Johann, at the end of his patience, picked up a loose piece of debris which lay on the floor near him. He stood up and glared at Raum.
“That's enough,” he shouted, as he threw the debris at the monster's head, missing by mere inches. The evil creature stopped making the noise and turned his attention to the demon hunter.
Outside, near the police barricade, a white van arrived, and the occupants had gotten out. Belinda Carstone and her cameraman came to cover the event. As Belinda positioned herself near the police line, Dave signaled her his readiness to shoot. She brought the microphone up to her lips and faced straight into the camera lens.
“This is Belinda Carstone. We're live at a church in Mountainview, where thousands of Ravens have, for some unknown reason, come to congregate,” she said, as Dave panned his camera around the area to include as many birds as possible in the shot.
“What caused such an exceptional sight,” Simon asked, in the earpiece she wore.
“We don't know, Simon. We only know that they are here, and they seem to be attacking this church, for some reason.”
“Has anyone been injured,” asked Simon.
“I don't know yet, for sure, Simon,” she turned to look at the scene, “But I would venture to say that there have been injuries. Possibly even casualties.”
Inside the church, the standoff grew more and more intense with each passing moment. Phil stood in front of the devil, who was breathing heavy, and almost seemed to be growling. The officer held up the talisman. He tried to taunt the being from Hell.
The sight of the metal disc enraged the creature even more. He opened his mouth and spewed a black, odorous liquid toward Phil. The policeman quickly moved out of the way and allowed the liquid to cover the floor and the debris in a path between himself and his target.
“I surround myself with a shield of protection,” said Phil, as he started to recite an incantation to banish the evil one, “I am safe within my space.”
“You are safe nowhere,” the devilish creature said, as he vanished and reappeared on the other side of the room, “I am everywhere. You can't escape from me.”
“I surround myself with a shield of protection. I am safe within my space,” Phil repeated, a little louder this time, undaunted by the hideous creature's attempts to intimidate him. Johann and Robert stood up and pointed their weapons at the demon. Their fingers on the triggers, primed to fire at any moment.
“Keep going,” Johann said, “I think you're starting to get to him.”
“I surround myself with -,” Phil started a third time. In the middle of the incantation, he fell to his knees and grabbed his throat, gagging. He began making sounds as if hands were around his neck, and he were being strangled. Johann glanced at him, confused for a moment about what, exactly, happened to the officer. One look at Raum instantly told him all he needed to know.
The expression on the demon's face told Johann of his intent to choke the life out of Phil. The vile creature stared at him with the evilest smile Johann had ever seen. His eyes glowed. His lips stretched tight, and his teeth were bared. Father Gunter became aware that the time to do something was now if he wanted the police officer to survive the battle. The kick of the shotgun almost knocked Johann off his feet, as he fired the weapon at the attacking demon.
The explosion rattled what little glass remained in the window panes. The odor of the spent gunpowder hung in the air, along with the smoke from the barrel. Johann expected Raum's head to explode like a watermelon when the buckshot hit it. He was unable to hide his disappointment when Johann discovered a still fully intact demon standing before him. The small pellets hung motionless in midflight only inches from their intended target, as if suspended in time.
But, the diversion was enough to free Phil, who started to breathe freely again. As he caught his breath, he glanced up at Johann.
“Thank you,” he said, “I owe you.”
“Yeah,” answered Johann, “You owe us, and this town. Big time.”
The conjuror got back on his feet, and once again turned to face the evil he had brought to the town. He held up the talisman one more time and began, again, to recite the incantation.
“I surround myself with a shield of protection. I am safe within my space,” he said, loudly and forcefully, while he held his little secret weapon in front of him.
This distracted Raum for but a moment. As he moved, just slightly, and put his concentration back on Phil, the buckshot resumed its course toward the target. The demon quickly turned, as the shot from Johann's gun struck the arm of his human manifestation, and severed it from his torso. Crimson red blood streamed from the place the limb once occupied and spilled onto the floor.
The dismembered limb slammed against a wall behind the monster, splattering blood, tissue, and a black ooze, on everything. Small rivulets of the dark, slimy goo slid down and formed a pool at the bottom of the wall. The hand itself still moved, and the fingers slowly closed until only one remained upright. The odor of Sulfur quickly filled the room again, and the mortals covered their noses and mouths with their shirts to try and filter the air they were breathing.
“Good shot,” Robert said through his shirt.
“I was trying for his damned head,” answered Johann.
The loss of an arm didn't seem to faze the disgusting creature as much as Johann had hoped. Raum began to levitate objects, and everything became a dangerous projectile. The three used the overturned desk as cover once again, as debris filled the air. A sudden, bright, flash of light in the room signaled the return of Malphas, who stood next to Raum.
“Johann, help,” a voice said in Johann's head. It almost sounded like it came from everywhere at once.
“Theresa,” Johann said. He peeked over the desk to try and locate his sister. His eyes only found the two monsters. A sensation enveloped the demon hunter. One that he recognized, but had only experienced once, recently, a few days earlier in Bucktown. The feeling that Theresa was nearby. He searched the room with his eyes, but she was nowhere to be found.
“What are you looking for,” Robert asked.
“I hear Theresa,” Father Gunter answered, “She's here, in this room somewhere. I have to find her and get her out.”
Robert looked around the room, but also could only see his companions, and the two demons.
“It's a trick, Johann. She's not here,” he said, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder.
“Yeah,” answered Johann, “She is. This ain't no trick. She's here somewhere.”
“Johann, you must escape from this room. He'll kill you,” Theresa said.
“Where are ya, sis,” Johann asked, out loud. Phil turned to him, confused.
Malphas turned his attention to the corner of the room. He opened his mouth, and a ghostly figure appeared, standing there. Johann clenched his jaw when he recognized his sister. A moment later, the figure became distorted, almost like a vapor, and glided through the air, into the waiting mouth of the Prince of Hell.
“No,” Johann shouted, as he stood up with his shotgun aimed at Malphas," You son of a bitch." As Johann's finger tightened on the trigger, the malevolent Prince quickly turned and faced him.
“Go ahead, priest. Shoot. You'll only kill your sister,” he started to laugh. The laughter echoed throughout the shell of the now-demolished house of worship. Johann relaxed his finger. He didn't know if Malphas spoke the truth or not, but he didn't want to take the chance.
Johann threw his weapon at the hideous beast and lunged at him. As he ran to the vile creature, Phil quickly joined him, holding the talisman in front of him and again reciting the incantation. The demon hunter found his target and wrapped the fingers of both hands around the demon's human manifestation.
Johann choked the monster, and his eyes grew wide. He fell to the floor and began to gag.
“You bastard,” Johann said, “You don't mess with my sister. I'll send you back to hell in pieces.” He tightened his grip on the devil's throat. The hunter reac
hed for his shotgun and turned it, so the butt of the weapon was facing his opponent's head. Johann stood up, and thrust the wooden butt at Malphas' head, with the intention of splitting the skull open.
As the gun stock was just about to impact its target, it stopped. Johann sensed a tightening of his throat, as though grabbed by someone. He gave a sideways glance and found Raum to be the cause of his discomfort. He glared at the blasphemous beast, who had nothing but hate in his dark and lifeless eyes for Father Gunter. The beast stood with his one arm outstretched, his fist clenched. He gave his wrist a quick twist, and the tightness in Johann's throat became just a little tighter. Raum's teeth were clenched, and his eyes burned, like molten lava.
Raum raised his hand toward the ceiling, and Johann came off his feet. He dangled in midair and choked. He dropped his weapon, and grabbed at his neck, as he attempted to get the invisible hands to release him. As it became harder and harder to breathe, his face became flush with blood and became red. In a panic, he started to kick.
He almost spat while he tried, desperately, to put his foot through the face of his captor. His anger and frustration grew in intensity with each thrust of his leg. Raum's face was out of Johann's reach by mere inches. He realized his foot wouldn't make contact, so Johann stopped his struggle, to conserve energy for later.
The room faded out of view. Johann could see his older sister, in front of him. She fell to her knees and cried. A man's voice fell on his ears. He struggled to turn and look but found the effort fruitless. As he stared at his sibling, a man walked over and stood next to her. The vision was surreal. The two were enveloped by a faint glow as if they were protected. Perhaps this protection came to them from the angels.
“Dad,” Johann whispered, as the man extended his hand to Theresa. She stopped crying and got to her feet. Both turned and faced Johann.
Johann gazed, almost wistfully, at the two. His sister appeared like she did the day she disappeared, five years ago, and his father; the man Johann remembered as a young boy. He showed no sign of the horrible injury he sustained, that took his life so long ago.
“Am I dead,” Johann thought, as he relaxed, and looked at his father, “Is this it?” He gazed upward. He expected to see what he perceived to be the afterlife, but all he saw was the very damaged ceiling of the office. The realization he was still in the church brought him some relief. But, he was puzzled why Theresa and his father would be there. The only conclusion he could come to was; they were not real and were there only to serve as a diversion by the demons.
Once he decided they could not possibly be real, he turned his attention to the task at hand. His heart ached at the thought of ignoring his father and sister, but he couldn't allow himself to be distracted. When his father spoke, he questioned his own wisdom.
“Fight, Johann, fight,” his father said, clenching one hand into a fist, “It's up to you to protect your mother and your sister, now that I'm not there.” He almost sounded like a trainer for a boxer. This was the way his father always spoke to him when he was a boy. Something inside the demon hunter told him they were really here, and standing in front of him. Somehow, they were able to be there, despite the odds.
“I will, Dad,” Johann said, as he renewed his struggle, this time a little harder, “I'll beat these bastards.”
“That's my boy,” his father said.
“Let him go,” Robert shouted, as he stood from his hiding place behind the desk, his pistol drawn. He gripped the pistol with both hands and fired it several times, this time with better results than when he tried earlier. There were no stray bullets this time.
One bullet found its target and struck the hellish demon in the face. The monster's skin sizzled as the hot lead passed through. A wisp of smoke rose from the flesh, which rapidly decayed where the bullet struck. Johann was close enough to get a small whiff of the burning, rotting flesh.
Without any warning, the tightness disappeared from Johann's throat. He fell to the floor and gasped for air. At the same time, the visions of his sister and father vanished. He heard a sound and turned to the direction from which it came.
While Raum was distracted with Johann and Robert, Phil ran up to him. In one motion, he tackled the Earl and took him off his feet. Kneeling on the hideous monster's neck, the officer pressed the talisman against his head. The smell of the Sulfur in the room was being replaced with the odor of burning flesh and hair, as the disc burned its mark into Raum's skin. Smoke drifted up from the flesh of the human incarnation of the devil, and small flames licked at Phil's fingers, as he continued to hold the metal disc in place. A gurgling noise came from Raum. It almost sounded as though he were drowning.
“I surround myself with a shield of protection. I am safe within my space,” said the conjurer, as he pushed the tiny amulet against the demon's head as hard as he could. With his head motionless, Raum's human materialization went into what seemed to be spasms.
“You insignificant insect. You can't defeat me,” Raum said, as he struggled to free himself. Phil, not wanting to lose his chance to defeat the monster, and right the terrible wrong, he had done, took his small weapon off the malevolent creature's head for a moment.
As Raum turned to look at him, laughing, he opened his mouth to say something. The bone of the creature's skull shattered like glass. It offered little resistance to Phil's tightly clenched fist, as he slammed the miniature disc down on the evil creature's face. The skull cracked open, and the officer's hand, which still held the small metal talisman, plunged deep into the head. The church trembled. The sensation of power overwhelmed Phil, as he gloated over his conquest of evil.
Phil was knocked clear of his opponent, when a black substance shot, like a powerful fountain, from the monster's crushed head, and splattered on the ceiling above. At the same time, the floor began to quake, and a pit opened next to Raum's body. A flame shot up, as Malphas' human manifestation fell into the hole. The face of a demon could be seen in the flames, and fiery hands grabbed Raum's lifeless human form.
Johann quickly crawled over and rejoined Robert at the desk.
“You can shoot,” Johann said, as he sat with Robert.
“A little,” Robert answered, placing the pistol back into the shoulder holster.
While the remains of the body of Raum were taken into Hell, Phil turned to run back and join Johann and Robert. He only took a few steps, before a searing, fiery tentacle reached out and wrapped itself around the man. The odor of burning flesh wafted from him, as he struggled to free himself from the torturous bond.
Not able to break the hold on him, he threw the talisman to Johann, as he was being dragged toward the pit. His throw was just in time, as another tentacle emerged from the maelstrom. The long, slithery appendage wrapped around Phil's upper torso, preventing his arm from moving. As he approached the Hellish inferno, Phil screamed, and kicked at the flaming appendage, to no avail.
“You're coming back, with us,” the demon said, as he dragged Phil to the inferno. Several small, black demons appeared from nowhere, and surrounded Phil; each one tormented him. They scratched at him with long, sharp claws, and tore his skin, as he was dragged into the fire.
Johann winced, while he listened to the sound of Phil's voice, as he screamed out in pain. As quickly as it appeared, the hole in the floor closed, leaving no trace of the two demons or Phil.
Johann sat against the desk and caught his breath. The room was completely silent, now. Johann heard what sounded, to him, like a coin, as it landed next to him. He glanced down and saw the Cimeries Talisman laying there. He picked it up and gazed at it. He was amazed at the power this small, unassuming disc possessed over demons. He wondered how it would help in the coming war.
“Thanks, Officer Phil,” he said quietly, “You did good.” Johann and Robert sat quietly, just recuperating from the battle. Both hoped it was over. Johann held the amulet in the palm of his hand.
“Any unwanted spirits and entities,” Johann said. He almost sounded like he was
mumbling between gasps for breath, “Please leave now. Any evil or negative energies or presences, please leave this space. You don't belong here. I am sending you home. Go back whence you came. Please leave NOW. Only light and healing energy is allowed in this room. Thank you.” He put his head down, in exhaustion.
Robert turned to him. “What was that,” he asked. Johann glanced at his friend for a moment, while he gathered the energy to answer.
“That was the rest of the incantation Phil tried to recite,” Johann said, as he raised his head, and silently assessed the damage done to the room.
He counted his blessings; the church, though badly damaged, still stood, and they managed to save Father Nelson. Johann knew that if their arrival had been a few minutes later than it was, the priest would be dead now.
His thoughts turned to his sister, and how it seemed that she was right there, within his reach, yet, somehow, out of reach. He punched the desk, once again splitting open the wound on his hand. As drops of his blood fell to the floor and struck the black ooze from the demons, it sizzled, and little wisps of smoke rose.
“Damn it,” Johann shouted, “I almost had her. I almost had Theresa. I could have grabbed her, but I couldn't do anything.”
Robert looked at his friend. He knew that the best thing he could do for him right now was nothing.
-16-
A few bricks landing on the concrete in front of the church was the only sound to be heard. The rumbling which had gripped the house of worship and surrounding area, like a small earthquake for the past few hours, came to an end. The throng of people still clung to anything they could, for fear the ground movement would start again, at any moment. The scene became eerily silent.
The gathering of Ravens, which, by now, grew to be thousands, stopped making their shrill cries, and almost in unison, all turned to face the structure, as though instructed to by some unseen being. Everyone in the crowd closely monitored the events, expecting at any minute for something terrible to happen. Even a subtle movement, like a Raven stretching its wings, almost caused a panic. Police officers drew their service revolvers and ducked down in preparation, using their vehicles as cover.
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