Conjuring Darkness

by Melanie James

  “Night demon?” Asked Lexi.

  Jakub dropped his voice to a whisper. “Lilitu. That is who he called upon. She was the one who was banished into the desert in ancient times and ever since, has enslaved people into doing her bidding. She was also the one who was cursed to feast from the souls of children sacrificed in her name. He driven by his insanity. In order to draw Lilitu from the darkness, he took the bodies of the little children and piled them up. Then he took an ancient amulet that he once found on his travels long ago. It had the image of Lilitu on it as well as magical symbols.”

  Lexi pointed to the owl woman engraved on the amulet. “Is that what this is?”

  “Yes. It is the demon and that is the very same amulet Shandor used. He laid it upon the top of the dead children and covered it with a piece of cloth, so it would be hidden. He dipped a willow stick into his sons’ wounds and he drew a bloody star in the earth. He then touched each of the dead children with the bloody stick. Every time he placed a drop of blood on the dead he called upon the demon, Lilitu. He offered their deaths as a sacrifice that had been killed by his own hand. He offered the demon to come and feed from their souls.” Jakub reached out and touched the amulet as if he was trying to feel if there was any type if energy there.

  “Jesus Christ!” Lexi shouted in dismay.

  “I would have to say that he was quite insane at that point.” Abraham said.

  “Indeed, he was quite mad. I think one should never underestimate what a desperate man is capable of.”

  “Did the demon come?” Ryan asked skeptically.

  “Yes, she did. Shandor sat beneath an oak tree late into the night, until a large horned owl appeared in the branch above him. He knew that Lilitu was known to travel by taking the form of an owl. He said that the owl flew down and transformed into a hideous creature, that looked part woman and part owl. Her eyes were like the deepest, darkest, blood red rubies and her grey, ashen skin was barely covered with feathers. Her feet were the crooked and sharp talons of the owl. He told the demon that he sacrificed his family in exchange for one wish from her. His wish was that she free one of her human servants. A woman he knew had been forced into being her murdering slave.”

  Lexi was dumbfounded. “Really? That doesn’t make sense. Why would he be concerned with someone else at a time like that?”

  “I asked him that same question Lexi. He never gave me the answer. My guess is it was someone very close to him. Perhaps, someone that would help him in his quest for revenge against the soldiers.”

  Abraham offered an answer. “I think we have already determined Shandor had completely lost his mind. Maybe he wanted to switch places with this enslaved person so he could walk the earth eternally and get his revenge that way.”

  “Perhaps, but what happened next may surprise you. The demon turned to him and opened her mouth. Her mouth twisted into a gaping cavern filled with sharp pointed teeth that were the color of weathered bones. She hissed at him and spoke in a language he did not know. Shandor was terrified and fell to his knees. She came to him, holding one of her full breasts to his mouth and fed him, not with milk, but a cold and bitter liquid. Shandor told me that if one could taste revenge it would not be sweet as they say, but it would taste bitter, like the milk of the Lilitu.

  Jakub’s horrified audience groaned in disgust at the repulsive image.

  “He hoped that she had granted his wish with the revolting drink. She went to the children and covered the entire group with her broad owl wings. Suddenly, she stood up and howled a scream that echoed out into the darkness. She looked at Shandor with her evil face and then she flew away.”

  Abraham squealed with delight. “Aha! I see what he was doing! Shandor had been planning to trick her into granting him his wish, before she went to the children. He knew once she went to the children, she would be chased away by the amulet that he placed on top of the dead bodies.”

  Ryan and Lexi were both puzzled. Ryan asked Abraham, “Why would she be afraid of the amulet?”

  “The amulet he had hidden on the bodies was a form of protection against Lilitu. According to legend, she could never attack or even approach anyone that was protected by her own image. She was powerless against it. In ancient times it was quite common for women and children to wear a similar type of amulet thought to ward off the demon, Lilitu.”

  He picked up the amulet and pointed to the markings on it. “Look at this image of the demon that is part owl. I see that you are wearing an owl necklace, Lexi. Your necklace will also protect you because it is the likeness of Lilitu.”

  “An owl? Why an owl? I guess I would imagine a bat or snake, or something more intimidating or scary,” Lexi asked.

  “The name Lilitu is derived from the old Sumerian word Lil, which means owl, it also means spirit. Owls were considered by the Sumerians to be a spiritual creature. As time went on her name changed from Lilitu to Lilith in various cultures.

  “So this is actually the demon Lilith?” Lexi asked Abraham.

  “Yes, Lilith is simply a cultural adaptation of the ancient Sumerian Lilitu. Remember the Israelites spent centuries living under Babylonian rule. Much of the old folklore and mythology, became absorbed into the Jewish culture. There are references to this demon found in countless ancient texts that have been uncovered.”

  Ryan had been listening intently. “So, this all sounds very interesting, but I don’t believe in any of this hocus pocus stuff and I really don’t see how any of this has anything to do with Lexi finding her sister. If you have a point to make here, please make it soon.”

  Jakub responded. “Shandor told me this story so I would know about this world of magic and demons, and how his amulet held a great power. The power to conjure and control ancient demons. Believe me when I tell you the amulet is more than some trinket that gives the bearer a sense of protection. The only way to explain it is for me to tell you what we did with that power.”

  “Let me guess. Avenging the death of your father?”

  “Yes. Remember that Shandor told me to use my anger and hatred for power? He knew that I desired to learn about the black magic in order to avenge the death of my father. I also want to avenge the likely deaths of the rest of my family. He started by teaching me skills that could be enhanced when used with magic. I learned how to perform hypnosis. He taught me all sorts of ways to camouflage myself. Most importantly, he taught me how to kill my enemies.

  One day, I spotted the very same soldiers that killed my father. I could never forget those faces. Not in a hundred lifetimes. I immediately set out to kill them without any regard for the consequences. Shandor stopped me. He told me how he had finally found a magic spell to use the amulet as a weapon. A powerful weapon that could kill those men as well as many other SS soldiers. He said it would be like hypnotism, but it would be accomplished through black magic.

  We captured two German soldiers one night using one of his expertly camouflaged traps. He took out the amulet and held it out in front of him. What I saw next was something so bizarre that I could not immediately comprehend it. He took the amulet and touched the forehead of one of the soldiers. Then he said his incantation. The soldier was suddenly at Shandor’s command. He told his captive soldier to strangle the other soldier to death, which is exactly what the soldier did. Shandor ordered the soldier to walk over to a stone wall and beat his head against it, until he killed himself. He did just that.”

  “Unbelievable! It is impossible to use hypnosis to make someone do horrific acts like that.” Ryan was convinced that Jakub was telling them a complete lie. He just couldn’t figure out why.

  “It was like hypnosis, Ryan. It was a magic. Sorcery that uses magic from a very dark place. Shandor gave me the amulet to take with me on my mission to kill the soldiers that had shot my father. I didn’t have to wait long to get my revenge. I dressed in the uniform of one of the soldiers we had captured. He was a small man and even though I was young, the uniform was convincing.

  I tracked down th
e soldiers loading children into freight cars that were headed to Auschwitz. I did not hesitate. I walked up to the bigger one and showed him the amulet. I said ‘Look what I have found on one of these Jews!’ He leaned closer to see it and then I took the chance. I pressed it into his forehead and quickly said the words Shandor taught me. He looked dazed and empty. I told him to take his bayonet and to cut the throat of his fellow guard. Then I told him to take his rifle and shoot every SS officer he saw standing on the platform of the train station.

  To my surprise he unsheathed his long bayonet, walked up to his partner and with one swift movement, he sliced so forcefully with the bayonet that he nearly decapitated him. Then he took his rifle and started shooting at every Nazi soldier in sight. I had to hide, so I wouldn’t be shot. The other soldiers returned fire, and soon he was riddled with bullets. Several men in SS uniforms laid dead on the train platform.

  I left the train and made my way back to find Shandor. I never found him. I don’t know what ever became of Shandor the Magician. Eventually I made my way out of Warsaw, using every trick I learned. I made my way to England and stayed there until after the war.”

  “What about your mother or your sisters.” Lexi asked.

  “I don’t think I need to tell you. I will just say that they never survived the Nazis. After the war, I joined with the Zionists to fight for the new Israeli state. I used my amulet in many cases in the fight. After that I worked for Mossad. I used the amulet on captured war criminals in order to obtain information about where other fugitives could be found.

  I started to notice there were many orphaned children that had survived the German’s death camps, and had been relocated to Israel. Imagine being a young child, and the only memories you have are nightmares. These children received badly needed psychiatric treatments from the best doctors that could be found.

  Still, there were some cases that were beyond hope. Those were the ones that had survived unimaginable medical testing and worse. From my work in the Mossad I had gained a reputation as a hypnotist and after a while, people brought those difficult psychiatric cases to me. Hypnosis was their last resort. I would insist that only the child would be present when I treated them, since I did not want anyone to know that I was in fact using magic. I learned how to use the amulet to completely remove the nightmarish memories of those children, and then I replaced their bad memories with good ones that I made up. I gave them happy memories of a loving and caring family.

  “So that is why you are called doctor.” Lexi tried to figure out how the amulet came into Kate and Kurt’s possession. “Why did you get rid of the amulet? What did you do with it?”

  “You see, I had longed for revenge for so long, and in the end, I became a killer. I may have been able to justify it, but the fact was I had become what I had hated for so long. Each time I used that amulet to kill an enemy, I felt the bitter residue of revenge and hatred grow inside of me. I was trying to redeem myself by helping those children, but it wasn’t enough. I don’t think you can redeem yourself, especially when you continue to carry that much hate and guilt around. As the time went by I could no longer bear it any more. I wanted it all to stop.

  Some years later, I was on a special assignment with Mossad in Syria near the Turkish border. I heard rumors from the local people in the area. Rumors about a very old man that people suspected was a sorcerer. As soon as I heard about him, I wanted nothing more than to track him down. I wanted to know how to stop this nightmare I created, and I hoped he could help me. Once I finally met him, I showed him the amulet. He recognized the symbols and said they were related to an ancient witchcraft cult. I was told that the amulet itself was a source of black magic. He insisted it needed to be buried at some ancient temple that only he knew about. I was happy to be rid of it, and I begged him to take it and bury it. That was the last time I saw it.”

  Lexi’s expression was one of astonishment and bewilderment as she pointed at the amulet. “Well, that doesn’t make any sense at all, does it? I have it now. And I brought it from Kate’s house.”

  Lexi noticed that Ryan’s arms were crossed over his chest. He had leaned back in his chair. His body language told her that he wasn’t buying much of what Jakub told them so far. Ryan leaned forward and slowly clapped his hands a few times in a mock applause for Jakub. His words were heavily coated in sarcasm as he finally spoke.

  “Jakub, before you answer her I want to thank you personally for the very entertaining and spooky story. Now, I have heard my share of good war stories, but that whopper takes first place.”

  Completely caught off guard by Ryan’s comment, Lexi turned to him. “Ryan? What do you think is going on here? You think he made all of this up?”

  “Lex, I’m not sure what is going on. With all due respect for Jakub’s history of helping people and serving his country, I don’t believe in all the supernatural powers of this hunk of metal.” Ryan picked up the amulet and dropped it back on the table.

  “Alright Jakub, I am sensing that you are leading up to putting this whole story together for us. I see pieces of a puzzle here. We know about Kurt’s interest in you and your so-called powers. There is Kate’s interest in you and now, Lexi happens to be here. You say you left the coin in the desert and yet here it is. Please dispense with the bullshit about demons and spirits and tell us exactly what happened from here on out. You said that you compelled Kate to write to Lexi and ask her to come here. Exactly how did you compel Kate to write that letter? And why?” Ryan asked Jakub forcefully, but softened his voice when he addressed Lexi. “Lex, I’ve been around every intelligence agency you can name and they all have the same motto...”

  Lexi’s eyes looked off into the room as she remembered something Kurt said once and she finished Ryan’s sentence. “If you can’t tell someone the truth, bedazzle them with bullshit.”

  “Exactly right, Lexi.” Ryan looked at Jakub, while holding one fist out and pointing toward Abraham with his thumb. “Nice prop, having the old demonology Rabbi here to help make this all somehow seem more believable. Now, I want to know the REAL reason why this amulet is so damn important, and why there seems to be such interest in it. Don’t tell me it’s because it’s covered in pixie dust and dipped in unicorn shit or any other story. If you can’t tell me about a state secret regarding some truth serum or torture technique, I understand. Believe me, I know all about those little tricks, but save the spooky tales for your next campfire story time.”

  Jakub took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow before he answered in very direct sentences. “Kurt had heard of my work here and with the Mossad. He became obsessed with being able to use the power that I had. He found out that I had an amulet that held a great power, and so he came to me. I told him what I told you, I left it in the desert on the Syrian and Turkish border.

  According to the Mossad reports that I read later, after his visit with me, he went to the same place I told him I left it. While he was there, he found out a small group of archaeologists excavating the site at Gobekli Tepe. They had uncovered something very unique and powerful. He knew they had found the amulet. He also learned there were a few very dangerous people from the area who were intent on getting their hands on it. That was all the report said. I never knew if Kurt had found the amulet, until Kate came to visit me.”

  “Why did Kate come here?” Ryan asked directly.

  “Kate came to me because she found out that her husband had visited me years ago when he was searching for the amulet.”

  “How long ago did Kurt visit with you?” Lexi asked.

  “I don’t recall exactly when that was. I know it was before he met Kate because she made a comment to that effect.” Jakub answered.

  “Okay, so he had the amulet before they got married. Please finish telling us about Kate’s visit with you.” Lexi said.

  “Kate told me about how Kurt had passed away and she was trying to find answers about his life and death. While looking through his office she apparently came acro
ss the amulet. From there she began doing research on it because it seemed to fit into other studies she had done on Sumerian archaeology. She knew that Kurt had visited me and she wanted to find out why he came here. I never told her any of the things I told you today. I don’t think that she knew anything about the magic powers it held and I didn’t tell her either. I was very nervous when I found out that Kurt had indeed taken the amulet from its proper place. Of course, I asked her where it was and she told me it was locked away in her safe at home. That was about all she told me, other than she was on her way to the site at Gobekli Tepe to continue her research. After all, that is where Kurt found the amulet.”

  Jakub rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Now I confess, once she had told me that she had the amulet at home, I knew it needed to be brought back. It needs to be buried away in the desert. It never should have been found. So I hypnotized her.”

  “What?” Lexi asked incredulously. “Why would you do that to my sister?”

  Ryan became more sarcastic. “Now Jakub, how did you pull that trick without the amulet? You’re not keeping your story straight.”

  “Oh! No, No. Not with magic, just the traditional method. I did my best to get her to write a letter to Lexi to bring her here safely with the amulet. Under hypnosis I had her tell me all about the location of the amulet. I had her describe the contents of Kurt’s desk to me because I thought perhaps it was in there. She recalled that Kurt had an arrangement with a security agency to assist her in any emergency, and so I told her to include that in her letter to Lexi. I figured it would be good for Lexi to have whatever protection was available. Then she told me about the amulet and its actual location in the safe. I admit that it wasn’t a perfect letter, but I hoped that it was enough to get you to come and bring it here. Now, it must be returned to where it can never cause harm.”