Demonologist (39 page)

Danto spun around and gazed at the beast that had become Allieb, as much reptilian and arachnid as it was simian, without the slightest hint of the human form it had once been. The thing raised its grotesque head, opened its jaw and leaped at the nearest member of the congregation, a twenty-something man whose insubstantial efforts to fend off the creature with a candlestick went unrewarded. The beast buried its jaws into the man’s waist, tearing away a meaty portion of his midsection, and nearly severing the leg. With a violent wrench, the gash opened even further, exposing the meat of his thigh, red and glistening. The beast dragged the body back toward the slaughter pit, then flung its huge head back, sending the mutilated body fifteen feet through the air. It slammed into the wall of the cathedral, leaving behind a splatter of obscene art before plunging to the ground.

Screams erupted from those still present to witness the beast’s actions. Its transformation still hadn’t yet reached a final stage, it seemed. The thing kept growing, expanded, shifting, reaching an intimidating ten feet in height despite its horizontal position on all six appendages, organic matter falling away from it in bloody ribbons. Even as this anatomical shedding took place, a fresh configuration began, fibers interweaving with fibers, tying themselves together into thick tendons. Elaborate tattoo-like patterns drew themselves on the rough skin that formed over the exposed sinew and muscle, and all Danto could do was squeeze Rebecca’s hand and wonder,
What next?

The beast lunged about the room, seemingly testing the resiliency of its new body. People screamed, cowered, huddled together against the walls. It rose up on two legs, raised its other four segmented extremities high and gripped the edge of the balcony twenty feet in the air. Ribbons of red light burst from the spreading slits in its skin, beaming about the room like lasers and panning the recoiling occupants. People screamed as the light washed over them. A single beam lanced over Danto’s forearm. He screeched, gazing at the smoldering burn it left behind. He shook his head back and forth, wondering furiously if he’d live to see another day.

Where is Bev
Mathers
? Was Thornton wrong in his assumptions? Is this how it’s going to end?

Soon, the beams of light coalesced into a solitary shaft that burned the floor before a single hooded occupant. The beast that had been Allieb bounded back down on its six limbs and advanced upon the individual with alarming speed, treading through the tendrils of smoke rising from the smoldering wood. Those nearby screamed and scattered like rats. The light exploding from its skin faded, then extinguished itself as the creature settled before the cloaked being.

It remained utterly still, staring down at the individual. Currents of green smoke
geysered
out of its palpitating snout. It grinned
ferally
, thick strings of spittle seeping from its mouth, searing as it hit the floor. For a few tension-filled moments the thing remained still and staring, breathing hoarsely.

Then, in the voices of one man and twelve demons, it spoke: “Reveal yourself.”

The person remained unmoving, trembling with fear.

With a calculated swipe of its upper right appendage, the beast clawed away the person’s robe, exposing their identity.

The first thing Danto saw was her hair, long tresses flowing down past her shoulders, covering her face. Then, her jeans, fitted cleanly upon a youthful figure; a solid black tee shirt completed the common outfit. She cowered, arms folded against her chest, then jerked her head away from the looming beast, revealing a tear-filled face to Danto.

His mouth fell open, but he could not draw a breath.

Kristin
Mathers
. Bev
Mathers’s
daughter.

The beast reached down, grabbed her by the neck and hugged her against its hulking chest; white fluids burst from its wriggling teats, dousing her face. Everyone in the room screamed, men and women alike; sobs arose from every direction. Now, in what appeared to be his complete form, the beast that had been Allieb held Kristin close in its spiny extremities, like a mother monkey would her baby.

It then roared in thirteen fiendish voices a single, demanding word:

“
SATAN!
”

The guillotine sliced down on Bev’s neck for the third time in as many hours, his head rolling away from his body, the pain registering just as intensely as it had the first two times. It took a few seconds for the sting to kick in, which was instantly followed by a tremendous agony localized across his entire throat. He gasped like a landed fish, the odor of something rotten filling his nostrils. Strangely, he maintained his sense of smell, and even his sight, although it quickly turned blurry on him. Something inside his brain exploded, sucking away what remained of his vision, and then, the odor infesting his nose. Once that was gone, his mind triggered the survival synapses in his brain, allowing him to remain alive for what might have been two minutes of
bodilessness
. Then, death came, followed by a respite of blackened silence. A wave of dizziness washed over him, and soon thereafter Bev found himself whole again, mired in the shallow sea of acid, staring at the black heavens of his stomach beneath the looming shadow of the guillotine.

In the distance, a voice shook the universe: ”SATAN!”

He scrambled to his knees and looked up toward the black hole of his esophagus, afraid as to what might happen next. His world shifted from side to side: his hulking body moving rapidly through the halls of In Domo under the dominion of Satan.

Then, a scream, seeping in from the outside world, through the organic walls of his universe, his personal Hell.

Kristin. Satan had not told a lie after all. She was here! Bev stood, looked up, all around, pursuing another sign of her presence, but heard nothing. Outside the organic walls of Hell, he could feel his heavy body moving quickly, arms scraping the walls, feet slamming down, splintering wood. Bev realized now that the tortures had ceased. Had Satan finished playing his games? Was the war about to begin? Here, Bev thought, Satan had told a lie: his promise of unimaginable agonies would not take place after all. Perhaps those coined as mere child’s play were the actual agonies he spoke of? He reminded himself that the Devil is the ultimate liar, and despite the circumstances, would instinctually amuse himself by playing games.

Suddenly, the lava began to quickly rise, first to his knees, then to his waist. They sloshed about him, a result of his physical body moving resolutely under the guide of Satan. He waited, listening, hearing nothing but his heartbeat as it pounded furiously in his chest from the heavens above.

Then, a figure appeared before him, rising from the lava.

Julianne.

She stood naked, peering at Bev, her features unaffected by the extreme environs. She spoke in her very own voice, and it brought tears to Bev’s eyes hearing her speaking to him for the very first time in over twenty years: “Bev…a duty will be required of you very shortly. As you perform this duty, keep in mind that I am here to protect you. This…” she said, looking around, “is all my fault, and I’ve made a vow to protect you from the one that aims to hurt you.”

Bev tried to move toward her, but the flow of the lava against him was too strong, holding him in place. “What is my duty?”

“Find the boy, and wake him from his slumber. This is the only way to defeat the demonologist. He is gathering immense power from the demons in his possession, and will soon secure his invincibility. Should Satan be drawn before the boy is awakened, then all will perish. Including Kristin.”

“Kristin…is she here?”

Julianne nodded, then began to sink back down into the lava.

Bev reached out to her. “Wait! What boy?

As the lava reached her neck, she replied, “Allieb. The one whose body the demonologist possesses.”

~ * ~

The beast carried Kristin to the center of the cathedral to the spot where the altar once stood, positioning itself amidst the carnage. Kristin cried inconsolably, keeping as still as a threatened soldier, only her eyes moving about the room, searching for a hint of salvation amidst the ensuing hell. The beast stood motionless, transfixed on the twin doors, waiting, cradling its prize.

In the distance, Danto could hear a series of muffled poundings: slamming footsteps drawing near, shaking the room, vibrating the walls and floor like a colossal heartbeat.
Bev
Mathers
, he hoped. He grabbed Rebecca’s hand and crouched down in a spot against the wall, in full view of the beast and the door. He wrapped his other arm around her waist, forming a tight ball of dismay between them. From the corner of his eye, he noticed her face…it had changed even further, not only physically, but in persona as well: the eyes, staring, unblinking, seemingly motivated by something otherworldly, unaffected by the imminent evil.

You will be protected by the One who has looked over you your entire life
…

The poundings grew in volume, approached threateningly closer. The beast waited, staring at the door, menacingly fervent, clutching Kristin tightly. Grinning anxiously.

Danto trembled, felt his bowels threatening their release. “Jesus Christ,” he uttered, palms against his ears, trying to drown out the approaching footfalls. “What in God’s name is going to happen?”

Rebecca replied, “Something amazing.”

~ * ~

Satan’s footsteps shook the organic walls of Hell. The lava swelled about Bev as he waited anxiously for his call of duty.

From beyond his confines, he heard the Devil’s pounding gait cease. Then, after a moment of restless silence, a deafening crash as something was crushed to pieces beneath His destructive hand
.

~ * ~

Danto panicked as the door exploded inward, shards of wood showering the room, raining down everywhere. He squeezed Rebecca tightly, more for his own comfort than to provide for hers, watching with terrifying awe as smoldering dust settled in the doorway.

The Devil made its entrance.

“My God,” Danto choked out amidst the cries and shouts of many others. “It’s Bev.” He wanted to cry out in fear, but to do so would inexorably add himself to the massacre.

The monster that was Bev
Mathers
took a giant step into the room, stopped, and looked directly at the beast clutching the girl. Danto’s breaths were involuntarily cut off—with everything that had occurred tonight, he still couldn’t accept the evil image before him: the Devil, Satan, here and now riding the body of Bev
Mathers
, who, despite his hideous appearance, still maintained much of his own human features. His face was still recognizable, the deep brown eyes, tiny nose, shoulder-length hair, and full-lipped mouth very much apparent despite being surrounded by the Devil’s own wicked characteristics: deep red skin darkened with blotches of ebony, a muscle-bound build nearly eight feet tall from the tip of His rattling tail to the uppermost points of His serrated horns. Although naked and glistening, a few strips of the clothing Bev had worn dangled from the shoulders and waist of the gruesome being, like strewn service station rags. The two monsters stared each other down in threatening silence, the room filled with palpable tension, impenetrable in its malevolence.

The beast Allieb squeezed Kristin mockingly, and Danto winced, feeling her anguish. She howled in pain, her efforts to squirm away utterly futile. She looked so frail and tiny in the arms of the beast, like a baby bird in the jaws of a crocodile.

Satan gazed at the girl, and Danto urged his weakened mind to question whether Bev was in there somewhere, peering out behind the eyes of the Devil upon his daughter, poised to clash with the one creating the utter chaos that had become of his existence. He wondered, and prayed…

~ * ~

From the churning lava, Julianne rose up again; this time she had been wounded by the heat, black smoldering patches charring her skin, her hair falling away in searing clumps, her eyes reduces to running globs of yellow jelly. Bev tried to move, but skeletal hands rose up from the fiery depths and held him firmly in place. In the distance, beyond the confines of his body, he once again heard Kristin screaming for help. He looked at Julianne, pleading for an answer. She spoke to him, every other word in her own feminine voice, the others in Satan’s grating tone. “The demonologist is growing stronger. Hurry…find the boy and wake him. Do not allow the demons to influence you. Their abilities to charm are powerful. I will be watching over you.“