by Joe Fowler
The Demon Heritage of Josh Thorne
By
Joe Fowler
Also by this author
The Josh Thorne Trilogy
Vampire Outbreak (2nd book of series)
Witch Problems (3rd book of series)
Losers vs. Zombies
Having Fun With Side Effects
Guarding the Door
Titan’s Saga
Titan’s Story (1st book)
Titan Rising (2nd book)
The Demon Heritage of Josh Thorne
Copyright© 2015 Joe Fowler
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not
be used or reproduced in any manner without the express written
permission of the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Chapter 1
My name is Josh Thorne. The words normal and average would have been how I described myself. I say would have been, because normal and average no longer apply to me. The interesting part of my story started about two weeks before my eighteenth birthday, with a phone call...
“What?”
“Is that anyway to answer your phone? I’m your best friend don’t I deserve a good morning or at least a hello?” Keith Goodman had been my best friend since first grade. We were as different as night and day but we became inseparable. I was average in height, weight, looks, intelligence, and athletic ability. He was everything exceptional; star quarterback, straight A student, great looking, and charismatic. The difference that I came to realize as most important was his incorruptible moral standard. Let’s just say that I was somewhat lacking in that area.
“Good morning, Keith, greatest friend of mine. Now why the fuck are you waking me up this early? I still had twenty minutes left to sleep.”
“I want to skip school today. I-”
“Wait, YOU want to skip? I guess there is a first time for everything.”
“Haha, just bring some money so we won’t be broke, ok?”
“Will do.” Money was the one thing I had better than Keith. He had hard working but not very successful parents and I had a mom who had never worked a day in her life. I never met my father but my mom and I lived in a really nice house with a huge bank account that he provided for us. I had no clue who my father was, what he did for a living, or where he was. All I knew was my mom got this awestruck look in her eyes when she spoke of him. “I’ll be there at the normal time to pick you up.”
As I grabbed my jeans and t-shirt, my reflection caught my eye. I seemed different today but the mirror was just showing me the same 5’11, 175lb, black hair, brown eyed idiot I saw there yesterday. Something was off that I couldn’t place. Since I was not a deep thinker, I shrugged it off and got dressed calling myself a dumbass the whole time.
I loved the food situation in my house. Quick and easy were the themes our grocery list followed. Junk food reigned supreme here. Delivery pizza along with Chinese and burger joint takeout were staples in my diet. After looking through my choices for breakfast, I threw a hot pocket into the microwave and went to hit my mom up for some cash.
I hadn’t taken a full step when the image of Mom sitting in her study shuffling papers hit me. The clarity of the image I saw was what made me stop in wonder. I saw every detail in an instant from her nail polish to the spider web in the corner. Hell, I could even smell the old book smell coming from the shelves of the religious and occult books that lined the room. At some point she had started collecting any book that contained demons, gods, vampires, angels, and any other religious or supernatural subjects. I just thought they were spooky and smelled funny.
After a brief ‘what the fuck?’ moment, I headed to her study just knowing that she really would be there. She was. Looking into the room everything was exactly as the image had shown. I stood in the doorway watching her for a minute bracing myself. Don’t get me wrong, she always made sure I had everything I wanted or needed and she never abused me...but this woman was never going to win a mother of the year award. I could not remember the last time she hugged my neck, gave me a compliment, or cared how I felt about anything.
“Hey Mom, good morning.”
“Good morning, Josh. Shouldn’t you be at school or something?” She sat at her desk facing the window not even looking at me, still reading the paper in her hand. Monica Thorne was one of those women who would always be beautiful. She was about 5’5, raven haired, with a slim but nice figure. She could have easily passed for my sister instead of my mother. I hated being around her in public because every male from age thirteen to eighty would drool over her.
“I’m skipping school today but I need some money.” I found out from Keith that it isn’t normal for a parent to be very lenient with skipping, drinking, or sex. My mom basically told me she didn’t mind so long as I didn’t get hurt or the police weren’t involved.
“My purse is on the dining room table. There should be cash in the side zipper. Just take what you need. You skipping alone or is someone going to be with you?”
“Me and Keith.”
“Ok, have fun. Oh I almost forgot, this came for you yesterday.” She held a letter out towards me and I took it without paying attention. When my hand brushed against hers I had no choice but to pay attention. My head filled with images. There were people in black robes chanting around a huge bonfire. That was bad enough but then a man walked out of the fire to meet them. My breath caught in my throat and I nearly stumbled trying to back out of the study.
“You ok? What’s wrong?” Mom turned and stood up like she was getting up to check on me. I knew in an instant that I didn’t want her to touch me again.
I waived a hand at her like it was nothing and said, “A bug flew down my throat. It’s ok. I’ll call if I am going to be late coming home. Bye.” I turned and rushed out of the room.
I was in a daze getting the cash and my now lukewarm hot pocket. It wasn’t until I had gone a few blocks to Grelot Road and sat waiting at a red light that my mind started to function again. I had a thought of not going to get Keith but realized he was the one person I really needed to see. He was a lot smarter than me and might be able to talk me through this breakdown I was having.
Keith opened his door quickly after the first knock pushing me back toward the car like he was in a hurry. About halfway to the car he finally took a real look at me and it stopped him in his tracks. He opened his mouth but didn’t say anything at first. I held the keys out to him and he took them without a word. He always loved driving my Challenger, he just drove so slow that I usually didn’t let him. If you’re not in a hurry driving you should have stayed home ten more minutes. He drove us to McDonalds and parked before turning to speak.
“Either that is one heck of a hot pocket or a really shocking letter. You want to tell me why you look so spooked?” Keith is a 6’3 205lb college recruiter’s dream. Three years starting quarterback for our varsity team with two of those seasons earning him all state honors. He hit the genetic jackpot with the chiseled good looks you see in actors and models, not to mention the blonde hair and blue eyes that seem to melt any girl he looks at. As if that wasn’t enough, he is on his way to being valedictorian of our class. If he wasn’t my friend I would hate him.
Looking down I saw that I was still holding the letter mom handed me as well as the now cold hot pocket in my hand. It’s a wonder I made it to his house without wrecking now that I realized how out of it I was. I held up a finger just needing a second or two
to finish gathering myself to speak. The letter was a college info packet from the University of Alabama where I was trying to get accepted. I put it in the glove compartment and took a deep breath.
“Let’s go inside and get something to eat. I will tell you…well I’ll tell you what I think happened this morning.”
“That bad, huh?” He shut the car off with a ‘how bad could it have been?’ smirk on his face. I took a deep breath getting out of the car hoping his smirk was justified.
“I’ll have a sausage biscuit, two bacon egg and cheese biscuits, two sausage mcgriddles, three hash browns, and a large coke.” As Keith ordered the cashier’s demeanor went from a blank stare to slack jawed.
“You’re kidding me right?” She asked looking at Keith like he was crazy.
“Nope, that’s the way he eats.” I said. “I’ll take a sausage biscuit, hash brown and coke.” Luckily most of the people were going through the drive thru this time of the morning. Around here when you had time to go inside and sit for breakfast you either went to Hardees or Waffle House.
I paid for the food and as I turned to go find a table, I bumped into the woman standing behind me. At least this vison wasn’t evil. I saw two men standing by a car talking. I knew that one of them was this woman’s husband and the other was a friend of the husband. From what I felt from her, I’m pretty sure she was having an affair with her husband’s friend. I pulled away muttering an apology. I stood there for a few seconds in a daze until Keith coughed to get my attention. I followed him to a table and sat down with a thump.
“Ok, so what’s with you today? You seemed ok when I called.” He was using his concerned voice. I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he would have or how to tell the story. I figured starting at the beginning and telling everything would be best.
“After your call I got up, got dressed, and went downstairs. I was in the kitchen about to go look for Mom when an image filled my head. I saw where she was and what she was doing with perfect clarity. It was like the world went away and all I could see was her sitting in the study. That part wasn’t too bad, hell the next time I lose the remote maybe I’ll see where it is.”
Keith didn’t seem too amused at my little joke. His eyes were wide and he had stopped chewing half way through a mouthful of biscuit. It would have been funny but knowing what I was about to tell him dulled the humor.
“If it were just that, I could shake it off and forget about it. The next part is a little harder to explain. Mom was handing me a letter and our hands brushed against each other. When our skin touched I saw a lot of people wearing black robes standing around a bonfire. They were chanting something but I didn’t understand the language. Then this man kind of solidified in the flames and walked out of the fire. He looked around slowly as he neared the robed guys. Just before the vision ended, I would swear that he looked directly at me. That was the scariest part of it. Anyway, I left the study and grabbed the money and hot pocket on my way to get you. You can probably guess what happened when I bumped into the lady at the counter.” I was glad to have gotten that out there. It was a little less scary now that I had told someone.
He just sat there after I had finished talking. I think part of me wished he had started laughing and calling me ‘psychic boy’ or something. He just sat there. Maybe he thought I had a tumor or was going crazy and having hallucinations. I couldn’t tell because he just sat there. I looked around the room and out the windows at the traffic. He just sat there.
“Say something, anything.” Now I was getting all worked up again.
“Give me a minute to process, ok. This is some seriously weird stuff.” Anyone else would have said shit instead of stuff. I started eating and tried to remember if he had ever used a curse word. At least he quit trying to make me stop. I had really tried for a while but curse words were natural to me.
We sat in silence for a few minutes while we finished our breakfast. Just knowing Keith was there helped me tremendously. Even in silence he had a way of making you feel safe and more relaxed. Maybe that was just from our history together. We met when he made some bullies leave me alone on the first day of class in first grade. He has been trying to keep me out of trouble since then. An older couple sat at the table beside us and we wordlessly agreed that our conversation could wait a little longer.
Walking out the door, I asked him “Where you want to go? We need someplace to sit and talk without people hearing.” The Grelot/Hillcrest intersection where we were, was very busy this time of the morning. Since the McDonalds had exits to both roads, knowing which road to take could save time.
“Cottage Hill Park is just up the road. I go there to run sometimes. We should be able to find a quiet bench.”
“Hey, you never told me why you wanted to skip today.” We were getting back into the car, me behind the wheel now, when I remembered how odd it was for him to skip school.
“I needed a break from Sarah. She’s getting tired of being with a guy who doesn’t want to have sex yet. I know you think I’m an idiot but I take my religion seriously. Besides, there aren’t any test or anything important today.” I told you he was incorruptible. Sarah was the hottest girl in school and they had been going out for over three years. I didn’t know whether to laugh at him or hit him. I had only had sex with two girls but I had been with each of them on many occasions. There wasn’t any dating involved, they were just friends of the family that I kept having chances with.
“I’ll hold off on judging you today, even though you’re right, I think you’re an idiot.”
The park was set up for most everything you could want. Multiple softball/baseball fields, fields for kids’ soccer and football leagues, a play area with swings and slides and stuff for the smaller kids, two dog walking areas, and a huge walking track. There were a few people out walking when we got there but that was the norm on a weekday morning. Being late April, the temperature was a comfortable seventy degrees in Mobile. This was a beautiful day at a nice place, but I was too preoccupied to enjoy it. We chose a bench by the track and sat down.
“I never believed in psychics or mind reading or any of that kind of bullshit, but how else do you describe having visions like that?”
“I’m no expert on this stuff. When you wondered where she was and you saw a picture of it in your mind, sounds kind of like remote viewing. When your hands touched and you received a vision that definitely sounds like mind reading. The two main questions I have are; one, if you have these abilities why are they just now showing, and two, is the vision you saw really something your mom participated in?” He sat back after he finished saying that.
That shocked me. Sure my mom was a little distant and not the doting kind, I had become ok with that. Could my mom really be part of some cult? A devil worshipper? Maybe we weren’t the hugging type but I still loved my mom and it hurt to think of her that way.
“Maybe she had been reading one of her occult books and was imagining that kind of thing.” Ok it was lame but I had to hope.
“Did the bonfire vision have the same clarity as the first one?” He looked at me when he said this, like he was making me face a truth I wanted to avoid.
“Yes.” Butthole.
“It won’t do any good to lie to yourself. If you are going to see into people’s minds then you need to get used to seeing things you won’t like.”
“Seeing that a woman at McDonalds is cheating on her husband, wasn’t a big deal. Seeing my mom in a cult, is not so easy to shrug off.”
“What did the man from the fire look like?”
“He was tall with black hair and black eyes. He was muscular like you. I knew that this man was pure evil. I could feel it.” There was also a feeling that I was connected to the man but I wasn’t about to tell Keith. I shivered just thinking about it.
“You might need to face the fact that he wasn’t a man. It sounds like the robed ones were performing a ritual to summon a demon. There is the obvious fact that he materialized in a fire and walked out of
it unharmed. Plus you say he seemed so evil.” Nobody ever questioned how the star quarterback knew these things. You knew he was right, though.
“Great. Mom summons demons and I’m a psychic freak.” I got up as I said that. There was just way too much craziness happening. I started pacing back and forth wishing I could just go back to bed and try this day over again. “So what now?”
“We need to research this but I doubt there is a whole lot of reliable books on these subjects. If we had a computer we could try to find some stuff. Do you have your laptop with you?”
“No.” I felt like I was going to explode. This was just too much to take in and he wanted to spend the day researching this shit. “Look man, I just need to clear my head for a while and I can’t do that if we are researching it.”
He looked at me and it seemed to sink in that I was drowning and needed some air. Keith always put other people’s needs first and he always seemed to know what other people needed. So it didn’t surprise me too much when he said, “I guess all this is overwhelming to you. I need to think for a minute and I think best when I am running or doing something physical. You just sit here and relax while I run a lap or two. That sound ok?”
I nodded and sat back down on the bench. He went through a few stretches and then took off. I watched him for a minute and almost laughed. A little run for him was faster than I could sprint. This track was huge, like at least three times the size of a high school track, and he went a full lap without slowing down. He gestured that he was going another lap as he passed by me. He didn’t slow down on that lap either. Showoff.
He was smiling from ear to ear when he came to a stop in front of me. The bastard wasn’t even breathing very hard. He had that look he gets sometimes that says ‘I know something you don’t know’. He would never say what he knew but it usually meant things were going to be ok.
“How about bowling? The lanes open early some mornings. You think that would help clear your mind for a while?” He was still smiling at some inside joke, but I trusted Keith to the point that I didn’t care.