by Declan Finn
For the grace, for the might of our Lord, in the name of His Glory. For the faith. For everything.
No Capitulation.
“Tiamat!” I bellowed. “As a sworn officer of the city of New York, I hereby place you under arrest. For murder. For sacrilege. For blasphemy.” I looked down the beach as the wreckage from the tsunami became clearer. “For massive property damage. You have the right to remain silent, so shut your mouths.”
When the monster stepped forward again, not slowing, I grabbed my handgun and drew down on it. I aimed for the middle head and emptied my gun in its direction.
“Hey, asshole! I’m talking to you!”
Tiamat dismissed me with a wave of her hand.
This meant that a wave of water kicked up from the ocean and slammed into me, even up on the cliff. I caught only the tail end of it, and that was enough to nearly knock me off of the church roof. I wrapped both arms around the crucifix next to me and held on for dear life. Mariel and Lena covered up and let the wave sweep them down back towards the church.
Hey, God. I meant what I said. But if you want this thing to win, let me know now so I can avoid the aggravation.
Then, over the sound of the wind and the rain and the lightning, over the sound of the footsteps and roaring of Tiamat, there was only one sound that gave me hope.
A car.
I turned. Pulling up to the church was what was left of Sinead Holland’s car. There were no wheels left. The windows were broken. Water leaked from the trunk, from the engine block, and dripped out of the doors. Sinead opened the door and at least a bucket full of water spilled out.
Three men pushed the car forward. Despite the rain, they looked dry. One was in an army uniform, one was in scrubs, and the other looked like he was a mailman.
I blinked. Well, I did say a prayer to angels. But sooner would have been better.
Sinead got out of the car, package in hand, and reared back with it like a football. She hurled it for me.
Sinead threw like a girl. The package bounced off the side of the church.
However, the package came flying at me without any warning. Lena had grabbed it with her mind and hurled it at me. I caught it in the stomach with both hands, like a football.
I ripped off the packaging and smiled.
The package that I had ordered from Vatican City was a diamond—brilliant, translucent, and clear. There were natural, almost fluid striations on either side, within the stone itself. They were clearly below the gleaming, multifaceted surface. One set of striations was blood red. The other set was a startling silver. They were runes, written in the language of the angels. The silver runes were instructions on how to use the diamond for the greater glory of God. The blood red runes were a warning that disaster would befall anyone who used the stone improperly.
It was an artifact from before time. It had been handed to the first dynasty of Egypt by a creature that would be confused for a god. In time, it had destroyed the first capital city of the dynasty.
It was called the Soul Stone.
I raised the football-sized diamond before me and pointed one tip towards Tiamat. I looked into the eyes of the green, middle head and fought back the wave of madness that threatened to overwhelm me. I could go mad later.
I spoke without thinking. I spoke without needing to. The words that poured forth from me might as well have come from somewhere else.
“In the name of the Father, Jesus Christ”— I bowed my head at The Name. “His Son, and the Holy Ghost, I abjure you Tiamat! And cast you back to the pit from whence you came.”
Despite being a speck compared to the mighty beast from Hell, the red dragon head turned its attention to me. Tiamat was not amused. The red spat a fireball at me and ignored me, like I was already dead.
The white hot ball of flame flashed across the distance between Tiamat and the church like lightning. It smashed into me, and the crucifix next to me. I disappeared into a cloud of fire and smoke.
When the smoke cleared, I was still there.
Tiamat stopped moving forward. The red and orange heads turned towards me. They were livid. But they were paying attention.
“In the name of John Paul the Great,” I bellowed, “who defeated one of your thrones of Hell on Earth while he lived, I command you back to the abyss.”
The left most head, the violet one, growled at me. With a voice that I would have imagined a tiger would have, roared back. “Who are you, little man, that you threaten me? Where were you when our Master, Lucifer, fell? Your world had barely formed. We were made to serve before any came to be served. We will eat your soul.”
Just to emphasize the point, the orange head (second from Tiamat’s right) let loose a stream of flame. It struck me dead on. It engulfed the church. It set the church grounds ablaze. The first ignited trees a dozen feet away. Even Sinead and Mariel had to put out the hems of their clothing, the heat was that intense.
The orange head cut the stream of fire and scoffed.
The fire cleared. The church was untouched, and so was I.
“I serve the Lord,” I answered the fire. “He is my Sword and my shield! My guardian angel protects me. My patron, the defender of all police, is Michael the archangel himself, who cast Satan into Hell. Who the Hell are you against a single one of them? You wish to fight God? Who are you against the Lord?”
The Soul stone glowed. On the beach below, both the possessed and the mad shrank back from the light. Even Professor Whateley pushed away from Bokor Baracus in terror, falling away from the light of the Stone. They fell back even from Tiamat. They were scared of the Soul Stone and didn’t want to be crushed by Tiamat.
All seven of Tiamat’s heads gave me their full attention. They all spoke with one voice. They were loud enough to make my ears ring and my skull throb. “AND NOW YOU BURN FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!”
All seven heads let loose.
The red skull fired a stream of lightning. The orange mouth spit fireball after fireball. The mouth on the yellow dragon unleashed a torrent of violet flame. The green mouth unleashed a stream of red-hot, boiling acid. The blue, indigo, and violet dragon heads unleashed streams that mirrored the heads on the other side.
This time they aimed for me, the church, Lena, Sinead, and Mariel on the edge of the cliffs.
All seven attacks dispersed against the light from the Soul Stone. The light reached out and spread to the girls on the cliff.
“Come and get me!” I challenged them. “For I serve the Lord! And He will not let you pass. He commands you back to the depths of Hell. God wills it!”
Tiamat laughed and shook all seven heads, scoffing at me.
I ground my teeth and held the stone aloft. “O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.”
Tiamat kept coming. The hips rose out of the water as she stepped forward. The heads towered over us even higher. “We curse you and all your line to eternal perdition.”
The violet head darted forward like an adder to strike at me. Her teeth smashed against the light like a bulletproof bubble.
I continued my prayer to Michael the archangel, patron of the military and all police. “Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought Lucifer and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee. That cruel, ancient serpent who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his horde.”
Tiamat reached forth and punched at the light. It collided with the air as though stopped as though by a wall. “You will be hunted all the days of your life. You will never be rid of us.”
So what else is new? I thought.
The light pulsed forward once more. And this time, the light itself came out through the rock of the cliff.
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br /> I leveled the stone at Tiamat like a gun. “Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. It wanders about, invading the earth to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.”
Lightning struck between the fingernails of Tiamat, as though the tips of its claws were Tesla coils. Balls of lighting formed and flew out, and all seven heads struck again this time. The attack stopped short of the rocks once more, the light stopping it hard. It spread out along the edge of the light like water on a windshield. It spread out and dispersed.
The next words out of my mouth reminded me of Bishop Ashley, and the evil of George Matchett, and the horrors proposed by the genuine Professor Whateley before his possession. “These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the See of Holy Peter where the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, in the hope that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.”
The flames and the lightning continued. Tiamat tried to press through the barrier. But now, the attacks no longer scattered as though striking a wall; they merely disappeared into the light. The light pushed forward, through the entire cliffside, even though it should have been casting a giant shadow.
Professor Whateley screamed, falling to the ground as though tortured. He fell over, not vomiting sea form and curses, but blood. He convulsed and thrashed on the ground as the demon was driven out of him, taking Whateley’s life with it. Kusarikku climbed out of the bonfire, going right into the light, scattering into embers, even though the flames from moments before hadn’t even scorched it.
All seven heads of Tiamat roared with the wrath of Achilles and the burning hatred of Satan himself. Tiamat reached down, under the surface of the ocean. It reached all the way down to the ocean floor and grabbed what it wanted.
It came up with a boulder bigger than the church itself. Tiamat raised the rock high above its heads and hurled it at us.
The rock clashed with the wall of light and disappeared into the brightness. A moment later, the rock came back out and shot forth at Tiamat, smacking into the green head in the middle. Tiamat staggered back, unsteady on its feet.
“Arise O invincible Prince!” I called, “against the attacks of these lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. We venerate thee as our protector and patron. Holy Church glories you as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men. And may vanquish the dragon, the ancient serpent, and make him captive again in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations.”
Tiamat held her hands in front of her, backing away. Before that particular moment, I wouldn’t have imagined that a mile-tall lizard could look nervous. But this one managed it.
But Tiamat discovered, too late, that the light had surrounded her. The light closed in on all sides, like a cage. There was nowhere to run or retreat. She lashed out at the confinement. All the heads thrashed and expelled flame and lightning.
The light from the stone spread up as well as out and struck the clouds above. The clouds dispelled wherever the light touched.
The sunlight came down and highlighted the church and the cliff. “O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” I bowed my head once more, “we call upon Thy holy Name.”
The Soul Stone unleashed a beam of light that burned away the rightmost head of Tiamat. The red dragon head burst into flame and disintegrated, all the way down the neck, into the trunk.
“We implore Thy clemency—” I continued.
The Stone let loose once more. It struck the orange neck, punching a hole through the middle. It blanched and reared back, shrieking as it disappeared in a tower of embers.
“That by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother—”
The yellow head tried to dodge this time, but the beam of light seared through the neck at the base.
“And of the glorious St. Michael the Archangel—”
The Soul Stone focused on the other side of Tiamat this time, slashing through the violet head on the end. “Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan—”
The indigo head roared, and the beam of light went straight down its throat. The light punched through the back of the head. It fell backwards, into the light cage, and burned away as it touched it.
“And all the other unclean spirits who wander the world to injure the human race and the ruin of souls.”
The blue head tried to hide behind the red one. But again, it couldn’t move its neck at the base. It sliced off like a squid losing an arm.
“Amen!”
Tiamat held out both of its hands to hold back the next strike. The Soul Stone blasted forth a final bright bream of light. Tiamat leaned into the beam, fighting against it with all of its being.
Tiamat’s hands began to glow as the Soul Stone struck it, burning into it.
“The Most High God commands you … God the Father commands you… God the Son commands you. God the Holy Ghost commands you… The sacred Sign of the Cross commands you … The glorious Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, commands you… The faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of the other Apostles commands you. The blood of the Martyrs and the pious intercession of all the Saints command you. Saint John Paul the Great commands! In the name of God! God wills it. For the grace, for the might of the Lord, in the name of His Glory, go back to Hell and take your friends with you!”
Tiamat roared in defiance as the light of the stone punch through the palms of both hands. It struck the body of Tiamat full on. It punched through the monster and out the other side.
Tiamat screamed as the Stone sent her straight back to Hell.
24 Crusader
The wind dissipated. The seas calmed. The sky cleared. The lightning stopped.
The only sound remaining was my breathing.
The Soul Stone’s runes glowed and hummed and slowly pulsed until the glow faded away.
The stone was still clear but like cloudy white quartz that did not interfere with the arcane runes or deep silver streaks, but it did look dull and spent. I put the Stone back in my pocket and slowly sat down on the roof. I let out my breath. I didn’t even know I had been holding it.
I should have felt something. I should have felt the loss of Packard and Pearson. I should have felt elation at destroying a monster that would have destroyed the world. All I felt was the buzz of adrenaline. I felt drained. My next step was to take a nap.
Maybe taking a nap on the roof isn’t out of line.
“Yo! Tommy?” came a bellow from the beach. “You might want to get down here!”
I blinked. That wasn’t the voice of Baracus.
…Alex?
I dropped down from the roof. I landed like a feather. I ran for the cliff and jumped. I levitated down.
The beach was in turmoil.
The mad ones had been cured of their insanity. They were confused, wandering the beach, wondering what had happened. The possessed who had been killed were dead again without the demons within to keep them alive.
Both Alex and Father Pearson were alive. They were on their feet. Their wounds were healed, without even a hint of scar tissue.
However, Bokor Baracus was on his back in the sand. His skin had turned a mottled gray.
I walked over to his side. “Baracus?”
He looked at me through narrowed eyes. “It seems that your tool was so virtuous, it burned out all of the magic in my body.” He tried to smile but didn’t have the energy. He reached for his chest. He patted it twice, looking for something. He
pulled the necklace out from his shirt. Whatever had been there was broken, only a jagged edge remained. “My phylactery.” He breathed deeply, trying to keep speaking. “Shattered.” He tried a shrug and failed.
Pearson stepped forward and knelt next to him. “Do you want last rites?”
Baracus raised a brow. “Do you think it will do any good?”
Pearson shrugged. “Usually. Best to err on the side of ‘what’s the harm?’ I say.” He made a sign of the cross over Baracus. “Into your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust Bokor Baracus. In this life, you embraced him with your tender love …” Pearson hesitated, wondering just how true the statement was. “Deliver him now from every evil and bid him eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome him into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.”
Baracus smiled. “Amen.”
I looked him right in the eye and said, “Baracus, be good.”
Baracus gave a faint smile: “Perhaps.”
Then my greatest adversary, Baracus, the Voodoo bokor, died for the last time … though for the first time, perhaps uncertain about his destination.
Everyone on the beach had either run away when the madness broke out, or were totally insane during the entire ordeal. Despite the effects of a manifest demon (inherent in labeling it “a Cthulhu”), the Soul Stone excelled at cleanup.
Bokor Baracus’ body disintegrated. He went from “alive” to “full decomposition” in a matter of minutes. We used a cooler left on the beach to collect his remains before a gentle breeze could blow them away.
Once the cooler was locked tight, I hugged both Alex and Pearson. Pearson understood and said nothing.
Alex, being Alex, said, “Dude. You’d think we were dead or something. We were only a little dead.”
I kept my arms around them both and pulled them alive. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
We worked out way along the beach. The rest of my family met us at the car. Despite half the parking lot being wiped away by the tsunami, our car was still there. My family put the guns back in the truck when Lena caught sight of us first. She beamed bright and ran for me.
