Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction which will include t/t and m/m relationships, and probably some sex too. If it is illegal in your area to read this, or if you are not old enough to read this (you know who you are), stop here. Otherwise, please enjoy.
The Devil's Gambit, Chapter 13
"An Unclean Spirit"
NOTE: Check out my new website, jaygordonstories.com -- you'll find chapters up through 19 posted there for registered users.
Tom found Baker waiting for him. The woman was a real self-starter and had pulled down a couple of boxes and was ready with addresses to mark on the big map. Tom had just stuck a pin in the last of those when Smith arrived.
"Sorry, am I late?" he asked, looking at his watch.
"No, we both got back and just got down to work," Tom said. "Grab a few more boxes?"
The young man hurriedly pulled down a couple more boxes, and they began their process again. By three o'clock, they tagged the last crime scene and Tom stood before his big map looking at the scattered locations before him. "I think we're going to need that computer, Baker," he said with a laugh. But he waved them over and sat on the table as they stood on either side of him. "What do you see?"
"Sir?" Baker asked.
"You're not just here for your brawn, or for busy work. Use your wanna-be-cop brains!" he teased good naturedly. "What do you see when you look at the map?"
"The scenes are all over the place," Smith said.
"Too all over the place, if they're really related," Baker said softly, after a moment's thought.
"There you go," Tom said. "The pattern could very well be the lack of a pattern. If these cases are related, and at least some of them are, someone went out of their way to commit additional crimes to obscure the pattern. I think, and this is assuming that a good number of these cases ARE related, that some of the crimes are important to a larger plan, and the others are just ... what's the term?"
"Red herrings, sir?" Smith said.
"Exactly!" Tom exclaimed, smacking his hands together. "So now we have to dig through these files, we have to look for commonalities which will show us which ones are the real ones to look for, and then the real pattern may emerge. Maybe they're based in a neighborhood, or only certain targets are meaningful...." Tom got lost in thought before he shook his head and said, "Thanks guys, and I'll see you next Tuesday. And, lips zipped," he added holding up a finger, "even with your cop buddies."
"I don't want it getting out that we might be on to something -- I want to take our time and do this right and not have detectives breathing down our neck. Or worse. I don't want cultists finding out I'm here doing this."
"Yes, sir," they both said, and left him alone. As he looked at the map, he noticed something else. Around the city's main cemetery, there were no incidents at all for at least five blocks in any direction. That, he surmised, would be important somehow. Reaching into his case, he pulled out a small sheet he'd brought from home and pinned it to the wall above the map, obscuring what lay beneath.
On his way out, Tom looked for Pryce but found the man had gone to some meeting or other, so he left him a note: "Just getting started, nothing to report. Tom."
As he was arriving home, he noticed Billy's car in the driveway and smiled. The boy couldn't stay away. So as he entered, he made sure to make a lot of noise so they'd know he was home, but he found them chatting in front of the television as Billy did some school work on his computer.
"Hi, guys," Tom called. "I'll be in my office!"
"Hey," both boys responded. Tom tromped upstairs and sat at his desk. He picked up the phone and called Alasdair at the school, assuming the man would still be there.
"Dr. Franklin," the man answered distantly.
"Alasdair, it's Tom."
"Tom, what can I do for you?" the man responded more warmly.
"David's going to the Halloween Ball," Tom began.
"With whom?" the man teased.
"Well you know the situation," Tom said, worry creeping into his voice.
"My wards are very powerful," Alasdair tried to calm him.
"So is our adversary," Tom replied. "I put the Akkadian Shield on his costume, but I'd still like to be one of your chaperones."
"Well, I suppose it couldn't hurt," Alasdair said, "so long as David isn't mortified by it."
"He'll live. I suspect he might breath a little easier," Tom added.
"Still having a rough time?" Alasdair asked.
"You don't know the half of it," Tom said.
"Hmmm," Alasdair thought for a moment, "he IS seeing someone, right Tom?"
"Yes, a counselor at the University," Tom responded.
"Good," the man answered. "Oh, will Aiden accompany you?"
"I don't know; he'll probably have to work," Tom said. Alasdair laughed and Tom got a bad feeling. "WHAT?"
"Chaperones have to come in costume," Alasdair said with a humorous undertone. "I know how you've always loved to let your hair down...."
"ACTUALLY," Tom began, "I had an idea about that...."
"OH? Do tell?"
"It's a surprise," Tom answered. "Bye!"
"Talk to you later," Alasdair laughed as he sat his phone down.
Tom spent some time preparing his Friday lecture, and was nearly finished when David walked in. "Hi, buddy. You okay?" He noticed the boy's eyes were a little red.
"Yeah," David smiled one of his killer smiles. "Just kind of an intense talk with Amanda today...."
"Want to talk about it?" Tom asked.
"Not really," the boy said, awkwardly standing by Tom's desk, "but, I ... it's just hard." The boy couldn't say what he wanted to say, and more importantly could ask for what he wanted to ask for. Tom stood up and stepped over to the boy and wrapped his arms around him, and he could feel David relax in his arms. Tom gently rubbed the boy's back as he cried a little.
When David was ready, Tom leaned back and smiled at him, "Okay now?"
"Yeah," the boy said, smiling. "Thanks ... for understanding."
Tom patted the boy on the shoulder and said, "Feel like going grocery shopping? I need to get food for dinner tomorrow night since we're having guests."
"Sure," David said, and the two of them left, letting Peter and Billy know where they were going.
When they returned heavily laden with groceries, they were surprised to see Aiden home and tinkering in the kitchen. "What's for dinner?" Tom asked with a curious look.
"Chili," Aiden said. "My specialty. It's a single cop's best friend. You can cook a big batch, and it lasts for a week, and pretty much all you need is a can opener. Of course, in this fancy kitchen, I added a little flair," the man teased.
Tom reached around him and tasted it. "That's pretty good!"
"I have a few surprises up my sleeve yet," Aiden said with a smile and stole a kiss. David and Tom put the groceries away as they talked. After dinner, Tom and Aiden left the boys and relaxed on the couch in Tom's office so Tom could think out loud about the cases he was reviewing.
"It sounds like you are on to something," Aiden said. "Once your through sorting through things, I'd be happy to go over some of the evidence with you. I was at some of those scenes and it really pisses me off that we haven't caught these assholes. Some of the churches ... no one deserves that. And the animals," he added, shaking his head in obvious disgust.
"So the majority of the cases are desecrations?" Tom asked. Aiden nodded. "And animal sacrifices?"
"Most of them had mutilated animals, but some of them were really bad," Aiden said. There's something to look into, Tom thought to himself.
"That will help," Tom said. "Thanks.... I'd like to go out to some of the most recent crime scenes, soon."
"Actually, one of the most recent ones is just a few miles away, Saint Bartholomew's Catholic Church. It was just a few days back...."
"Could we go now?" Tom asked. "I want to feel for residual magical energy, and it fades little by little."
Aiden said, "Let's go!"
A few minutes later they stepped out of the car and walked up to the church. "Where was the desecration? Inside?"
"No," Aiden said, pointing to the church graveyard.
"Really?" Tom asked.
"You haven't read any of the reports yet, have you?" Aiden asked.
"No, just marked the addresses on a map," Tom replied. "Why?"
"A lot of the desecrations were graveyards," Aiden replied
Tom opened the gate and stepped into the graveyard, asking Aiden to stay outside. Tom whispered some words the man couldn't hear and waved his hand all around, and suddenly Tom could see a lot that was invisible to Aiden. "The grave was the old parish priest, Father Sloane's," Tom said rather than asked, though Aiden confirmed. "My God, that's dark," Tom said as he could see tendrils of black fire all around him lingering on the churchyard, but over Sloane's grave it was a nearly solid black, hateful mass of pure, dark energy. "I need to get inside the church now," Tom said urgently.
Aiden knocked but there was no answer, but he recalled that the rectory was just on the other side of the church and he went and pounded on the door. A younger priest, in his thirties, answered the door. "Can I help you?" the priest asked.
"I'm Officer O'Connell," Aiden said, pulling out his badge. "I'm here following up with a special consultant and I wonder if you have a moment?"
"Sure," the man said with a soft smile. "Let me turn off the kettle and I'll be right over," he added, closing the door. Momentarily he returned and accompanied Aiden back to the graveyard.
"Father, uhm ... I'm sorry Father, I forgot your name," Aiden laughed as he was about to introduce the man.
"Tim Welch," the man said, extending his hand to Tom.
"This is Professor Tom Corman, Father," Aiden said. "He's a specialist on the occult."
"Tell me, Father," Tom began hesitantly, "are you a member of an Order?"
"No, though I studied with the Dominicans in Rome," the young man said.
"I'm sorry to beat around the bust here, Father, but this is rather delicate. I know many young priests have a different outlook on things than some of the traditionalists. What's your take on what happened here?"
The priest regarded the even younger professor curiously for a moment and said, "You KNOW, don't you? You KNOW what happened here wasn't a teenager's prank?"
"It was the work of very dark men," Tom nodded. "I need a couple of bottles of holy water. More if you want to help here?"
The priest nodded and unlocked the church, and led the men to the back, where he grabbed his stole and a few plastic holy water bottles of the type he used to travel to home blessings and the like.
He filled them from the holy water font before Tom could ask, "Did you bless the water yourself, Father?" The man shook his head, no, and Tom said, "That won't do. We need fresh water and salt. We must begin clean, with an exorcism of the elements and blessing of the water," he insisted. "It is absolutely essential that the blessings be performed by a man of faith."
"I'm sure Father Fitzsimmons," the man began, but Tom shook his head insistently.
"I don't care if you've had your doubts Father," Tom said, "but at least you believe in something. I'm not about to go out there and do what I'm about to do based on your hope that your colleague has more faith than you do!"
Seeing Tom's intensity, the man got together the necessary elements. He poured out the salt and put his hand over it to declare, "I exorcize you creature of SALT," but Tom could tell he was wavering.
Tom grabbed the man's hand and caught his eye with a fiery gaze and said, "I exorcize you, creature of EARTH," filling the man with confidence as he joined him for the blessings, occasionally replacing the words with his own until the man was able to do it on his own. "Very good, Father. If you feel like you aren't up to this, there is no dishonor in remaining outside the cemetery with Aiden."
"I'm the priest, I feel like I should go. But shouldn't I call the bishop or something. For a major exorcism, an exorcism of a person, you'd need the permission of the Vatican through your bishop, but this is land, and Church land at that, Father. But you know all that."
"I'm sorry, Tom, but its nerves. I ... I'll come out, but ... you CAN do it without me?" the priest asked, nearly shaking. Tom smiled and nodded. "One day, maybe," the man said softly and Tom put a hand on his back.
Tom lead the way outside and up to the gate. "DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, come inside this gate!" The priest nodded, but Aiden frowned. "Aiden, I can handle this, but you aren't prepared. If I have to worry about you, it could hurt my concentration." That got Aiden's attention and nodded.
Tom entered began at the near left corner, shaking holy water and reciting a hallowing prayer, and began working his way clockwise around the perimeter of the cemetery.
Father Welch turned to Aiden and said, "You two don't just work together?"
"We rarely work together, Father. Tom is a professor at the University, and I'm a cop. This is a nearly unique case, with the exception of the Dawson case, which Tom just broke."
The priest nodded, having been following the news, and looked impressed. "But he was very worried you'd be drawn inside. You, not me. And I'm a priest; you're a cop," the man said, letting the question hang between them.
"Because he knows I'd walk through hell for him, Father. Sorry if that bothers you," Aiden said, watching Tom the whole time he spoke.
"Not at all," the young priest said softly. "You're lucky to have each other."
Now it was Aiden's turn to be surprised. "Are you?"
"No," the man smiled. "My baby brother is, though. He's been with a nice man for about five years. I did a little ceremony for them in my parents' back yard. Secret of course." The man smiled again, wistfully, and said, "It's hard to believe any narrow doctrine, even a church teaching, when you see someone you love benefitting from such a wholesome relationship...."
Aiden wiped his eyes a little and felt the man's hand on his shoulder. "You're Catholic?" Aiden nodded. Father Welch squeezed his shoulder and said, "You and Tom, or just you, are welcome here any time, Aiden."
"Thank you, Father," Aiden said, and both men fell silent about the time Tom closed the circle. When he did, the air crackled with energy, and Aiden gasped.
"I felt it too," the priest confirmed.
As Tom walked over to the grave and began to chant a minor exorcism, noises began to burst out from dark places: the caws and screeches of night birds, though there were none, growls and snarls from invisible beasts, voices crying out in languages unknown or long forgotten. Aiden and the priest were looking around for the source of the sounds, but Tom was unmoved as he faced the grave of the parish priest.
As he slashed the air with holy water, shadows around the cemetery began to move and congeal, clumping and consolidating and rolling toward the grave in a heavy cloud until it collected over the priest's plot in a darkness so deep you could lose yourself in it -- the abyss made manifest.
Addressing the form directly, Tom called out distinctly, "Unclean spirit, I bind you by the Name of Heaven! Tell me your name and depart to the Pit!"
Growling and snarling, the cloud elongated and began to take humanoid form. The figure was huge, about 8 feet tall and solid black except for eyes which showed fire. "How dare you, mortal?" it snapped. Just its words were enough to knock Tom on his ass. Then the figure took a step forward and Aiden made for the gate, but the priest grabbed his arm and shook his head.
"That thing will destroy you," he barked. "On your knees!"
The priest knelt down just outside the gate and Aiden joined him. "OUR FATHER," the priest began, drawing the demon's ire. "WHO ART IN HEAVEN!" As Aiden joined him, the demon charged for the two men, only to find itself repelled at the fence by Peter's hallowing spell. "HALLOWED BE THY NAME!"
"I'll tear your bodies limb from limb, you cockroaches," the demon barked.
The priest squeezed Aiden's hand and they moved on as if they paid him no attention. "THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE, ON EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD, AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESSPASSES AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESSPASS AGAINST US, AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION!" By this point, the demon was going mad, and the priest demanded, "Don't stop!" and they began again.
"You have nowhere to go, unclean spirit," Tom called, reminding it he was there. "TELL ME YOUR NAME AND DEPART," he yelled, splashing holy water on the thing. It's cry, deep and furious, echoed fiercely, and both the men outside looked up now.
"You may put me down, but I'll be there when we come, and when we come, we'll come for you. Dozens of us, you helpless faggot," the demon snarled. As he felt another spray of holy water, he said, "We'll rape that boy, David until he dies and then pick up in hell where we left off. We'll put him in the cell next to Jamie." The thing grinned.
Tom felt anger, furious wrath, fill his whole being as he put the holy water in his pocket. The demon charged as he knew it would, and he raised his hands to the heavens, channeling all the energy of that dark anger into words of prayer, "The Light of GOD surround thee, a thousand holy sparks around thee!" As he spoke the words the anguish in his heart spilled over. At first it was like hundreds of lightening bugs poured into the cemetery and swarmed the demon, but slowly and steadily they grew brighter and brighter, not with the harsh brightness of man-made or natural light, but with a purity that dispelled all darkness without overwhelming sight. The demon began to scream, now in pure animal terror. He dared not even swat at the lights lest they penetrate the darkness that was his nature.
Aiden was cut to the bone watching Tom's face and being unable to go to him, but the priest squeezed his hand ever harder to remind him what he had to do. Nevertheless, even the priest was overwhelmed by the pure display of holy light before him, "Holy Mary mother of God!" he whispered.
"TELL ... ME ... YOUR ... NAME!" Tom demanded again.
The circle of light was closing around the demon, impinging ever further on the darkness, and the thing's cries were becoming hard to make out. Finally though, he heard a name from the tumult: Daragon.
"In the name of the most high GOD, I cast you out you unclean spirit, Daragon," Tom began again in earnest, and every time he spoke the name, the entity's cries became more irate and pronounced. It was his true name. The rest took perhaps ten minutes more, filled with lots of noise and prayer, but gradually the din subsided and quiet again fell across the land.
When Tom again opened the gate, he was drained and ready to collapse. The two men quickly got to their feet and supported him under either arm. "Bring him back to the rectory. A moment's rest and something in the stomach should get him back on his feet." Aiden nodded and they took Tom back to the small residence and settled Tom into a comfortable chair. Then the priest went to put hot water on for tea and got out a few cookies and put them on a tray with some mugs
Aiden joined him in the kitchen as he was preparing the tea, and the priest asked, "Who's Jamie?"
"Jamie was Tom's first love, the boy who brought Tom out of a very deep shell. Should have been the love of his life," Aiden said.
"What happened?" Father Welch asked. Aiden filled him in and the man declared, "Sweet Jesus, how much this man must have been through!"
"You don't know a tenth of it, Father," Aiden declared as they returned to the sitting room to find Tom still a little spacey. But true enough, a little caffeine and sugar went a long way to reviving his spirit.
As the men sat around, Father Welch leaned in and said, "You know he was lying, Tom? About your Jamie, I mean."
Tom nodded, "I know."
"But then, why did you lose your temper so?" the man asked.
Tom smiled and shook his head. "I don't know, it pissed me off. That these things could threaten boys as sweet and deserving of a good life as Peter and David, that that ... thing could speak Jamie's name to me, IT'S JUST TOO MUCH!"
"Evil seeks to destroy the good most of all. What's gained by destroying the corrupt?" Father Welch asked, rhetorically. Tom nodded and the man continued, "Tom, I.... Could you help me?"
"I thought I already had?" Tom teased, his good humor returning.
"True enough," the man smiled. "I mean, could you help me prepare? I mean, I studied this stuff in Rome, but nothing like this. What happened tonight was real."
"I don't know, Father. I feel like you were better off never having seen this," Tom said, sounding guilty.
"It confirmed what I've always known," the priest said. "As a boy, growing up, I had an uncle. They said he was disturbed, but I knew it was something else. I once heard him talking to himself secretly in the barn."
"That's common enough with the deranged," Tom smiled.
"But the voice that spoke back to him wasn't his, and it wasn't coming from inside him," the priest replied. "I wrote it off as overactive imagination as I grew up, but that was because I was afraid."
"And are you afraid now?" Tom asked.
"Terrified," the man said, "but if I believe in the thing I saw, then I believe in the power that repelled it," the man said.
"Good answer. Give me a call and let's set it up. But for now, I'm bushed!" Aiden helped Tom up and the men exchanged email and phone contact information before parting.
As they drove home, Aiden said, "You sure know how to show a guy a good time," and they both had a laugh. When they got home, Tom pulled out his notebook and wrote down two words: Sloane and Daragon. Then he went straight to bed after telling David and Peter good night, even though it was still early. The kind of emotion and energy he had spent weren't quickly replenished.
As he slid beneath the covers, he almost immediately fell asleep, and never stirred when Aiden got in next to him. In fact, when Friday morning came, Aiden had to work to get Tom out of bed so the man wouldn't miss class.
At the end of his second class, Tom announced, "I won't be having office hours this afternoon. Afraid I'm feeling a bit worn down. IF you need me, email me, otherwise I'll see you Monday. Maggie, could you stay for a moment?" After class had cleared, he said, "Aiden agreed I should do it, so I'll offer to be the advisor to the GSA, starting as soon as possible. How's your research coming?"
She smiled slyly and said, "Fascinating!"
He laughed at her and hurried off to his next class. He left campus right after that and got dinner started before laying down for a nap. It was only when David entered the house with Sebastien and yelled, "TOM?" that he finally woke up. He wandered out into the house and groggily said, "Hey guys! Do you need a snack before dinner?"
"I'll grab us something," David offered, laughing. "You should go get ready! Your hair would make a straight guy cringe!" Sebastien giggled cutely at that and Tom waved them off until he caught sight of his wild hair in the mirror.
"Hell! I'm going to just take a shower," he said.
"Can I come?" Sebastien asked, blushing and giggling at his own joke.
Tom wagged a finger at him as he walked away. "I think I've let a monster genii out of the bottle! David, don't let this one alone unless everyone's decent!"
The boys laughed as Tom closed the door. "Tom is pretty cute for an old dude, though," Sebastien said under his breath, not intending for David to hear. But the big smile on the boy's face revealed he had, and Sebastian turned purple with embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it, dude. Even I know you speak the truth," David said without a hint of embarrassment, trying to make the boy feel more comfortable. "Look, I know I'm not as good as an skinny-jean wearing, emo, but you can talk to me about this stuff. It's got to be terrible to feel like there's nobody to talk to about guys and sex and shit!"
Sebastien blushed and nodded. "You're way better than that guy," Sebastien said honestly, and got a rush -- not sexual, but intimate in that brotherly sort of way -- when David wrapped a muscular arm around him and led him off to the kitchen. "Except...."
"EXCEPT!" David said exaggeratedly, teasing the boy.
"Well, at least an emo dude would make out with me. But that would be weird since your my sister's boyfriend, I guess," the boy laughed.
"You've gotten way funnier since you pranced out of the closet, soul sister," David winked, grabbing a drink for Sebastien and himself. "You hungry?" The boy shook his head. "Want to play Wii?"
"Sure!" the boy said, and they zoned out in front of the television.
When Tom returned, he was refreshed and looking immaculate. The boys barely acknowledged him as he went about getting the house ready for guests, setting the table and the like. He tossed the salad and got some bread ready. Aiden hurried in and headed for the shower to get ready himself, and he heard David tease the man about BO.
A few minutes later the bell rang, and Tom met Walt and Martha at the door. "Come in," he said, giving each of them a hug as they passed.
"Sorry we're early," Walt said, noticing Aiden's absence.
"No worry, no need to stand on formality. Aiden's just getting freshened up after his shift. He'll be in in a minute."
"I was just so looking forward to seeing you. The last couple of visits have been so nice," Martha said, wringing her hands. Tom put his arms around the woman and gave her a big hug.
"Mom," he whispered, "I'm so sorry for pulling away," he said with tears in his eyes. She put a hand on his head and stroked it gently as his tears fell on her shoulder.
"Oh, sweet boy, I do understand. But I'm glad it's over," she replied.
He coughed and wiped his eyes, finding Walt had wandered away to give them some time alone. "If I'm here, you just come on over when you like. You don't have to call."
"You're too sweet," she said, forgiving him his words.
"No, mom, I mean it. I've really missed you!" Mistaking the look in her eyes, he said, "You don't mind if I call you that, do you?"
Grabbing his hand, she said, "You always did, and I'd be hurt if you didn't!"
Arm-in-arm, they joined Walt in the living room, where he was chatting with the boys, telling them about the cabin. "Walt, Martha, you know David! You remember his future brother-in-law, Sebastien?"
They'd met the boy at the picnic, but he'd been so quiet and subdued they barely noticed him. Walt had forgotten they'd met. "You joke with David, but Martha and I were dating in high school," Walt said.
Tom laughed but then notice Martha was staring at the boy. "Mom?" he asked. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, sorry," she said, shaking her head. "Nice to see you again."
Tom was still watching her closely, but said, "Sebastien is spending the weekend with us while his parents are away." Walt returned to his conversation with the boys, which Aiden joined when he emerged, and Martha followed Tom into the kitchen.
"Tom," she said quietly, "do you have that little album of photos of Jamie I sent you after he died?"
"Of course," he said. "It's in my desk upstairs. I must admit, I haven't really looked at it much. It's so hard...."
"Could I see it?" she asked, and followed him upstairs after he nodded.
"Martha, are you," he began to ask but she cut him off with a raised hand and said, "You wouldn't see it, of course," as she flipped through the little book. Then she handed it back to Tom. There was a picture of Jamie at about thirteen, smiling brightly up at his mother from the floor, where he sat working on some school project.
Tom had to sit down when he saw it; it was like a blow to the gut. "He changed so much as he aged," Tom said.
"No, it just seems that way to you because you knew him as a grown boy," Martha smiled. "That's why my breath was simply taken away. I just don't see how Walt can sit there and chat with him and not STARE!" she added with a laugh.
Tom was staring at a picture of the boy who had grown up to be his first true love, and he had to really examine it to be sure it wasn't the boy on his living room floor.
Thanks to Jim B. for corrections!