CHAPTER TWO:

Cacodemons - Demons said to be attached to people from birth that control

Their impulses and personalities at times.

AC 187

St. Gabriel’s Orphanage:

Father Maxwell, a tall and sturdy man of about fifty with light gray hair and eyes that were kind, stared in sorrow at the lawns that surrounded his small but thriving orphanage. He could see the black car drive up to his church and park in its designated space, before the slight figure dressed in the traditional black priestly robes stepped out of it. Sighing deeply, he ran his fingers through his hair and wondered how he was to explain the current events to his incoming visitor. There was no going around it now, this might be the final straw.

A light knock on his door interrupted his musings. Granting permission for whomever it was to come in, a young priest-in-training walked in and bowed slightly. “Father Maxwell, Father O’ Brien is here.”

“Send him in, please.”

The young man nodded and left, only to come in seconds later with a shorter and much older companion. Father O’ Brien’s usually cheerful countenance looked a tad bit sour and displeased as he waited for the young priest to leave them in privacy. Waiting for the door to be shut, he cut right to the chase.

“I presume you know why I am here, Maxwell.”

The head parishioner nodded gravely and sighed. “Yes, I do.”

Father O’ Brien clasped his hands in front of his black robe, trying hard to dispel the trembling that they were going through. “I spoke to the head of the Jesuit commission last night and just as we had feared, our theories were correct, after all.”

Father Maxwell remained silent.

O’ Brien shook his head and began to pace up and down restlessly. “According to Dr. Winch’s findings, it seems like we have a…a…a cacodemon amongst us.”

“A cacodemon?”

“Yes, Maxwell. That boy is a host. Possessed by those that attach themselves to young babies at birth. They control the mind and the personality of whatever body they chose. They live on these bodies. Feed off their energies, drain the life out of them…until they find the next one to move on to.”

“So, what do you suggest we do?”

O’ Brien pursed his lips and looked thoughtful. “We could always send him away…”

“I could never do that!”

“True. Who knows how much more harm he can cause just by walking around on the streets. Is he awake yet?”

“No, he is still in the cataleptic state. This is the longest he has ever been.”

“Wish we could keep him in that state…”

“Father O’ Brien!” Maxwell gasped in disbelief. “How dare you suggest such a thing?”

The older priest looked upset and placed his hands upon the table to stare intently into the head priest’s eyes. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t suggest such things. You have seen the way he behaves. For crying out loud, Maxwell, he has murdered people! And the older he becomes, the worse damage he creates. He is getting stronger with each passing year and we are only feeding his power by keeping him here. Not to mention all the destruction he has caused to the buildings. You are running low on funds and having to repair one more broken window or one more burnt-out section of the church or orphanage…” He shook his head. “They are beginning to take notice of the amount of money we are spending here. Questions will be asked soon, Maxwell and how do you intend to tell the church leaders that you have been harboring a demon in your midst for the past seven years?!”

Father Maxwell listened to the rebuff with growing defeat. He knew that keeping up with Duo and his destruction was turning out to be a major dent to their relatively low funds, but he couldn’t get rid of Duo just like that. The boy, for all his faults, was just a scared little kid who sometimes had no idea of why he did such terrible things, and that was the boy that Father Maxwell was determined to bring out no matter what happened.

With a heavy sigh, he buried his face in his palms and asked brokenly. “What do you suggest we do then, O’ Brien.”

“We could always perform an exorcism…”

Maxwell was already shaking his head in refusal. “That will bring attention to us and besides we need the permission of the Pope, right?”

Father O’ Brien, who had been staring outside the window, turned back around to pin intense dark orbs on his fellow priest. The look on his face was one of conspiracy and smug satisfaction. “We won’t need to go that far in this case, Maxwell. We will just perform it on our own terms. It will be discreet and no one need ever know about it.”

“I can’t do it. It is so wrong…”

“Is it so wrong to try to save the boy’s life?! Isn’t that what you want? Do you not want to see the real Duo come out or would you rather have this being that only moves about like a human?! This is the time we have to strike, Maxwell. While in his current state, we can cleanse his spirit, making sure that the demon never returns again. Think about it, Maxwell. If you want to save Duo, you would have to make the decision, the choice is up to you.”

O’ Brien made his way towards the door and bowed lightly. “I will take my leave now. You have only twenty-four hours to make up your mind, Maxwell, or the boy goes whether you like it or not. You have a good day.”

The kind Father clutched the large cross that hung onto his neck in a death grip, ignoring the pain of the sharp edges digging into his palms. He closed his eyes and muttered a quick prayer, not paying any attention to the soft footsteps of his companion that had walked into the room from her hiding place.

“Are you going to let them do it?” she asked softly.

Maxwell nodded in weary resignation. “I have no other choice, Sister Helen. Duo will have to be exorcised. It’s the only way to save his life.”

“Yes, Father Maxwell, if that’s what it takes to get my real Duo back; then, so be it.”

As luck would have it, Sister Margarita had been kept in charge of the ‘dead’ boy. Humming to herself, she tucked the blankets under his chin and stared with softened eyes at the angelic picture before her. Cleaned and washed, Duo lay as still as death itself on the soft bed, his chestnut-colored locks framing his head in soft waves. Long bangs almost fell into the closed lashes that hid beautiful violet eyes.

“Oh, Duo…how could anyone as beautiful as you, be so…so…evil?”

With a heavy sigh, she leaned forward to place a light kiss on his forehead, before she picked up her rosary to kneel beside the bed in preparation for her evening devotion. Closing her eyes, she clasped her hands together and began to mutter out the soft prayers to herself, although her voice began to gather momentum as she became more engrossed in the spiritual process.

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy

Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.

She faltered for a moment as she felt another presence in the room. Gripping the beads even tighter, she continued in a louder voice.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve

To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping…

Something crashed to the floor and she opened up her eyes in fear as she began to notice the small pieces of furniture begin to shake and rattle. The spot on the wall where a picture of The Blessed Mary had once been was now empty as the picture itself now lay on the floor broken in tiny pieces. She darted her gaze towards the lying figure and noticed that he hadn’t moved an inch from his position. Gritting her teeth in determination, she closed her eyes and continued in a much louder voice.

Turn then most gracious advocate

Thine eyes of mercy towards us

And after this our exile

Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus!

This time it was the bed that began to rattle and shake and she had to back away as it threatened to rise above the ground. Duo was still as stiff as ever, but the intensity of the tremors that went through the small room was gradually increasing. Rising to her feet with shaking feet, she muttered the last lines of her prayer.

O merciful….

A chair flew across the room and bounced off the wall, breaking into pieces before landing on the floor.

O loving…

The bedside lamp joined its counterpart as it smashed into tiny pieces, as well. The bed was literally off the floor now, as her ears picked up the sound of an anguished wail. The wail grew louder and she found herself dropping the rosary to cover her ears.

“STOP IT!! STOP IT, RIGHT NOW!!” She screamed. “LEAVE ME ALONE!!”

Meanwhile, out in the hallway, several children had heard the screams and had run to get some help. Several Sisters came running as they tried desperately to unlock the door that was now tightly shut.

“OPEN UP THE DOOR, SISTER MARGARITA!! OPEN UP THE DOOR!!”

Another wail and an accompanying scream of terror reached their ears and they redoubled their efforts, now getting the help of two young priests who should have been able to unlock the door. They could all hear the shaking and the continuous cries as precious minutes went by.

A hysterical cry of ‘Oh, dear God!! He’s killing her!!’ from a crying Sister, sent off the other children into sobbing and crying fits and they were quickly ushered away to a less distressful place.

Father Maxwell and Sister Helen came down the hallway as the crowd gathered around the door. Making way for the head priest, Maxwell banged upon the door and bellowed out in a loud voice.

“I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE, DEMON!! NOW, LET THE BOY GO!!”

For several minutes, the sounds continued, before it stopped just as suddenly as it had begun. Not waiting a minute longer, Father Maxwell tried to open up the door and had to take back his hands in shock as the fiery heat that emanated from it left a large red welt in his palm.

“Open up this door…” he growled in growing fury. “Open this door this instant!!”

A soft click was heard as the door creaked open slowly to reveal a room that looked as if a tornado had gone through it. The bed looked unharmed as the little boy sitting upon it stared at the elderly man in frank confusion and fear, before breaking down into gut-wrenching sobs.

Lying on the floor, at the foot of the bed, was the motionless body of Sister Margarita, forever silenced with the last bit of her prayer dying upon her lips.

O sweet Virgin Mary…Amen….

The funeral had been quick and filled with quiet shock and sorrow. Sister Helen had spent the better part of the day crying and blaming herself for not being with Margarita. She should have known that handling Duo all on her own would have been a problem for the young girl. But then again, none of them had known that he was going to wake up that soon. She walked down the hallway towards Duo’s room. He had to have his own due to his condition. Sleeping with the other children had been a problem as many had complained that he mumbled ‘weird’ stuff in his sleep and had even been caught levitating above his bed at times.

Poor Duo…

He didn’t have many friends. The other children were genuinely afraid of him, all except for one. Solo had come into the home several months before Duo had been found and the dark-haired boy was the only one who could keep up with the temperamental longhaired boy. Older than Duo by a year, Solo had become a big ‘brother’ and had protected or stood up for him whenever the other children had dared to tease or make fun of him.

Helen walked up to the room and knocked on the door quietly. “Duo? Are you finished?”

A quiet ‘yes’ was heard, as she opened up the door to step into the room. Duo had been moved from the room of the ‘incident’ and was now kept in a similar one, the only furniture consisting of the narrow bed, a side-table with a simple lamp and a picture of the Lord on the cross above his bed. Duo sat dutifully upon his bed, clad in only a simple white sleep shirt that fell below his knees.

Helen moved around to kneel in front of him as she clasped his cold hands within her warm ones. She cocked her head to the side to smile softly at his sad face. Trying to inject as much enthusiasm as she could, she asked quietly. “Have you said your prayers, Duo?”

“Yes, Sister Helen,” came the flat reply that sent a slight chill down her spine. But unwilling to allow that to phase her resolve, she continued speaking as she reached for the brush beside the bed and motioned for him to turn around. “And what did you pray for?”

Complying willingly, Duo spun around and lowered his head, as the brush made its nightly journey down the now mid-back length. “I prayed for the Lord’s forgiveness.”

“That’s good. And what else?”

For a moment he remained silent before replying in an even flatter tone. “I prayed for the souls of those that have been lost.”

Helen’s hands skipped their rhythm before picking up again. “And what else?”

“I prayed for the ones I love.”

“And who do you love, Duo?”

“Father Maxwell, Sister Helen, Solo and Sister Margarita.”

The brush dropped from her hands and clattered to the floor as she noticed the smirk that had come unto his face. She raised a shaky hand to her throat as he spun around to now grin with wicked intent at her, those violet eyes sparkling again in unrepentant smugness.

“Du…Duo?”

“Duo is no longer here. In fact, Duo will be gone for a while…”

Helen shook her head and suddenly felt anger surge through her. “You evil creature! Let him go. He has done nothing to deserve this!”

Laughter filled with bitter mirth burst out from the young lips as that feeling of terror crept up her spine and clutched her heart with its cold claws.

“Don’t you get it yet, dear Sister?! Duo and I are one now. I am Duo and Duo is me. So, if you try to get rid of me, you will only end up destroying him as well and I am sure that you wouldn’t want to see your precious little baby dead now, would you?”

“Stop it…stop it this instant!”

Another cackle erupted from the little boy as he leapt unto his bed and began to bounce around in delightful glee. “She said that too, before she died! Stop! Stop!! Stop!!! Stop!!! Stooooop!!!”

SLAP!!!

She held her stinging palm to her chest as she heaved in fury and fear. She watched as the boy held onto his now reddened cheek, the maniacal gleam in his eyes fading away into one of hurt and pain. She felt her heart cry out at what she had done and she tried to apologize even as she noticed the slow streak of tears that fell out of his eyes.

“You hurt me…” he whispered softly.

“Oh, Duo…I didn’t mean to…” She tried to touch him and he cringed away from her, balling himself into a corner and cradling his knees tighter to his body.

“You said you were never going to hurt me and you did.”

“Duo…I am so sorry…”

“Leave me alone!!! Just leave me alone!!”

She winced at the angry bellow and lowered her head in sorrow. “I would never hurt you, Duo. You know that and I am so sorry for doing that to you.”

She bent down to pick up the brush and carefully placed it back on the dresser before turning around to make her way out of the room. Just as she was about to step out, she heard the distinct words as they burned into her brain.

“You will be next, Sister Helen and I promise not to make it too painful.”

Father Maxwell found her sitting motionless on the front lawns without her jacket, aware that she was shivering with the cold. Draping the jacket he had brought for her over her shoulders, he sat next to her and stared at the twinkling stars above them. For several minutes nothing was said as each remained lost in their thoughts. Finally, she opened up her mouth to speak in a voice that was devoid of any kind of emotion.

“I had another vision today, Father. He made me see another vision. He is going to kill us all, Father Maxwell. Every single last one of us.

“Duo is going to destroy the church and send us all to hell.”