, wiping the dripping whiskey out of his goatee. "So, here's the thing. Elaine... when she came back, there was something... different about her."

"How so?"

Grendel sighed for the umpteenth time. "Now I'm not that verse with the whole hunting stuff, so I'll let you take a guess. She had black eyes, full black like she snorted pepper and it went to her eyes. She smelled like shit, more so than usual, I guess. She's hands-on so gunk and shit gets on her clothes, but this time... it smelled like-"

"Eggs. Spoiled eggs." Finished Irwin, nodding along. "Yeah, you're right, She's been possessed by the demon she made a deal with. Probably by a loophole with the new deal she made."

Hearing his partner's words, Garth groaned. "So we're dealing with a witch and a demon? A supernatural tag team? Are we sure we can handle it?"

Frankly, Irwin had doubts about whether they can handle their level of power at their stage of experience and training. Although they had the means and resources to go toe-to-toe with the demon and the witch, the winner of their battle would go down to the one with the most experience. There's no item or spell in the world that could strike down good o'le fashion battle instinct.

"We'll make do. We always do." He stated resolutely, earning a content nod from Garth. "Alright, sir. We'll save her or at least try our very best to do so. Do you have any information that could help us or any other stuffed animal the demon may have missed?"

"Ah, well, I have a picture of all the three. Will that help?" Grendel asked, gazing around the camper van for an item before reaching out to an old picture frame with three dark-skinned siblings and a much younger Grendel, smiling and laughing around a large flag pole with the name "Grimsby's Cantankerous Circus" waving around the flag. "It's from a few years ago, though back then I looked like a young Denzel Washington. Their faces still look like that, but, uh, Derek there have a lame eye on the left a year ago."

Garth suddenly took the picture frame with a grimace as he took out his flip phone and navigated its menu. "Uh, shit." He said as he pulled up the pictures Detective Murphy sent him.

"No..." Grendel whispered as the picture of a much older Derek and Markus Grimsby, dead atop a bloody forest clearing with an elephant tusk piercing their hearts, came into his view. The man seemed to have aged a decade when he saw the picture, hunching down in his seat as light sobs began to echo around the small van.

The pain of losing a child, even one not of your blood, was a terrible sorrow Irwin would not wish upon most of his enemies. He sighed, motioning for Garth to remove the picture and sat beside Grendel. "I'm sorry, sir. For losing your children, from what I gathered, you treated them as your own?"

"Yeah..." Grendel eventually answered through his sniffs. "Their dad was a business partner of mine and, uh, their mother died shortly after giving birth to Elaine. Jesus, I fed them, took care of them for decades."

Grendel whimpered lowly, hard at work not to break down in front of them as he grabbed the bottle of whiskey and began drinking it empty.

Garth suddenly kneeled and looked Grendel in his bloodshot eyes. A smile on his face as he made a promise. "We'll save Elaine, old man."

Grendel looked taken aback, Irwin too, as they both gazed at Garth's resolute eyes. Grendel nodded, standing from his sit and trudging silently towards another cupboard. "My aunt, left me a few things, one of which is this bag."

Grendel dropped a matte black cloth rolled up and tied with a thick rope atop the counter, the cloth looked barely cleaned with cobwebs and dust clinging to its surface. "There's a powder inside of that. Sprinkle a pinch into your drink and not even dogs can smell you."

Irwin took the bag and thanked Grendel for his time before urging Garth to leave the camper van.

As soon as they stepped off the camper van, Irwin placed the back of his hand on Garth's chest. "What was that? We'll save her?"

"Yeah, he was sad and, you know, my aunt once lost a cousin of mine in a drunk Zamboni accident. It was very sad." Garth said with a shrug.

Irwin sighed at his partner's antics before nodding. "Alright, I get you. But don't do that next time. We're dealing with a demon possession. It's gonna be hard to keep her safe."

"I know." Garth took in a breath before wheezing as the smell of goofer dust and angel roots pervaded his nose. "That smells like my cousin's Thanksgiving bathroom."

"Enough of that. Where did Detective Murphy say was the body found?"

●●●Oak Glen State Wildlife Management Area, Nebraska●●●●

Using their blackmail and rapport with the Iowan sheriff's department, it only took a few hours before Irwin and Garth arrived at the crime scene where the leading investigator was waiting for them.

Lieutenant Deputy Belmont Mercer from Seward County Sherrif's office. A stout middle-aged man with a bushy beard and full head of hair in the darkest red autumn can buy. His rather short stance in life did not affect his jovial personality as he greeted the two with a smile and a hearty handshake.

"Nice to meet y'all!" He said. "When my brother-in-law told me that this is a work of a serial killer, I reckon I needed help from the big guys." His laugh washed over the awkwardness of his familiarity.

"If you don't mind, Lieutenant, it's been a long drive from Iowa, could we take a look at the victims?" Irwin asked hurriedly.

"Oh, of course, it's a bit of a hike up there, but, uh, let's get goin'."

Lieutenant Mercer led the two towards a hiking path filled with loitering police officers, park rangers, and nosy passers-by as they went deeper into the woodland area before passing an auspicious clearing filled with densely felled trees and foliage. At the centre of the clearing lie two men, Markus and Derek, amidst a sea of yellow police tape covered with a clear tarpaulin to cover them from the sparse rain.

"We didn't touch nothin' according to your specification. But we did check their body and found no traces of blood."

"Alright, Lieutenant. I assume you're finished booking all the bodies and murder weapons?" Asked Irwin as he stepped under the police tape and uncovered the bodies of the Grimsby brothers.

Lieutenant Mercer nodded in reply, whistling at his colleagues as they finish and pack up their tools. "You need anything else from us, Agent?"

"No, sir. thank you so much for calling us. We'll be handling the murder weapon and have the lab send you a report of our findings. You can finish up in here." Irwin ordered as he stared at the corpses.

Facing the shocked expressions on the corpses of Markus and Derek Grimsby, Irwin could not help but feel a weird sense of relief. Partly because their week-long investigations and hunting had finally borne fruit, but mostly due to the impending battle with a coven of witches that had reaped the souls and lives of dozens of people. Irwin knew he was not a white knight nor a paragon of justice, but the feeling of meting out punishment to those who sought chaos and evil seemed to be quite an enjoyment he never knew he would experience. It was weird, to say the least, but he was glad for it.

"We need to find Elaine Grimsby." Demanded Irwin as he strapped on a rubber glove before pulling out the tusks that clawed their way into the hearts of the young men. "I'll finish collecting the ingredients for the Witch tracking spell. I want you to ready our arsenal and meet me at the entrance off the highway."

Garth nodded in a solemn oath. "We'll finish this."

●●● Near I-80●●●

"Ostende mihi illum quem quaero."

Standing on the parking lot of a roadside convenience store, Irwin muttered esoteric chants with his hand waving around a wooden bowl full of mish-mash flowers, liquids and remnants of the destroyed tusk that he acquired on the crime scene as he channelled all of Anastasia's lesson and weaved magic around him before pouring the contents of the bowl on a large mirror placed atop the hood of his truck.

"Ostende mihi illum quem quaero."

Irwin focused his intention and will on finding the original owners of the tusk as his upper head glowed with iridescent colour, alternating amongst the rainbow

before finally settling on purple. The light was so intense that it showed the bulged veins beneath his and around his eyes.

"Ostende mihi illum quem quaero."

Hollowed laughter soon assaulted his ears, then came the scent of asbestos and rotten paint, and, finally, the sight of an abandoned mental hospital came into view. More and more information entered his mind, leaving him bereft of breath as he digested view after view. The shadowy figures of two women appeared soon after, their eyes glowing purple while the scent of magic wafted around their auras. The visions halted giving just enough time for Irwin to catch his breath but not before another came, a much darker view. A shadow, black as the abyss from whence it came. Sulphur pervaded his senses as the shadow opened its bloodshot red eyes and laughed, directly looking at him in amusement and delighted confusion.

"I'll be waiting..." It taunted, showing a bizarre smile and its rows upon rows of sharp teeth.

No sooner did the vision come than it disappeared as Irwin gasped and choked, short of breath. It was almost as if he had forgotten to breathe for hours yet by the time on his wristwatch, barely a minute passed when he first cast the spell.

"Fuck this magic." He cursed, mostly him being an arcane neophyte than magic itself. Being the best black magic user in town, it occurred to Irwin that the demon could sense his scrying and would have given it time to prepare for a hunter's arrival, but what's done is done. "Shit."

A car door slammed its way into Irwin's ears as Garth's voice soon followed. "Are you good?"

Irwin grimaced as his breath returned to his lungs, steadying by the second. "I'm good. I'm good. I found their location and it's just near here. An abandoned mental hospital near Omaha."

"That's good," Garth muttered, hiding the shudder in his hands underneath his jacket's pocket. "What's the matter?"

"...The demon knows we're coming. It saw me." Irwin answered after a long breath.

Garth closed his eyes and took a breath. "That's alright. We'll be ready. We always do."