18. Hulett.
18
Hulett.
“ Lucifer (Latin), the light bringer, or morning star (planet Venus at dawn as seen by ancient Romans), herald of the dawn. Satan (Hebrew), the adversary in the three major Abrahamic religions. The prince of evil spirits. Lucifer is often represented by a man with a torch in the earliest mentions, then later as a winged fallen angel (or jinni in Islam). The many mentions of a powerful demon beguiling men and women lead us to believe he existed for a few centuries. As of today, Satan stays a myth, and no living exorcist ever faced him. All mentions of exorcism ended in failure.”
-Extract from the State Exorcist’s Manual , edition of 2047.
WASHINGTON STATE, 2043 / WYOMING, 2043
I spent my seventeenth birthday in the cabin in the woods with Lucifer as my only companion. Fear paralyzed me since I’d learned that I wasn’t just possessed by a devil, but by the Devil himself. The original adversary. The ancient serpent. The father of lies. Satan .
He laughed when I brought up all the names he had been called over the centuries. I’d studied him briefly in demonic theory classes.
“ Your zealots always liked to paint me as the great enemy ,” he said. “ I asked to meet their gods, but they could never provide. You humans like to make up imaginary figures to rule over you. I refuted their baseless beliefs, and they saw me as the adversary. But I am the Light Bearer. Lucifer is the only name in your world that was faithful to my true nature .”
The morning star.
He hadn’t been lying when he said he walked the Earth before the birth of our prophets. Demons lived long lives, and he was one of the oldest. Combined with the difference in the passing of time in Hell, he’d been coming to my world for thousands of years.
“But why come to our plane at all?” I dared to ask.
I didn’t expect him to actually answer. Who was I, compared to him, but a puny creature?
And yet, he did.
“My species has always been the travelers of worlds. It was the source of our power and our downfall. For when you get a taste of the other planes, you eventually stop coming back.”
Planes , plural. There were other worlds than Earth and Hell. I was reeling.
I sat on the couch at the center of the cabin. A snowstorm raged outside. “You said you were the last one…”
“ I am .”
“Why risk it? Why not stay in Hell?” I asked.
“ I am afraid I have lost the battle, and your world is now all I crave. Hell has lost all its appeal. But my body survives in it, still. ”
The Devil, it turned out, was obsessed with Earth. We fascinated him, and he spent centuries among us, possessing humans to get a taste of our humanity, over and over again. He witnessed the rise and fall of entire civilizations, the change of eras, and the making of the greatest inventions.
Demons have powers beyond our imagination and can live ten times longer, but they’re a warring people. They fight and bleed for control over Hell. They don’t have our technology, the cinema, or our vast libraries…
“ Humans are the most resourceful creatures I have ever encountered during my travels, ” he admitted by the end of the night.
The storm was still raging outside, and I sat closer to the fire. We both liked the heat.
“We are?” I asked, a little proud.
“ Yes. Fools, but resourceful .”
I laughed. I was getting comfortable with his presence inside me once again. Lucifer and I had always danced to a strange tune. He’d taken possession of my body, but also saved me from a certain death the day my mother sacrificed me. He’d been the bane of my existence, but my only protector.
“What do you need me for?” I asked.
I hadn’t forgotten what he said to me years ago. He needed a mutated body that could survive his power—a painstakingly slow mutation to accommodate it—for the task ahead.
He stayed silent for so long; I thought it was the end of his revelations. Until he said, “ I need a body of my own to find and close the gate of Hell .”
Undiluted fear surged back. “The—the gate?”
Was there an actual physical point that connected both planes?
“ I call it so for a lack of a better word. There was a tear in the fabric between our worlds a few years ago. I felt it, as if space and time shuddered. The passage has become easier, and now any demon can travel with no need for skill .”
I rose from my position in front of the fireplace and paced the small cabin. It made so much sense and explained the increase in demonic activity in the last ten years.
“And you want to close this… tear? The gate?” I said.
Why would Lucifer—the Morning Star himself—want to help humanity?
“ I do. For your world’s fragile beauty shouldn’t be tainted by the savage beauty of mine .”
For a creature as old as Lucifer, few things mattered. But Earth, it seemed, did. It’d been his playground for centuries. He’d had a hand in many of the historical events that shaped human society.
I sat back on the dusty pelt in front of the fire and spared a thought for my rented car in the storm. The snow would bury it by morning.
“What now?” I asked.
“ You are not ready. Your body is not strong enough to hold on to my power. It will take longer. ”
A few months or years were nothing to him. But for me, it was everything. It was all the time I had left.
“I’ll go back to Ketron Island and finish my training,” I said. “I’ll help you find the gate’s location, for as long as I am…” I hesitated. Alive wasn’t the right word. Lucifer told me I wouldn’t die, but that I would be absorbed. I would become a part of him. “For as long as I am me,” I finished.
He hummed quietly. “ You are a part of the beauty of this world, little one. I will protect you, in all forms, along with your reality .”
I blushed, strangely. It was the best compliment anyone ever told me, and it came from the Devil. What did that say about my life?
I stood up and stumbled to the bed in the cabin’s corner. I was exhausted. The surge of power he’d used during the exorcism the previous day took a toll on me. And I reeked of anxiety, but I was too tired to wash. The thick comforter was cold, yet I welcomed its embrace.
I shivered and asked, “Are you really an angel?”
I meant it as a joke. I knew religions were a heap of absurdity, but he said, “ Yes. My species, the original travelers, have feathered wings. They called us many names, and among them angelos . The messengers. Although we have nothing to do with your god. ”
I was completely baffled. I had so many questions, but sleep was already dragging me under, like a deep sea creature pulling me down in the abyss.
I fell asleep wondering if it meant I was not only part demon, but an angel too.
Come morning, I packed my things, freed the car of its white layers, and drove back to the base. On the road, my phone got reception once again. There was one text from Robb who wished me a happy birthday. It was the first time anyone ever sought me out for my birthday.
Lucifer was right. There was beauty in my world. We needed to protect it at all costs.
It took a few more weeks to finish my training on Ketron Island. With Lucifer’s knowledge of Hell and its creatures, I became the best exorcist the instructors had ever seen. I could send back a demon to the other plane with a few words. I knew all of their weaknesses. And my personal connection to Hell through Lucifer’s power made it easier. I walked away from Ketron Island with a reputation.
They offered me a two-week leave to see my family before my work as a State Exorcist began, but I refused. Where would I go? My only friend was an exorcist.
To my delight, Robb had requested that I joined his team. He’d made a name for himself during the months when we hadn’t seen each other.
On a cold Marsh morning, I took a plane for Wyoming with a bag containing only what I needed as a State Exorcist: my black uniform, supple body armor, combat boots, and weapons. When the check-in officers screened my bag and found the weapons, I had to pull out my shiny exorcist badge for the first time. They didn’t believe me, even after scanning it, and called the authorities. An awkward hour later, they apologized profusely and let me on the plane.
No one came to pick me up at the airport. I was a little disappointed, but I understood. Robb had a lot on his plate. I took a taxi that drove me to an address in a small town called Hulett.
The rolling hills were green, and the sun was high in the sky. I was uncharacteristically hopeful. I had a grand purpose in life and I was good at it.
Our temporary hideout for the mission was an old farmhouse. I knocked on the front door and waited a good while before someone came to the door. The exorcist who welcomed me had been in training for a few weeks when I arrived at Ketron Island. He recognized me immediately.
“Jesus. You’re still alive?” he said, bleary-eyed.
I nodded. “Yup.”
“You’re the new guy?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
By then, I had grown accustomed to such reactions and took it all in stride.
“Good lord.” He opened the door wider. “Come in. And be quiet, the others are sleeping. We usually have hotel rooms, but this shithole doesn’t have a hotel, so we make do.”
I followed him inside the house. There were two people sleeping in the living room, one on the couch, and one on a camp bed. Demons were active at night, and so were exorcists.
“Well, then, make yourself comfortable,” he said. “I’m going back to bed.” And he disappeared behind a door.
I waited in the kitchen for hours for the others to rise. I didn’t dare talk to Lucifer, not in a house full of exorcists, so I read a book I’d found on top of the fridge.
When, at last, I heard noises in the rest of the house; the sun was setting down over Hulett. Robb walked into the kitchen looking for coffee, and stared.
His face was leaner than it used to be, and his jawline sharper. Bruises darkened his eyes, and his skin had a waxy pallor. He didn’t spend time under the sun like he used to.
“Jon?”
“Hey,” I said timidly.
For a heartbeat, I feared everything had changed. Robb had moved on from his time on Ketron Island, and no longer cared about me. I was just the latest newcomer to his team.
But a smile lit his face. “Jon! I forgot you were coming today!” He crushed me into an embrace, and the world was right again. “I’ve missed you, you little fucker. I’ve heard you were the shit during training,” he said, stepping back.
“No, I’m just—”
“Oh, shut up. I had to fight other captains to get you to my team.” He laughed. “Apparently, you’re efficient at exorcisms. I’m more of a hit first, ask questions later type of exorcist, and the higher-ups aren’t happy with my numbers. They’re testing an invention to use on the field—some kind of device to store demons. So, they want us to up our game. Coffee?” he asked.
I nodded eagerly. It had been our routine on Ketron Island to drink coffee together every morning before training. I’d stopped putting sugar in mine to be like him. The bitter taste reminded me of those perfect times.
We spent the next two hours catching up while the other six team members rose and got ready for the night. All of them looked as exhausted as Robb. They were a ragged bunch, and I wondered if demon hunting was so much worse than training.
Then, after eating pizzas delivered from another town, they briefed me on the mission.
“We’ve been here for a week, doing reconnaissance,” Robb explained. “They sent us to investigate rumors of a satanic cult summoning demons to our world. The fuckers bought an old church and restored it. We were planning to go in tonight. Do you feel up for it? Usually, we don’t throw newcomers into the thick of it, but I know you’ve got it in you.”
The others look unsure, but I didn’t care as long as I had Robb’s approval. I felt pride because he chose me.
“Yes,” I said.
I’d been dealing with Lucifer himself for years. A Satanic cult was nothing in comparison.
“We’ll protect you,” he continued. “We’ll all be using Angels’ Tears. However, they warned me against giving you any. You’re still underage.”
I frowned. I’d heard rumors about the new drug. It was highly addictive. I should have noticed it in their feverish eyes.
Another exorcist, Lucy, snorted and rolled her eyes. “So he’s free to get killed by a demon, but not do drugs?”
Robb nodded. “I don’t make the rules.”
Lucy squeezed my shoulder. “Don’t worry, kid, we’ll be there.”
I refrained from saying that being Lucifer’s host gave me an edge their substance would never match.
The eight of us rode in two cars to get to the Devil’s Den —that was the actual name of the church. Apparently, there was a famous landmark a few miles away, called the Devil’s Tower, and so no one batted an eye at the strange name.
The Devil’s Tower was a supposedly natural formation, like a broken giant tooth rising from the prairie.
“For years, we thought it was a geological feature,” Robb explained on the ride to town. “But now we’re not so sure. Maybe the veil between Hell and Earth is thinner on that spot. This would explain its shape, as if something pushed matter upward, creating a mountain.
I used my phone to search for a picture and gaped when I saw the strangeness of it.
“ Sound theory ,” Lucifer said in my head. “ We have similar geological patterns in Hell. ”
It was worth looking into.
“We think that’s why the cult chose this location,” continued Robb. “That and the fact that Hulett is almost a ghost town. There was an accident ten years ago, in the coal mines. More than a hundred miners died. Most families moved out in the tragedy’s aftermath. The cult bought houses and land for pennies.”
We parked the car in front of the Devil’s Den —the time for discretion was over.
The satanic church looked straight out of a horror movie. It was painted black, as if covered in soot after a fire, and there were burning torches on each side of the entrance. I tried my best not to show my unease.
The others looked… eager .
Robb pushed the door open; the wood creaked ominously. At the end of the aisle stood a tall statue of a goat-headed demon with hooves. Dark tapestries hung from the ceiling, depicting giant pentagrams. Everything was… terribly cliche and in poor taste.
“ That is Abaddon, King of the Chasm ,” said Lucifer. “ You humans often confuse him with me .”
He sounded annoyed and disgusted. I would also be if someone mistook me for a goat instead of an angel.
The church held a crowd of cult members. A dozen faces turned toward us.
“Midnight mass?” Robb said in the silence. “You should have invited us…”
All hell broke loose. They knew who we were; we all wore the same State Exorcists’ body armor. Most of them scrambled away to hide behind the statue, but a few pulled out honest-to-god swords.
Robb laughed. He grabbed something in his pocket, some kind of small device, and inhaled the content of a silvery vial. His head snapped back, and air gushed out of his lungs like wind along a narrow cliff. His pupils were dilated, and a twisted smile contorted his face when he looked at me. He pulled out a long knife from his belt.
The others followed his example, and in seconds, our little army had inhaled enough Angels’ Tears to bring down an elephant.
They pushed me behind as they jumped into the fray. Most of the attackers were possessed, but their demons remained uncontained. Their faces morphed as the demons took over with ferocious glee.
Robb cut open the first man who got in his way from navel to neck. He went down in a pool of blood. Two other exorcists, the one who had welcomed me to the farmhouse, and another called James, dropped a possessed woman over a pew, breaking her back.
Nobody had prepared me for what my first day would be. Nothing was happening according to protocols. The exorcists were high on the Angels’ Tears, drunk on their own strength and destruction. They didn’t take time to exorcise demons, they just plowed right through the cult members. Robb and his team were renowned for being one of the best. Was this the purpose of our training?
I dropped to my knees beside an unconscious host. Multiple wounds caused him to bleed profusely, and his jaw was broken. If I sent his demon back to Hell, would he survive his injuries?
“ Hell on Earth ,” Lucifer said. “ It has started .”
I looked up at the carnage. He was right. It was a nightmare. That was what awaited us if the gate stayed open.
A possessed tried to jump at me, but Lucy smashed a vial of holy water on his head. A few drops fell on my skin and sizzled.
“Come on, newbie! Stay sharp!” she said with a smile and crazy eyes.
But then the demon lurched and buried his hand in her gut. Lucy’s smile died on her lips as she fell. No amount of Angels’ Tears could save her from such an injury.
I screamed and jumped over the possessed. Surprise registered on his blistering face before the back of his skull hit the floor with enough force to knock him out. I drew a cross on his forehead with Lucy’s blood and sang the Latin words. Centuries of human magic and beliefs imbued the simple symbol, and I sent the demon back to Hell. He was gone before I even finished the song. I left the host on the floor and went looking for my next target.
I exorcised three more cult members—one of which I doubted would survive—before I realized we had lost two more exorcists. New possessed were coming from the church’s back door, and we were losing the fight. Robb and his team had wildly underestimated the threat. It wasn’t just a small gathering of satanists, but a town-wide devilish plague. The demons had taken over Hulett and we were fighting for our lives.
Robb roared and stabbed a woman in the back to save one of his exorcists, but to no avail. Someone had already torn his throat beyond healing.
“Retreat!” he shouted over the chaos.
We should have done it as soon as we saw the number of cultists. We never stood a chance.
But the Angels’ Tears, like most drugs, has a way of convincing its users that they are invincible.
Judging by the casualties, they weren’t.
Robb and I were the only ones left alive. We tried to reach the exit, but the possessed backed us against the wall behind the pews.
Robb grabbed my arm fiercely, catching my attention. “You and I, Jon,” he said. “We go down swinging.” He offered me a drug inhaler. He had already loaded the vial of silvery tears. “Let’s send as many of those fuckers back to Hell.” His blown-out eyes were shiny with unshed tears.
I took the inhaler. I didn’t know what it would do to me, but we were out of options. If it came to it, I was pretty sure Lucifer could save me. But not my friend. Robb would join the other members of our team in the afterlife. I couldn’t lose my only friend.
I brought the device to my mouth and inhaled deeply. The Angels’ Tears burned their way down to my lungs and colors exploded behind my eyelids. I doubled over as a searing pain traveled from my scalp to my back. I fell to my knees, gasping.
“Oh, shit. Jon!” Robb was screaming, but he sounded miles away.
It had been a terrible mistake. I was dying. That was the end of me, and I would be of no use to Lucifer.
What a waste , I thought.
The pain converged on my shoulder blades.
“ Fool ,” Lucifer said. “ It is too soon. You might have doomed us both .”
When I opened my eyes, my hands were glowing. The nails were longer and sharper, like broken shards of bone. I felt a weight pull me down. Feathers, as white as a dove, caressed the back of my legs.
I had wings. Stilted and uneven, but wings nonetheless. Lucifer’s .
Blood dripped over my brow and onto my cheeks. I reached up with a shaky hand and found two tall horns.
“ You have made a mess of things ,” Lucifer said. “ Now deal with it. If I take over now, you won’t survive .”
He gave me a little push, and I surged to my feet. The wings, even in their poor shape, were heavy to carry.
The possessed had stopped their advancement. “The Light Bearer!” they rasped.
Robb had backed away as far as possible from me. The knife was in his hand, but shock had him frozen in place.
I needed to show him I was still me. I was Jon, his friend, and I’d protect him.
Light exploded from me as I attacked the demons. My skin was on fire.
“ Do not call on my power ,” Lucifer said. “ It is too soon. It will consume you from the inside. ”
But I hadn’t known I was doing it. There was no manual titled ‘ How to be possessed by the Devil and survive ’ available on the market. I had been winging this whole thing for years.
I grabbed the first cultist by the throat, and he caught fire. The flames were white. Shocked, I let him go, and he fell to the ground, howling in pain. Three others tried to come at me together. My stilted wings flared, and I shouted words of banishment. They dropped as one, the demons’ souls evicted from the hosts.
I was an exorcist, backed by the power of Lucifer himself.
The surviving cultists fled from me. I exorcised two more before they all escaped through the door.
When silence fell on the church, I was standing on a battlefield strewn with corpses and wounded. The six exorcists—Robb’s entire team—lay dead with a few dozen cultists.
But I’d saved him. Selfishly, it was all that mattered to me. My friend.
When I turned to check on him, his name on my lips, he cut me open from neck to forehead. His sharp blade almost took my eye out, but I fell backward. The impact twisted my wings at a wrong angle as I landed, and I screamed in pain. More blood leaked from the fresh wound, soaking my body armor.
Robb jumped over me, knife pointed to my face. “Demon!”
I stopped his blade with my bare hand, cutting my palm open to the bone.
“No! It’s me!” I shouted. “It’s still me! Jon!”
There were tears in his eyes. He was crying for me. He was grieving me as much as the others.
“Jon…” His hands were shaking.
“It’s me,” I sobbed. “It’s still me…”
Robb pulled the blade out. My blood splattered on his face. Then he did something that would haunt me for the rest of my life. He grabbed my shoulder and sawed my wings off my back with his carving knife, through flesh and bone. I blacked out a few times, but the pain always pulled me back to the cruel reality.
Through it all, Lucifer said nothing.
When he was done, his arm was red to the elbow. My blood covered him. I could only imagine the state I was in.
Robb got to his feet and walked away from me. “Get out of my sight or I’ll kill you, demon spawn.”
I sobbed through my teeth and crawled to the door. Outside, the night welcomed me like an old friend. I got to my feet and used the last of my strength to run to the small river behind the church. I fell into the cold water and let the current take me away from Hulett and its horrors.
I almost drowned twice as I was losing consciousness, but Lucifer took over long enough to ensure I kept my head above water. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I dragged myself over the muddy bank and fell into a coma under a willow tree.