The Mythos Unveiled (Demona series) (15 page)

“It’s
about time,” Bergfalk said. She popped up from her chair and she gracefully
glided over to them. “Darius is holding a meeting today. We are supposed to let
him know when you get here so he can call everyone together.”

Agrippa
grabbed the phone and dialed Darius. After a few minutes on the phone he hung
up.

“We’re
to go to the conference room and wait for Darius,” Agrippa said. “No time like
the present, I can use a break from those damn reports.”

The
five of them made their way up to the first floor and found themselves seats in
the front of the multiple rows of folding chairs that stretched across the
room. Demona stared up at a projector screen that hung from the ceiling
directly above the stage. A podium was placed center, facing the rows of
chairs.

Not
long afterward people started pouring in through the multiple entrances and
taking seats. The accumulation of voices seemed to grow louder as every minute
went by. As soon as the seats had been filled and people were no longer
entering the room Darius walked through a side entrance. He jumped onto the
small stage in front of the audience and the room grew silent with his appearance.

“Welcome
everyone. It is good to see you all today. We have some important issues to
discuss. I will not waste any of your time,” Darius said. “Last night we had an
unusual event take place. A demon risked possessing a priest.”

Murmurs
filled the room.

“Please,
quiet everyone. I understand your disbelief with this matter, but I assure you
there is no other explanation. Two of our agents, Bergfalk and Foss, managed to
track the possessed for some time last night. They were able to confirm our
suspicions.”

Kerrick
looked towards Foss and Bergfalk. He patted Foss on the back.

“However,
the possessed managed to elude them. Since, something of this nature has never
occurred before we wanted to inform all TGHC employees of the facts. We will be
sending out a memo with pictures of the possessed following this meeting,”
Darius said.

The
projector lit up. It was the picture that Demona had found of the priest. The
image appeared on the screen above them.

“Ah,
it looks as though we have the picture available now,” Darius said. “If anyone
sees the priest you are to keep your distance from him. When safely away you
are to contact me immediately. The possessed has demonstrated excessive amounts
of power and we want all of our employees to be cautious. We do not know what
the possessed is capable of at this time.

“We
will have two of our agents on this case, until progress is made in
apprehending the possessed, or until the event of its destruction. Along with
these developments we want to inform you that there have also been an increased
amount of demonic possessions within the past few weeks. Therefore, I am going
to be asking for any volunteers to submit their names for a candidacy to become
new agents. Agents will receive training, and be selected based on how well they
will fit the position.

“That
is all for now. I will be keeping you up to date on developments. Expect the
occasional memo in your e-mail updating you on the current information. Again,
I ask you all to be aware of your surroundings and report to us immediately if
the possessed is spotted. Thank you,” Darius said. He hopped off the stage and
exited the room.

The
people broke out into conversations. Many of the employees began to funnel out
the doors. As Demona was leaving the room she heard pieces of conversations.

“What
does this mean?” someone asked from behind her.

“There
must be a mistake” another voice said.

“This
has to do with the
Mythos
, I tell
you. It’s the end times,” another voice said.

Chapter 16

Demonology

“Salina
can you update us on the events of last night?” Darius asked.

All
of the agents had been called into Darius’ office following the meeting. The
five of them were sitting about the room. Kerrick and Demona had found seats on
the leather sofa against the far wall from the desk. Bergfalk was sitting
cross-legged on the matching chair. Foss and Agrippa sat at the two chairs
placed before the desk. Darius sat in his high backed office chair with a very
serious look.

“After
we left the church last night we were able to track the priest for several
miles. We followed him to an abandoned highway outside of town. It seemed odd,
since the possessed would need to be near an energy source in order to maintain
its strength. It did not realize we had followed him at first.

“Foss
and I were prepared to deal with him. First, we attempted to bring him in by
circling him and throwing Holy Water on him. We tried to scare him into
submission, but before we were able to chant him into a vial he transformed,”
Bergfalk said.

“He
transformed? Into, what?” Agrippa asked.

“A
giant snake,” Foss replied.

“Where
did it get enough energy to withstand a transformation like that?” Kerrick
asked.

“That’s
what I need you two to find out. I am sending you into town to a Demonologist,
a human. He does not know of our kind, but has his suspicions. I need you to
make certain you do not give him any indication of what you are. It would only
motivate him to hunt for us even more. You, Kerrick, will pretend to be writing
a book and asking questions for research purposes,” Darius said.

“Is
there anything else we should be aware of?” Kerrick asked.

“No,
just that you should be heavily armed in case you run into the priest. After he
transformed, he slithered away quicker than we could follow. We could have
tracked him down, but we knew we needed to find out more information on what we
might be up against,” Foss said.

“That
is it, you know what you should all be doing. We will meet again when more
information comes in,” Darius said.

The
five agents made their way down the hall and into the elevator.

“Good
luck guys,” Bergfalk said. “I think you will need it with this one.”

“Hopefully
not,” Kerrick said.

After
they exited the elevator Agrippa, Kerrick, and Demona headed back towards the
office, while Bergfalk and Foss retired for the day. Agrippa veered into the
office, but Kerrick continued past the entrance and entered a door down the
hall.

As
Demona entered she saw a room full of shelves. They were lined with weapons of
all kinds. Demona saw daggers, sabers, swords, and knives. On another shelf
were more ancient weaponry; such as a morning star, mace, pikes, and spears.
Vials filled with differed colored liquids had labels that read holy water and
antidote lined several shelves. In another area, display cases contained silver
stakes and bullets. Next to those lay crossbows and shotguns.

Demona
opened the closet along another wall and found it filled with a variety of
clothing. Inside one was fencing outfits, bracers, and arm guards. Another
housed various leather armors. Demona even thought she saw chainmail hanging
inside one. There was one with a variety of colored camouflage clothing. Along
the bottom combat boots of different sizes lined the inside closet floor. As
she moved around the room a cabinet revealed tiny hooks with hundreds of
different charms hanging inside.

I can only
imagine what they use this stuff for. Maybe I don’t want to know.

Kerrick
had grabbed a duffle bag located inside the bottom drawer of a table in the
center of the room. He was moving quickly around the room and grabbing
different things off the shelves. He threw handfuls of items into the bag, then
grabbed a vest out of one of the cabinets and handed it to Demona.

“What’s
this?” She asked.

“Kevlar.
We are going prepared,” Kerrick replied.

****

They
had pulled up to a house on the other side of town. It had been nicely kept
with beautifully arranged flower boxes hanging below the first floor windows.
The yard was meticulously landscaped with bushes and brightly colored flowers
that popped up all over. Hummingbirds buzzed at a feeder and several robins
hopped about in a bird bath.

What a cute
house!
It’s so, normal
. She followed Kerrick
to the front door. He knocked. A grey haired man answered the door in khakis
and a polo shirt. A little woman around the same age stood behind him wearing a
mid length flower print dress.

“You
must be Kerrick Balen and Demona Brennan. Come, come in.” The man ushered them
inside.

“It’s
a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs,” Kerrick said. He played his part
perfectly.

Why can’t he be
so normal around people I know?

“Please,
call me Bartholomew, or better yet, Barty.” Then he shook Kerrick’s hand.

“And
Anne” Mrs. Jacobs said. She entered the room bringing a tray of coffee and
cookies. “Please, have some.”

Demona
smiled at her taking a cup, playing her part as well. They sat in the parlor
and Demona sipped her tea. She looked around at the outdated pink and green
wallpaper and the animal figurines that lined the TV stand.

“So,
Darius tells me you have some questions for your research,” Barty said.

“Yes,
I was hoping you could tell me if there are any demons that are able to
transform?” Kerrick asked.

“Well,
all demons can transform from one form to another. This is what they do when
taking possession of something. Do you want a more specific transformation?
Some can take the shape of dogs, some snakes…” Barty said.

“Oh,
the snake transformation sounds interesting. Can you tell me more about it?”
Kerrick asked.

“Certainly,
the demon that takes the form of a snake is a djinn demon. This specific djinn
is called an afreet. All djinn are given the choice of good and evil just as we
are.” With his comment Demona and Kerrick both gave each other a knowing look.

If only he knew
. Demona took
notes on information that might come in handy later.

“Okay.
Please go on. Could you focus on the evil side of this afreet?” Kerrick asked.

“The
malevolent afreet can be destructive. They can take human form or transform
into multiple creatures, but they prefer to stick to the snake form more often
than not. These particular beings face the same consequences we do upon death.
Their actions determine if they go to heaven or hell,” Barty said.

“Let’s
say, hypothetically, that the afreet happened to possess a human, what
characteristics would it take on? Would they develop new aspects when joined
with a human body?” Kerrick asked.

“Interesting
question… I suppose the possibilities are limitless. I would think that after a
successful possession, the afreet would cause the human body to have symptoms
of a fever,” Barty said. “Since the afreet are capable of being one of the most
evil natured demons it is important to have faith in an all powerful being,
such as God. Prayer and possible exorcism are the only ways to drive these
demons away.”

“Thank
you,” Kerrick said.

“Is
that all?” Barty asked.

“Yes,
you have given me great inspiration,” Kerrick said. “Again, thank you for your
time.” Kerrick rose from his seat and they exited the parlor.

“Anytime,
and good luck with your writing,” Barty said.

“Thank
you for the coffee,” Demona said. She waved and said her goodbyes before they
headed back to the car.

“Great,”
Kerrick said.

“What?”
Demona asked.

“Didn’t
you hear what he said?” Kerrick slid into the driver’s seat.

“Yeah,
but why are you upset, he gave us as much information as possible.”

“I
know, but the problem is that we have no ability to defeat this demon.”

“Why
not?” Demona asked.

“We
are dark beings; we don’t have faith in all powerful beings. We cannot perform
exorcisms. It needs to be a faith based exorcism on the possessed,” Kerrick
said.

“Oh…”
Demona replied.

****

That
night Demona had a visit from Hannah once again. Demona sat on her sofa staring
across at Hannah seated on one of the chairs. Demona found it hard to look her
in the face.

“Felix
sent me,” Hannah said.

“I
figured,” Demona replied.

“At
least I no longer have to keep my promise. You don’t know how badly I wanted to
tell you what happened.”

“It
explains all of the strange pieces of conversation I caught you and Kaleb
having over the past several weeks. I take it Kaleb is one also? And you?”

“No,
not me. Yes, Kaleb is a member of GLC. I only found out about it recently. I
threatened to break up with Kaleb over it. That’s when he finally gave in and
told me.”

Demona
tucked her legs under her. “I suppose you are going to become a member?”

“I
can’t. You have to be born into it.”

“Oh…”

“About
all I can do is just help out with the little things within the organization.
You know, like volunteering, which is great because I volunteer already. I just
wish I could do more.”

“Uh-huh…
You realize this makes us enemies, don’t you?” Demona asked.

“It
doesn’t have to be like that. I don’t see a problem with it. I trusted you
before and I trust you now. You were always so nice to me. Why does that have
to change?”

“It
just has to. I don’t make the rules,” Demona said.

“If
that’s how you feel I’ll leave now. First, Felix wanted me to give this to
you.” Hannah handed Demona an envelope. Shortly afterwards she left the
apartment. Demona sat reluctant to open the envelope, but decided she had to
know what was inside. He wrote her a letter and she hoped that she would find
answers to the many questions she had.

Demona,

Please, let me explain. First, I owe you an apology.
Believe me when I say that I’m sorry for how things have gone between us. I
came to your apartment a few days ago to try to do that, and I realized you had
to move on.

When I left for Florida to take care of my mom I had
every intention of making it back here as soon as possible. Not a moment passed
where I didn’t think of you. I didn’t want to hurt you, but at the time I felt
it was best to just let things go.

While living with my parents, I was informed of a
family secret. I was shocked that they had kept it from me all of these years.
My sister Rowena, you sort of met her the other day at the church, became a member
of GLC years ago. Rowena is here, because she is supposed to help this branch
of the organization.

I had no idea that any of this was happening. I
guess this was part of the reason for my sister sending me Florida, so that my
parents could tell me about the family tradition. Apparently, twenty-one is the
age of initiation. After I found out I was put into training to learn all of
the important things I needed to know. They sent me here, to be a member with
this branch, after training. They said it was because something big is
happening in the vicinity and they needed all the help they could get.

I planned to come see you. I was just waiting to
figure out how to do it. I made Hannah and Kaleb swear not to tell you, so that
I could be the first. Please don’t be mad at them for it. It’s my fault.

Kaleb knew what you were since the moment he met
you, but didn’t think anyone was in any danger, so he kept it to himself. Well,
until he was certain he could trust Hannah, and after I became a member.

I want you to know, that what you are changes
nothing. Please, remember that when you think of how, or if, you respond to
this letter.

I want to see you, please give me chance to explain
better than in a letter. Please, let’s meet and talk. I’ll answer any questions
you have for me. I know you are with him now, but just give it some thought. My
feelings haven’t changed and I hope you still feel the same.

Felix

Demona
was not certain how she felt. She knew that since Felix had been back and since
she saw him that night in the church her emotions were a whirl-wind.

Felix hurt me.
It won’t do any good to see him. Besides, I’m with Kerrick now.

****

Bergfalk
and Foss were hanging around the hallway when Demona and Kerrick arrived the
next morning. Bergfalk leaned against the wall while she talked to Foss and
Kerrick. Demona walked towards them. Foss stood in his usual position arms crossed
and feet slightly spread.