The Boy Who Killed Demons: A Novel

by Dave Zeltserman

  “You got any ideas who might’ve done it?” I said, as if I was really interested in what Curt might think.

  Curt sat back and rubbed his chin as he pondered the subject, then flashed me a guilty look. “This might sound crazy,” he said, “but Wesley really hates your guts right now. I mean, with a passion. You gave him the spare key to your locker, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah. But why are you saying Wesley hates my guts?”

  “Because that’s what he told me when I asked him if he wanted to join me at your table. What’s up with the two of you? You fuck his sister or something?”

  “Come on, she’s ten years old.”

  “His mom then?”

  I didn’t bother responding to that.

  “Whatever you did, you really pissed him off.”

  “I really have no idea, I’m serious.”

  Curt wasn’t anywhere near as intuitive as Sally, so he couldn’t tell that I was lying. He filled up his fork again with more food and chewed on it thoughtfully. “Whatever you did to piss him off, maybe he retaliated by planting those drugs in your locker? It makes sense since he has a spare key. I wonder how he got those drugs? I wouldn’t have thought he was capable of it.” His eyes widened, and his face whitened with a nervous excitement. “The police are gonna talk to him,” Curt went on. “They’ll figure out that he’s the guy also since he’s been holding a spare key to your locker.”

  A cool numbness filled my head as I realized Curt could be right. At the moment, the school and the police were thinking it was Devin, but once they realized Wesley had my spare key, they’d probably figure the two of them did it together, or at least that’s what they’d be figuring before they talked to Wesley. But what then? Would they believe Wesley that I drugged him with psilocybin mushrooms so I could steal a forty thousand dollar comic book? Would they then go back to thinking those drugs were mine after all?

  My head started hurting thinking of all that. No matter what, even if they went back to believing those drugs were mine and that I stole that comic book, they wouldn’t have any evidence and they wouldn’t be able to do anything. They probably wouldn’t even be able to kick me out of school at this point. My parents wouldn’t believe them, at least not without any solid evidence. Well, maybe my mom would, but not my dad. Word would get back to Sally, though, and she’d start thinking again that I was a complete lunatic and that I made up everything I did about Devin. Right now she was having her doubts about him, but once she heard that the police were investigating me again, she’d forget all about how dogs reacted with Devin, probably go into deep denial about it. And then she’d be telling Devin what I told her.

  Fuck.

  I had to hope that the police didn’t talk to Wesley, or if they did, that they didn’t believe him. This had the potential of blowing up in my face.

  I must’ve gotten very quiet after that, because Curt asked me what was wrong, was I thinking also that it had to be Wesley? I told him that I couldn’t believe Wesley would’ve had the balls to do something like that, but I had a lot on my mind.

  My cell phone’s ringing. It’s Sally.

  More later.

  Sunday, October 16th 10:17 PM

  I JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH SALLY. SHE’S SCARED, AND SHE wants to know why dogs act the way they do with Devin.

  “We did make plans to hook up this afternoon,” she told me, her voice cautious, fragile. “This was when we met up right before lunch. After what you told me I couldn’t do it. I started seeing Connor differently, like he was colder, harsher, if that makes any sense. So I made up an excuse why I couldn’t get together with him. This look came over his face when I told him that really scared me, Henry. I think he would’ve hurt me, too, if there weren’t other people around. He lifted his hand as if he was going to hit me, but then he caught himself and noticed all the other kids, and he changed the gesture as if he were only pushing his hand through his hair.”

  Another chill and shiver hit me. If Devin had struck Sally, he would’ve killed her. His demon talon would’ve sliced off her head. I also knew he’d been waiting until I was back in school before making his move on Sally. If she hadn’t cancelled their plans, he would’ve made sure that I knew where and when their hook up was going to be so he’d have his chance to torture and kill me when I showed up to stop them.

  “What did you see that scared you so much?” I asked, my voice only a whisper.

  “This expression that came over his face. Something that wasn’t human. Almost like a shadow that passed over him. I don’t know, like this awful mix of fury and hatred and ugliness. What’s wrong with him, Henry, and why did I see a dog almost choke himself to death on his leash trying to get away from Connor? And another one acted the same way when the owner tried to walk the dog near us.”

  It was too bad Sally hadn’t looked at Devin’s face when those dogs first showed up. She would’ve known then that something was very wrong about him.

  “He’s evil,” I said. “If you had hooked up with him this afternoon he would’ve hurt you badly, maybe killed you.”

  She was quiet for a long moment as she thought about what I told her. When she spoke next it was to ask me what I meant about Devin hurting her. “Does Connor have really bad STDs or something?”

  “No. He would’ve done terrible things to you if he had gotten you alone somewhere.”

  I imagined Sally taking Devin to those same secluded woods near the golf course where we had gone to those times when we hooked up, and I became nauseous as I pictured what Devin would’ve done to her.

  There was more silence on Sally’s part as she digested what I told her. Then she asked me again about the dogs, about why those two dogs acted the way they did.

  “Three dogs,” I said. “You’re forgetting about that police drug-sniffing dog that was brought to the school.”

  “Okay, three dogs. Why do they act that way?”

  “Because they sense what he really is and it terrifies them.”

  “Would this happen with any dog?”

  “Yep, every single one.”

  “Henry, when I broke off my plans with Connor, he demanded that I tell him what you told me about him. He insisted that you had to have told me something, and that was why I was acting so nervous around him.”

  “Did you tell him?”

  “No, of course not. I admitted to him that I lied about my excuse, and that I broke things off because I realized I still had feelings for you and didn’t want to hook up with anyone else now. I don’t think he believed me. Henry, I’m scared. I don’t want to see him again. I don’t think I could go to school knowing he’s there.”

  “He won’t hurt you now,” I said, and I knew that was true. The demon Devin couldn’t take the chance of hurting her after this, not with the demons so close to opening the gates of hell. They couldn’t risk bringing any undue attention to themselves. It would be one thing sneaking Sally into the woods and doing horrible things to her and leaving her body torn up as if she’d been attacked and killed by wild animals—it would be another thing altogether to go after her now that she was onto him, especially since she might’ve told her parents and other people about him scaring her. No, he couldn’t take that chance. And why would he bother with them so close to bringing us all to hell?

  I asked, “Do you know where he lives?”

  There was more silence from Sally before she told me that she didn’t. “It’s funny,” she said, “but I don’t have any idea.” Another long pause, then, “Why do you want to know?”

  “No reason. I’ll see you tomorrow. And don’t worry about Devin. He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him.”

  After I got off the phone with Sally, I thought about some of the things she told me, like her telling Devin that she still had feelings for me. That could’ve been meant only as an excuse on her part, but maybe it wasn’t, maybe she really did have feelings for me. I decided I couldn’t let myself go there. I had to let that part of me stay dead. I could care abo
ut Sally and want to protect her, but I couldn’t let myself reopen any sort of romantic feelings towards her. Time was slipping away fast enough as it was.

  I also decided I was going to have to keep my dagger with me at all times. There was a chance that the police detective would get his warrant to search my parents’ house, but there had to be a bigger chance that one of those demons might try visiting me late at night, especially now that Devin was more suspicious of me than ever. At least the school doesn’t have metal detectors like the ones in Boston, so I’ll be able to keep the dagger in my backpack. No fucking way I’m taking any chances now.

  I feel so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open, but I still have so much that I need to do tonight. Once my parents are asleep I need to go out and retrieve my dagger from where I hid it. I also have to make plans for tomorrow because I need to get back to killing demons.

  Monday, October 17th 7:05 AM

  MY PARENTS WENT TO BED EARLY LAST NIGHT. BY ELEVEN, THEY were finished up in their respective bathrooms, at least from what I could hear from the hallway, and soon afterwards the lights went out in their room. I spent the next fifteen minutes listening outside their door. After hearing nothing but the simulated ocean sounds that they use for sleeping, I decided it was safe, and I snuck out of the house. Once outside, I rode my bike to the golf course, then into the woods where I had hidden my dagger. At one point my flashlight hit some large weasel-like animal that I think was a fisher cat, but after it hissed out some god-awful cry at me, it slunk away.

  It didn’t take me long to find where I had buried the knife—I had used several rocks near a fallen tree as a marker, and even in the dark with only a flashlight I found it without too much trouble. I had buried the dagger in a plastic bag, and I’d just finished digging out the hole when I heard leaves crunching from a distance behind me. I pulled the dagger out of the bag and turned with my flashlight to catch Hanley’s ugly demon face, his yellow eyes tinged with black demon blood and shining with violence. He was maybe a hundred feet away, but there was no mistaking what was in those eyes.

  So he’d been watching my house and had followed me. He must’ve run after me on foot, or more accurately, demon paws, since he wasn’t wearing anything other than a wife beater and a pair of boxer shorts, and had nothing covering his animal-like demon feet. Maybe he had spotted me from his house and ran out before he had a chance to put on some clothes, but I was sure these demons had tough enough hide that the cold October air didn’t matter to him.

  Hanley’s eyes locked on me. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t bother with any pretense of acting human, like asking me what I was doing there or anything else. As far as he was concerned what was going to happen next was a done deal, and he came charging at me like a fiend out of hell, moving a lot faster than I would’ve imagined possible. He was no more than ten feet from me when I spun around to face him, the dagger gripped in both hands. Things changed quickly then. His demon jaw twisted to show a look of utter confusion, and his movements slowed tremendously, as if he were making his way through a vat of molasses. I don’t think he saw my knife yet, but a confused fear showed in his eyes. As the fear spread throughout his demon face, he started to back away from me. He didn’t get very far before tripping over a tree stump and falling onto his back. It had to be the symbols etched onto the dagger’s blade. That had to be what robbed these demons of their strength. I couldn’t help smiling realizing that.

  Hanley hadn’t given up quite yet. He tried rolling over onto his hands and knees so he could crawl away, but as I took several steps towards him, which brought the dagger all that much closer, his knees and arms gave out and he collapsed onto his belly. I moved forward a few more steps so that I was standing next to him. Weakly, he lifted his head up and I showed him the dagger. He made a gurgling noise at first, as if he were drowning, then groaned out in a weaker versions of his demon hisses and snarls, “Henry, I believe I’m having a heart attack. Please, get me help.”

  The scene was so ludicrous that I started laughing like I was insane. As I laughed, my body convulsed so hard that my stomach ached and tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t help myself. I guess I was having some sort of breakdown, even though I didn’t realize it at the time. But who could blame me? Here I had the demon Hanley following me into the woods, charging me to kill me, and then trying to pretend that he was only my down-the-street-neighbor instead of a homicidal demon even though he had to know that I could see him for what he really was. I guess he must’ve been confused over what was happening to him and was trying to play for time, hoping his strength would come back to him. What did he take me for, an idiot?

  “I wanted to make sure everything was okay with you,” he continued to croak out in his guttural demon sputtering with very little strength to his voice. There were long pauses from him as he stopped to suck in air. “Why would you be coming into the woods at this hour?”

  My laughter quickly died down to a wheeze and then to nothing. I told him he had to be kidding.

  “What do you mean that I’m kidding?” Another long pause as his breathing became more ragged. “Henry, try to understand that I need medical help. Please, get me a doctor.”

  I sat down on the ground next to him and gingerly rubbed my stomach. It was sore from how hard I’d been laughing. I used the back of my hand to wipe a few remaining tears from my eyes before turning to Hanley.

  “You were spying on me from your house,” I said. “When you saw me leave, you followed me here on foot, or whatever you demons have, and you ran almost as fast as I could ride my bike.”

  “What do you mean demons?”

  “Shut up.” I felt a coldness build up deep in my skull. Like I had eaten ice cream too fast and had the mother of all ice cream headaches. I squeezed my eyes with my thumb and index finger before looking back at Hanley. “I can see what you are,” I said. “I’ve been able to see what you are for over two years now, so shut up.”

  “Henry, what you’re saying doesn’t make sense,” Hanley croaked, his breathing getting more ragged, almost like a dog panting heavily. “You’re delusional. I don’t know what you think you see, but I’m flesh and blood like you, and I’m not any sort of creature or demon.” More sucking in air, and more heavy breathing. “I glanced out my window and saw you sneaking out of your house, and I was afraid you were going to get yourself in trouble. That’s why I followed after you, but I did so by car and not on foot. You think I ran after you? At my age? And you didn’t hear me calling for you outside your house? Or when I saw you here in the woods?”

  All I could do was smile listening to his demon lies. A hard smile that made my jaw ache. Even though he was breathing with great difficulty, he could sure talk a lot for someone who was supposed to be having a heart attack. Damn, these demons could be morons. I lowered the knife blade and shined the flashlight on it so he could see it clearly.

  “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, here’s the reason you lost all your strength when you came near me and why you’re panting now like a sick dog. L’Occulto Illuminato exists. I know that because I found a copy, and I prepared this blade as the book specifies. Do you see the symbols that I’ve etched into the blade? They make sense to you? And yes, in case you’re wondering, the blade was washed and baked in virgin’s blood, so it will have no trouble slicing through your thick demon hide.”

  “Henry, don’t you hear how crazy what you’re saying is? You’re only imagining what you think you’re seeing and reading. Please, try to understand that!”

  Maybe if I could’ve heard him as a human I would’ve been able to hear the panic in his voice, but listening to his weakened demon hisses and snarls it was all laughable. Anyway, I was getting tired of the whole thing.

  “This might’ve worked two years ago,” I said. “Maybe you would’ve actually had me doubting what I see. But not now. Not with what I’ve learned. And not with the confirmation I’ve gotten from others who’ve seen the way dogs react to you demons.”<
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  “Boy, don’t do anything stupid! Don’t you understand you’re delusional about all of it? Even what others are telling you?”

  Finally I heard the panic in his demon hisses and snarls. For some reason I wanted to hear that before I killed him. Anyway, it was pointless gong on any further. Just to make sure of that, I pushed the blade about two inches into the back of his neck. He let loose a howl that would’ve made that fisher cat envious. He squirmed as he struggled to push himself to his hands and knees but couldn’t, and fell flat again to the ground, howling all the while. It lasted for maybe a minute and I waited until the howl died off into a whimper before asking him about all the children that they’d been stealing. At first he ignored me, but after I stuck the blade in another inch, I asked him again where the children were being kept.

  “I’ll see you in hell,” he forced out in a ragged demon breath.

  As I said, it was pointless trying to get anything from him, and I pushed the blade all the way in, and proceeded to cut off his head. We were on a slight incline and his head rolled a few feet away. For the hell of it, I took out my iPhone, and looked through the viewfinder to see that he retained his human disguise in death, just as Robohoe had done. Not that I expected anything different.

  For the little good it would do me, I covered his body and severed head with leaves. It could be days, maybe longer, before he was discovered, at least by the police. It was too late in the season for golfers, but even if it wasn’t, no one would see him from the course below the woods. People do take their dogs for walks through these woods, and it was likely one of them would stumble on Hanley soon, but maybe not. Maybe a demon corpse would freak out a dog every bit as much as a live one.

  While I have no idea how long it will take before Hanley’s body is found, I do know I have nothing to worry about with the police. They might talk to me because I quit mowing his lawn, but I’ll just tell them that Hanley propositioned me for sex and that I didn’t feel comfortable working for him after that. That way the cops might end up thinking that his death was the result of a gay sex hookup that turned deadly violent. Maybe they’d even come to that same conclusion on their own. No, my problem wasn’t going to be with the police, but with the other demons. Once they realized Hanley was dead and his body found this close to my home, they’d know I was the one who had left messages with Vincent Gilman. They might not know I had a copy of L’Occulto Illuminato, but they’d know something was up with the way I was able to kill both Robohoe and Hanley, and they’d be careful with the way they came after me. I don’t have much time before that happens. Maybe a day, maybe two, which means I’m going to have to start killing a lot of demons in a very short few days.