Demon VII Read online

  “Let’s get this cracker!”

  Mike shot forward and hit the speaker with a forearm strike to the head that nearly separated his head from his shoulders. The speaker pitched backwards into his teammates, his arms pawing in spastic form as the blow had unhinged him from reality.

  “Anyone else want a piece? If not spread away from the door. Anything reaching for us while we walk out, and I break it in half. If you don’t want a demo, move right now!”

  The rest of the team cleared away from the exit. Jerry and Stan grabbed their bags and followed Mike out. Mike slammed the outer door closed, with his mind spinning out of control enveloped in darkness. “I should have networked earlier, guys. I thought you were all celebrating after the game.”

  “That’s the way it started after showers, Mikey,” Stan said, embracing a fiery mad Connie, who was examining his facial wounds. “The guy you clocked at the end, Darnell, started ragging our asses while we dressed. Before we had a chance to react, they grabbed us. The coaches tried to intervene. They got swarmed. This shit’s done. Could you check on the coaches, Mikey. They don’t deserve this.”

  Mike took a deep breath. “Okay… but Sauron awaits the outcome.”

  “I will go with you El Capitan,” Mongo said. “I will bat the snowflakes away while you get the coaches in a safe place.”

  “Can you stay in control, Mongo?”

  “Yes, El Capitan Darkness. Unlike you, I have willpower.”

  The coaches’ rescue met with a delay of loud amusement on the network. Mike hugged Mongo. “Good one. Let’s go right a wrong.”

  Mike opened the exit again, striding in directly to where he saw the coaches held. No one approached them. “Hi guys. I forgot to get the coaches out of this stupidity.”

  The players stepped away from the half dozen coaches with their hands up in mocking form. Mike frowned. “Slap that shit off their faces, brother.”

  Mongo moved faster than sight, slapping each one of the teammates holding the coaches hard enough to propel them into lockers and walls. “By your command, El Capitan Darkness.”

  “Are you guys okay,” Mike asked.

  “I remember you from the day that gangbanger tried to get you in the stands,” the head coach said. “Your friends are the best of the team. Thank God you helped them, young man. I’m ashamed to be black today.”

  “Don’t go there, coach. You and your companions grab your gear. Mongo and I will walk you guys out. I don’t think it is wise to depend on these thugs’ goodness to let you pass.”

  “I agree, Mike.”

  Five minutes later, Mike and Mongo led the coaches out of the locker room. The local sports media had appeared, waiting for a dialogue on the game. Mike shook hands with the head coach. “Sorry… but I have my own demons to exorcise, coach.”

  “Understood, Mike. Thank you. I’m sure this debacle ended any chance of my talking Stan and Jerry into staying on the team.”

  “I believe you have that point perfectly in view, Sir. Good luck. I don’t know where you go from here.”

  “Me either, Mike. God bless you, son. Thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome, Sir.” Mike handed him a card. “If you need us, call. We’ll answer in force.”

  “Believe me… kid… after today… I won’t hesitate.”

  “I hope you can change things, but I doubt Stan and Jerry will ever return.”

  “I don’t blame them. Goodbye, Mike.”

  “Goodbye, Sir.”

  Mike and Mongo rejoined their companions. “All is well in reality. In politically correct terms, this will not be on any of the front pages. Your coach loves you guys. He also understands football is dead to you.”

  “It sure as hell is,” Jerry stated. “Let’s go kick some demon ass. I’ve already had my ass kicked. I think some payback on demons is in order.”

  “How the heck did the beatdown happen,” Denny asked. “We figured after a win like that everyone would be celebrating.”

  “The lead kneeler, Darnell Collins, knew we refused to kneel when he started that crap,” Jerry said. “We tried to get showered and get out. We didn’t quite make it.”

  “Mike kicked his ass and made him cry,” Stan said. “That was almost worth getting beat up for. Best of all, no more practices from now on, and every Saturday free. When you made both teams stand with hand over heart, I couldn’t believe it. That took some power.”

  “Mike got an upgrade,” Denny explained. “We’ll need to update you all on a few things. I texted you about the Radalia attack. Some additional items happened because of it.”

  “Where’s Mary,” Janis asked, poking Mike’s chest. “What did you do? I liked her.”

  “He saved Mary from being eviscerated by the Radalia,” Mongo answered.

  “I liked her too, Jan. We’ll explain at Demon Inc,” Mike said.

  * * *

  At Demon Inc, Mike explained the wound he received, and demonstrated his new power. “I made a bad joke about someday turning into a good Haunt, like Mongo. Mary asked if my mutation could progress to that. I told her the truth – I don’t know. She decided to just stay friends.”

  The group stared at Mike in silence, at least the ones who were seeing Mike’s power for the first time. “It’s not a bad addition. Mongo, Nazer, Denny and Demon have been with me. Nothing’s happened. I did feel the added ease in which I made the two teams stand for the national anthem, so the wound may have fortified my other abilities.”

  “I don’t blame Mary for ending it,” Gail stated. “Like me, she’s wondering if her perception of reality changes every time she’s with you.”

  “I like the new power, Mikey,” Jerry said. “I’m not sure how often you’ll get to use it. If people see you hovering around, it will be Sauron and the Orcs for you, buddy.”

  “This certainly explains Mary leaving if she thought you were turning into a Haunt,” Janis said.

  “I don’t believe Mike’s altering reality either,” Connie added.

  “What makes you so sure,” Gail asked.

  “That’s easy, girlfriend,” Janis answered for Connie. “Mike hasn’t shut you up yet. If I had his power, you’d be very quiet.”

  “Good point,” Gail admitted to her amused audience.

  “Anyway… Tom’s staying with me, little Mike, and Joanie in the control room during this Rayden Kirk mission,” Laura said.

  “Let’s get our gear on and load the Demon Inc mobile,” Denny said. “I’ll zero in on Rayden’s warehouse and make sure it’s occupied.”

  “So, the FBI is still letting you have access to the satellites, Frodo?”

  Denny smiled at Janis. “Sort of. I installed my own back door inside.”

  “Why you naughty little Hobbit,” Janis replied, pinching his cheek. “Get to work. Can the Haunt sensing filter you created work with Mongo’s estranged relatives?”

  Mongo shamed her. “Bad Brandy!”

  “I haven’t had a chance to test it,” Denny replied. “We don’t know if Rayden can bring the Radalia through a portal, or last night was a onetime deal, because the witch brought a couple through into her house, and one escaped to be drawn to him. I admit we probably should have interrogated Drusilla. Danny’s coma and torture at her hands was a little too fresh in our minds, so we nuked her.”

  “Mongo and I will handle loading the van while Denny checks on the warehouse,” Mike said. “Get some rest, Frog brothers.”

  Half an hour later, with everything loaded, Mike and Mongo quietly joined Denny in their control room, while their companions napped or rested. Joanie and Laura sat on either side of Denny. He explained in detail what he did in moving and maintaining images. Tom played with little Mike. Mongo changed to Baby Groot. Little Mike spotted him, letting out a squeal of joy.

  “Groot!”

  Tom put the energized baby on the floor with Baby Groot

  Denny turned from the screen in a panic. “Mongo… get Mike!”

  Mongo gently helped lit
tle Mike into Tom’s arms. He blasted through the walls in full Haunt form, only stopping when he reached Mike, who was checking personal equipment. “Frodo wants you now, Mike, and he does not look well.”

  Mongo turned into Baby Groot once again so as not to frighten little Mike, pacing easily next to the jogging Mike. In the control room, Denny gestured at Mike. Heat signatures in a bunch showed redly against the sparsely populated other areas of the warehouse.

  “What do we have, Denny?”

  “Prisoners,” Denny stated. “I count fifteen, Mike. They’re alive. Something else lives in the warehouse. They’re not human or Bad Caspers. They’re something else, possibly demons. There’s a lot of them. The only way I could detect them was creating a filter signaling slight displacements of air.”

  “Good enough,” Mike said. “Let’s go clean the nest. I…I hope those people are okay. The FBI idea may not be possible if Rayden can command demons from hell.”

  Tom stood. “Can I help, Mike?”

  “Yep. Stay and anchor Laura and Joanie. This will be bad.”

  In the main entertainment room, Mike interrupted the sleepers and resting companions. “We need to go now. Grab your gear. We’ll dress in the van. This is bad, my friends. Anyone not wanting to face demons from hell should stay here. I’ll understand.”

  “Blow it out your ears, Captain Darkness,” Janis said. “I ain’t missing my chance to face pure evil with your mutant ass backing me up.”

  A chorus of agreement with Janis made Mike smile. “Okay then. We could use a driver, Grant.”

  “I’m in,” Grant said. “What about Gail’s Dad?”

  “I texted him already,” Denny said. “He’s meeting us there.”

  Demon eyeballed his paranormal brother, Mongo. “You look worried, Bird-toes. What’s the problem?”

  Baby Groot changed to human form. “I sensed evil through the connection Frodo maintained, an evil beyond my understanding. It felt like the essence we faced when rescuing Theta Crossman from Rayden’s cult near the ocean. Mike is right to warn all of you. We do not know the capabilities of such entities.”

  “Oh baby… I am so in,” Demon projected loudly. “The demon killin’ train’s leaving the station. All aboard!”

  Mongo gripped Demon’s head. “This is no joke, Bluto.”

  The Muttley snicker echoed through the network. “Thanks for putting the cherry on top, brother. The train waits for no one. Grant… get your newbie ass movin’. We have work!”

  “On it, D!” Grant ran for their garaged van.

  Gail sighed. “Thanks for coopting my boyfriend.

  “You’re lucky he likes pole dancers, Unholy Grail,” Demon knifed her with wit while racing after Grant. “Hurry, before your place is taken, kid.”

  Gail began to respond, only to be gripped and dragged along by Janis and Connie. “D’s right,” Connie said. “We have our place in this. Mike depends on us. He draws from our strength.”

  Gail halted. “Huh?”

  “Good God, girl, don’t you know that,” Janis asked, staring into Gail’s eyes. “Without us, Mike, Demon, Mongo, and Sandy are loose cannons, capable of obliterating reality like you keep hinting at. They need us, and we need them. Step up!”

  For the first time, Gail understood Demon Inc in basic form. “God… I’ve been so stupid! Grant understands this better than I do! My Dad understands! I am such an idiot!”

  “Not anymore,” Janis said, dragging Gail forward. “We’re action junkies now. Only hesitation keeps us off the train. Like D said, ‘all aboard’.”

  The closer the van came to Rayden’s warehouse, the more animated and distraught Mongo became. “Please, my friends, let me soar ahead. This place is very bad. I do not want any of you hurt or your souls lost.”

  “We’re in this together!” Janis hugged Mongo. “Don’t be afraid for us. We’ve been in combat so bad we kissed our asses goodbye a few times. We fear, but we don’t back away. Remember… we have the Ripper with us.”

  Mongo grinned. “They know we’re coming. They are not afraid. We have been discovered, my friends. I do not know how, but Rayden’s band know we are on the way and they have prepared for our arrival.”

  “What else, Mongo?” Mike saw the rest of the angst burning through his paranormal brother. “We can’t fight it unless we know what it is.”

  “I can be controlled by these things inside the warehouse. I do not know how or who. I feel danger for my own mind emanating from the warehouse.”

  Mike grinned. “You need a Ripper upgrade, brother.

  Mike gripped Mongo’s head in his hands, generating a tidal wave of darkness tendrils inside his Haunt friend. It acted as soothing balm to Mongo’s pained countenance. “Yes! I feel it, El Capitan Darkness! They cannot take me now… ever.”

  “Good! We will need recon as only you can do, brother,” Mike said. “I will be with you every step. I will be in your head with the darkness to protect against any threat.”

  Mongo smiled, gripping Mike’s hands. “Thank you, brother. You have been gifted with more power. I can feel and now embrace it as my own. They do not stand a chance against us. They are demons, El Capitan. Of that, I am sure. They are not my mother-in-law or uncle. They are demons from hell.”

  “Can…can D even hurt them,” Janis asked.

  Demon head butted her. “Worry about Satan’s flock. I’m jetting in on the first strike and rip me out some munchie demons. I bet they taste just like chicken.”

  Janis hugged Demon. “We can’t lose you.”

  “No one dies or gets hurt from our family,” Mike stated. “I will turn his warehouse into a blackhole in the universe if any of you are in danger. We will recon this through Mongo, figure out our best plan and attack. I will shield us. Our first priority is the demon familiar Rayden goes everywhere with. I need to take him out first before we purify the warehouse. I will figure a way to entice Rayden into sending the thing out against me.”

  “I hacked his phone, Mike. We can call him directly,” Denny said. “I don’t know if he’ll answer, but you can give it a try.”

  “Perfect! He’ll know it’s me because I don’t hide my identity on the phone. We don’t make the call until Mongo does his recon of the warehouse. We need to know if we can send in Mongo to guard the people held there while the rest of us attack. We’ll park the battle wagon close to the warehouse for reloading. As an extra precaution, we’ll get doused with our Haunt killer mix. We don’t even know if it works against real demons. If it doesn’t, we retreat. Is that understood?”

  “Of course, Mikey,” Stan agreed. “We do anything and everything according to paranormal direction in the field. You roasted the other demon Rayden tried killing you with, the first time you stopped him.”

  “You’re right but something’s happened to strengthen Kirk. Grant will park the van a block away. Mongo will recon at that point. They know we’re coming so I want you to take a swipe at the first demon entity you run across, Mongo. Kill it, maim it… I don’t care. I need to ascertain whether we can hurt these things and with what.”

  “I will seek to decapitate one while streaking through, El Capitan. Count on me. If it does not react, I will look in on the hostages and report back to you.”

  “That’s what we need, brother. If you can’t hurt any of them, we will need to test our colloidal silver mix. I don’t want us rushing in there with blanks. It’s vital to know if we can hurt them. If we can’t, we need to back the hell away and figure another plan to get this done.”

  “If we wipe them out, it will be a legendary shots, beers, and Klondike Bar celebration,” Demon stated.

  Denny kept working on the laptop, trying different imaging filters. “Mike… something’s goofy about the thing Rayden pals around with. It has no heat signature. It moves. I can detect its mass, but it’s more like a moving mountain rather than a person or demon.”

  “I didn’t say anything before because it didn’t seem important,” Mike replied. “The wo
man we met on the trail said she passed Rayden and his big buddy. Cindy said he had an odor like a wet riverbank.”

  “She said he had weird symbols tattooed on his forehead too,” Demon added.

  “Uh oh… it can’t be Rayden created a golem.” Denny switched windows on his laptop to a separate site. He turned the laptop so the others could see. “Jewish folklore tells of a creature forged from earth or clay through magic with symbols inscribed on its forehead. The symbols translated mean truth. If you remove the last symbol it means death and the golem turns back into dirt. Supposedly, the golem did hard work or protected the Jewish people from pogroms.”

  “That is one ugly looking monster,” Janis said, peering at the image on Denny’s screen.

  “There’s too many coincidences to believe this isn’t a golem,” Gail remarked. “I’ve seen TV shows with golems as monsters. They’re super strong and can’t be stopped, except by their creators, or somehow doing what Denny said: erasing the last letter. The English word is emet, but it’s always put on the golem’s forehead with the Jewish symbols.”

  “How could Rayden make the golem? He’s a Satanist,” Mike replied.

  “I don’t know, Mike,” Denny admitted. “Legends say it can be brought to life by sticking a parchment with the secret name of God on it in the golem’s mouth, or chanting ancient words from the Talmud while dancing around it. Gail’s probably right though. Kirk figured a way to create it. I’m not thrilled with the idea of you facing it alone.”

  “I can’t juice it,” Mike admitted, “but I can try and fight it using the darkness. We need it out of the way. Rayden obviously has a lot of faith in his creation. That fact may make it easier for me to bait him into sending the golem out to face me, if it is a golem.”

  “No offense, Mike, but when the monster comes out, I’ll be in the van,” Connie said.

  “I do have a plan. If I can move the thing, Sandy could open a portal to the Radalia dimension, and then I jam it into the portal.”

  “Not bad, Ripper,” Demon replied. “Mongo and I can protect Sack until you need the portal. The thing can’t hurt Mongo… at least we hope it can’t hurt Mongo.”