The Third Seal

by Sean Deville

  “Where’s my money?” Jonah demanded. He was suddenly incensed. Who the hell were these men? And where was Kacey?

  “In the fireplace,” the second man responded.

  “You burnt my money?” The fear began to merge with an anger that rose from inside.

  “Not us,” the second man reassured. “Yesterday someone broke into your room.”

  “They burnt my money?” Why would anyone burn nearly a quarter of a million dollars? That was insane.

  “I don’t have any answers for you,” the second man said. “I’m just the cleaner.” He pulled a phone out of his overalls and pushed a button.

  “Who are you ringing?” Jonah implored. What if the police got involved?

  “He’s here,” the second man said into the phone, before handing it to Jonah. Jonah didn’t want it. Whoever was on the other end would have bad things to tell him. Only some of the paranoia that was washing over was a result of the after effects of the cocktail of drugs he had consumed. The second man offered the phone again, this time more insistently. Finally, Jonah took it.

  “This is Jonah.”

  “Where have you been?” There was no mistaking the voice of Kane.

  “I was celebrating.”

  “Why didn’t you take your phone with you?”

  “I never do,” Jonah said absently. “They burnt my money.”

  “I’m glad you have your priorities straight,” Kane noted. “A man broke in whilst you were on stage. He killed your minion and your slut.”

  “Kacey’s dead?” That really was a shame. Not for her, Jonah couldn’t give a fuck for her wellbeing. But he’d missed out on most of the fun with her.

  “Yes.”

  “But who was this man?”

  “An enemy,” Kane added.

  “Am I in danger. You said I would be protected.”

  “And you will be,” Kane reassured. “Unless you decide to go off on your jollies again.”

  “I told you, I was celebrating.” Kane didn’t respond to that. “What happens now?” The third man came out of the bathroom still carrying the bucket. He briefly looked at Jonah and winked before returning to the bedroom. The second man went with him.

  “You carry on as we planned. Your main event is in two days.”

  “And my money?” He still couldn’t believe it had been burnt. Was that even the case though. There was no evidence of it in the fireplace, which to him presently looked like it had been freshly installed. It was spotless, in fact everything around him was cleaner than anything he had ever seen.

  “You will be reimbursed. The break in was not your fault, so I will not be apportioning any blame to you for the events that happened.”

  “I…thank you.” Kane was a dangerous man, better to just accept what was being said. From the bedroom, the two men re-emerged carrying the mattress. Despite its size, they seemed to handle it effortlessly.

  “Who are these men?”

  “They are the cleaners.”

  “But there were bodies here.” And blood, Jonah thought, there would likely have been blood.

  “Cleaners dispose of all manner of things. The company I work for has them on retainer.”

  “But Kacey…people will come looking for her.”

  “Do you really believe that,” Kane asked. “She is a nobody who cut herself of from any family ties just for the chance of getting a glimpse of your magnificent cock.” The words surprised Jonah. Nobody was supposed to speak to him like this, not with the name and the reputation he was developing. He was a leader, someone who could rouse the faithful and manipulate the gullible. It wasn’t right that this Kane should treat him like this. Despite the money and the prestige his association with Giles Horn had brought him, Jonah had a sudden realisation that he might have made a very bad mistake accepting Horns patronage.

  The two cleaners left the room with the matress between them, leaving Jonah all alone.

  “Are you going to tell me why this man broke in?” If he was in danger, surely Jonah needed to know from whom.

  “No.” came the blunt response. “he’s not your enemy. He’s mine.”

  33.

  Slough, UK

  Lilith sat and watched over a woman she didn’t know and for whom she had no allegiance. With her present injuries, her instructions had been to stay at the church and recuperate, but she chose to ignore those orders. Vicky Ralph needed help, as did her child, the one who could see the truth about the darkness in the world.

  Vicky had insisted on coming back to her father’s house rather than staying at the church, feeling that a degree of normality would be best for Emily. Besides, it wasn’t as if the church had a guest room.

  The plan was for Lilith to watch over Vicky tonight so that James could get some sleep, the sofa in Vicky’s living room making an acceptable bed for one night. Emily had also been put to bed, the child insisting that any residual evil she was able to detect had vanished as soon as Vicky had accepted the brand with gritted teeth.

  For one so young to be able to see the evidence of possession without the rigorous training of the Inquisition was a curiosity to Lilith. Most of those with the ability never accessed it, living their lives completely oblivious that they were able to see Satan’s minions.

  How were you supposed to live a normal life with that power? You were told by the media and doctors the world was a certain way, and that seeing things out of the accepted realms of normality was a form of mental illness. Only through the training of the Inquisition could one learn the truth about the disturbing things visible in this realm. And yet here was a child who could see all.

  Vicky had been asleep for nearly an hour when the temperature in the room dipped. Lilith shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the ache in her an inconvenience. It was almost welcome, to feel the trauma she had willingly endured. Willingly because there had always been the choice to end it all. The guilt had been buried and would keep getting buried every time it threatened to surface. Now wasn’t the time for doubts and self-pity.

  Vicky stirred.

  “No,” the sleeping woman stated. Lilith was sure the branding would protect Vicky, but she slipped a hand under her coat, fingers embracing the knife that rested there. Creed had given it to her before she had left the church, out of the eyes of those she was supposed to protect. Despite his caring nature, Father Creed still understood and accepted what Lilith might need to do.

  If the brand failed, Lilith would ensure the demon didn’t live long in this world. This was her duty, and she would never fail, no matter what the cost. She would need to act quickly though if the tales of the demon’s displayed power had been accurate.

  ***

  The wasteland again. With the news from Shepherd’s Bush, the devastation seemed more real in Vicky’s sleeping mind. This was a future that could very easily come to pass.

  Vicky walked through the rubble, careful where she placed her bare feet. For some reason, in the latest incarnation of this dream, she was naked, except for the ash that coated her skin. The air was thick with it, the scent of a thousand fires permeating her lungs. From rooms she couldn’t see, Vicky heard the cries of the tormented.

  In the distance, a great horned beast stalked across the cityscape. Its shape was difficult to make out, smoke shrouding it, but it towered nearly forty stories into the air, taller than any of the remaining buildings.

  “The beast walks the land,” a disjointed voice said to her. Here was the demon, once again returned. The giant bent down, momentarily vanishing from view. When it righted itself, the beast brought an immense hand to its mouth, as if it had merely scooped a handful of berries into its black, Satanic maw.

  Only those weren’t fruits it was picking from the apocalyptic wasteland.

  “Such a thing doesn’t exist,” Vicky insisted.

  “It does here, in your mind. Here we witness the sickness of your imagination.”

  “And you? Why do you never show yourself?” Vicky enquired. Although this was a
dream, she felt she had control here, not like in the nightmares the demon had inflicted in the past. This was her mind, so surely it was hers to command.

  “I am a terror to behold. Seeing me would break you.” The words swirled around Vicky, a vortex of sound that had no beginning or end.

  “You don’t scare me anymore. I know what you are now, demon.” Was it wise to reveal this knowledge?

  “The monkey thinks it knows. The monkey thinks it can withstand me another night. I almost had you the last time. Tonight, I take you.”

  “I don’t think so,” Vicky countered. Something wet licked the back of her neck. When Vicky turned, all she could see was shattered streets.

  “Why do you deny what is inevitable. Give yourself and I will make life easy for you. In the confines of your primitive skull, I can let you live out your days in bliss and contentment. You’ve seen how I can control the world you see. Why would you deny yourself such pleasure?”

  “What? There is no pleasure to be found locked away in my own mind.”

  “I can save your daughter, too,” the demon reminded her. “I can spare her all this.”

  “That’s a lie and we both know it.” Where the moisture lingered, a pressure on her skin started to build, as if warm fingers were pressing on her. The demon was preparing itself, getting ready to claim her.

  In front of Vicky, a cross manifested. Eight feet high, it had a girl child nailed to it. Emily, no doubt, an attempt to shock Vicky into submission. But this time it was different. Whereas once such an image would have held power, now Vicky found she was free of emotion. She knew it was a fraud, a phantom, her sleeping mind not easily fooled.

  “Help me, mummy,” the phantom Emily said through parched lips. As Vicky watched, strips of flesh began to peel off the child’s legs, muscle being removed down to the bone. Emily howled in agony, but still Vicky found herself neutral to what she was seeing. This was the demon’s way, promising more harrowing fates for those she loved.

  “That’s not Emily.” Vicky turned away from the cross, only for it to re-appear before her. Behind it now, six men stepped from the gloom. They were bent over, injured and ragged, their skin stricken with sickness and radiation burns.

  Some of the men smiled, their mouths filled with gaps from where teeth had been lost. Those were not the smiles of predators, but the leering of broken and desperate men.

  “If you don’t care about your precious Emily, then let me show you the fate that awaits you. All you have to do is say yes to avoid it.”

  “I will never say the word,” Vicky insisted. She saw it now, the power she had in this place. Up until this moment she had been a vulnerable victim. Not anymore, the brand had seen to that. From her understanding, the seared flesh was to act as a barrier against the demon, but she saw that she was mistaken.

  “Then these men will take you. They will force themselves on you, rape you with their crusted and diseased cocks. More will come, whole legions to fill your every hole.” The six came forward, shedding the dirty and shredded garments.

  “That’s not going to happen.” The men stopped, their progress halted. Although no wind could be detected, they moved as if they had been struck by a gale. “I have the power here now.” From the broken earth at their feet, roots began to emerge, winding around the would-be rapists’ feet and ankles, trapping them in place. No matter how much they struggled, the roots grew thicker.

  “A neat trick, but it won’t stop me,” the demon blustered.

  “Is that fear I hear in your voice, demon?” The cross holding Emily collapsed, the child evaporating into dust as it ceased to exist.

  “I have no fear of the likes of you.” And to think, the demon said it never lied.

  “You have invaded my mind. Is part of you also in the room with me where I sleep?” Vicky received no answer. Around her the environment began to change, the air clearing and growing sweet. The city began to crumble to be replaced by a green, flower-filled meadow. A hot but pleasant sun beat down as it progressed across the sky.

  Before, the distance was filled with the harrowed howls of those stricken by plague, hunger and physical wounds. Now all Vicky could hear was the laughter of children. “Perhaps you should cast an eye at the body you wish to claim. You might find yourself disappointed.”

  ***

  Lilith heard Vicky say something, but it was unintelligible. The blackness was there, but instead of encasing, it hovered over the bed, growing thicker. Thin tendrils projected down, but every time one came into contact with Vicky’s body, the tendrils evaporated.

  Lilith thought she heard the demon roar.

  Good, the brand was working, but Lilith had never seen this kind of manifestation before. She had sometimes seen the remnants of the demon as it was cast out from a corpse, but never had such power lingered outside a human body for so long. The blackness looked diseased, as if it was dying. With luck the demon was in great pain.

  “Can you hear me, demon?” Lilith asked. She said it loud enough so as not to be heard by the others in the house. James sleeping downstairs and Emily in her room didn’t need to see this.

  “Who speaks to me?” an almost incoherent voice answered.

  “One who would have your name, demon.”

  “Inquisitor. This is your doing?”

  “Look at the body you try to claim. You will see it is protected.” The cloud undulated more violently, the walls of the room starting to shudder slightly. A vortex began to form at the edge of the blackness, as if it was being sucked down to the floor. Lilith could tell the demon was trying to resist, but with its failure it was being claimed once again by the Pit.

  “I curse you, Inquisitor,” the demon hissed.

  “You have no power over me or this woman.” Stepping over to one of the walls, Lilith took a black marker out of her pocket and began to write a symbol on one of the walls.

  “What are you doing?”

  Lilith could hear the sudden fear. “You know what these symbols mean,” she warned. “You have moments before I have warded this room, trapping you here. Imagine the pain you will feel as you try and return to Hell only to find your way barred.” Lilith moved to another wall and began to draw another symbol. “Maybe I will call some of my Inquisitor friends so that we can play with you.” The alarm clock on Vicky’s bedside table flew at Lilith, but she easily dodged the projectile.

  “She is mine.”

  “No. She carries the brand. She is forever forbidden to your kind.”

  “Then I will claim another,” the demon roared. “Nothing will stop me from my prize.”

  “You mean Emily, don’t you?” The demon had let its purpose slip. “Why is the child so important to you?”

  “You will never know.”

  “So be it.” Lilith moved to another wall. Vicky was stirring now, coming out of the dream. The last link the demon had was about to be severed. She carried on drawing regardless.

  Vicky’s eyes opened, and the bed she was on surged into the air and came crashing down.

  “Whores,” the demon shouted before its blackness finally winked out of existence. Vicky sat up, a satisfied look adorning her face.

  “I beat it,” Vicky proclaimed.

  “Yes, you did,” Lilith agreed, placing the marker pen down on a side cabinet. “You can be proud. I doubt that demon will ever bother you again.” That wasn’t strictly the truth though. The demon had come for Vicky, but only because Emily was the ultimate prize. She would need to consult with the scholars of her Order about this. Lilith was sure the Librarian wouldn’t object to another phone call so soon.

  Why was Emily so important to those from the Pit?

  34.

  Washington D.C., USA

  The Chief of Staff of the United States Airforce, General David McKenzie, sat outside the Oval Office waiting for his Commander in Chief to grant him permission to enter the hallowed realm. He’d seen Presidents come and go throughout his military career and had directly served three of them i
n some capacity or other.

  It was early in the morning, but with the Iran situation, nobody was getting much sleep.

  If he was brutally honest, the present incumbent of the office was not someone he would have voted for. This President was the wrong person for these times. There was excessive ego in the man and not enough humility, traits that McKenzie had done his best to eradicate from every command he had ever been given.

  Ego got people killed. If you couldn’t accept and learn from your mistakes, then you were of no use to McKenzie. He was no coward though, and hadn’t fled onto Airforce One when the nuke had gone off. Instead he had temporarily retreated to the impenetrable bunker below the White House. The Vice President had been ferried off to a secure location, just in case. But again, it was arguably the President’s ego and his own sense of self-importance that had kept him in Washington.

  In times like these, a level head was needed. Truth be told, the office of President was not something that could be handled by one man alone. The country was far too complex, the growing factions that were splitting it apart ever more violent and vocal. Those in power were trying to run the country using a system that was no longer fit for purpose.

  If the Pope was right, if the forces of darkness were rising, then the conflict in the Middle East was merely the start of it. Hurtling towards them was the apocalypse, the end of all things. There were signs of it everywhere, and not just in the inevitable sea of war that humanity constantly insisted on swimming in. Two mushroom clouds over London and Philadelphia weren’t the best omens of peace.

  In the last twenty-four hours, three further and significant conflicts had erupted. Firstly, there had been a massive explosion at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam that was being built on the Blue Nile. Seventeen people had been reported dead, and although they were denying it, Egypt was being held responsible. For years Egypt had been objecting to the building of the dam due to the threat it implied to the integrity of the Nile which supplied water to ninety percent of the Egyptian population.

  Secondly there had been a border clash between Pakistani and Indian troops in Kashmir, a reported fifty-seven dead on both sides. Two nuclear nations facing off over a border that was ill defined and hotly disputed. Nobody knew how the shooting had started, but it was still ongoing, cooler heads not yet able to calm things down. The thought of two huge armies facing off against each other was something that would keep McKenzie up at nights.