"Agreed!" rumbled Moco.
"They were instrumental in the victory over the first Demon," said Sharp. "I think they want to also be involved with destroying the second one."
"Desolation Glen Evil and a Demon are gone thanks to them," said Eric, "but hopefully the Grim Manson houses far less Evil and they won't be needed again. We'll have the Apprentices and Junior Apprentices help guard the non-combatants as they are evacuating, Martha. Tell Ben, my kids, and the others that's an order."
"The Council has spoken," said Sharp.
"You've had it too easy, Martha," said Kroner. "If Elizabeth was here with us instead of being outside the front door leading evacuations we'd unanimously vote you into the Council so that at least there would be four of us."
"Get that idea out of your mind, old man!" said Sharp. "You're stuck with me as your Vice-Principle forever or longer and I have no time for Council nonsense. I have hundreds of children to look after.”"
"We don't have much time," said Eric. "Sam, keep a few well cloaked Attack folks observing the Norms at the Mansion. Use the Kelman place as a forward observation post. I'll meet you there in a less than five minutes."
****
"I'm not evacuating!" Ben adamantly told Elizabeth Tuttle. "Besides, I doubt that you'd be able to teleport me anyway because of my shielding. Even Sky and Soone have had trouble doing it."
"It won't be your turn anyway until tomorrow sometime," said Elizabeth Tuttle, "unless my husband gets the Norms to provide buses." She looked around at the gathered crowd. There were at least five thousand. Others had sensibly given up and gone home. Those families that remained were getting schedule information from the team of volunteers she had organized to help with evacuations, or simply hanging around to get any news that might show up. Martha Sharp was everywhere, spreading information and calming the crowd, but news of the Norm military arrival increased anxiety even beyond what it had been earlier.
Ben shrugged. "I just thought I'd tell you that I'm not going." He wondered back through the crowd to rejoin his Apprentice friends that circled the area.
"This is totally stupid!" someone else in the crowd stepped up to Elizabeth to complain. "If they'd open the gates most of us could simply drive out of town within an hour!"
"You're preaching to the choir," she responded. "But we're doing what we can!"
From her elevated position atop the stairs that led into the building she was one of the first people to notice the two armored military troop carriers that were approaching. She teleported to the curbside to greet the squads of heavily armed soldiers that quickly exited the vehicles and lined up to face the milling crowd.
An officer spoke into a megaphone, but then quickly gave up. The megaphone didn't work.
"You won't need that to speak to me," Elizabeth told him. "I turned it off for the moment."
The officer turned to face Elizabeth. "This town is under martial law. This is an illegal gathering that must disperse."
"We are dispersing, Lieutenant. The town of Hope Council has already declared a state of emergency and is evacuating Hope citizens from this location as quickly as possible."
"No evacuation has been authorized," the Lieutenant replied. "To the contrary our orders are to prevent all residents from leaving Hope. Citizens are instructed to stay in their homes."
"The evacuation is an action absolutely necessary for public safety that has been authorized by the Hope town Council including myself. My husband the Council Chairman is talking about that with your Colonel right now in order to receive your authorization and assistance. I am confident that you will shortly receive communications to that effect."
The Lieutenant shook his head. "You don't understand. Stay in your houses and we will protect you from any harm. That's our job."
"Protect us? Lieutenant, this is the center of town and less than a mile from the Grim Mansion. This will possibly soon be a war zone. We need to get our people out of here!"
"We have troops surrounding the Grim Mansion. The biggest danger in this town is the panic you are creating for yourselves. Besides, we have surrounded the town and nobody can leave it. Whatever dangers there are here need to be contained here. This is a quarantine zone. My people are already risking their lives just to be here!"
"You're in no danger from us; and about a hundred people an hour are already leaving Hope," said Elizabeth. She pointed to the center of the crowd where a group of several dozen people abruptly disappeared.
The Lieutenant appeared to be startled but determined. "I don't know what psychic tricks you folks are up to here but I have my orders. You are ordered to disperse and go home peacefully. Do it now and nobody will get hurt!" He raised his assault rifle and pointed it at her. The fifty other soldiers of his command also raised their rifles.
His rifle disappeared. All the rifles of all the soldiers disappeared!
"You could have hurt someone with those," said Elizabeth. "That can't be allowed to happen, Barns. Guns are useless against Demons. I have my orders too. I put your guns inside your transport vehicles. You could go get them again but then maybe next time I'd put your guns a dozen feet underground or twist them into lawn ornaments." One of the rifles suddenly appeared in her delicate looking hands and she casually bent the barrel into a circle before dropping it onto the ground. "We are not your enemy, Frank Barns. In fact we face a common enemy. But we are not helpless either."
As Barns puzzled over the fact that this woman knew his name though he had not given it, his soldiers stared fearfully out into the crowd of Hope civilians. Many nasty rumors had been circulating about them, making the point that these weren't normal people! Dozens of frightened and angry faces looked back at them. Some of the adults looked particularly angry. All were unarmed and most visually appeared to be normal humans but a few were unusually hairy and some were strangely pale and shrouded in black clothing. Werewolves? Vampires? Yes, there were rumored to be dangerous misfits in this town! The dumbfounded soldiers were suddenly aware that they were not in charge here and were themselves perhaps in grave danger! Instinctively they moved closer together for their own protection.
A panicky soldier pulled the pin on a hand-grenade but then fumbled it awkwardly and it fell to the ground in the midst of the troops. As the soldiers began to scatter there was a muffled boom and a momentary red, basketball sized ball of flame where the grenade had been. The ball of flame was quickly gone and torn bits of hot steel fell harmlessly to the ground.
"That was careless," said Elizabeth, using a magically magnified voice. "There are children here and this is an emergency situation where we don't need panicky adults. Please be more careful. Show yourselves, children! You know that cloaking like that is disrespectful! Show these men that you mean them no harm!"
Two dozen grade-school and high-school aged children abruptly appeared out of nowhere where they completely encircled the troops. "Sorry Mrs. Tuttle," said one of them, a boy that couldn't have been older than six. "We won't hurt anybody. Are there cookies yet?"
A matronly looking old woman abruptly popped into view next to Elizabeth, carrying a huge box of oatmeal-chocolate chip and oatmeal-raisin cookies. Half the cookies flew from the box and floated to each of the children, while the other half floated to each of the soldiers. The smell of worm freshly baked cookies filled the air as the children laughed and ate them!
Hesitantly at first, Lieutenant Barns and then the other soldiers ate their cookies.
"That's more like it!" said Maude Phillips. "Nothing like some fresh-baked cookies to improve the disposition of folks! Does anyone want some cold milk and some more of my cookies?"
Dozens of hands went up, many from the soldiers. The crowd of waiting citizens went back to waiting and talking among themselves with confidence that the soldiers were not a threat.
"THIS ISN'T JUST THE COOKIES, IS IT, GREAT GRANDMA?" Ann asked Maude privately.
"NO PUMPKIN, I SHOWED YOUR YOUNG FRIEND RICK A SPELL TO INDUCE CALM HAPPINESS AND HE SH
OWED IT TO HIS FRIENDS. THAT BOY HAS A BIG FUTURE."
"HOW LONG WILL THE SPELL LAST?" asked Elizabeth.
"LONGER THAN THE COOKIES BUT NOT AS LONG AS WE'D LIKE," said Maude. "BUT IT MIGHT LAST LONG ENOUGH FOR RATIONALITY TO ENSUE."
****
"I need to talk to you," Red Eric told Colonel Wells and Dr. Crane. The ELF project leaders were in the back seat of a jeep that was carrying them towards the Goth Mansion.
"Where are you?" the puzzled Wells asked.
"I'm driving your jeep," said Eric.
"What about our driver, John Johnson?" asked Crane.
"I transported him ahead to the Mansion site," said Eric. "I wanted you to know that a few of us stayed at the Mansion to see how you make out with the Demon. Cloaked of course."
"I don't suppose there's anything we can do about that," said Wells.
"Nor would you want to," said Eric. "The other thing is that we're evacuating the citizens of Hope. Here they are in immediate danger from the Demon and frankly from your armed personnel."
"Our superiors won't be happy about that!" said Wells.
"However our evacuation is going far too slow," continued Eric. "We'd like you to send busses to help: several dozens of them if possible. Otherwise the evacuation could stretch well into tomorrow. Alternatively if you open the front gates most citizens could simply drive themselves out of town."
"But you mentioned earlier that the Demons had shape shifted and passed themselves off as human for many years," said Crane. "Couldn't the Demon get himself bussed out of Hope and into the general population?"
"You have a point, though that would be very unlikely. The Demon will generally want to stay with the stationary collection of Evil that powers it. If he wanted to leave he would likely teleport himself. But as a precaution we could perhaps have Ben King look at everyone who leaves town. The boy can see through any cloak."
"He can?" said Wells. "In that case maybe King should be present at the Grim Mansion when we confront the Demon. In fact, I think you should also be there, Tuttle. And the elves."
"Not the boy," said Eric. "He's been through enough. But perhaps I and one of the elves could come with you."
"What about the elf bio-hazard?" said Crane. "Regardless of what you told us, that remains a big Washington concern."
"The King boy lived on their planet for a year without any problems for elves or human," said Eric. "The risk is low, as I'm sure the elves will shortly be glad to explain to you scientifically."
"And that's incredible!" said Crane. "A human child lived on an alien world many light years away, for an entire year! I fear that all of it might be too much for mankind to handle. Wizards among us along with other shades of paranormal folks? Elves? Demons and Evil? There's going to be a lot of political push to sweep it all under the rug. Major governments likely all have paranormal operatives that they all think gives them advantages. The elf thing is, I think, far too big a thing for America to keep to ourselves, but many will want us to do that! And like everything else, the biohazard issue will be enormous."
"We'll have to risk the biohazard," conceded Wells.
"Agreed!" said Crane. “Smith and Phelps can monitor us all for now, just in case!”
"Plus as I already mentioned we have a few cloaked Wizards observing nearby also." said Eric. "So tell your guys not to be too trigger-happy and to focus on the Mansion. The Demon will stay in the Mansion with its Evil source as much as it can, and will likely be very recognizable when you see it. So in sum we'll be there to give you advice and back you guys up if we are needed. In return for our help how about the busses we need?"
"We'll start rounding them up now," said Wells. "But in the meantime we'll go have a talk with that Demon. If things don't go well with the Demon you'll get your busses quickly."
"Deal!" said Eric. Moments later the jeep lurched momentarily when a puzzled looking John Johnson reappeared behind the steering wheel as Eric disappeared.
****
CHAPTER 15
Death at Grim Mansion
"What do they plan to say to a Demon that will change its very nature and keep it from killing the life that it hates?" Rog asked Eric.
"Not even the Military think that that there is much hope that negotiations will work, but their bosses say they have to try," said Eric.
"What bosses?" asked the young elf. "Why aren't we talking directly with them? Do they understand that when they deal with my Master they deal with essentially a leader of another planet? A planet with a far more ancient and advanced civilization than that of Earth?"
"I don't think they quite comprehend that part yet. If we survive the next few days we'll try to make them understand. Right now we need to focus on the Demon in Goth Mansion. Listen now! The Norms are about to start."
On the street in front of the Mansion, seven huge tanks had their guns trained on the Mansion. In addition, fifty armed troops peered and aimed their hand-carried weapons at the Mansion from behind trees, tanks, and armored troop carriers. From their vantage point in the Kelman home, across the street and a little down the street from the Grim Mansion, Eric, Rog, and Sam watched events unfold. The Kelmans were of course long-gone and hopefully evacuating from Hope. The watching Wizards couldn't visually see the three hundred additional troops that encircled the Mansion, but they could sense them. Sam was in constant telepathic contact with the ten cloaked Attack Wizards that shadowed the human troops. Eric held in his hand a radio that connected him to earphones that Wells wore.
"Attention in the Grim Mansion," announced Wells over a megaphone. "Your house is surrounded by armed troops but we mean you no harm. We want to talk with you about establishing peace between you and Earth. We can exchange science, art, and other things of value and benefit to all of us."
There was no verbal response. Instead there was a low rumbling sound that emanated from someplace in the Mansion. The sound grew louder and louder! And the Earth began to shake!"
****
Deep in the Mansion, the Demon was aware that the building was surrounded now by annoying living beings, beings of order and Life Energy that more than anything else in this universe of well-ordered phenomena opposed Demon Evil. Now they were spouting words, words perhaps based on logic and Life-driven emotions that were the antithesis of Demon honed Evil! Meaningless blather to be ignored, from living beings to be destroyed!
Since arriving at the Mansion it had absorbed its Evil and its energies, and grown ever larger and stronger, stronger by far than any other Demon in the known universe! He would have to be strong to survive and to some extent control those he now called from the Void: Demons by the hundreds and soon by the thousands! The room filled with them! Then the adjacent halls! Some were much smaller versions of himself, but others took many forms large and small, some similar in form to Earth life-forms both current and extinct, but most unlike anything imagined even in human nightmares!
They ravaged all things human they found: chairs and rugs and pictures, clothing, televisions and kitchen cookware and appliances that were obviously purposefully designed constructs of sentient life-forms. Annoyingly they also munched on the Mansion floors, walls, and ceiling, as those were infused with Evil that invigorated them.
A few of the larger ones at first challenged for Demon leadership when they arrived but the calling Demon was always much bigger and stronger and destroyed them or at least forced them into submission. Finally, when the entire Mansion was full of Evil Demons from attic to basement, the Master Demon for the time being stopped calling more from the Void and issued a one-word command to them that even their primitive minds understood: "KILL!"
****
Colonel Wells was about to reissue his statement to the Mansion when the ground-shaking rumbling reached a crescendo and the Mansion doors burst outwards to spew dozens of hellish monsters! Like the original Demons they had black bodies covered in red-glowing fissures and spots, but there were few common shapes among them. A few vaguely resembled humans in form
, but most resembled Earthly insects or reptiles or microscopic life-forms. Some constantly changed in form, growing or absorbing eyes or mouths or legs or tails or claws as it suited them! Many of them roared and screamed incessantly, so loudly that many nearby humans could do nothing but cover their ears and cry out in pain! One of the humanoid-shaped Demons was monstrously huge: it must have stood at least fifteen feet tall!
After a moment of shock the assembled troops that were able to function despite the frightful Demon screaming opened fire on the emerging monsters. Bullets caused the creatures to pause slightly but didn't stop them. Tank-shells and sometimes grenades blew them to pieces but the pieces began to reassemble themselves in seconds. Meanwhile lightning erupted from some of the Demons, blasts of power that exploded anything they touched including tree-trunks, armored vehicles, and armed men. Some of the blasts even blew apart other attacking demons, but there were more and more of them pouring out from the Mansion to replace them!
"Plan B!" Eric heard Wells shout into his radio. The solders that remained were in full retreat, including Wells. The lucky ones were being shielded by the handful of cloaked Attack Wizards that were scattered among them. The unlucky ones were being torn apart or vaporized by hundreds of nightmarish Demons.
Eric teleported himself to Wells and teleported with him back to the Kelman House. Wells was badly shaken up but still in control of his faculties. "My people are being slaughtered!" he lamented.
"We are saving as many as we can," Eric told him, "but we weren't expecting a Demon Horde." Indeed, the Kelman House around them already contained several solders that had been teleported in by Wizards, many of them injured. "We already teleported your science team to our evacuation point. What is Plan B?"
"Ground troop retreat and air bombardment of the Mansion," said Wells. "But that won't stop them either, will it?"
"Unlikely, but it may slow them down a bit," said Eric. "Our Attack Wizards will also perhaps slow them slightly. But you'll find that killing them is practically impossible."
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