by Wood, Rick
17
Another dusty, flat slab of a book heaved open upon Derek’s desk.
This plan was all good and well, but would it succeed?
An exorcism.
An exorcism that doesn’t call to God, but to a soul.
How would it even work?
Filling his whisky tumbler up, he took a sip, not even feeling the sharp sting of its high alcohol content, such was his concentration. He placed his reading glasses on, grimacing at the thought. It had only been the last few months he’d had to acquire them, and the thought of growing old saddened him.
Then again, the luxury of growing old is one many of us may not be afforded…
Flicking through the pages of The Rites of Exorcism, he re-acclimatised himself with the process of removing a demon from a helpless body.
It had been a while.
He had given Eddie the knowledge then found himself no longer needed to perform these acts. Eddie had managed to banish a demon from a body in twice the speed and with less effort
But it was time to return to it. To his roots. To how it all started.
He opened a chapter about the reasoning behind the process of an exorcism and found himself reading the words he had originally read when he began his endeavours to rid the world of hungry demons possessing their prey, almost two decades ago.
An exorcism’s purpose is to tear two entities apart. Within possession, the soul of a victim has a demon latched onto it. You must separate the demon from the soul.
The body cannot exist without the soul, and the victim will be buried deep within. The exorcism consists of calling on God’s strength to identify this soul and help pull it away from the demon.
Derek leant back.
Thought deeply.
Pondered the various reasonings and thoughts behind these words.
By this theory, Eddie’s soul would still be there.
It said that the body cannot exist without the soul. Therefore, the heir of hell’s body cannot exist without Eddie’ soul.
So it must be in there somewhere.
Buried very deep, maybe – but there.
It said that a possession means the soul has a demon latched onto it.
The issue was that Eddie’s soul hadn’t been latched onto by a separate entity. They were both the same thing. The heir of hell was not possessing Edward King – it was Edward King.
Normally an exorcism takes a demonic entity that has attached itself to a separate host. Could it still work, considering the heir and Eddie were not separate, but one and the same?
Could the process be performed in such a way that it separated the soul from the rest of the body, even if the soul belonged to that body?
Then again, an exorcism’s purpose is to remove the evil from the good.
A soul is inherently good. Hell cannot create a soul, only heaven can.
Therefore, it must be in there.
And by that logic, it could be separated.
Could be.
Derek mulled this over. He’d have to tear apart two things that are fastened together as one and the same. Unless the devil had to remove the soul when raising the heir. Unless the soul had already been ripped away and was being kept somewhere separate.
If it had already been ripped away, it would be looser, and easier to snatch off… but it would mean penetrating whatever protection the devil had put around it.
It was complicated, no doubt about it.
The one thing it confirmed was that Jenny was right.
There was still a piece of Eddie in there.
His soul.
That was the part they needed to appeal to.
That was the part Derek needed to reach.
It may not work.
Then again, it might.
He downed the rest of his whisky.
Slammed the glass down upon his coaster, the surface of which was peeling away.
The task was a daunting one to say the least.
To restrain the most powerful demon to ever have existed. Then to exorcise that demon. Then to plunge past the devil’s defences. The devil’s barriers.
Bloody hell, Derek. This is madness…
He had no choice.
He turned to the chapter on the prayers and became reacquainted with the ancient skill of the rites of exorcism.
He would need to know them thoroughly if he was to commit to this.
18
Heaven was such a wonderful place, but it could be lonely if you kept looking to earth. Seeing what so many people don’t have.
Particularly for Cassy, who stood watching Martin trying again and again to produce the spell they needed to capture and fight the heir.
To exorcise it.
Being honest, Cassy wasn’t entirely sure it was the best idea. It was radical, no denying that; but was it doable?
Then again, was killing the heir doable?
Cassy had felt Eddie’s soul. She had felt it rip into her. He was there, she knew it.
But an exorcism, to rid the heir of its own imprisoned soul.
The only other option was to kill the heir, and they had already realised that would fail.
Even with the powers heaven had bestowed upon Martin, he was far less experienced than his opponent. And even if he had full control and ability over his inherent powers, he would only reach a stalemate with the heir; heaven and hell would always cancel each other out.
“You look solemn,” came a familiar voice behind her.
“Why do you think that is?” she replied.
Gabrielle appeared at her side. Her long, black hair glided over her immaculate white dress, her luscious black skin smooth as silk.
“Come, join the others,” Gabrielle prompted.
Cassy shook her head, holding back tears.
“This is no good,” Gabrielle insisted. “There is nothing we can do for them now. They are on their own.”
“Why?” Cassy demanded, lifting her head defiantly to Gabrielle. She had never so much as challenged her, respecting the thousands of years Gabrielle had been doing God’s work. Compared to her, Cassy’s wings were so young. She just didn’t understand.
“We offered Derek a way out. He turned it down.”
“Yes, because he’s doing our job. We should be fighting.”
“You know God forbids it.”
“But why?”
“Because it is not our job to meddle, you foolish child!” Despite being an angry retort, her voice was still soft and in control – something only a wise angel could achieve.
“I just don’t get why we are supposed to stand back and watch as the devil unleashes hell on earth.”
“Because that is the difference between us and hell. The devil interferes directly with human dealings. We give them the tools, but to hold divine influence would be ungodly.”
“Ungodly,” Cassy scoffed.
She peered at an image of Martin, repeatedly trying his restraint spell, again and again. Each time growing increasingly frustrated because it was either not big enough, too many sparks, or had a lack of power – whatever it was, she understood why he was getting infuriated.
A delinquent child plucked out of immaturity and plunged into a war he didn’t understand. What he had done, including all his hard work whether he succeeded or failed, was remarkable.
And where were the servants of heaven reassuring him of that?
“We need something for Martin,” Cassy proposed. “Some kind of divine intervention. Even if he masters this thing, he’s going to come up against a brick wall with the heir. The heir has had years of sitting back and driving Eddie’s thoughts. Martin is a child plunged into this. He will lose.”
Gabrielle remained silent. She looked to earth also, watching Martin, feeling her pain.
“We have conceived him from heaven. What more can we do?”
“I don’t know, some kind of weapon, maybe?”
“Cassy, this is not up for discussion. We are here to do His bidding; that is it.
Now please, come.”
Cassy shook her head. “I’m not coming.”
Gabrielle’s face faltered with a flicker of distress.
“There is going to be a rapture, Cassy. The earth is doomed. We have evacuated the most faithful, now it is time for us to move out of the way.”
“Move out of the way? The devil rises and we are just going to move out of the way for him?”
“Cassy, are you coming?”
Cassy looked back into Gabrielle’s eyes, those piercing, strikingly beautiful hazel eyes. So much wisdom, so much experience.
Who was she to challenge that?
But when you know in your heart what you must do…
“I am not,” Cassy decided.
“You are not coming?”
She looked to Martin, then back to Gabrielle.
“No,” Cassy confirmed. “I am going to stand with Derek. With Martin. I am going to do what I can. Without interfering as you are so adamantly against.”
“Cassy, once we have shut the door to heaven from earth, it will remain shut until it ends, if it ever does. Those gates will not reopen; you will not be allowed back in.”
“Then I best hope it ends.”
With a hesitation, Gabrielle nodded. There was no way to change Cassy’s mind.
She stepped forward, putting her arms around Cassy, holding her in a tight embrace.
“Take care,” Gabrielle instructed.
“I will.”
Keeping her arms around Cassy, Gabrielle leant back and looked intently into her eyes.
“If you are going to put your faith in Eddie, as I see Derek is planning to do, you must keep that faith. The only chance you have is if Eddie plays his part too.”
Cassy nodded. She felt herself crying. Gabrielle had been more than a friend. She had been a guide. It broke her heart to leave her; but it broke more that she was going knowing Gabrielle was not joining her. Her eyes welled up and she held Gabrielle tightly, wrapping her arms around her and bringing her in closely.
“You are a sweet child,” Gabrielle spoke.
Before Cassy could respond, Gabrielle turned away, walking a few steps until she faded away.
And with that, the stairs to the gates of heaven faded.
Cassy couldn’t fight. She couldn’t interfere.
She was stuck in the world of mortals with a helpless fragility.
She did not know whether it was the right decision.
But she knew it was where she belonged.
19
2 April 2003
Everything came down to this.
Or, at least, that’s what it felt like.
As Martin watched Derek sit at his desk, studying his book, he couldn’t help but feel like it was the end.
They had been waiting for the heir to strike with a sense of foreboding helplessness. That at any time he could just rise up, bringing the demons of hell with him, and unleash their tirade on earth.
What could they do to stop the heir now?
The heir had wiped out their army. The most powerful supernatural influences in the world were dead. Yes, powerful people still remained on earth, but they would all be second choices; all with far less ability than the ones that were already so easily slaughtered.
Now it was up to the powers heaven had bestowed on Martin and the knowledge Derek had.
So there Derek was, studying the rites of exorcism. Even though Derek had performed hundreds of exorcisms, and witnessed almost as many whilst training Eddie, there he still was. Strengthening his knowledge. Being thorough.
That’s why Derek was Martin’s inspiration.
He was relentless. An ethic of constant hard work, something Martin had never had growing up; but something he had attempted to emulate.
Teachers at school nagged him. Punished him for doing nothing. They never gave education a purpose or a relevance, never gave him the patience to discover it’s okay to make mistakes so long as they are learnt from.
But Father Douglas had. Douglas had stripped his dignity down to its bare bones and helped build the muscle around them.
And Derek.
Derek had never expected more than Martin could give.
And it was the same now.
If they died giving the world over to hell and all its creations, but went down with the biggest fight they could muster, he knew Derek would still be proud.
Martin grew restless and began wandering the study. Looking over the dusty, broken leather of Derek’s old books, the journals kept in a cupboard, and the drawers full of junk.
He realised he had never seen inside those drawers. Out of curiosity, he opened one.
He froze.
“Derek?” Martin spoke, alert.
“Yes?” Derek asked, not turning away from his book.
“What is this?” Martin asked, pointing to a revolver in Derek’s drawer.
“What?” Derek glanced over his shoulder, noticed the gun, grinned, then returned his gaze back to his book. “It’s a six-shooter revolver.”
“Why do you have it?”
“Don’t worry, it’s just for show. The chambers are empty.”
“Oh,” Martin answered, feeling comforted. Then it struck him that it was still a gun, loaded or not.
He closed the drawer, deciding that there were many layers to Derek that he would never truly be able to unfold.
A warm hand rested itself on Martin’s shoulder. He recognised the soft touch, and turned to see the beautiful face of Cassy.
“Cassy?” he prompted, surprised to see her.
Derek turned, equally perplexed.
“Cassy?”
“Hello, Derek,” she said knowingly, smiling back at him.
“What are you doing here?”
“Is that how you greet me?”
Derek chuckled heartily, but it quickly faded.
“The evacuation is complete. I thought that included all of the angels.”
“It did. I told them I wouldn’t go.”
“You what?”
Derek rose, stepping forward, staring at her intently.
“My place is not hiding away in heaven with a God who does nothing to help. My place is fighting with you.” She turned with a graceful smile toward Martin. “With both of you.”
Martin grinned. He was astonished.
“If you’ll have me, that is.”
“Of course,” Martin answered, beaming at Derek.
“So where are we with this?”
“Oh, yes.” Derek quickly readjusted and picked up his bulky book. “I’ve been studying the rites of exorcism again, looking to see if there was anything else we could do, any stronger prayer I could serve.”
“And?”
Derek shrugged.
“I have a question,” Martin announced. “If the angels are hidden away with God, will the exorcism work?”
“What do you mean?”
“Isn’t an exorcism calling on God to remove a demon from its victim’s body?”
Derek nodded.
“Well, in that case, ain’t God going to be hidden away? I mean, how would he answer?”
Cassy looked to Derek, realising that she hadn’t thought of this either.
“Maybe,” Derek confirmed.
“But how?” Cassy interjected.
“Because we are not going to be calling on God to free Eddie from the demon’s body. It would do no good, for the reasons you have stated, but also because we are not removing a demon from its victim. Instead, we are removing the victim’s soul from its demonic body. We will need to reach out to that soul with our prayers, rather than to God.”
“I don’t understand.”
“We will not be praying to God to exorcise the demon. We are going to be calling on Eddie himself.”
20
The room filled with silence. A few moments of contemplation reflecting upon Derek’s statement.
Cassy looked from Martin, to Derek, then back again, perplexed.
They were goi
ng to call on Eddie?
It was either genius or reckless – Cassy was still undecided. It hadn’t been attempted, calling on anyone but God to remove something – but in theory, it should work. If Eddie’s soul was trapped away somewhere, they would need to call on it, grant it access to return.
Then it struck Cassy – the overpowering flaw of this idea.
“So, your hypothesis is that you could exorcise the soul from the demon’s body, detach it and create a new entity,” Cassy thought aloud to Derek. “So you would then have two conscious beings – the heir of hell, and Eddie’s soul. Correct?”
“Spot on,” Derek confirmed, nodding enthusiastically.
“The only issue,” Cassy continued, “is Eddie’s soul. We don’t know what form it would take.”
“What do you mean?”
“The human soul is not a human. The soul’s conscious mind has the ability to project its own body with its own mind, so it can see itself as human – but it is not.”
“Not what?” Martin interjected.
“Human. The soul, in its truest form, is merely a ball, made up of elements and supernatural components. You could very well remove the soul from the heir so that Eddie, as the soul, can defeat the heir. Only issue is…”
“… He wouldn’t be able to defeat him in the form of a soul,” Derek finished, bowing his head and closing his eyes in disappointment. “He would just be a ball of energy.”
“I really do not understand what you guys are on about,” Martin announced.
Derek and Cassy exchanged a glance, sub-consciously deciding who would explain to Martin in laymen’s terms what the issue was.
“If we managed to exorcise Eddie’s soul,” Derek told him, “the soul would not return in a recognisable form, and wouldn’t be able to defeat the heir.”
“Oh,” Martin uttered, leaning against the desk, his face turning to that of disappointment.
Cassy’s initial excitement faded with the prospect of what they could have done. What other option did they have? How else could they defeat the antichrist, but with a piece of himself?
“Is there really nothing we can do about it?” Cassy asked.