TWENTY JAY
TWENTY
JAY
Pulling up to the pond in the middle of the night, with only a sliver of the moon out to shed any light, caused an eerie effect. As I got out of my Jeep with three others of my unit, I slipped on my night-vision goggles. Another SUV pulled up with the rest of my men.
I knew the trail would be cold here, but I had to start somewhere. Parker said the man vanished in a puff of demon smoke, a trait only mid- to higher-level demons possessed.
I signaled for my men to search the surrounding woods as I headed for the ice.
Skirting around the edge of the pond, I found the section that Lailah and the boy had gone in.
Putting a foot on the ice, I tested its strength.
With all that had happened here, it groaned under my weight, and I knew it wouldn’t hold me.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled my powers forth, letting the wind swirl around me.
I used it to solidify the ice by causing a freezing air current to flow over the water, creating a safe path to where I wanted to go.
Now it creaked and shifted for another reason as the ice grew thicker and stronger.
Finished, I waved the wind off and made my way confidently to the still slushy opening Lailah had dove into.
My mind flashed back to Lailah sitting in the tub, her already naturally pale skin tinged with blue and shaking violently against Brayden.
Her whimpers as she was lowered into the tepid water the first time rang in my ears.
After that, she’d shifted in and out of awareness every time we drained and added warmer water.
I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to get out and do something, and finding this “Ubel” was at the top of my list.
Crouching down, I pulled out a handheld device that would detect the particles demons left behind when they used their powers.
The reading showed high, beeping red and showing other numbers and information on the small screen.
Thankfully, this was all being transmitted back to Elementi HQ, where they would analyze it.
I was their guy if they needed information collected, but I would never understand things the way that Hudson, and even Brayden, could about this stuff.
Sweeping the area, I tried to gauge if he walked out here onto the ice or if he just materialized and then grabbed the boy.
Cami said she hadn’t noticed the man being there at all before as they skated, and from the description of the guy…
she would have noticed. Even though I wasn’t happy with how things turned out, I also knew how strong-willed Lailah could be when it came to protecting others.
It was as if she magically forgot all her fear and trepidation and charged headfirst into danger.
I thought it was an amazing quality, but seeing as she didn’t have any of the proper training to handle things once she got in it… that’s what made me worry.
“Commander Jay, we found something you should see,” one of my heads called from the forest.
Looking up, I saw a light being waved in the air, showing me their location.
Retreating from the ice, having gotten everything I needed, I headed over to see what they found.
Taking off my night vision, I took in what my men had found as they gathered to shine their flashlights on the ground.
Carved into the dirt was the symbol for Dantalion, the seventy-first demon, the Duke of Many Faces, and one of the Greater Demons that King Solomon had summoned to help build the temple.
We learned about them in our demonology classes, but they had not been seen or heard from in history for centuries.
Dantalion was a Greater Demon who could change its appearance at will, even its gender so that it could infiltrate the world better, spreading its evil through science and education.
“Son of a bitch,” I growled, knowing that this had been left here for us to find.
The Dark Lord was playing a wicked game, and I was starting to realize we were many steps behind.
This Ubel, as he was calling himself, must have been who had infiltrated the lab and stolen the serum when the time came.
All the work we had been doing looking through employees was now pointless, because if this symbol was telling me what I assumed it was, we would have no idea what Ubel looked like as the newly established conduit for Dantalion.
One moment it could be a man, the next a woman.
We might have luck finding out who this person really was if the name he gave was true, but that didn’t matter trying to find him now when he could look like a whole different person.
Pulling out my phone, I called the only person I knew who would know more about this.
“Who the hell is this and do you have any clue as to what time it is?” Mr. Creed demanded, his voice thick with sleep.
“Mr. Creed, it’s Jalen Minh. I apologize for the late call, but this is an urgent matter. What do you know about the demon Dantalion?”
The sound of sheets rustling told me I had his attention. “The fact that you are an Elementi Warrior and calling me at one in the morning tells me that you’re not looking for hypothetical information. Let’s cut to the chase and tell me what you found.”
As much as I hated working with this entitled windbag, he was the elite mind when it came to all things demon.
“Earlier today, a man using the name ‘Ubel’ made an appearance and caused a scene at the ice-skating pond. I came back to gather more intel since he was able to use demon smoke to vanish and found the symbol of Dantalion etched into the ground, with other minor symbols that would give him a focal point to shift to.”
“Ubel, you said…” Mr. Creed muttered as I heard him typing. “Do we know anything else?”
“He was there to taunt Synergy and tell her that he was one of the first to receive the serum treatment and was given powers without needing to be a host,” I explained.
“Let me guess. You think this is the man who stole the serum from the lab.”
“Yes sir, I do.”
“Gather any and all the data you can from the area. Sweep deeper into the woods. A human can’t travel as far as a demon can, even if it’s a host. There should be another location with more symbols or markings to give us a better picture of what’s going on.
I’ll start working on what I can in regards to this name he picked and the correlation to Dantalion,” Mr. Creed instructed.
“Oh, and please tell me I’m finally going to get a chance to teach that girl something before she walks into a trap and dies from lack of information. ”
I all but growled into the phone at the way he talked about Lailah, but on the other hand, I couldn’t argue with him. “I believe she will be working with you sooner rather than later, sir.”
“Fine, fine. Let’s hope this isn’t going to be as bad as I think it is, or her crash course into this world will be quite the experience,” Mr. Creed said before he hung up, leaving me with dead air.
Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I relayed the information to my men.
“We need to form a grid search and sweep the whole area. Keep a lookout for anything that doesn’t look like it belongs.
If you find anything, make sure to document and mark the area on our maps so we can go back and look at it again in the daylight. ”
With that, they all scattered into the night on silent feet. This was going to take the rest of the night and even the whole rest of the day if we found what we were looking for. Pulling my phone back out, I called Hudson, knowing he would still be up.
“Were you able to find anything useful?” Hudson asked when he answered.
I grunted, knowing if the situation was different they would all be out here with me, but Lailah needed them to be close by. “I wouldn’t say it’s useful.”
“Now is not the time for cryptic conversations, Jay,” Hudson admonished.
“We found some demonic symbols that might mean this whole situation just got a whole lot harder to manage. I have consulted Mr. Creed, and we need to search the woods for any other symbols and hope they tell a different story than the one I’m coming up with at the moment.”
Hudson let out a harsh breath that was almost a laugh. “What is going on, Jay? Things have never been this bad. They’re getting bolder.”
“Synergy is in play now, Hudson. This was always going to happen. How are things with Parker?”
“Not good, even though he tries to keep the pain level down it’s still a lot, but we will manage. You do what needs to be done, and we’ll hold down the fort here.”
I was about to end the conversation but paused, feeling a need I’d never experienced before. “Tell Lailah I’ll be back as soon as I can, and not to be mad. I’m not doing this alone.”
“Let’s hope she doesn’t kill the messenger, but yeah, I’ll make sure she knows.”
“Thanks man,” I said before hanging up.
It was time to go demon hunting.