by Noree Cosper
Tres opened his mouth, but I held up my hand. I took a deep breath and began the incantation I’d spoken hundreds of times before.
“I exorcise ye, and powerfully banish ye, commanding ye with strength and violence by him who spake and it was done; and by all these names.”
The incubus’ smirk disappeared as he flickered in the binding circle.
“El Shaddai, Elohim, E--Elohi, Tzabaoth, Elim, Asher Eheieh, Yah, Tetragrammaton, Shaddai,” I said, “which signify God the high and almighty, the God of Israel.”
The demon’s face twisted in agony as his form began to dissipate in tiny motes. If I had some sort of spirit hearing, his screams would have probably reverberated in my ears.
“Through whom undertaking all our operations we shall prosper in all the works of our hands, seeing that the Lord is now, always, and forever with us, in our heart and on our lips. And by his holy names, and by the virtue of the sovereign God, we shall accomplish all our work.”
As the last word left my lips, the remaining motes of the demon dissipated in a flash of purple. I let out a long breath and turned to the others.
“So, it failed?” Tres’s shoulders slumped.
“Not exactly,” I said. “The demon and the human were separated. There just wasn’t enough of the human soul to survive. And the formula did eject the demon from the body.”
The defeated expression on Tres’s face lifted and his gaze slid to Jonah. “This is a success?”
“I would say so,” Jonah said. “Gabby, I’d like you to give me a full report of what you saw.”
I nodded.
“Do you have another dose prepared?” Tres asked. “We can try it on the three we have. They’ve never been possessed, so it should clear up that corruption, right?”
Jonah sighed. “I’d like to try it again on another demon before we move onto them. Perhaps one not showing as many physical changes.”
“That might be a bit difficult,” I said. “Lucy doesn’t always give me details of who I’m going after.”
Adrian cleared his throat. “I may have a way to solve the issue. I’ve come up with a device to track demonic energy. I can adjust the tracking to show lower levels. That might allow us to find what you are looking for.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Us”
“This will be the first time to test it in the field. I would like the be there,” Adrian said.
“Well,” I said, “I’m not going to back to sleep anytime soon. Want to test it now?”
The right side of his mouth curved up into a smirk. “I’ll get the van ready.”
After gathering what I needed, I slid into the passenger seat of Adrian’s van. He was already sitting behind the wheel. He started the ignition as I shut the door. The city had a predawn quiet—well, quiet for New York. We passed few cars as we wound through the streets, lit by the occasional street lamp.
Adrian pulled a small digital screen that resembled a GPS out of his inside coat pocket. He rested it in a case attached to the dashboard of the van and pushed a small button at the bottom of the device. Light flared on the screen and a map of streets appeared. Small red dots flickered in and out, some larger than others.
“Those are the demons?” I asked.
He nodded. “The size of the dot indicates concentration levels of demonic influence.”
“So, it could be someone who has a lot of brimstone or a powerful demon?”
“Yes.” He sighed. “I’m still developing a way to differentiate the two.”
“It works for now. We’re looking for a weak one, anyway.” I peered at the dots on the screen. “What made you think of the tracking system?”
“Lucy is unreliable when trying to locate demons. Either she’s unavailable or her information is faulty at best. Your one-woman mission has proven that over this past month.”
“Well, she’s been trying to find one particular demon.” I poked at the screen. “This couldn’t do that.”
“Not yet,” he said.
My stomach did a small flip flop. Did he create this device to help me? I shook my head. No, Adrian was always about efficiency in hunting. This would make our job easier all together. I doubted he had any other special feelings.
“Why have you been coming with me these last couple of hunts?” I asked. “I mean, you’ve had us test your little toys without you before.”
“Do I need another reason?”
“This is the second time in a row. Usually, you’re not that interested in patrolling with me unless you have a specific goal. Right now, your reasons are a little weak.”
He sighed. “I think you have been going out alone too much lately.”
“I’ve been fine on my own for centuries,” I said.
“While that is true, you still have gotten into situations that you could have used an ally, haven’t you?”
I bit my lip as the memory of being buried in a cemetery flashed through my mind. I shifted in my seat as the walls of the van became more cramped. I’d been killed by a demon I’d been fighting and it had left my body in the open for people to find. The people had buried me. When I’d awoken, I’d found myself trapped under mounds of dirt. It had taken me a week, and several deaths by suffocation, until I’d dug myself out. Even to this day, I hated small spaces. I closed my eyes and took a long breath, counting to ten.
“It would have helped to have someone at my back,” I murmured.
“Now you have us,” Adrian said. “I know you want to get Faust for John, but you don’t have to do it alone.”
Warmth played along my skin and rushed through the back of my neck. I hid my smile and stared at the screen of the demon tracker. I pointed at a small dot two blocks away.
“That looks like what we may need,” I said. “And it’s close.”
“Indeed.” He turned right and headed in that direction.
“Does this only track infernal energy?” I asked. “What about vampires or other spirits?”
“I am still working on that part,” he said. “I need to have an understanding of the other energies to be able to detect them.”
“I can probably help,” I said. “After all, I can see them.”
“I’ll take you up on that, when we have a chance,” he said.
As we pulled next to an abandoned railway next to the street that supposedly held the demon, the dot winked out of existence on the screen. I frowned and peer closer, waiting for it to come back. Nothing happened.
“Was it supposed to do that?” I asked.
Adrian parked the van next to the sidewalk and stared at the screen with his brow furrowed. “No. Unless something happened to the demon, it should track its energies.”
I stared out the window at the underside of the railway bridge. No street lamps lit this part, yet something was burning underneath the bridge.
“I’ll check it out.” I reached for the door handle.
“Wait, I can go with you,” Adrian said.
“You be the backup. I’ll scout ahead. Besides, I’ll have my comm on.” I hopped out of the car and pushed the tiny button on the earbud. “Can you hear me?”
“I can,” he muttered. “You don’t need to rush into this.”
“We need to have actual eyes on this. Besides, if it’s still alive, I don’t want it to get away.”
I stepped to the opening of the bridge underway and gripped the hilt of my sword, which was hidden beneath my leather winter coat. I peered into the alley and had to do a double take.
Irae stood in the center over the burning body of a man. Orange-red flames danced on the fingertips of her upraised hand and cast a strange glow over her crazed expression.
“This one had been purified,” she said.
Chapter 12
I swallowed the bile in my throat at the stench of burning flesh mixed with the smell of rotting metal. The flickering fire cast dancing shadows along the underside of the bridge, giving glimpses of patches of rust invading the metal of the railway. Irae stood in the midd
le with that manic smile growing on her face.
I gritted my teeth. “What have you done?”
“I’ve done what I’m meant to do,” Irae said. “I have rid the world of one more evil.”
Footsteps echoed from behind me, growing louder and signaling Adrian’s approach. His sharp intake of breath was barely audible over the crackling of flames.
I stepped towards Irae, keeping my hand on my sword. “You’re not a hunter. This isn’t your job.”
“Oh, no. I’m much more.” Irae lifted her face up and closed her eyes, the smile still in place. “I am His hand.”
“Who are you talking about?” Adrian’s chin lowered as his narrowed eyes locked onto her. “Are you working for Faust or a rival demon?”
Irae’s lips curled in disgust as she shot Adrian a glare. “How dare you speak such Blasphemy! Have you lost your faith so much?”
Adrian crossed his arms. “You mean God, then? Never really had much faith to begin with. Such a good and powerful entity should have done more to help the world. Instead, we need hunters to fight demons.”
My stomach clenched as my heart seemed to shrink in my chest. “You really don’t believe? But you swore an oath to an Archangel.”
“Another supernatural entity.” Adrian waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “No one has seen this Archangel and I doubt it is good. We’re just caught up in their machinations.”
“Blasphemer,” Irae hissed with clenched fists.
Adrian raised his gun at her. “I’d regret having to tell my brother that I had to put you down. Only because it would upset him.”
Irae’s expression shifted into a smirk. She glanced back at the burning body and the flames rose in a burst of smoke.
“All blasphemers shall be punished.” She turned and walked through the other side of the bridge.
I took a step in that direction. “We should go after her.”
“We know she’ll end up back at the office,” Adrian said. “Besides, we have her mess to clean up.”
He stretched out his hand towards the body and it began to disperse. The flames died as they had less fuel. This was Adrian’s nanites at work. The machines were so small they could not be seen by the human, or inhuman, eye. They were able to break things down on a molecular level and store it or build other things. Though, I didn’t want to know what he planned to build with the bits that had made up a human.
I glanced at his gun. “You don’t really have something to deal with her, do you?”
“No,” Adrian said. “I was unaware what she was capable of, and all nephilim seem to possess different attributes.”
“You haven’t tried to test her?”
“Esais has been overprotective of her. Whenever I try, he is there, interfering.”
“Even he should know that she might pose a danger.” I crossed my arms and bit the inside of my cheek. “And now Aaron is hanging around as well. It’s like they’re congregating. I don’t like it.”
“Now you know how I feel.” Adrian shook his head. “Esais’s boyfriend has telekinesis. The girl can create fire, and who know what the reporter can do, besides out us.”
“I asked Jonah to look into them. Maybe he’ll have more information,” I said. “But will we be able to convince Esais of the danger they may pose? Tres and Marge said he’s been acting strange.”
“He’s always been overprotective of those he sees as weaker,” Adrian said.
I pointed to the remains of the body. “This doesn’t seem weaker to me. Something is going on.”
He sighed. “I will try to talk to him, but you know how well that goes between us. For now, we should look for another demon.”
In the dying flame, a shape caught my eye on the metal railway. I pulled a small flashlight out from one of the pouches on my belt and walked closer for inspection. Burned into the metal was a symbol, similar to Gabriel’s in the exacting lines and perfect circles. It was shaped like a capital T. The left and right sides of the horizontal line looped in lines curving downward with small circles at the end. A stylized three capped with circles intertwined with the bottom of the vertical line of the T. Had Irae been the one to put it here? If so, for what purpose?
“What are you looking at?” Adrian walked up behind me, close enough that our clothes brushed against each other.
My stomach did a flip-flop at his closeness. “It’s a symbol of an Archangel. I saw one like it on the apartment building where we found the demon. I think it’s part of a ritual.”
He brushed his fingers over the symbol. “It looks burned. Irae did this?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “If she did, why would she leave the other demon alive?”
“Perhaps it wasn’t there when she was,” Adrian said. “Do you know what it will do?”
I shook my head. “I need to research which Archangel this symbol belongs to, then figure out why they’re so spread apart.”
Adrian turned and started walking to the van. “We need to find a demon for Jonah first. And we’re running out of night.”
I passed my flashlight over the underside of the bridge. Adrian’s nanites had finished their job, leaving no trace of the body. All that remained was debris, dirt, and rust. I turned and followed Adrian back to the car. He started the engine with a soft, bitter laugh.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I said we were caught up in a war between supernatural entities,” he said. “Looks like that’s what is happening here.”
A chill crept up my spine. He could be right. What did the nephilim have to do with it though? Was Esais involved? After all, he was the emissary to an angel.
“As above, so below,” I murmured as we drove into the night.
Chapter 13
We’d managed to capture a bajang not far from where we’d found Irae. The creature had been dressed in layers of rags hiding in an abandoned alleyway near the railway. She’d tried to run from us, but Adrian had shot her with one of his darts. After we’d locked it in the garage prison, Adrian had forced me to take the elevator to Jonah’s office on the second floor. Shouts floated in the air and through the sealed doors of the elevator even though they hadn’t opened yet. The door slid open with a ding and the yelling intensified.
“How could you be so blind?” Jonah’s voice echoed down the hall.
“I had to take a chance if it would save her,” Tres exclaimed.
I glanced at Adrian as we exited the elevator. “Looks like we walked in on a fight.”
Adrian’s lips pressed in a thin line and he walked through the library and down the hall to the source of the argument. I followed behind him. We stopped at the threshold of Jonah’s office as it was already crowded with the rest of the VHO.
Jonah stood behind his desk with his hands resting on the surface as he glared at Tres with his brows furrowed. Tres was across the desk between two high-backed smoking chairs. The harsh light from the ceiling lamp shone down on Tres’s angry face, giving it more stark lines. Delilah slumped in one of the chairs with her mouth hanging open while Esais occupied the other, examining his nails. His face was a mask of calm. I shivered as he glanced in our direction. Ice and darkness seemed to dance behind his blue eyes. Marge leaned against the wall with her arms crossed and a smirk playing on her lips.
“We don’t know what sort of effects it could have on her,” Jonah said. “You are a doctor. You know how drug trials are supposed to work.”
“What has Tres done now?” Adrian asked.
Tres’s scowl deepened as he glanced back at Adrian.
“Tres decided to give his girlfriend Jonah’s cure without asking nicely.” Marge’s Cajun accent held a twang of amusement.
“Is that why she’s unconscious?” I asked. “Did it go poorly?”
Marge pointed at Esais and her eyes narrowed. “Nah. That’s his doing.”
Esais shrugged. “She threatened to leave and go to the police. She was becoming hysterical, so I thought a nap would be good for her.”
>
“She’s been scared,” Tres said. “We’ve held her here for a month.”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose with a sigh. How did he not get this?
“And the police wouldn’t understand that her soul has been corrupted by a magical drug. She didn’t even understand,” I said. “So, we’d all go down for kidnapping a woman who was spying for a demon.”
Tres’s shoulders stiffened. “But…”
“She needs to be monitored now, anyway.” Jonah gathered a stack of papers that had lain strewn across his desk and thumped the edge of the stack against the surface of the desk. “We must watch for any side effects of the cure.”
“This whole cure seems like a waste of time. All this effort should be put into hunting down the demons still in the city.” Esais glanced at Adrian. “Don’t you agree?”
“Our resources are probably better spent elsewhere,” Adrian said.
Marge snorted. “Yeah. Killing the demons should be first… not dragging them back here to test out some cure that probably won’t work. We need to get them before they get out of the city.”
My brow furrowed as a ghost of a thought nagged at the back of my mind. “Why aren’t they leaving the city?”
Marge shrugged. “Some probably have. And we don’t know how much brimstone got on the streets before we destroyed the sources. So, more demons may be popping up.”
“And Faust is still out there.” My nostrils flared as heat rose to the back of my neck at the thought of him. “He still has the secret of brimstone.”
“But there is a chance we could save the humans the demons possess,” Jonah said.
“Some are too far gone,” I said. “Your experiment earlier proved that.”
“But the soul was freed,” Jonah said. “You said so, yourself.”
“What was left of it.”
“And that was just one test,” Jonah said. “I could refine it… and maybe we could have survivors.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I mean, it’s a great dream, but parts of that soul were devoured. What kind of existence is it for the rest of the human? Maybe it’s better to find ways for everyone to be able to destroy the demon and the soul with it.”
