Introduction

 

“WILL YOU JUST STOP?!” Alex screamed as she chased the Host through the park. She and Komptin have been chasing this Demon for over an hour and she was getting tired. This stubborn and relentless creature of the Dark got a couple of good hits on her, giving her a small cut on her eye, but she managed to overtake him in the beginning. She would have diminished him, but she got distracted when a teenage couple started walking by holding hands. They had no idea Alex just saved their lives by instigating a foot pursuit. She now regretted that decision because this Host could run...and run. She tried shooting her Lite Beam at it, trying anything to slow it down, but it seemed to dodge every shot.

The Demon turned around and gave her a stare of hate. “You will not see the morning light you…”

Alex caught up and held up her hand to the Host.  She motioned to hold on a minute as she tried to catch her bearings. “Yah, yah, I know, you Lite harlot.” She straightened her posture with her fists ignited before walking towards the Demon. “Seriously, you guys really need to come up with a new insult towards me.”

She had been in this position way too many times before.  This hunt led her into the wrong part of town, surrounded by old office buildings. She could almost sense what was about to happen. The air had a sense of tension to it. Then she heard the Demon start to move. He had the stance that showed he was going to attack but decided to run into the building instead. Alex just closed in her eyes in disbelief and chased it into the structure.

Alex didn’t know why she bothered to try to turn the lights on; they never worked. Just once she would have liked to be on a hunt where the lights would brighten her hunting grounds. A punch was her greeting, knocking her to the floor as the Demon snarled.

The feeling of a combat boot kicking into Alex’s side sent her flying onto the top of an old desk and then she fell to the floor. Alex held her side as she thanked God it wasn’t the side that Sanah had stabbed her on. She stood up with her fist ignited, looking at the pair of glowing red eyes in front her. It opened its mouth in a hiss showing off its massive teeth. It charged Alex at full force flying over the desk. Alex grabbed the Host in mid-air, tossing the dark creature through a window back outside.

Alex immediately regretted her decision for doing that, as she now had to pick up the trail and go after it again. She walked back outside and to her surprise was the Demon stuck on a piece of rebar that was hanging out of a dumpster.

“Oh, nice.” Though impaled with a metal rod, it continued to try to swipe at her with his sharp claws. She closed the lid to one side of the dumpster and sat down next to the Demon. “You’re kind of in a predicament,” Alex told him.

The Demon studied his situation. “I kind of am.”

She never had this opportunity of such an advantage over a Demon to talk to one. “Can I ask you a question?” she tested, pulling out a piece of gum. She offered one to the Demon, but he just shook his head.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said, looking at the rebar, no doubt trying to think of a way to get out of this situation.

“Why did you accept Infiltration?”

“Absolute power over the primates,” he told her. “You all need to be harshly ruled.”

“Yah, I know what you think, but why did you do it?” She stole a quick glance down the alley to see if anyone was coming. “Doesn’t it ever get lonely? This war, this fight.”

“I hate you, Sentry,” the Demon coldly stared at her.

“Try to have a civil conversation.” She hopped down onto the ground and ignited a Lite Spear. “You want anything before you are diminished?”

“Just to kill all that you love,” he hissed.

Alex sighed and shook her head in disbelief before she thrust her Lite Spear into the Host. The Demon’s body melted into the dumpster. It was sad to see that one could not reason with Demons or Infiltrators. All they want is death and power over the people of earth in this life then into the next. Alex couldn’t let that happen. An overwhelming surge to stop them filled her heart, but she feared for the safety of her family. It started to snow. It was so rare to see such fluffy flakes this time of year. A sense of nostalgia overcame her as the snowflakes fell before her, then many started to follow. One snowflake was caught with her hand open. Alex just took a moment in time to watch it melt away before heading back to the church.

 

Chapter 1

 

Anne was deep into her research project that Cardinal Frank assigned to her late last week. She thought she was under higher scrutiny from Father Tom because she was the first Council Historian that wasn’t a Catholic priest and was a woman on top of that. Even though she was inducted into the Catholic Council, it still didn’t give her much room for failure. She knew she was being judged by Father Tom and he wasn't afraid to show it.

Although the work was hard and the pay was just enough for her and Kale to get by, she always thought she was lucky. She enjoyed her job. Father Tom had made it known that he knew she just got the job because she was attacked by a Demon surrounded by Infiltrators and lived to talk about it. It was truly amazing though that she had not told Kale about her true work here. Also, Alex had not told him either about the pivotal role she plays in all this. She always suspected he knew more than what he let on though. Kale Moler always portrayed something different than what was going on inside his head.

Her phone vibrated as she looked to see a text message from him. “Lunch at 11:30?” the message asked.

Anne regretfully replied, “I have to work through lunch today, sorry.”

Kale responded with a sad emoji face and a broken heart. Anne knew she was spending a lot of time at work, and bless Kale, he was being patient about it. She could tell he was starting to miss her. Her attention turned to Alex when she walked into Anne’s office in the basement of the church.

“Hey, I’m hungry, let’s go get lunch,” Alex said, sitting in a chair with her feet on top of Anne’s desk.

Anne had to turn down another person she cared about. “I can’t. Father Tom wants me to investigate the Council’s past records on pre-host conditions. And there isn’t much there.”

“What’s he wanting?” Alex said, looking at an old book sitting on Anne’s desk. Alex opened the book and realized it was an ancient Bible that was unreadable to her. “What language is this?”

“Italian,” Anne said, still looking through an old-looking book and comparing notes she was holding.

“Where did it come from?” Alex asked, thumbing through it. She looked at a picture of Christ performing an exorcism on a poor village peasant.

Anne continued her work. “The Pope gave it to me when I completed my studies in the Vatican.”

“The Pope?” Alex said. “I knew you met him, I thought it was just in passing.”

“He actually sat me down for a good hour discussing historical issues within the Councils,” Anne said, still sifting through her work. “Ugh!” She flung her wavy brown hair behind her shoulders before sitting back. It felt good to remove her glasses for a bit. “How was your night?”

“Komptin and I ran into a Host last night.” From her chair, Alex peered out the window of the old brick church. “It was weird, he ran and ran, really good too. I was having trouble catching up to him.”

Alex heard someone coming down the hall.

“But then it seemed like he just gave up,” Alex turned to Anne, who had resumed studying. “He just turned around, gave a real minor fight and then I diminished him.”

“How come that wasn’t in the report?” Father Tom said, coming into Anne’s office.

Alex’s long, black-weaved hair hit the ground when she tilted her head upwards to see him looking down at her. “Wasn’t a fact, just an opinion,” Alex told him. “Do you have anything to drink?” Alex asked Anne.

Anne pointed to the fridge where she always had a supply of Apollo Energy Drink for Alex.

“I thought you wanted only facts.”

Father Tom went to his paper folder and opened Alex’s report. “Chased down Host from Welsher St. to Francis Ave. Diminished Host. A little bit more effort on your part would be nice to see once in a while,” he insisted.

“Tell you what, you can go risk your life every night hunting Infiltrators, Hosts, and oh yeah, running into Dark Demons while still trying to maintain our little secret here, and I will spend a little bit more time on your reports,” Alex told him while sitting in a chair in front of Anne’s desk.

Father Tom just bit his lip and went to Anne. “Get me your findings on the pre-Host conditions in South Africa by the end of the week.”

“South Africa?” Anne said. “I’ve been working on South America.”

“Well, I need South Africa,” Father Tom said. He turned to leave and stopped himself. “Oh yeah, we are getting a new secretary for the Cardinal. She is arriving tomorrow.” Father Tom added, “She is not a member of the Council so remember—” He pointed to Alex. “Stick to your cover.”

Alex gave him a thumbs up as she continued to drink her energy drink.

“Yes, Father,” Anne told him. Anne watched Father Tom walk away. “You know, when you agitate him, he takes it out on me.”

“I thought priests were supposed to be somewhat compassionate,” Alex said. “Come on, I’m hungry.”

“I really can’t, plus I already turned down Kale’s invitation,” Anne told her. “We were going to go over plans for the wedding. We’re getting so far behind on that.” She shook her head out of frustration.

“You sound stressed.” Alex went back to flipping through another book on Anne’s desk.

“Not as fun as I dreamt as a kid.” Anne nervously laughed. “But it’s coming along.”

“I’m assuming the wedding will be here,” Alex prodded.

“Yes, and I finally asked the Cardinal if he would perform the ceremony, which he agreed,” Anne said.

“He’s a good man,” Alex admired.

Alex remembered how he had helped her through her little misuse of church revenue when she was with Gastrix. He had such a loving, caring affectation as he was getting her out of her situation. The Cardinal protected her from the Council finding out about her reckless spending and helped her get on track with her life before she started making some real major poor life decisions. Alex thought back on how those decisions could have contributed to her death.

Anne nodded. “Yes, he is a good man,” she said going back to her studies.

“So, you got the venue, you got the priest, Dan is going to be Kale’s best man; sounds like everything is on its way,” Alex was observing Anne’s reaction, awaiting a response which seemed to take forever.

“Well, it’s a start,” she replied, putting together the archives of South America.

“Yep, sounds like Kale’s got his groomsmen all ready,” Alex hinted.

“Not really, just the best man,” Anne corrected.

“Sounds like the wedding party is all picked out.” Alex raised her eyebrows at Anne.

“Just about,” Anne said. “I still have a lot of work to do for my side.” Anne continued to read some of the books she had open. Anne’s face had a bit more concentration to it. Alex snuck a view of the book page about on a man who became possessed and then committed suicide prior to the exorcism.

Alex just tapped her can with one of her rings, waiting for Anne.

Anne looked up at Alex through her glasses. “What?”

“So...” Alex wanted Anne to finish up her sentence.

“So… what?” Anne said.

The two of them just looked at each other. “Do you know who your Maid of Honor is going to be?”

Anne was shocked, “I thought that was obvious.” Anne smiled at her.

Alex straightened up in her seat while smiling back with excitement.

“My mother,” Anne quickly replied.

Alex sat there, a little heartbroken. “Oh…” She tried her best not to sound disappointed.

“Of course, it’s you,” Anne smiled at her.

“You have been hanging around Kale too much, doing that to me.” Alex got up, went behind Anne’s desk, and gave her a hug.

“I didn’t think I had to ask; I just thought you would know it.” Anne returned the hug.

“A girl still wants to hear it,” Alex told her.

 

***

 

Kale came home from work and placed his keys on his dresser. It felt so good to change his clothes out of his shirt and tie into something free. He was glad to be home, he hated his job, and even though he was good at it, today was a day he didn’t particularly care for. The only comfort he had was hoping to have lunch with his fiancé, but that got taken away from him as well. There was a continuing nagging in the back of his mind about cleaning the spare room. He thought the room he was going to was occupied by Alex, but she wanted to stay at the church. It was a weird arrangement, but she seemed at peace staying there. If it helped her heal after her brutal mugging a couple of years back, then he had no complaints. Her excuse was she insisted that he and Anne needed to start their lives together. The sentiment was nice, but he knew she was hiding the fact she felt safe in the church. However, there were times he missed having her around like when they were in college, and she was Anne’s roommate. The room just became symbol of what was about to eventually come.

Even though they never really talked about it, he knew this room would eventually have a crib in it. The thought of himself waking up to go to the gym, not finding Anne next to him, and then checking on the baby to see Anne rocking her in a chair feeding their child, gave him a bit of anxiety. That was beaten with a small smile on his face but quickly returned as terror. The thought of the horrors of the world entered his mind—the murders, the political and environmental climate, the rampage of drugs as they make their way into people’s lives. How could he bring a child into this world with it being in so much turmoil?

He had to shake those negative views out. They were not even married yet. The wedding was coming up next spring. He was going to be Anne’s husband. He flashed back to the night, when Anne said they met. Even though they went through grade school together, he and Anne never really talked.

In fact, Kale thought Anne pretty much didn’t like him up to that night at the lake. He wouldn’t have thought in a million years that he and Anne McClure would be getting married. But that night, something special happened.

At the time, Roger had a pretty bad thing for Alex. He constantly hounded after her, and for some reason, he had approached Anne. He saw Roger making Anne feel uncomfortable. So, in Kale’s infinite wisdom, he thought he just had to say something to him.

He walked over to Roger and pretty much scared him away from Anne. He remembered how scared Anne was sitting in the brisk lake air that night. It wasn’t life or death, but more of general fear of the situation she was in.

Her big brown eyes had met with Kale’s. That picture would forever be in his mind. She had him hooked from that moment on. He could tell she was shivering so he gave her his sweatshirt to warm up in. His mind went back to that sweatshirt—on how he never got that sweatshirt back. He liked how she wore it from time to time.

The sound of keys rustling by the door meant Anne was coming home. He watched her come through the door with the mail in her hand. He could tell she had a rough day.

She met him with a beautiful smile. “Sorry I couldn’t do lunch.”

“No big, I get it,” Kale replied, greeting her with a small kiss.

She stopped going through the mail. “You know, you actually do,” Anne said, putting the mail on the table.

“Do…what?” Kale asked, not knowing what she was talking about.

“You really do understand. Your patience, your love, your dedication.” Anne shut the door and locked it. She walked by Kale, grabbing his hand and leading him into the bedroom.

Kale followed his future bride to the bedroom with a smile on his face. Not because of what was about to happen, but because he knew they would be spending the rest of their lives together.

 

*