Demonic

by Karl Morgan

  “I don’t know for sure, but it’s definitely not underground. The sun is shining and there’s a cool breeze. How is that possible?”

  “Don’t you see? It’s another part of the construct. I bet the two Doms are there somewhere. Come and help me kick out more of these stones so we can fit through.”

  “That hardly seems a good place to imprison them, Faith.”

  “Do you have a better idea?” He frowned at Faith and began to kick away at the stones.

  Minutes after Faith and the old man had left him; Dom looked carefully around the alley. Convinced he was alone; he closed his eyes and began to sink into the ground. He descended through the earth and sank toward the center of the planet. He angled his descent toward the center of the palace, several miles away. After a few minutes, the sound of a faint voice reached his ears. “Brother, please do not come here. It is a trap! Someone has changed our reality into an illusion of what it was. All is lost if you reach his place!”

  He knew he had made the right decision and continued downward. “Be calm, Lou, all is well.” After several minutes more, the temperature began to rise quickly, too quickly to account for his proximity to the semi-liquid mantle below. “Moloch, you are a fool,” he thought. “You have bitten off more than you can chew, nephew.”

  “It is you who is mistaken, uncle,” a voice replied. “Now you too will be my slave.”

  The ground gave way under Dom and he fell down into the circular passageway around Cell One. He stood and looked around at the desolate place so deep in the earth, but found it too dark to see anything. He thought and the tunnel was brightly illuminated. He then walked through the wall of the cell and stood a few feet away from Lou’s metal bed. “Lou, are you okay?”

  “Dom, I begged you not to come here. Now all is lost.”

  Dom sat on the bed next to his brother and stroked his cheek. “Do you remember when we created this place?”

  “Frankly, no, isn’t that interesting? How did this happen?”

  “Moloch,” Dom replied.

  “What does that mean, brother?”

  Dom chuckled and said, “Isn’t it interesting that you’ve forgotten your own son’s name?”

  “My son?”

  “Show yourself, Moloch!” Dom demanded. The demon appeared directly in front of Dom. Moloch grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him into the far wall. Dom collapsed to the floor in a heap. Moloch hurried over and prepared to kick him in the head, but Dom grabbed his other foot and pulled it out from under him, sending Moloch crashing down as well. Dom jumped on top of Moloch and began to punch him in the face. “I command you to end this now!”

  Moloch spit out a mouthful of blood and replied, “You two are pitiful; did you know that? You have no idea what’s going on, Dom, but you are about to find out.” Dom pulled his fist back to strike him again, but suddenly his two arms moved back and he began to float up toward the ceiling. Moloch crawled to his feet and turned to his father, saying, “You have lost, old man. I have defeated you and your brother.”

  “Why did you do this, son?” Lou groaned.

  Moloch motioned with his arm and Lou rose up to the ceiling as well. He brought his arms down quickly and the two men slammed into the hard floor. He raised and lowered his arms again and again and the two shot to the ceiling and down to the floor over and again. Moloch began to laugh. “You know, I’m really enjoying this,” he smiled. As he looked down on Dom and Lou, watching their blood ooze out onto the stone floor, he felt a sudden pain and then the silver blade of a sword pushed through his chest. He stumbled forward and fell on top of the others.

  “This ends now!” Faith demanded as she stood holding the bloody weapon. Another Dom and Lou were standing behind her.

  “You are a fool, Faith,” Moloch groaned and then disappeared.

  “Let’s get these two back to our reality,” Dom said.

  After crawling through the opening in the wall, Bill and the second Faith carefully placed the stones back in position and pushed sand and dirt into the crevices until the wall faded away, separating them from that hellish reality. The opening had been between the wall of the hotel and a row of hedges. They found an opening in the hedge and walked out onto the broad lawn leading to the casino entrance. There was a large open patio with two dozen tables where a crowd of people were having lunch and enjoying the bright sunshine. Faith leaned into Bill and whispered, “This definitely isn’t my reality. Could it be yours?”

  He shrugged and said, “I suppose it could be, but that seems pretty unlikely. We can go over to the Bellagio and see if we can find Dom there.”

  She grabbed his arm and pointed into the crowd. “Bill, look over there! Do you see them too?”

  Seated at a patio table on the edge of the area were two Dom Emmanuels. They had cocktails and a tray of appetizers and seemed to be having a great time. “I don’t believe it. What do we do now?”

  She took his hand and pulled him forward, “Let’s go say hello and see what happens.” They walked across the lawn as their clothing changed into casual wear and then stepped onto the patio and moved toward their table. They could see the two men were laughing and flirting with ladies at nearby tables. When they arrived, both Doms looked Faith up and down. “Hi, we don’t mean to intrude, but you two look very familiar to us.”

  “We’ve been told we have pretty common faces, sweetheart,” one of them said. “I’m Brad and this is my twin brother, Bret. You and your husband can join us if you like.”

  She smiled and replied, “Oh, Bill’s not my husband. He’s my brother.”

  Brad stood and pulled out a chair. “Then by all means, you two should join us. Sit here, pretty lady.” After they sat, Brad and Bret moved their chairs closer to hers. “So tell us, honey, who do we remind you of?”

  “My father,” she smiled.

  The two raised their eyebrows and moved their chairs back. “Do we really look old enough to have someone like you as a daughter?”

  “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Frankly, my dad is a very handsome man.”

  Bret turned to Bill and said, “You must be the black sheep in the family, pal. So tell me, what does this father of yours do?”

  “I suppose you could say he is a free spirit. How about you two?”

  “Well, this is it pretty much, isn’t that right bro?” Bret replied as he held his glass up so they could have a toast. They touched their glasses together, took a drink and laughed. “What better life, right?”

  Faith said, “So you two just hang out here in Vegas enjoying the good life. That’s pretty sweet!”

  “Vegas?” Bret asked. “No, I mean we just hang out here.”

  “You two must really like the Wynn,” Bill noted.

  “Huh,” Brad grunted. “No, we mean this table. What’s a Wynn?”

  Bret noticed a waiter and waved him over. The man was very thin with short white hair. “Yes, Mr. Smith?”

  “Proctor, bring drinks and more appetizers for our guests,” Bret ordered. The waiter eyed Bill suspiciously, nodded and hurried away.

  Bill laughed and said, “You guys like this place? Frankly, it’s a bit of a dump if you ask me. Have you tried the Bellagio? Trust me; it’s a much better place.”

  Faith noted, “Oh yeah, the Bellagio is much better and they don’t water down their drinks like they do here.”

  “Seriously?” Brad asked.

  “Let’s go check it out,” she said as she stood, taking both men’s hands.

  As they all stood, the waiter returned. “Is something wrong, Mr. Smith and Mr. Smith?”

  “No, not at all, Proctor,” Bret replied. “Our friends just want to show us another place. We’ll be back soon.”

  “Another place? Please wait a moment,” Proctor began, sweating noticeably. “I need to get Mr. M and your tab.”

  Bill grabbed the waiter by the shoulder, stared into his eyes and said, “Proctor, there’s no need for that. Just put the tab on their room, okay?”

&n
bsp; “Their room?” he groaned and Bill nodded. The waiter nodded and hurried away.

  Faith led them across the patio toward the glass doors leading into the casino. Through the glass they could see hundreds of people gambling and milling about. The faint sound of slot machines could be heard. The doors opened and they stepped inside with the doors closing behind them. “What the hell is this?” Brad shouted.

  The casino was wrecked. There were no people although a few skeletons were scattered about. The front of the hotel was smashed and dust and tumbleweeds filled the interior between banks of quiet slot machines and broken tables. Bill looked back and saw the patio was in the same condition. The illusion of the crowd was gone. “We’d better get out of here fast,” he ordered as Faith pulled the men forward.

  “What did you two do to us?” Bret asked. “Where did all those people go?”

  “There’s no time,” Faith shouted. “We have to get to the Bellagio as fast as we can. We’ll talk there.”

  They worked their way through the wreckage to the open front of the hotel and out onto the street. “Faith, what is this place?” Brad asked.

  Her eyes opened very wide and she turned to him and said, “Dad? Do you remember now?”

  “Huh? I’m Brad or did you forget already?”

  “But you called me Faith?”

  “Didn’t you tell me that was your name?”

  “I never said my name and neither did Bill.”

  A loud hissing sound interrupted them and they turned to see thousands of enforcers emerging from the rubble and nearby manholes. An all-white enforcer led them. “What the heck are those things?” Bret asked.

  Instantly, Bill was a demon again with battle axes in each hand and Faith had morphed into an angel. “Faith, get them to the Bellagio, it’s our only chance.”

  “Bill, this place looks like the same Vegas we came from.”

  “I think it is the same.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Brad inquired.

  Before he could answer, Faith picked the two men up and took wing, heading toward the shell of the other hotel. Bill spun around to face the horde of monsters. “Proctor, now is your time to die!” The enforcers charged him from every direction, while a pack of winged beasts took after Faith. Bill jumped into the center of the pack and began hacking away at the throng. An odd feeling came over him and he spun around to see the white enforcer flying toward him. Instinctively, he held his blade in front of his chest just as it arrived, slicing it in half lengthwise, it’s blood spattering all over him. The others froze in horror for a moment. Bill blasted the dead beast with flames until it was reduced to ash. The enforcers jumped him and began to pile on again. He stretched out his bat-like wings and flapped to keep the monsters from alighting there. Soon, tens of thousands were holding on to him and each other, trying to crush him with their weight. He jumped into the air and flapped as hard as he could. He could not see anything but their crawling bodies, but he flew higher still. From outside the mass, Faith could see a few enforcers loosing grip and falling hundreds of feet into the rubble where they bodies were smashed. He flew higher still and soon it became frigidly cold. He has passed through the atmosphere and floated in open space. The enforcers gasped for breath and many began to pop from lack of pressure. Bill shook their bodies off and left the mass of dead beasts to their grave above the planet or fiery reentry. He dove back to find Faith.

  She and the two Doms were backed into a broken down corner of a building. Tens of thousands of enforcers surrounded them. Her blade moved incredibly fast, chopping to pieces those foolish enough to attack. The two men were crouched on the ground covering their heads. Rivers of enforcer blood poured down the street as Bill shot back into the battle. A hundred feet below him, he saw three more all-white enforcers working their way through the throng toward their destiny. Faith noticed them as they arrived at the front line but was too consumed with the fight to do anything. The axe in Bill’s right hand became a lance and he hurled it toward the enforcers. The white enforcers charged, throwing themselves through the air. The lance shot through them and the three dead beasts fell at Faith’s feet. She held her sword at the ready, but the rest of the enforcers began to move away, back into the shadows.

  Bill landed ten feet in front of Faith and had become human again by the time he hugged her close. He heard a cough and turned to see one of the white enforcers gasping for air. Bill squatted next to it and pulled it off the blade and held it up to his face. It was writhing in pain and coughing up blood. Bill pressed his face to the creature and said, “Proctor, when you get to hell, tell your master that I’m coming for him.” The beast exhaled a last time and died. He dropped the corpse to the ground, stood and turned to face the others.

  “Why did they stop, Bill?” Faith asked.

  “I think the white ones are their leaders, and they can get inside us and take over our minds. We must have killed all the white ones here. The rest knew they would die in vain if they continued.”

  “Those are the most horrible monsters I’ve ever seen. What the hell are they?” Bret asked.

  “We think they are mutants of some kind that evolved after the nuclear war here,” Faith replied.

  “Can we go back to the bar now?” Brad asked. “And why did you bring us to this terrible place?”

  Bill ignored him and turned to Faith. “Is this the Bellagio?”

  “Yeah, well it’s part of the entrance. You can see the remains of the structure just past this wall,” she replied.

  “Okay, let’s look for the elevators.” He walked away and headed for the superstructure.

  Bret tapped Faith on the shoulder and said, “Your brother is crazy, Faith. An elevator isn’t going to take us anywhere. I mean, look at this place!”

  “Guys, please indulge us for a bit, okay?” she smiled. “After we look around here a bit, you can buy us that round of drinks.” The men grinned and gave each other a high-five.

  They found Bill digging through a pile of rubble where the elevators had been. The doorframe that led to the hidden elevator stood nearby. The door was gone and they walked through the opening as they approached him. “Hurry up, Bill, we’re going to go get a drink,” Bret said as they stood over him.

  Bill turned his head to look up at them and said, “Give me a minute, okay?”

  “Man, we’re thirsty okay?”

  Bill tossed aside a concrete block and noticed the fallen door under the pile. “Just relax, guys, or better yet, give me a hand.” He grabbed another block and tossed it aside.

  “Hey buddy, we’re losing our buzz. You sure know how to bring a guy down!”

  Bill stood and glowered at the two men. “You two just don’t get it, do you?” They just looked back at him blankly. “So, you two didn’t notice anything strange going on?” They shrugged their shoulders. “Are you kidding me?”

  “Bill, please calm down,” Faith begged.

  He looked at her and then back to the others. “So, you walked from the patio into the hotel and instantly everything was destroyed. Then we were attacked by thousands of bloodthirsty monsters. Faith turned into an angel and I became a demon to fight them off, and all of this seems normal to you!”

  Bret looked nervously at Brad and then Faith. He turned to Bill and said, “Man, you definitely need a drink!”

  “I couldn’t agree more!” Brad added.

  Bill was about to explode, but Faith touched his shoulder and smiled. She turned to the men and kissed each on the cheek. “Why don’t you two strong men help Bill set up the door? Please! I’ll make it worth your time, if you know what I mean.” She winked at them.

  “Now that’s more like it,” Bret said as he high-fived his brother. The two men helped Bill pull away the last of the debris. They then picked up the door and set it against the doorframe. “Done! Party time!”

  Bill pulled open the door to reveal the elevator car. The two men were shocked. “Where did that come from?” Bill walked inside and motio
ned for the others to join him. “Where does this thing go, anyway?”

  Faith took their arms and said, “There’s a stocked bar on the roof, guys.”

  “Now you’re talking!” Bret said as they walked inside and the door closed.

  After standing quietly for three minutes, Brad said, “Man, this is taking forever. Is it a good bar?”

  “It’s out of this world,” Bill smiled and the two men high-fived him. “Faith, have you figured this out yet? Do you think there could be enforcers inside them?”

  “Inside whom?” Bret asked.

  Faith caressed Bret’s cheek and said, “Nobody you know, stud. Bill, I can’t think of another reason why they still act the way they do.”

  Brad frowned and said, “You know it’s rude to talk about other people in front of us.” Before they could answer, the elevator door opened, revealing the glass hall suspended in space. A cloud of dead enforcers could be seen floating outside. “Far freaking out! Bret, come out here and check it out!” Both men rushed into the hallway and marveled at the scene. “This is the coolest bar ever!”

  Bill leaned into Faith and said, “Something’s really wrong, Faith. I’m not sure it’s wise to take these two into the office in their condition.”

  “Bill, we have to figure this out. I’m not sure what to do.”

  Bret stuck his head back into the elevator and said, “Come along you two. Where’s the bar?”

  Faith shrugged her shoulders, took Bill’s hand and they walked out into the hallway. The elevator door closed and Bret and Brad fell to the floor unconscious. Bill knelt next to Bret and turned him over to find a white arm coming out of his chest. He grabbed the arm and pulled the enforcer out and twisted its head off. He heard a scuffle and turned to see a second enforcer trying to enter Faith. He jumped and grabbed its head and squeezed until the skull popped and brains splattered over them. He dropped the dead body to the floor.

  “What’s going on here, Faith?” both Doms said in unison. They turned to each other and asked, “Who are you?”