Frowning, Lucifer/Swag pulled at his ears. He looked over toward the choir stand where Father McCarthy was just now getting back onto his feet. A bewildered and dazed McCarthy reached inside of his robe and pulled out the earplugs he'd found earlier in the filing cabinet. He studied the plugs for a moment and then looked curiously up at Lucifer. The dark one stared at the priest menacingly, still grabbing at Swag's human ears. The priest smiled knowingly, and then popped both plugs into his mouth, swallowing them.
Lucifer glanced around the room, shouting at his loyal subjects, who themselves were in varying amounts of distress. “Mutare corpora, ut in eis! Change bodies and get her!
The demons immediately left their current human hosts and leapt into the bodies of Josh, Seth/Adam, and Bennett. Instantly, the three of them turned toward Kallie, rushing toward her.
Kallie/Kali/Eve, seeing them coming at her, stopped her high-pitched squealing. “Fight them,” she commanded. “It's your body, push them out. Tell them to leave. They're not welcome.”
Bennett had no Earthly idea what was happening. One minute he was watching the weird unraveling of the strangest wedding he'd ever witnessed, and the next he'd felt some type of malevolent force enter into his body, controlling his very movements and desires, making him want to rape, maim, and plunder. But first, he was to have his way with Kallie Hunt. He'd felt an urging and was just about to act on it when Kallie Hunt's voice pushed through the heightening madness in his head. Bennett forced himself onto his knees and gripped his head with his hands. He was not a deviant psychopath! “Get out of me, damn you! You're not welcome.”
Josh had known that demonic possession was possible. But he hadn't known the swiftness in which it could happen. The malevolent spirit entered his body with such rapidity that it had taken him by surprise, and before he'd realized what he was doing, he was moving toward Kallie, gun drawn, intending to empty the chamber into her body. But then, Kallie/Kali/Eve spoke to him. Her voice was symphonic, commanding. Josh threw the gun across the room and rooted his feet in the carpet where he stood.
Seth/Adam had only taken a step toward Kallie/Kali/Eve with the unclean spirit inside of him. He'd just gotten Eve back and there was no way in Heaven or Hell he'd lose her again. The power of love within him helped vanquish the invading evil spirit within moments of its arrival inside his body. But just as quickly as the weaker evil spirit had been evicted, a more powerful one took its place. And this one, empowered by a violent rage birthed before the creation of man, took root quickly and firmly, silencing Seth/Adam before he knew what hit him.
All the unclean spirits, including the ones expunged from Josh, Bennett, and Seth/Adam immediately gathered together, forming a big dark mass. The sound of their demonic collaboration sounded like nuclear thunder. Its appearance was that of a black, heavy rain-filled storm cloud. With maddening quickness, the demonic mass rushed toward Kallie/Kali/Eve with hurricane-wind like speed and force.
But Kallie/Kali/Eve was now emboldened and strengthened by the complete knowledge and full awareness of who and what she was. She destroyed the rudderless mass of evil in a matter of minutes. And when she finished off the last of it, she looked around the church for her existential nemesis. But the spirit of Lucifer had long since departed the former Reverend Johnny Swag, leaving the young minister's lifeless shell slumped at the altar.
Kallie/Kali/Eve heard footsteps fast approaching behind her. She turned and saw her beloved Seth/Adam coming quickly toward her. She ran into his embrace, kissing him passionately.
“Marry me,” Seth/Adam said. “Right here, right now.”
“We don't have a marriage license,” she said and kissed him again.
“We can get one later,” he said, “let's commit to each other now.”
And that made perfect sense, she thought. Their love and commitment to each other was much stronger than any law or slip of paper could ever convey. “Yes,” she said. “I'll marry you, right here, right now.”
They both turned to Father McCarthy, who was still standing near the choir stand. He smiled at them. “So, we'll have a wedding after all. I believe I can conjure up the words.”
They all gathered around the altar, the priest, the bride and groom, and the two human witnesses. Seth/Adam looked into his soon-to-be-wife's eyes. “With all my heart I love thee and will gladly take thee as my wife.”
Kallie/Kali/Eve looked into her future husband's eyes. “I love thee as well. And I…” she paused. His once vibrant brown eyes looked dark and foreboding. “What movie always makes me cry?”
“What?” Seth/Adam asked.
“There's a movie that always makes me cry,” she said. “What's the name of it?”
“What does it matter?” he asked. “I love you.”
“And I love you. And I know that your favorite fruit is an apple and your favorite color is light blue. Don't you know what movie makes me cry?”
Father McCarthy smiled. “It may sound irrelevant, son. But marriage is not to be entered into lightly. If you don't know these answers, there's no harm in waiting until you truly know each other.”
“But, I'm Adam,” Seth/Adam said, nearly screaming. “Who knows you better than me?”
“Perhaps no one,” Kallie/Kali/Eve said. “But what movie makes me cry?”
“I don't know, damn it!” Seth/Adam said and this time he was screaming. “I don't know!”
“Well, you should know,” Kallie/Kali/Eve said. And she opened her mouth, letting loose her ultrasonic scream which only demons could detect. Seth/Adam's body convulsed rapidly and seconds later, Lucifer's demonic spirit was unceremoniously expelled from it. As soon as the last of it was free of Seth/Adam's body, Lucifer hissed wickedly at Kallie/Kali/Eve. His form was that of a giant snake and it stretched high above her, his forked tongue slapping down at her. Kallie glared up at him, readying herself to gnash him to bits. But he quickly came back down to her eye level, first as Johnny Swag, and then as a priest, next a child, a suburban mom, an elderly lady, each form lasting but a second, flashing before her like the broken tape of a movie reel. Suddenly the images slowed, until finally ending with one of the Christian Savior morphing into that of the classical Devil, complete with fiery red eyes and horns. And then he was gone. Kallie waved her arms out in front of her, not entirely sure if the Great Deceiver was truly gone. But it was just air in front of her. The others, save Seth/Adam who was still slumped at the altar, moved about the trashed church, looking for any signs of a demonic presence. But there were none. The demons and their leader had vanished into nothingness as if they hadn't ever existed at all.
With his body now demon-free, Seth/Adam rose to his feet and stumbled toward Kallie/Kali/Eve, collapsing at her feet. She kneeled down beside him. Wearily, he looked up into her eyes and said breathlessly, “The Wizard of Oz.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
It wasn't until the spring of the following year that Bennett finally got around to flying back to Philadelphia to see Father McCarthy. Although no one could have ever accused him of being religious or even a somewhat semi-regular churchgoer, Bennett had made it a point throughout his adulthood to occasionally step foot inside a church at least once or twice every blue moon, if for no other reason than to pacify the ghost of his dead aunt, his mother's sister, who had raised him and Helen after their mother's death. In life, his aunt, for whatever reason, had always been very concerned about his church attendance. And for the most part, he'd always complied with her unspoken desires, communicated it seemed, even now from the afterworld. That was of course until the events of last fall. Since that time, he'd steered way clear of all places of worship.
“Hmm,” McCarthy said after Bennett had confessed this to him. They were sitting on the bench at the end of the basketball court behind the parish. It was a beautiful late spring afternoon. They'd already played two games of one-on-one. Bennett won the first game and McCarthy took the second one. They decided to take a break before playing the rubber match. “That's very int
eresting. I'd just assumed your church attendance had increased. I mean you can no longer doubt….”
“No, I don't doubt,” Bennett interjected. “But that's just it. What's the point in going to church? None of those preachers really know anything about what I witnessed. I was freaking possessed. I was raised a Lutheran. I don't even think we believe in possession. At least my church didn't preach about it. Oh, they've railed on and on about the demons of alcohol, and fornication, and all that jazz, but nothing about actual demonic possession. It seems to me that to them, Satan is only a concept. You know, a symbol of evil?”
McCarthy didn't say anything for a few moments. Then, quietly he added, “He's much more than that.” He paused again. “But that's not the only reason to attend church. You should go for the fellowship. The communion with others in the glorification of the Creator, and, as you say, all that jazz.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Bennett said and didn't complete his thought. He waited a few moments before asking, “Will the next terrorist attack also be a demonic gate-opening?”
“Doubtful,” McCarthy said. “But anything's possible. As I've told you, Principe was a Rememberer who'd become demonically possessed. That's how he found out about opening the demon portals in the first place. Most terrorists are simply that, terrorists. Initially, even A.I. hadn't known about the portals.”
“Why didn't you tell me about this the first time I came to Philadelphia?”
“If I'd told you, would you have believed me?” McCarthy asked.
Bennett rubbed his chin and breathed in deeply. “No, I guess not.”
McCarthy nodded knowingly.
After another few moments of silence, Bennett asked, “Do you think those two are really Adam and Eve?”
“Yes,” McCarthy said without pausing to consider the question. “I really do.”
They became quiet again, both enjoying the relative peacefulness of it. Yet and still, they knew evil lurked all around them. It was never vanquished completely. It was a reality they both understood all too well.
* * *
His head was lying on her lap. They were at the park, enmeshed in the essence of each other; the sound of gleeful playing youth surrounded them. She rubbed her fingers through his hair, enjoying the moment. She'd forgotten how soft his hair was. Then again, she'd forgotten everything. Seth had told her about Josh's disassociation theory, even admitting that he evidently had fallen victim to it as well sometime after their original banishment from the Garden. Whether the theory was true or not, she supposed didn't matter now. The two of them were together again.
“Why did he do it? Lucifer, I mean?” Seth asked. “Why would he show you how to destroy demons?”
“It's part of his deception. He knew I would eventually find out anyway. But he figured that by then he would be in control of my mind.” She said this without a trace of bitterness, just simply as a matter of fact.
“But he watched you kill so many of his own,” Seth said.
“That's just it. Lucifer doesn't care about others. He's about self. Always has been, always will be. People or beings will foolishly follow him, but he'll care about none of them. Only himself, that's all that matters to him.”
They were silent for a while, and then she said finally, “I've never said I was sorry.”
“About what?” Seth said.
“Everything,” Kallie said, and it was as if just saying the words had lifted a heavy weight from her chest. “If not for me, you wouldn't have been banished forever from the Garden.”
“I don't know,” Seth said. “I was bound to screw it up sooner or later.”
She laughed, playfully bopping him on the head. “Silly.”
“Besides,” he said, and he was serious, “I didn't have to bite the apple.”
And it was true, he didn't have to. “Then why did you?” Kallie asked.
Seth looked up at the sky. It was a gorgeously clear blue. “For the one reason that I don't even think He'd considered. In fact, I know Lucifer didn't. I love you, Kallie. I always have. And I always will. We're cosmically connected. And there's nothing anyone, or any being can do about it.”
“I love you too, Seth,” she said. And then she leaned down and kissed him fully on the lips.
THE END
Other Works by C. Edward Baldwin
Fathers House (A Crime Fiction Novel, available now at Amazon and most places where paperbacks are sold-IndieBound)
Giovanni’s Metamorphosis & the Road to Same Sex Marriage in America (A Kindle Single essay)
A Needful Change & Other Stories (A book of short stories)
From 1-3 to Champions (A non-fiction self help book, April 2015)
In 2016, be on the lookout for Book 2 in the Rememberers series, Killing God
Find C. Edward Baldwin:
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I hope you enjoyed this novel as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Thank you!
Rememberers Page 31