by Bo Luellen
Henry decided to stop short of inciting Hyde, Is he trying to prepare or corrupt me? He said we would become a unified consciousness, with elements of each. If he taints my soul, then our combined mind would lean more towards Hyde’s maniacal way of life. We would fill our endless days with carnage and maleficence. I must stay steady.
That same day Hyde came to him announcing, “My Child, there is a book that I think it is time for you to read.”
Henry grabbed the tome from him, “What is this Hyde? You said we were done with your memories and focusing on spellwork.”
The title read, Lewis Turner. He took the book and moved his hand over the leather-bound cover. Each book had a different design based on what memory is held. During his delve into World War II memories, Hyde had possessed five Vessels, and all of them were German. One of those covers was bound in the leather jacket of a Gestapo trench coat.
Lewis’s book was wrapped in the thick skin of an elephant. It had a beautiful recreation of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook cover art neatly etched into the hide. It represented the memories of his games with Lewis, and the fun they shared through imagination and adventure.
His smile faded as he realized, Being around Lewis was the opposite of his upbringing. I owe Lewis so much… or do I? Hyde was possessing Lewis the entire time I knew him. I wonder just how much of Lewis’s generosity was due to Hyde’s influence. Was Turner really that decent of a man, or was the Demon grooming me? If Hyde figured out I was one of his offspring, then all of this could have been orchestrated. Was this just a long con game?
Wearily, he realized that this book had been saved for last. With some courage, he flipped it open and found himself outside a Chinese restaurant in mid-town Tulsa. Unlike all the other visions given to him by the Study, his spirit floated invisibly to those around him. Hyde, dressed in an all-white suit, stood beside him and took in the events. They watched the Asian man put together a lunch order for an elderly woman.
Hyde told him, “This memory begins as Miniel had once more tracked me down. This time it only took her five years to seek me out. She was getting considerably better at it. I spent the last two years inside this lowly man. His name was Woo, a sinner in his mid-forties and owner of a mediocre Chinese Restaurant. Unfortunately, Woo was also a small-time drug dealer who peddled meth, heroin, and marijuana out of his business. Many of his customers went down much darker paths because of his side vocation. Still, it helped him keep the store open so he could look legitimate to your law bringers.”
Henry leaned on the outer wall, “I’m betting having you around made his life, oh so much better.”
Hyde mocked pain at the insult, “Oh, be still your blade. This man was already dedicated to his path when Hyde crossed into him. Woo got his start by robbing his siblings of their father’s inheritance, which gave him the start-up capital he needed for his dual businesses. This, of course, caused his soul to become bound for Hell. It was on that path in which I found him, and so I borrowed his body for a time. On this particularly fateful day, Woo and I were selling some drugs to a loyal customer that I believe you might know.”
Henry shot his head around and saw Woo’s greeting the overweight Lewis Turner with an exuberant smile. His heart sank at seeing his friend’s face once again. He heard his familiar laugh from behind the glass, and it made a well of anguish swell in his heart.
Behind Lewis, a dark-skinned woman stepped out from a car in the parking lot. As she walked towards the restaurant, the lady shined with a light that hurt Henry’s eyes, and a pair of ethereal wings trailed behind her. Woo instantly noticed her, but Lewis was oblivious to the presence of the masquerading Miniel.
Woo quickly stuck out his hand towards Lewis’s. A look of surprise washed across his friend’s face as he regarded the gesture with some trepidation. With a smile, he grabbed Woo’s hand, and in an instant, the Demon jumped into Turner’s body, possessing him. The black energy slinked across the arms of the two men and wormed its way into the eyes of his old boss.
Woo, dumbfounded by the sudden expulsion of the Demon, gripped the counter to hold himself up. The newly possessed Lewis waved his hands and cast a spell in Enochian. A black aura surrounded the elderly Asian man as he staggered back from the incantation. Hyde moved Lewis’s body out the back and scampered into his friend’s old Ford pickup truck.
A loud clank came from inside the restaurant, causing Henry to refocus his attention towards the lobby. Miniel was pummeling Woo to death with the hefty cash register. With each hit, money and change shot out onto the tiled floor, as blood splattered the walls a dark red. The Chinese man went down, and the angel beat his head into a pool of multi-colored liquid and bone shards. With her face spackled in crimson, she put her hand on her victim’s chest and cast a restraining spell. Her eyes flared with divine energy as she bellowed in anger at the absence of Hyde’s soul in Woo.
The image faded away, and they were once again in the Study, as Hyde remarked, “Miniel has lost her way. Her hurt stays hidden from her Order as she quests to return me to Heaven for judgment. Fortunately, I equal her ferocity with cunning. I left a curse upon Woo as I exited him. The black cloud of darkness fooled Miniel into thinking I was still there and caused Woo to become too confused to run. It was a ruse that has served me well enough on several occasions, but this was the first time she ever killed one of my Vessels. Her anger is unhinged, and she keeps her methods hidden by the Order of Virtue.”
Henry lost his temper, “You got that man killed! You got Lewis killed! You say you don’t poison humanity, but what do you call this?”
Hyde shifted the image to Lewis standing with his business partner Jeff and their friend Don, “Is the wolf a blight on the deer, or is it not a part of strengthening the species to cull the herd? When I came into your dear friend’s life, he was a drunk, a drug user, and an adulterer. He was lost and set on his path towards the gates of Hell. I cannot possess a being that is pure of spirit, so I’ve spoiled no fruits. I’ve stolen nothing from the Almighty and only delayed the soul’s journey to Lucifer. I took this wretch from poverty to a successful and productive member of the community. He was given purpose, something his child could look up to. All it cost him was a handshake with my divinity.”
Henry watched as the vision showed him Lewis signing the lease agreement for Lewis’s Hoagies and replied, “You gave him what? Money? From what I’ve seen, your help comes at a cost. I’m sure those things in my apartment didn’t come from your divine credit card! Who suffered for your material wealth and appetites?”
Hyde dissolved the illusion into another vision of Lewis in a dark apartment, standing over three dead Hispanic men. Each one was shot dozens of times in the chest and head. On the floor were several kilos of cocaine, and on a kitchen table was a large suitcase filled with money. The possessed Lewis picked up the cash and calmly walked it back to his car, as a prostitute screamed in terror from the corner of the living room.
Hyde’s voice dripped with satisfaction, “While I can’t manifest the currency your kind uses, I do have dominion over the Seven Deadly Sins. The wicked feel the tickle of my tongue as I quicken their path to damnation. The unrighteous are powerless against the Fallen Angels, for they are outside of God’s grace. With the Sins, I can call upon the unclean to do any number of things. These three condemned souls were profiting off the misery of their coworkers, friends, and even family. I called upon Cupiditas, and rid this planet of their infestation. Who benefited? Why your beloved friend Lewis, and in turn, his miscreant employees.”
Henry shuttered a reply, “Cupiditas means greed. You called upon greed.”
Hyde pulled them back to the Study and rejoiced, “Good, my child! Your studies have been going well, I see. Your Latin has improved, and so much, the better. The Sins will not be available to us when we become a Nephilim. Still, we will have access to the deeper mysteries of Solomon’s magic. That mystical force your kind has chosen to forget will be ours to command. While y
our kind was fooled by religion to hate and forget the keys to that power, the magical well of energy never went anywhere. Unfortunately, earthlings have abandoned it, but the supernatural ability doesn’t fit the control systems your religions use to manipulate the masses. Quite the opposite, practitioners are shunned and hunted by heathenistic hypocrites who are vain to know God’s will. With the inclusion of the Internet, smartphones, professional sports, and the exclusion of the circle of nature in your daily culture, the number of mortals that have arcane potential is precious few.”
Henry became intrigued, “Your contempt for humanity isn’t as complete as you would like me to believe. What about Edward Tallman? You hid him from me. Why did you watch over him and his nephew, Hyde?”
Ignoring Henry’s question, the Demon changed the scene to show the renovation of Lewi’s Hoagies sandwich shop, the man’s divorce, and his eventual meeting with Henry Jekyll. He watched as Lewis would stir from bed nightly with Hyde in control. The possessed man would use a phone the Demon had hidden, leave for hours on an errand of adventure or sometimes just stare out of his window in silent contemplation.
Hyde admitted, “I was content for the most part, but plagued by Miniel’s relentless pursuit. You see, my child, on Earth, we divine creatures are forbidden from affecting the living. So God wove a failsafe into the magical fabric of angelic spells on this planet. When an Angel uses the Seven Virtues, or a Fallen invokes the Seven Deadly Sins, the Almighty can hear it. Because of his anger, God has turned away from the Fallen. So he chooses not to listen when we use our power. When one of us meddles too far into human affairs, we are visited by the Angelic Order of Virtue. These self-righteous genocidal zealots take great joy in destroying any Fallen they find. Miniel and I were once strong members of that Order.”
As Henry continued to watch the life of Lewis flash in his mind, he deduced, “So, Miniel was looking to capture you in the Preserve?”
The image shifted to Lewis walking from the Halloween Party on the night of his death as Hyde said, “She longs to bring me through the gates of Heaven and place me before God.”
Henry sensed there was more to the story, “Why?”
Once again, ignoring his question, “I would have never allowed my Vessel to be harmed if possible, but the assassin was magically blocked from my sight.”
He snapped back, “The Vessel had a name! Lewis Turner!”
The vision shifted again to reveal Lewis traveling along the snowy bridge on the night of his death. From behind, a dagger flashed out from thin air and stabbed the portly man in the back. Slowly, the shimmering image of a grey-haired older man followed the blade into view from behind a spell that had blocked Hyde’s sight. A bewildered Turner wobbled from the wound and held his back in pain.
Hyde’s voice seemed to growl, “The human had a protection spell on him. Somehow this ant learned the High Magic of the ancients. I was blind to him until it was too late. The dagger he held was infused with a binding spell that held me helpless me inside your friend. I could do nothing to aid my Vessel or stop what happened next.”
Just then, a vehicle that was about to cross the bridge slowed and drove towards the pair. It flashed its brightest beams onto Lewis and his assailant while blaring its horn. The sudden emergence of a witness startled the would-be assassin, and Lewis slipped on the ice, causing him to crash into the safety rail. Out of terror and confusion, Henry’s friend pitched over the side, and free fell to the railroad tracks below.
The Demon remarked, “It wasn’t an act of suicide, but a move of desperate survival. The Vessel was looking for an escape, not death.”
Henry saw his friend’s body as it lay shattered across the tracks. Red poured out from pressure tears in the skin. An opening made by a snapped bone that jutted out of his leg. Above, on the bridge, he saw the older man stuff the dagger in an open hole in the railing, cover it with snow, and run off into the night.
Henry felt a swell of anger, “Who was that man? Why did he do that?”
The Fallen Angel sighed, “It was a minion of a god named Cthulhu. At first, I thought it was Miniel in a Vessel, but her energy signature wasn’t present, so I dismissed the notion.”
Henry’s attention went back to Lewis’s struggled to lift himself off the crimson soaked snowy ground. He could hear the thoughts of his friend as he tried to make sense of where he was. The sound of crunching snow announced a figure walking towards the injured man from under the bridge. The mysterious person was silhouetted with the same glow he had seen Miniel display at the Preserve and at Woo’s restaurant. As the stranger stepped out into the shine from the overhead streetlights, the vision revealed a possessed Juste Theriot smiling down at the fallen Lewis Turner.
Henry did his best to stay steady, “How long had he been possessed by your Angel friend? Juste only moved to Tulsa a year ago.”
There was almost sympathy in Hyde’s voice, “Hyde knows much, but not all, my child. She has changed her tactics and stopped following the rules of the Order of Virtue, which forbids them from possessing mortals. To do so is an act of a Fallen Angel, and punishment is banishment from Heaven. Miniel hid in Juste and orchestrated an alliance with Cthulhu. In return, she was given the leadership of his followers in Tulsa. With the Crimson Brotherhood in her pocket, she then stalked me for over a year without my knowledge. She has gone insane. Miniel believes she is serving God still, even as she defies his laws and hides from his sight.”
Henry realized something, “Wait. The night Lewis was killed, Juste was at my house. He woke up the next morning, saying that Maisy had raped him. Was that Miniel talking, or did that even happen?”
Hyde’s demeanor changed to one of melancholy, “She always did enjoy celebrating after a victory. Miniel used the Seven Deadly Virtues to seduce Maisy. In fact, both of them had sex against their will.”
Henry focused back on the vision of a helpless friend laying on the snowy train tracks. The possessed Juste stood there, staring at him wordlessly. With considerable effort, Lewis was able to move away from the train rails. Henry’s heart quickened as he rooted for his doomed boss to make it to safety.
Juste uttered one of the Seven Deadly Virtues, “Patientia.”
Henry muttered the translation, “Patience.”
As the train approached, Lewis stretched his neck across a track and begged, “Forgive me.”
A few seconds later, the locomotive rolled over his neck, decapitating him. Lewis’s body was thrown from the impact as the blare of the train horn filled the air. A few minutes later, the passing boxcars were gone, and Juste left with the head of his friend. The vision ended with blood pouring out from the mangled corpse.
Hyde drew them out of the image and back into the Study. Henry found himself sitting in the same high back chair that matched the one that the Demon enjoyed. His host seemed to be in a trance as the flames from the fireplace danced on the reflection from his long beautiful black hair. The angel wore an all-black suit, studded with silver and his standard glass of Bourbon in his hand.
Hyde took a deep breath and brought himself back into the moment, “Miniel’s plan had worked, and I was trapped inside the dead body of my Vessel. Apologies, my child, inside Lewis Turner. There I was to stay, unable to break free and awaiting her minions to collect me. The mortal named Amy Howard is a member of the Crimson Brotherhood and had arranged for the Mages of the cult to extract me.”
Hyde suddenly threw the drink into the fire, “She betrayed God and gathered new strength from the darkness she had opposed for so many millennia. It was brilliant, really, but risky. If the Order of Virtue had found out about her plan, there would be a reckoning.
I did have two strokes of luck. One was Miniel couldn’t do the exorcism herself. It was an unfortunate drawback for our kind. Once possession has occurred, only a willing human can perform the exorcism. I suspect that is why she looked upon the cult of Cthulhu for the answer to her obsession. They are more than willing to do such a vile act, and, in her min
d, she could use evil to fight evil. She had earned her prize, and all I could do was wait for her minions to collect me.
The second piece of luck was you, Henry. As a member of my bloodline, you were able to draw me out of the spell that bound me to Lewis Turner. Immediately, I noticed my divine DNA in your genetics, even while in my weakened state. I had fully recovered the evening you went to your game night. While you sat at the table, both Miniel and I discovered one another.”
Hyde laughed at the irony, “Really though, an Angel of God, member of the Order of Virtue, playing Dungeons and Dragons! Blasphemous! Well, I suppose that would be the least of her crimes.”
Henry reached over and took a bottle of Bourbon from an oak cabinet. With a degree of fascination, Hyde watched as Jekyll upended it, then threw the half-empty container into the fire. The broken bottle exploded into flame and shot a plume into the air.
He then turned to the fiend and said, “Juste and Lewis were the two closest friends I had, and now they are dead! I know why you showed me all that bloody history. You added the vilest memory to every lesson. You want to corrupt my spirit so it will be more like your own so that when we merge, Hyde will be in control. What you failed to realize is that you did your job all too well. You’ve prepared me to watch for your inevitable betrayal. Because of your Study, I’ve felt the birth and loss of hundreds of children, the ravages on the soul from war, and countless ways to have one’s heart broken. I know there is more to your story! This Miniel, who was she to you, Hyde? Why did you protect Edward Tallman and then hide the memory from me!? Tell me now! If you truly want me prepared for what is to come, then grant me the truth!”
