Yeah, I need to question the boss.
“I guess you aren’t having a good day,” I say, cleaning the sword off on Blue’s shirt. “I know I wouldn’t be if I just had my ass handed to me either.” I put some of energy into the knife, twisting it just enough to spread his ribs a part a hair. “Who sent you?”
He coughs some more before spitting a wad of blood on my pants. I guess this guy wants to do this the hard way. With the tip of the sword downward, I thrust the blade into the top of his foot. But, I don’t stop there. I keep my pressure on the handle of the knife, forcing his body to stay upright.
That’s right, asshole. Two can play at this game.
“You going to tell me now, or do I have to stab the other one to?”
He speaks quickly in Demonic, a language I’ve never bothered to learn. For good reason. I may have made a bad deal, but that doesn’t mean I had to embrace it.
I shake my head, following it by twisting the angel blade still in his foot. “If you are gonna cuss me out, you can at least do it in English.”
Unperturbed by my threat, he continues to assault my eardrums with his babble.
“As you wish,” I say, pulling the sword out of that foot and slamming it through the other.
The scream he lets out has to be one of the worst I’ve ever heard. Easily beating the sounds Chef Tweedle made on the grill. Once he’s done, he pants a few times before renewing his chant.
“Are you really going to make me do it again?” I ask, slowly twisting the sword in his other foot.
Blood oozes out of the corner of his mouth as a smile touches his lips. “Time to die,” he says, laughing.
Before I can turn around, stars fill my vision thanks to being clubbed with the butt end of a rifle. “You aren’t the smartest people,” I say with a smile. I turn around, facing the new attacker. With my focus on his gun I force it up in the air out of the way.
I wince at a sharp pain in my shoulder. Apparently he got off a lucky shot because I can feel the warmth of my blood as it trickles down my chest.
“How does that feel, Demontouched?” the boss asks, laughing. “You can’t focus on both of us forever.”
“Don’t need to,” I say, twisting the gun back further with my power. The man holds the gun tightly to keep me from pulling it out of his hands. So tight, in fact, he yells out in pain when the bones in his wrists snap.
As you can imagine, he let go then.
I don’t let the man suffer long, pulling the trigger on the weapon before allowing it to drop to the floor. The body hits the ground first with an audible thump. Already on the ground, I place my hand on the man’s head, drawing his soul into my fingertips.
“How did you do that?” he says. “The reapers were supposed to leave the world.”
“And you play by the rules?” I say, standing up.
“It was part of the agreement,” he says, spitting blood on the ground.
“Then consider it broken,” I say. “Because I’m one of them.”
The boss cusses me out in English before switching back to his native Demonic, which I’m grateful for. There are only so many things I can do to my mother.
“You OK, sir,” I hear behind me.
“I’m fine,” I say, turning around to face the kid. “Is the medic safe?”
“She is fine,” he says. “The woman woke up shortly after you left. She wanted to say thanks.”
“I’ll stop off when I’m done with him.”
Three other soldiers appear from behind me. “What are we going to do with him, sir?”
“Let’s take him back to Uriel. I’m sure she has more creative ways to torture information from a demon,” I say, laughing. “Keep the knife there, by the way. You don’t want him to get his power back.”
- 3 -
“Got one for you,” I say to Uriel as I walk in the door, the boss demon in tow.
“Excellent,” she says. “I’ve been looking for him for centuries.”
The boss must not be impressed because he continues his verbal assault, focusing on Uriel this time. I try not to laugh when he switches to English for a few moments to say a few choice words about her mother. From everything I’ve read, god was supposedly a man, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s wrong. If it is though, god will be really pissed off at him when she ends this charade.
“Who is he?” I say, taking a seat on the couch.
“Astaroth,” she says. “One of Abaddon’s followers.”
“Abaddon, huh? The same one who is supposed to lead the armies of hell against you?”
“The one,” she said. “I assumed he was working in the area, but we didn’t have any proof.”
I nodded to her. “Why would he be here though?”
“I believe he wants to rebuild the portal.”
“Doesn’t sound promising,” I say. “Why doesn’t Michael come down and protect it?”
“I fear for his safety,” she says. “I haven’t heard from him in a few weeks.”
“They could have the lines of communication cut off.”
“We don’t work that way,” she says. “We have ways of communicating with each other that don’t rely on the physical realm.”
“You think they would hold a celebration if they took out your commander,” I say.
“Unless you wanted to keep things quiet.” She stares at the blade still stuck between Astaroth’s ribs. “That could be why we have seen an increase in demonic activity recently.”
I didn’t think about that possibility. I always figured they would ramp up their efforts at some point. Why not now?
“Is this true?” she asks him. “Is Abaddon close?”
“You can rot, you ugly bitch,” he laughs, spitting blood in her face.
“I figured you would have learned some manners when you were in Heaven,” she says. “I guess you need another lesson.”
She places the palm of her hand on his injured foot. I cover my eyes when she emits a bright white light through her fingertips and into the wound. From the smell, I can tell it is burning the flesh on his feet. I pinch my nose with my other hand attempting to keep from throwing up. After a minute the light fades from the room, returning it to its normal, candlelit glow.
“Shall we try this again?” she asks, smiling. “I’m not as innocent as I may look. Be thankful for the humans in my presence, fiend. I could kill you with just the sight of me.”
She pulls the dagger from his chest, allowing him to drop to the floor. I try not to laugh when he pulls off his shoes revealing his burnt feet.
“He is very close, witch,” he says, rubbing his feet. “Abaddon has promised the dark one a victory.” He raises his head to look right at me. “And your soul.”
“He isn’t doing too good with that last one,” I say, pulling the knife back to my hand. “How many more of your kind will I have to kill until you realize that I’m not as frail as you might think?”
“Your confidence will be your undoing,” he hesitates for a moment. “Reaper.”
“You told him?” she says, snapping her head at me.
“I didn’t have to. He saw me take one.”
“Then we cannot let this one leave,” she says. “We will need to find another messenger instead.”
“Messenger?” I say.
“I hoped to give Abaddon a warning. To leave this world and return to hell or risk being vanquished.”
Astaroth laughs uncontrollably on the floor. “He cares not for your terms, witch. He will only stop when the portal is open, flooding this earth with the rest of our brothers.”
“How well is the portal working for you?” I say with a smirk. “Hard to get anything done when your lieutenants keep dieing.”
He continues to laugh. “Belial was hardly a lieutenant. He wanted to open the portals for himself.”
“Puts him on your team,” I say. “Unless I’m wrong.”
“Very wrong,” he says.
“What about Israfil and Duncan?” I say.
“I know those dented your plans.”
“Israfil has been dead for nearly a thousand years now,” he says. “I doubt you played a part in his demise.”
I look over at Uriel who shrugs back. The only explanation I have is that they didn’t know about him, or the necklace. Hopefully Sara stays away until we are done here. That’s another secret we don’t want to get out.
“As for Duncan,” he says, smiling. “He says you got lucky last time. He won’t fall for your tricks again.”
“Again?” I say. “Know some resurrection trick the angels don’t?”
“You can say that,” he says.
“I don’t know about you, Uriel, but I call bullshit on this,” I say stretching, careful not to stress my wounded arm.
“I need time to evaluate the truth. If what he says is true, we need to reinforce the riverfront quickly.”
“We were just down that way a few days ago,” I say. “If they were rebuilding the arch, we would have seen it.”
“Not if they used a veil,” she says.
“What the hell is a veil?” I say, looking over at Astaroth.
“A veil is an ability that allows you to mask the truth with an illusion.”
“So they can make it look like a wasteland at the riverfront yet still be rebuilding it?”
“Precisely,” she says.
“Sounds like a bunch of hocus-pocus to me.”
“Does it?” I try not to gasp when she morphs from the nine year old girl I’m used to seeing her as an into a beautiful blonde woman wearing a gray skirt-suit.
“That was you?” I shout. “Back in Nal’s office when I brought the head?”
She nods and smiles. “I don’t use a vessel to walk this earth like most.”
“Then why don’t you hide this place? Keep it safe from attackers like this asshole.” I point over at Astaroth, who laughs.
“To hide it from them would be to hide it from the rest of the world,” she says. “I was sent here to protect as many of the survivors as I could for the return.”
I still would do it by keeping the place hidden from view. It makes a lot more sense to send out search parties to find groups of people and bring them back rather than sending an open invitation to the demons.
“So, what do we do about him?” I say, kneeling next to Astaroth, knife to his throat.
His head jolts up, looking me in the eye. “Do it,” he says. “Send me back to my master.”
“As you say,” I say, pulling my knife back for the killing blow.
“Wait!” Uriel says, holding my hand back. “There is another way.”
“I’ve seen what angels can do to them,” I say. “This way is a little less painful on my eyes.”
“Not a smite,” she says. “Reap his soul.”
“I thought I did that after they died.”
“That is one way. But you can also reap the soul of an angel or demon from its vessel. There is no guarantee, but there is a chance you can save the human he is possessing.”
“I’ll give it a shot,” I say. “Ready, tough guy?”
I place my right hand on Astaroth’s head, palm over his eyes with my thumb and pinky fingers on his temples. From there I close my eyes and focus in my hands.
To tell the truth, I’m not really sure how to work this. Before I was able to draw the soul from the body as they were dieing, but so far it isn’t working. “Any tips would be nice,” I say, looking at Uriel.
Astaroth laughs loudly in my face. With my free hand I wipe his spittle from his face before placing it over his mouth.
“Try Exorcizamus,” she shrugs. “Worth a shot.”
“OK then,” I say, closing my eyes again. “Exorcizamus!”
I feel heat radiating from the palm of the hand on his head, feeling it reflect onto the one covering his mouth. I open my eyes to watch the black smoke of his soul swirling in his eyes. His jaw drops slightly, and he takes in a deep breath. I’d almost swear he was going to blow chunks on me. But instead of releasing his lunch, the shadowy tendrils came out of his mouth in a rush, knocking me to the floor as it collides with my head.
I hear the man’s body drop to the ground. Dusting myself off, I crawl over to check on the man.
I have to know if this works.
With my head on his chest, I listen carefully for the sound of a heartbeat. I use my hands to check for a pulse in his wrists, but come up empty.
“We lost him,” I say, lifting my head form his body.
“Look!” Uriel says, pointing at the body.
My jaw drops slightly when I notice movement under his eyelids. “Anyone there?” I say.
I jump back slightly when his eyes open. He stares at me for a few seconds before saying a word.
“Who are you?” he says, looking around the room. “And where am I?”
“Somewhere safe,” Uriel says, taking his hand. “They can’t harm you anymore.”
- 4 -
“Is he going to be OK?” I ask Uriel.
“He should be fine,” she says. “As you can imagine he is very disoriented and confused.”
I feel for the guy, I can’t say I would be the most pleasant person to be around if I had a demon taking over my body for who knows how long. Lord knows I’m not the most pleasant person with Eunie taking over occasionally.
“Don’t take this personally,” Nal looks over at me. “But what compels a person to allow a demon to take over in the first place?”
“Maybe he was like me and looking for a way to save someone,” I say. “Maybe just save himself.” My situation is probably not that unique. Looking at the state of the world now, I can only see it getting much worse. The demons have nothing to lose by making someone a host. In the worst case, they take a body that’s unable to handle the functions they wish to do. All they have to do is stay in that form until another, more suitable host comes along and strike another deal. With loved ones still gone, and survival becoming harder as the months go on, they have a virtually unlimited amount of people to pull from.
“There is another option,” Uriel says. “It is possible he didn’t strike a bargain at all. There is a good chance he was just possessed.”
I nod. Demons play by a totally different set of rules than the angels do. Where an angel needs a host that not only allows them to take over in the first place, they are forced to vacate the host any time they decide they want to come back. It rarely happen to an angel as they take the time to ensure the host is in it for the long haul.
Demons, however can possess anyone they want at any time. Of course, they prefer to get a pure bond as well because it offers a large advantage. It becomes nearly impossible to evict the invader. Sure, you can do an exorcism to bring it out, but they don’t always work when you are up against a possessing demon. Your odds of success are near zero if the host is willing.
“Do you think that’s why it was so easy for me to pull Astaroth out of him?”
She nods. “Speaking of that. How do you feel right now?”
“I feel fine. Why?”
“I’ve never been able to see a reaper do its work,” she says. “While they are angels, the only way you can normally see one is if it was coming for you. By then, it was too late.”
“Does that mean I was near death too? If Eunie is a reaper, anyways.”
“If Einuir is truly a reaper, then yes, you were near death.”
“If you talked to people back then like you do now, I could see it,” Nal laughs.
I shake my head. “I was a good boy back then.”
“I find that hard to believe. It’s far too natural for it to be a new habit. It would take some of my dad’s guys years before they could come up with half the shit you do.”
“Believe it or not, it’s true.” I was the type of guy who showed up to work every day without complaint. Not only was I never late, I was that guy who would show up twenty minutes early every day just to make sure I was there on time. Sure, some of the guys called me a kiss ass, but
I ignored them. I just liked my job.
“You need to keep an eye on it, Mitch.” She leans forward, looking me in the eyes. “I’m being serious. You teeter too close to the edge now. I fear for what might happen if you fall too far the other way.”
“You know me,” I say.
“Yeah, so do we,” Nal says. “Take her seriously.”
Sara walks through the doorway with our dinner. Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a side of cole slaw. I’m not sure where she got the food, but I’m not going to complain. It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper meal like this.
“Any luck finding people to help with the power?” I ask.
“I’ve got about a dozen volunteers ready to go first thing in the morning.”
“Any electrical engineers?”
“Didn’t ask,” he says. “I didn’t have any last time, either.” He takes a drink of his cold Busch beer. “Besides, it shouldn’t be difficult to fix. Probably just a brownout.”
“How can the grid have a brownout now?”
“We’ve had a steady influx of visitors recently, Mitch. Quite a few have moved inside the gates with many more moving in nearby,” Uriel says.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Nal says. “The grid was fine with a few things running on it. I’m thinking we need to keep a team of people there full time now, just to make sure it stays up.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Uriel says. “I’ll talk to Commander Stevens about getting a unit or two stationed there.”
“I’m sure the guys will appreciate that,” he says.
“You don’t have anything going on, do you hon?” Sara asks. Have to love when your loved ones set you up for volunteer work. Not that I don’t mind, but I was looking forward to a little R&R.
“Nah, I’m free.” I look over at Nal. “Need another body?”
“I can use all the bodies I can get,” he says. “But there’s one thing you need to know.”
“Sure, what’s that?”
“I call the shots,” he puts his beer on the coffee table and leans over towards me. “All of them.”
Vessel: The Demontouched Saga (Book 4) Page 2
