Of Kings and Demons (23 page)

“Seraphina, I don’t remember well of you.” Jin
gave her an icy stare with his dark, piercing eyes.  

She had moved closer and caressed Jin’s
biceps and shoulders. Jin looking into the immaculate face of seduction, the
petal-soft lips, long eye lashes, high nose, and smooth complexion. A potent
combination that can tempt man and kings, and angel as well.

        “Stay away.” Jin warned sternly.

The lady continued to caress him. “Jin, you looked better than my memory
tells me.” She ran her long fingers over his face, chin, mouth, nose,—and
everything else.

“Don’t touch me,”

“Don’t be a killjoy.” she pouted her lips
in query. “I love the feeling of being with you, Jin.”

“We are at war, Seraphina.”

“Jin, you are too grave, always fighting
and struggling. Don’t you Angels get sick of them?”

Seraphina sat next to Jin. As she caressed his sinewy arms, the
seductress bent forward and allowed the cleavage of her full breasts to be in
full view.

“Jin?”

“Proximity does not seem to be a wise
choice. Stay away or I will—”

“You are always so uptight,” Seraphina said
and smiled as her fingers reached Jin’s midriff and caressed over the spot.
Jin’s body threw off rays of light, a repelling force that tossed a shocked
Seraphina yards away.

The seductress struggled to her feet, her
hair disheveled. Her face turned blue and grey with bile. With teeth gritting
and fists clenched, she marched towards Jin, displeasure burning in her eyes.

“I never knew trickery is your way, angel.”

“That is not trickery,” Jin retorted. “That
was a spontaneous reaction. Angels have the holy essence in them, sustained by
our faith in God and all things good. I simply called for it. You should know
the power of our life force. Seraphina, you were simply careless.”

Seraphina bit her lips.

“Fool, you think your friends will survive
in Valmar?” She shook her head and her long tresses flowed in the wind. “I
could save them, Jin but now I am afraid it is too late.”

“What are you going to do?”

With an unblinking stare, Seraphina raised her hand and chanted. A ring
of black fire formed around her as her unbridled seduction gave way to full
rage. The wind picked up and sucked leaves and twigs into a whirl.

Jin shut his eyes as he tried to raise his
powers and break the spell. His legs were not compliant and a growing chill was
spreading in his torso. Jin was surprised at his failure, Seraphina was indeed
powerful.

Meanwhile, the seductress had vanished into
thin air. Jin knew her disappearance meant one of her other tricks was
underway. A deep hissing proved him right. He swiveled around to see a giant
serpent slithering towards him.

“You were careless,” Father Bellator said
as he checked Mathew’s wounds. He found superficial scratches but guessed the
emotional shock was more acute than the physical hurt. Mathew’s face was a
pallid mask.

        “That is how Demons conquer man—through their minds,” Maganus
said, said. “Your longing for Sarah is our Achilles’ heel. Guard your mind well
or the Demons will be its master. Lose your sanity, and you lose the battle and
Sarah.”

“I am sorry,” Mathew whispered as he
watched Bellator sprinkle drops of holy water onto the carcass of the fallen
demons, which gradually vaporized. He shuddered as memories of the encounter
lingered in his consciousness.

Maganus looked around their surroundings
and said.

        “I would suggest we leave; Jin is waiting for us,”

“Leave?” Mathew straightened himself.”

        “Jin is waiting and alone.”

“I’m not leaving until I find Sarah.
Please.”

“There is a battalion of Demons laying in
ambush, somewhere.”

Mathew was at a loss of words.

“Take heed.” Father Bellator said.

“What do you have to fear, Maganus?” Mathew
protested, his voice breaking with emotion.

Before Maganus could answer, the ground shook with a rude tremor. In the
background, a peculiar drumbeat accompanied heavy footsteps.

“You just brought on the next set of Demons,
Mathew,” Maganus whispered.

Mathew cursed himself and turned to the Guardian Angel, but Maganus
simply stroked his beard and whispered, “You got to have courage to face what
you created.”

“I…” Mathew stammered as he looked down the
long corridor where the tremours seemed to have originated. Suddenly, a
mid-sized, familiar spirit popped up through the semidarkness, its wings
beating incessantly. The creature had an elongated head with a pair of ram-like
horns. Whiskers at its mouth which gave it a rodent look like a winged rat with
a foul temper.

Mathew noticed a drum strapped around its
neck as he ducked and tried to ward off the attack, but the familiar flew past
him and went to Maganus.

“Lord Maganus,” the familiar said.

“Harry?” Maganus said. “You are that little
familiar we met? Which year was it?”

“Sometime in the eighteenth century, the
English countryside,” the beast replied and beat on his drum.

Maganus squinted into space as he
reminisced. Then he nodded tentatively. “I remember. You brought your beasts to
kill …”

“Failing memory, Maganus?”

The Angel shrugged it off “What kept you
awake at this hour?”

The familiar frowned and let fly with a stern tone “Your friend here has
made my pet restless,”

  Harry eyeballed Mathew. “He is a nuisance. He is one of those humans
who

think too much of themselves.”

There was a difficult silence before they
heard heavy footsteps. Behind Harry emerged a gigantic figure with heavy arms
hanging at its side. The creature was about three times taller than Maganus.
The giant only had one eye located high on its forehead.

“That is—” Mathew began but Maganus cut him
off. “Cyclops. The
Furor. Angry beasts
”

“Lord Barbatos seems to have the entire
ensemble of Demons here on Earth,” Father Bellator mumbled.

“I should have brought my zoo from heaven,”
Maganus replied.

“Good humour! Now what?” Mathew said.

“Like
Senium, Furor
can only be put
to rest by
you
.”

Harry intensified the drum beating, and the
Cyclops headed towards Mathew. The creature roared. The power of the echoes
swept down the hall, an invisible force that threw Mathew to the ground. He
landed on his back and groaned in pain.

Father Bellator was flung to a nearby
pillar. He regained his foothold but there was blood streaming from his right
temple.

Only Maganus was untouched, unmoved,
battleaxes in his hands. With a steely calm, he turned to Mathew. “Your
emotions, Mathew. Find them and calm them. I am not going to do anything. I
suspect the more I did, the angrier this Demon will get. Furors cannot be
destroyed. They can only be
tamed
.

“I will try my best,” Mathew said he stood
up and then moved towards the Cyclops in small but steady steps. The Cyclops
unleashed another roar but Mathew stood firm, then as resumed his steps after
the blast of foul air dissipated.

“Steady. Peace,” Maganus whispered.

Mathew stopped before the giant, greeted by a stare of boundless rage.
The single eyeball was a monster in its own right. Mathew felt chill in his
limbs and deeply inhaled to calm his nerves.

“What … what is your name?” Mathew asked.

The Cyclops’s next roar hurled Mathew to the ground. The creature raised
his right foot but Maganus intervened and grabbed the creature by the Achilles’
heel. With a determined thrust, he pushed the Cyclops off balance.

The Furor struggled to stand, paused, and
then remained still. The lid fell over the huge eye. The Furor had slept, and it
snored furiously away.

Maganus turned to find Mathew seated, with
his legs crossed and in quiet meditation. The boy’s eyes were shut and there
was a sheen of serenity over his face.

“A lesson learnt, Mathew.”

Mathew smiled. He had done it. He had sedated the Furor, at the nick of
time.

“I am sorry for awakening the Furor.” 

“Anger is highly destructive,” Maganus
said. “Anger corrupts the mind and free will, and compromises a King’s ability
to master his fate. You have a duty to the human race to keep your emotions in
control.”

“Do not be disheartened with moments of
lapses,” Maganus explained. “All Kings experience that. We do not become
masters of our emotions overnight. But the Demons can be always be tamed.”

They were interrupted by Harry, who flocked
over and spat, “You fool! Imbecile. Idiot. What have you done?” He drummed hard
to wake his Demon, but Maganus, with a snap of fingers, sent the drum up in
flames. Harry squealed like a distressed animal as the drum fell. Fluttering
his wings like a fly, he fled into the darkness, with the accompaniment of the
snores of the Cyclops.

“Let’s move on. I think it’s safer now.”
Mathew urged.

“Is that so?” A booming voice, thick with
anger, emanated from the darkness. Within seconds, a huge mass surged forth on
a trail of black wind and hit Maganus from the back. The unsuspecting Guardian
Angel rolled like a mass of iron, leaving a trail of debris.

The aggressor unfurled and rose to his
feet. It was Eberhard who was clad in full armour. With his wings in full
length, hands clenched into fists and his horns glimmered under the fire
torches. His face was brimming with the sickening arrogance that came with his
successful sneak attack.

#

Gwyneth treaded with caution as she managed her way down a flight of
steps that ended at the start of a long, brightly lit corridor. She heard
voices and withdrew into a blind corner. A quartet of Demons appeared. After
they passed, she emerged and continued down the corridor. She saw paintings,
the familiar depictions of epic battles between Demons, Kings of Men, and
Angels. The gory scenes of slaughter and battle touched her emotional chord.
She crossed her chest and mumbled a prayer.

Then she spotted a beam of light, coming
through a door at the end of the corridor. There were noises.

#

“We will be just fine.” Walter said and
continued up the stairs. His stride confident and his hands clenched in fists.

Eugene was prepared to leave until he
smelled the odour. There was a wind of chill, draught of air.

He leapt and got to the governor in time. He hauled Walter to the ground
and, quick as lightning, swung his warhammer backwards at a snarling gargoyle.
With one motion, he smashed the creature to smithereens.

Looking up, Eugene saw the size of the
hunting horde, there were hundreds of them.

“Bring the governor into the building!” he
ordered

The security detail did as told, sprinting up the stairs while Eugene
confronted the enemies headon, rising to the skies with his white wings in full
majesty. He manifested a ring of light that scorched the approaching gargoyles
to their skeletal core.

“
evitas quod Incendia!
Incendia!
Lightning and fire!” Eugene cried as he torn the sent the advancing horde of
darkness with bolts of lightning. He felt weakness in his limbs, the sudden
appearance of the gargoyles had been overwhelming. There was disequilibrium but
he steadied his heartbeat, starving off the chill of fear. Amidst the chaos and
din he noticed the doughty look of Walter, the stuck out chin and steady gaze.
A man calm and ready for his fate, he had already decided his own destiny.

Now he has to do his part as the Guardian
Angel.

As the security detail’sfirepower was
gradually neutralized by the growing hordes, Eugene positioned himself in front
of the governor and swung his warhammer at the gargoyles.

As he fought, he detected the arrival of
the security forces. Their appearance was like a magnet and sucked the Demons
away. However, the humans were easy fodder for the demonic horde, which made a
quick meal of them.

A torn limb landed at Eugene’s feet, and
just yards away stood a gargoyle whose mouth was oozing with blood.

It was Bruno.

“We meet again!” Eugene cried as the gargoyle spit out the remains and
flashed his teeth “We are fated to meet.”

The engagement that followed was fierce as they traded blows, with the
impact creating potholes in the ground and cracks on the walls. The panicking
security personnel made matters worse, unable to discriminate Demons from
Angels, or showing any trace of concern to those they were shooting at.

“Stop!” Eugene screamed as he blocked the
bullets with his sturdy wings.

“Don’t waste your time with pleas. They are
imbeciles,” Bruno roared and swooped down to crush a pair of security
personnel.

With Bruno distracted, Eugene grabbed
Walter by the hands and soared through the entrance of the Capitol building and
headed through the Hall of Columns. He found a quiet corner in the darkness of
the columns, where he sat the Governor.

“Sir.”

“They laid a trap.” The governor was
panting, hair disheveled and blood stains on his face. His right cheek was
swollen.

“A bad one.”

“I gave him a punch too.” Walter waved his
fist and then flexed the fingers

“It is going to be tough. I don’t know how
it is going to turn out.”

“Eugene, there is no turning back now.”
Walter grimaced. For a moment, Eugene sensed traces of the courage of the old
warriors and kings in the governor.

He forced a smile.

“Then lets fight all the way.”

#

The gentle push of the door caused a
pronounced creak that echoed down the forlorn corridors. Gwyneth paused and
waited for a reaction. When she heard nothing, she stepped in and scanned every
inch of the room. There saw a chimney in the corner, rows of filled bookshelves
that made the room more like the abode of a retired professor than the hideout
of a Demon.

She never remembered Barbatos to be a
reader.

Gwyneth raised her palms to gauge the
strength of evil. An oppressive feeling of darkness hung in the air, and she
sensed someone behind her. Gwyneth swung around, hands extended, ready to
engage any foolhardy Demon. However, standing before her was a girl with golden
locks of hair and a lovely face. Gwyneth retracted her hand, just in time.

The little girl began to turn, but Gwyneth
took her by the shoulder and bent over. In her presence, a demon would show its
true form and Gwyneth opened her palms ready to strike, but the girl stayed as
she was.

“I meant no harm,” Gwyneth assured as she
released her grip.

“Who are you?” She asked.

“Sarah. Sarah Springs,” the girl spoke, her
face brittle with fear.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ve come to help.”

“Can I go home?” Sarah said and tears
filled her eyes. “Can you help me, please?”

 “We will leave now, Sarah.” Gwyneth held
her hand but Sarah pulled away.

“Are you one of them?”

“The Demons?”

Sarah nodded.

“No. I am nicer.”

Sarah smiled. “I think so, just like my new
friends.”

“You friend?” Gwyneth asked.

“You promised you will not tell the
Demons?” Sarah whispered.

“I promise.”

“I met Angels.” Sarah beamed.