Brent resumed his whispering, reinforcing what he had already said. “Kyle could like me even with a baby. Maybe he wouldn’t be embarrassed of me. I want to see him again.” Again, Brent began to repeat himself, while at the same time watching the demon of death grow more and more displeased.
With its face tightening and its hatred for Brent spiking, the demon finally made a move toward the deck. Garian’s sword was unsheathed in a flash, a not-so-subtle warning that the spirit had better choose wisely what it was going to do.
“Do not interfere, underling,” commanded Elizabeth’s winged warrior.
The demon continued its advance, but took a more circuitous route to the opposite end of the deck.
Garian began to round the table to his right, just in case.
Careful now in its approach, the demon walked slowly, heading not for Brent and Elizabeth, but to the smaller spirit still hovering in the air. Suicide saw its master’s advance and began to back slowly away.
“Do not move!” shouted the lording demon.
The small spirit stopped and began to shiver with dreadful anticipation.
While making sure to continue planting good seeds into Elizabeth’s mind, Brent maneuvered to his right, bringing his right shoulder to the table’s edge. He needed to keep the large demon in his field of vision.
The demon of death neared the smaller spirit and, without warning, launched its hand to grab the flying demon by the throat. Utter horror played in the face of the suicidal spirit as the death demon said, “You are never to abandon an assignment!”
Brent glanced at Garian. There was no sign of emotion on his face. He seemed to be watching the two demons with only mild interest.
The enraged spirit of death cursed the small demon in a language Brent was unable to understand, words that he sensed contained a vileness that far surpassed anything in human languages. Then it hurled the winged serpent-like spirit back at Elizabeth with such force that Brent flinched at the impending impact.
Garian, seemingly always ready, had his sword swinging to intercept even before the suicidal spirit left the larger demon’s enormous hand. The long blade cut through the demon’s right wing, changing its trajectory. Instead of hitting Elizabeth, it passed through both the glass table and the wood decking.
Brent not only heard a scream of pain, but also the sound of the spirit’s impact as it struck the dirt surface below. Why it was stopped by the ground and not by the glass or wood, he couldn’t figure, but the pain that the little demon was experiencing must have been excruciating.
The spirit ascended through the floor of the deck and emerged in bad shape. Its right wing was nearly completely severed. It shuddered in both fear and agony.
Brent felt a twinge of pity. A twinge…and only for the barest of moments.
The injured demon looked at its master one more time then rocketed into the air as quickly as one-and-a-half wings would carry it. Then it disappeared.
One down, thought Brent.
He looked at Elizabeth who was completely oblivious to the battle taking place around her. She had a slight smile on her face, reflecting a peace that she hadn’t known in days.
In a whisper, Elizabeth said the first words Brent had heard since he arrived. “Please, let it be true.”
The demon of death, while respecting the reach of Garian’s sword, moved forward toward Brent. “This little wench is mine. You would be wise to move away from her.”
Brent was rankled by the challenge. Adrenaline began to surge through his bloodstream, and while it didn’t alleviate any of the fear, it did give him an added ounce or two of boldness.
“Listen to me, foul spirit…”
The demon cut him off before he could develop the remainder of his sentence. “So, the dirt of the earth plays at being a god. By what authority do you tell me to do anything? Your own?”
Another step, then two were taken by the demon of death. It continued. “You seem to forget the rules of this game, little mortal. The Nazarene isn’t coming to your rescue. This is all on you! Do you think that you have the power to do anything to me? Ha! Away from me before I sink my nails into your throat next.”
“I’m not going to back away from you,” said Brent, with more bravado than conviction.
Garian took three steps more around the table, his double-edged sword still at the ready.
“You had better back away, little thing,” the demon spat. “Do you imagine that you have ever felt true pain? Think again.”
“Need I remind you of the rules, fallen one?” said Garian in a voice filled with reproach. “You may not touch God’s anointed one. Do you think you have felt true pain before?”
Brent began to shake involuntarily. He quickly realized how foolish his stand was. Whether this demon was permitted to touch him or not, if it ever did decide to…
Brent wasn’t sure he would survive what a demon could do to him. He suddenly remembered what Tara said had happened to her in her dorm room at college. A demon had attacked her and made it feel as if her bowels were being ripped out of her.
Brent rebuked himself. Stupid. That was stupid!
He collected his thoughts. He needed to dedicate his energies to Elizabeth and allow Garian to fulfill his duty of protecting the two of them.
Brent, while continuing to watch the demon, began to whisper to Elizabeth again. “Kyle is a Christian like Tina and Colleen. Maybe there is something to this Jesus they keep telling me about.”
The demon of death was not happy about Brent’s newest subject matter. With a loud shout that pierced Brent’s ears, the demon cried, “You will…not…win!” Then the iniquitous being rocketed into the air and maneuvered away from Elizabeth’s home.
Brent breathed a shaky sigh of relief, then continued to try feeding Elizabeth’s psyche.
But she had evidently heard enough in her mind about Jesus. She shook her head and stood up. Under her breath she swore. “Really? A guy shows up and you start getting all religious-minded?”
Elizabeth stepped off the deck and into the grass. Brent could hear her continue to admonish herself, her volume intensifying. “Don’t be stupid. Yes, he’s cute. Yes, he doesn’t seem preachy. Yes, he kind of makes Christianity seem real. BUT! I do not…need…a crutch!”
Brent’s heart fell into his stomach. He looked over at Garian who lowered his eyes for a moment and shook his head.
“What do I do?” asked Brent.
“I cannot say,” replied the angel.
Brent’s fresh frustration was quickly rising up into full-blown anger. “You can’t or you won’t?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, it matters!” Brent yelled, throwing his hands up into the air. “To me it matters!”
“Son of Adam, your animosity is not productive. There are better questions that you can ask concerning the events that have just occurred. Questions that can help you going forward. Seek the tactical and spiritual knowledge that I am permitted to share.”
He was right. Brent had to keep his emotions in check and stay focused. Elizabeth wasn’t out of danger, and she wouldn’t be until she accepted Christ and discovered that there was a purpose for both her and her baby.
Questions. What can I ask?
“Why did the suicidal spirit jump off of Elizabeth’s shoulder?”
“Free will. Your words of encouragement caused her to want to reject some of the things that were being fed to her. She chose to think on the positive and cast aside the evil.”
“So, she doesn’t need to be a Christian to fight; she just needs to be willing to accept truth and continue to push away the lies.”
Garian nodded.
“They—that is, the demons—they will be back, won’t they?”
“Yes. But be prepared for a different tactic from the Enemy. The demons are cunning. They have thousands of years of experience in manipulating and destroying God’s special creation.”
“Garian, I feel like I’ve become the boy who stuck his f
inger in the hole of the proverbial dike. But instead of solving the problem, it seems like I just keep creating more holes to plug up. I’m missing something. Something that’s key to winning this.”
“That, Child of the Word, is something you will have to figure out on your own. If there is an answer, it is not purposely being hidden from you.”
“If there is an answer?” asked Brent. “That’s not exactly comforting.”
“I am not here to bring comfort, Brent Lawton. I am here to bring truth and a sword.”
Elizabeth’s hour on the back deck had provided her with the closest thing to peace of mind she had experienced in the past six days. It had been nearly a week since she first suspected that she might be pregnant.
Upon walking back into the house, she was met by her mother, dressed to the nines. Elizabeth knew immediately what that meant, so she asked the only logical question. “Where to tonight?”
“Tonight,” said Laura Franklin with a rather cavalier smile, “your dad and I will be enjoying a night of dining and dancing with Greg and Meredith Pulliam.”
Elizabeth had met the two of them before. They were a nice enough couple. Definitely rich. Definitely the lifestyle that her mom and dad wanted to emulate. But still…
“Abandoned again. Having too much fun experiencing the ‘high life’ to spend time with a teenage daughter, huh? I guess I should be used to it by now.”
But she wasn’t. Never was and never would be.
Anger flared within Brent. While he didn’t know the whole history between parents and child, Brent did know that Elizabeth’s own thoughts spoke volumes about how she had been—or, at least, perceived she had been—neglected.
He yelled at the woman. “Can’t you see the sadness and loneliness in your daughter’s eyes?!”
Laura Franklin’s smile faded and her gaze became purposeful, searching left to right then back in Elizabeth’s eyes.
Tag.
“…looks somewhat troubled.” She opened her mouth slightly to say something, then hesitated. “I’ll ask later when I’ve got more time.” To Elizabeth she said, “Feel free to call to have some food delivered from anyplace you would like. I’ll leave some money on the dining room table.”
Brent wanted to shake some sense into the woman.
“Yeah, mom. That’ll make up for another evening by myself.” Elizabeth didn’t even try to hide the disappointment from her face. She just turned and retreated upstairs to her room.
Brent targeted Tony Franklin’s location. He was already driving home from his office. Husband and wife would be leaving soon.
Not good. The last thing she needs is to be left alone right now. She needs to be included in something.
With Elizabeth heading to her room, he already knew what her disheartened mindset would allow—another visitation from death.
This time Brent wasn’t waiting around to find out. No, this time he was going on the offensive.
COLLEEN HAD ARRIVED at the Morrison home and was enjoying some interaction with Tina and her younger sister, Mandy, who was obviously loving her newly-acquired status of being a teenager.
Kate, Tina’s older sister, was already in her first year of studies at a nearby Christian college and wasn’t at home this evening.
Brent showed up amidst the laughter and conversation that the three teenage girls were enjoying. With such boisterous interaction, he just hoped he would be able to break through enough to catch someone’s attention.
He needn’t have worried. Brent walked up to Tina and spoke into her ear, “It’s time to call Elizabeth. Call Elizabeth!” He used his hands to create blinders to direct her attention to the clock on the living room wall where they were sitting.
Turning to Colleen, Tina said, “What time is Elizabeth coming over?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t you call her?”
“Nooo,” she said drawing it out. “I thought you did.”
“Umm… Nooo,” said Colleen with a playful mock.
Tina got up from the carpeted floor and walked over to a phone sitting on an end table beside the couch. “I totally thought you were calling before you came over here.” She dialed Elizabeth’s number.
ELIZABETH PICKED UP on the second ring. Not having the advantage of a phone with caller ID, she took a bit of a chance with each call she answered. Telemarketers were the worst.
“Hello?”
“Elizabeth! It’s Tina!”
“And today the second-worst caller would be Tina Morrison.” She held back a sigh and said, “Hi, Tina. What’s going on?”
“Any chance you can come over tonight? We’re going to order some pizza and watch some movies. We’re thinking The Princess Bride for one of them.”
Elizabeth was torn. If the subject of God didn’t come up—an unlikely scenario in the Morrison household—pizza and a movie would be a great distraction. But even if she did want to go over, she wasn’t anywhere close to their home. Same city, different ends of town. Riding her bike wasn’t an option, and her parents were unlikely to go out of their way.
“I don’t have a way to get there. Mom and Dad are heading out soon.”
She could hear Tina sigh. After a moment, Elizabeth heard the smile in Tina’s voice as she said, “Well, you do have your own car…”
Elizabeth laughed. “Yep. I do. And unless one of you has a valid driver’s license it’s not going anywhere. I’ve still got another week before I take the test for my temp.”
“I wish you could come over. We really want you to hang out with us. No way your parents could drop you off before they go wherever?”
Elizabeth thought about it for a moment. “Hold on,” she said with a little reluctance. “I’ll check.”
BRENT DECIDED THAT he couldn’t remain in the Morrison home after he had listened to both sides of the phone conversation. He jumped back to the Franklin home to both watch and listen as Elizabeth made her request.
She knocked on her parents’ bedroom door.
“You can come in.” It was her dad.
She pushed the door open about halfway and saw her dad taking off the dress shirt that he had worn all day. “Dad, can you take me over to Tina Morrison’s home on your way to meet the Pulliams?”
“Sweetheart, I’m afraid that’s not going to be possible. The Pulliams are actually coming over here to pick us up.” He looked at his watch. “Unfortunately, I’m running behind and they are expected to be here in under fifteen minutes.”
Brent saw her shoulders slump as she slowly nodded her head. “Okay. Thought I’d try.”
“They can come over here if you’d like. I don’t have a problem with that.”
“They’d have the same problem.”
“They?”
“Tina and Colleen.”
“Gotcha. Sorry. ‘Stiff upper lip,’ my girl. Maybe you can do something with your friends tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
Elizabeth turned around and pulled the door closed behind her.
Brent followed her back to her room. Once inside, he found that he’d been right not to delay in trying to get all the girls together. There was already a gathering taking place that he’d hoped to avoid: the same attendees—minus one—that had spent time together on the back deck earlier in the day.
“I’M PROUD OF you.”
“That was random,” I said.
Tara looked at me with a soft smile. I could read a measure of appreciation in her eyes.
“Not random. I’ve been thinking it for a little while now as you’ve been telling me this account.”
I had to chuckle. “Okay, but so far I’ve not really said much for you to be proud of. By this point in the story, I’ve failed more than I’ve succeeded.”
“Hence, my pride,” she said, with probably a little too much zeal.
“What are you talking about, woman?” I asked through another laugh.
Tara grinned. “You’re like the over-matched kid who keeps getting shoved to the ground by a bully and
keeps getting back up to continue fighting.”
“Don’t give me too much credit. With each defeat, there was a part of me that wanted to quit.”
“Yet, you didn’t. I mean, walking into her bedroom to be faced with that demon again… It just didn’t stop. Same thing over and over. It would have driven me mad. I don’t know if I could have continued.”
“My heart sank when I saw Garian and the demon again. Because of the victory that I had seen on the Franklins’ back deck, it had felt as though the smoke was finally clearing, like I was seeing an easier road ahead. There was finally hope inside the girl again. Unfortunately, though, Elizabeth’s parents were so emotionally removed from her needs…” I sighed. “Well, the combination of their ignorance, coupled with the relentless nature of that demon, seemed to indicate that any victory up to this point could have been nothing more than an illusion.”
“Okay, I’m ready to keep going,” said Tara.
“As you wish.”
“I CAN’T SAY that I’m excited to see you,” Brent said to Garian, a grim look on his face.
The angel nodded in understanding.
The demon of death stood with a smirk on its face, standing in the far corner of the room, between the head of Elizabeth’s bed and her desk. “Ready for another round?” it asked, goading Brent.
Brent’s temper came alive instantly. “Are you?”
“Brent,” said Garian, “engaging this demon in such a manner will be fruitless.”
Of course he was right. Brent knew that, because of the disappointment of having to take on the enemy again so soon, he could easily get caught up in a pointless game of one-upmanship.
Elizabeth sat down for a moment on the end of her bed and stared into the mirrored hutch of her dresser. The happiness of her ‘Kyle thoughts’ were already a thing of the past.
Behind the Darkness Page 23
