by John Conroe
“Tell us about it,” she said. So I did. At her coaxing and prodding, I explained my life, from losing my family to my first exorcism to meeting Tanya. She turned to my vampire at that point.
“But you’re a vampire, Tanya, are you not? Why would demons want you?”
We had agreed beforehand to leave out any mention of Tanya being a born vampire with the purest form of the V-squared virus in her veins.
“Tanya’s… parents… as it were, are famous and important in the Darkkin world. Killing Tanya would have thrown the vampire society on its ear.”
“You say the word so naturally, Chris. You realize that most people don’t believe in vampires, right?”
“That’s why I beat that poor Humvee to death with my sword. That’s not something a human could do,” Tanya said.
“So you drink blood?” Brystol asked.
“Yes Brystol, human blood. We don’t hunt animals like that story about the glittery vampires,” Tanya replied.
“And where do you get your human blood, Tanya?”
“We buy it, Brystol. From blood banks and hospitals that we own. We also pay donors in many locations around the country and around the world. Some people sell their blood so regularly that we have to issue W-9’s,” Tanya said.
“What about live from the tap? Hunting live humans?” Brystol pressed.
“Yup. From willing donors. I won’t lie to you, Brystol. There are people who will line up to be fed from. But then, there are also band groupies, celebrity fan clubs, and cosplay aficionados. So as long as no one is hurt, to each his own.”
“No one ever gets hurt, Tanya?”
“Of course people get hurt. There are always those who prefer to hurt others, be they vampire or regular human. But our society hunts those individuals down and stops them.”
“Why? Why bother to stop your fellow Darkkin from hunting humans?” Brystol asked.
“I could tell you because it is wrong, but let’s be honest. We need people, and if we start hunting and hurting them, people tend to get scared and fight back. There aren’t many of us and there are lots of regular humans. We wouldn’t last long if we were at war with the source of our sustenance, now would we?” Tanya asked in return.
“Why come out now?”
“Because the greatest threat to our existence is coming from outside this world. Those damned Hell gates and the demons that are beginning to flow through them. That’s why we spend our time hunting Hellbourne and closing gates,” Tanya said.
“Helbourne?” Brystol asked.
“It’s a term I coined when I was a kid,” I said. “When a demon takes full possession they eventually force the soul out, leaving just a shell or vehicle for them to spread chaos in. The priest’s body in the most recent videos is a Hellbourne. The good father died fighting demons and they possessed his body.”
“Let’s talk about that night. What happened?” Brystol asked.
“Well, Brystol, we’ve been hunting a particular Hellbourne—a High Prince of Hell who’s inhabited the body of a woman. It came through in Central Park, at a ritual by some wannabe occultists. They’re all dead now, thanks to her. She or he or it also killed those hunters in the Jersey Pine Barrens. They interrupted her while she was bringing over reinforcements. Some of those reinforcements are the two we met in Baltimore, the ones that killed the cops. Now she’s in Washington and our goal is to find her and stop her.”
“Who is she, Chris? Who was this woman?”
“Brystol, she’s a former government agent named Brianna Duclair and the last place I’ve seen her is in this press conference by the President,” I said, holding up the same Washington Post and pointing to Duclair’s image on the cover. “The President is in far greater danger from those behind him than any of us.”
Chapter 20
“What does she want with the President?” Brystol asked, horrified. We hadn’t told her about any of this beforehand.
“Most likely to kill him and everyone around him in the most bloody, horrific manner possible on Halloween night. Doing that will provide this demon prince with enough power to bring over his legions.”
“Legions? Legions of demons?”
“Yes. And by coming through a gate, they will be in their own forms. Think about what the priest’s arms looked like and you’ll get the picture.”
“So you’re saying that the President of the United States, who has publicly launched the biggest law enforcement hunt in this nation’s history for you, is in the most danger from the very demon that your group of vampires is hunting?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“But he launched a missile at you?” she said. I got what she was really saying.
“Yeah, well someone launched a missile at us and yes, someone set a trap to catch or kill us in Baltimore. But ultimately, we’re interested in stopping demons. Demon princes who want world destruction top the list.”
She paused for a second. “By announcing this, have you accomplished your goal?”
“When this airs, a very short time from now, then yes, I hope the Secret Service and Homeland Security track her down. She/he or what have you will likely kill whoever approaches her, but at least the main plot might be set back. What good is it being on the FBI Most Wanted List if no one will pay attention to your ranting, right?”
“Oh, I think they’ll pay attention. Can they stop her, or will they get slaughtered?”
“It will be really difficult for us to stop her. Regular law enforcement with standard weapons will have a much, much harder time.”
“They should try for head shots. I use buckshot with rock salt as a buffer and steel shot,” Stacia said from behind us.
“True, Stacia’s had good luck with various shotguns, and salt disrupts many forms of energy. Steel or iron is usually useful against Fae and, to some extent, demons,” I said.
“You can just shoot them?” Brystol asked, looking from Stacia to me.
“You can shoot them in the head… a lot. It takes out the lesser ones and slows down the tougher ones. But, ultimately it takes Chris to banish them,” Stacia said.
“Just you, Chris? On this whole planet, just you?”
“No, of course not. Human exorcists have been banishing demons for as long as we’ve been on this planet. The Vatican has the International Society of Exorcists, whose numbers have been beefed up over the last few years. The Israelis have their own team of rabbis who specialize in exorcism. Same with every major religion. Witches, by the way, are really effective. You just need a full circle of them, say ten or twelve, usually.”
“Witches, as in Wiccans or as in the Wicked Witch of the West?”
“Neither, although a Wiccan priestess and her circle could be useful. It mainly takes faith. You know those Co-Exist bumper stickers with all the religious symbols on them? That’s what I’m talking about. But to your question, I’m talking about witches who practice the Craft and who harness what we would likely call magic.”
“You know some?”
“Yeah, one of my good friends is a witch. Great kid. I’ve learned a lot from him.”
“So witches and vampires. What else. Stacia—you threw a forty-pound camera like it was a baseball the other night. A straight pitch into the windshield of that armored car. But you’re not a vampire and not an old lady, either?”
“You saw that, did you? What can I say? I’ve thrown a few softballs in my time,” Stacia said, grinning.
“Yeah, not buying it,” Brystol said.
“Well, I’m not at liberty to discuss my particular brand of differentness. But yes, there is more out there than vampires and witches.”
“Which brings me to this furry fellow. Your wolf is named Awasos. I looked it up. Abenaki for bear. A wolf named bear. That’s different,” Brystol commented while looking at ‘Sos.
“What do you think, fur face? Want to show the world who you are?”
He woofed at me, excited. “Are you sure? Once you let this genie out of the bottle,
there’s no putting it back,” I said.
He woofed again and head butted me.
“Okay. Here goes. Brystol, you need to move back and your camera guys will want a wide view,” I said, standing and moving to a more open space. We were filming in the empty decaying lobby of the old hospital, the same space used by several ghost hunting shows over the past few years for their Halloween specials.
“Okay, you ready?” I asked Brystol and her crew. She nodded, moving into the view of the shoulder-held camera that Brian was using to get us. “All right. First he’s a wolf—then he’s a… bear,” I said.
‘Sos blurred and filled out into his ursine form, immediately standing up on his two hind feet. His head lifted eleven feet off the floor as his mass became four times greater.
“Oh my God,” Brystol exclaimed. “He’s a mons…”
“NO!” Tanya, Lydia, Stacia, and I all yelled, drowning out her word.
“Don’t use the M word,” I said.
Brian stumbled backward in fright at the giant bear and would have fallen on his ass, but Trenton was suddenly beside him, catching and bracing him back up. It was hard to tell which bothered Brian the most: the bear or the vampire. After a second, he nodded to Trent and straightened himself to get the bear back in frame.
“It’s alright, Brian. I’ve got an eight-year-old goddaughter who rides this fellow like a horse, in either form. He’s entirely reliable,” I said.
“You didn’t say harmless, though,” Brystol said.
“He’s either a half-ton bear or a three-hundred-pound wolf. Why would you ever think he was harmless?” I asked her.
“That’s what people say when they want you to think their dog is safe.”
“Listen, he’ll destroy anything that threatens his friends, but he’s not a rogue killing machine. He’s rational and reliable,” I said.
“But, Chris, what is he?”
“He’s entirely unique as far as we know. Oh, and his mother was a Kodiak bear. Other than that, I can’t tell you.”
“So you have a wolf-bear, four vampires, a girl that can throw harder than any major league pitcher, and yourself. And this little team travels around the country exorcising demons?”
“That’s pretty much right,” I answered.
“Who hires you? To banish these demons?” she asked.
“Well, mostly, it’s been the US government.”
“The same government that you say is now trying to kill you?”
“Yup.”
“Why?”
“Why did they hire us or why are they trying to kill us?” I asked.
“Both,” she said after considering the choices.
“Well, we cleared up a few gates for the NYPD, and then Oracle, which is a relatively unknown branch of the government, hired us to clear up a bunch more. But the Administration and I have never had a very cordial relationship. After New Hampshire, they wanted to control me. They wanted to use my goddaughter as a hostage. I told them that wasn’t possible anymore.”
“Wow, you said so many interesting things just now that I hardly know where to start,” she said, drawing a deep breath. “Okay, I’ve written about Oracle on my blog. So we’ll circle back to them. You mentioned that the Garth administration has known you for a while?”
“Chris has done numerous… jobs, you might call them, for the President,” Tanya said, leaning forward. “He handled some national security threats that were too dangerous for normal resources. But the President has always feared him. They would like to harness him and use them as their own weapon.”
“So you’ve worked for the President, but he distrusts your power. You mentioned New Hampshire. The only noteworthy event there recent was the asteroid. Is that what you’re referring to?”
I looked at Tanya and she nodded. “Yes. A rogue terrorist element kidnapped my goddaughter. They wanted my attention. They got it.”
Brystol studied me for a moment before speaking. “You’ve been very charming and even funny so far. But things just got real, didn’t they?”
“Harming my people makes it super real, Brystol. Taking an eight-year-old girl from her parents to use as a bargaining chip is unconscionable.”
“I happened to be in Owls Head Park the day that happened, Chris. It was, to this day, the single most violent scene I have ever witnessed. You and your bear-wolf fought and killed over twenty men that day, am I right?”
“Yes. And later that day, we killed many more. They had Ton…. Oops, almost said her name. They held my goddaughter in an old missile silo in New Hampshire. We, ‘Sos, Tanya, and I, cleaned it out and brought her home, along with some other kids and hostages.”
“And what did you do after they were out, Chris? What did you do to the base?”
“I sent a message, Brystol. A ten ton message from above.”
“You’re claiming you have the ability to rain asteroids from above?”
I studied her for a moment, not sure how to answer. “It sounds crazy when you say it like that, Brystol, so maybe I won’t admit anything of the sort.”
She looked disappointed. “But what about the Tomahawk missile that should have vaporized the Pine Barrens?”
“What are you looking for, Brystol? Can I interfere with technology? Yes.”
“What about the satellite that crashed into the ocean at the same spot the missile was launched from?”
“Another message, Brystol. Some people are hard of hearing,” I said.
“So you can crash missiles and rain down asteroids and satellites from above. We’ve seen you peel open a tank with your hands. Why shouldn’t the government and the people as a whole be afraid of you?”
“It wasn’t a tank, just an armored vehicle, but to your question, I don’t know if I have the answer. Maybe they should, maybe that’s entirely rational. I doubt myself much of the time, so I don’t think I can plead an iron-clad case,” I said.
Tanya interrupted. “In all likelihood, he’s right. He can’t plead his own case. That’s what we’re here for.”
“That’s great, Tanya. Let’s hear from the people that know him best,” Brystol said.
“My Chosen is, if you couldn’t tell, a very humble man. One who, as he just admitted, is filled with self-doubt. He doubts his worth, he doubts his place in the scheme of things, and he often wonders why he must lead the life he leads. And yet he gets up every day and continues on. He leads us into sites of demonic possession and open gates to Hell, every damn day. And he keeps helping even when he shouldn’t. When his assets are frozen by the government that asked for his help, when he’s attacked not only by the demons he fights but by the people he fights for, he still keeps going.”
“Assets? Let’s talk about that for a moment. A source inside the federal government told me that you got paid a pretty healthy amount of money to close each gate. Is that true?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“Mostly because I insisted,” Tanya said. “He is liable to give away his services, but it seemed that the people that caused much of this problem should pay for it.”
“And they froze it?” Brystol asked.
“Well, Chris’s account, yes. But most of the money already went to charity,” Tanya said.
I looked at her, eyebrows raised.
“You said to give most of it away, so I did. It went to a number of animal sanctuaries and food pantries,” Tanya said, shrugging. “The rest was invested, which the feds have frozen.”
“She has a head for figures,” I explained to Brystol.
“Yes, the Demidova business empire, which turns out to be run by vampires. How does that work, Tanya?”
“My… mother is very old and very good at business. The rest is a matter of time… you’ve heard of compound interest?”
“So the whole immortal thing is true? What about losing your soul and all that?” Brystol asked.
I interrupted. “They don’t lose their souls. Most of them think they do, but they don’t.”
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��And how do you know that, Chris?”
“Because I can see souls. It’s a necessary gift for a demon hunter. And vampires have them.”
“So vampirism doesn’t cost you your soul?”
“Not unless you chose to lose it. It’s the same for everyone. We have free will. We get to choose our actions. Actions are, more than anything else, what matters as far as your soul is concerned.”
“Important information from a man who can see souls, exorcise demons, fight like an avenging angel, and can call down retribution from Heaven. What else are you here to tell us?”