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After a few moments of looking at the closed box, I released the latch and opened it. The hinges fell off as it sprang open and Dantalian sauntered into the room. Dantalian was an incubus who was convinced if I would just let him possess me once, I’d see the world through his eyes and we would have a much better relationship. However, I was sure that if I was never possessed by one of Ashtoreth’s offspring, it would be too soon. I found the very nature of lust demons disturbing. Part of the training for becoming an exorcist is possession. Standard operating procedure is to use an incubus or succubus for the possession and I had been possessed by a succubus named Berita. However, she’d not had much power over me and I’d managed to exorcise her myself. Since an exorcist cannot remove a demon from themselves under normal conditions, Uriel had recommended I try allowing myself to be possessed by a larger demon and we had used Dantalian. I had felt the pull of Dantalian’s magic more than Berita’s, but I had still been able to perform an exorcism on myself. However, Dantalian had felt the pull of my magic just as much as I’d felt his and had been dreaming of a repossession ever since.
“Exorcist,” he whispered to me in a silky, husky voice.
“Dantalian,” I said, exchanging pleasantries with the demon.
“Are you ready to find out why I call you The Exorcist? It will only cost you 12 hours of possession.” Dantalian’s voice was silky and husky and, honestly, wonderful. I could see why people gave in to him.
“Nope,” I told the incubus. “I just want to destroy the demon box that brought you over.”
“Demon boxes are back in vogue?” Dantalian whispered. “How wonderful! That explains so much. Demons have been crossing over left, right, and center.” Dantalian was practically euphoric. Anything that caused a demon that much joy had to be bad for things on this plane.
“I don’t suppose you know who summoned you?” Remiel asked him.
“The Exorcist,” Dantalian said and then I felt him fill with confusion. “Well, I felt her magic call to me, but it wasn’t purely her magic. There was something off about it. Something dark and other. Something like what used to be in the original boxes. There is something corrupt in these demon boxes.”
“How so?” Raphael asked in a commanding voice.
“I cannot explain it, Raphael. It just is.”
“That isn’t helpful, demon,” I said.
“I know. I am trying for you.” Dantalian came closer to me. He reached out and touched my amulet and I felt it shock both of us. “In the thousands of years that I have been a demon, Exorcist, I have never experienced anyone like you. You know that, though, don’t you?” Dantalian asked, all seduction gone from his voice. “You know why the demons come to you, don’t you?” I considered ignoring him.
“I am powerful,” I said.
“No, exorcist, we are around power all the time. Why would your power be seductive to someone as powerful as Leviathan?” he asked, and I knew the answer.
“Leviathan remembers life as Zadkiel when he’s around me,” I said. “He remembers life as an archangel, before he died and became a demon.”
“Do you know what I remember around you, exorcist?” Dantalian asked, sounding more human than I had ever heard him sound before. “I remember lying in a field and staring at the clouds with my beautiful wife lying next to me. A wife with gold hair and blue, blue eyes. I remember leading an army of 50,000 toward the alps. I remember chasing deer through snow. I remember battling a weretiger to keep him from plundering our lands and killing our people.” Dantalian sighed. “Just 12 hours in your body, imagine the things I would remember.”
“Ivvar the Shifter,” Raphael said.
“My name,” Dantalian said. “Oh, how long has it been since I have heard that. I remember my death, betrayed by an exorcist who ripped my living soul from my body after I shifted and then burned my corpse.”
“Why would you want to remember that?” I asked Dantalian.
“My death? I don’t. My life? Yes.” He purred the last word and he sounded like a wolf, not a seducer. “I lived a long, happy life with a beautiful woman as my wife and many amazing children. I can almost remember their names.”
“Your wife was Machilida,” Remiel said.
“Yes. What happened to her, angel?” Dantalian turned his attention to Remiel.
“She died shortly after you in the same way,” Remiel looked down at his feet.
“Did anyone avenge us?” Dantalian asked.
“My brothers and I did,” Raphael replied.
“Then my thanks to all the archangels for catching my betrayer and the murderer of my wife. I give you my word as a demon that I will try to find information for you,” Dantalian said. “I won’t remember my living memories once I return, but I will be bound by my oath regardless of whether I know why I gave it.”
“Thank you, Ivvar,” my father said.
“Thank you, archangel, and your amazing daughter for even a few moments of memory,” Dantalian said. “Send me back, Exorcist. If you leave the box open too long with your magic in the room, other things will push to the entrance portal.”
I sent Dantalian back across the Divide.
“That’s a problem,” Jerome said.
“What?” I asked.
“Demons remembering who and what they were. It humanizes them and makes them pitiable.”
“Yes, it does,” I agreed, feeling a little bad for all the years I had tormented Dantalian.
“Who would have guessed one of the greatest warriors to ever live would become an incubus,” Remiel said, and sounded a little sad himself.
“I just hope his wife Machilida didn’t become his sister in the Stygian, because I will feel really bad for having destroyed her soul.” Raphael was looking at the ground.
“Did you know that happened when you encountered a demon?” Raphael asked me.
“Yes and no,” I admitted. “I knew it happened with Leviathan both times, but I thought it was because he had once been Zadkiel and my uncle.”
“I take it you both knew Ivvar,” Jerome said. “While he was alive, I mean.”
“Yes,” Raphael said. “It is part of the pre-history.” There had once been a time when humans weren’t organized or even in existence and only supernaturals roamed the earth with animals. It was referred to as pre-history, since history is the story of man. There was even a time when there were only the archangels, referred to as pre-pre-history. Not much is remembered by even the archangels from this time, except that Zadkiel and the others were determined to create other supernaturals and had done so with varying results. Zadkiel died after creating the other supernaturals, but before humans had evolved. Demons began roaming the earth as supernaturals began to die in various ways. That was all I really knew about pre-history.
“Ivvar was the first shape shifter,” Remiel said. “Zadkiel felt he had reached perfection with Ivvar.”
“Huh,” I said. “And he was murdered by an exorcist angel?” I asked.
“Yes,” Raphael answered. “An angel that fell in love with him.”
“Proving love can be a dangerous thing,” I said. “Now we need to get rid of the box. I think Raphael should do what he did before and then I’ll join in.”
“Remiel can perform exorcisms. I think he should do it and you join in,” Jerome said, and I raised an eyebrow at him. “Humor me,” he replied, and we did. Remiel is not as powerful as my father, but he’s no slouch either. This time the circles on the floor appeared before Remiel began pushing magic at the box. At its strongest, it couldn’t be seen like Raphael’s could be, but it made my teeth and bones feel like they were vibrating inside my body, and then I felt him release it. The first wave hit the box and four incubi came out of it. He pushed again and four more came out. They were all less than two feet tall. I joined him at this point, pushing my own magic toward the box. It grew in size and filled the room with magic, and I felt the demon come through. Under each hell prince is a demi-prince. They are stronger than a duke, but not as powerful as a hell prince. They sire only lesser demons, but they aren’t exactly kittens. I pushed more magic and felt Jerome push magic as well. The box swelled even more, then it exploded. Helia fell onto the couch and Janet fell with her.
“What was that?” Helia asked.
“That was the second in command to Ashtoreth,” I said.
“I feel weird,” Helia said.
“That’s because a hell prince doesn’t have to possess you to work magic on you,” I said. “Neither does a demi-prince, and Ashtoreth’s demi-prince is an incubus.”
“I’ll be crude and say it. If that’s the second in command, I can’t imagine the kind of havoc Ashtoreth could wreak on this plane.” Janet sighed.
“There would be massive orgies,” Jerome said, and we all looked at him. “Well there would be. Almost nothing would be able to stand against the magic of Ashtoreth. He is the most powerful incubus.”
“True,” I nodded. “I just hope to never hear the word orgy come out of your mouth again. It’s disturbing.”
“Ditto,” Jerome replied. He began taking down both his and Janet’s wards. None of us could see the magic falling away, but we could feel the air becoming fresher, cleaner, and less magic-filled. After a few heartbeats the door opened, and Mom stuck her head in.
“Good Lord,” she said, pulling her head back out. My mom is human, but her binding with Dad allows her to feel some magic, and everyone can feel demonic power. I followed her out. I left Remiel and Raphael to put the tiny demons back where they belonged. One chased me into the hallway and I made it disappear.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Lust demons,” Mom replied. I nodded.
“I’m fine, I’m just not a fan of their feel.”
“Me either,” I told her.