by Michael Todd
Max’s eyes went big as he scanned the enormity of the space. He put his fingers up to his lips and twisted them like a key turning in a lock. “I guess I will simply smile and be glad that you are enjoying your present. No need for me to throw in extra commentary, right?”
Damian laughed. “My goodness, I think the boy is finally starting to get it. I should send you off on more expeditions like this one. You came back with a little more sense in that thick head of yours. That, or you really don’t like manual labor.”
His companion smirked. “I think it might be a little of both, there.”
Just then, the door to the house creaked open, and they both watched as Abraham walked out and squinted into the sun. He held a cup of coffee tightly in his hand and staggered to the table, where he sat heavily in the chair beside Max. Damian smiled kindly at him, and the younger man could tell that something was going on—something he knew nothing about and probably wouldn’t for a long time. The man looked rough, even more so than his mentor.
The trainee patted his pants and smiled as he stood and zipped his carry-on. “Well, I guess I should get in there and get unpacked. I probably have some cleaning to do, knowing you. Then there is laundry, and who knows when we will get our next call? I’ll see you in a little while.”
His mentor nodded. “Thanks for the gifts. They really are nice. You thought about it, and that is what counts.”
He nodded and began to walk away. Abraham reached up, grabbed his arm, and stared up at him from beneath the umbrella. Max looked at him with a blank expression. He had been gone for a few days, but he still didn’t like the man in the least. At the same time, though, there was something in his eyes—a deep sadness, almost—that struck him in the heart. He didn’t know what had happened, but whatever it was must have taken place after he had gone.
The visitor cleared his throat. “No need to run away because I’m out here. I’m not that scary, am I?”
The trainee thought about his answer for a moment. There was something about the look on the man’s face that pushed his sarcasm and attitude aside. He didn’t feel it would be right to be rude to him, so he shrugged instead. “I gotta put my stuff away. If you’re still here later, I’ll sit and we can talk if you want to.”
Abraham released his arm and breathed deeply in and out. “Nah, I’m good. I’ve never been very much of a talker anyway, especially not these days. You do your thing, kid, and I’ll see you at some point…maybe.”
Max looked at him for a moment and smiled before he threw one of the bags over his shoulder. The two men watched as he wheeled his luggage across the paving, careful not to tip it over in the dips and cracks along the way. Damian lifted his cup up to his lips and took a long sip of coffee. He wouldn’t approach his companion about anything until he knew he was ready to talk. Instead, he would give him whatever space he needed. It seemed that his attitude was a bit lighter, but he didn’t know if there was alcohol in the coffee. Knowing Abraham, it wouldn’t be his first drink of the day.
They sat in silence for several minutes, and the priest began to feel like a bad member of the church. It was his job, after all, to help the people, and his own friend sat there in grief and silence. He was about to ask how he was doing, but the man quickly sensed that and cut him off at the pass. “That kid looks like he has a lot of knowledge inside that head. In fact, he kind of reminds me of you, minus the badass fighting. I mean, I don’t know if the kid can fight at all, but—”
Damian put his hands up and shook his head. “Don’t you dare try to put your wicked ways on my partner. The boy is young, but he’s a good kid. I think that’s what makes him so good at his job. He has empathy for the infected. It touches him deeply when someone has to be killed or dies from their injuries. He takes it to heart, and it becomes personal to him. That makes him go out of his way to exorcise before he kills.”
Abraham rolled his eyes and took a gulp of his coffee. “That will also be what causes him to lose his life if he keeps responding to things that way. Or he will harden up, because this kind of life has a way of sucking everything out of you and never even says, ‘I’m sorry.’ Sometimes, I wonder what kind of man I would have turned into if I had never been Damned.”
Damian chuckled. “From what I remember you telling me, you were a roughneck before you were infected. I can’t see you being very different from what you are today. Not very likable, gruff, grumpy, and generally an unpleasant person.”
“Hey, I resent those remarks, thank you very much.” He laughed. “No, I actually think you’re right. I probably would have ended up in jail or something. Before I was Damned, I came up with a sweet plan to get some money out of the casinos. The demon kind of veered me off track.”
The priest sighed. “That’s a good thing, Abraham. You say it like you missed out, but I promise it would never have worked. Casinos are like death traps for thieves. They look all shiny, but when you get in there, they watch every single move you make.”
His companion looked at him and considered his plan from that perspective. “Meh, you never know. I might have been successful, but you’re probably right. I would have ended up in handcuffs and hauled off to a hot little cell somewhere. Instead, I found myself in a completely different type of prison. This one is unbreakable—except by death, of course. It keeps you prisoner in your own mind, in your life, in your actions, and in this crazy shitstorm of a war that we have going on here.”
“You’re only trapped if you allow yourself to be. I don’t feel trapped. I’m still me. I may have another voice in my head, but I won’t let myself slide into the dark. And you should do the same thing.”
Abraham said nothing, but the priest knew that was easier said than done for him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Damian stretched his arms high in the air and looked out the window at the blue sky. “So, you think you’ll hang out here with me for a little while? The weather is supposed to be nice, and it’s pretty quiet around here. Except for Rose, of course, but she won’t bother you too much since her plan didn’t work out.”
He set his coffee cup in the sink and turned to look at Abraham, who stood at the kitchen island and ate a handful of grapes, his features drawn and weary. The man scoffed and swallowed. “I don’t think I could handle that. You guys are a little too Goody-Two-Shoes for me. I can see us sitting around and contemplating philosophy at the local pub before I finally snap and get into a fight for no other reason than to do something fun.”
He laughed. “Come on, we aren’t that bad.”
His companion lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah, okay. Besides, I’ve been known to set churches on fire simply by walking across the threshold. I don’t want to embarrass you by melting your statue of Jesus. The congregation might hold me down and try to exorcise me or something.”
Damian chuckled. “I don’t think you’re that bad, but I do appreciate the warning. I don’t think my boss would be too happy about a melting savior on the pulpit. They might not try to exorcise you as much as drown you in holy water.”
“It would boil right over, I’m telling you.”
He shrugged. “Maybe it’s time we put the church in hot water. It might bring up some revelations I’ve been curious about for a while.”
Abraham popped the last grape in his mouth and yawned. “As much as I would like to help you figure out all the ridiculous past transgressions of your church, I think that might be a little too dangerous for me. A room full of demons? No problem. A room full of clergy? That’s what my nightmares are made of.”
The priest tilted his head with a mocking smile. “You know, a room full of clergy is also what my nightmares are made of. You and I might have more in common than you might imagine. I think my demon would agree with that as well.”
Ravi giggled. As much as I hate to admit anything similar to old less-than-honest Abe over there, he and I are on the same page with this one. I wouldn’t wish that torture on anyone.
The rogue fighter trailed his
fingers across the counter. “I’ve never been good at sticking to one place, at least not before Elizabeth entered the picture. But she’s gone now, you know? I don’t have any reason to camp out on a permanent vacation, especially not in the house of godly men. That’s never been a place I would feel comfortable in. No, I think it’s about time I hit the road.”
Damian smiled. “Where do you think you’ll go?”
Abraham took a deep breath. “I don’t really know yet. Me and Liz, we always talked about traveling the world. We had each done it before on our own, but we wanted to do it together without having to worry about busting demon heads. I think I might spend some of my time doing that. I’ll go see the world like I wanted to without demon fights in the middle of it all. You know, there are so many things out there that I haven’t had the time to really see. This feels like the right time to do it.”
The priest liked that idea, although he didn’t honestly see Abraham taking in the sights unless it was the local pub. “Do you think you’re done fighting demons?”
His companion looked at him with a slight glimmer of red in his eyes. “If Liz were here, I think I could give you a straight answer to that. But with her gone and having died at a demon’s hand, I don’t think I can say yes to that one. It’s too soon, and the pain is too great. I wish I could sit here and tell you that the hunger for revenge isn’t there, but it’s simmering down deep, and I’m not sure if I’ll let it go or do something about it. I have to learn how to live without my wife, and then I can figure out what I want out of life.”
Damian nodded. “Well, while you’re trying to figure it out, don’t do things out of emotion. You will feel those emotions, that anger and sadness. Don’t let it completely envelop you to where you put your life on the line in an attempt to release it.”
Abraham smirked, grabbed his bag, and shrugged it over his shoulder. He walked over and shook Damian’s hand. “You know me. I couldn’t promise that even if I wasn’t wracked with distress and anguish. But thank you, man, for everything you did for me. Thank you for trying to save Liz. I understand that she was too far gone. You might not have been able to save her, but you saved me from simply giving up and letting the demons take me.”
“We are family. That’s what we do.”
He started toward the door but stopped. “Oh, and I promise not to show up and break into your house anytime soon.”
The priest fixed him with a serious look. “No matter how much our ideas differ, you know you will always be welcome here. Next time, though, maybe wait outside for me to get home.”
Abraham saluted him. “You got it. Next time, I might even give you a phone call beforehand.”
Damian pointed his finger at his friend. “Uh oh, you’re growing up. I’m so proud of you I could weep. Just be safe out there, or as safe as a man like you allows yourself to be.”
When his friend had been gone for about five minutes, he found the house a little too quiet for his liking. Too many events had unfolded in the last few days, and he felt like he needed something to lift his spirits. He walked over to Max’s door and knocked.
The trainee yelled from the other side, “Come in.”
He cracked the door and gave him a smile. “Come on. I want to take you to the pub for a drink. It’s been a wild ride.”
Max stared at him for a moment. “And Abraham?”
Damian looked away. “He’s gone. He doesn’t stay in one place for too long.”
The young man grabbed his coat and followed the older priest out of the house. They jumped into the SUV and headed off, ignoring Rose who stood on the corner and glared as they drove past her. She looked slightly disheveled.
The priest reached up and hit the speaker to dial Maps. She answered happily, “Hey, you’re still alive. What’s up, Pops?”
“Grab your stuff and meet Max and me at the usual pub. We’re gonna get a drink and chill out.”
She was excited. “I’ll be there in ten.”
After they found parking, the priest hopped out and waited for Max to situate himself. Maps stood in front of the pub door and greeted them cheerfully. They went inside, grabbed a table at the back, and ordered their drinks. The trainee stuck with a soda this time, Maps ordered a Gin and Sprite, and Damian asked for his normal scotch.
Maps leaned forward. “Tell me about Abraham. How in the world did you guys get to be so close?”
He smiled. “Well, we met not long after I became a merc. He’s an outsider, a rogue fighter who works alone. Sometimes, I liked to break away and fight demons on my own terms. Anyway, there was this one fight… It was Abraham and me, two guns, and two rounds of ammo. We stood there and faced off against two giant demons. Those things were gnarly, at least twelve feet tall, with fists like hammers. We were already neck-deep, so we figured we were in it for the long haul. In the end, he saved my life. I was about to be a smashed priest in an old broken-down warehouse where no one would have ever found the body. I would probably have turned to ash, though, come to think about it. After that, we always had each other’s backs despite our differences of opinion about life and religion.”
She shook her head. “He was so brash and out there, like he gave zero fucks about anything. It made me crazy.”
Max laughed. “He kind of reminded me of you in that way—rough around the edges, and said whatever came to his mind. Of course, you show that you’re a good person. Him? Not so much. He was more like Stalin on the outside with a dash of teddy bear hidden somewhere in his liver.”
She shook her head, laughed, and stood to ruffle his hair. “Gonna make my rounds.”
They watched her as she flitted around the bar and greeted her clients. Damian studied Max, who looked a lot more content than he had before he’d left a few days earlier. “You look less stressed. Before you left, I thought you would have a breakdown. I didn’t want to send you, but it looks like it might have been for the best. Are you feeling better about everything?”
Max stretched his arms languidly. “You know, after that trip, I do. I learned so much about history and the demons and how much they have affected us. I learned about all the people who have died before us, and how many people are affected by all of this. It gave me a wider perspective. Not that I like to see anyone die, but I can see the whole picture now, not only the issue right in front of my face. Nothing will alter the fact that any life lost is terrible, but opening my mind up helped a lot.”
Damian lifted his glass and clinked his companion’s. “Good. I know this is all a hard transition, but you’re good at what you do because you care. I want to make sure you never lose that.”
“Like Abraham?”
He smirked. “I don’t know if that man ever cared, much less lost it.”
Max looked quickly from side to side and leaned in. “So, I was thinking. If my goal is to disarm an infected, then I need to get better at hand-to-hand stuff. I wondered if you would work with me more on offensive and defensive karate moves?”
The priest was enthusiastic. “Hell, yeah. The more prepared you are, the better you’ll be. Your demon can help you, too.”
The young man looked curiously at him. “I wondered why Abraham was still limping. Shouldn’t his demon have taken care of that by now?”
Damian shrugged. “He suppressed his demon when he married his wife because he wanted a real life. Now, the demon came back out and helped during a fight, but I think they have to reestablish a relationship before he helps Abraham with much beyond not dying. Everything he has done for years has been with his natural human strength and willpower.”
Max was shocked. “Really? Wow. I have to admit I have a little more respect for him now that I know. I can remember the struggle of being all human, and I don’t know how I’d do it without Astaroth. I wouldn’t be very good at fighting demons, for one thing, and he has even helped me conquer some fears. I guess Abraham is a lot stronger than I thought.”
“Yeah. I only hope he keeps that in the coming days.”
Before the trainee could ask what he meant by that, Maps returned to the table. “So, Maximus, I heard you took a little trip to Blanch Land. Got out of London for a little vacation. I bet you met all the girls and left broken hearts in a trail behind you as your plane took off.”
He merely looked at her and blinked. “I couldn’t have done that, even if I wasn’t a man of the cloth. Believe it or not, when I take the uniform off, I’m still the same person.”
Max laughed as she feigned shock.
She leaned on her hand. “So, what did you do while you were there?”
He was excited to talk about it. “Well, I started by touring the town and learning about its history. The place is actually really interesting. It was built in the early 1600s by a bishop, but what people don’t know is that the man had a demon inside him. He made it look like he was creating a sanctuary for the people, but he really wanted the power that went with it.”
Max paused, and his mouth dropped as he stared at her. She had closed her eyes and was making really loud snoring sounds. Meanwhile, his mentor whispered to the waitress and sent her off with an extra tip. The young man knocked Maps’ arm out from under her, and they all laughed. When the waitress returned to the table, she delivered three shots of whiskey and set one in front of each of them.
Damian raised his shot glass. “To surviving another round of demon infestation.”
His companions held up their shots. “Hear, hear.”
They drank, and Maps laughed at Max when he choked a little on his. They sat talking and laughing for a couple of hours until Damian noticed the trainee had started to fade. “Hey, Max, why don’t you go on outside and get some air, and we’ll head home? I’ll be right behind you.”
The young man nodded and blinked his eyes. His companions chuckled as they watched him skip out the door. Damian shook his head and turned to Maps. “Here’s the money for the books and the work. You were a lifesaver, I won’t lie. Everything I get done is because you’re there feeding me information.”
