09: A Demonically Devine Mission

“In the synagogue, there was a man possessed by a demon,
an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,
“Ha! What do you want with us...
Have you come to destroy us?...”
“Be quiet!” Jesus said sternly. “Come out of him!”
Then the demon threw the man down before them all
and came out without injuring him...
And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.

Luke 4:33-35

“Logan Sykes?” an older priest said excitedly as they exited their car, reaching out and shaking his hand, as he nodded. “It’s an honor meeting you. We’ve been at wit’s end with this one. Please, everyone, come inside and make yourselves comfortable.”

Logan surveyed the others, who shrugged, so he raised his hand up as Jie and Aiesha glanced around, searching for something. They suddenly brightened, smiling confidently, so he turned back to the awaiting priest.

“Sorry for the holdup. We were ... waiting for something.”

“The name’s Steven Herbert,” he said, pronouncing it with the Louisiana ‘a-bear’ pronunciation. “I hope you weren’t having second thoughts, though you’re likely to once you hear the details. Miss Dascălu is inside. She arrived before you.” How he ever pronounced her name correctly surprised them. Apparently, he paid attention to such information, which probably helped in his role as a spiritual counselor.

“We have an interesting situation,” he began. “Our first attempt went horribly wrong. After Father Thomas—my senior priest in this affair—broke his arm, the family refused to try again. After hearing from Ioana, we suggested your alternative treatment, and they reconsidered.”

“Logan, Leslie, Ai and Jie,” the older woman called, rushing out of the building. “Glad to see you again. Looks like your hands are full with this onesk. We have much to do, but first, how do you plan to proceed? Won’t draining this being’s energy harm the girl?”

“Before we continue, we should warn you,” Logan dropped his voice, despite there being no one else within hearing range. “We brought Mattie along.” Ioana brows shot up, her eyes unfocused, and she scanned the area, but had to shield her eyes due to the morning glare.

“Who’s Mattie?” Fr. Herbert asked, glancing around.

“It’s a little hard to explain.”

“No, it’s not,” Leslie said. “She’s the ghost who was in our home and feeding off our energy. Thanks to Ioana, we learned she was like us. But after our last effort, she was beside herself with worry after we were gone most of the day and while attending the hotel’s celebratory dinner. Though, for some reason, she’s fine whenever we go to school, shopping or anything else.”

“And you think it’s wise bringing one deceased spirit while you’re attempting to eliminate another?” Ioana pressed.

“She has a valid point,” Fr. Steven noted.

“We’ve debated it,” Logan explained, “fairly extensively, too. The thing to understand is, Mattie’s not like other spirits. Since she’s like us, and has done this for much, much longer, she’s different from the other departed souls. We now think our traits aren’t entirely genetic but are at least partially spiritual. Thus, just as we see and interact with the deceased, she not only retains those same skills, but also many of her human capabilities.”

“Hold on,” Ioana cautioned. “Where is she?” Jie, as usual, stood slightly behind her indicating Mattie’s presence just ahead and to the right of their Roma associate.

“Do you prefer that name?” She paused before shaking her head, speaking to the others. “Sorry, but I’m starting to think of her like you do, as another human.” She turned back to her. “Mattie, how did you come here? Did you walk, drift, glide or...?” After a moment she nodded.

“It seems, once you left your house, she ‘followed you’, appearing wherever you were without actually accompanying you. I’m guessing, if you stopped for ice cream, she’d show up there too. But she has no conscious memory of the time between one event and the other.” She glanced at Logan and the girls. “Still think she’s like you?”

“We never thought she’s exactly like us, but she’s still more rational than any spirit we’ve yet encountered.”

“I’ll agree with that. Mattie, what are you planning to do here today?”

“We agree—” Jie said, before Ioana held up her hand, stopping them.

“Well, she does know our plan, and being familiar with it, understands what’s involved.”

“She likely knows more about it than any of us,” Leslie argued. “Not only has she done it longer, but she’s experienced what it’s like on the other side. She fully comprehends the implications and can hopefully tell us what doesn’t work, and what’s problematic or questionable.”

“Wait,” Fr. Steven asked. “You’re actually conversing with another ghost you’re bringing in as a consultant to eliminate the first demon?”

Ioana’s head snapped around. “That term is highly offensive. According to Mattie, they’re not demons, they’re ... motivated by different ... considerations.”

“You can believe whatever you want, but they draw their strength from somewhere. If it’s not hell itself, then PECO would be interested in tapping into it to power the city for a fraction of their normal cost.” He considered Logan and his crew. “Do you honestly think this is safe?”

Logan glanced at the others, before answering. “We do. After working with Mattie for the past five days, and sharing some intense, personal moments together, we’d trust her with our lives.”

Fr. Steven contemplated that. “Then barring any contradictory expertise, I’m fine with it. Just, if things go south, I’ll assume you can handle whatever occurs?”

“That’s what we’re here to discover, but yes, we firmly believe we are, and Mattie strengthens our position, instead of weakening it.”

“Good, then let’s continue,” Fr. Herbert said.

“Actually, she’s convinced me too,” Ioana admitted, without revealing why she’d so rapidly changed her stance. “But my initial question remains, how are you planning to tackle this particular situation?”

“We worked on it fairly extensively,” Logan reflected. “We’ll bring the spirit to us, rather than confronting it directly. Once you restrain the girl in her room, it will be forced to come to us, where we’ll be free to combat it. You can then take her to safety somewhere else.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan,” Fr. Steven agreed, nodding. “But can you successfully bribe it, and are you prepared to fight it, once it does?”

“We’ll never know until we get there, but as far as attracting it, that’s the easy part. Once we start showing each other a little love, it’s sure to come running. Since we disburse the spiritual energy it requires, it won’t be able to resist. When it does, we’ll simply back up, drawing it further away so you can get the victim out. While we’re backing away, we’ll be draining it of the power necessary to inflict any serious harm.”

“It seems you’ve given this some substantial thought,” he acknowledged. “It’s much more elegant than trying to convince the demon to abandon her body. Do you need to know the details about them: who he was, how he died, or who the girl is?”

“Pardon me,” Ioana interrupted. “But was this your idea, or Mattie’s?”

“Well, because we can’t communicate directly with her, we ... presented our plans to her, and she ... agreed.”

“Let me double check, before you go marching in,” she cautioned. “Mattie, is what they’re planning legitimate?” She partially closed her eyes for a moment, before nodding. “And you can’t think of a more effective approach?”

Satisfied, she turned to Logan. “She agrees and admits you’ve managed to learn several things her pod hadn’t considered. She’s ... interested in seeing how you do this, though reserves the right to suggest corrections, if your strategy doesn’t work as well as you’re hoping.”

“We wouldn’t expect anything else,” he acknowledged.

“Returning to your question,” Leslie resumed, “we don’t particularly need anyone’s personal details. Though knowing them will likely make us fight that much harder, as we’re not simply releasing this particular spirit to try again somewhere else. We’ll need to physically destroy it, utterly eliminating it so it can never recover. As long as we have any doubts, it’ll be difficult for us to commit sufficiently to finish the deed.”

“The deceased man’s name was Réémy Abadie. We conducted extensive research, trying to authenticate his existence, but found nothing official.”

“Pardon me,” Aiesha asked. “How do you know his name if it’s not listed anywhere? Isn’t there some documentation? A death certificate, rental agreement, election records or personal exchanges of some sort?”

“Not that we’ve been able to uncover. We suspect he was an illegal immigrant, who changed his identity when he fled France—though that’s entirely conjecture on our part. He likely did it to disguise a criminal record or a compromised background. While the name is French, there’s no guarantee he was ever a French citizen, as there are multiple French speaking countries or small French enclaves scattered throughout the world.

“But we know it, because he’s a chatty Cathy. We’ve gathered a limited grasp of who he is based solely on his personal claims.”

“Have you learned anything else?” Jie asked Ioana. “Surely, you’ve managed to garner something in addition to his own grandiose assertions?”

“We haven’t, which is odd. Normally it’s the sole knowledge we possess of anyone in these cases. But Rémy’s a unique case. Because he’s loud, obnoxious and abusive, he’s unlike other lost souls searching for assistance. He’s all about power: exerting it, claiming it and announcing it to everyone. Thus, I doubt we can accept anything he says, as he changes his story whenever it suits him. If he’s as old as he claims, there should be some record of this behavior before, so I’m guessing he’s changed names after his death.”

“This also appears to be a Judaic, rather than a Catholic possession,” Fr. Steven added. “The difference is central to the discussion. With Judaic possession, individuals are either possessed by God or they’re dybbuk possessions, where someone inhabits another to atone for sins they’ve committed. In Catholicism, all possessions are ‘ordinary’ demonic possessions—based on everyday temptations—or they’re extraordinary, where victims possess superhuman strength, experience revelations, and are blasphemous and obscene. Thus, he seems to be an odd mix of the two. He appears driven by something in his past that he’s trying to make up for through his obsession with personal power.

“In that case, the key is where the energy he’s channeling originates, and what is he hoping to accomplish. Unfortunately, since he’s unwilling to communicate anything specific, it’s difficult to determine.”

“It’s obvious you’ve put a lot of thought into this,” Logan observed. “However, from our perspective, we’re coming at it purely from a mechanical basis. Specifically, does he need help in passing into the great beyond, or do we need to eliminate him. Since we’re not guided by any religious traditions, we’re not tied to any set doctrine, we’re simply interested in results.”

“Be wary, as this particular case may be linked to something far from your understanding. If so, you’ll need to tread lightly lest you provoke powers beyond your ability to control.”

“Alas, we won’t know until we encounter him, but it’s why we’re here, to understand exactly how problematic these situations can become. So far, we’ve managed them, even if it takes multiple attempts. In the worst case, we can free the girl and hopefully hold Rémy off long enough to get away. In the best, this ends today.”

Ioana held her hand up, silencing them once again. They glanced at one another, but no one had any clue what she was concerned about. A moment later, she responded.

“Mattie warned me Kelsey is in distress, fighting for her life, but Rémy’s control is too tight, too extreme. She can feel the girl’s energy which keeps her soul alive.” She glanced pleadingly at the priest. “She warns it’ll soon be too late. If we don’t do something, he will subsume her whole personality!”

He glanced between her and the young teenagers. “Kelsey Fitz is the possessed twelve-year-old girl. As I noted, her family is beside themselves with worry. She’s a wonderful girl, but we haven’t heard from her the entire time we’ve worked this case, a week after the possession was first reported.”

“How did Fr. Thomas break his arm?” Leslie demanded.

Steven frowned. “He was bodily thrown by Kelsey/Rémy. He was trying the traditional ‘laying on of hands’ when he was tossed—without being touched—eight feet, striking Kelsey’s bedroom wall.” He removed his keys while glancing at Ioana, who’d paled since her last pronouncement. “Mattie’s range is pretty astounding. I can answer any further questions, but it’ll take us nearly twenty minutes to reach her by car. If she’s correct, we best leave immediately. You can stow your bags in my car, because this assignment has everyone in the church frantic and there’s no one to secure your elongings.”