Lucas: Origins Of A Demon (6 page)

He sits now in his newly renovated office upstairs in the Demon Ecstasy club, standing by the wide plate glass window, looking down at the busy activity below. There are now three stages in the club, one larger center stage and a smaller stage either side. The center stage is reserved for only the most special of girls, a few of whom are non-human girls that he hired in. Like the girl on stage now, mesmerizing the crowd with her act. The girl is tall, dark haired, finely built. She is also a vampire. On stage now, she is draining the blood from a chicken, allowing the crimson fluid to drip down her succulent body, baring her fangs at the crowd of men who stand transfixed in a state of wanton desire. The men in the crowd (most of them anyway) think they are just watching an act. A few know better. Regardless, everyone is turned on and entertained and happy. That’s all Lucas cares about.

Smiling, Lucas goes and sits down on the brand new red leather couch in his office. He takes out his phone and dials a number that one of his newly hired contacts gave him earlier that day. It is the fourth time he has called the number in the last twenty minutes, getting no answer the first three times. Then, on the fourth attempt, the person he has been trying to call picks up.

“Whoever this is, it better be fucking good to ring me four times in a row.”

“Frank Swanson?” Lucas asks.

“Who wants to know?”

“You’re a hard man to track down, Frank.”

“Who is this?”

“Someone in need of your particular skill set.”

“Oh yeah? What skill set would that be then?”

“I have a bit of a demon problem. I’m told you’re the best man to sort that out.”

There is a snorting sound down the phone, then silence.

“You still there, Frank?”

“Tell me where to meet you,” Frank says finally.

It has come to Lucas’ attention that a group of demons in the city have a certain item that Lucas needs. The very item in fact, that brought him to Mercy City in the first place. Said demons are currently conducting soul-stealing rituals on humans around the city. The demons kidnap an unsuspecting human, perform the ritual to steal the human’s soul and then release the human again. The human has no real memory of what happened to them, but pretty soon, having no soul has a bad effect on them. Inevitably they become violent--murderously so--and they take their violent urges out on other innocent humans. Lucas knows of at least three incidents involving such humans who killed a few people when their violent urges got the better of them. The death toll was not that high, but Lucas knows it will only be a matter of time before there is a full blown massacre, and then the human authorities will start to get worried. What is worse for the humans involved in the rituals is that once they die, they go straight to Hell. To say they will be in for a shock after they die would be understating it. Suddenly finding yourself in a terrifying place like Hell is just something you never get over, no matter how long you spend there.

The ritual being used by the demon gang is a rare one. Some high level demons have the ability to steal souls by their own power alone. Lucas is one of them, a skill he learned in Hell not long before he vacated the premises. If a demon does not have the power to steal the soul themselves, then they must perform the ritual, and to do the ritual, you have to use certain items that are hard, if not nearly impossible to come by on Earth. Quite a few of the items involved--black energy from the Great Adversary, for instance--have to be shipped in straight from Hell. Smuggling such contraband out of Hell is not easy unless you have the authority to bypass the stringent security surrounding the doorways and portals leading to Earth. A demon would have to be very high level to do that, which is why Lucas is thinking that there is a high level demon behind the stealing of all these human souls. Exactly who, he doesn’t know yet.

The only thing he is really concerned about is the one item he knows is required for the soul stealing ritual to work. The item Lucas wants so badly, the item he has been searching high and low for over the last two hundred years. And yet somehow, a gang of scumbag demons has gone and gotten their infernal hands on it.

Lucas is perplexed by the whole matter. His first instinct is to hit the demon gang and steal what he wants so badly. But then he thinks that would be a bad idea, especially if the gang is working for someone higher up than them, which is highly likely the case. So he has to come up with another solution, which is to get someone else to do the job for him, someone who would not arouse too much suspicion.

The best person he could think off for such a job, the only one capable of it, is a Watcher. Ironic that Watchers are the bane in most demons’ lives on Earth. Watchers are Nephilim, half angel, half human. It is the job of the Watchers to police the supernatural world, to ensure the non-humans follow the human laws, which of course, they never do, which usually leads to the death of the non-human. Watchers are like the Judge Dredds of the supernatural underworld--judge, jury and executioner all rolled into one.

Lucas did some digging around the city and one name kept cropping up more than any other.

Frank Swanson.

Frank was well known in the supernatural underworld of the city. Very good at his job, most said. Not to be messed with, all of them said.

He sounded like the man Lucas needed.

And now, Frank Swanson is sitting at the bar downstairs in the club.

Lucas stands by the window in his office, looking down at the surprisingly unassuming guy at the bar. Average height and build, dark hair that needed cutting, clothes that probably needed throwing out years ago. Frank Swanson looks more like a down at heel drunk than a Watcher with a big reputation for being scary and dangerous. In fact, the only thing that seems scary about Frank Swanson is the amount of whiskey he is currently necking, which only backs up what Lucas is now thinking. The man is a burnout. Perhaps not right for the job after all.

Then Lucas sees Frank turn to the two city finance guys at the bar beside him. Words are exchanged, then Frank knocks one of them out cold with a single punch, done with a speed that surprises Lucas and makes him smile. He watches as Frank grabs the other guy by the tie and headbutts him. The city guy crashes to the floor beside his buddy, both now unconscious. Lucas heads downstairs when he sees the bouncers move in towards the Watcher.

It takes a bit persuading before Frank agrees to join Lucas upstairs in the office. The promise of whiskey finally changes Frank’s mind.

“Take a seat,” Lucas says, gesturing to the red couch. “My name is Lucas, by the way.”

Frank stands over by the window, ignoring Lucas’ offer to sit down. “You got that drink there...Lucas?”

“Sure.” Lucas pulls a bottle of whiskey out of a drawer in his new antique oak desk, along with two glasses. He pours a sizable amount into each glass and hands one to Frank, who smells the whiskey in his glass.

“Expensive,” Frank says before sampling the whiskey, then he nods. “Very nice indeed.”

Lucas smiles at Frank, unsure of what to make of the Watcher. On the surface, Frank seems the abrasive type, used to rubbing people up the wrong way, no doubt. Lucas imagines Frank gets into a lot of arguments with people, but he also can see how others would take Frank the wrong way. Underneath the blunt antisocial behavior, there seems to be a decent man. Time will tell, Lucas thinks, and joins Frank by the window.

“This a nice set-up you have here,” Frank says. “Who’d you kill to get it, the guy whose meat suit you’re wearing?”

Lucas shakes his head at Frank’s bluntness. “You certainly live up to your reputation, Frank.”

“Yeah, what reputation would that be?”

“Of a man who cuts through the crap, who gets the job done.” Lucas focuses on Frank. “I’m hoping you live up to that second one.”

“You’re hoping I can sort out this ‘demon problem’ you’re having, you mean.”

“Indeed I am.”

“Let me ask you this. If you have a demon problem, why can’t you sort it out yourself? I mean, you’re a
demon
after all.”

“It’s not that simple. I can’t really be seen interfering with the work of other demons.”

Frank laughs to himself. “Why not?”

“You might find this hard to believe, but I call this world home now. I spent long enough in Hell to know I’d rather be here.” Might as well be honest with the man. Frank doesn’t strike Lucas as the type to tolerate bullshit.

“So what, you expect me to help protect your cushy number, is that it? No thanks.” Frank downs the rest of his drink, is about to put his glass on the desk when Lucas steps in his way. Frank stares at Lucas and Lucas can see the violent intent build in his eyes.

Lucas does not want to antagonize the Watcher. He can’t afford to, especially since he can’t just reach into the man’s mind and gently persuade him to do his bidding. Watchers tend to be immune to that sort of thing, unless you go hard on them, risking brain damage, which would kind of defeat the point of bringing him here in the first place. So Lucas raises his hands and gives Frank a slight smile. “Relax. This isn’t just about me. The problem I have concerns the safety of the whole city. Why do you think I called you?”

Frank walks around the demon and pours himself another drink before planting himself down on the couch. “Okay. You have my full attention. Tell me what’s going on.”

Lucas nods, puts his hands in his pants pockets while he stands over by the window, surveying the busy club below. “There’s a gang of demons running around the city at the moment, deliberately causing havoc, taking over businesses, killing people.”

“What’s new? Isn’t that what you demons do anyway?”

“Not exactly, Frank. You know as well as I do that we mostly influence. Anything beyond that and your kind—Nephilim—step in. Most of the demons on Earth stick to that rule.”

“Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it sometimes,” Frank says. “We’re never done trying to keep the monsters here in line.”

“Nonetheless, the gang that I’m talking about is dangerous. They’re only just getting started on their mission to upset the balance. Someone is leading them, organizing them. I’d like for you to find out who that is, Frank.”

“So you want me to hunt down the leader of this gang, is that it?”

“Yes.”

“And then what? I send whoever it is back to Hell?”

“Yes.”

“What’s your real interest in this? And don’t give me that Earth is great crap you gave me a minute ago.”

A tight smile crosses Lucas’ face. “I wasn’t lying about that, you know. You ever been to Hell, Frank?”

Frank goes quiet for a minute, then says, “No.”

“Well, if you had, you’d know where I’m coming from. Being a demon in Hell doesn’t make it much easier either.”

Frank just nods, drinks his whiskey.

“I know about your Watcher friend,” Lucas says. “The woman. Rachel, is it?” Lucas got his information from another demon. It is his understanding that no one else knows of what happened, since Lucas never heard the incident mentioned by anyone else. The demon he spoke to only knew because the woman in question was as well known as Frank. People thought she had been murdered, or just disappeared after the body of her husband had been found dead in their home, the husband who was also Frank’s brother. Frank and this Rachel had something of a relationship going on, until Frank got himself killed and this Rachel sold her soul to bring him back. It is a tangled web that humans weave sometimes. Not that Lucas intends to mention any of this to Frank. He can see the Watcher is wound up enough by the mere mention of his former lover’s name. Indeed, Frank has jumped to his feet, looking like he is about to attack Lucas, which would be a mistake, but Lucas has a feeling Frank doesn’t care.

After a tense few seconds, Lucas raises his hands. “Listen, I only bring that up because these demons I’ve been talking about are going around stealing souls. There are people walking around out there with no soul, and they don’t even know it. When they die they’ll go straight to Hell, Frank.”

Frank shakes his head and sits back down, seemingly calm again. “How long has this been going on? How many souls have they stolen?”

“It’s not that easy to steal a soul. Only top level demons can do it without a ritual first. These demons are using the ritual. My sources tell me they’ve only done it a few times so far, mainly because the ritual itself is fairly complicated and requires some very specific items to work. Getting those items can take a while, but now the gang has apparently found a way to quicken the process. The amount of souls they steal will increase exponentially.”

“What exactly happens to a person when they lose their soul like that?”

“They lose their humanity, of course. Turn into unfeeling, selfish, not to mention dangerous beings. It’s easy to do bad things when you have no soul, Frank.”

Frank gives Lucas a tight smile. “So what’s the purpose here with these guys? They steal the souls. Then what?”

Lucas steps towards Frank. “Maybe I wasn’t clear. A person with no soul is a ticking time bomb. Enough people out there like that and this city will implode. Imagine the death and destruction just one determined individual could do. That’s their plan, Frank, to make this city self-destruct so they can come in and rule over it.”