The Repentant Demon Trilogy Book 1: The Demon Calumnius (16 page)

“Oh, heavenly Father,” began Abigail, “I know that you have welcomed Doug back into your arms, to the place from where he came, and I thank you for that.  Please have your holy angels watch over him in heaven, and let him know that we love him here on earth and will always remember him.  Although we will miss him, we also know that it was your will to take him now as part of your divine plan, which we accept though we may not understand.  Keep all of us safe from harm and from the snares of the devil.  We rejoice with you, our God, and with all the angels in heaven for her return to the fold.”

Calumnius had an amazing idea while witnessing this prayer.  Abigail could pray to God for
him
.  She was very good at it, and God would surely hear her.  She could ask God to forgive him and make him back into an angel.  Only he did not know how he would approach this woman whom God protected from demons.

The group dispersed to their rooms, and it became clear that neither Abigail nor Kim were able to sleep in the room that Joyce Michaels had been sharing with Kim.  Some evil presence seemed to linger there, so they stayed in David and Noah's room on the fold-out couch.  Abigail had showered and was wearing a borrowed gown and robe from Debbie, Colin's wife, who was about her size.  Kim had already packed her things and planned to leave for Tokyo as soon as possible.

In the morning, Kim booked her flight, and Noah drove her to the Baghdad International Airport.  Two uniformed marines came in a jeep to take Abigail to the bin Jabbar home to get her belongings.  The family ran to greet her with shared sorrow for the loss of Doug in all their lives.

“We are all like family now,” said Abdul bin Jabbar, “so you must come to visit whenever you can.”

“It's true,” she said sadly. “Here I felt like I finally belonged to a family again.  I will be back to Iraq again, and when I come, I will visit with you.”

“I don't want you to go,” said little Jahmir, running to her side and hugging her.  She hugged him back.  Then he said, “The baby camels are here.  They are triplets.  Come and see them.”

“Abigail does not have time now to look at camels,” said Noora.  “She has a long flight ahead of her.”

“Actually, I would love to see them,” said Abigail.  “It might be just what I need right now.”

Jamal led the way, explaining that there were two boys and a surprise little girl, a runt with whom he was taking special care to assure her survival.  The whole family went along to the barn because they didn't want to let go of her.  When Abigail saw the babies, she melted over them in awe.  She picked up the little girl, who cuddled against her chest like a large puppy.

“We are naming her Abba Gallal, after you,” said Jamal.  “I hope you do not take offense because we mean it as an honor.”

“It is an honor,” she said, smiling for the first time since yesterday before the whole ordeal began.  “She's darker and sort of red in color, like my hair, so that makes sense.  I only wish I had her long eyelashes.  I will have to come and see her grow up.  I promise I will do that.”

“Do you cross your heart?” said Kasi, the others not understanding.  But Abigail crossed her heart and then hugged Kasi.

A military transport plane took her all the way to Spirit of Saint Louis Airport, bypassing D.C.  Waiting there was an officer in a dark sedan bearing official marine plates.  He approached her with a clipboard and some papers for her to sign.  Doug had named her beneficiary on his insurance policy as well as next of kin.  He had done all this just before they left for Iraq, and the officer told her that he considered Doug a friend, so he would look out for her interests and address any concerns she might have.  Since he had no close relatives, Abigail would be assigned ownership of Doug's plane, car, and all bank accounts.  She was shocked. 

“I need your signature on a lot of papers to arrange for a funeral with full military honors to take place in Arlington National Cemetery.  It is very detailed, so for your comfort, it would be best for us to sit in the back of the limo. I want to be sure that everything is to your liking,” he said with formality and respect.

She dreaded dealing with these details, and her face must have reflected her feelings.

He added in a much more casual tone, “I know how difficult this must be, and I'm sorry.  If we can just deal with a long list of decisions that must be made, I can handle everything for you.  All you need do is sign the papers.  The funeral will be scheduled in a week or so, and I will let you know as soon as I have the information.  I will also take care of probate proceedings and bring you the titles to Lieutenant Anderson's vehicles and checks for the amounts in his accounts.  I am assuming you would want to sell the plane, so I can arrange for that as well. You should keep the car for a while, at least, to decide if you want to sell it or not.  When we are finished, I can drive you to your home.”

Abigail signed all the papers arranging for the horse-drawn caissons, the bugler, the gun salute, and all the other details for the funeral.  Then when she was handed a power-of-attorney form to deal with the sale of the airplane, she hesitated.

“I want to think about this for a while,” she said. “I'm considering that I might take flying lessons and continue his business myself.”

The officer smiled, somewhat pleased by her attitude.  He could suddenly understand what Doug had found so attractive about this woman.

Calumnius was at her side through it all—the visit to the bin Jabbar family, the transportation home, the funeral—and he witnessed all her grief as well as her gradual recovery.  Watching her confirmed his belief that she was his only hope.  It also gave him time to plan exactly how he should attempt this plan of his.

If he were to just suddenly appear in her apartment, it might frighten her, especially in his true form.  So he decided to transform himself into a different look altogether—a handsome man dressed as a marine who would approach her at her favorite coffee shop.  She would at least show such a man the courtesy of a seat at her table.  When he began telling her his tale, she might want to get away, so he needed to be concise, getting it all out as quickly as possible.  Shape-shifting was not an easy trick for him, and he wasn't sure how long he would have to make his case.

“M
iss Abigail Rayetta Fitzgerald?” he said, approaching the table where she sat sipping a coffee and planning her next semester’s lessons on her laptop.  “Would you permit me to have a word with you?”

Abigail looked up and saw a handsome face with dark eyes and pleasing features dressed in a marine dress uniform.  He was tall with broad shoulders that reminded her of Superman for some reason.  She agreed, motioning for him to sit across from her.  She closed her laptop, completely willing to hear what he had to say.  As he faced her, she saw that his eyes were dark blue and his facial structure was actually very much like the character of Superman, even down to the dark lock of hair which hung over his forehead.

“Did you know Doug?” she asked, assuming a military connection.

“I did,” he answered correctly.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

“I need you to listen to me first; then I beg that you pray for me.  I am not what I appear at all.  Please do not be frightened,” he said immediately, realizing that his choice of words was unfortunate.  If anything makes a person sense that there is something to fear, it is telling them not to be frightened.

“I promise,” he said, crossing his heart, “that I will not harm you—not now or ever, regardless of whether you help me or not.”

The childish gesture put her at ease. It was not natural—even ridiculous—for a fully mature man of his stature to perform such a motion.  She also saw sadness in his eyes, so she decided to listen, feeling some sense of safety in a public area.

“My name is Calumnius, and I am a wretched fiend, a fallen angel, one of God's damned.  And I detest my state.  I have watched you for months, hoping to ensnare you, I admit.  But I watched you and Doug so closely that you taught me about forgiveness—a thing impossible by all known Christian dogma of any denomination.  I realize that.  This is a mystery to me, too, that this thing has happened to me.  And you are my only hope.  God loves you, and I have seen Him answer your prayers.  I have watched you talk to Him as a father. He protected you from me.  And I cannot communicate with God.  It is not possible, as the chasm is too great.  My kind were meant to be separated forever from God.  This earth is the only realm where we all co-exist—demon, angel, and human.  God is here somehow, but I don't know where.  Please, I beg of you to ask God to forgive me and let me exist as any creature other than a demon.  My greatest wish is to be an angel again—a glorious, magnificent angel to serve God for all of eternity.  If that is not possible, I would be grateful to be a toad rather than continue in this loathsome existence.”

“Are you the demon who killed Doug?” she asked with caution.

“I am not, but I know of the one who did,” he said.  “I saw him at the excavation site, and he shocked me utterly by his behavior.  I spoke to him while he was inside the woman, and had no idea what he would do.”

Abigail knew the devil was a liar, not to be trusted, not to be dealt with.  She believed this one, though, because she remembered the spell that Joyce had had at the site.  Seeing it again in her mind, it did seem as though some unseen entity could have been talking to her.

“I do not make deals with devils,” she said.

“I realize that you do not. No deals,” he said simply.  “I only ask for your mercy. For you to pray for me, fully understanding that it may not work.  If not, it was my only hope.  But I will not blame you.  I will go away after this encounter and never bother you again regardless of what you decide.”

He rose and walked away.  She saw him disappear into an alley and considered what he had said.  It wasn't permissible in her faith to acknowledge a demon, much less to pray for one.  Yet in an exorcism, the priest acknowledged the beast—spoke with it, saw it, challenged it, and prayed over it to vanquish it.  If God answered her prayer, this demon would be vanquished, in a way.  He would be no more.  That perhaps could be done.

She went home, but it did not feel safe for her to say the demon's name out loud in her apartment alone.  The next morning she attended the regular six a.m. weekday Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church, whispering her petition aloud from the rear pews where no one sat nearby.  She said the name of the demon in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, when the priest held the host above his head at the moment of consecration, when the transubstantiation took place changing the bread to the body of Christ.  Then she prayed for Calumnius' forgiveness—as well as her own if she had done wrong in attempting to help the beast.  The earth did not shake, so she went back home and continued in her life, forgetting about the conversation with a marine who claimed to be a demon and the outrageous prayer she had made.

She did not know that her prayer had been heard by God.  Moments after she spoke the words aloud in the chapel before the candlelit altar, blocks away in a dreary alley, next to a dumpster, the crouched and dejected Calumnius had a visitor.

A bright column of light appeared before him, blinding him for a short time.  From out of the light stepped a brilliant being with huge white-feathered wings, wearing a glowing white robe.

“I am Ashriel, archangel of the Lord, and I come to speak with you, Calumnius of the damned.”

“I am listening, gratefully and reverently, oh wonderful one,” said Calumnius.

“Your wish is for something that has never been done in all of creation, and by its nature is impossible to do, but God has granted me the power to test you to see if you are truly worthy of such a tremendous gift,” he stated unemotionally.

“I am willing to be tested,” he replied.  “I am willing to do anything, to endure anything in order to be forgiven by God.”

“You have hated humans since the dawn of time,” continued Ashriel, “and yet you say this has changed.  That is hard to believe, especially coming from someone whose nature is to lie.  You have caused the death of numerous souls now in hell—a place filled with humans who have committed murder of the flesh.  Why should not your murderous acts be condemned for eternity as well?  I see forgiveness for you as inconceivable, but God's will be done. 

“You will be required to prove your ability to love human beings as God loves them, as he commanded them to do.  To understand the nature of men on earth, you will need to become one of them.  You must live with them, work hard, perform sincere acts of kindness toward them, and feel all their challenges, joys, and sorrows.  For you to even attempt to earn the gift which you so boldly request, I expect you to do more than work in a soup kitchen or rescue a puppy from a storm drain.  Throughout all of this, I will be your judge.  You must impress me, and I warn you, I am already prepared for your failure.”

“I will not disappoint, most holy Ashriel, I promise I will perform to your expectations and beyond,” answered Calumnius.

“My expectations are that you will suffer damnation,” said Ashriel.  “But we will see.  You will have one year upon earth.  I will watch your every move—your every choice between good and evil.  But most of all, we will see if you can learn.  You must be able to see humans as God does.  If you fail to do that, you will remain in hell, condemned forever as a human soul to be tormented by the very demons that you once considered colleagues.  You might want to consider that you are better off now than you would be in that situation.  Remember that you are a flawed creature, a demon. You would have never sinned against God in the first place had you not been lacking character.  Choose carefully and quickly, Calumnius.  I will need an answer now.”

“You are saying that I do not have an option to become an angel,” he said, considering how much he had wanted to return to his ancient former glory.  “My choice is either to stay as I am or become a human being and be allowed their fate—one determined by the life I would live in one year.  This is my one chance to have heaven and to have God's forgiveness.  That is better than I have now.  I will accept this offer with gratitude.  Surely, I can be as good a human being as those I have watched for thousands of years.  And I have one advantage many of them do not—I already believe in God.  I already know that hell exists, and demons, and I know how horrible they are.  I accept the challenge, Ashriel. I gratefully accept.”