CHAPTER 1 (Say a little prayer for me)
There is no door to Purgatory, no it is more like a prison system, you get whooshed up, and the souls grab on to you, to take them with you, the place is like a maze, fogged and you can’t see for shit. I tried to find the “person in charge,” then I had to find Michaelus. There is a deafening noise here, the souls cry out to be saved, the amount of sorrow and regret, just about suffocated me. I found Michaelus, there is a small, I say this very loosely, window that you can look through and see heaven, damn, now that is worse than hell in my book and I don’t even have a book. He was just standing there, looking up, arms behind his back. My heart broke, I wonder how long has he stood like that? For years? Just praying and hoping?
“Michaelus, my name is Hunter, I have come to take you to earth, sorry, my brother, that it is not the destination you have been praying for, but it will be a little better than this, I hope?”
Michaelus looked at me and he nodded. I wondered if he needed a chiropractor. We pushed through the maze of souls, and then whoosh, we landed on earth, man I cringed into my bones, those poor souls. “I need to eat, bath, and get a new set of clothes”, said Michaelus. I drove him to my home. My clothes would fit him. I fried fish and bought fresh bread, yeah it sounds all biblical, but it is my favourite meal, I fetched the port, no not the harbour, and Michaelus smelt, and looked much better. “Thank you, Hunter for getting me out.”
“Bro, you are most welcome. I need your help. I am not that good with the offspring, as you are, so I needed you. Tyler Lane was raised by Abrux, he stole the baby, after his birth, and raised him at the manor in Tuscany. Tyler is six now, and Abrux wants him to join the five, and he won’t. They raised this poor child on some serious demonic shit, his eyes are blood red. He plays games the whole day, he won’t recite the Satanic Bible, or do any of the rituals. Abrux’s patience is running very low, if Tyler does not start to participate, he will find another to take his place, and bleed him for Azazel.”
Michaelus thought for a while, so the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, that is good news. That means the boy can be saved, Thomas is saved, he would not want this kind of life for his son.
Hunter nodded as he heard Michaelus thoughts. “I feel so sorry for him, he hides a photo of Thomas away from Abrux. He cries every night and dude, I am a trapper, not a baby sitter, and there I lack all skills. So, will you take on Abrux, and save Tyler?”
“How long, did the Powers that be, give me to stay on earth?”
“Oh, no dude, that was a get out of jail free card, you are here as long as you are alive and kicking.” I had to smile at the look on Michaelus face, yeah the dude needed therapy. Michaelus asked me if he could sleep before we left, and I showed him to my bedroom. See I told you he was standing there for years. I cleaned up, and then I packed a few things for Michaelus, damn I don’t want to go near that place again, hell no. The Fallen that taught me how to be a trapper, told me many things, and one was, if I wanted to go back home I had to be squeaky clean, no drink, drugs and rock and roll, only joking about the latter, I am black after all, and a brother has to get down, do you feel me dudes. Down.
Michaelus slept for twenty-four hours. I made him lunch, gave him another pair of clean clothes. And he was ready. He left on his own accord. All I could do was pray. I went for a walk, and this very pretty, white lady, now you all know I am not racist, so, she was like. “Would you like to have a drink?” At first, I looked behind me, because there is no way this fine-fine lady would ask a brother to do on a date, oh hell no. So while she rattled on about who knows what, I took a peek into her mind, and there you have it, Jezebel in disguise. And I know she had the dagger, so I politely said. “Miss Shona, I don’t drink, but a soda will be just as good.”
So a black dude and a petite blonde walk into a bar. Nah it’s the new age, no one batted an eye. We took the corner booth, and she ordered, I don’t know what, something with an umbrella, what the hell, is the drink afraid to get wet? Well never mind, back to business. I know how Thomas died, so I watched my drink like a hawk. Small talk, what do you do for a living, oh my you have such big arms, are you a power lifter, and is it true, that once you go black, you never go back? In my mind, I was like, please God, strike me down now, I wanted to plug my ears with, well, anything. Was this dude for real? So I drank that soda in one go, and excused myself, it’s gym time, and I have to go. “No, Hunter, just five more minutes, I just want to, mmm, powder my nose, and you can come back to my place, for coffee.”
And to think I wasn’t even drunk for this. So Miss blue eyes, gets up, and goes to the ladies room. She left her bag behind, so I scooted over, playing with the dumb umbrella, and the other hand found the dagger, I was out, I threw more than enough cash on the table, and I ran for my life.
I finally had the dagger. So Tuscany would be my next stop. I need to exorcise the six, and then kill Abrux, but I need help, I have tried to trap him, but he can smell me, no dude, I smell like an Angel, he smells like sulphur, that distinction. I went home, fed the cat, yes I have Sam the cat, I dropped him off at the neighbour a lonely old lady, that calls him nunubunz, and he gets all lovable, and purrs, yeah they have a connection, and that name should be banned. Really who calls anyone, nunubunz? What is this world coming to? So I left enough cash for his food, and I high tailed it to Tuscany.
I watched, that was the first job we had, we were Watchers. I could see Tyler having a huge argument with Abrux, Michaelus joined me. “How long this time?” I asked Michaelus.
“An hour”. Tyler refuses to merge with the five. Abrux has threatened to throw Tyler into the pit of hell, so Tyler dared him to do it. The boy has heart, and strength, I can see why they chose him, they never betted that his Angelic side was dominant. Now Abrux has to answer to Azazel, and he doesn’t know how too, time is running out, if Tyler turns seven, it’s redundant, Azazel specified, that the boy had to be six, and you can guess why, another sixty-six, and he had the perfect number, to come out of hell completely. It’s like a safe combination, he has to have the right numbers. Humans don’t place enough emphasis on numbers, they use words, yet, in the Beginning, it was all about numbers. It took six days for Creation and on the seventh day, God rested. I think we need to take Tyler away tonight.”
“Michaelus, I got the dagger, that dagger. That is why I am here, we need to exorcise the five, and get Tyler, away, if I am correct, he will turn seven in, I estimate, in five months. That might not be enough time to create a new born, but they will possess another six year old, and start the conjuring.” Michaelus thought for a while, they needed a safe house, where no demon could tread. Or a Fallen. Five months to cleanse Tyler and give him a normal life. For now he took preference to everything. This is my brother’s child, and now I am free, I can save the boy. Hunter read his mind, then he thought, where do Angels fear to tread, what would make Tyler invisible for five months?
“That is a perfect idea, but he will need contacts, those eyes.” said Hunter.
“I will get it, I still know a few trust worthy humans, as for Shona, her son Shane, is one of the five.”
I shivered. That was too close. So we waited for Tyler to be sent to his room. That took another half hour of shouting. He ran up crying. Michaelus and I flew in the window. Michaelus had established the rapport that I had failed at, and Tyler followed his every command. After we got a bag packed, Tyler reached in under the bed, and retrieved the picture of Thomas. We were out, within a few minutes, I wanted to kill Abrux, but Michaelus told me, he had a plan.
We’re in Alaska. I tell no lies, the land of Santa Claus, there is a road named Santa Claus Lane, and brother it is cold. We met up with friends of Michaelus, their home was so warm, that I never wanted to leave. Michaelus had instructed Tyler to find his birth certificate, and lots of cash, and other documents. The people that took Tyler in were really nice, human. Debbie and Matthew Fletcher had fostered other special children. They enrolled Tyler into North Pole Elementary. The town is called North Pole, I still won’t lie. Then they asked their friend the optometrist to come over, and within two days, Tyler would have brown eyes, and be off the demon diet, he would soon have his natural eye colour. Michaelus and I froze, no wait, my bad. We visited for four days. Until Tyler was settled, and the contacts, worked, and we watched him start school, from our heated van, yeah, the bible says don’t judge. Well this was way under the radar, the boy seemed so happy, and that was all we wanted for him, and safe, I mean what demon will set foot in Alaska? He had to be a Santa hater, to set foot here. Michaelus wanted to stay an extra day, and go sightseeing. I repeat, sightseeing, I was like oh hell no. “Michaelus, there isn’t enough clothes on earth, to get me out of this house, and dude, you will blend right in, a brother, oh hell no, what if it’s hunting season, all they need is a glimpse of brown and I will be a trophy on someone’s wall, no thank you, Hunter will not be hunted.”
Well Michaelus called me a chicken, and so I dressed up, I mean all that was visible were my eyes, no skin. No sir. Oh man it was cold. Tyler joined us, and what a pleasant, brilliant, talkative boy did he turn out to be. Michaelus told him everything about Thomas, and the boy grew with pride. He had made friends at school, he was telling us all about it. He was just a boy at heart, not a demonic force that wanted to take over the world, Thomas would be proud, I am.
I kept an eye open for any movement. I saw a real live Reindeer, for the first time in my life, they really should call them Snow-deer, well that is my opinion. I couldn’t wait to get back home. All this snow, I almost felt nostalgic, thinking of a Christmas with my Father, a tree, and gifts, this shit is enough to make a grown man cry. It also made me think of the Saviour, and now I am more determined to do what is right, no Purgatory, and no hell, oh hell no. I made a mistake, and I will fix it. I will admit when we left, and I had to say good bye to Tyler, a big lump sat in my throat, he had been my ward for six years, and I will never see him again, he is free to live his life as he wishes. I blessed him, then he had to hug me, and he thanked me for watching over him. Well that did it.
Michaelus and I landed in my home, I think it took me half an hour to peel off the layers of clothing. Next we need to find the five, six is safe, and I pray, he never falls into this life. So after I packed away half of Wal-Mart, we went to Deadwood to find Richard, apparently, Veronica got divorced and moved back. Ariel was waiting for us when we arrived.
“I knew once, Tyler was safe, this would be your starting point, but you are too late, Michaelus. Abrux took Richard.”
“Shit, hey no one said I can’t cuss. I should have known, Abrux had a backup plan for his backup plan, does he have six?” Ariel nodded. “So, what is our plan? We can’t take them on alone, even with the dagger?” I actually never thought it would go this far, I think I might have been naïve, but I have prayed for a miracle for so long, I expected one, well my bad, we are in deep shit.
“I called in a favour, and I was heard, whether it would work, I don’t know, we will find out when we land in Tuscany.” Not cryptic at all. That’s what I thought right, not get your guns, and salt and your crayons, we need to draw a devils trap, no. The lady called in a favour. She read my mind, wow, if looks could kill.
What we found in Tuscany was sheer carnage, I don’t scare easily, only in swimming pools and the ocean, dude there are man eating sharks in that water. But what I saw was hell on earth. The ground was covered in what we call Beetle-demons, they almost look like Scarabs, they are evil, and their bite is poisonous to humans. They are an ancient demonic-form. Believe me don’t let size fool you, big or small. They will ruin your life. Once a Beetle-demon enters a human host, it leads to alcoholism, abuse and a drastic change in character. The Beetles were everywhere, on the walls, the roofs. Any demonic force has too feed off energy, mostly that energy is fear, the few humans that stayed on at the manor, were screwed. They can’t run, we have to extract them, by flying in, and that makes us open targets for the Curen.
The Curen are tall and skinny, with talons and fangs, they do not prey on humans, they prey on animals, they run on all fours, or they can stand up right. If a Curen sees us, they will screech, to sound our arrival. I have been caught once, during an exorcism, they tore my clothes to shreds. They smell like death. There were two, and I was alone. Their talons dug into my neck. I reached for the holy water, they screeched, I had to cover my ears, the sound is deafening. I will describe the rest, after we get the humans to safety. I just wish Ariel’s backup plan would arrive, we are unarmed.
I tell you, there is a God. Samuel and Thomas dropped from the sky, hell I could cry, and armed to the teeth. They gave of weapons that are none descriptive. “Just aim and fire, you won’t miss”, assured Samuel. We didn’t have time for greetings, the humans were screaming in fear and pain.
“How many humans are in the manor?” asked Thomas, he knew his home inside out.
“Thomas, the cook is still here, the linen lady that made the beds. The gardener, the stable hand, and there are two new ladies who attended to Tyler.” Thomas nodded, “That is six humans and five of us. I will take the cook and Rosie”, said Thomas. “I will get to the gardener, I know where he hides.” I offered. Samuel and Ariel will tend to the two new ladies, and Michaelus to the stable hand, and he had to save the horses, the Curen, will devour them in a second. We all left at the same time.
I found the gardener in the broom closet. I knew he would crawl in there. He was old and frail, I was afraid he might have a stroke. So I enfolded him in my wings, and took him far away from this mess. I dropped him at his brother’s home on the other side of town, yeah that was far enough. He sobbed and kissed my feet, no dude. I lifted him up. “No, Alessandro, man is not allowed to bow before us, only before the great Archangel Michael, the Defender of Gods army, go in peace my friend, I will be back, to make sure you and your family are protected and provided for, that I promise.”
When I got back to the manor, I assisted Michaelus with the horses, we had to fly them off the grounds. The Beetles were nipping at them, and a Curen came to inspect. We were screwed. I shot at the horrid thing and it exploded all over me. Okay the horses. There were seven, and we could only carry one at a time, give a brother a break, it’s a horse, have you ever seen anyone carry a horse? No. it’s the other way around. We moved before another Curen arrived, Samuel and Thomas were flying off with a horse each. Okay, four down, three to go. We grabbed one each. We were not in time for the last one. Shit, we had to go before the Curen noticed us. I saw the soul, so I grabbed it, and handed it to Thomas. “Take him to heaven.” Thomas was gone in a flash, and I was mad, really mad. And that is how I became a trapper, by using my anger against these ungodly abominations.
We were back on the hill. The place was swarming with demons. “One of us need to go in and find the boys, we have no idea who the sixth is, so that has to be determined, next, Thomas, find Lou, she will hopefully trust you, and get her out. Well she killed you, I pray she faints instead of screaming.”
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