tw: demonic possession, a fair amount of violence, and foul language

Chapter 20: The Exorcism

Father Keer looked normal. He acted normal. He held himself as a normal man would. He was even sitting up in an armchair, reading the Bible.

Father Desai, holding the door, held back, looking quite hesitant. "Here he is," he announced in a low voice, as though he didn't want to disturb Father Keer and the demon possessing him, but nonetheless, Father Keer looked up and smiled pleasantly at the four of them.

"Father Desai, you've brought me visitors! How delightful."

Cassius felt his stomach lurch as the possessed priest's head swung like a marionette's to look at the three djinn. Cassius' nerves further abandoned him when he noticed that the bible that Father Keer had been reading was upside-down and every page was blacked out by a large marker.

Dimme stepped forward, regarding the priest emotionlessly, attempting to gage how much of a threat the demon posed.

Father Keer's pleasant smile widened into a sinister grin. "Well, well, this is an honor. Beelzebub's bitch, Beelzebub's bastard, and the little djinn that could." Shadows flickered on the wall, where there should have been none, the electric light crackled alarmingly overhead, and Father Desai took a step back, now looking at everyone as though he no longer knew who he should fear.

"P...Pardon me, but I am a hemophiliac, if I get injured it will be very difficult for me to..." Father Desai mumbled weakly, edging slowly towards the open door.

"Leave," Dimme snapped at the priest, and Father Desai wasted no time in dashing for the relative safety of his office.

Dimme and Buck scowled identically at the demon, but Cassius couldn't move. He was frozen in his boots, shaking like a leaf with sheer terror at the enormity of what he was seeing before him.

Cassius didn't know if what he was sensing was the result of being half-angel for most of his years, if it was some sort of residual sensitivity from his other self, or if it was his imagination running wild and getting the better of him, perhaps it was just the alarming sense of wrongness that came simply from seeing a priest in his black uniform uttering such foul language, but Cassius' internal sense of danger was going wild. This was not something he could win against. This was suicide to fight. Behind Father Keer's lifeless brown eyes glinted shadows- oh-so-familiar shadows just like those that had torn Cassius apart, those that filled his unconscious mind, shadows that he could do nothing about-

Cassius knew he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but a sudden thought struck him with distinct annoyance: If I can't deal with this footsoldier, then how am I going to deal with Beelzebub?

Thankfully, his irritation pulled him out of his panicked stupor and turned his attention to the tense conversation that was happening with or without him.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure, pathetic djinn?" the demon asked, his eerie smile never once wavering. "Care to make a deal?"

Irreverently, the demon shut his desecrated bible and flung it across the room, where it smacked against the wall and left a sharp dent. In a smooth, but also strangely loose movement, the demon rose to Father Keer's feet and took a shaking step towards them.

"A deal? With a third-rate demon like you?" Dimme snorted with much bravado, though Cassius noticed that she moved protectively between the demon and the two boys. "Hardly. No, you're such a worthless sack of shit that we decided to get rid of you."

The demon stared at them, its blank smile never wavering. "The Lord of the Flies is looking for you two, you know. And I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I had a djinn's soul for a snack. I hear a neshamah is very filling."

Dimme's eyes flickered with a strange sort of brightness. "Boys? Now."

Just as they'd discussed, Buck and Cassius lunged past Dimme and emptied the contents of the small buckets they'd been hiding behind their backs up onto the demon's head- holy water from the church. The demon hissed and the water steamed, boiling against Father Keer's skin. Cassius shouted the words of the Lord's prayer, first in English, then in Latin, as Dimme shoved beads- prayer beads, rosaries, as many sacred strings of beads as there were religions, and then some- onto father Keer's wrists and around his neck.

The demon, rendered wordless, screamed and tried to claw the beads away, flailing madly. "You think you've won?!" The demon shrieked harshly, shadows escaping from its lips and nostrils, trying to leave its tormented vessel. "There's still a thousand and one ways I can make your pitiful lives miserable, chosen of Beelzebub or no!"

Cassius backed away to avoid Father Keer's flailing arms, moving towards the curtained window and stepping away from Dimme and Buck, who still stood near the door.

As though sensing weakness, the demon swiveled abruptly towards him, and again, Cassius couldn't help but freeze up. Shadow poured from every orifice of Father Keer's face- his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth spewed darkness.

"Son of Beelzebub or no," it hissed, and charged towards him with frightening speed, so quickly that Cassius didn't even know when the two of them burst out of the second floor window and began to fall-

Cassius woke blearily among shards of broken glass and dusty dirt. He remembered falling from the window- pushed by the kamikaze demon,- and he remembered babbling what he thought were going to be his last words, though he had no idea what they were now. He didn't think he'd been smart enough to use his focus word, though. He tried to move, tried to get up and analyze his surroundings, but he found that everything hurt. He felt like a broken china doll and wondered if he was truly not facing imminent death.

"Cassius?" A distant voice called. Cassius' head spun. He knew that voice. "Cassius?" A gentle hand cradled his face and turned it slightly. His bleary eyes met concerned brown ones, and Dimme sighed with relief. "You're alive, thank goodness. Buck, get over here and fix him up. He's broken a few ribs at least."

"Just what are you people doing?" Asked an indignant and rather abrasive female voice. As Dimme helped Cassius to sit up, supporting him with her delicate arms, Cassius saw the parish secretary marching over to them with a vengance. "I heard glass break, then a thump, and then you two come running down the stairs like schoolchildren- oh my goodness," The secretary put her hands up to her mouth with horror as her eyes began to comprehend the scene. Her eyes flicked a ways away from Cassius and widened even further. "Father Keer!" She exclaimed, and dashed to his side just as Father Desai hurried outside to ascertain what the commotion was all about.

Without a word to the three djinn, Father Desai knelt beside his fellow priest, murmuring prayers under his breath.

Father Keer's eyes fluttered open.

No shadows poured forth.

He was back to normal.

"My word," Father Keer remarked mildly, sitting up, groaning, and looking around at all the worried faces. His kind dark eyes lingered on Cas. "Young man, I believe you have saved my immortal soul. You have my somewhat inadequate thanks."

Cassius felt his rather bruised face flush and he looked away modestly. "I was just doing what I was asked," he mumbled, and winced. Dimme was right: his ribs were broken.

"You both must go to a hospital at once," the secretary announced in a matronly fashion that she was clearly unaccustomed to adopting.

Cassius shook his head. "I'll be fine," he said, wincing even as he assessed his own internal damage. If he thought carefully, he could rid himself of his injuries with a single utterance of his focus word. "APOGEOTROPICAL," he mumbled, and instantly, his pain settled into a dull ache, a ghost of what it had been. Satisfied that he could move around without feeling like he needed to collapse, Cassius pushed Dimme's arms away and stood. "Come on, Buck, we should head back to Kolkata before it gets dark."

"Oh, please, won't you stay for dinner?" Father Keer interrupted coaxingly. "Please, the least we can do is offer you a meal."

Father Desai looked less certain, but nodded in agreement. "Though Father Keer must be going to a hospital, he is right. We would very much like it for you to stay for dinner, as a way of expressing our humblest gratitude towards you."

Dimme frowned at the flowery language and at the prospect of lingering in one place longer than was absolutely necessary. Buck shrugged apathetically: a meal that required no effort on his part to put together and moreover was free was something he had learned never to turn down in his post-Jonathan Tarot days, the times when he'd had no power of his own. Thus, with the jury split as it was, it was up to Cassius to decide. Truth be told, however, he'd decided the same moment that Dimme had frowned.

"We'd be delighted to join you for dinner, Father Desai."

Author's Notes: I should be doing my homework... I'm turning 20 this Friday and yet I'm less responsible about schoolwork than I was when I was turning 10... Uh... anyway, have this lovely chapter of Dimme kicking ass etc. etc. etc.

bye

~Lucinda