Ch 14

My heart was pounding into my throat and I could barely think straight. First a priest on the bus and then he showed up at my work and started asking for me. Finally, I had left my job early to get away after getting a bad feeling and after heading back to my apartment I had gotten there only to find the door unlocked when I know for a fact that I had locked it.

            How do I know that I locked it? Because I had locked it every single time, I had gone through it since I had gotten the place, my fingers had developed a reflex that did it automatically so there was no chance I had forgotten.

            With growing apprehension and a touch of panic I slowly opened the door and looked around. Nothing seemed out of place or broken. I slowly and quietly checked out my apartment, first making sure that nobody was hiding behind the bed or in the bathroom and then making sure that all of my valuables (MY COMIC BOOKS!) were still there. Relieved that everything was where I had left it, I said down on my bed confused that the door was unlocked but nothing taken.

            Perhaps I shouldn’t worry about it too much, maybe somebody came to rob me at random and after picking the lock realized I had nothing worth stealing. The computer which was my only form of entertainment was a cheap secondhand one that was barely good enough to read light novels online and watch porn. Definitely not something worth trying to resell and nothing else had much value either as almost all of my money went towards paying the rent on this shitty studio apartment.

            Maybe it was the new demon physiology changing the way I normally thought or maybe it was that I finally had a girlfriend after so long of being shunned and rejected by everyone including my family but suddenly I was no longer content with my shitty job or my shitty apartment. I don’t know what else I can do for now, but I know that I really do not want to keep doing the same shit anymore.

            While I was thinking these thoughts, I noticed an envelope on the keyboard of my computer that I had not noticed while quickly searching for anything missing. I stood up and walked the few steps to the other side of the room where my computer was and picked it up. The paper felt heavy and expensive, definitely not anything I would normally handle, there was no name on it or return address.

            Turning it over I quickly glanced at the back to see if there was anything written there before tearing it open carefully at the top to prevent damaging the contents within it. Once I had gotten the single sheet of paper out of it, I began reading but it took me a bit because it was written in cursive which I had not used since elementary school many years ago.

‘Mr. Dyer,

 It has come to the attention of the Vatican that you have been contacted by a servant of darkness. Your local priest Father Hipler was ignorant of the true nature of the battle of God’s servants and those of Lucifer and he was wrong to turn you away. If you still desire to be exorcised and return to the light of The Lord, then please return to the church where specialists have been dispatched to assist in ridding your city of this evil.

Sincerely,

Father Blake,

An Exorcist for the Vatican’

            I could hardly believe my eyes as I read the paper. At least now I knew why that priest had been following me around but I was more than a little unnerved about how they had so casually broken into my apartment and finding that I was not there had decided to leave me a letter telling me where to find them. No, more than that, it seemed that they had grown tired of waiting for me to go to them and had decided to come find me at work considering that I had gone from there to here and the letter had already been present.

            There were several pieces of information I could derive from this. First, the option to be exorcised was hardly optional if they were tracking me down to do so after writing a letter claiming that I had a choice. Second, they wanted to rid my city of evil, so they likely wanted to find the succubus that had created me and destroy her. While once the Vatican destroying demons would have seemed like due course it now felt a little more intimidating. Maybe because now I would be one that they wanted to destroy if I could not be returned to human.

            Finally, it said that there was a battle between God’s servants and Satan’s which I had always thought of as a spiritual battle for our souls but now that I know demons are real on the physical plane and am becoming one, it occurred to me that this battle might be more literal and less metaphorical than I had always assumed. This was reinforced by the statement that Father Hipler had been unaware of the battle. Of course, that was if I could believe anything that was within it considering I had already discovered at least one piece of misinformation in the letter.

            Taking a long look at my apartment I realized that while it had been my safe haven for so long it was no longer a safe place for me to stay. I went to the cupboards and pulled out a box of garbage bags. I then proceeded to put all of my clothes into the bags as well as my comic book collection, my small stash of money, and my computer, packed inside a bunch of clothes to keep it from banging around. It all fit in a measly three bags.

            No sooner had I finished tying up a knot in the last bag and was standing by the bed next to my trash bags full of possessions when I heard the door open and looked up to see the priest who had been following me casually open my front door and walk in. The question of how he had gotten in was answered when I saw him pocket a key, although that led to another question of how he had gotten a key.

            When he looked inside and saw me standing inside the room he started to smile and his shoulders relaxed from the tense, frustrated posture he had been carrying. “Hello Mr. Dyer, I have been looking for you for a couple of days. Have you been hiding from me?” His deep voice resonated through the room and seemed all too cold and calm for someone who had been stalking someone and had just broken into their home.

            My heart rate was once again on the rise and all I wanted to do was to get away from this guy. Now, standing in my apartment with him between me and the only exit and all of my necessary possessions in bags it was obvious that I had intended to try to run away. One might wonder why any normal person would run from the Catholic church, especially one that had previously gone to them for help. The answer was simple, instinct. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end and I couldn’t help but feel what a mouse feels when a cat has it pinned down and is playing with it.

            I knew deep in my bones that this man in front of me was not here to save me but to destroy me. I didn’t need an explanation as to how I knew this, whether it was from my transformation to a demon of lust giving me new instincts or merely my base human ones waking up now that I was in a truly dangerous situation but in either case I knew that I was right and that I needed to run. Unfortunately, like I mentioned before he was in between me and the only exit, the windows of this shitty apartment had bars on them because it was that great a part of town.

            “What do you want?” I tried to sound angry, but my voice was trembling. “Now now Mr. Dyer, I just want what you originally went looking for from father Hipler, to learn what happened to you and then to separate the demonic influence from your body.” His hands were held open and low in a placating gesture and his voice was rolling out smooth and velvety, but I couldn’t shake the fear that I was feeling.

            “I don’t want you here. You are breaking and entering. How did you even get a key? When I went to the church I was thrown out and insulted why would I want to talk with you now when you have been stalking me and breaking into my home?” I felt some of the fear starting to give way to anger as I delivered my tirade, letting my frustration reverberate into the small space of my apartment.

             The priest stopped smiling and now looked at me like a bug he would like nothing more than to squash beneath his heel. “Fine, have it your way, but remember, I tried to do this the nice way.” His voice was still cold and held no emotion in it. A moment later he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. The next thing I knew two spots of light shot at me and struck me in the chest. After that I began convulsing and then everything went dark.

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