The moment they made it through the doors, Gemariah could feel all eyes on them. Sure enough, when they turned toward the office, everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch them approach.
Stepping up to the counter, they waited for someone to gather their wits and come over to help them. He smiled, and successfully brought all the women’s attention solely in his direction. Mentally doing Eenie Meenie Minie Moe, he picked one particular woman to the right, and winked. He heard a gasp somewhere from within the office, and the woman he winked at turned the delicious color of a red apple. He always had the same effect on women. Sometimes it was a curse, but mostly he had fun with it.
Finally, a middle aged woman cleared her throat before walking up to the counter. “Can I help you?” she asked in a voice that was hardly above a whisper.
“Yes, we need to talk with Katelyn Roberts. Could you please call her here?” As she was talking, Tori pulled out her identification, and held it up for the woman to see.
She must have recovered whatever initial shock she felt, because her eyes were sharp as she examined the ID. “CCA? I’ve never heard of it.”
Of course she hadn’t. It stood for Control and Containment Agency, but the true name was classified. Reaching over, he lightly touched her wrist and opened his mind. The contact brought her attention back to him, and without his barrier in place, he got the full force of what she was feeling. In that second, he felt confusion, worry, and a hint of arousal. In return, he pushed forth acceptance to overpower the others. “Be glad you haven’t,” he admitted.
After a short pause, she moved down the counter to grab a pen and a small piece of paper. “What was the student’s name again?”
“Katelyn Roberts.” He kept his voice smooth and steady, as not to alert her to something abnormal.
She wrote down the name, and moved to an open computer. Not a minute later she pressed a button on the phone and asked a “Mrs. Carrigan” to send the girl to the office.
It shouldn’t be too much longer, he thought.
You should probably inform Trinity that we’re here, and tell her what’s going to go down. That way, she can run interference if we need.
Tori wasn’t looking at him when she projected, instead she was showing indifference as she stared at the opposite wall. That was one of the perks about being a nephilim. When nephilim grow close to another one, they are able to talk through their minds, also known as projecting.
So far, since Trinity’s transformation, she had been able to project to everyone except Tori. No one knows why, but Tori didn’t seem too concerned. She just took it all in stride and never showed what she was feeling.
Gemariah walked over to the side, away from the counter, and started to look at the yearly group shots of all the students in the school.
Hey Cuteness, we’re here at the front office. They’re calling her down for us.
I’ll be right there.
Gemariah ground his teeth at her immediate response.
No, you won’t. Stay where you are, and we’ll holler if we need any help.
No they wouldn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
This isn’t fair.
He could hear the irritation in her projection, but he was not going to bend on this.
I know, but it’s how things are going to be.
Fine! Be safe at least.
That was a lot easier than expected.
Always…
His last word trailed off as he watched a young female walking through the halls. Her stride was slow and purposeful; she acted as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
More of her appearance became clearer the closer she got. The short skirt and small shirt hardly did their job in covering her essential parts, becoming borderline indecent. The outfit was made to entice, and on someone older, it might have worked, but even though this girl tried to look more mature, it didn’t hide how young she truly was.
He could tell the moment he was spotted, because she stopped mid stride. She appeared flushed and brought her hand up to her pearl necklace to move it back and forth.
He just stopped himself from rolling his eyes heavenward and shaking his head. Get over it girl, and find someone your own age, he thought.
Continuing to stare, she brought the necklace up and drew a pearl into her mouth. Yeah, she was in full seduction mode. Pivoting to the side, she started towards another hallway, but winked at him before she disappeared.
There was only one thing that made him want to follow her, and it was the fact that when she winked, her eyes happened to turn red. It was her… their mark, and she was getting away.
Gemariah turned to signal Tori, but she was gone. Where the hell had she gone?
Without wasting another second, Gemariah started towards the hallway he saw the girl walk into, but when he got there, it was empty. Slowly and quietly, he started to walk, listening for anything out of the normal.
He passed classrooms, and heard students talking and teachers instructing. When he listened harder, he heard a boy whispering about a girl… someone dropped a pencil… papers rustling. As he passed the bathrooms, he heard a stall door creak. Walking over, he stood in between the two bathroom doors. Extending his senses, he felt the emotional stress of someone inside the boys’ side, but when he moved his interest to the girls’ side, he felt only one emotion… intense, rolling anger. Bingo!
He slowly opened the door, constantly on the lookout for traps. “Hello. Anybody there?” He knew there was, but he wanted to give them the opportunity to come forward. When there was no sound, he sighed knowing it wasn’t planning on going down easy.
He walked a little farther into the room, and noticed the door to the handicap stall move. “I know you’re there. Just come out, and make this easier on both of us.”
There was no answer and no more movement, so he decided to make his way to the back of the bathroom. There were a total of eight stalls, and he pushed open every door he passed to make sure they were empty. He finally made it to the back stall, and pressed open the door. It was empty, except for the pieces of tile that were scattered on the floor.
He noticed the steel handicap rod had been yanked out of the wall, at the same time he heard a scuff behind him. Swinging out of the way just in time, he glanced in one of the mirrors and saw a fully transformed demon take a swing at him with the now free rod.
Pivoting around to face his opponent, he was then facing a small girl with red eyes and clammy skin. The demon had definitely been in there for a while, possibly a week, maybe more.
She took another swing at him, and this time he blocked it with his arm. Shit! The pain radiated up to his shoulder and down through his fingers. On the next swing, he didn’t miss a beat, and grabbed the bar before yanking it out of her hands.
When he brought it back up to exact the same punishment, he stopped himself before doing any damage. He wanted the demon out, but the girl had to stay in one piece. That meant that all the knives he had brought were just as useless. Dammit!
Throwing down the bar, he crouched low, and prepared himself for an attack. “You need to get out of that body, scum.”
The girl smiled a wicked grin, showing the yellow teeth that had grown into points. The demon was getting excited, so parts were trying to push through the girl. “Or what? You think you can make me?” it spat.
He quickly glanced at the mirror to examine the reflection once more. There were many types of demons, with many different abilities, and all could be distinguished by size and color. He could tell that the one he was dealing with was a sub-level demon, only capable of possession. Once evicted from the girl, it would have to find another host or it would slowly seep back into hell.
His little bit of distraction was the only cue the demon needed to lunge toward Gemariah. Its razor sharp nails sliced across his chest before bounding to the other side of the bathroom.
Gemariah sucked air in between his teeth from the pain, but never faltered in pivoting arou
nd to face the demon again. Quickly, he pulled his palm sized cross out of his pocket, and got back into his defensive stance. The cross was forged out of steel, cooled in holy water, and never failed at extinguishing a demon.
The demon lunged, but Gemariah was ready for it. The moment the demon’s claws wrapped around his jacket, he pivoted around and threw the girl across the bathroom, successfully knocking down a hand dryer.
He squared himself around again, waiting for the return attack that would surely come. When she didn’t get up, he looked at her closer. She appeared to be crying. Demons didn’t cry. “Katelyn?”
She was lying on the ground, face down by the wall, and sobbing. Maybe she had fought the demon back, and could hold it long enough so he could exorcise it. He straightened up, put the cross back in his pocket, and started over to her. “Katelyn, it’s okay. I’m here to help.”
When she didn’t quit crying, he knelt down next to her, and turned her over. He was a sucker for tears, always had been. “It’s okay. You’re o—”
A girl with red eyes and yellow teeth was menacingly smiling up at him. He saw the knife, and couldn’t jump back in time before she rammed it up into him. Staggering back, he looked down to see his own knife sticking out of his chest, just below his shoulder.
Tori! Where, the fuck, are you?
He needed help, or he wouldn’t be able to pull this one off. Leaning back on his good arm, he clumsily raised himself to stand and face his attacker. She had already gotten to her feet, and was slowly inching towards him with a deadly sneer. “Weak.” It spat. “You actually thought you could send me back? I’m not going anywhere.”
Looking for your ass. Where, the fuck, are you?
Tori finally answered back, but before he could respond, the demon lunged at him again. Mustering up all the strength he could, he tossed her away again. This time, when she hit, it was against a mirror, and as she fell to the ground, so did the shards on top of her.
He waited, but she didn’t get up. Maybe her body had finally had enough. A demon could only do so much for the host it possessed. It made it stronger, and able to sustain more trauma than normal, but the host was still human after all. Therefore, if the body had enough, there wasn’t much the demon could do, but wait.
Watching closely for any signs of movement, he reached up to grasp the handle of the knife sticking out of him and swiftly pulled it out. Blood started to flow even faster from the wound as he dropped the knife to floor, but since it wouldn’t have started to heal until the blade was out, he didn’t have much choice.
Slowly walking over to the unconscious form on the ground, Gemariah stayed alert. He rolled her onto her back with his foot, and saw that she was definitely unconscious. After nudging her a few times with still no movement, he reached down and grabbed the back collar of her shirt.
He started to unbuckle his belt as he dragged her off to the side and away from the glass. Tugging on the end, he successfully removed it before plopping down on the floor beside her. After everything, he didn’t care about the new scratches she received from the floor, or her lightly bleeding head wound. He just wanted out of this God-forsaken bathroom.
Positioning her in front of him, he locked his legs around her body so she couldn’t get away. Then quickly brought both her wrists together, and bound them with his belt. Leaning up onto one hip, he reached back to pull his cross out of his back pocket, and using his good arm, he grabbed her bound hands and held them away. The last thing he wanted was to feel the bite from those claws again.
Stiffening his body in preparation, he pressed the cross on the exposed skin of her upper chest. Immediately, a sizzling sound was heard before the girl’s red eyes opened wide in panic. The demon tried to struggle and get away, but he had a good grip and it couldn’t get free.
“I banish you from this body, he said through clenched teeth. “In the name of Christ Almighty, you are ordered to release your hold and exit this host.”
The demon fought even harder to be free, but his efforts were for nothing; the words had already been spoken. The girl threw her head back and opened her mouth on a long and loud scream. Gemariah watched the release of a black smoke like substance coming from her mouth and the sound quickly changed from a shriek to something that sounded more human.
The black fog formed a puddle on the floor, and tried to form into a shape. He wasn’t concerned, sub-level demons always tried to be as strong as their counterparts, but were never able to bring themselves to a solid form.
The girl had finally woken, and was sobbing into his chest, but he kept his eye on the black fog. It went to a vent, but with air coming out, it couldn’t get in. Next, it floated up to the sinks, but the water in the pipes made it back off. It quickly went to the door, but air was being pushed in from underneath, and by that time, it was too weak to fight the current. It was good and trapped until it dissipated back to hell, unless someone opened the door.
Shit! He straightened, just thinking of that scenario.
Tori, I’m in the girls’ bathroom, around the corner from the front office. Don’t come in, and make sure no one opens the door.
On it.
“Don’t!” He heard Tori yell from a distance before he saw the door swinging open.
He reached forward as if to stop the process, and yelled out as the door began to open wider. “No!”
Standing in shock when she saw the pool of black smoke, Trinity let the door close behind her. The demon wasted no time, and made a beeline in her direction, and when she gasped in surprise, it followed the air in and took root inside a new host.
Clutching her chest, she bent forward as if she were struggling for air. She squeezed her eyes shut, and moaned in pain, but quickly recovered and stood back up. Except when she opened her eyes there was a fucking red tint to them. Dammit!
“Oh this feels nice.” The demon ran its hands down the sides of her body, as if admiring the new shell. “So powerful… so strong.”
G, where’s Trinity? What the hell happened? I felt her in pain, and now… and now I can’t feel her at all.
Malachi was going to kill him. Nothing was supposed to happen to Trinity, that much was understood. Of course, this had to occur on his watch.
Trinity, all of the sudden, crumbled in on herself, and hunched back over. “Ahh. It hurts.” She tried to stand back up, but didn’t have the strength. “What’s happening?”
Do something! She’s in pain. You have to fix it!
He was just trying to untangle himself from the girl when the door flew open, and Tori stormed in. Without missing a beat, she unzipped her bag and pulled out a single arrow.
Walking up to Trinity, Tori placed a hand on her shoulder. Looking her in the eyes, she got Trinity’s full attention before asking, “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in Trinity’s answer. Just as there was no hesitation when Tori jammed the arrow she was holding through Trinity’s chest.
The move was a drastic one, but an extremely effective one as well. Every member of their team had weapons that were blessed and could send demons back to hell. His was his battleax, and for Tori, it was her arrows. They were never used in a possession though, because the human always died from the wound. Since Trinity can’t die, it was a smart move on Tori’s part, but he didn’t think he could have done it, had the situation been reversed.
Trinity dropped to her knees from the pain, with her hands around the arrow.
What the fuck is going on? Someone better answer me, NOW!
They all winced, and he knew that Malachi was yelling at everyone.
She’ll be fine. Chill out.
Chill out? Chill out! Just wait till I see you, Stark. Then we’ll see who needs to chill out.
“Get it out of her!” Gemariah yelled when the wound started to smoke and Trinity’s moans became louder.
The girl was still on his lap, so he moved her to sit next to him, and slowly got up. He took a step in Trinity’s direction, but Tor
i beat him there.
“Okay, this is going to hurt,” she said. At Trinity’s nod, Tori pulled the arrow out, successfully making her yell out in pain. Gemariah knew how much it hurt to have an arrow pulled out, and he made it to Trinity right before her legs gave out. Sinking slowly to the floor, he cradled her in his lap and reached inside to take some of the pain away.
As he held onto Trinity, they watched a thick black fog leak from her wound. Instead of sticking around this time, it made it to the ground and started to swirl in place. It began spinning faster, and within seconds, it had dissipated into thin air.
Letting out a pent up breath, he slumped forward in exhaustion. Looking down, he noticed that Trinity was awake, but was lying with her eyes closed. To any normal person, she would look relaxed, but the stiffness in her body told him that she was projecting with Malachi, and he was not happy.
Gemariah decided to let them finish before he made nice as well. What could he say? He was hurt, tired, and trying to pay attention to what was going on in front of him. He probably shouldn’t have been so abrupt, but the insistent yelling in his head was too much at the time. One thing is on my side though, he thought with a grin; I wasn’t the one that had stabbed Trinity. For that, he was grateful.
Looking over at Tori, she didn’t look too concerned about that fact as she washed off her arrow and placed it back in her bag. If asked, he had every intention of defending her, though. All in all, it was to help Trinity, and it was the quickest way to banish the demon.
“What in the hell?” The shriek had him snap his head back up to look at the other side of the bathroom. Katelyn had recovered and was now standing in front of a sink, looking into the mirror behind it. “This better heal with no scar, or you will be hearing from my lawyer.”
Looking closer, he noticed that she had her shirt pulled slightly to the side, and was talking about the mark left from his cross. You think she would be grateful that she wasn’t possessed anymore, not mad about a stupid mark on her skin.
Another shriek had him cringing at the high pitched sound. “My shirt! You got blood on it! This is silk; what were you thinking?”
The Divine Whisper Page 5
