Revelation: Kastor Blackwood Series: Demon Kin

by T. R. Lester

  Grey and I go to his car since we left his truck at my apartment when we were snatched through the portal.

  We head out of his drive and I open my link to Taz’s sigil so I can see where he’s going.

  Grey lives outside of the city limits. His house sits on twenty acres of wooded land and there aren’t but a couple of houses within a mile of his place.

  “Take a right.” I tell him.

  As we head east, I can catch glimpses of Taz while he runs. That damn hound is fast. Our link tells me he’s already about four miles from us. Grey lives close to the State Park, and that seems to be where Taz is going.

  “Go to State Park road.”

  Driving on the park road is a menace. It gives the feeling of traveling down a dark wooded road you see in slasher films. The trees hang over the road creating a kind of canopy and pathway. The road is narrow and winding and is barely wide enough for two cars to pass each other.

  “I have always hated this road.” Grey says.

  “Me too.”

  As we get to the end, we come upon the ranger shack where you stop to pay when entering the park area. Of course, the park closes at dusk and the gate is locked.

  “Stop for a minute. I'm going to try to open that gate. I hope.”

  Grey snorts.

  I walk up to the gate, which is a very rickety, simple gate made only to block cars. It has three steel bars making up the gate door and it stretches across the entrance. It also has a padlock.

  I stand in front of the gate for a few seconds to relax and reach out with my essence. I send a tendril to the padlock and fumble with it for a second. Since I’m not a practicing lock pick, I wrap the tendril around the padlock and pull. It snaps off easily.

  “Holy shit man. You did it.”

  I roll my eyes at Grey and head back to the truck.

  We enter the park and drive down to the most wooded area where there are a few nature trails.

  Grey parks and we get out. I stop and take a minute to link to Taz and find his location.

  “He’s in the deeper part of the woods. He’s about 200-300 yards from us now.” I tell Grey.

  “Really not up for a hike dude.”

  I notice one of the nature trails and we work our way into the forest and to Taz.

  “I can’t take that image of Lucius out of my head. Every time I close my eyes, I see him hanging in your house.”

  “I know. Me too. When Asmodeus finds who killed him, they are going to wish they had died when Lucius did. Asmodeus is one who doesn’t let things slide.”

  “Yeah, I sort of see that in him.”

  As we walk, I see ghosts here and there. Ava comes in and removes them when I see one. She’s really a great spirit guide.

  I think for a moment before deciding to tell Grey the next story, but I go on and tell him.

  “Lucius and I once walked in on him when he had a prisoner in his torture chamber. The man apparently had a party in progress and he bragged about being able to summons demons. Of course, all of his guests went wild over the idea of a demon being summoned so he drew his circle, drew his sigils in, and called upon the arcane to activate the circle. He called to Asmodeus. When Asmodeus appeared in the middle of the pentagram, all of his guests cheered him on and clapped him on the back. As Asmodeus stood, he scattered the bindings the prisoner thought he had placed on him. What he didn’t know is that in order to bind a demon prince, you have to have powerful bindings and be able to hold them. He didn’t, and couldn’t. Asmodeus walked out of the pentagram, grabbed the man and went back to his realm. Lucius and I were training that night. When we finished, we went to find Asmodeus because Lucius wanted him to show us how to do the mind whammy on humans. The one that allows us to be unnoticed when we need to. As we got to his chamber door, we heard a growl. Lucius opened the door slowly. The chamber is a place where Asmodeus used to train each day. Lucius and I referred to it as the torture chamber after that day. When we walked in, Asmodeus was standing in the middle of the room. He turned to look at us and we saw the man hanging from the ceiling by chains. His wrists had been bound together and he was hung with his arms straight up in the air. He was naked. There wasn’t one spot on his body you could touch that wasn’t cut and bleeding. Since the man had used a pentagram and sigils to summon him, he carved the sigils of each demon prince into the man’s body. Seven large sigils covered the entirety of his body. Lucius and I stood there gaping and Asmodeus waved his hand and slammed the door in our face. It’s said he is second in power only to Lucifer. So, there is no doubt in my mind that the person who killed Lucius will suffer a terrible death.”

  “Holy fuck man. How did you have the nerve to live there and be around them all the time?”

  “I wasn’t around them all the time. They were in and out. Luke left my raising to Lilith.”

  “The Lilith?”

  I nod.

  “She wasn’t there much. She checked in with me occasionally. Luke always had a mind link with me so I could call on him anytime.”

  “Damn man.”

  I snort.

  I grab Grey’s arm to tell him to stop. I look at him and point with my chin to our right. I can see a dark shadow by a tree where there shouldn’t be one. We are in an area where the moon can shine down through the tree tops and the area is well lit. As I stare, I see the shadow move slightly. Then I see fire red eyes look our way.

  “Taz.” I whisper to Grey.

  We continue our walk toward him trying not to crunch too loudly on the leaves and tree branches scattered on the ground.

  When we get closer to him, I can see he is sitting back on his haunches just staring at the tree he stands by.

  “Taz?”

  He turns to look at me again.

  We walk closer to where he stands.

  I trace a light sigil in the air and we can see a bit better. As the area lights up, I look over to where Taz is looking to see what has his attention. There on the ground, at the bottom of the tree trunk, is a small hole that’s been cut out. About eighteen inches wide and six inches tall. I run my hand over Taz’s head, and he slimes me again.

  “Really? Come on dude.” I tell him.

  I inch closer to the tree and look in the hole, and right there, heaped in a small pile, is a human skin. Fingers, toes, and hair clearly visible, but just a pile of empty skin.

  “I think we found our loogaroo skin.”

  “That’s fucking disgusting man. Really.”

  “Yeah, no shit.”

  “Let’s find a place to hide and wait her out. We have a few hours until dawn yet. We need to be hidden when she arrives.”

  Grey nods and Taz heads back the way we came in. We walk about thirty yards from where the skin is hidden and take a seat on the ground to wait out the old hag.

  Chapter 10

  While we wait, we whisper a conversation.

  “Have you figured out who’s trying to frame Belphegor yet?” Grey asks.

  “Nah. As soon as we catch this old bat, I’m going to get back to the murders. The killer is probably the one trying to frame him. It has to be an upper level demon. It would be safe to presume it’s one of their brothers.”

  “Brothers?”

  “Yes. One of the fallen.”

  “What is the reasoning?”

  “Well, when they fell, their new realm was in chaos. Lucifer took control, spilt out the levels and assigned a prince over each level. He said that some of them weren’t happy with that, especially the ones who weren’t assigned as a prince. So, there was animosity.”

  “Can any other demon conquer him?”

  I think about that question before I answer.

  “I supposed one could. But they would require assistance. Lucifer is the most powerful demon. He’s the first one thrown from heaven. He’s had control over hell for millennia. He’s a most cunning deceiver and won’t be taken so easily.”

  “What would happen to the offending demon who tried?”

  “They wo
uld probably burn in his fire pit.”

  Grey nods.

  “How strong is this loogaroo?”

  “Remember, she’s been trading blood, and other things, for black magic. She possesses demon black magic. Her strength depends on how many times she’s traded with the demon. If only a couple of times, then not so strong. Based on the murders we’ve seen; I would say she’s traded three times. Or maybe two, depending on if she was the one who benefited from Lucius’ death.”

  Taz rumbles a low growl. I look over to see his prickly hair standing on end.

  “I think we are about to have company. Sit tight until she gets back in her skin. Taz is going to take her to Luke.”

  I reach out to Luke and let him know we’re about to require a portal for Taz. After grumbling, he agrees to open one.

  Taz growls again.

  The hair starts to prickle on my arms and neck. I look around but can’t see anything because the moon decided to go back behind the clouds. I can tell that it's almost dawn, probably about twenty minutes away. A stick crunches to our left. Taz growls, and I realize, that isn’t the loogaroo. She’s in light form so she couldn’t step on anything while she’s a ball of light.

  “It’s not the loogaroo.”

  “I figured not.” Grey says.

  Taz stands and stares at the area the noise came from. He takes a step without making one sound. Head low, red eyes trained ahead, and smoke roiling from his nose. I take a second to concentrate and send my essence out to see what I feel. I gently stretch one tendril out, slowly going up the tree and angling back down the other side, hoping to get a feel of our company. I keep stretching it out, sensing, feeling, listening. Suddenly a sharp pain and it snaps back to me.

  “Fuck.”

  Taz takes this moment to run at the noise. It’s so dark now that we can only see shadows. Taz is growling and sounds as if he’s rending something. He lets out a yelp and then a snarl and goes right back into the growling and rending.

  “What the hell is that man?” Grey asks.

  “I would imagine a demon.”

  Taz continues his battle. I can see his big shadow rolling around on the ground, hear leaves being crushed under his massive weight, and hear cracking sounds.

  Grey and I stand and look around for the loogaroo. Nothing. Then, all the noise stops.

  I send Luke a portal request and soon the wind starts blowing and rippling. We can feel the arcane power roil over us like a cloud enveloping our whole bodies. Then the smell of sulfur.

  I look up to see Taz coming from the woods with a big lump in his maw. As he gets closer, I can start to make out arms and legs. Broken arms and legs, but limbs, non-the less.

  He walks over to Grey and I and tosses a body at our feet. He has a few cuts on him that are already healing, an arm twisted in the wrong direction, a leg missing and no eyes. The body looks like it’s been run through a shredder.

  I look down and hear a moan come from it. Bending down, I can see it’s a demon, so his shredded body will heal. But who is he? Male, brown hair, and that’s about all I can see since he’s been filleted.

  The portal opens up finally and out steps Luke. For him to step into the human world, he has to be pissed.

  “What have you there boy?”

  I groan.

  He glares at me.

  “A demon, but I can’t tell who.” I say.

  Luke holds his hand out to Taz and Taz walks over to sit by his feet. He puts a hand on Taz’s head and waits for a moment.

  “It’s that imbecile, Bazil.”

  I nod.

  Luke lifts him by his arm and tosses him into the portal. I bet that hurt.

  “We’re waiting on the loogaroo.”

  Luke nods, turns and steps back through the portal. It closes with a sharp pop and sizzle.

  “Taz ripped that fucker apart.”

  I nod and smile.

  Over to the right, coming through the trees, silent and floating, is our loogaroo. A ball of blue light about half the size of a basketball. I elbow Greyson and he looks over.

  I see him pull his blade out and lower himself slowly behind the tree. I find my link with Ava and send her the image of the ball. If this goes tits up; we’ll need her to catch the spirit ball.

  I hold a hand out to tell Grey to stay still. The ball comes closer. We’re about twenty yards from where she hid her skin. She continues to head for the tree very slowly.

  I concentrate to get a few tendrils ready to reach out for her. As soon as she’s in her skin, I’m going to and catch her.

  The tendrils play on my palms as the indigo light I saw at my apartment. They dance around in my palms as if waiting for me to send them out. The hag gets closer to her skin. It seems to have a mild radiance to it now. A glow the same color as her fire ball.

  She gets to the tree and a small tendril reaches in the tree and pulls the skin out. The ball floats there for a moment, looking as if it’s pulsing, or breathing.

  It starts a slow descent down to the skin, coming to rest on top of it. As we stand and watch, we can see the skin starting to take shape. It looks to be growing from the ground up. The feet, legs, torso, arms and head finally fill in, like someone is airing it up.

  Suddenly, we sit there looking at an old hag who looks to be at least 150 years old, hunched over, wrinkled skin and very thin hair. Her appearance is nearly that of a person who has been starved of food. She has a small bag attached to a belt around her waist, no shoes and a stench that would make a demon smell good.

  I send my tendrils out slowly. They silently drift their way over to the hag. Feeling, reaching, assessing.

  When they reach her, I push them out to wrap and coil around her. She jerks around and sees me, then hisses. She struggles as I entangle her more and more.

  In an uneven, coarse voice, she demands, “What do you want?”

  I send Luke a portal image, and one starts opening. He can deal with her until I have time to go to limbo.

  I use my tendrils to draw her to me while she struggles, not knowing she will never get out of them.

  When the portal is fully open, I turn and toss her haggard ass in, the portal snaps shut, and I sit down.

  “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah. Tired. It seems my new found tendrils suck a lot of energy from me.”

  “That was pretty simple.” Grey says.

  I nod, not able to do much of anything yet.

  I sit and try to get some energy back. I let my sense reach out for any arcane energy in the area. Nothing.

  “Concentrate boy. Imagine you’re pulling energy in through your tendrils. Extend one. Let it search for any energy.”

  I do. One tendril weaves its way around the trees. Then it goes to the ground. It rustles the leaves slightly, then I feel a jolt of energy rushing in.

  “So, it can use the elements?” I mind to Luke.

  “Yes, if needed.”

  “Cool.”

  Luke sighs.

  “Any better?” Grey asks.

  “Yeah, getting better. A few more minutes.”

  I continue to sit and recharge enough so I am able to walk out of the damn woods.

  “Arakiel told me there is a second war coming and I will be the one to balance the realms again.”

  Grey seems to be in thought for a moment.

  “A war?”

  “Yeah. I think what he means is the demon who wishes to overthrow Luke will be the one to start it. The murders and loogaroo is just a front to throw us off.”

  “When we leave here, I need to talk with Belphegor. Just to see if there is anyone he may know that would want to frame him.”

  Grey nods.

  “Are you good now?” Grey asks.

  “I think so. Let’s go.”

  We start our hike back out of the woods. As we walk, I know without a doubt it’s time for me to meet my father.

  Chapter 11

  Finally, with scratches from limbs, mosquito bites, and no energy, we find ours
elves standing at Grey’s truck.

  “Damn, I’m out of shape dude.” Grey says.

  I snort.

  “Your father has been directed to Grey’s home.” Luke says in our mind link.

  “Ok. We’re headed there now.”

  We get in the truck and start our drive home.

  “Are you ready to see him?” Grey asks.

  I shrug.

  “I suppose. There are questions I need answers to and he seems to be the only one willing to answer them.”

  “That’s true.”

  We pull into the driveway and see a minivan parked. Upon seeing us pull in, a man gets out of the driver’s side and closes the door. He walks around to the front of the van and waits for us to get out.

  “Is that him?”

  “I’ve never seen him; how should I know?”

  I open my door and slide out of the truck. Walking around in front of the truck, I stand there for a minute taking in the man’s appearance.

  He’s about six feet tall with shoulder length silvery gray hair. His skin color is a deep tan with no wrinkles or scars from what I can see. He appears to be about thirty-five or so. He has an athletic, hard body with well-defined muscles and wide shoulders. I think it may be a little odd to have a father who looks the same age as I do. But what catches my eyes is the answer to the question I’ve had all my life. His eyes are deep blue with small swirls of silver scattered about.

  “Dude, your eyes. Exactly like his.” Grey says.

  I walk over to Alfazon and just stand there. I'm not sure of what to say. What do you say to the father who gave you away?

  “Hello Kastor.” He says, holding his hand out.

  I extend my hand and mumble hello.

  “I’m glad to be meeting you finally.”

  I nod slowly.

  Oh for hell’s sake, I need to get my voice back.

  “Me too.”

  “We have much to talk about. Are you ready for that now?” Alfazon asks.

  “Yes. I am.”

  He nods knowingly.

  We walk around behind the house to Grey’s patio.

  “I’ll get you guys something to drink.” Grey says.

  He heads in and we take a seat.

  So many questions I’ve thought of since finding out my father is a fallen, and now I can’t think of any.