by Rain Oxford
“How do you know about him?”
“We were childhood friends. I’m the closest thing here to a true demon expert.”
“Because you are a demon.”
He grinned. “Precisely. Now, was that all you needed?”
“No. How do I stop this demon? What does he want? Why did he drop a coin with his name on it?”
“None of that I can answer. I can tell you that demons only come here because they’ve made a deal with someone. You’re not going to be able to find the demon; he’s too powerful. Instead, look for the mortal he made a deal with.” With that, he vanished into darkness again.
And at that very instant, the door burst open. “Who was just here?” Logan asked. Deimos growled in warning, but Phobos wasn’t bothered.
“A man named Langril. He’s gone, though.”
“I can still sense his power. He’s dangerous. If he comes back, you need to come and get me.”
I laughed. “I’m a vampire. Do you really think I can’t handle a demon?”
He frowned. “A demon? That’s even worse. You can’t trust demons.”
“Well, according to him, we’re dealing with one. The coin is the symbol of Marluk. He’s a demon who feeds off children,” I said. He didn’t look surprised. “It could also be that Marluk is stepping up his game; moving from energy to blood feasting. Dr. Brian must have been choosing kids for the demon to take. Maybe he knew Lilly took his coin and sent the demon after her to protect his secret. Langril said the demon will have made a deal with a human and suggests we find that person.”
“But the counselor is already dead.”
“Does that mean there’s another person out there calling this demon?”
“A demon may come here because of a deal, but deals end, and that’s when the demon’s real fun begins. I doubt a demon that powerful will make a long-term deal. We need to find the kids. We can figure out the details afterwards.”
“You’re pretty confident.”
“It’s part of my charm,” he said with a smirk. Deimos grumbled. “What did he say?”
“You don’t want to know. Did you find anything within two miles of where we found Lilly?”
“Not yet. I’m still looking.”
“Well, aren’t you just endless help. You spent all day searching the woods and you haven’t gotten anywhere?”
“No; I spent two hours searching and figured out the kids had already been moved. I spent the rest of the day tracking them down and now I’m pretty sure I have it figured out.”
“Great. Where are they?”
“I’ll meet you later tonight, when I’m certain. The fact that there is a demon involved means we need to be more careful. Demons can overhear things.” He turned and left.
I couldn’t have been more over his all-knowing attitude.
* * *
I took a shower and tried to let the hot water wash away the stress. It was easy to forget the rest of the world when I was alone in a small space with water pouring all over me. Unfortunately, everything that I wanted to block out was always waiting for me when I got out.
Actually, it was Lilly who was waiting for me when I got out. I froze with shock when I saw a false image over her face just like I had seen with her mother, Micah, and the waitress. This time, the hallucination was beautiful rather than creepy. Her skin was flawless with a golden shimmer, her eyes were large, and her lips were pink.
“Are you seeing it?” she asked. The image vanished and I saw her as she was. She was still a cute kid, but it was the innocence inside her that made her beautiful.
Without a word, I went back into the bathroom and studied myself in the mirror. Nothing. I was the same as always.
“It doesn’t work through mirrors or cameras. It starts off as a rare glimpse of someone’s soul and gets more frequent. Within a week, it won’t turn off. How long has the creature been after you?”
“Since the night I got here. What do you see when you look at me?”
“Nothing. It’s gone now. You look human. Am I hideous?”
“Not at all. You’re gorgeous compared to the others I’ve seen.”
She blushed. “Mother says I’m going to Hell for my witchcraft, but I can’t trust her after seeing her soul. Have you seen her that way?”
“Yes, but only for a second.”
“You’re lucky. The eyes are the worst part; it’s their future.”
We went back into the bedroom. “How are you feeling?” I asked.
“I’m okay. Thank you for saving me.”
“You’re welcome. I just learned some new information. It looks like it might be a demon that attacked you.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re giving me information without wanting something in return?”
“You’re a jaded girl. Innocent, but jaded. I’m giving you information because we’re on the same side. Believe it or not, that’s how it normally works. Did you know it was a demon?”
“No. Actually, this is really good to know. I couldn’t figure out how to stop it because I didn’t know what it was. Now we know. Everything, even a demon, has weaknesses. Cindy is a more experienced witch; maybe she knows how to do it.”
“Call her up. Ask to meet with her ASAP. My phone’s on the nightstand.”
* * *
I got dressed as Lilly called Cindy. When she was done, we left Phobos to guard the room, took Deimos, and drove to Cindy’s house, which was in town. Compared to many of the houses in the neighborhood, it was decent.
Just as I raised my hand to knock, the door opened to a petite woman with dyed-lavender hair. “You must be Cindy.”
She glanced at Lilly for a second. “You must be Lilly and the vampire.”
“I prefer Aurora, or Rory if you’re nice.”
“I’ll be nice as long as you know that I’m not on the menu.”
“Your loss.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Come on in, and watch your feet.” I stepped over the line of salt into the living room. The wooden floor was painted with magic symbols. In the middle of the room was a coffee table covered in tarot cards. Against the north wall was a bookshelf full of old books, in the south wall was a doorway into the kitchen, and there was a hallway across from me on the east wall. The walls were all wooden panels, covered with paintings including skulls, magic plaques, and abstract art.
“Coffee?” Cindy asked when Lilly and I sat on the couch.
“No, thanks.”
“One for me,” Lilly said.
“How old are you?” Cindy asked her.
“Twelve.”
“Then you can have a soda.” She left and returned a moment later with a soda, which she handed to Lilly. “So, first you call me saying that someone was attacking your friends with witchcraft, now you think it’s a demon?”
“I found a coin, but I didn’t know what it was.”
I pulled out my phone and showed Cindy the picture. “I sent the picture to a friend and was told it was the mark of Marluk. Do you know anything about demons?”
She sighed. “I know this town is going to shit.”
“What do you mean?”
“There has been more paranormal activity in this town than every other town in the Bible belt put together.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s a weak spot between the worlds. A few months ago, my nephew started developing magic. He is a natural wizard— a paranormal, unlike me. A demon tried to corrupt him a month ago.”
“Was it the same demon? Marluk’s victims were apparently children.”
“I don’t know. I never learned the name of the demon. His mother sent him to a special school for paranormals.”
“They have those?” Lilly asked. “I want to go there!”
“So do I, kiddo, but they’re only for paranormals and children of paranormals. Anyway, tell me everything that happened. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
First Lilly told her everything she learned up until I found h
er in the woods, which wasn’t anything I didn’t read in her grimoire. Then I told her everything since I arrived, including all of the hallucinations I’ve had.
Finally, Cindy stood up, grabbed a book from her bookshelf, and sat back down with a sigh. “It’s not Marluk who is taking the kids. Once I found out that my nephew was contacted, I started looking into demonology. I’ll give you the basics.” She flipped through a few pages to her first bookmark ribbon. “Demons have a hierarchy. Nobody knows with absolute certainty, but generally, there are at least three levels. Not all of them are powerful enough to come here.”
“Come here?”
“Demons live in another world.”
“You mean Hell?”
“If you’re religious, yeah, whatever you want to call it. The most popular, non-religious consensus is that there are multiple, if not hundreds of parallel worlds, universes, or dimensions.”
“Well, that’s very clear.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not something anyone can prove or disprove. It’s not math; there isn’t just one answer. Back to the point, at the top of the hierarchy, let’s call them the upper-class. They control the others and the only ones they bother to fight are each other. The stuff you were talking about, that’s not an upper-class demon’s style. The one who told you about Marluk, Langril, that’s an upper-class demon’s style.”
“I thought demons were supposed to be like monsters. Langril just looked like a man.”
“Demons look how they want to look. I don’t think we could even comprehend their true appearance. Some people have gone mad trying to communicate with the other worlds.”
“So, it’s not Marluk?” Lilly asked.
“It’s more likely that this is a creature from the demon’s world that is working for Marluk, like a pet.”
“Can a demonic animal be powerful enough to do what it’s been doing?”
“Absolutely. It sounds like Marluk sent his pet to work with humans on this side and gather sacrifices.”
“Sacrifices for what?”
“To bring him here. It explains why the pyromaniac wasn’t taken; a demon who feeds on newborns would only be interested in innocent children.”
“What about Rome’s mother and Jeana’s parents? They were missing.”
“I bet they got in the way. The creature probably ate them since its master didn’t need them. The good news is that demons can’t stay here for long without help from people. Hence the sacrifices. Furthermore, when they do come, there are signs, and the more powerful the demon, the more obvious the signs. I haven’t seen any signs. The bad news is that if I’m wrong, there’s fuck all that you can do. Some of those upper-class demons are more powerful than gods. There’s no defeating an upper-class demon at full power.”
“And if what attacked me is just the demon’s bitch?”
“Then I know what you can do, and I know what’s going to happen if you don’t do something.”
“I don’t have magic.”
“I can show you witchcraft ways.”
“Okay, but we know Dr. Brian chose which kids were taken because he said so. How would he tell the demon’s pet who to go after? I know the counselor didn’t have that much power.”
“He would have had to do a ritual or something.”
“But he’s dead, so no more kids are going to get taken, and the summoning can’t take place, right?”
She frowned as she thought about it. “As long as he was the only one doing it, but that doesn’t explain where the kids are. That’s assuming I’m right and they’re not dead yet.
“They can’t be dead!” Lilly said.
“Lilly lasted for several days, and she heard other kids.”
“And I heard a man talking to me,” Lilly added. “It wasn’t Dr. Brian.”
“Are you sure?”
She rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t sure.”
“Then that means there probably is someone else working with the demon and its pet. Why would a human work with a demon anyway?”
She scoffed. “Everyone has their reasons. Some humans worship demons, some do it because they hate someone so much they want to sacrifice them to a demon, and some just do it for power.”
“So, what happens if we do kill the demon’s pet?”
“As long as Marluk doesn’t get summoned and hasn’t already been summoned, that should be the end of it.”
“What do we need? Holy water and crosses?”
“That stuff is crap. Salt, magic circles, cursed weapons, you know— actual magic stuff.”
“Salt?” I asked with disbelief. “I’ve never heard of a paranormal being stopped by seasonings.”
“It won’t stop paranormals. I’m talking about creatures and entities of magic. Compared to beings like spirits and elementals, you vampires and such are human. Creatures of magic have rules, like paranormals do, they’re just different. Ghosts, demons, and even some curses can’t get through a line of salt.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“It’s witchcraft. Most natural wizards don’t use it because it’s too primitive for them.”
“What about the light. Micah said his flare scared the creature off.”
“That’s very possible. A lot of theories involving the demon world suggest it has no sunlight. It’s possible the creature can’t stand light because it hasn’t been exposed to it.”
She got another book down. “The first thing you want is a devil’s trap, which is used to immobilize and control demons. It does the same thing as a circle of salt, but it’s more powerful and can’t be blown away by the wind. Paint it in the floor where you want the creature to be trapped.”
“Do I need any special paint?”
“No; you can use any paint, ink, blood, ash, or carve it into the floor. Once the creature enters the trap, it will be unable to leave and the trap can seriously dampen its power if you do it right.”
“But if it’s a demon trap, can it trap a creature that isn’t a demon?”
“That’s where it gets complicated. In magic, names are extremely powerful. If I’m right, and the creature does belong to Marluk, you can use the demon’s name to draw the creature into the trap. You will have to get it to take form in this world before it’ll be forced into the trap.” She turned the book and pointed to two designs. “There are two common devil’s traps. The more complicated one is the heptagram, composed of two pentacles from the Lesser Key of Solomon.”
The trap was a six-pointed star inside a seven-pointed star, covered in magic letters. All of this was inside a double circle, which included more magic symbols between the two circles.
“The pentagram devil’s trap, a simplification of the Grand Pentacle, is the most common,” she said, pointing to the second symbol. It was considerably less complex.
The trap was a pentagram inside a single circle with five magic symbols. “So, how do I use the demon’s symbol?”
“In witchcraft, there is a surprising amount of flexibility. This would normally trap any demon. However, in case this creature may not be a demon, we can make it more specific. Assuming this creature does belong to Marluk, you should be able to draw the symbol of Marluk in the center of the pentagram and change the incantation a little to trap him.”
“Incantation?”
“Oh, yeah. You’ve got to read Latin. You can do that, right?”
“Is it pronounced like English?”
“No.”
“Then no, I can’t.”
“Logan can,” Lilly said.
“Of course he can. Once we have it trapped, what do we do?”
“Well, summoning a demon is pretty complicated. Banishing one is not. Literally, face the demon and read the passage.” She copied a passage out of the book on a piece of paper and handed it to me.
I read it, grimaced, and put it in my pocket without arguing. “I appreciate your help.”
“Don’t mention it. This is my town, so I’m glad you’re here to
help.”
Before leaving, I texted Logan.
The creature we’re dealing with isn’t a demon; it’s the demon’s bitch. I know how to kill it.
Then they must be using the children as sacrifices to raise the stronger demon.
That’s what we figured. We have to find those kids.
I’m working on it. Just make sure Lilly doesn’t get hurt.
I’m not your damn babysitter.
Chapter 9
“I want a burger and fries,” Lilly said as soon as we got back to the motel.
So did I. Being a vampire didn’t mean I disliked the flavor of human food. Vampires didn’t get much nutritional value from food, but it could help us go a little longer without blood. How much blood we needed depended on the quality of blood we drank, our age, and what we did. If we got injured, we needed it to heal.
I pulled out my phone and called Logan.
“I’m going to be a while; I ran into my mother. How is my sister?”
“She’s fine. She’s hungry, though, so I’m going to run to the diner and get some food.”
“You can’t leave her alone.”
“I’m leaving Demos and Phobos. They can protect her.”
“I don’t think dogs make good babysitters.”
“I know them better than you, and I would leave them in charge of a kid over pretty much anyone else.”
“Alright, but make sure the motel phone is working and give her your number.”
I hung up with him and wrote my number on the notepad beside the phone. “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Boys, watch her. Don’t let her leave the room, and don’t let anyone but Logan or me in.”
Deimos nodded and Phobos grumbled, not taking his eyes off the television. Although he didn’t seem to be as serious as his brother, he wasn’t irresponsible. I locked the door behind me, got in my car, and drove towards the diner. Halfway there, I saw red and blue lights flashing at the end of a side road as I drove by.
After a moment, I pulled over, turned around and took the side road. It wasn’t a huge detour and I figured there was at least a chance it had something to do with the missing kids. I came upon a cop car with its lights flashing, parked in front of a house. I drove past, found a dark alleyway to park in, and then walked back.
