Demon VII: Disciples of Darkness (Mike Rawlins and Demon the Dog Book 7)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “I asked them not to say anything,” Joanie admitted. “Mike flattened three more and Denny nailed one other. We went on to school without a backwards glance. They believe they can fondle anyone they want.”

  Denny sighed. “They brought the damn media with them. Any ideas, Mike?”

  Mike gazed at the video, listening to the audio of infidel hatred and Moslem offended sensitivities. “Couldn’t we just leave them there and forget they exist?”

  “Why not do what you did to the KFC protestors,” Demon suggested. He began to suddenly hop around with Muttley snicker sounding. “I have it! Strip one of the slaves standing amongst the mutants!”

  Mike smiled at the general amusement regarding Demon’s suggestion. “I need line of sight to do that. You all stay here. I’ll go around to our lab entrance and sneak out. I have a direct visual in the dark from there. You’re a genius at pranks, D. We won’t even get bad publicity. Oh my… on it.”

  Mike raced from the room with everyone sitting in front of the big screen, as Denny streamed the gate cam recording to the larger venue.

  “Mike seemed really into this prank,” Mary observed.

  “It is the perfect one to do, Mar,” Mongo replied. “The media records the protestors. Mike gives them something to record not involving us.”

  “Best of all,” Janis added, “Mike doesn’t need to juice anyone.”

  “Here we go,” Stan pointed.

  One woman, draped in a burka at the gate amidst the men, felt her burka lower hem sliding up. She grabbed it, turning to look at the man behind her. While the woman returned to her chanting, her burka suddenly flew up and off her body. Her panties and bra went next. Screaming, the woman clutched herself while her husband tried to shield his wife from view. The melee fired into overdrive as Mike stripped another. Fistfights and swinging signs took their toll amongst the media people too. Mike didn’t end the onslaught until sirens could be heard. By then, wild amusement had already engulfed Demon Inc. Mike used his tendrils of darkness to trip and cast aside the rioters, keeping the police from danger when they arrived.

  The confused police finally told the rioters and media to leave, unable to understand any of what happened. When some of the Moslems began shouting at the police, Mike smacked them in the head until they shut up. Ten minutes later, the area in front of Demon Inc was clear. Mike returned to the entertainment room, where he received a standing ovation and a head butt from Demon.

  “That was the best, Ripper. We need to use this new tool in the drawer often,” Demon said. “We need to rent you out for riot control.”

  “Yeah… if I ever want a trip to Middle Earth, that would do it.” Mike sipped the double Mongo handed him. “Are we ready for ‘Groundhog Day’?”

  “Starting right now,” Denny said, pushing the remote button. “Hopefully, we can see a couple of movies without the zombie apocalypse starting at our gate.”

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” Stan replied.

  * * *

  Mary clung to Mike in feverish intensity, her breath slowing finally. “Oh God… tha…that was too much. You drive me crazy.”

  Mike stroked her side with whisper soft touch, sending a shudder through her body as she moved against him. “Define too much.”

  Mary patted his arm, relaxing onto her back. “Every time your mom looks at me.”

  “We’ve only visited a couple times. Remember the part about you don’t feel uncomfortable being with me? My folks will accept you being here at their own pace. You need to accept the fact you could have been my babysitter.”

  Mary gasped. “Why you dirty… no good… Captain Darkness!”

  “If I was really a Captain Darkness, I wouldn’t have shields up around our room to keep my paranormal brothers from pranking me when I’m with you.”

  “Wouldn’t Mongo refuse to prank us?”

  “Nope. Mongo is in thrall to the Dark Bluto. He would carry out D’s orders to the letter, before giving him a shaming gesture with false outrage.”

  “Your folks accept the paranormals. Maybe someday they’ll accept me.”

  Mike kissed her. “One day at a time. We’re doing this slowly - not rushing anything. Would you like a little wine? I put two glasses in the freezer in case you did.”

  “That sounds wonderful.”

  Mike put on his t-shirt, slippers and black jeans. He then folded his arms in a waiting pose.

  Mary straightened. “What?”

  “I’ll show you in a moment after you throw your robe on.”

  Mary left the bed and put on her robe. “Okay… now what?”

  Mike opened the door suddenly with his mind. Demon tumbled into the room on his side with Baby Groot stumbling over him in a face plant on the floor.

  “I am Groot?” Mongo peeked over the bed covers comically.

  “Good one, Ripper,” Demon righted himself. “Hi Mar. Mongo and I were passing by and thought we’d look in on you and Cap.”

  “That’s very sweet of you, D. We’re fine. Mike was on his way to get us wine he put in the freezer for us.”

  “Uh oh,” Demon muttered.

  Mike sighed, realizing the wine went the way of everything else tasty and left within reach of Demon and Mongo. “How about a small brandy with an ice cube, babe?”

  Mary laughed. “That will be fine.”

  Groot hopped onto Demon’s back. “We shall have a brandy with El Capitan Darkness and his lady love, Mary.”

  “Excellent idea,” Demon stated.

  “Fine,” Mike conceded. “C’mon.”

  Chapter Three

  Night Attack and Relationship Fail

  When they returned with the brandy snifters and Demon’s drink bowl, they heard soft music coming from the room. Mary awaited them, still in her robe, but under the covers. Mike handed her a snifter and joined her on the bed. Baby Groot climbed daintily to the foot of the bed with brandy in his appendage. Demon sampled his from the special glass bowl with a grunt of pleasure.

  “Do not worry, El Capitan Darkness. I did a patrol of the San Lorenzo area, memorizing and recording all the vehicles in the area suspected to be the baby killers’ hunting ground. I repeat the patrol every half an hour.”

  “Great. Good thinking on the recording. Did you or Denny suggest it?”

  “I suggested it,” Mongo answered. “Denny thought it was a good idea. I figured we may get a picture of the banditos doing a recon of their target.”

  “Mongo’s been watching all the cop shows,” Demon explained. “I think he has every procedural item memorized, from mirandizing the perp, to staking out likely suspects, and the small endeavors of the criminal mind. He’s a natural.”

  “We’ll need him if we want the money to keep coming in. Finding lost kids or locating young adults on the run would be a high-ticket item,” Mike said. “I know we’re doing good, moneywise, but we’re young, with college bills, family bills, and our properties to keep up. Denny needs research and development money too.”

  “Ripper’s right,” Demon agreed. “We need to keep Demon Inc in the lifestyle we’ve become accustomed to, not that there’s anything lavish about it. Laura has our fund going strong. She’s proud of it and I listen intently, even though I’m bored to tears.”

  “I’m glad we threaded Laura into the group. She’s completely integrated into the crew with us now, including networking on dangerous events with Joanie. Little Mike will be raised to be a winner with her and Tom. Tom’s doing very well in college earning his engineering degree, and Laura combines her work in biochemistry and working the books in Demon Inc perfectly. I’m glad Stan and Jerry are getting out of the football stuff. I get tired seeing those guys after their practices.”

  “You burned the candle at both ends for a long time too, big dog,” Demon reminded Mike. “You still draft offensive and defensive strategies for the coach at the high school he puts in on gameday.”

  “I’m glad after this season ends, I’ll be away from doing that too. The guys a
re great. We’re all friends and they understand why I can’t be on the line with them. They all saw what I did to the rioters at the school. I-”

  Mike dropped his brandy. He grabbed the Radalia demon by the neck as it streaked at Mary, her scream blasting into his ear. He propelled his captive against the wall. Demon and Mongo munched, and enveloped the creature’s appendages into restraints, produced by Mongo’s limbs. Mike met his paranormal brothers’ questioning looks with a head shake.

  “We have him, brothers,” Mike stated, staring into the howling Haunt-type entity’s face. He shut off its sound while diving deep into the core of its being. “Be right back.”

  Mike burrowed in, familiar with the basic Radalia consciousness, but not overconfident in his ability to move as he wished without being ambushed. He found each entity carried the mother lode of the hellish Radalia Dimension – chaos, violence, and vengeance unlike anything experienced on the Haunt home world, fabricated in unending woven threads of hate. Mike released the darkness within him. The tendrils trembled in happiness, making Mike grin. They ate the thing from the inside out, generating the essence of Radalia to Mike. He halted them before they completely obliterated the Radalia being.

  “How could you know to find me here?”

  “End…end the pain… and I will tell you!”

  “Nope.”

  Moments of intense anguish gushed through what remained of the creature until it broke, knowing Mike had ended its dissolution a heartbeat from obliteration. “The… witch! She found a way for us to seep in at any weakness in the dimensional wall. I…I escaped your assault on her house. She was quite… powerful.”

  “I dumped her in your dimension, burning alive. You won’t make it that far unless I hear something interesting and informative from you. Were you sent to kill me?”

  “I was directed by a creature named Rayden. He also has… power.”

  “He’s the bomb in his own mind. You’ve earned a quick ending. Enjoy.”

  Mike burned the entity without a second thought, retreating within his own soul once again. He opened his eyes, holding nothing but dust. Mike brushed it away, smiling at Mongo and Demon. “The witch brought him into our dimension somehow, but Rayden Kirk directed it here. We have threads to investigate, brothers.”

  “Denny’s on the way, Ripper,” Demon told him. “It slashed you.”

  Mike glanced down at Mary pressing a wad of clothing against the ragged wound under his ribcage. Denny arrived a moment later with Haunt weapon primed. He sprayed around the wound, soaking the clothing bandage and Mary’s hands in his Haunt killing mixture of colloidal silver and holy water. The wound hissed, steamed and evaporated, leaving only a thin red line when Mary eased away from it.

  “Get a colloidal silver spike, Mongo. We’ll need to put the Ripper down,” Demon directed, receiving an immediate shaming from Baby Groot.

  “Bad Bluto… we…we won’t need to stake you… will we, Mike?”

  “I don’t think so,” Mike answered after recovering from Demon’s ace. “I’ll be in quarantine here. Mary will need to bunk in another room though. We have plenty.”

  “No way! No How! I’m with you,” Mary protested, covering herself with bedding.

  “Mary… it’s for your own safety,” Demon urged. “Mike could turn into a super Satyr sometime in the night. You’d never recover.”

  “Oh… thanks, D,” Mike replied as Denny, Mongo and Demon enjoyed the comical warning of sexual deviancy. Even Mary’s covers rattled as she stifled amusement.

  Mary put the covers down. “I’m not leaving Mike, so go get us some more brandy.”

  Mongo saluted. “An excellent choice, my lady Mary.”

  Mongo zoomed off with the snifters and Demon’s bowl. Denny followed to help. They returned in short moments in which Mike cast off his slashed t-shirt to replace it with another. Demon sniffed around the room, finishing with a last check of Mike for any sign of Radalia contamination. He crouched over the new bowl Mongo brought. Denny joined them this time, sitting in one of the other chairs.

  “I could make you a mixture of colloidal silver and holy water, Mike.”

  “That never works for me, Den. I have the willpower to void any bad stuff now. Remember how I siphoned off the surge from the host attacking Las Vegas?”

  Denny nodded. “Yeah… but the Radalia are a different species of Haunt. We don’t know what the hell the effect will be. We’ll need to have D slime you every half hour as a precaution.”

  Mike turned to the very amused Mongo. “Get a stake, Mongo. Kill me now. I’m not letting that tongue get within a foot of me.”

  “Enough with the doggy jokes. Mary’s your responsibility, Ripper. What do we do about this Rayden Kirk guy? We should have dumped him in the hell dimension when we found his cult trying to sacrifice that girl.”

  “It would have been too hard to explain, D. We also needed to get Theta to safety. First thing tomorrow, we call her and find out if Rayden’s tried to contact or stalk her. We’ll take care of Rayden soon. I’ll be careful with Mary. Finish your brandy and get some sleep.”

  “Okay, Mike. Goodnight, Mar.” Denny left with Mongo following, doing a final Baby Groot dance step before waving and disappearing out the door.

  “When you said you’ll be careful with Mary, what-”

  Demon went airborne slowly, turning and leaving the room under Mike’s power.

  “I will, of course, slime you for this, Ripper,” Demon threatened.

  “It will be the last time you ever use that tongue,” Mike called out after him, closing the door and establishing his shielding again.

  Mary shrugged out of her robe. “See anything you like?”

  “Didn’t the appearance of a monster affect you any?”

  “Lately, after being with you for a time, your mom scares me more,” Mary answered as Mike joined her in bed.

  Mike grinned. “Mom has the same effect on D and Mongo. Let me help you think of something else besides my mom.”

  * * *

  “Do you think Mike is okay?”

  Demon did a wave off with his paw. “I can’t tell on him. I don’t sense any evil. He should at least leave his shields down, so we can get to him quickly. We can’t hear a damn thing through the shields either.”

  Mongo snickered. “He knows us too well, dog.”

  “Yeah… you’re right. We’d abuse him and embarrass Mary. It wouldn’t be like what we did to Sad Sack and the Holy Grail. Those Demon Inc archives of lost souls’ recordings are classics. Lucky for us we own Frodo. He knows if he ever deletes those, we’ll flay the little hobbit alive.”

  “No, we would not!” Baby Groot gave Demon the shaming gesture. “Bad Bluto.”

  “Don’t get your branches bent out of shape. Of course, we wouldn’t do it, but he doesn’t know that. Every now and then, I need to take the hobbit down and show him my fangs, so he knows he’s not dealing with Benji.”

  “I better go do my patrol.”

  As Mongo changed into full Haunt form, Demon accompanied him to the entrance. Mongo could pass through any wall, but he usually left through the door because he wore his video recording cam.

  “Your ability to record everything impresses the hell out of me,” Demon admitted. “Too bad you can’t become a video cam, so you wouldn’t need the solid one.”

  “I can put it down at any time if I need to look inside a building or car.” Mongo opened the door. “We need to find the baby killers. They surely have made other mistakes elsewhere.”

  “I believe you’re right. I’ll see you in a little while.”

  Mongo flew off. Demon rested on the small bed near the door. Mongo would need to enter through the door upon his return, so they couldn’t turn on the security system. Anyone but Mongo trying to enter would meet Demon.

  * * *

  Mike felt the hard surface against his face as he woke with a startled grunt. He felt the ceiling with his hands, pushing away from it and looking around. “Uh oh.” />
  Mike carefully turned around, so he faced downward. He saw Mary sleeping peacefully on the bed. Although an interesting development, Mike knew he would need to control the power before sharing with his friends. Take it slow, dummy. Don’t panic. With iron will, Mike drifted slowly to the floor, his tendrils of darkness flowing around him, helping with his focus. Testing his walking ability without shooting off into the ceiling again, Mike paced ahead one careful step at a time. Exiting the room and closing the door, Mike came face to face with Demon and Mongo.

  “See it, Mongo. Big Daddy’s got his chi on. That can only mean one thing: Ripper’s juicin’ on the inside. Let your brothers help you. What new curse descended on you in the darkness and is Maid Marian still alive?”

  Mike hesitated. Mongo put a Haunt arm around him. “We got you, Mike. What has happened. Come and have coffee. It is almost 5:30, your usual wakening time in the morning. Bluto said I made it just right.”

  “He did, Mike. Mongo put in a touch of salt with lemon essence. You’ll love it.”

  Mike walked more normally as he listened to Demon and Mongo speak of coffee. “Mary’s fine. I woke with my face on the ceiling and had to command myself to the floor. Lemon essence… really?”

  “Just a couple drops, El Capitan. The ceiling, huh? I hate when that happens.”

  “It’s happened to you, Mongo?”

  “He goes into a meditative state and sometimes Mongo drifts to the ceiling,” Demon explained. “Flying around like a Haunt, huh Cap? Might as well own it, brother. Don’t have any coffee until you show us. Right here will do.”

  Stopping and stretching his hands toward the ceiling, Mike drew the image of what was above to him, while concentrating on the mass of his body. He floated upward before adding mass to his frame until neutral buoyancy halted his assent.

  “Very good, El Capitan. You have achieved and mastered a new mutant power. Bluto and I hoped it would not be something in the Radalia nature of pure evil.”

  “The next step will be learning what speed you have in flight,” Demon said. “You can’t do that in here or in daylight, so come on down, Tinkerbell, and have some coffee with us while we talk Rayden Kirk. That’s the prick that caused this.”