Chapter 24 [Seven minutes earlier—Police Cordon]
Irving sat on the sidewalk dejectedly in the midst of a police guard detachment. He had hoped to have a fair trial away from all of the magic and darkness around Sleepy Hollow. Instead he remained at Ground Zero in the magical shooting gallery. He tried to shut out the other people around him from the courtroom and the rubberneckers who'd joined them behind the police cordons.
A SWAT truck pulled up in front of them. Several heavily uniformed officers with heavy artillery spilled from its back. They lined up in front of the cordon; their eyes urging their peers to push the peanut gallery back.
Irving knew full well of that particular squad's capabilities. Again any mortal foe, he'd take them in a heartbeat….
….problem was the issues in the courtroom were not being caused by a mortal adversary.
Worse still TV vans and mouthy reporters recorded the whole thing for digital posterity off to the side.
Can this get any worse? Irving rubbed his face with his manacled hands. He felt ready to cry—not a manly response but a real one nonetheless.
"Have faith, Captain. It will work out," Brother Tony admonished gently while placing a steaming cup in front of him. He sipped from a like cup of his own.
"All Hell is breaking loose and you say it'll work out?" Irving queried in disbelief. "Reverend, this is the real deal here."
"I am aware of that, Captain Irving. We are all safe out here. Are we not? The mess is being contained in there. Pray for guidance," Brother Tony retorted.
"Crane, his wife, Dubois and that Japanese lady aren't out here. They're stuck in there with our friends. How do we get them out?" Irving wondered.
"They will get themselves out when the time is right," the minister declared while trying to remain patient. "Trust that they are quite capable of dealing with such threats. I have seen David survive worse over the past few decades."
"You're serious?" Irving met the minister's eyes. "So the stories about Dubois…?"
Brother Tony shrugged and took a big draught from his cup. "Some are made up of course. But yes he has survived a great deal. Trust that he will do so now." He saw Jenny muscling her way through the mob and signaled to her. "Miss Mills! Over here!"
She knifed left through the crowd and toward their position. When the police trained their weapons on her, she urged, "Whoa, Boys! I'm with the minister here."
"That is true, Gentlemen," Brother Tony assured them.
"She's also with the Sleepy Hollow Police Department, Gentlemen. She's not here to break me out," Irving assured his guards. "Take a seat, Mills, and keep your hands where they can see them."
"Why the Hell not? All crap's about to break loose and we can't get to the courthouse," Jenny supposed. She sat down hard on the sidewalk next to the prisoner.
"Where is Jennifer?" Brother Tony wondered.
Her eyes motioned toward the courthouse in question. "She went after your demon boy in there." She witnessed several flashes of light coming from the building's windows. Her ears heard the loud screeching. She saw Brother Tony fall to his knees and begin praying. She remembered something Corbin had shown her…a false lead of sorts…a possessed mortal but not one of Moloch's from France….
Something she'd cautioned Abbie out when the latter first contacted Brother Tony.
"What the Hell?" Irving stared incredulously at her looking for answers.
"Moloch's about to get that all right," she affirmed. Another flash of crimson followed by a loud boom emanated from the courthouse. "DAMN!"
"Did you see that? Secure the damn cordon now!" the SWAT leader commanded his men. He holstered a hand held bazooka in his hand and waited for some sign.
On cue, Moloch fell through the open crater that had been a window to the pavement below. Its impact cratered the pavement. It sensed its quarry close by. YOU! IF I CAN'T HAVE HIS SOW OFFSPRING, I'LL HAVE HIM! It moved in a rapid blur covering the distance between itself and the cordon in half of an eye blink. STEP ASIDE OR DIE, MORTAL WRETCHES!
"FIRE!" the SWAT commander bellowed at his troops.
Around him, the heavily trained platoon opened fire with machine guns, armor piercing rounds, hand held mortars in addition to the commander's bazooka. They saw the projectiles engage the creature in front of them….
….and clearly have no effect as the smoke cleared save to enrage the demon further….
Moloch roared and engaged the platoon. Before they could fall back, it set to its grisly task. Claws slashed. Hands snapped necks like twigs. Blood flowed across the pavement. It laughed cruelly at the audience. SO MANY SOULS TO PLAY WITH ! YOU WILL ALL BE MINE!
An impact on the pavement shook them all and clearly got their attention.
One of the reporters stared incredulously. "THERE'S ANOTHER ONE?"
Brother Tony prayed more fervently. Then he opened his eyes and bowed his head. "Lord, protect us."
Jenny stared at the fiery Destroyer rushing at them. Any doubt she'd had minutes earlier dissipated like fog before the morning sun. She now had affirmation of those village stories from the Vendee….
That chronicler, Edrinoux, had described the thing perfectly.
"Sorry, Brother Tony, get the Hell out of the way!" Jenny yanked the minister back into the crowd. "Irving, move your ass!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" The prisoner just avoided a fatal swipe from Moloch's talons. He dove into the retreating crowd to try and conceal himself. While he hated being a coward, discretion was the better part of valor in this case….
Moloch ridiculed this move, I CAN SENSE YOU, HUMAN! SURRENDER OR I SHALL KILLTHEM TO GET TO YOU! I WILL RECLAIM YOUR DAUGHTER! I….. Then it stopped cold. YOU AGAIN? It turned to find the Destroyer watching it.
The fiery avenger bellowed in rage at its adversary. Then it engaged the other demon head on while landing key blows in the process. Then it blasted the brown demon across the square and into a fountain.
Moloch rose angrily. SO YOUR MASTER SENT YOU, DID IT? TOO BAD I CAN'T FINISH IT MYSELF! I'LL KILL YOU! It blurred around flying fragments of asphalt and concrete hurling in its direction….
…too bad it didn't avoid the fiery burst combined with mystical energies that struck its side…..
"GIT! DIE!" The Destroyer spat in rage; its fiery hands glowing with prepared bursts for its demonic foe.
ONCE AGAIN YOU'VE BESTED ME, CREATURE! THERE WILL BE AN ACCOUNTING! Moloch glared at their surroundings. It knew the mortals would expose more than it wanted by what they already had. SOON! With that it vanished into thin air.
The Destroyer hissed under its breath. The fear, anger and range of other emotions from the crowd only infuriated it further. It screamed at the sky. Then it disappeared in a dark flash of light from the scene.
She gulped in realization. "That thing was the Destroyer? Edrinoux was right."
"Indeed he was, Miss Mills," Brother Tony concurred. "Fortunately the Lord restrained the thing today. I pray that David and the others will be all right."
"You and me both," Irving concurred. He saw the judge walking toward them. "Great. Here we go." He swallowed hard. "Are you all right, Your Honor?"
"Quite so, Captain Irving." The judge pointed at one of the remaining officers. "Please remove those handcuffs. Captain Irving is free to go. The demon admitted its guilt."
Irving rubbed his wrists after being freed. "It's that easy?"
"With your track record, yes it is. You have a bigger threat out there. All of you," the judge admonished before heading back off into the crowd.
"That's the quickest acquittal I've ever seen," Jenny remarked.
"I told you, Captain, to have faith," Brother Tony reminded them. He saw Ichabod, Katrina, Abbie and Jennifer rushing toward them. "Speaking of which, are you all right?"
"Abbie? ABBIE!" Jenny, in spite of herself and out of character for the moment, rushed ahead and embraced her sister tightly. Relief flooded her senses. "How'd you get out of that crappy place?"
"We stuck Parrish's butt in there. That's definitely not a place I want to go back to for vacation or anything!" Abbie complained while going with the moment. "You okay?"
"Yeah I am. I had to keep Irving and the good minister under watch, you know," Jenny cracked. "Hey, British, you okay?"
"Katrina and I are quite all right, Miss Mills. I'm relieved that Moloch has been driven away for the moment at least. Any sign of our fiery friend?" Ichabod queried.
"Look at this square, Crane. Does it look like the tooth fairy did this?" Abbie inquired sarcastically.
"Point taken. Wherever it is, I'm hoping it is being constrained," Ichabod declared.
"Trust in Him, Captain Crane. For now I would direct you all to follow me back to Wabash. Perhaps you have time for a quick dinner there?" Brother Tony offered.
"Dubois promised me a visit back in the day, Brother Tony. Perhaps I can get that tour?" Ichabod reminded the minister.
"I think that can be arranged," the minister agreed while leading the group toward his truck and Jennifer's car.
For them all, it had been a series of near misses and badly judged decisions all around. Fortunately they'd come out of it unscathed relatively speaking. Still it had been one battle in the ongoing war.
The ongoing war…no way they'd forget that fact. No way….