Demon Inc (The Mike Rawlins Series Book 2)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Let’s get the hell out of here and close this sucker up,” Demon said. “You go through first. They’ll probably need you firing on the other side. You can get into position to close up the portal after I pass through.”

  “On it!” Mike leaped through the portal, nearly knocking Jerry down. Stan and Jerry steadied him. Haunts were trying desperately to reach the portal, sensing a turning point in the battle, dying in heaps of foul smelling pools.

  “Glad to see you, Mikey,” Jerry shouted. “How we doin’?”

  “We’re good. Drive them back while I get set up to hose the gateway after D comes through.”

  “Form a line in front,” Denny ordered, “shotguns to each end watching our backs.”

  The Demon Inc crew fanned out as directed and fired with what they had left, clearing another ten feet in front of the portal. Demon leaped through into their midst from the beyond. Mike sprayed the portal to the accompanying howls from the remaining Haunts. The gateway closed under his assault in a blur caused by the heavier fire of Mike’s Haunt weapon.

  Seeing his comrades down to swiping at the Haunts with iron pikes, Demon shot through in front ripping a path to the front entrance where Steve Corbett was still firing left and right. “C’mon Mike, follow me for reloads, covering our backs.”

  “D says to follow him for reloads! I got the backdoor!”

  The teens followed Demon toward the entrance, spiking Haunts he only maimed in his wake. Mike sprayed the sides, keeping his friends flanks and back protected until they could burst out past a happy Steve Corbett. The crew reloaded from the cart, seeing the phalanx of police cars and sheriff’s vehicles out on the street. Neighbors clustered in small groups all around the outskirts. Officers with drawn weapons using their cars for cover were aiming at the house. San Leandro Police Sergeant Tom Huang ran up to the reloading crew of teens with his partner Jason Travers right behind him.

  “I…I called Tom,” Steve Corbett explained. “I knew it would be impossible to explain this to the Sheriff’s Deputies.”

  “I know what’s going down,” Tom said, watching Mike reload his tank. Having been with Mike, Denny, and Demon when the Manjetti boy had been rescued, he understood the paranormal aspect. He believed, as did his partner, Jason. “Jas and I’ve been peeking at what Steve’s shooting at. I can’t hold back the deputies for very much longer. A couple of them have looked, but they think it’s some kind of 3D video game. Nothing’s getting through to them.”

  Jason pointed at the smoking Haunt residue. “Even this foul smellin’ shit don’t register with them. How much longer to wipe those damn things out?”

  “Tell the fuzz we’ll need another twenty minutes,” Demon flashed to Mike.

  Mike bit down a laugh before answering. “We just need twenty more minutes, Tom.”

  “Okay, but no more shotgun blasts.”

  “Agreed.” Mike could see both Stan and Jerry were already harnessing up their Haunt weapons, having locked up the shotguns at sight of the police presence.

  “Can we help you?” Jason asked.

  “We’ve closed the portal. All we have to do is get the stragglers now,” Mike answered. “You guys holding off the rest of the PD is all we need. Man, I can’t tell you two how much we appreciate your help here. We had no idea there would be so many, or that they had opened another portal.”

  Tom backed away. “Do what you got to do. We’ll hold off the takeover out here.”

  “They can’t hide. They can’t retreat. Let’s wipe the rest of these suckers out,” Demon passed on to Mike. “You bunch follow my lead. Cover all your asses though.”

  “D says to follow his lead while watching our flanks, back, and ceiling.”

  “Stan and Jerry take the flanks,” Denny directed. “Connie and Janis watch the ceiling. Gail, you’re with me at our back. Let’s do this. I can almost taste it - it’s Miller time.”

  “Arf!” Demon barked out, stalking into the house.

  It took nearly the entire twenty minutes promised to hunt down the last remnants of the Haunt incursion. Demon did the heavy lifting as they cleared the house room by room, either lacerating or driving the Haunts into Demon Inc fire. When it was over, and Demon could sense no other Haunt presence, the crew trudged tiredly out to the entrance. By then, Tom Huang and Jason Travers had convinced the Sheriff’s Department Deputies not to interfere until the action in the house was over. Anne Whittier and her partner Charlie Pascolli were amongst the deputies called in.

  The Demon Inc crew stumbled out of the Ansel house behind a rather buoyant Demon. They stripped off their packs on the front stoop and all sat down together. Sweating and fatigued by the harrowing journey through the house to eliminate the remaining Haunts, the crew sat down in a comfortable silence, the fresh air breeze diluting the awful smell from their shoes and clothing. Jerry put his arm around Janis, and Stan gripped Connie to him in a celebration of still being alive. Gail put her hand over Mike’s, laughing as Mike cringed.

  “It’s okay, Mike. I’m getting a grip on it. The more I touch you the more normal I feel.” Gail slid her other hand over Mike’s thigh, trying to draw the incredible rush of desire into her and channel it away. It worked for a moment before nothing other than Mike’s touch could be enough. She gasped, moving into him her arms thrown around his neck. “Oh… oh God… I-”

  Mike hugged her back, the entire day’s journey seeping into his consciousness as he held her. The scent of her hair, the warm feel of her touch arched through him in one pulsating moment of lust despite the ectoplasm residue. Demon pounced over in front of him. He put his paw up over Mike’s arm. The complete absorption into each other halted, leaving the two teens breathing heavily, but able to disengage, although reluctantly.

  Gail stroked Demon’s head. “Thanks… I… I thought I had it under control. It’s a good thing your touch can neutralize Mike’s attraction problem.”

  “Damn… that was hot,” Janis remarked. “Get a room.”

  Amid laughter at Janis’s remark Demon made contact with Mike. “Tell Blondie it’s only temporary so watch those hands. Tell Brandy she’s takin’ up too much room on the stoop.”

  “No!” Mike laughed, pointing at Demon. “Bad dog. D said it’s only temporary so watch those hands, Blondie.”

  “That’s not all he told you,” Janis said, her eyes narrowing and her mouth tightening. “He took another shot at me, didn’t he?”

  Mike stayed quiet but Demon did a dog grin accompanied with a nod, which cracked up everyone, including Janis.

  “Damn you, Deputy Dawg! Okay, what did he say?”

  Mike shrugged. “Tell Brandy she’s takin’ up too much room on the stoop.”

  The teens erupted in laughter for a few moments until Mike saw Tom Huang and Jason Travers, flanked by Deputies Whittier and Pascolli, walking toward them. He stood up to meet them with Demon sitting at his side.

  “You’ve had a busy day, Rawlins,” Deputy Anne Whittier remarked, folding her arms over her chest. “Your SLPD fans gave us the Reader’s Digest version of this. Because of our meet up this morning, Charlie and I got the call to come here and take the lead on this. We did take a look at what the guy at the door was doing, but-”

  “But we ain’t buyin’ that holographic setup you have in there!” Pascolli broke in on his partner. “How the hell did you do the special effects? I heard the Syfy channel’s doing a special on you bunch like the ‘Ghost Hunters’. You can get into real trouble tying up a police presence like this to hype some reality show.”

  “Wow, these two rubes are dumber than a bowl of Cheerios,” Demon messaged Mike. “Tell ‘Mutt & Jeff’ to drag their flat feet into the house and check out the piles of holograms.”

  Mike’s mouth wavered as he fought back laughter. “I’m sorry you feel we’re scamming you. Go on inside. We’ve cleared the house. Those odorous piles in there are what is left when the Haunts are hit by our weapons. If you can think of a way we could have made those out of holograms,
I’d be interested in hearing it. Please, if you can find a way through there without stepping on the Haunt goop, you can avoid this.”

  Mike lifted up his shoes, which gave off enough odor to make his audience’s eyes water. “We’re going to get those disposable baggies for our feet from now on. We’ll have to hose our clothes off too, because they came at us from the ceiling. Did you talk with Ms. Ansel and Ms. Kincaid? They’ll back up what we’re doing here.”

  Whittier chuckled. “Yeah, we got the story about summoning the things from an old book. Those two are whacky enough to believe anything. We’ll go look around inside, but planting stink piles ain’t very convincing.”

  “Bag some of it. I’m betting you’ll change your mind,” Mike replied.

  “I’ll do that, but I doubt the county will pony up for any lab work. C’mon, Charlie, let’s get this over with. I already sent away our back-ups.”

  “We should have left one alive for those two airheads to play with.”

  “No, D. They’d have been killed.”

  “Waaaahhhh…” Demon projected in reply.

  “Are you talking to the dog, Mike?” Tom asked uneasily.

  Mike looked around making sure they were the only ones within hearing. “Yeah, I can hear his thoughts since I went through the portal. I keep forgetting to answer the same way. D told me it changes us on a molecular level. I’ll prove it to you two because I know you’re prepared to believe. D, can we communicate?”

  Demon nodded his head. “This is so childish.”

  “Tom, what number day is your birthday on.”

  “Seven.”

  Demon pawed the ground seven times without Mike’s prompting, stunning both Huang and Travers.

  “Man, that’s some Twilight Zone scene in there, Mike,” Travers said. “Did you say you crossed over?”

  “D and I had to clear the gateway of Haunts. D says if a Haunt is in the gateway when it’s closed it can cause a permanent rift. Mr. Corbett has sent all our data and videos to Homeland Security. We don’t know if they’ll believe us either.”

  “We’re in deep shit if someone doesn’t start believing you,” Tom said. “Is it true about those two teachers conjuring the Haunts that opened the rift?”

  “Yes, and we were trying to keep it quiet because we’re thinking a bunch of dopes would hear about it and actually try to conjure them.”

  “You’re probably right about that,” Travers agreed. “It seems like if you tell anyone these days it’s dangerous to do something, they flip you off and do it anyway.”

  Kincaid and Ansel moved up next to Officer Travers tentatively. “Will it be safe to go in the house soon?”

  “Go ahead and tell the witch wannabe what kind of shape her house is in. She’s earned it,” Demon projected to Mike.

  Mike gave Demon a sour look which Demon answered by turning around and sticking his butt up in the air, before sitting down and giving Mike the wave off nonchalantly with his paw.

  “Did you just get dissed, Mike?” Travers chuckled.

  “Yeah, I did,” Mike admitted as Huang laughed too as Demon continued to wave his paw up in the air. “I’m sorry, Ms. Ansel, but you’ll need a cleanup crew to go through your house before you can stay there again. You’ll be able to get some things out of it if you watch where you step.”

  “Oh God! Why did I ever fool around with that stupid book of spells?”

  “I think your house insurance will cover it, Ms. Ansel. I’m sorry, but there were a lot of Haunts in there. They’d been passing through the portal all day.”

  “What the hell are you apologizing for, Dempsey? You didn’t conjure the damn things! She’s lucky her and her coven mate didn’t end up as Haunt butt monkeys for life!”

  Mike snorted, turning away for a moment.

  Ansel sighed, looking at Demon with a slight upturn of a smile. “The dog nailed me again, huh?”

  Mike nodded. “Don’t take it personally. D interacts from a different plain. Can you stay with Ms. Kincaid for a while until you can get a cleanup crew in to go through the house?”

  “Since this is all my fault, she sure can,” Kincaid answered for Ansel. “I’ll pay your deductible too, Mary. I thank God you kids weren’t hurt helping us.”

  “Denny and I will help you pack some suitcases. We’re already pretty mucked up.”

  “Thanks, Mike,” Ansel replied, moving toward Mike.

  Demon jumped in front of her, putting his paw up on her. “You’re still radioactive, Mike. Tell Elvira to load up her broomstick and float into the house to get her belongings, and keep the hands at her sides!”

  Mike took another twenty seconds of internal control before issuing Demon’s warning. “No touching, Ms. Ansel, remember?”

  Ansel giggled. “Sorry. I’ll follow you and Denny in. Luckily, my suitcases are in the closet upstairs.”

  Huang and Travers stared at Mike in confusion. “What’s this about no touching?” Huang asked.

  “It’s another bit of collateral damage from getting raked by one of the Haunts this past weekend. Holy water sealed it but left the scar,” Mike pointed at his face. Apparently, if women touch me skin on skin they become… ah… you know.”

  “Say it, Dempsey. They all want to jump your bones and take long walks in the rain with you,” Demon needled him.

  “I…I touched Mike earlier,” Ansel explained to the officers. “He gives off some kind of pheromone with his touch.”

  “It happened to me too, and it’s powerful,” Kincaid added.

  Smiles spread on each of the police officer’s faces as they exchanged glances.

  “I was wondering about that ugly addition to your face. So, Mike.” Huang said. “How do we get a little of that?”

  “Get raked by a Haunt,” Mike answered. “Demon claims most people don’t survive it, but I can give you guys a call when we go after another nest. We’ll try and help you get slashed just a little.”

  “Pass,” Travers turned away. “C’mon, Tom, we better start writing this up before our brains leak out on the pavement.”

  “We’re with you, Mike. Call us anytime,” Huang said as he followed Travers. “I hope you can convince Homeland Security to take this seriously.”

  “Thanks, Tom. Me too.”

  “Are you really going to wade through Haunt guts to play bag boy for Elvira and Willow?” Demon padded toward the stoop shaking his head. “Shrewd.”

  “The dog just dumped on us again, huh?” Kincaid asked, watching Demon head butt Janis, causing instant pandemonium as she tried without success to grab him, while her cohorts laughed.

  “Mostly me that time, Ms. Kincaid. Let’s go get your bags packed, Ms. Ansel.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Football Practice

  “Can you believe it’s only 7:30?” Denny asked Mike as they drove to the Rawlins’ house. Mike had stopped by Denny’s house to let him get a change of clothes.

  “Yeah, you’d think with all that’s happened it would be Friday. Laura and Joanie did real good calling in warnings during the mop up, especially with those things dropping in from the ceiling. How’d they do during the main deal while D and I were gone?”

  “Not bad,” Denny replied. “They kept quiet, mostly because there wasn’t a whole lot they could do other than freak out. They didn’t. I’m sure it was tough for them, but they knew nothing they could say would make things better.”

  Mike glanced over at Denny with a grin. “Hey, did you see the deputies’ faces when they came out of Ansel’s house.”

  Denny laughed with Demon doing his snorting amusement in the backseat. “Oh yeah! They were not happy with getting Haunt guts dripped on them or squishing around in them with their shoes. I was surprised they even spoke to you. What’d they say?”

  “They knew we didn’t throw goop all over the place so they had to go into neutral. Whittier told me it’s an ongoing investigation. She said she’d call us with what they decided. They did take Haunt guts samples so that m
ay throw off their pursuit of us. Man, I don’t know about how all that’s turning out, but I do know my Dad owes us liquid nourishment.”

  “Yep, I’m going to be an alcoholic before I hit sixteen,” Denny replied.

  “Tell the nerd he can’t have a ration tonight. Only the big boys get the treats tonight.”

  Mike started laughing uproariously for a few seconds, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. He glanced back at Demon, who waved a paw in circular recognition.

  Denny sighed, seeing the interchange. “Okay, I got blitzed. Lay it on me.”

  Mike repeated Demon’s remark verbatim ending in a chuckling acknowledgement from Denny. “That’s cold, D. I thought we were brothers.”

  “Not unless my mamma got waxed one night in inter-dimensional cosmic bad taste, bro.”

  Mike immediately steered to the side of the road, howling and unable to speak as he stopped the car a block from his house. With Demon snorting nonstop and Mike unable to drive for the moment, Denny grinned in anticipation of how he had just been roasted. He leaned back in his seat while wondering how he had been so fortunate to hook up with his car cohorts. When Mike was finally able to repeat Demon’s quip, Denny laughed for the rest of the way to Mike’s house.

  “I’m going to get raked and pass through a portal, or whatever it takes to get linked into D’s remarks,” Denny said finally as Mike parked in front of the Rawlins’ house.

  Demon growled. “Tell the dweeb I care too much about him. I sensed you could do it, Mike, and live. That part of this is not a game. Something’s different about you, Mike. Don’t let any of your friends think they can follow your path. It won’t end well.”

  The sobering look on Mike’s face and Demon’s growl brought Denny up short. “Hey… I get it… I can’t do that, right?”

  “Yeah, Denny, and D cares about you too much to let you try anything like it too,” Mike acknowledged.

  “Okay, but I can still have a beer and a shot tonight, right?”

  More hilarity and snorting amusement ensued before Mike parked his Chevy.