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The night before the exorcism, I tried to get some good sleep. My plans didn’t always work.
I found myself in my Gran’s cottage in Heaven. Sitting in an overstuffed chair with a checkered pattern, I waited. My guardian angel was always with me and in Heaven she was always visible.
“What’s going on?” I asked Amy.
“You must actively participate in the exorcism of your friend,” Amy responded.
“I’m not trained,” I countered.
“The rules of exorcism are to keep men from getting above God. If they think they have the power, the demon has already won. The sin of pride is in them,” she explained.
“And women don’t have pride?” I shook my head.
“Of course, they do. You are confident in some things but never overstep where it counts. You fear you are too weak. You must challenge yourself.”
“Greg and other experienced people will be there. I’ll only mess them up and my Latin sucks,” I argued.
The angel frowned at me. “Language matters less than conviction.”
“Gran!” I called.
My grandmother was a short and sweet woman who’d had gifts similar to mine in life. She enjoyed her afterlife more, I suspected. She appeared with a grin.
“How are you, my dear?” she asked.
“My angel dragged me here. How can I help with an exorcism?” I asked.
Gran sighed. “You must help. Greg is emotionally involved. As are you. It’s a bigger problem than Mary Lou but you must help him.”
“He has assistance.” I knew at least three monks were coming.
“They don’t know Mary Lou. You and Greg do. That will balance the team. It’s good. The angels will support you,” Gran replied.
“I’ll need more,” I confessed.
“You will have them,” Amy confirmed. “You will have as many as you need. I must warn you, warrior angels are scary to humans.”
“Warrior angels? I don’t care if they look like trolls as long as they fight for my side,” I said.
“Then back to your body and rest. The battle begins at three in the afternoon,” the angel advised.
“Afternoon? Okay,” I said.
I closed my eyes and was back in my body and my bed in a deep sleep.
Three o’clock rolled around and we had Mary Lou sit in the living room. Most of the past few days she’d been fine. Sometimes she freaked out if someone touched her. We’d tried hard to reason with her when she was herself and to get her to quit the job.
The doorbell rang and I answered it. Lucifer had decided to show up. What powerful narcissist could resist being the center of attention?
Mary Lou looked happier when Lucifer sat down next to her.
“This is all nonsense,” Lucifer said.
“Shut up or leave,” Gunnar said from a chair in the corner.
Gunnar was both medical first aid and muscle.
“Don’t interfere unless we ask,” Greg said to Gunnar.
Gunnar nodded. It was no joke and I was glad he was here.
Greg had three monks with him. They all had their books and kits. I joined in with the prayers in English, one monk stuck to Latin and another was speaking Aramaic. It was hard on the ears so I tuned all but the English out.
“You let her stay? A woman will only make it harder for you. It’s a waste of your energy. Your souls will be mine,” Lucifer said in a voice that didn’t sound quite like his.
I watched the monks. Lucifer used his strong trick first. Sucking energy. I pulled my angels into the room and blocked him from absorbing energy. It was a mental battle of wills, but I saw the confusion in his face.
He tried again but could only pull energy from Mary Lou. Wearing her down was fine; exhaust her and force the demon out. The angels took positions circling the two subjects. The buzzing of their singing and prayers was high-pitched.
The warrior angels started off normal-looking enough, like Amy—tall and majestic with a pure white glow that hurt your eyes. But soon those warriors grew as tall as the room and changed to a shining silver. They sparked instead of glowed.
“You bring a lot of ammunition, Deanna. Yet you’re attracted to the dark side of things. Checking on Lester instead of putting him in jail. Coming to my club instead of shunning me. The company you keep. You’re no better than me,” Lucifer said slowly.
“She likes her power,” Mary Lou added.
“Ignoring evil doesn’t make it go away,” I argued.
“Don’t engage,” Greg said.
I nodded. “Are you a pure demon, Luci? You’re not really scary. You suck energy from people and take advantage of women going through bad divorces. You’re a pathetic gigolo.”
“I have more power than you. You’d have anything you wanted if you just gave in to your desire for me,” he said.
I laughed. “I have no desire for you. Or power. There are enough angels in this room to blow you straight to Hell. So just go. You can’t win.”
“I’ve already won. Hurting your friends. Throwing you off work on a real case to play babysitter to a dumb trophy wife who needs others to make her feel important. She’s my plaything.” Lucifer waved a hand and Mary Lou fell on the floor.
Greg started to lunge to help her but stopped himself.
Lucifer looked around as though he expected more things to happen.
I watched as some of the angels turned and had gleaming swords, slashing at dark blobs.
“You’ve already lost, Luci. My boss is stronger than yours,” I taunted.
I sprayed Mary Lou with holy water and she hissed at me.
“Get out. Release my friend. Her soul is hers.” I hit her again with holy water.
Lucifer stood up but I used my power to shove him back into the chair.
I squirted him with holy water and he tried not to react but his skin sizzled.
“You don’t get to hijack humans. Release them and run away. Tell your demonic friends they’ll get the same if they come near me,” I warned.
Lucifer grinned. “Your brother sold his soul.”
“He got it back. My boss is forgiving and loves humans. Your boss hates them. It’s good to be on the winning side. Like the Cubs finally winning the World Series. Whoever lifted that curse is going to Heaven,” I teased.
Mary Lou started gasping and clutching her throat.
I stared Lucifer in the eye. “Stop.”
“What’s your name?” Greg demanded.
“So predictable,” Lucifer mocked Greg.
Mary Lou wasn’t choking on anything we could remove, that much we knew.
“Keep working him,” I told Greg.
The angelic brawl around us increased but I didn’t look back. I was in the eye of the fight, but faith made all the difference. Those many Bible stories from Catholic school replayed in my brain. Looking back was a mistake. The angels would take out anything trying to derail us.
The prayers continued. I doused our demon friends with holy water again and while Mary Lou kept coughing, she didn’t pass out.
Suddenly, she went from choking to shrieking in pain.
“Release her,” I commanded.
“There could be two demons,” Greg offered, trying to hide the anguish on his face as the woman he loved contorted in agony just a few steps away. I wasn’t so sure he was going to be able to stay detached much longer.
I shook my head. “Luci is doing this. Or whatever is in him now. The demon moves, which is why it took so long to pin down the problem.”
“I’ll take you instead,” Lucifer suggested.
“You’ll burn in hell. I’m not going anywhere,” I said firmly.
“You’re a selfish bitch! You wouldn’t trade for your brother and now you won’t offer up your life for your friend. You’re the evil one,” Lucifer accused.
I smiled. “You think I’m dumb? I was desperate to save my brother, but I can’t do that if I give up what makes me who I am. I can’t trade my soul and think I have any leverage or power.”
“But you’ll let people like me and Lester walk the streets,” he shot back.
“It’s not my job to take out everyone who dabbles in dark magic or believes what I believe. Maybe I’m supposed to use you to get other bad guys? Maybe my boss wants me to torture you?” I pondered aloud.
“Try.” Lucifer’s voice dropped to a menacing growl.
I grabbed my Gran’s rosary off the mantle. When I pressed the crucifix to Lucifer’s forehead, he screamed.
I gagged at the stench of burning flesh but didn’t let go.
I heard the front door and voices. Trying to block them out, I added a spray of holy water.
“Your boyfriend is here,” Lucifer hissed as he tried not to squirm.
“Jealous?” I ignored Paul and let it bother the demon that wanted to steal me.
Was it the same demon who’d tried to take my brother? Maybe.
“Hardly.” Lucifer looked up.
I followed his gaze. Paul was levitating on the ceiling and paralyzed with fear.
“You can try what you want. It won’t work. I will get rid of you,” I warned.
“You’re a weak human who can do nothing,” Lucifer mocked.
“You’re right. I should leave you to the angels.” I stepped back, joining the chanted prayers as the angels closed in.
I blocked out Paul. If I fell for the emotional trick, I’d give the demon an opening to mess with me more. I had to have blind faith.
“Confess that you murdered Lance!” Greg said.
The glow and sparks made me close my eyes and dark blobs shot out of Lucifer’s mouth. The tension pounded in my head and I felt a sudden release.
“Crap!” Gunnar grabbed a fire extinguisher.
I watched him as he put out the flames engulfing Gran’s old couch. Greg ran to help.
The angels seemed to relax. Paul fell suddenly from the ceiling, but luckily Amy softened his landing.
Two hours later, Mary Lou was in bed. Lucifer sat at my kitchen table looking like a shell of his demonically-infused self.
“How long have you been battling that?” Greg asked.
“He asked for it,” I interjected.
Lucifer nodded. “I made a deal. I wanted more. I didn’t know how much I had to give up. It felt so easy. So comfortable.”
“Powerful,” I added.
“It was. It started with the energy thing. I always could sense when people had that strong energy. I wanted to be able to have it. Feed off it. I got that. Then the temptations were hard to resist. I used people. I wanted to get help but I was taken over more and more. The demon was attracted to Mary Lou and jumped to her at times. That was scary and a relief. I’m sorry,” Lucifer said.
“You need to confess to the murder,” I said.
“It was under demonic influence,” Greg said.
“The police are going to charge you or Mary Lou. Neither of you did it,” I argued.
“I did a lot of bad things,” Lucifer confessed.
“He’ll be possessed again but worse in prison. In there, no one will care if he’s possessed and plenty of men in there will use black magic or Satan worshipping to increase their power and perks. If he’s vulnerable, they’ll feel it and use it,” Greg said.
I nodded. “He can confess that he was possessed. Let the court determine if he’s guilty or insane.”
“You want me to go to prison?” Lucifer asked.
“I don’t care what happens to you. The demon is gone. Stop chasing dark power and I’ll never bother with you again. But if my friend goes to jail, I’ll move the angels into your club and it will close within the week.” I went to the kitchen and checked on Paul.
He sat at the table sipping tea. “Sorry, I forgot the exorcism was today.”
“You can’t interrupt.” I shook my head.
“There was a big break with the church,” he said.
“The church?” I rubbed my eyes. “Oh right, the case the demons were distracting me from. What did you find?”
“Matt’s coming over later, I’ll explain it to him,” he said flatly.
I frowned. “You’re mad at me?”
“I’m mad you didn’t let me sit in on this. To watch out for you,” he said.
I sighed. “Gunnar was here. You would’ve tried to medicate Lucifer. This was a demon, not schizophrenia.”
“I’ve had patients who are convinced they are possessed. Some are just paranoid. Some are addicted to other things,” he said.
“Exactly. You’d try to rule things out and diagnose him. I have to draw a line between rehab stuff where we cover all bases and this sort of thing where we know it’s demonic and immediately dangerous,” I said.
“We don’t know it. You have to let me observe the subjects of exorcism to at least understand what you’re doing. How do we know this was an actual possession?” he asked.
“Not we, you and me. We, Greg and me. He did this professionally. I have angelic and other connections. This part of my work, you just have to trust me. But I promise, next exorcism you can observe safely,” I said.
“Not from the ceiling,” he argued.
I laughed. “Make up your mind. Exorcisms are dangerous. Gunnar was a police officer so he’s trained as a first responder and can restrain if necessary. We can set up cameras and you watch from another room.”
Paul nodded. “How am I not broken?”
“You didn’t see the angel?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“But you felt her slow your fall,” I probed.
“Something made me slow down. I do feel like I was drugged or something but I don’t hurt,” Paul admitted.
“Good. We can sort the rest out later. I’m exhausted,” I said.
Paul stared at me. “You seem charged up.”
I nodded. “Oddly I’m both, but once I lie down I’ll sleep for a day.”