Demonic

by Karl Morgan

  Bill heard a scream and looked up to see Faith diving toward the front line of enforcers and slashing hundreds more. As she flew up and banked to attack again, a group of flying enforcers with red fur and bat-like wings swooped down and rammed her, knocking her out of the sky. Bill ran toward her as the mob of monsters jumped her and began to smother her under their mass. Bill jumped into the air, landed on top of the mass and began hacking away at them as more and more jumped on him, trying to drive him to the ground. In moments, they were pinned under the mass of writhing, biting beasts. Bill could not move his body and felt the crushing weight of those above him. He became terrified for Faith who was at the bottom of the mound. He began to grab enforcers and hurl them away in his desperate attempt to reach her, but there were too many. He began to wonder if this was really the end.

  Faith’s voice spoke calmly in his right ear, “Be calm, nephew, and prepare to follow my lead.” Bill began to see white light emanating from the mound beneath him and realized what he needed to do. Instantly, he was an angel again, and began to glow brightly. The light was as intense as the surface of the sun now and the enforcers began to shriek in pain. The light exploded around him and he could see the enforcers igniting and burning until they were nothing but skeletons. The pile beneath him gave way and he tumbled down through the mass of burning fur and bones until he landed on the street next to Faith, who was sitting up and smiling at him. “Well done,” she smiled.

  They climbed to their feet. They were surrounded by a burning two-foot tall berm of enforcer skeletons that reached thirty feet from them in every direction. Outside the circle, tens of millions of enforcers stood watching, not certain of their next battle tactic. Several thousand winged enforcers flew a hundred feet over their heads. “It’s over!” Bill shouted.

  “It will never be over,” one of the enforcers growled back. “Prepare to die!” Bill and Faith stood back to back again and awaited the next charge. That was when the street collapsed, sending them and the pile of skeletons down into the sewer. The group of flying enforcers dived down toward the opening.

  Bill and Faith scrambled to their feet and found themselves standing on a large unstable chunk of pavement that was rocking back and forth. Beyond the opening, millions more enforcers could be seen watching them from the darkness of the sewer. “Bill, look at this,” Faith urged. He turned his head to see an all-white enforcer standing at the front of the mass.

  He turned back and said, “Yeah, I’ve got one of them over here too. What do you think they do? Are they the leaders?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “Here they come!” The masses of enforcers charged them again. Those on the street above jumped down into the sewer to join the fight.

  Bill swung his sword crazily and used his left hand to emit lightning bolts to kill others. But there were more now than above ground and they were soon buried under piles of clawing, biting monsters. He fought mightily but soon found himself moving along with the mass. Dozens grabbed his arms and held them tightly. The mass opened and he could see Faith some distance away in a similar predicament. One of the white enforcers charged her and she struggled to free her hands to strike it dead. As Bill watched, it jumped into the air and struck her in the chest, but it didn’t push her back. The creature had disappeared inside her chest. Faith turned to him and her eyes glowed red.

  He heard a noise and saw the second white enforcer charging him. He struggled to free his arm, but now the enforcer was jumping toward him. He wrenched his arms one final time and they both came free just as the enforcer approached. He slammed its head between his hands and smashed its skull. He dropped the body to the ground. The enforcers around him were in shock and backed away in revulsion. Faith has morphed into a giant demon and approached with battle axes in her hand. She turned her head and hissed at the mass of enforcers and they began to back away. Bill had no time to think, only to act. Before she turned her head back, he took his sword and threw it at her. As she turned to face him, the blade penetrated her skin and sank to the hilt in her chest. She fell backward to the ground.

  It had become totally quiet. He looked around and saw the enforcers were retreating into the depths of the sewer. “Oh God, what did I do?” he cried as he hurried over to Faith, who was not moving. He climbed over the bodies of more enforcers and squatted next to her. Something was different though. There was no blade in her chest and no blood, although she was lying awkwardly. He picked her up in his arms. “I’m sorry, Faith. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  Faith opened her eyes and looked at him blearily. “What happened, Bill? Are we dead?” He set her down gingerly and then he saw it. His sword was buried up to the hilt in the head of the other white enforcer. “Bill, I feel awful. What happened?”

  “I’m not really sure, but I think you’re going to be okay,” he replied and then kissed her forehead.

  “Bill, my whole body hurts and I can’t seem to wake up. I’ve never felt this way. I’m sorry, but you have to leave me here. It’s okay if I die here.”

  He kissed her again and picked up her in his arms. “Faith, I will not leave you here. I’ll take you back to the other Bill.”

  “No! You have to find Dom. No one and nothing can help this planet without him. You know that, don’t you? I’m just excess baggage now. It’s okay. Please put me down now.”

  “That’s not going to happen, Faith,” he smiled and began to glow brilliantly. Soon the light was so bright that the sewer was illuminated for a mile in every direction. He could hear the squeals of the enforcers hurrying to get away. Faith looked up at him, smiled and then sank inside of him. “Rest well.”

  Chapter 15

  Dom and Faith had spent the night in an alley in the rough and tumble outskirts of the imperial capital city. When Faith opened her eyes, she saw Dom sitting with his back to her and chatting with a large group of homeless women, children and old men. She rose and walked over to join them where she found Dom frowning and looking quite angry. She sat cross-legged next to him and put her hand on his knee. “What’s wrong, Father?”

  “All your efforts are being undone, my dear,” he replied. “It would seem the emperor has decided to restore his place of death. These wonderful souls have been telling me how they have been evicted from their homes and their fathers and sons have been incarcerated.”

  “Missy, it’s an abomination,” one of the women said. “My husband had done nothing wrong and now we’re living in the street with no money and no hope.”

  “Father, it would take some time for them to return that place to its former horror.”

  He cupped her cheek in his hand and replied, “That’s why they are in prison and not crucified already. Many are being forced to exhume the tombs and crucify the dead bodies. This is beyond horror.”

  “We can stop him again, Father!”

  He smiled at her and then turned to the others and said, “We will keep your men safe and alive, I swear.” He turned back to Faith and said, “Repeating the past will only create a never-ending cycle and the people here will continue to suffer. We need a better plan. We need to find my brother.”

  “You have a brother?” several of the crowd gasped.

  Dom smiled and said, “Well, I suppose he is not truly a brother, however, we view ourselves as such. Let me just say we are two sides of the same coin.”

  A very old man in the group wheezed and said, “I know where he is, Lord. I know I will be killed if I tell you, but I am already old and have little to lose.”

  “You can ignore him,” the woman seated next to him said. “My father-in-law is not as sound as he used to be.”

  “Think what you like, Elsa, but I do know about Cell One.” A gasp passed through the crowd and most of the people rose and began to hurry away.

  “Now look what you’ve done, Dad,” Elsa complained and then stood and left as well.

  “Jonathan, please tell me about Cell One?” Dom asked.

  The old man crawled over and sat kn
ee to knee with Dom and Faith. “You see, one of my sons used to work as a servant in the home of Councilor Lucius, one of the emperor’s most loyal men. When you work someplace like that, sometimes you overhear things. It was years ago, shortly after those horrible monsters arrived when I was told. My son heard the emperor was going to build the most secure prison cell in the universe for a very special criminal. He thought that was very strange and so did I. I mean, we all know the emperor crucifies anyone he wants. So it didn’t stand to reason that he would care enough to build a single cell for one prisoner. He could have chopped him in half with a blade, have him eaten by those monsters or crucified and be done with it. You see what I mean?”

  “Yes, I see,” Dom replied. “Please go on.”

  Jonathan turned his head and looked around in all directions for eavesdroppers. Satisfied they were alone, he continued, “They built his secure facility a hundred miles below the palace and there’s only a single elevator that can reach it. The cell and elevator are guarded by demons. That’s a lot of effort for any human criminal, right? It stands to reason the prisoner is not human. That’s where your brother is, I’m sure of it!”

  “Father, I’m not sure how Lou could be held prison here or anywhere else.”

  He smiled at her and replied, “For the same reason I did not know where he is and became imprisoned myself. Faith, I want you to take this man back to your reality and then protect those men in the prison so they are not murdered.”

  “Father, it could be a trap.”

  “I know, in fact, I expect it is a trap, but this madness will never end if I do not try to stop it. If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow, you can assume Lou and I are both imprisoned there. If that happens, I want you to leave this place forever. You will be safer in your own realm.”

  “Please let me go with you. Perhaps both of us will be strong enough to stop this!”

  “No, my mind is made up. This is my reality and it’s about time I asserted my control.”

  Bill remained in angelic form as he worked his way downward in the underground system. He remembered when he had found Dom and Prudence in the underground dungeon and how his feelings of fear and sorrow led him to them. He hoped that would happen a second time. Enforcers were everywhere. He could not see them, but he could hear their faint voices and growling, and their stench was overwhelming. Bill had created a shield of light around him which he hoped would prevent any more of the white monsters from entering his body. He thought it odd that these creatures could have entered Faith. The enforcers were mortal animals, and yet it seemed to have easily taken over her body and will. It was a perplexing paradox, but he did not have time to think about it now. He turned into a narrower tunnel and was overwhelmed with an even stronger stench. He threw up into the stagnant water and turned to escape. Then he felt it, a twinge of sorrow crossing his mind. As he stepped out of the small tunnel, the feeling passed. He took a deep breath, turned and reentered the smaller tunnel and hurried ahead. After a hundred feet or so, he realized his feeling of sorrow was rising.

  Then they charged. Hundreds of enforcers surged toward him. He held his sword at the ready and waited to see what would happen when they reached his light shield. The first enforcers struck the shield and dissolved into dust, and yet the others continued to charge. After a minute, he was alone in the tunnel and trudged through the pile of mud from their dissolved bodies and sewage. As he continued, he wondered why they chose to keep attacking. He thought that perhaps they were guarding the dungeon, and quickened his pace. The tunnel opened into a large half dome-shaped room and he came face to face with the most horrifying sight yet.

  It was an enforcer birthing chamber. The room was two hundred feet in diameter and the peak of the ceiling was more than a hundred feet above where he stood. There was a massive pile of bones and feces, on top of which several thousand enforcer females squirmed and fought with one another. Every few seconds, one of the females would deliver five or ten enforcer pups. The babies would join the swarm and suckle any nearby female. There was a second larger entrance to the chamber to his left. A long line of enforcers formed a chain to the mound and back down into the tunnels. The males were passing the dead bodies of their comrades until the lead enforcer would toss it onto the swarm. The females and older infants would immediately consume the flesh and allow the bones to slip through the throng and onto the pile. Any stillborn babies were also consumed. Several of the males in the feeding line had stopped and were watching Bill now. After a few seconds, the females and infants began to growl and squawk, and the line began moving again.

  It took a minute or two before Bill could overcome his revulsion at the horror. He noticed he was crying now and beginning to feel terrified and despondent. He was certain the two Doms were nearby now. He jumped down from the tunnel opening onto the floor of the chamber and began to move forward. More and more of the females had noticed him and were now crouching and hissing at him, showing their fangs. By the time he reached the outer edge of the bone and dung pile, almost all the females were shrieking at him and moving slowly forward to protect their young. He glanced behind and noticed the tunnel he had come from was clogged with more enforcers. He remembered finding the other dungeon under the center of the enforcer nest and reasoned it had to be in the same location here, but also knew that was in the center of the mound in front of him. The din from the creatures was deafening as the sound reverberated through the chamber.

  He slipped his sword into its scabbard and then extended his arms up and outward. The mound trembled and several females tumbled off. The edge of the mound began to split. Gradually, the two halves of the mound moved apart and the outer edges began to press up against the sides of the chamber, pushing the mass higher. After a minute or two, he could see the manhole cover in the center of the room. He walked forward very slowly as the females moved around to get in a better position to attack. He reached the manhole and looked around. Several hundred females were far above him on the pile howling and growling with their fangs exposed and drool pouring from their mouths. He pulled his sword and drove it into the manhole cover and pulled it off and over his head. He jumped into the manhole and released the blade as the cover fell back into place and sealed itself to the walls of the hole.

  Bill fell twenty feet into darkness and landed on a concrete floor. He was dazed and sat quietly for a few moments to compose himself. He was human again and did not know why. Suddenly, Faith began to glow as she stood over him. “That’s a pretty rough way to wake someone up, Bill? Where the hell are we?”

  “I think the two Doms are here somewhere. You wouldn’t believe the horror of the room above us.”

  She glowed bright enough to illuminate the entire room. There were no doors or apparent exits other than the manhole over their heads. “I don’t see a door, Bill. I hope we’re not trapped here now.”

  He jumped to his feet and began feeling the stone walls looking for something different. “Check everything, Faith, there has to be something here we’re missing.” While Bill checked on ground level, Faith hovered over him checking the upper walls and ceiling. After twenty minutes, Bill sat down and grunted. “Nothing, I can’t believe there’s nothing!”

  She sat down on the opposite side of the room and sighed, “What do we do now, Bill?”

  “Shit, I don’t know. I felt the same sorrow I did last time, right until I jumped down the manhole. Now, we’re in an empty room and I don’t feel anything!” He looked at her forlornly and said, “I’m sorry I let you down, Faith.”

  “Bill, you were born for this job. I have faith in you. If you came here, I know it was the right decision. We just have to let this play out, okay?”

  “I don’t know. I need rest. You stand guard for a while, okay?”

  “Guard over what?”

  He smirked and lay down on the hard stones and closed his eyes. He began to wonder if the white enforcer had planted the idea to come here in his mind. Now he was just as trapped as the two Doms. H
e was depressed by his failure. He rolled on his side and hoped for sleep. He sighed again and tried to drift away. But something was different. The air seemed very sweet and fresh. He thought he felt a breath of cold air on his face. He opened his eyes and saw a tiny sliver of light in a break in the grout between two stones. “Faith?”

  “What is it now?”

  “Faith, this is it!” he shouted as he sat up. She rushed over and squatted next to him. “I felt fresh air and I can see some light between these stones.”

  “What are you waiting for then?”

  He spun around, drew back his knees and kicked at the stone. It did not move. He kicked it again and again and it slowly came loose and fell out on the other side of the wall. Bill got on his stomach and craned his neck to look through the opening. “This is impossible!”

  “What is it, Bill?”

  He moved away from the opening and said, “It can’t be real, Faith. We’re hundreds of feet below Las Vegas. Please look for yourself.”

  She prostrated herself on the floor and looked through. “That’s amazing! It looks like a garden. No, wait just a minute; that’s Las Vegas. Isn’t that the golf course at the Wynn Hotel?”