Demon VII_Disciples of Darkness Read online

  “I need to keep her in stasis while the rest of you go deal with the minions Groot claimed she has,” Mike said. “Are you up to it, Mongo?”

  In answer, Baby Groot once again charged the house, only this time with Demon at his back, hackles raised in gleeful anticipation of action. Sandy followed Denny and Nazer with Haunt weapons at the ready. They would be backup for whatever Demon and Mongo faced. Mike sent darkness tendrils in after them to gather intel on what they found. He needed to question Drusilla about her powers, but Mike would not allow casualties amongst his crew.

  Inside the house, it was chaos. Somehow, Drusilla brought a Radalia Dimension demon into being from its original plain of existence. Mongo and Demon ripped apart the Bad Caspers, Haunts, and other poltergeist entities with deadly expertise. Mongo lost all connection to Baby Groot, going full Haunt. Denny, Nazer, and Sandy sprayed the walls and everything inside the house with a mist of holy water and colloidal silver mix. Denny led the way inside the house to all areas, where they coated the interior with a mixture of holy water/colloidal silver blocking agent. Mongo and Demon shredded the Haunts, Radalia demons, and Bad Caspers with an abandon that sent their companion Demon Inc brethren into a corner.

  Mike smiled, holding Drusilla motionless, seeing his two paranormal partners streaming through the house with their mojo on. At the end, Baby Groot reappeared to shoot into the company of his Demon Inc human elements on a slide of darkness tendrils, dancing to an unheard beat. The human members continued spraying. Demon arrived moments later with a snicker. They then communicated with Mike.

  “Oh yeah! We cleared those posers, Ripper. Bring big bad Sue in for a taste. Let’s experiment on her. We need to know if Frodo’s mix makes her burn.”

  Mike straightened. “Damn… good one, D. On my way.”

  Mike exited the Buick, locked it, and motioned his tendrils of darkness to follow with their captive. Inside the house, mostly devoid of living comforts, Mike felt the residuals of evil hanging in the air. He sat Drusilla on a chair where she comically snapped her jaws together, bulging eyes and tongue in threatening movie type actions of horror. Baby Groot jumped into her lap and used a flat hand appendage to pop Drusilla in the forehead. He stared maleficently into her eyes.

  “I…am…Groooooooootttttt!”

  Baby Groot jumped down again amidst appreciative amusement.

  “Give her a taste, Frodo,” Demon ordered. “The right foot will do.”

  Denny shot a sharp spray of the holy water/colloidal silver mix onto Drusilla’s foot. It burst into flame with her screeching in pain at the top of her lungs. Mike blunted the fire with a dose of black tendrilled balm.

  The Muttley snicker rang out. “Well… I guess we know how ‘The Ring’ sister will be trotting into hell. Get ready, bitch! She loves the Radalia, Ripper. Let Sad Sack open the door for her. You can pitch her in while Frodo and Infidel spray her with the mix. It will be a lovely campfire scene for the Radalia. Throw a note in with her to warn Mongo’s relatives not to get burned.”

  Baby Groot immediately gave Demon his shaming gesture. “Bad Bluto!”

  “I like your thinking, D. How about it, Sandy?”

  “I’m ready. I know what she’s been doing.” Sandy forged a portal into the Radalia hell dimension with mutated Haunt power and Latin.

  When the portal became large enough to fit Drusilla into it, Mike stuffed her into the Radalia dimension, screaming as Denny and Nazer sprayed her until she became a flaming ball of agony. Sandy immediately closed the portal.

  “I think our work is done here, my friends. It’s Friday night at the movies for Demon Inc. Everyone will be waiting for us to report and party. How’s the munchie cabinet and Klondike Bars, Mongo?”

  “Short for a party, Mike,” Mongo answered, standing in thoughtful comedic pose as Baby Groot. “We should make a grocery run. We need more of the Jim Beam and Jack Daniels too.”

  “Time’s wasting away,” Demon projected loudly. “Let’s hit the KFC chicken depot too. We need our veggies.”

  They all enjoyed the veggie KFC addition by Demon as they reentered the Buick. Mike drove to Greenhouse Way mall grocery store, a Safeway store where an acquaintance worked. He parked and turned to his friends. “Want to come in and shop a bit?”

  “Sure. I’d like to see some of the other treats in there,” Demon said. “Is your friend Nat working tonight?”

  “I’ll call in and check.” Mike connected to Natalie’s number, who worked as a cashier during the nightshift at Safeway. He kept the number on file as Nat to separate her from the hospital nurse, Natalie.

  “Mike! Thank God! They…they swarmed us!” Natalie’s voice projected fear and her hushed, urgent tone made Mike hurry from the Buick with his crew following at his gesture. “There’s a gang of thugs inside with masks. I ducked out of sight behind the counter before they saw me. They have four of my coworkers in the back, including my manager. I’m in the cubby of my register desk. You called just as I started contacting 911.”

  “We’re outside, Nat. Stay calm. Don’t call 911 yet. I have my crew with me. Let me see what I can do. Stay on the line.”

  “Okay, Mike.”

  Mike smiled at his companions. “The ‘big bad’ assaulted our treat replenishment depot. It looks like we’ll need to earn our groceries tonight.”

  “Stop frosting the cake and let me and Groot in there.”

  “We can’t let loose in the store, D. They have hostages. Mongo goes in, locates and protects the hostages. Denny, Nazer and Sandy stay at the front. They keep others from going in. Beam me a location for the thugs, Mongo. I’d turn you loose on them, but we wouldn’t be able to explain slashed apart bodies.”

  Mongo went full Haunt, saluting jauntily. “Yes, El Capitan Darkness. I will let you know when I am in position.”

  Mongo streaked into the store, covering it from end to end in seconds. He found the hostages on the floor of the storage room, duct taped at wrists behind their backs, ankles, and mouths. He located the gang of hooded men in the office with someone who looked like a manager, sobbing as she opened the safe, begging the men not to hurt her.

  “Seven men in the office all the way to your right, El Capitan. They have a manager opening the store safe. I have the hostages under my protection.”

  “Outstanding,” Mike said as he ran to his right after clearing the entrance, with Demon on his heels. “Shift to your human persona and take care of them.”

  Mike slowed and sauntered into the crowded office with Demon snarling next to him. The group had knives and clubs, but no guns. Demon leaped over the sobbing manager and ripped the hooded thief holding her at knife point by the neck to the floor. He tore a chunk of flesh from his shoulder and spit it out as the man screamed.

  “A little tough but tasty,” Demon projected to Mike as he guarded the woman in combat Haunt killing mode. He kept a paw on the downed man’s face. “Don’t juice them, Ripper. We’ll never be able to explain that.”

  “Drop your weapons and face the wall with your hands locked behind heads and no one gets hurt,” Mike ordered. “Do anything else and Demon and I will make you wish you were never born.”

  “Fuck you!” The hooded man at the center of the group lunged at Mike’s stomach with what looked like an eight-inch blade stiletto knife.

  Mike broke his wrist with a side hand strike. He followed through with an open hand strike to the man’s head that nearly broke his neck, sending him flying into his companions. Demon snickered, staying where he was. Explaining slashing deaths would interrupt their evening into nonexistence. He enjoyed the scene as Mike moved through the rest with hand speed the hooded and masked bandits could neither see nor defend against. Mike broke limbs and faces until the men huddled in abject misery, crying for mercy.

  * * *

  In the storage area, Mongo had changed into his human looking persona, setting free the hostages. He shushed them with finger to lips in comically exaggerated form. “All will be well soon, my fr
iends. You are safe. My companions are helping your manager and securing the people who took you all hostage.”

  “Oh God…” one of the women cashiers cried out as she hugged Mongo. “They…they told us we might live or die!”

  Mongo smiled, patting the woman’s back. “You will live and be well. Do not worry.”

  “How…how can you know that,” another cashier asked.

  “I know. We are in the storage area. May I shop with your help from here?”

  “I…I guess so,” the woman in his arms answered. “Your friends must be very good for you to be this confident. Those thieves had seven armed men when they attacked.”

  “They did not bring enough. They could not know who they were facing,” Mongo explained. He walked over to a cart in the area. “They know now. May I use this. We will, of course, pay for everything.”

  The only guy came over and took the cart’s handle from Mongo. “Tell me what you want and I will get it for you.”

  “Thank you, Sir. Let’s visit the refrigerated section first for the Klondike bars. Please accompany us ladies. I will keep you safe.”

  “No offense,” the woman nearest him said, “but… you don’t look very… you know… tough.”

  Mongo smiled. “I am stronger than I look.”

  Chapter Two

  KFC Interlude and New Cases

  Mike confiscated the duct tape the men had brought to the store. He restrained all of them with their own duct tape. He used an extra pad of clothing and duct tape as a bandage for the man missing a chunk of shoulder. Demon stayed next to the woman manager, who sobbed and hugged him. Demon endured it with stoic control.

  “Get me out of here, Ripper.”

  “Workin’ on it, D.” Mike replied in silent form while finishing his last bandit restraining exercise. He then gathered all their weapons and IDs into a couple of plastic grocery bags. “I think our work is done here. Mongo has our groceries. Denny has Nat at her register, completely calmed down. We’re good to go.”

  Mike helped the manager to her feet, checking her nametag. “Tracy… my friends and I wish to pay for our groceries. I have San Leandro police friends. I will give them a call. We don’t really want anything to do with this if we can avoid it. I’m Mike Rawlins. That’s my very special friend, Demon.”

  The woman looked at Mike as if he sprouted angel wings. “I…I’ve heard of you. My cashier, Natalie… oh God! Nat-”

  “It’s okay. Nat’s with my friends at the front. She knows us. We’ll leave our guests here in the office for the police. Follow Demon to the front. I need to make sure of one other thing.”

  “Okay, Mike.” Tracy followed Demon out of the office.

  Mike bent towards the groaning, moaning crew of bandits. “Move and I’ll know. If that happens, here’s what happens to you bunch.”

  Mike sliced into their minds with a stroke of intense pain, sending them into a screaming hum behind their duct taped mouths. “Do we understand now, gentlemen?”

  Heads shook violently in the affirmative.

  “Very good.” Mike gripped his shopping bags of criminal weapons and IDs. “Best hope and pray you never see me again. It will be the last time and it will be painful beyond belief.”

  Mike walked to the front, where his friends and everyone else stood around Nat’s cashier’s station. Denny showed him he had texted Tom Huang and Jason Travers, their friends and confidants on the San Leandro Police Force. Natalie perfunctorily rang up the purchases from Mongo’s cart. Mike paid for the purchases with his debit card. “Thanks for not calling the police until I could alert my friends on the force.”

  Natalie gripped Mike’s wrist, after an emotional reunion with her coworkers Mongo brought with him. “Thank you so much for this. God blessed us with your crew needing groceries.”

  Mike hesitated, thinking about what she said. “Yeah… you may be more right than you know on that, Nat. Two of my friends on the SLPD, Tom and Jason, are on duty tonight. Denny texted them. They’re bringing a prisoner transport, along with an Emergency Medical Team vehicle. They know about my crew.”

  “Who were those guys? This is insane.”

  “Insanity seems to be the order of the day lately,” Mike admitted. “We’re going to load our groceries and then I’ll wait with you while my SLPD friends and I sort this out, okay?”

  “Sure, Mike,” Natalie responded. “Anything you say goes.”

  Mike bagged the groceries and his friends hustled their supplies to the Buick. Mike considered how alike the two Natalies were in accepting Demon Inc’s abilities, but so different in occupations. The coincidence factor sometimes defied imagination, as if they were drawn to the store at the precise moment needed, after leaving Nurse Natalie in the coma ward and dealing with Drusilla.

  The sirens heralded the arrival of both police and EMT unit. Tom and Jason, accustomed to follow-up with Mike’s paranormal group, approached the Demon Inc crew casually.

  “Are the good people okay, Mike,” Tom asked.

  “Except for being shaken to the core by armed and hooded banditos, they’re doing real good. Honest, Tom… we were only here to get groceries.”

  Tom stifled his amusement at Mike’s statement, turning away. “Yeah… I’ll bet.”

  “Watch it, Jet Li,” Demon growled. “I still have my munch on. You and your pal Denzel better clear this crap up quick or I’ll make Ripper rearrange your neurons for you.”

  Demon’s warning knifed into both Tom and Jason’s minds because of their friendship with the group. After a long bout of amusement, Tom made placating gestures, as the civilian observers wondered at what the two policemen were laughing at. “Sor…sorry, D. Take us through it, Mike.”

  Mike led them to the office, packed with restrained and very loudly groaning suspects. Mike explained in detail what happened, leaving nothing out, because they didn’t have the other civilian outsiders with them. “I kept Mongo from obliterating them. I gave the idiots a chance to surrender. The one with the broken wrist tried to gut me.” Mike pointed at his first attacker.

  Mike lowered his voice. “I didn’t juice them. We did the minimum to end this hostage situation. Any chance you and Jase could simply take this as your collar.”

  “Let me work on it,” Tom replied. “If we can get the DA to make these guys take a plea deal, we may be able to keep you and Demon Inc out of it. Jase and I will need to interview the employees anyhow. We know where to find you all. No matter the complications… this was good work, Mike.”

  “Amen,” Jason added.

  Mike smiled in relief. “Great. We have a Friday night movie fest on we’ve been planning. We had a big day with getting a little boy out of a coma. This intervention worried us a bit.”

  Tom nodded. “We’ll take it from here. The coma intervention is all over the news. Jase and I are well aware of it. You bunch need to get a superhero team name.”

  “We’re Demon Inc. It fits us. Thanks guys. Talk with you soon. Thanks for taking this on for us.”

  “I’m glad Tom and I were on shift,” Jason replied. He lowered his voice. “Baby Groot didn’t run around or anything, did he?”

  “No. I sent him in human form to free and protect the hostages.”

  “Excellent. I’ll update you tomorrow,” Tom said.

  * * *

  In the Buick on the way to Demon Inc, Mike repeated the conversation he had with Tom and Jason. “Tom will try to keep Demon Inc from any further involvement, if the DA can get a plea bargain done.”

  “It’s too bad we couldn’t bundle it for the SyFy Channel,” Denny said. “We can’t use any of the stuff we did today. There was nothing to see in the hospital and you needed to deposit Drusilla in the Radalia Dimension. Laura said our finances are fine. We received the big check for our video of removing the Radalia Haunts from the house we exorcised.”

  “I know what you’re getting at,” Mike replied. “We need to keep working or disappear. We’ll get good publicity from the intervention at
the hospital. Laura mentioned briefing us about a couple jobs on the horizon tonight. I can’t believe it’s the middle of October already.”

  “We’ll need a video for Halloween,” Nazer said. “I heard Gail’s father, Steve, say it is the time when the most money can be made from the SyFy Channel Halloween Specials Week.”

  “He’s right,” Denny added. “I hope Laura has a paranormal gig for us to film.”

  “There are a lot of Bad Caspers out there,” Demon replied. “I know we couldn’t have wiped them all out.”

  “We did good with the devil worshipper, Rayden Kirk,” Mongo added. “Cults like his exist. Perhaps we can look for people in trouble with a cult.”

  “That Kirk fooled around with demons and spells,” Denny said. “Guys like him are dangerous. They can mistakenly open a portal or raise some horror from a hell dimension. We know those things can happen.”

  “Those are the right things for us to do,” Mike agreed, “but SyFy won’t pay much for us to slap around a bunch of goons in robes. We have the FBI Assistant Director on our side. He will have Alisha or Manny call us for something in our line of work. They haven’t stopped asking for Naz to act as an interpreter either. They trust him.”

  “Since you fixed Holland, he has become the most popular Assistant Director they ever had according to Alisha,” Nazer stated. “The agents perform under his direction with pride. He compliments and rewards them at every step in a case.”

  “Holland Colemeyer met the Ripper… no contest,” Demon said. “It was either fix him or meet Sauron and the Orcs in Middle Earth. It seems you juiced him into being productive, Ripper.”

  “He sure was a nice guy after the meeting,” Mike agreed. “I was afraid I rearranged too many molecules, but he’s done a great job since.”

  At the Kentucky Fried Chicken place, the usual crowd of malcontents protested their dismissal from the now completely automated fast food service. When the minimum wage went to ten dollars an hour, KFC automated nearly everything. It was no longer feasible to pay supposedly entry level workers so much that they would lose their business. Mike and his crew had been through the mob before. They pepper sprayed Mike for no reason, which led to an attitude adjustment by Mongo and Demon pitching in with Mike.