Awakening

by S. C. Mitchell

  He ducked behind a bookcase.

  “Kelly?” the old man shouted. “Are you down here?” He squinted in the bright fluorescent lighting as he scanned the room.

  “Back here in the vault,” Miss Grant answered.

  “Nathan Gray!” Anna said, as she stepped out from behind a bookcase. She walked right up to the old man and hugged him.

  “Anna,” the man said. “I’m so glad I ran into you. Save me a trip out to your place. So, how did it go last night?”

  “Oh, Nathan,” she answered. “It was the best.”

  Excitedly, she launched into a description of the past evening’s events. She mercifully left out the part where they’d had sex but got very descriptive of how he’d changed back and forth into the beast during his fight with the little demon.

  Jack edged out from behind the bookshelf. Anna motioned him over. “Jack, you know Nathan Gray, don’t you?”

  Jack had heard all about Nathan Gray, back in grade school from his friends. The spooky old man could talk to the dead, raise vampires, and cast a hex on you by just looking your way. Back then, the few times he’d seen Nathan Gray, Jack had fled in panic. He felt color rise in his cheeks as he remembered dares and pranks his group of friends had played on the old man when Jack was young.

  That was until his father found out. Jack found it odd that the punishment wasn’t for playing tricks on Nathan Gray, but instead for just having anything to do with the old man at all. His father had warned him, in no uncertain terms, to stay the hell away from Nathan Gray. After that, when he was pulled out of school, he’d lost touch with all his friends. He did wonder if they’d continued to pull their pranks.

  As he approached Nathan Gray, the old man smiled and held out his hand.

  “Little Jack Hughes,” the old man chuckled as Jack shook his hand, “all grown up I see. Good to finally meet you.”

  “And you, sir,” Jack said, still a bit stunned by the man.

  “I knew your father,” the old man’s face grew grim then. “I knew what he was. Tried to help, but he’d have none of it. Shame really. Stubborn man. He told me to stay away from you and I’ve honored his wishes, even after he died. But I had Kelly keep an eye on you. Figured we’d get an opportunity to help you sometime. It’s a nasty situation to be sure. Still, you’ve done well to keep it in check.”

  Amazing. Nathan Gray seemed to know about Jack and his dad being possessed. Did other people? Jack began to think about other people he knew in town. It appeared that his secret was not very secret.

  Miss Grant came in from the other room holding a large and rather dusty old tome. Nathan Gray looked down at the book as she joined them.

  “Ah, exorcism,” he said. “Glad you’re more open to it than your father was. Stick with Anna. She’ll make it right.”

  Miss Grant handed the book to Anna. “This should have everything you’re looking for, but you’ll need some help with that ritual. Want me to contact JJ?”

  “Would you?” Anna said. “We’ve still got two nights of full moon to work with. I’ll aim for tomorrow night if that works for her. She knows where I live.”

  “I would help you myself,” Nathan Gray interjected, “but unfortunately I need to be out of town. Still, I know you’re more than capable of handling it, Anna, especially with JJ’s help.”

  “Thanks, Nathan,” Anna said and she gave the old man a kiss on the cheek. “Well, I think we got what we came for and it looks like I have a lot of work to do, so we’ll scoot.”

  “Good luck,” Miss Grant said. “I’ll be there to help tomorrow night, if I can, and I’ll give JJ a call right away.”

  Anna grasped the big book with one hand and pulled Jack along toward the elevator with the other. “Come on, Jack. Let’s get ready to say goodbye to your demon.”

  He was more than ready now.

  Interlude 1

  Nathan pulled the old notebook from the drawer in his desk, opening to the entry he’d written so many years ago. Unique possession he’d penned next to the entry about Jack’s father.

  Portents of epic proportion. Celestial energy in the storm last night. The Demon Gate was on the move. Cosmic energy out of balance. And now, the following morning, a new possession. Warren Hughes possessed by a Whargan. Do I dare try to exorcise it?

  It hadn’t mattered. Warren wouldn’t even talk to him. Jack’s father had refused to even entertain the possibility of the cure for his condition.

  “I brought this curse on myself. I will deal with it,” he’d said. “We don’t want any of your witchcraft here.”

  Closed-minded and superstitious, Jack’s parents had moved out of town and shut the door on any help shy of prayer to a deity that didn’t care. And because of that, something had been passed on to Jack at birth.

  Then again, this might be the work of fate. Maybe this series of events was destined. But for good or ill?

  Nathan reviewed every recorded instance of Whargan possession. Had any other possessed person lived to reproduce? None that he could find. So why this one?

  He recalled that night, the night Jack’s father had been possessed. Goddess level celestial energy in the air. But the world had been out of skew that week. The demons had moved the Demon Gate, pulling a huge amount of demonic power from their home dimension. The energy flux had caused Nathan to lose the tracking spell he’d placed on the gate. It could have gone anywhere in the world, and that presented a danger that had escalated with each passing year.

  And then that storm had struck, causing power outages across the northeast. So much more than wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. A surge of magical energy unseen in thousands of years. And in the wake, something more than a simple demonic soul had passed between dimensions.

  Whatever that had been, no doubt, was passed on to Jack at birth. Something unique. Possibly something evil.

  Perhaps, all those years ago, Nathan should have done more, forced the exorcism, even against the wishes of Warren Hughes. Had he made a mistake?

  Only time would tell.

  The monster within is the source of all nightmares. – Tolmek by Zha Tlemn, 21 BC (Greek Translation)

  Chapter 7

  Anna finished laying down the protective circle on the floor in front of Jack’s basement cell. There was no way the demon could avoid stepping in the circle if it tried to exit the cell.

  “Are you sure about this?” Jack said coming down the stairs. “I don’t want to put you in any danger.”

  “I’m not in any danger from you,” she said. Her eyes were drawn to him as he began to strip off his clothing. He kicked off his shoes and pulled his T-shirt off over his head. Her gaze traveled over his delectable musculature. What had she been saying?

  “…um, even if the new chain doesn’t hold, I have a protective circle all set. If the demon steps anywhere on it, you’ll be you again, just like in the glade last night.”

  Had that only been last night? So much had happened since.

  “Okay,” he said, undoing the top button of his jeans, “but if anything even looks dangerous, run upstairs. Remember the basement door locks from the outside. Lock me down here and don’t open that door until you see the sun rising.”

  He stood in just his boxers and it was hard not gawking. And drooling.

  Jack padded to the cell and pulled the door closed behind him. They’d purchased a new, heavier chain at the hardware store this afternoon. He wrapped it around the bars three times and clicked the padlock into place, sealing himself in the cell.

  As soon as he tested the bars he went for the waistband of his boxers, drew them down, and tossed them across the room toward his pile of other clothes.

  Alright!

  “Sorry,” he said, shrugging. “The beast will rip to shreds any clothes I leave on anyway, and it’s not like you haven’t seen it.”

  There was something about a naked man behind bars that stirred something sexual inside of her. The fact that the man was Jack, all muscle and tawny flesh, just made i
t worse. Better? Whatever.

  Oh God, stop it!

  She needed to keep this all professional, but the man was positively distracting. She cleared her throat. “The girls can’t get here until tomorrow, but if everything goes as planned, you will be free of the demon tomorrow night.”

  Jack nodded, then began pacing his cell. His movements a wolf-like lope. Sleek and smooth. Predatory. Over the years his body must have absorbed some of the Whargan’s characteristics.

  She forced her gaze to the clipboard in her hands, checking off a few items they’d completed. “This could be my last chance to study you…it.”

  An opportunity to interact and study any demon was rare enough. Now, she’d have one caged and all to herself for the full night. Between that prospect and Jack, naked and caged, she wasn’t sure what had her more excited.

  “Just don’t get too close to the bars,” Jack warned, “and don’t let it trick you into doing anything that could be dangerous.”

  His concern for her was touching. It suddenly occurred to her that while she was admiring the packaging, the man inside was pretty special as well. To have accepted what he was and submitted to the pain and isolation needed to keep his ‘condition’ a secret for all these years, took something special. Anna resolved, then and there, that after she was done cross-examining the demon, she needed to have a serious sit down with the man as well.

  Anna glanced at her wristwatch.

  Almost time.

  Jack’s aura flashed red. A cry of sheer agony issued from his lips as his body began to convulse and morph. Thick patches of fur sprouted all over his body. She could hear bones snapping and realigning in his arms, legs and head. The jaw line split, growing into a snout, as his canines extended.

  Jack dropped to the cement floor and writhed. Oh god. The agony he had to be enduring. And he’d done this every month for over a decade.

  Jack’s eyes glazed over as the change continued. Fingers extended into talons as the nails grew long and sharp. His ears changed shape as his nostrils flared.

  Anna’s gaze was drawn to Jack’s genitals as they drew up into his abdomen, the crotch closing up to look like the groin of a Ken doll. Whargan, like the other lesser demons, were sexless, but she hadn’t known if it carried over to the possessed. This was yet another new discovery. Jack had become completely Whargan.

  The creature’s eyes cleared and Anna knew Jack was gone. The demon was in complete possession. It growled. “You!”

  “Me.” Anna smiled back.

  It came to the bars and reached one arm toward her, but Anna kept back, out of its reach.

  “I’ll have you yet, little witch.”

  The creature’s tone sent a shiver up her spine. So dark, evil.

  Yet, she refused to be rattled. “That is a possibility.” She wanted to get the Whargan talking—learn what she could from it. “You also could go back where you came from and leave us all alone. I’d hate to have to exorcise you.”

  “You haven’t the power, little witch.”

  Anna’s confidence grew. “Perhaps.” She strove to keep her tone light and carefree.

  The creature then went to the cell door. Seeing the new chain and secure lock, it growled at her as it shook the chain. Anna couldn’t help but smile. This creature had been tormenting Jack for over a decade. She could find no pity for it. “One way or another, you are never getting out again. Consider that.”

  Over the course of the evening she cajoled, berated, and even pleaded with the demon, hoping to unearth some small bit of important information about it specifically or the demons in general, but from that point on, the creature only growled at her and attacked the cell, howling all the time about how it would kill her. She hadn’t expected much more. The Whargan was a pretty stupid creature, but she had hoped it would reveal something she didn’t already know.

  Exhausted, Anna finally gave up around midnight. She went upstairs, locking the door just in case, fixed herself a cup of tea, and curled up on Jack’s couch. All the while she could hear the demon ranting and raving below her.

  Anna picked up the book she’d received from Kelly at the library and continued reading through the ritual of exorcism.

  Let the creature rant. Its days are numbered.

  Shared ritual multiplies the magic. – A primer to the Arcane Arts by Sir Edmond Trask, 1901

  Chapter 8

  A knock at the door woke Anna suddenly. She’d fallen asleep with the book still propped open in her lap. The diffused light of the morning sun that crept through the window, added a haze to her already groggy vision.

  “Exorcism squad at the ready,” a husky, female voice exclaimed through the front door.

  JJ had arrived. Warmth spread through Anna as she shook the sleep from her eyes and the haze from her mind. It was time to get to work.

  “It’s open,” Anna shouted, pulling herself up from the chair. Luckily, Jack had taken time to fix the door yesterday after they’d gotten back from town.

  The door creaked open and a pudgy face, framed by flame-red curls, poked its way through the doorway.

  “Where’s that poor boy?” the portly woman asked, tottering into the room.

  That was JJ. She was a force of nature. The portly middle-aged woman breezed into Jack’s living room and instantly took center stage. She was followed in by two tentative, wide-eyed young women.

  “Jack’s still locked in the basement, I think,” Anna replied, rubbing more sleep from her eyes. “Seriously, you just woke me up. I need to check on him.”

  Anna made her way to the basement door and pulled open the lock. She opened the door and found Jack, fully clothed, thank goodness, sitting on the bottom step, rubbing the back of his neck. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up and smiled at her, then rose to walk up the stairs.

  Jack could get out of the cage because he knew the lock’s combination. The Whargan didn’t have the cognitive ability to manipulate the lock.

  “Looks like everything went okay last night,” he said as he gained the top step. “Did you learn anything?”

  “Not much,” Anna answered, “but I know one thing for sure. We are sending that creature back to hell tonight.”

  She could see his pain growing. Anna could have kicked herself. In the excitement of last night, she’d forgotten to run home and get the herbs she’d need to give Jack some relief.

  “Holy criminy,” JJ said behind her, “look at that aura!”

  Anna loved the woman. It had taken a while to get to know her…to get through her bluster. But underneath JJ’s no-nonsense manner hid a really caring person. She could be crass to the point of hilarity yet would give the shirt off her back to help a complete stranger.

  She was also a very powerful sorceress. Anna had spent her early years in the Arcanists sitting at JJ’s knee, learning the craft. With the possible exception of Nathan Grey, JJ was the most powerful Arcanist Anna knew.

  “Jack,” Anna said, presenting the portly woman, “this is my friend Joyce Jorgens.”

  “Call me JJ,” the woman said, extending her hand to Jack. “Everyone else does.”

  As JJ took Jack’s hand, Anna saw her weaving an arcane sigil behind her back with her other hand. The sorceress was probing, running arcane feelers through Jack’s aura.

  “JJ?” Anna had no doubt the probing was in Jack’s best interest. Still, it was an intrusion the subject wouldn’t have been aware of.

  JJ waved her off. “So much pain,” she said, “and yet such strength.” She was assessing Jack as she spoke. Her ability to read auras was so much stronger than Anna’s.

  “The change is hard on him,” Anna added. She could see Jack wincing. Not from the probing, but from the wave of pain and exhaustion washing over him from the change.

  Jack shot her a bleary-eyed look. He smiled at her but the pain was so stark it almost made her weep.

  “I could really use some of that magic orange juice you make,” he said to her.

  Salina Frye
hurried forward. “Should we use energy healing on him?” The young woman had been studying the healing technique with JJ for some time and Anna could see she was eager to try out her skills.

  “An excellent idea, Salina,” JJ responded, then took command. “Jack, you come right in here and sit yourself down. We’ll have you feeling better in no time.”

  Anna stood back and let her friends fuss over Jack. She knew he’d be in good hands.

  They made him sit down on one of the kitchen chairs. JJ began to massage Jack’s neck while Salina and the other young woman, Kim Wakefield, stood to either side of the old sorceress, their hands on her shoulder, sending their healing energy to her as she passed it on to Jack through the massage. Anna preferred to use herbal potions over energy healing or reiki, but she knew the healing techniques could work wonders. It would be interesting to see how Jack would respond.

  Guilt assailed her. Here she was again, thinking of Jack as some kind of lab animal, to be poked and prodded—experimented upon. The poor guy was going through his own private hell. At least it looked like they could make things better for him.

  “How does that feel, Jack,” JJ said as she pulled her hands from the back of Jack’s neck.

  “Amazing!” he answered, a genuine smile filling his face. “All the pain and fatigue is just gone.”

  His aura had brightened. Still, there was that darkness around the edges.

  “Good,” JJ said, patting him on the shoulder “Because there are two heavy crates of equipment and supplies in the back of my car that some big, strong guy should have no trouble muscling in.”

  Jack chuckled. He stood and flexed his shoulders. It was easy to see he was reveling in the release of pain. The muscles in his bare arms rippled alluringly.

  “Wow. I feel great. I really do.” Jack’s smile was broad. “Let me at those crates.”

  There was a bounce in his step as he left to get the boxes from JJ’s car. Anna noticed the women staring at Jack’s long, lean torso. Well, his snug T-shirt hugged his muscular frame pretty tightly and gave a nice view of the real estate.