Deus Vult Read online

  Alex sighed and leaned back in his chair. “You manage to make everything so over-complicated.”

  I laughed. “If my life were simple, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”

  Alex shrugged. “So, where are we going? We need to get the demon out of her, right?”

  “We at least need to suppress it,” Pearson told us.

  I nodded. “That’s why I’m going back to the summer house. Sinead has a basement and a guest bed. We can tie her down in case things go bad. And they’ll ask a lot fewer questions than a hotel would when the screaming starts.”

  Alex rolled his eyes. “And you don’t think this is a case for using the ring because?”

  “You heard Pearson. Combat exorcism leaves the possessed worn out and exhausted, and risks even more spiritual and psychological damage. Miss Atwood there is probably on our side. Let’s not torture our friends any more than we have to, okay?”

  “Hey, if I weren’t a masochist, would I still be your partner?” Alex looked back at Pearson. “Now, let me get this straight, she’s not saying anything, and that’s the demon’s fault.”

  Pearson nodded at Alex. He waited to say “Amen” before adding, “Many demons are mute.”

  Alex arched a brow. “Really? That’s the biggest party trick it has?”

  “It doesn’t need much more than that to thwart us, does it?”

  Pearson sighed. “Like I said before, usually, demons try not to manifest. It’s considered a failure if a priest draws it out and gets a reaction. When there are several demons in a body, the weak one comes out first.”

  I nearly hit the breaks and pulled over. I kept my calm and continued driving evenly. I felt Alex tense up next to me. We had fought Christopher Curran and the legion of demons inside of him.

  But if Pearson was accurate, then we only interacted with the weakest of the demons. And that one had nearly killed us both. I may be getting to work out the ring like Alex wants. Though I don’t think it’s going to make things that much easier.

  Pearson continued: “But right now, the demon is doing the minimum to keep us from talking with Minniva. Which means that whatever is happening is so important that a demon is violating normal behavior to keep this a secret. Every minute that we’re delayed is a minute we’re kept from finding out whatever is happening.”

  I drove faster. “Alex, text Mariel. Tell her we’ve got incoming.”

  Alex gave me a look. “You’re kidding me. We are not taking six levels of possessed to the same place where your kids and wife live, right?”

  I glanced at Alex. “Maybe you’d like to bring her to Bishop Ashley’s church? Maybe he’ll change his tune if we bring the woman we saved from the demonic gunman into his church. And then he won’t call the police. I’m sure we can roll the dice, and at least one of the priests under Bishop Ashley would believe what we’re doing.”

  Alex frowned. “Okay. Maybe you have a point.”

  When we got to the house, I pulled up almost to the door, on the walkway. Mariel and Sinead came out of the house and opened the back car door. They helped Pearson carry Minniva into the house. Alex and I were hot on their heels and got her down into the basement. We placed her on the bed in the basement. Pearson went to work praying over Minniva, with Alex behind him, hand on his gun.

  Mariel, however, waved me out of the room.

  “Hey, hon,” she started sweetly. “What’s with the girl?”

  I shrugged. “She’s possessed. At least she wants the demon out.”

  Mariel paused, blinked, then held up a hand. “Wait. Hold up. Go back. She’s possessed?”

  I nodded. “Not sure how. But she went to the monastery to get an exorcism. Then the monastery got slaughtered, and some heavies tried to kidnap her from her home.”

  Mariel frowned. “This isn’t another cult, is it?”

  I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. It almost sounds like it has to be. This many demons? It has to be deliberate.”

  “I SAID SPEAK,” Pearson roared behind us in the next room over. There was a hissing sound. Alex cocked his gun.

  I sighed and kissed Mariel on the forehead. “I’m sorry, honey. I think I have to go suppress a demon.”

  Mariel sighed. “At least come up for dinner. Secure her, come up in thirty minutes, eat, come back?”

  I smiled at her. “That’s a deal. See you in thirty.”

  I walked back into the basement bedroom as Minniva Atwood lunged for Pearson’s throat. I darted in and caught her around the waist when she was in midair. I thought at the armor around my chest and summoned up a helmet. I was just in time as Minniva elbowed me in the back of the head. I tossed her back on the bed and armored up the rest of the way, just in case she wanted to start something.

  Pearson kept praying. “Most glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in our battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.”

  Minniva suddenly started coughing. It was a light cough at first, just trying to clear her throat.

  “Come to the assistance of men whom God has created to His likeness and whom He has redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.”

  Minniva’s cough became heavier. Maybe she needed a glass of water.

  “The Holy Church venerates you as her guardian and protector; to you, the Lord has entrusted the souls of the redeemed to be led into heaven. Pray therefore the God of Peace to crush Satan beneath our feet, that he may no longer retain men captive and do injury to the Church.”

  The coughs increased so much I thought it sounded like some food went down the wrong way. The coughing paused so she could yawn. The first yawn was like a need for a little extra oxygen.

  “Offer our prayers to the Most High! That without delay they may draw His mercy down upon us; take hold of the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan. Bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit that he may no longer seduce the nations!”

  Minniva’s next yawn was longer and deeper, like she couldn’t breathe enough.

  Pearson continued. “In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints. and powerful in the holy authority of our ministry, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil.”

  Minniva bent over and hacked and coughed like she was trying to dislodge a bone in her throat. She doubled over.

  “God arises; His enemies are scattered, and those who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so are they driven; as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence of God. Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee bands of enemies. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the offspring of David, hath conquered. May Thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us. As great as our hope in Thee.”

  Minniva vomited on the floor. I reflexively backed up and away, so I wouldn’t get it on my shoes, despite my new armor.

  “We drive you from us, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, all satanic powers, all—

  Minniva growled and hurled herself at me, slamming me aside like she was the rugby fullback, and I was a twig. She whirled on Father Pearson and threw herself at him in full rage.

  In mid-air, Minniva slammed up against the wall. She was horizontal to the floor. She thrashed against restraints that I couldn’t see. The display on the golem helmet highlighted a string in the air holding her to the wall.

  I followed the threads back … to Lena.

  Lena stood there in her pink dress. Her mouth was in a straight line, her brows furrowed.

  “—infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects,” Pearson continued without missing a beat.

  “Hussar,” Lena said casually. “Will you come and play with me and Jeremy? We’re playing Legos.”

  I smiled. Jeremy had single-handedly built up his
own Death Star without a kit. He had shared the joy of interlocking plastic blocks with his new sister.

  “Maybe later, if you don’t mind. We have to kick the Hell out of a demon.”

  Lena smiled. She flung Minniva Atwood back to the bed. “Can I watch?”

  I turned to Minniva to make sure she wasn’t going anywhere. She twisted to the floor and vomited up … sea foam, apparently. “You have to promise to leave if it gets too scary.”

  Alex scoffed. “Does that mean I can be excused now?”

  I rolled my eyes. I was about to answer Alex when I noted that everything she vomited up melted away, as if into nothing.

  “In the Name and by the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” Pearson continued. “May you be snatched away and driven from the Church of God and from the souls made to the image and likeness of God and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Divine Lamb. Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, persecute the Church, torment God's elect and sift them as wheat.”

  Minniva pushed up and tried to launch herself again. She faltered and fell over, vomiting up nails.

  Then in clicked. In Germany, I had been cursed by some neon anti-Pope satanist band leader. I had coughed up nails. It was a way to show that the curse was being expelled.

  As Minniva continued with coughing up bowed ribbons, I thought, This girl is cursed six ways to Sunday.

  I tuned out some of Pearson’s ritual, and came back in time to hear: “Thus, cursed dragon, and you, diabolical legions, we adjure you by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God, by the God who so loved the world that He gave up His only Son, that every soul believing in Him might not perish but have life everlasting, stop deceiving human creatures and pouring out to them the poison of eternal damnation; stop harming the Church and hindering her liberty. Begone, Satan, inventor and master of all deceit, enemy of man's salvation.”

  Minniva was sweating now.

  I glanced at my watch and winced. I had promised Mariel that I would be up and ready for dinner.

  “Lena, let me know when you get bored or scared. I’ll come down and swap with you. I need to head up. Are you going to be okay?”

  Lena gave me a beatific little smile. “Of course, Hussar.”

  I armored down. I didn’t want to surprise Mariel. I had shown her the new party trick only once to explain what the golem armor did. Wearing it to the dining room table just seemed rude.

  The table was fully loaded when I got there. Sinead, Mariel, and Jeremy waited.

  “Family meeting?” I asked. “I missed the memo.”

  “We should all be on the same page,” Mariel said from the counter. “So sit and start talking.”

  10 Death Cult

  I walked the three of them through the day thus far. The monastery led to Downey. Downey led to the Bishop’s office. The Bishop led to Minniva.

  Is that all I did today? I thought. I feel like I got more done when I was shoveling through paperwork.

  There was a loud clomping sound coming up the basement stairs that I easily recognized as “petulant child.” Lena stepped into the dining doom and said, “They’re done. It ended kinda boring.”

  “Do they need me down there?” I asked.

  Lena shrugged. “I don’t know.” She walked over next to Jeremy and was about to speak when something caught her eyes. She stabbed the table with her finger, pointing at the business card of Gerald Downey. Her fingernail jabbed into the M with the I at the end of it.

  “I know them!” Lena declared. “That was in the truck.” She looked at me, excited. “Remember when you found me? That truck!”

  My stomach sank. The truck she referred to had been filled with men women and children designated to be sex slaves, trafficked by a succubus and a small army of Jihadis.

  “I don’t remember seeing it,” I told her.

  She frowned, then looked embarrassed. “I made a mess over it.”

  I said nothing. The mess she had made in the truck wasn’t an accident of excrement, but a mess that literally caused heads to explode. She probably meant that the Matchett Industries logo had been covered by brain matter.

  Jeremy reached over and slid the card so he could read it. He looked at it and frowned. “I think I know this one too.” He looked to Mariel. “Mom. Remember that stupid course about sex?”

  Mariel’s face hardened. “The one with the pictures? Several years ago?”

  Jeremy nodded. “These were on the textbooks.”

  I raised a brow, looking back and forth. “Someone want to tell me?”

  Mariel sighed. “Someone tried to sell Jerry’s school a collection of sex ed books. They were … graphic. Very graphic. And they went beyond sex.”

  I arched a brow. “Should I ask.”

  Jeremy shrugged. “Men making out. Blech.”

  I took a slow breath. Five seconds to breathe in. Three seconds to breathe out. I did it again. And again. “And no one told me this … why?”

  “I got them arrested for showing porn to minors,” Mariel answered. “It was during the Curran thing. You were busy. And you were beaten up a lot. I handled it. It was a program under Mayor Hoynes. You got rid of him. I figured the problem was solved. I didn’t think it was a bigger problem than that.”

  I nodded slowly, still annoyed. I would have cursed myself for having been out of the loop. But I had spent a lot of time laid up after I arrested Curran. She had good reason for keeping me out of it.

  Lena, however, seemed bored by the discussion. She looked at Jeremy. “Legos?”

  Jeremy’s eyes lit up. “Legos!”

  Lena and Jeremy darted out of the dining room and upstairs.

  Once their elephantine clomping faded away, I heard the slow, patient footsteps from the basement stairs.

  Mariel, Sinead, and I rose from the table.

  We all converged on the basement door. Pearson held Minniva’s hand as he helped her up the stairs. Alex came up close behind them, afraid that Minniva would fall back.

  It was an easy mistake to make. She looked like she had been through the ringer.

  “Is she safe?” Sinead asked. She and Mariel were on either side of the door, and ready to reach down and help them up.

  Pearson smiled at them faintly. He didn’t look too hot, either. He was still worn out after the first Exorcism. He didn’t look that good after his second one of the day, either. “It’s all right. She accepted a host. Soul food, if you will.”

  I swear I did not hit him for that pun. But I didn’t scold Alex for smacking him upside the head for it, either.

  I reached down and for Minniva’s free hand. “Miss Atwood?”

  She absently took it, then looked up at my hand, and then at my face, like I had mysteriously appeared from the mists. “Hello?”

  I held my sigh. She’s gonna be out of it for a while.

  She took my hand and grasped at the rough sensation of the scar in my palm.

  I helped pull her up the stairs. “Miss Atwood, my name is Detective Thomas Nolan. I understand that you were trying to reach a Passionist monastery in regards to demonic possession?”

  Minniva’s eyes focused on me. Her gaze narrowed. She was pissed. Thankfully, not at me. “Yes. Yes, I did. But I don’t know who I could…”

  She drifted off as she stepped into the light of the kitchen. She looked around at all of us and saw our faces—in particular, our lack of surprise. She looked to the priest and focused.

  “You know, don’t you? You know that there’s something out there.”

  Alex scoffed as he came up. “Lady, you don’t know the half of what we’ve seen.”

  Still gently holding one hand, I led her to the dining room. I met Mariel’s eye, then casually jerked my head over to the platter of food on the counter. Minniva Atwood may have been a natural twig with the bone structure of a bird, but she’d had a hard day. She needed to eat. “Now, please, let’s get you fed, and then you can tell us what happened?”

  It took a f
ew minutes, but once Minniva had a bit of food in her, she was more than happy to talk.

  “It may have been four or five months ago,” she began, “but the Vice President of Human Resources, Herbert West, wanted to have a team-building exercise at Matchett Industrial—you know I work there, right?”

  I nodded. “We know.”

  Minniva frowned. “Okay. Well, he wanted a team-building exercise during the state of the company meeting.”

  Alex raised his hand to interrupt. “A state of the what-now? Sorry, I’ve never had a real job. I’m just a cop.”

  Minniva smiled a little. “It’s supposed to be…” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s a Dilbert comedy routine as a documentary. In company speak, the meeting is …” She paused, translating from normal into bureaucrat in her head. “An opportunity for leadership to share the vision of the company, so they can move the organization forward and hit desired growth goals. The leaders talk about where the company has been, where it is, successes won, challenges overcome, mistakes made or path corrections, and where the company is going. So that everyone is on the same page, marching towards the same goals, and they know their role in making that vision a reality. It’s motivating to know how your work plays into the big picture. The fastest way to get from Point A to Point B is if everyone is rowing in the same direction. But your people need to know where to row to if they are going to contribute.”

  When she finished, she broke up laughing. She laughed a little too hard and a little too long. I hope it’s just stress.

  When she settled down, she waved it away. “It’s a pep talk everyone is required to go to. Long boring speeches broken up by entertainment and food.”

  I looked around at everyone else, who seemed as confused as I felt. I shrugged. “Okay. What about it?”

  “VP West talked everyone into a ‘mass’ as a ‘team-building’ exercise for the state of the company meeting this year.”

  I braced myself for the worst. Sinead, however, shrugged, and said, “That doesn’t seem bad. A mass? Sounds like the sort of thing Hobby Lobby should do. They’re Christian.”