In Dreams She Came 5

Chapter 18

I didn’t sleep all night. A nagging feeling, deep inside, kept me awake, guarding Jenny. At one point, her peaceful slumber was interrupted by what appeared to be the beginnings of a nightmare. When I noticed, I gently shook her awake. Jenny was confused for a few seconds until she realized where she was and that she was safe. She clung more tightly to me and drifted back asleep.

As the sun started to peek over the horizon and turn the sky a light shade of pink, I rose from the bed. My body was stiff and sore from remaining motionless for hours while watching my wife for any sign of distress. I didn’t know why, but as the sun rose, I felt the trouble from the night before had passed. I stretched, then decided to go for my morning run.

I went out the front door, and to my surprise, the black SUV was there again. I walked over and peered in the windshield, prepared to confront whoever might be inside. It was empty. I backed away and heard the strange howl again. The skin on my arms and the back of my neck stood up. The animal sounded much closer now that I was outside. I wondered what it was.

Coyotes were common in our area, but their sound was much higher pitched and yippy. Bobcats were also reasonably common, but they had more of a yowling sound. Rumor had it that mountain lions were also known to wander the woods around our home. I had no idea what they sounded like, but I was pretty sure they didn’t sound the same as the animal I was hearing.

I looked around, shaking off the creepiness, and began my jog. The park was still shrouded in darkness, as the sun was not up far enough to make it through the foliage. As I turned onto the trail that meandered around the lake, I heard the howl again, much closer. It was so loud that I could feel the rumbling in my chest. I ran a little faster.

The trail passed through a thick part of the woods, where the trees completely encompassed the path, forming a verdant tunnel. Suddenly, to my left came a low, deep growling, like a dog preparing to attack. I turned to look in the woods and saw what appeared to be glowing red eyes staring back at me from about chest level. I ran a lot faster.

I exited the tunnel and darted across a wooden bridge. I heard what sounded like heavy footfalls behind me, like an animal running. I lowered my head and started to sprint. As I rounded a bend in the trail, I hazarded a glance back, and what I saw sent terror through my body.

I only caught a brief look, but that was more than enough. It was jet black and appeared to be dog-like, but huge, it’s back nearly the height of my shoulders. It had a long, pointy head terminating in a mouth of vicious fangs. It ran on all fours, on massively-muscled legs. Each of its feet had long, dagger-like claws that dug deeply into the Earth as it ran.

I saw a small utility building on the far side of the clearing and ran for it. I grabbed the doorknob and tried it to no avail. It was locked. I shook the door violently, but it wouldn’t budge. I turned back and saw the beast bearing down on me.

I ran toward the main path, but the beast beat me to the junction. It slid to a stop and turned to face me. I was terrified and froze in place. The creature opened it’s maw, and its fangs dripped saliva as it slowly stalked toward me, step by step.

I couldn’t move. I knew I faced my doom, but something primal held me locked in place. It was as if my body knew it was too late. Everyone knows about our body’s fight or flight response, but there is a third state the body goes into when facing a threat called freeze. Apparently, this state is to help us deal with impending death. I wondered if this was how a gazelle felt when a jaguar dragged it to the ground.

The beast lunged at me. I could feel the heat of its breath on my face and the warmth of the urine running down my legs as I evacuated my bladder. I was struck in the chest, violently, and knocked to the ground. I heard a ripping sound and warm blood sprayed out, covering my face, and blurring my vision.

Death was painless. That surprised me. I had anticipated agonizing pain. How long would it take, I wondered, before the oxygen left my brain and I passed out? How long until I reached silent oblivion?

“Are you injured?” someone asked through the fog in my brain.

I felt hands on my body, feeling me, touching me. The voice came again, “Are you injured? Did it reach you?”

I opened my eyes but couldn’t see clearly. A blurry face stared down at me. It was a male face. It had dark features and a long, full black beard, and seemed vaguely familiar. “We must hurry,” he said, trying to pull me to my feet. “There may be another hound on your trail.”

“W-what?” I asked.

“This hellhound nearly got you,” the man explained. “I just managed to dispatch it in the nick of time. I feared I might be too late.”

“Am I,” I began, my voice hesitating? “Dead?”

“Not yet,” the man answered, “but if we don’t get you home quickly, I cannot guarantee you won’t be soon.”

“I’m alive?” I asked, scarcely believing it.

“Yes, now come on, lad, we must go,” he said, extending a hand to me. “Your wife is in peril. You should not have left her alone.”

I took his hand, and he pulled me to my feet. I recognized him with a gasp. He was the man driving the black SUV and the bearded man in my dream.

“Who are you?” I asked. “What the fuck is going on? What was that thing, and why was it trying to kill me?” All my questions came pouring out all at once.

“The name is Krieg,” he said, “I’ll explain everything, but now is not the time.”

He removed a bottle from his belt, uncorked it and poured the contents on the body and severed head of the beast that had attacked me. The remains began to smoke and sizzle. Within seconds it was reduced to black ashes.

I was still confused and bewildered, so Krieg had to drag me out of the park to his waiting SUV. As we neared it, he pushed a button on his key fob, and the rear gate opened. “Climb in the back,” he directed me. “You stink of urine, and I don’t want to mess up the leather interior.”

Chapter 19

I laid in the back of the SUV, curled in a ball, shaking uncontrollably as I contemplated what had just happened. Nothing made any sense. Maybe I was in shock. Maybe I was stuck in a dream.

The SUV stopped, and a few seconds later, the gate opened. I crawled out as Krieg came around to the back. We were in my driveway.

“Hurry,” Krieg said. “Her soul is in danger.”

Krieg walked away. I followed him to the front door, which he opened without needing a key. “You should never leave the door unlocked,” he scolded me. “It is an open invitation to trouble.”

As we entered the foyer, Jenny let out a blood-curdling scream. I bolted up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. Krieg was right behind me. We burst into the bedroom to find Jenny naked and spread eagle, her feet and ass were raised off the bed as if held by an invisible assailant. She was visibly being fucked by something or someone.

She cried out again, but this time it was a mix of pleasure and something else. I ran to grab her, but Krieg shouted, “Do not touch her!” I froze in place.

Krieg drew the sword, which he had used to kill the hellhound and swung it through the air between Jenny’s legs. She gasped and fell to the bed, then rolled into the fetal position.

Krieg sheathed the sword and pulled another bottle from his bed. He uncorked it and began shouting in what sounded like Latin as he splashed the liquid on the bed and my wife’s body. When it contacted her, Jenny screamed in pain and tried desperately to flee. Krieg grabbed her and held her down, splashing more of the water on her and shouting at her. I made out the words “in nomine patri et filii et spiritus sancti,” which I knew to be invoking the Holy Trinity, but the rest was gibberish to me.

As I watched, in shock, Jenny lashed out with her foot, kicking Krieg in the chest, sending him flying from the bed.

“She is not yours!” Krieg shouted as he regained his feet. He drew a dagger. The blade seemed to come alive with blue flames. He waved it in the air as if drawing some magical symbol. I could see a five-pointed star appear before him, made of the same blue fire. I stared, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Krieg drew a deep breath and shouted, “Yod-heh-vav-heh!” His voice seemed to vibrate, like a Buddhist priest reciting a mantra. Jenny let out a shriek and fell still on the bed.

Krieg turned to his right and waved the dagger in the air, carving another pentagram, which flamed blue off to my right. He stabbed the blade into the center of the pentagram, and a cord of fire connected the first pentagram to the second.

At that instant, Krieg shouted out again in that same, chant-like manner, “A-do-nai!” I felt the wind stirring inside the sealed room.

He moved past me to my left and again drew the blue flaming pentagram as he shouted, “Eh-heh-yeh!”. He made a stabbing gesture again, and the blue line extended from the center of the 2nd pentagram to the third. I felt my hair standing on end as if charged with static electricity.

He climbed up on the bed and drew a fourth pentagram as he shouted out, “Ah-guh-lah!”

For the fourth time, he stabbed his blade into the pentagram, and the line of fire extended into the new pentagram. Krieg quickly moved back to stand before the first flaming symbol, and when he stuck the point of his dagger into the center of the sigil, the ring of fire became complete. I jumped as the air seemed to expand from a small, silent explosion. Something let out a bestial scream, and one of the windows shattered outward.

Krieg spread his arms out from his body as if he were hanging from the cross and shouted, “Before me, Raphael! Behind me, Gabriel! By my right side, Michael! By my left side, Uriel! About us flame the pentagram, in the center flames the six-rayed star!”

I suddenly felt calm as I stood inside this ring of symbols. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I felt safe and secure.

Krieg crossed himself, much like I had seen Catholics do. As he did, he intoned, “Atoh, Malkuth, ve-geburah, ve-gedulah, la olahm. Amen!”

He drew a deep breath then turned to me. “We are safe now. You should get that window fixed right away.”

“What the fuck was all that? What is going on?” I asked frantically.

“In time,” Krieg said, “see to your wife. She was nearly taken, just now. The next few hours will be critical.”

“Taken?” I asked. “Taken by what?”

Krieg sheathed his dagger, and the blue flames slowly faded. “By a demon. I will go make coffee. You should shower. You stink.”

Chapter 20

When Krieg returned, carrying two steaming mugs of coffee, I had dressed Jenny and had her bundled up under several blankets. She hadn’t woken through it all. I had also changed clothes and washed up.

Krieg held out a mug. “Here, you need this.”

I accepted the coffee with trembling hands.

“Do you mind telling me what the fuck is going on?” I asked.

He checked on Jenny, then gestured for me to sit with him by the front windows. “Let’s talk over here, so we don’t disturb your wife.”

I reluctantly left Jenny’s side and sat down, facing the man. “Who are you?” I asked.

“As I told you, my name is Krieg. I am the last member of a dying order, sworn to protect the realms of men from the Unseen.”

“The Unseen? What the fuck is that?”

“You call them many names. They are monsters, evil creatures of myths and legends. Chief among them are the demons, servants of Samael.”

“Samael?” The name seemed familiar.

“Yes, you know him as Satan. King of the Underworld, a fallen angel who chose to rule in Hell rather than serve God in Heaven.”

“You can’t be serious,” I protested. “None of this is real, right?”

“What do you think?” Krieg answered my question with his own. “How do you explain all that has been happening to you?”

“Insanity!” I shouted. “That’s the only logical conclusion. I’m losing my mind.”

“If we do not stop Desdemona and Lazarus, you will lose far more than your mind.”

“You know them?” I asked, surprised that he mentioned my neighbors.

“Of course, I know them,” Krieg replied. “My Order has been hunting them for centuries. Lazarus is a Demon of the highest Order, King of the Demons on Earth. He is the offspring of Samael and Lillith.”

“Lillith? Adam’s first wife?” I asked.

“You know the tale?”

“I recently read something about it. What about Mona?”

“Desdemona is his succubus, his sexual servant, which he uses to seduce his victims and to produce their thralls, mindless slaves who serve them blindly.”

“Like Henrik and Kat?” I asked.

“No, Henrik is a lesser demon. His true name is Melkehaizel. He is a warrior and guardian of Lazarus. Kat is short for Katermandius. She is a succubus. Desdemona and Katermandius are the bestial spawn of Lillith, called Lillin. They can take on both male and female form, physically and in dreams, and mate with either males or females.”

But, it is just that, a tale. It can’t be real.”

“Do you doubt your own eyes?”

“Yes! I do! I doubt everything that I’ve seen these past weeks. I have to doubt it. The alternative is too disturbing.”

“The alternative that it is all true?”

“Yes, it can’t be true.”

“And yet you saw the beast that came for you; you saw the ritual banishment and the expulsion of the unclean spirit that was invading your wife’s body.”

“What?” I gasped. “What are you saying?”

“I realize this is a lot for you to absorb at one time, Chris, but please try to open your mind. The beast that nearly killed you was a Hell Hound, the same as which guard the gates of Hell. This one serves its master Lazarus and guards his Earthly domain. I don’t know if it was sent to track and kill you, or if you happened to attract it. Either way, it went after you to kill you and would have if I had not killed it first.”

“H-how did you know?”

“I’ve been following you, watching you, guarding you.”

“That explains the black SUV I kept seeing, but what was that about an unclean spirit invading my wife’s body?”

“Your wife has been targeted for possession. Right now, she is demonically oppressed.”

“Oppressed? What the Hell is that?”

“Demonic oppression occurs when a demon has chosen a person for possession. The intended victim’s natural resistance becomes weakened, and they begin to change, as they grow increasingly susceptible to total possession.”

“You mean, like in the Exorcist?” I asked. I don’t think he understood the reference.

“Exorcism is often used to expel the demonic being once it has taken possession, yes. Your wife is not fully possessed, though tonight was an attempt to do so. Fortunately, I was able to banish the demon before it took control. The shield I put up will protect Jenny, so long as she stays in this room. ”

“The blue pentagrams?”

“Yes, it is a protection spell to prevent any unwanted influences from entering this space. I invoked the four archangels to watch over us.”

“Archangels?” I asked. “Really?”

“Indeed,” Krieg replied. “They are powerful entities; minor demons cannot break through the field. You need to fix the window. Do you have any plywood?”

I was still contemplating demons and monsters — the shift to something as mundane as plywood left my head spinning.

“Uh, yeah,” I told him. “I have some in my workshop. I don’t know that I accept everything you’re telling me, but let’s assume it’s the truth.”

“I already have.”

“Right, but why is this happening?” I asked.

“Your new neighbors chose you. They’ve been watching you for many years, waiting for the perfect time to get close to you. They engineered the murder-suicide of your neighbors, to get access to the house next to you. They are using Jenny to get to you.”

“Why? Why would they do that? I’m nobody!” I shouted, causing Jenny to stir in her sleep.

“There is much you do not know, and the telling of it would take too long. So, pardon me if I speak plainly and directly.”

“Please do,” I told him. “I would appreciate some plain talk right now.”

“You are far from a nobody,” he began. “You simply have yet to discover who you are. I told you that I am the last of a secret order that is sworn to defend the realms of men from demons and their ilk.”

“Right, you did.”

“Our Order is ancient, founded in the First Age of Man and has continued down to these days at the end of man’s third age. Each of the prior ages has become lost to your modern history, but they existed and rose to great heights of social and technological advancement. Each of the previous ages came to a cataclysmic end when the demonkind rose up, poured through the Gates of Hell, and waged war against mankind.

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“It was only through our Order that the Hordes of Hell were defeated and humankind was able to survive, ushering in the start of a new age. We are now at the end of this age of man. Lazarus seeks to sacrifice you and use your blood to open the Gates of Hell to release Samael and his hordes to destroy humanity once and for all.”

“Again, why me?”

“Membership in our Order is limited to a number of unique families, to specific bloodlines that have survived from the First Age. Our ancient DNA contains genes that allow us to tap into the Universal Light, the energy that creates and sustains the Universe. We have the ability to harness this energy and use it for good. We call it the Gift. This magical power runs in our blood. Unfortunately, the Gift can also be used for evil.”

“So you are what, wizards, or something?”

“Something like that, yes. We practice ceremonial and ritual magic. The Gift allows us to draw and wield power from the Light. We are warriors, armed with magical weapons, powerful spells, and abilities with one purpose: defeat the demons and protect mankind. We are the Servants of the Light.”

“Ok, that’s cool, but I still don’t see how this relates to me.”

“The Gift runs in bloodlines, like mine. It runs most strongly in yours. Your ancestor was the greatest among us, able to compel Demons with but a word. He was so Gifted, that we invoke his name to this day when seeking to vanquish demonkind. Iesu. Yehoshua. Jesus.”

“Jesus?” I exclaimed. “What are you saying?”

“You are the direct blood descendant of the King of Kings, Chris.”

“That’s not possible. I don’t believe in God. I don’t believe in Jesus. That’s all just religious clap-trap. And, anyway, Jesus wasn’t married and didn’t have children.”

“His marriage and descendants were kept secret, to protect them. He married a High Priestess in our Order by the name of Mariamne. Together, they worked miracles and used the Gift for the good of mankind. It all began to fall apart when he was tricked into opening a crypt and raising Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus and Desdemona used their powers to find one of Yehoshua’s disciples weak enough to seduce, to corrupt.”

“Wait, you’re saying the Bible stories are all true?”

“Not all of them, no. But, the core of the truth is there. Desdemona seduced Judas, and he betrayed your ancestor to his death. Afterward, our Order took Mariamne and her children to France and hid them away, protecting your bloodline.

“Your father was a member of our Order. When you were young, I was often at your house. When you were six years old, your father was killed in a car accident. After that, I decided to guard you and your mother from hiding. Her passing from cancer was unexpected and tragic.

“Lazarus needs you, and he fears you. You have the power to destroy him and his kind forever. But, it is only through your blood sacrifice that he can open the Gates of Hell so that his infernal master can be unleashed upon the world.”

I sat there, staring at the bearded man. I couldn’t believe his wild story. It was too crazy to be true. Maybe some cult of loonies thought it was real and were acting upon their insane beliefs. Maybe they were all nuts.

“There is one more thing,” Krieg said as his voice faltered. “I am dying, Chris. The Light has allowed me to live far beyond the typical time given to a mortal, but the darkness is coming for me. I have seen it. When I fall, there will be no one left to protect you or to defeat Lazarus. You are humankind’s only hope.

I stared in disbelief, struggling to accept what he was saying. Krieg placed a hand on my shoulder and a flood of images came flashing through my mind’s eye, glimpses of people and places covering lifetimes. It was like hundreds of years of data was suddenly being dumped into my brain. I tried to pull away but he held me tightly as the memories came rolling in too fast to comprehend. I screamed out in pain. I felt like I would explode.

Then, it stopped. I drew a gasping breath and opened my eyes.

I remembered everything.

“You are the last demon hunter.”

THE END OF EPISODE FIVE