The Demon Collector

by Erik Lynd

  Regardless, Christopher was the ticket out, so she had better make sure he was still in one piece.

  There was a trapdoor in the roof and she ripped the door up off its hinges. In her demonic form it was hard to reign in her strength; she wanted to break things and hurt people. It was her nature, to be destructive. The door was too small for her to pass through. More destruction was in order.

  Grabbing both sides of the trap doorway she pushed. The wooden frame splintered and the surrounding plaster disintegrated into dust. Now it was wide enough to accommodate her large body. After a quick glance, she dropped down into the room below.

  It was empty. Debris, trash, pieces of plaster, and old beer bottles lay scattered about. The interior wall of the room had been removed, clumsily as the exposed brick attested to. Portions of walls still stood in key spots, supporting the sagging roof. That was odd, Eris thought inside, it was as though someone was intentionally trying to make the place look like it was about to fall apart. Maybe to discourage trespassers?

  The only exit out of the room besides the front door was a dark hallway. She stopped just before entering. There was no way she would be able to fit. Only hesitating a moment, she shifted back into her—or rather Eris'—human body. She would need a moment to change back if something surprised her, also assuming Eris doesn't take control—I won't—it was a risk she had to take.

  The hallway was short, ending at a large, wooden door. It looked old and decayed but when she tried it, it was solid and much newer than it looked. She held the doorknob and cranked it with just a little of her demonic strength. The doorknob sheared off in her hand. Again, overt destruction felt so good.

  The door slowly creaked open. Beyond was a short flight of stairs that ended in what was obviously an elevator door. Bingo.

  The elevator had a card reader. She pushed the button just to be certain and nothing happened. That's when she spotted the security camera mounted just above the door.

  "Dammit," she muttered to herself.

  Why do you always have to charge ahead? Why can't you take a moment to think? Eris inside said.

  "I'd beat the shit out of you if it wasn't for the fact that I'd be punching my own face," Dark Eris whispered. "Anyway, there's no point in hiding now."

  She released the demon form and felt the snap and crackling flashes of pain as her body once more became the giant demon of her true self. She grasped the edges of each sliding door with claws and wedged them in the small crack between them. Then with a heave, she bent them back. They ripped from their rails and clattered to the floor. Beyond, the elevator shaft dropped away into darkness.

  She grabbed the cable with one hand and used her other to hold onto the side of the shaft. She was big enough to stretch across the opening with her legs and arms, so between the walls and cable she moved down quickly, hand over hand.

  The shaft went fairly deep below the surface. Whatever had been built here was huge. Someone had managed to build an extensive underground facility without anybody on the surface knowing. That took lots and lots of money.

  The elevator car was at the bottom. She landed on it with a thump. The reinforced steel box would be a pain to tear into, luckily there was a hatch with an emergency release on the outside. She became human again to get through the small opening. After confirming it was empty, she dropped down.

  It was a service elevator, plain steel floor with a tread that prevented slipping. It smelled of oil and metal, and a small amount of BO. There were two buttons next to the door, only two floors and no call button or emergency stop. There was a door open button, however.

  The metal doors opened and she immediately realized where the B. O. smell was coming from. The room beyond was a combination kitchen and living room. It looked like it had been built in the seventies and never been cleaned since. It smelled of old food, body odor, and death, which was easily explained by the body hanging from an exposed electrical pipe running along the ceiling. Below it a chair lay on its side.

  The body was still swinging, so he must have kicked that chair moments ago. Perhaps while she had been up on the roof. The man seemed older, maybe in his forties, gray hair just starting to come in. He wore a tactical vest and belt; a hat on the floor next to the chair said security. She doubted it was her arrival that had caused him to take his life. Suicide didn't seem like a promising tactic when you had a trespasser approaching. No, something else had caused his despair.

  She checked two of the doors. One was a bathroom in desperate need of cleaning. The other, a bunkhouse that smelled worse than the shitter. Nobody was in them, and she didn't bother searching. Not even Christopher was that important.

  Beyond that final door, however, was the whole purpose of the complex. There were several desks, topped with dozens of monitors, and beyond them a glass wall separating this room from what looked like a giant computer room. A data center she thought she had heard Hamlin call this type of thing, a room with rack after rack of computers.

  "And I thought the lair had an impressive set up. It’s got nothing on this place," she said to herself. Above the desks two other bodies swung, almost imperceptibly. A coordinated suicide, and a recent one. Interesting, but this didn't get her any closer to Christopher.

  The computer monitors each had various video streams playing out and social media windows open, messages and posts scrolling past. The videos were similar to what Hamlin had been watching at the lair: riots, destruction, violence. National news internet streams broadcasted that many were dead, vital infrastructure had collapsed, and unprecedented levels of unrest and chaos had engulfed the city.

  The private streams were even worse. Many showed images of the death and destruction up close, images that would never have been shown on official news channels. Dead bodies—men, women, even children in some cases.

  My god, Eris said inside. How can people be so vicious?

  Of all creatures, supernatural or not, humans have the highest capacity for evil. When manipulated, twisted to dark desires, it can become a horrible weapon, Dark Eris thought back.

  Then she heard a noise. A quiet, human noise. She looked around the desk closest to her, the one without a body hanging above it. A young man, perhaps a little younger than Chris, sat against the stone wall, face in his hands. Despite trying to be quiet it was obvious he was sobbing.

  A crying kid. This was a job for Eris.

  I can take over, Eris said inside.

  Dark Eris looked around once more to confirm they were in no immediate danger. Okay, but at the first hint of danger I take over again. Agreed? She thought back.

  "Yes," Eris said out loud as she took over control.

  The kid looked up, face wet with tears and snot. He might have been surprised, but he looked through her, almost as if she didn't exist, like her presence may have been imaginary and he wasn't sure how to tell. Then the boy’s eyes slid to the monitor on the desk. His face turned white at the images of death. Then he stared at the bodies hanging from the ceiling.

  And Eris knew he was going to lose it. She moved fast, sinking down to his side. She grabbed a hold of his hand, wet from crying.

  "Hey, Hey, look at me. Don't look at them, look at me," Eris said.

  He didn't respond, he stared emptily at the gently swaying bodies.

  "Hey." Eris grabbed his face and forced it away from the gruesome display. "Look at me."

  His eyes focused on her. Then he said something in Spanish.

  "I don't speak Spanish," Eris said.

  "I did this," he said. He spoke clearly with a heavy accent. "I have done all this."

  "No, no. This is not your fault."

  Well we don't really know that, do we? He could be the mastermind behind all of this, thought Dark Eris from inside.

  "This boy is no mastermind," Eris said.

  The boy focused on her, he frowned. "Who are you talking to?"

  "Never mind," she said. "I was just saying whatever you did, it was not all this." She gestured at the com
puter monitors. "No one person could do all this."

  "Yes, I could. I disabled the power grid, I...I sabotaged the airport software. I took down fire and police systems." He paused and released a sob, then he clutched at her shirt. "I did all this, but I didn't know. I didn't know! They told me it was just for fear, nobody would really die. Just fear, just to make them stop and take notice. Take notice of us."

  He let go and slumped back, crying freely now. She had to talk fast or she would lose him, his mental state was deteriorating.

  "It wasn't you. You were a tool. Like these others, you were used by people with agendas far bigger than yours. But you are different, you’re strong. You need to see that."

  "I killed...people, children they say. I don't remember what I did exactly, but this is all my fault."

  "You were manipulated."

  He looked up once again at the hanging bodies. "That's what I must do. They had it right, we don't deserve to live."

  He started to get up, struggling in his grief. Eris pushed him down firmly. "That won't solve anything."

  "Yes, it will. It’s the justice I deserve, no less."

  "So, you’re a monster?" Eris asked. She had to change tactics. She didn't know this kid, she had to go on instinct.

  "What? No. I didn't want all this, that’s why I need to end it." Once again, he started to rise.

  She slammed him down again, harder this time.

  "End what? I don't think you have any idea what you really did. I think you were used like a fucking wrench to do the bidding of some bad son of a bitch. But let's say you did do all of this. How's killing yourself gonna fix it? Who's gonna give a fuck about what a kid does in a bunker somewhere while their world is going to hell? It will fix nothing, and your 'justice' will be for nothing."

  Nice one girl, Dark Eris thought inside.

  He looked back at her, his mouth open. "Who are you?"

  "I'm the one trying to help fix what’s going on. I'm the one keeping a kid that might be able to help from committing suicide. My name is Eris, and my friends and I are trying to stop these Days of Chaos."

  He winced at the name. "I didn't come up with that name, that was the man. The man in black sunglasses."

  "What man? What was his name? Did he look like a priest by any chance?"

  He looked back at her, suddenly confused. "I don't...there was a man. He was my friend. We were going to change the world." He looked around suddenly disgusted “But it was here that changed, it was me."

  Christ, here come the waterworks again, Dark Eris thought inside.

  The boy started to cry again. "I did change, I became the monster. I just wanted things to change, to be better. I don't…I didn't want this."

  Once again, he stared at the hanging bodies, “I need to die. Everything will be better when I die."

  Trust me, if he did what he said, everything will most certainly not be better when he dies. He would take the express bus straight to Hell, Dark Eris thought inside. We're wasting time. Cut him loose and let’s try to find Christopher.

  "Hush," Eris said.

  "I won't. I have to die," the boy said.

  This time he resisted harder as she pushed him down. If she hadn't been there he would be dead by now. Like the rest of them. That was some coincidence, all four of them hanging themselves. Seemed odd that at least one of them wouldn't have balked at the idea of suicide, no matter their crimes.

  It's still controlling them, thought Dark Eris from inside.

  "What?" Eris asked out loud.

  "I have to die," the boy said. He was pleading with her, but he was also reluctant. A part of him was looking for an excuse to not go through with it.

  I’m guessing whatever force was controlling or manipulating these hackers, if that's what they are, gave them one last command. To kill themselves.

  "I’ve got to get him out of here," Eris said. "What’s your name?"

  He focused on her again. "Who do you keep talking to, is there someone else here?"

  "Sort of. Now tell me what your name is."

  "Juan, Juan Flores. I think." He laughed, maybe a little too hysterically. "I'm not even sure of my name anymore. But yeah, Juan is as good as any."

  "Juan, we need to get out of here," Eris said. She looked quickly around the room. There was another door besides the one she came through. "Where does that door go?"

  Juan looked vaguely at the door and said something in Spanish.

  "English," Eris said.

  "I don't know. I never noticed it until now. This whole place is different. It was better, cleaner, not this pig sty. I think it was in a large building." He shook his head. "It's all gone now. Whatever it was, it was pretend. This is reality."

  He looked at her once again. "I really didn't want this to happen. I didn't..."

  He was stronger now, a little more in control.

  Whoever is controlling him is losing it. Or letting him go, Dark Eris thought from the inside.

  We have to take him with us, Eris thought back.

  What? Take the mortal with us to fight demon hordes? That would be mean even for me. He wouldn't last a minute.

  "We can't leave him here, he'll kill himself the minute I leave," she said, this time out loud. Juan looked at her with a mixture of curiosity and bemusement.

  I don't think so, I think he’s back in control. In shock. Probably psychologically damaged beyond all repair. But he is gaining control back.

  Eris thought for a moment. "Is there a place you can hide?"

  Juan looked at her blankly. She couldn't tell if he was still confused or trying to think of a place.

  "You mean like a closet?" he said suddenly.

  "Yeah, sure. That would work. A closet."

  "I think we have large storage closets in the server room."

  He nodded to the big glass door.

  "Listen to me, Juan. I don't have time to explain, but I need to leave. I'm going to look for whoever made you do this and try to stop him."

  "I can come with you," he said. "I need to make up for what I have done."

  "You don't understand. These are really bad guys..."

  "I get it, but no offense—I know guys and girls are equal—but how are you supposed to stop them? I don't think two of us will have a much better chance, but I got nothing to live for anyway."

  "I can take care of myself. Some things are not always what they seem."

  "No way. You're just one girl; if they were able to do all this," he gestured vaguely around them. "Then you don't stand a chance."

  If you are really serious about saving this kid, then it's time to shift his world view. Out of the way, I'm taking over, Dark Eris thought.

  "Wait I..." Eris couldn't finish before she was yanked back from control.

  Her body shifted, twisting and turning as Dark Eris took control and transformed into her demon form. Juan's eyes shifted from melancholy detachment to wide open with fear as the gigantic skeletal body took shape in front of his eyes.

  She grabbed the kid by the neck and lifted him off the ground.

  "How ya like me now?" Dark Eris said.

  Juan screamed and clawed at her huge bony hand.

  Great! You just traumatized him for life, Eris thought.

  "You ready to get in the closet?" Dark Eris asked the kid.

  He yelled something in Spanish.

  "I'll take that as a yes."

  She dragged him into the server room. It was cold, far lower temperature than the other room. It smelled of electricity, metal and wires. The background hum of the working servers filled the room.

  She spotted the storage closet, but then hesitated.

  "If I were to destroy these machines, would it stop what's going on out there?"

  Juan swallowed hard and tried to speak. She gave him a moment; it was hard to think straight when staring down a monster like her.

  Eventually he shook his head. "No, it is too late, all the code is out there in the real world doing damage. Destroying these wo
n't help..."

  "What?" she said and shook him slightly. "I don't have time for this."

  "I can use them to help," he said and she was surprised at the new strength she heard in his voice.

  "You can fix this? Why didn't you say so?" she was angry and it showed ten times worse on her skull-like face.

  He paled, but continued. "I can't fix it. It's too...complicated for that. But I might be able to at least help."

  He's having a hard time looking at you, no offense; let me take over, Eris thought. We got his attention.

  Her body shifted and twisted down into her mortal body. She dropped Juan to the ground as she became Eris once again.

  "They think all of you have committed suicide. If they come through that room and see you still alive, you won't be for more than a moment."

  Juan stared at her, shocked at the transformation. She could tell any trust she had earned with him had taken a hit. He looked at the rack upon rack of servers. "I don't need to be at my workstation. I can work in here, directly on one of the boxes. I just need a laptop, and we got a bunch back here. I can hide behind one of the racks."

  Eris wasn't convinced.

  "Look, I can't stop what I helped to start, but I might be able to slow it down, maybe save some lives. At least get some emergency services back online. I don't know what was happening to me, I don't know how much is my fault or how much is their fault, but I have to try even if it means dying. And no, I'm not suicidal anymore."

  He's right, Dark Eris thought, whatever was manipulating him has faded. He's lucky he's so strong.

  "Okay, but stay hidden. We'll come back for you when it's all over," Eris said. She had wasted enough time in here already. She needed to find Christopher. There was only one other door out of the other room. It was her only option.

  "Why?"

  That stopped her before she could get to the door and she turned back to Juan.

  "Why? I'm just a nobody. Why do you care?"

  That surprised her. Yeah, why do we care? Thought Dark Eris. It was a thought, but it wasn't full of the usual sarcasm, it was a genuine question. And Eris had an answer for them both.