Of Kings and Demons (18 page)

The unexpected encounter with
Lord Barbatos, the Duke of the Demons, left Gwyneth spent, not just physically
but emotionally. The power of Barbatos disturbed her. He seemed to be in a
fresh league, on par with Maganus and Alastair.

She stopped to rest and leaned
against a building.
Just for a moment,
she told herself.
But I must
keeping going. I know I’m looking for a needle in a haystack, but I have to
investigate the reason for Barbatos’s presence in New York. Seldom does the
Duke of Demons made his presence known in such an audacious manner.

Gwyneth straightened up and
continued her search. For over two hours, she combed the streets but failed to
locate Barbatos or any other Demons. The dispersal of the evil miasma also baffled
her.

A return to the City Hall    yielded
no results either. After another hour of futile searching, she rested again.
I
must inform Maganus about my encounter with Barbatos.

As she flew back to the woods
of Delaware, she prayed and soon sensed the presence of a miasma. Demons!

Gwyneth inspected every foot
the vast span of land, a quilt of sparkling lights, for the precise source of
Demons. Then she spotted the blanket of flickering illumination—it was fire and
the pungent waft of burnt material.

She landed in the midst of a
suburban housing area that engulfed in raging flames. She heard the wail of
babies, which stabbed her heart like knife. Residents were on the run, and a
particularly acute wailing came from a lady. She sat perched on the balcony of a
two-storey structure that was quickly being incinerated.

Then Gwyneth spotted the Demons.
Troupes of ugly Familiars with malformed heads and flagging limbs freely roamed
the streets, inflicting damage to the structures.
The armies of Demons had
turned Earth into Hell.

But this is no hell.

Gwyneth clenched her hands into
fists and summoned the powers of Winter.
Vox of Hiberna!
she cried and directed
her hands towards the hopping Familiars. There was a crescendo of wind and instantly
the Familiars turned into statues of ice.

Gwyneth snapped her fingers and
the fires faded away as a blanket of snow fell upon the houses. She then flew
to the entrapped woman and child and carried them to the ground.

Gwyneth patted the woman on the
shoulder. “You are safe now.”

The lady kept her head bowed,
and Gwyneth could not see her face. The Guardian Angel sensed something was
amiss and backed away. But the lady raised her head to unveil a grotesque mask
of demonic fury—a reptilian complexion with burning eyes and razor-like teeth. The
woman’s limbs burgeoned into muscular proportions, with the willowy fingers
mutating into long, sharp claws, transforming into a Demon troll. And her baby
had turned into a ferocious Familiar shaped like five-legged toad with a monstrous
shrill.

The reptilian Familiar leaped
upon Gwyneth and clung to her like a koala bear. But it was no amiable mammal
as it sunk its teeth into her right arm. With an easy wave of her left hand,
Gwyneth turned the toad-form Familiar into dust.

She had no time to check her
wound before the mother troll lunged at her. Gwyneth cried a spell,
Victoria
ut Angelus, s
he cried. A shroud of ice formed around the bloodthirsty troll,
immobilizing the Demon.

G
wyneth inspected her wound and found two
rows of bite-marks rimmed by an ominous black color. Gwyneth knew the venom
would sap her powers. There was no bleeding from the wound, a chilling
sensation plodding through her veins.

Around her, the hordes of
Familiars closed in. Gwyneth tried to stretch her wings and lift off to the sky,
but her exertions brought a series of creaking aches. She had never felt this
way.

Once she was airborne, Gwyneth
inhaled deeply and blew hard over the burning town. Immediately, the place
turned into an expanse of whiteness, covered in deep snow. The hordes of
Familiars had turned into a gallery of white statues. With the first light of
day, the ice would thaw and the familiars melt away like fluid.

Gwyneth checked to ensure she
was not tailed. The miasma of darkness seemed to ebb, but she wasn’t sure if
that was because Demons were running scarce or that her sensitivity has been
compromised by the venom.

Her exertion had brought a
shearing pain in her chest. Gwyneth knew she had to find a sanctuary for
healing. She needed help—the healing hands of a Guardian Angel to expunge the
demonic poison. She thought of Maganus, Jin, and Eugene.

Gwyneth searched her memory for
an appropriate location. The mountains to the west would be ideal for there was
frost that would facilitate her recuperation. However, her vision was blurring,
and her responses retarded by the growing poison. 

Before she could land safely, Gwyneth
blacked out. Like a bird that had lost its bearings, Gwyneth spiraled in a free
fall, leaving a trail of fire very much like a comet. The impact of her landing
created tremors that were shattered the earth.

She was unhurt as her powers
provided a shield of immunity. Gwyneth struggled to assess her environment but her
vision was impaired. She saw a matrix of flowery images and made no sense of
it.

Her last thoughts shifted to Marz,
but before she could whistle for him, total darkness consumed her.

The repugnant odor of rot and putrefaction
of her environment drove Sarah to vomit. Her captor grunted its displeasure at
her weakness, and after she had finished, ordered Sarah in the direction of its
stretched pointer finger.

Reluctantly, Sarah trudged down
a flight of stone stairs and at the bottom of the spiraling steps she found
herself looking down a long corridor, dimly lighted by torches. Sarah felt her
heart pounding with anticipation. When the gargoyle rapped her on the shoulder,
she jumped. “You’re scaring me!”

“Go!” the Demon ordered.

When Sarah hesitated, he cuffed
her on the neck. She swallowed her groan, but she could no longer staunch the
flow of tears.

“Humans,” Eberhard snorted and collared
her neck, as if she were a doll, and dragged her to a huge door of oak. He dropped
the girl like an unwanted piece of garbage and then knelt. He instructed Sarah
to follow suit. Then he spoke in subservient tone. “Master, I have brought back
one of the siblings.”

As if it were magic, the doors
opened. The gargoyle rose and commanded Sarah to do the same. Then, without
warning, he grabbed Sarah by the shoulder and dragged her into the room. She
shrieked but quickly covered her mouth in fear of angering the gargoyle.

#

Sarah’s heart was in her mouth.
Fear had made her nauseous and giddy. She had expected a torture chamber,
gloomy with the possibility of death, but she found a scented room with shelves
of books. There was a fireplace in the corner, a globe off to the side and a
writing table in the middle of the room. It looked like the study room of a
scholar.

A figure stood by a window. He turned
slowly and Sarah bit her lips in fear of another grotesque face. She was
relieved when she realized the man was blessed with aristocratic good looks,
with his thick hair fully swept back. He sported a slight moustache and his thin
lips were stern. His glaze quickened the pace of her heartbeat.

Sarah felt small and sweat was breaking
out on her palms.

The man stepped over and
slapped the gargoyle on the cheeks.

“Did I say she has to die?” the
man asked. “Eberhard!”

Sarah realized the creature had
recoiled in trepidation, just like a dog under the reprimand of the owner.

“I thought master wanted to …”
Eberhard began.

“Stand in the corner,” the man
ordered.

Eberhard did as told. The man
walked to Sarah and bent over. He took her right hand and held it gently. Sarah
found his touch amiable and smooth, unlike the abrasive behaviour of the
gargoyle.

“Fear nothing. You are safe
here,” the man said.

“Safe?”

The man nodded.

“My granny is dead. So is my
grand uncle. Are you going to hurt my brother as well?” When the man said
nothing, she continued, her voice faint and quivering. “Why did you bring me
here?”

“Your curiosity is stronger
than your fear. A normal child would have crumpled like paper. Nevertheless, I
like it, Sarah.”

“You know my name?”

“I know many things. Names are
never a problem for me.”

“What’s yours?”

The Duke of Demons smiled.
“Barbatos,” he whispered

“What a name.” she murmured.

“You are very unruffled.”
Barbatos’s mouth twitched at the corner

Sarah shook her head. “What’s
going to happen?”

Barbatos chuckled and said in a
heavy voice, “Your answers will be revealed soon. Your future, your brother’s
future, and everybody’s future, will be unveiled shortly.”

“My granny is dead. Does my
future matter?”

Barbatos waved it off. “I am
sorry to hear that but the Angels were responsible. I have little to do with
it.”

Sarah continued. “It has
nothing to do with them. Maganus and his friends protected us.”

“Ah, acquaintances already?”

“Yes.” Barbatos walked to a
table and poured into a cup. He signaled Sarah to join him, and the girl
obliged in silence.

“Drink,” he commanded but Sarah
hesitated, Barbatos repeated the command. Sarah complied and found the contents,
aromatic tea, tantalizing and soothing to her constricted soul.

“You miss your Angel friends?”
Barbatos asked.

Sarah nodded.

“I can never understand.”

“I want to be with them.”

“Their end is near.”

Sarah put down her cup and
shook her head.

“Defiance?” Barbatos smirked. “A
snap of my fingers will break your neck.” Barbatos smiled.

“Were you behind the deaths of
my grandparents?” Sarah asked, her doe-shaped eyes wet.

“You are not going to stop, are
you? Eberhard should have dropped you in midair!” Barbatos wagged a finger but Sarah
did not flinch.

“An answer please,” Sarah
pleaded.

Barbatos relented and placed
his hands at his waist like a victorious Roman general, before sauntering across
the room.

“My child, you are caught in a
war, a sad struggle that began long before man knew how to use fire. It was a
battle between good and bad, between God and the Devil, and their armies. The
angels in their white and with their swords, and on the other side the demons
in their red and black, and armed with spears. A war in which we aimed to
defeat the
homo sapiens
, and proved that we are the stronger race, true
master of Earth.”

“We are no weaklings,” Sarah
said.

“The ignorant are entitled to
their opinions.” Barbatos shrugged and continued.

“I am not foolish too.”

Barbatos continued. “The humans
had turned out to be a major disappointment for God. They were born with too
many imperfections and weaknesses. Do you know how much they have degenerated
from their original state? Do you know how far from heaven they are?”

Sarah shook her head.

“They were selfish to their
fellow men, greedy at the expense of their love ones, treacherous and ready to
betray those who loved and trusted them. They do not understand the ancient
values of truth and freedom. They had forgotten the rituals of the ancient.
They had no respect for the nature. And the Angels were out to protect them?”

Barbatos sniggered.

“It was a battle the Angels cannot
win. God created the Kings, a special clan of men with unique qualities, to save
the humans. He used his blood, bones and soul to create a group of men and
women, the Kings who were the lighthouse to these ships adrift, the beacon of
light to these lost travelers. He was so wrong.
So very wrong.
”

Barbatos rocked his head
backward and chuckled. “Naïve.” He pronounced.

“You are…wrong. Man has created
miracles and many achievements.” Sarah countered in calmness.

“No doubt they have, but they
had too many weaknesses. I am not complaining. Their foibles made our
subversion much easier.”

Sarah inhaled deeply and spoke.
“You are wrong.” Her bluntness earned a pointed glare from Barbatos and she looked
away. In a shaking voice, she continued. “I remembered stories about the
ancient civilizations. The inventions, the buildings, and the feats.”

Barbatos shook his head “Sarah,
your education is incomplete and you failed to mention episodes of their failures
which outnumbered the positives ones, three to one.”

“There are leaders who had done
much.”

“Despite their impressive
achievements, look at humanity. They have not changed much from their primal
form with their cruelty, greed, ingratitude and savage nature.”

“Not every King of Men is a
failure.”

“Name them.”

“The Caesars.”

“Pretentious, pompous, and
weak. None of them survived the temptations of my master, Lord Lucifer.”

“What about Charlemagne?”

“Continue.” Barbatos smiled.

“Napoleon.”

“Plagued by hubris, trapped by
arrogance, and eventually defeated by his men— he was the ultimate failure of
the Angels. If he had only been patient and learnt to listen and wait, he could
have taken human civilization one big leap forward. However …” Barbatos shook his
head in contempt. “It turned out to be a big leap into uncertainty. His failure
laid the foundation of the two world wars, Sarah.”

Sarah stood wide-eyed.

“Hard to imagine? It is beyond
your comprehension. Extrapolation of trends is not always the easiest of tasks
for the human mind.”

Sarah inhaled and continued.
“Edison, Isaac Newton, Churchill and …”

“Good try. The Angels have
their occasional victories. Churchill was one of the tough characters, one of
the few who beat us.”

“Why are we involved?”

“Your brother is the critical
link in this battle between white and red. He could be someone that will hurt
us in the future.”

“How can that be possible? We
are so ordinary.”

“Again, answers are elusive. Be
patient.”

“Maybe you made a mistake?”
Sarah was loud and firm.

The Duke of Demons continued as
if he had not heard her. “The Angels thought they were smart, but we simply
seek out the Kings and hunt them down, one by one like animals, Sarah!”

“Is killing the solution?”

“I only need to obliterate
those who are against us.”

“You can’t keep me here!” Sarah
cried, but her voice trailed away as Eberhard snarled. “Defiance sealed your
fate, little girl!” However Barbatos hissed and sent him back to a corner. He
turned to Sarah. “Are you thirsty and hungry?” he asked. Without waiting for
her answer, he instructed, with a haughty sweep of his hand, “Wash up and
rest!”

“I still have questions.”

“Shut up. Answers are privileges
that are granted at my mercy.” Lord Barbatos snapped his fingers and instantly Sarah
dropped to the floor, unconscious.

Lord Barbatos smiled, his simple
demonic trick which disrupted the brainwaves of humans and distorted their
muscle control never fails to work.

#

When he was alone, Barbatos deliberated
about the progress of his scheme, which has gone as planned. The success
fermented a sense of excitement.
Sarah will be the perfect bait to bring the
rest of the Guardian Angels to my bastion. The battle with the Angels will be just
a red herring, an event to distract the Angels from my actual scheme for
domination.

He had spent the last decade on
the design of his scheme, with grave concentration and constant mentoring from
his master, Lucifer. It was the plan to wrest control of humanity from God, and
completely defeat his army of Guardian Angels. He needed only for the right
moment and the juncture of history has presented itself. With wars, recessions,
and ineffectual human leadership, human civilization has turned decadent and
rudderless. They are vulnerable for manipulation. Despite the age-old rules of
engagement, rules set by God, that there would be no direct intervention by
Angels or Demons, the opportunity was too tempting for Barbatos. A presidential
election was just over the horizon, with a change of White House administration
pending.

Barbatos gave voice to his
thoughts. “One new King of Men is destined to attain the presidency, but he is
no ordinary man. Walter Johnson is a man with a strong mind, unshakeable faith
in the good side. He has enjoyed massive goodwill and possessed unshakeable
freewill. He is the biggest obstacle to his plans. That was why he has to be
eliminated.”

He inhaled. “Even if Eberhard
fails, the Angels will be tricked into believing the assassination attempt on
Johnson is just another attack. If Eberhard succeeds and Johnson is dead, the Demons
can maneuver their man into the seat and manipulate him to support our agenda.
Victor Palmer. Either way, the Demons will prevail!”

         Now, Victor Palmer need to make
his decision, taking a step Barbatos has anticipated. Once the senator had made
the switch, it will be the beginning of
the end
for the Angels.