Demon Inhibitions: Caitlin Diggs Series #3

by Gary Starta

  “I’m not here for stories you already know, my son. I’m here to stop you from doing something you’ll regret.”

  “Such as?”

  “I know why you’re really here. You’re not really after me. Though, I suppose you’d like to see my blood spilled all over this warehouse. And I will acquiesce to your perverse demand, if you’ll do me just one favor.”

  “You’re tiring me, old man. What is it, Father?” The phrase “meeting your maker” had been given new context.

  “Spare the life of Charlize Wilson. Don’t do it out of charity, do it because she’s your sister.”

  If a genetically enhanced soul stealer could become flabbergasted, Mollini was now a living example. At least I took comfort in the fact that Brahms wasn’t a traitor. He was simply anxious to find Charlize, his daughter. If Mollini was Charlize’s brother, that would make Brahms her father. I always had a suspicion Charlize was not borne of natural creation, yet knowing this did nothing to dilute my love for this wondrous child. I started to move forwards, Briana wrapped her arm around my waist.

  “You’re not going out there yet,” Briana said.

  It seemed I would be, if not at this moment.

  Mollini’s shock soon segued into anger. Big surprise...

  “So, you created my sibling after you abandoned me. You could have helped me. I know all about her gifts. You both deserve to die, horribly…”

  “Maybe it’s not too late to help you,” Brahms said. Since he was Mollini’s parent, I knew the offer was not an idle one.

  Mollini waved his arm again. “I don’t think so.”

  Manners, seated fortuitously behind Brahms, hopped from his seat and grabbed Brahms about the waist. I knew what would happen next. My one chance at teleporting Charlize to safety had expired.

  A poof of smoke and sulfuric stench confirmed their exit. Manners had taken Brahms somewhere safe, at least for the time being.

  Mollini had no choice but to divert his full attention to the two Charlize’s. Now was my chance, if I had one at all, to do something. For the life of me, I couldn’t fathom what. It would have been easier if Mollini carried a weapon. I might have been able to thwart him with it, or at the very least knock it from his hands. I didn’t know how I could fight an unconventional weapon, but I would try. I stepped from the boxes and willed my mind to stop Mollini.

  Nothing... Nothing happened. Why were my powers failing me at this moment of need? Was it because a large part of me didn’t believe in my transformation into a goddess? Was it simple as believing?

  As Mollini looked into the faces of the two girls, I saw something else begin to transpire I did not like at all. I turned my will to try to stop her. Federov had snuck up on the Knight, from his rear. She jabbed a needle into his calf. It brought him down in an instant. At the crashing sound of breaking glass, Mollini and the other two Knights looked upwards, oblivious to Federov from the noise of the intrusion. The Keepers had finally come to our rescue by accessing the skylight. Shattered glass rained down. A part of me shuddered. Instead of hoping the glass would impair Mollini, I feared for the safety of Federov.

  And so did someone else.

  That’s when our plan went to hell.

  Charlize had no choice but to shout. “Mom, no!”

  Mollini turned with grim satisfaction towards her. Glass fell in shards about him. That’s when the two Knights flanking him realized a traitor was in their midst. But Mollini did not even turn to acknowledge her, even as she worked to free another needle from her smock.

  “Will the real bitch please stand up?” Mollini said.

  He paused to smile. “Good to see you, I guess. Well, since I’ve never ever seen you in the first place, I really don’t know what the accepted behavior is right now. But some part of me thinks skewering your molecules about this room might be good for starters.”

  And as Mollini engaged in sick banter with his prey, I caught sight of Stanford Carter dashing towards Mollini and his entourage.

  I could see it in his eyes. They were purple. They were evil.

  Is that why Carter had been a no show? Had he switched sides? Had he ever been on my side?

  I was sure Carter would sink his fangs into Federov’s neck. He caught her about the waist and cocked his head, manic purple eyes focused on his task.

  A Knight ambled towards Carter and his soon to be victim as if offering assistance. When he did, Carter removed a dagger from his coat with his free hand and launched it into the man’s stomach. He fell immediately upon his face. This had finally caught Mollini’s attention. Carter wasn’t a traitor. He had purposefully excluded himself from the concert to avoid Charlize’s thrall. He had his demon powers. But what could they do against Mollini?

  As Federov scampered for safety, I could see dread immersing her.

  She had dropped the needle. It lay just out of immediate reach of Mollini. But was it? Mollini might now be equipped to perform telekinesis. Something I should be doing. Instead, I stood there, watching, waiting, dreading, hating myself for failing Charlize at her hour of need.

  Bastet took up my slack. She bounded from the seats in the form of a were panther and took the needle just as Mollini’s arm swiped for it. She scurried back underneath the stands, transforming herself at the last moment back into a Tonkinese, taunting Mollini by emitting a series of high pitched mewls.

  No, I thought. Bastet, don’t bait him.

  I trained my eyes back towards Mollini. Directly behind him, a Knight squared off with Carter. It was a match Carter was destined to lose. What hope could he have against a sword? His puny dagger would only serve him if he dared get close enough to his attacker.

  Two of the Keepers--one being Cleck--descended upon the swordsmen and engaged him in battle. Carter paused a second to decide if he should attack. Mollini decided for him. With a wave of his arm, Mollini knocked Carter three yards into the air. He skidded to a stop, on his back, against the door he had entered from.

  He wrung his hands together. “Time for the main course!”

  Sweeney, still garbed as Charlize, launched into a full out run towards the mad-man, the hatred in the eyes was all Sweeney. I could discern it through any disguise.

  Sweeney stopped as if he hit a wall. In reality, he had impacted a shield.

  Briana mumbled something. “I should have known.”

  She waved her arms and lights shimmered. Whatever shielding Mollini had erected was now deactivated. Carter came charging with dagger in hand. This time he drove it into Mollini’s back, just between the shoulder blades. But there was little effect. Mollini barely scowled, too busy inflicting pain upon his disguised attacker. He made a cross with his fingers. The consequence of the gesture resulted in two large gashes in Sweeney’s chest. His glam dissipated instantaneously.

  “Aw,” Mollini said. “It would have been such fun to dissect you as Charlize.”

  In a surreal instant, Carter attempted to dig his dagger from Mollini’s backside.

  Mollini cackled. “It’s sort of like trying to extract the sword from the stone? Eh?”

  He backhanded Carter across the face. Unconscious and limp, Carter’s disabled body fell onto the floor, joining Sweeney’s in a motionless heap.

  It was up to me--again. Still, I tried to use my mind, my anger, and my will. Nothing! I couldn’t stand it any longer. I launched into a full out run towards Mollini. I fell to the floor. It was as if my legs were paralyzed. He didn’t notice my fall. He was too busy focusing on Charlize. Briana helped me back to my feet, but I was dazed and weary and in no shape to behave like a goddess anytime soon.

  Charlize said to Mollini, “Take me, but leave everyone else alone. Surely, you’ll grant one last wish to a relative.”

  Mollini took a look behind him to mock her. “It looks like there’s not a lot of everyone else to leave alone.”

  The bastard was right. A large throng of demons had lined themselves up against the bay doors. They wanted out. The fury they unleashed on d
oor sent a series of spider like cracks throughout all the walls of the warehouse.

  I wondered where Santa had gone. His reindeer were still there. Then a white bearded head emerged from behind one of the deer. He launched several lobs of coal in Mollini’s direction. Meanwhile, more Keepers descended from the skylight, rappelling down via ropes. The lone Knight was apparently an ace swordsman, still keeping all the Keepers at bay.

  As Santa continued to lob coal, Mollini danced out of the way to dodge it. Apparently, Santa’s coal packed a punch after all.

  Yet for all of Santa’s efforts, none of the coal had made contact.

  What else can we do? I nudged my elbow into Briana. “Containment spell…?”

  “Not possible. We’re in stage of magical flux because of the portal. I don’t know how he moved it here from Jersey. But everything’s going to be out of whack for a while until things stabilize. I don’t dare do a spell for fear of harming Charlize. Any spell might blow the whole room.”

  Magnificent! There seemed little else to do but wave a white flag.

  The pit of my stomach absorbed me. Sickness… dread… finality.

  A white strobe emerged from Mollini’s forehead. It bore into Charlize. She stood there, either immobilized, or in defiance, I couldn’t tell which. She was so pure she might not even fight for her life. I wanted to tell her she had to. Words failed to come from my dry mouth. I felt myself shutting down. Lights grew dimmer.

  I snapped awake, apparently from unconsciousness. Briana told me I had been out a few seconds.

  It was all the time Mollini needed to eviscerate the purest being I had ever come to know in my two realities.

  What was left of her was indescribable. But I could liken it to tiny marbles, all radiating light in every spectrum of the rainbow. They lay there on the stage. Her band mates lay with her remains, either unconscious or dead. I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. Why had I been sent to this reality to fail so miserably? I cried. Loud gasping sobs.

  Mollini heard me. But he didn’t laugh or mock me. Why?

  I was all but dead before his eyes. Briana cupped my face in her hands, as I lay on the floor, limp and broken like a rag doll.

  He didn’t rejoice or look very happy for someone who had killed a hated sibling. He looked as if he wanted to bolt.

  He knew it before I did. What I was going to be capable of.

  A pain in my mouth made the room turn upside down. Excruciating pain shot through me as if an errant spark from a wire.

  I watched Federov launch into what I could only expect to be a suicide run at Mollini. She had a needle back in her hand. She kept shouting. “Nobody kills a Federov and lives to tell about it. Swine! Swine! You are vermin! Swine!” I saw Bastet tagging after her, possibly trying to save her from what would surely be instantaneous death. Mollini wouldn’t even have to lift a hand to do it.

  What I didn’t expect was to catapult into the air, somersault style. I certainly didn’t expect to levitate in mid-air, but that’s exactly what I did. It stopped everyone in their tracks including the Keepers who had finally subdued the last Knight. The pause gave Bastet, back in panther form, time to knock Federov down. The cat began dragging the protesting woman back to the grandstand seating. Maybe some lives would be spared. I certainly didn’t count mine among them. I was in the middle of doing something supernatural, something spectacular. But other than a spectacle, I was a floating target for Mollini at best.

  For some reason, he chose to ignore me.

  I spoke. This time my mouth was not parched. I spoke clear and I spoke certain. I said, “Afraid of the unknown, Mollini?”

  He called upon the portal to open. A bluish tinted oval gate swooshed into existence. Its force sent the last of the demons out the bay door they had successfully smashed down. Even Santa retreated. But through it all, the reindeer stayed. I suddenly got the feeling they were part of a plan. I just wish I knew what plan I was launching.

  It turned out I was launching the best of plans.

  I finally had my focus back. My will... My telekinesis was fully loaded and charged. I knew it because I began by collecting all the pretty little balls of light into a neat circle.

  I threw them together, magnetizing them. Not realizing what I was actually doing until sweet sparkles of pure white light began to form an outline, a beautiful silhouette of a young girl I had come to know as Charlize Wilson.

  The portal flickered out of existence. Worry lines formed on Mollini’s face. His exit strategy had been taken from him. But I was still in the dark as to exactly what he still feared. I continued my task. I strung the tiny beads of light together and they began to resemble a double helix. Life! I was creating life--or at least restoring it.

  Briana smiled up at me from about ten yards below.

  I continued to work my magic. I recalled my research. Isis had been a total believer in magic. I was now a believer as well.

  Finally, the light coalesced into something human, something corporeal and something intelligible. Someone I thought I had lost forever: Charlize Wilson took the stage and she took it back with a vengeance.

  I continued to float in space, watching her. I believe she had become transformed as well. And as her tangible corporeal body sang on stage, other neon colored apparitions danced to life about her. This was not simply magic for the sake of a light show. Although, I had to admit it was the coolest concert I had been to in a decade. This magic had purpose.

  I finally knew what Mollini knew… and feared.

  By destroying the old Charlize, he had been partly responsible for resurrecting another being. This one was a lot stronger than Charlize and a lot more diversified. As I observed her other selves surrounding Mollini, I thought she was a lot less indestructible as well.

  The lights danced so prettily about Mollini it was hard to fathom the damage it was doing to him. Beams of light cascaded down on him from each of the glowing apparition’s mouths. I watched part of him dissipate. His shoulder winked in and out of phase. I thought possibly his genetic enhancements were partly responsible for what would be his undoing. He finally screamed in agony, but I was not pleased and neither were the multiple versions of Charlize. She said one last thing to him before he imploded into a black ball of nothingness: “Die with dignity, my brother.” The reindeer began to form a circle around what could only be described as a black specter, the shell that had once been Aldo Mollini.

  And as the black ball vanquished, a jet stream of white light, as powerful as whitewater, jettisoned upwards. I swear I could hear people talking. I knew one of the voices as sure as I had known my own.

  Agent Diggs... She thanked me. We had finally released the souls from their captor.

  They continued to shoot upwards, glorious, triumphant in their finality. I eventually descended back upon solid ground. The lights, the other selves of Charlize dissipated, leaving one lone teen singer on an empty stage. Briana hugged me as we looked upon the eighth wonder of my new reality. And just when we thought things couldn’t any better, her band mates returned to their feet, one by one, joining her. Some stray demons wandered back in to enjoy the miracle. Eventually, Federov, Bastet, Carter and even Sweeney came to join what had become our circle of life. I don’t know how Sweeney had managed to heal, but I think Charlize’s blood that still coursed through his veins had something to do with closing his wounds.

  I would have thought Charlize would have been happier. But I could see what she had done to her brother had taken its toll.

  Before I could say anything, Manners and Brahms returned to the scene via teleport.

  At first Manners smiled, obviously happy that most of his friends were still in one piece, especially his son, Gabriel. But the way he shuffled his feet told me he had something on his mind.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that I’ll never be able to lease this warehouse now.”

  Twenty Three

  I was in the middle of repeating
my field report for the third time when Deputy Director Seals broke.

  I didn’t believe this to be possible. Seals’s slick bureaucratic counterpart of my old reality would have never given me such satisfaction.

  He had lost control, slamming his fist on the table. But he still held the reigns. He made sure I knew that. He threatened to drop all the charges I had filed against Mollini’s three henchmen. Because I had called an ambulance shortly after Charlize’s reemergence, they had survived their injuries. I didn’t believe their survival was from any paranormal consequence. Two of them suffered stomach wounds. That usually means a slow, but steady blood loss, and if the wounds were left untreated, would have resulted in deaths. I might have considered delaying the call to nine-one-one if not for Charlize’s persistence. She offered to heal them herself, but I balked. I could not let that detail get back to the Bureau. I was morally bound to do the next best thing for these men on Charlize’s behalf.

  “I’ve heard your report several times and I can’t make charges of conspiracy to murder stick with what you’re telling me.” He paused. I thought he might hit the table again, but he didn’t. “Actually, it’s from what you’re not telling me.”

  “I’m sorry, Deputy Director. I was incapacitated from the magic released from the portal. I had been knocked unconscious.” Actually, I was, but only for an instant. The magic released from the portal, I had learned from Briana, was what actually empowered me to piece Charlize back together again. Briana surmised I had felt the brief pain in my tooth filling because that was an impure obstacle, but not impure enough to prevent me from getting the ultimate magical upgrade. And like a computer with newly installed programs, I had to shut down and restart in order for that new magic to take effect. This really didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, but it did explain why I was nearly paralyzed before I had lost consciousness. In reality, I was desperate for an excuse that might explain my cowardly actions, most notably how I took cover behind a bunch of cardboard boxes. And yes, I’m sure you’ve already gathered this, but all these details were omitted from my field report as well.