by Michael Todd
Max tried it again, turning in the right direction this time. Damian clapped his hands together in front of his face, and the younger man let go. They did this move again and again, each time faster and more violently. After about a dozen times, the priest stepped in front of him. “Okay, the other issue is the mouth. Sometimes, they are up on you so fast you can’t get the arms. They will come at you with the teeth. What you want to do is jab your arm out straight in front of you and catch them right in the chin. But don’t slip and stick your hand in their mouth. Ready? Let’s try.”
The trainee got that one on the first try but did it over and over again until there was no hesitation. Damian clapped his hands together. “Good. Now, if you put enough power behind it, you will be able to lift the demon off the ground and slam him down. Then you can use that exorcism spell to pin them there while you finish the job. See? It all kind of goes together.”
“Nice,” Max replied, feeling more confident.
The older man rubbed his hands together. “Now, this is the fun part—the offense part. I’ll show you a few short katas that will help you in both defense and offense. That way, you aren’t merely stopping them for a moment. You are disabling them.”
The younger man looked concerned. “Do I want to injure them if I am going to save them?”
Damian smiled. “If you have to injure them, we will fix it after the exorcism. You can’t exorcise them if they take you out first.”
The priest stood on the edge of the mat, and Max backed up. Damian closed his eyes, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth with his hands pressed together in front of him. When his eyes opened, they were bright red, and he immediately began the moves. He stepped forward with his right leg, punching his fist out, then repeated with his left. His fist unfurled into a straight line that he zigzagged through the air. He stood up straight and kicked with his right leg and then his left. To finish the move, he pulled his fist high and slammed it down into the mat, dropping to one knee.
When he was done, he stood slowly and put his hands together, bowing to his companion. The trainee’s eyes were huge, and he wasn’t even sure he could bow correctly. Damian waved to him. “Your turn. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right the first time.”
Max put his hands together and closed his eyes, taking breaths through his nose and his mouth. He stepped out with his right leg and punched his fist out, then repeated with his left, but when he switched legs he lost his balance, flailing his arms. He found his balance again and continued.
He wrinkled his nose as he stood up straight, and kicked out with his right leg before getting his feet tangled together and falling hard on his side. Max pounded the mat, and the older man lifted both eyebrows, walked over, and helped him to his feet. “Maybe we pushed that one a little too soon. You got the defensive moves. That’s an excellent start. Don’t be hard on yourself. Those were a bit advanced for where you are.”
The younger man knew he was merely being nice. “Maybe I should try them again.”
His mentor patted his chest. “I have a better idea. I don’t want you going into tonight’s fight injured, so why don’t we work on something a bit more fun?”
Max watched him move to the closet and pull out two round dummies that were made to work on self-defense moves. He put them in front of both the windows then walked over to his bag. Once he’d pulled two daggers with solid, carved wood handles out, he stood beside the trainee.
He reared his arm back and threw the dagger hard, striking the dummy in the chest. Then, he repeated it with the other, hitting the dummy right in the forehead. “These are special metal, so you want to hold them by the handles. That’s it,” Damian declared as he retrieved the daggers.
Max took one from him and looked at it. “I thought we were going to try to not kill anyone.”
Damian turned toward him. “These things are unpredictable, and I would rather know you can protect yourself than let you fail. I won’t let you fail, Max.”
“Okay, I get what you’re saying,” he replied.
He stood straighter and grasped the handle of the knife. Quietly, he focused on the dummy, feeling more focus flowing through him than he had ever noticed before. He took the knife and pulled it back, throwing it hard. It hit the dummy by the handle and bounced off onto the floor. Max shook his head. “No, let me try that again. I know I got this.”
Damian didn’t look convinced but handed the knife over. “Here, loosen your wrist a bit. Think about slinging it with power behind it.”
The young priest nodded and concentrated, feeling his demon helping him zone in. It was almost like he had tunnel vision, and he could feel the grains of the wood between his fingers. He released a long breath and pulled his arm back, blasted it forward, and released the dagger. It flew through the air, twisted at the perfect moment, and slammed into the head of the dummy.
His mentor clapped his hands and walked over, looking at the knife in amazement. “Wow, that had some power behind it. The entire blade is in the head except for the handle. Good job, Max. It seems you might have a talent for that.”
He felt proud of himself for the first time in a while. “So, I can defend myself, and I can throw knives, though I’m not sure where I will get knives from at the church. But I guess it’s a good skill to have. If I can throw a knife, I can throw a metal vase, I suppose.”
Damian smirked and walked back to him, handing him the daggers. “Here, do that again. Only this time, don’t hesitate between throws.”
Max nodded, and the older man backed up. He didn’t know what got into him, but he threw the first one then spun around, throwing the second as he whirled. One knife went into the dummy on the right, and the other bulls-eyed into the one on the left. He found out exactly how badass he could be.
Chapter Fifteen
Max was killing it with the knives, so much so that Damian didn’t even realize that time was ticking by. When they were finished, they headed down, changed into their normal clothes, and met back in the dining room. The trainee walked in with extra confidence in his step, and Damian was glad to see it. The kid would be good at his job. It simply took time to get it all down, and unfortunately, the church did not allow him much of that.
He unfolded the map on the table. “Okay, so we need to talk about tactics now. We can’t march into this thing without a plan. Luckily for us, we have something that we rarely had when I was a merc. We have plans to the place and a general idea of what it looks like.”
Max pulled out his notebook. “Have you been in the church before?”
“Yes, but it was many years ago and before the renovations were done. I have a general idea of the main area but no knowledge of anything else.”
“So, we should go into it like we’ve never been there?”
Damian pulled out a pen. “Precisely. So, there are four entrances to the church from the outside. We have the main entrance through the front doors, one side entrance on the left-hand side, one back entrance, and this basement entrance that leads to the tunnels. Most likely, this entrance will be barred from the inside if the leaders are down there, so that leaves us three. Normally, I would say get in as sneakily as possible—”
Max cut in. “But we want to be able to exorcise these people as quickly as we can.”
“Right. So, I think the best bet, if it is clear when we get there, is to go in through the front entrance. We will walk through a small receiving area then into the main pulpit area of the church. The place is big, and I know they can hold upward of four hundred people in one service, so we will have to watch each other’s backs.”
The young man put his pen down for a minute. “In training at the church, we saw video where demons climbed walls, ceilings—anything. Is that what I can expect here?”
Damian nodded. “Yes, I would say that is exactly what you can expect here. To be honest, I would go ahead and expect anything and everything, and if it’s not so bad, then we will have a nice surprise. It won’t be like
the hotel. There won’t be any tricks like blood on the windows or swirling demon paintings. We are talking raw demon activity. Some of these will look just like humans. You have to be prepared for that.”
Max sat back in his chair and eyed him. “Can I ask you something?”
He looked up from the blueprints. “Sure. What’s up?”
The trainee folded his hands together in his lap. “I want to know what is up with the cross that you carry. It’s huge, and it seems so weighty to carry around. From what we’ve been told, any old cross will do for exorcising, even the small ones on chains.”
Damian closed the blueprints and put his pen down. He’d known that eventually, he would have to talk about things with Max. He had simply hoped it wouldn’t be so soon. Then again, he never imagined the church would send him into an incursion of this magnitude on his second real time out with him.
He looked the young priest up and down, finally giving in. “That cross is very special to me. It was given to me by Katie and the person who creates the special metal for the bullets and weapons we use to take down demons. This metal is unlike anything else. It damages the demon and either kills it instantly or stops it long enough for us to attack. This cross is made from that metal. It was a gift from them, and I have to say that since I got it, I have been able to save hundreds of lives.”
Max pulled his brow together. “Do you exorcise with it?”
Damian knew the question was coming. “I do. I do everything with it, although the lives I have saved with it weren’t necessarily the ones I was trying to defeat. As mercenaries, you find more unsavable souls than not. This cross is a sign of our religion, but it is also a very powerful weapon.”
“A weapon? How is a cross a weapon?”
He reached into his coat pockets and pulled out his gloves. “You see these? I have to wear them in order to handle the cross. Because I am Damned, that metal can do as much damage to me as it does to the demons I fight. These gloves allow me to handle it without hurting myself. The reaction that occurs when a demon touches the metal is pretty unbearable.”
Max leaned forward. “What does it feel like?”
Damian laughed. “Like everything in your body is on fire. In fact, I was there the first time Katie showed us the metal. She pricked our fingers barely enough to draw the tiniest bit of blood. The sensation was like what I imagine having electricity bolting through your entire body must feel like.”
He drew his gloves on and pulled the cross out, holding it up to the light. The metal shimmered and moved almost like it was made of liquid. It was entrancing to watch. He motioned to the cloth napkin on the table. “Wrap your hand up in that. You will be able to hold it for a second and feel a very minor reaction, even through the fabric.”
Max lifted an eyebrow but was too curious not to do it. He wrapped the cloth napkin tightly around his hand until there was no skin showing at all. Damian held the cross out to him, and he drew a breath as he picked it up. At first, he didn’t feel anything, simply watched the shimmer of the metal in the light. After a few moments though, he felt something in his hands.
It started out as a light tingle, then became more like a vibration. Every few seconds, a shot of pain would go through his hand until it was almost too hard to hold. The older man chuckled as he reached out and took it from him. He stuck it in his jacket pocket and removed the gloves.
Max motioned toward the jacket. “How do you walk around with that thing against your chest?”
Damian lifted the pocket up. “I sewed a leather pouch into every one of my jackets. I still feel a slight hum, but it doesn’t really bother me at all anymore. That way, I have it with me everywhere I go.”
The trainee grinned. “Watch out. You’ll go all this time fighting demons off with that thing and then find out keeping it close to your body gives you like mutant cancer or something.”
His mentor shrugged. “Hey, I’ve lived decades longer than the normal life expectancy of someone in the mercenary business. If that’s what takes me in the end, I’ll welcome it. Much better than getting ripped apart by a demon.”
Max grimaced at the thought. “So, what exactly—besides pain—does that cross do to a demon? Obviously, you don’t shoot it at them.”
Damian looked down at his hands. “No, I don’t shoot it at them. How do I explain it? Remember, I told you about the first exorcism I did with Katie? The people who called it in were ghost hunters that I’d worked with? When I got there—well, when Katie and I got there—everyone was infected. Inside, it wasn’t a ghost. It was a big-ass demon. He was not happy at all to be surprised by a couple of mercs. We fought the bastard forever, but he was really tough. In the end, Katie weakened him, and I pushed that cross right through his skull. He disintegrated into a huge pile of ash. It was the first time I realized exactly what that thing could do, and after that, I used it anytime I could to save people’s lives.”
Max’s face went slowly from mortified to incredibly impressed. “That is probably the coolest thing I have heard in a while. Seriously, it’s cool as shit.” Damian raised his eyebrows, but the young man put up his hand before he could say a word. “I know. I know. Language. You and my demon will never give me a break when it comes to that.”
The priest bellowed a laugh as he stood from the table and walked across the dining room to a small wooden box sitting on one of the tables. He reached inside his shirt and pulled on a piece of thin brown cord until a key emerged. Once he’d unlocked the box, he pulled out a small leather satchel with a long leather cord attached to it. Damian relocked the box and turned toward Max.
He held the bag in his hand for several moments, remembering when he had the thing made. It was right before he left the base and as a backup to his big cross, just in case anything ever happened. He knew, though, that Max could use it a lot more than he could at that point. His decision made, he sat down at the table and slid it across. The trainee looked strangely at him and picked up the satchel.
Immediately, Max felt the vibration of the same metal inside. He untied the strings and grabbed the napkin, spreading it out and dumping the contents of the bag on the cloth. It was a smaller version of the big cross, the special metal shimmering and vibrating in front of him. He looked up with awe. “Is this for me?”
Damian nodded. “It is. I think it’s important that if you’re going to do this job, you’re more than prepared. You will have to grab a pair of gloves before you go, so if you need to hold it you can, but it should work well for you. You can wear the leather pouch around your neck, and you can use the cross in exorcisms or to keep you safe against the demons. Now, it won’t burn a hole in a large demon’s skull, but it will do some damage. That’s for sure. Think small but mighty.”
Max was taken aback by the gift. “Thank you for this, Damian. I have to be honest with you. I’m not fond of the idea of ever having to take anything down, even a demon, but I know it may be necessary at some point. Without the proper training, because I’ve only been here a little while, I know it would be hard for me to succeed. This gives me a lot more confidence in what I’m about to walk into. I know this is important to you, so I promise I will take very good care of it.”
His mentor slapped his hand on the table and pushed his chair back. “I know you will, Maximus. Now, we have a church to save and people to exorcise. Let’s get the load-in done so that when we are ready, we can hit the damn road. I want this to be done and over with. That’s for sure.”
Max smiled as Damian left the room, putting the cross back in the bag. He tied the string and slipped it around his neck, patting it against his chest. Astaroth grumbled. Oh boy, a fucking metal death trinket. Just what I always wanted.
Chapter Sixteen
Damian pulled the SUV into the parking lot and parked as far back as he could get. The lights flickered out front, and the sky was clouded, making it hard to see movement but easy to see beady red eyes. He pointed at the cemetery toward the back of the church.
Max lea
ned forward and squinted, staring at the movement. “Are those…”
The priest reached back and grabbed his guns, checking the magazines. “Those are demons. They seem to be having a grand old time running around the cemetery. I guess that afterthought of a blessing on the grounds didn’t help much to keep the soil holy.”
The young man watched as two demons, only slightly reminiscent of humans, ran across the parking lot and leapt onto the side of the church. Their long talons penetrated the stone, sending dust and pellets falling to the ground. The demons were everywhere, from the front to the back of the church. The two exited the SUV and paused on hearing a loud crash inside the church.
Damian opened the side door and handed him the wooden-handled daggers. “Figured if I got here and it looked like this that you might want to have these.”
Max took the knives carefully and stared at them, reluctant to even imagine using them on any of the people he could see. He’d thought he had prepared himself, but seeing old ladies, young men, and everyone in between slinking around the grounds with snarling teeth and red eyes came as something of a shock. He stuck the daggers in the breast pocket of his jacket.
The priest glanced at the pocket. “Be careful. Don’t accidentally grab the wrong end.”
He smiled and pulled a pair of leather gloves from his pants pockets. “I had these from last winter. Figured they would come in handy.”
Damian unzipped his duffel and grabbed two more pistols, sliding them into holsters farther back on his waist. He grabbed two more knives from the bag and slipped them beside the guns. Max looked at him with wide eyes. “You need that many weapons?”
He shrugged and tossed the bag back in. “I don’t know. I hope not. I hope all I need is my bible and my cross, but I’m not taking any chances with this crowd. They look wild and wooly.”