Disclaimer:
The following is only canon to this fic, I do not believe that any of this is true, and it only should be considered in the context of this story. I had better not have a ton of christians badmouthing me in the reviews, thank you, please enjoy.
Chapter 22: Gabriel Mamoru
After getting some rest from the stress of the days before, Nate and Damona sat at a table, grabbed some notebooks, and looked over their options.
"Alright, what do we know about the order?" Nate asked.
"One things for sure, they won't be easy to get rid of," Damona sighed, "even before my imprisonment, they had quite the reputation. Ever wonder why crosses are so important in exorcisms and religion?"
"I'm guessing they had a hand in it?" Nate asked further.
"Understatement of the milenia," his fiance replied, "The order has been around longer than yokai have been invisible, their first appearance was sometime around 300 B.C. they despised yokai, Demons especially."
"But what about swelterrier and Komane?" the human said perplexed.
"They'd spare any yokai who was useful to them and pledged their loyalty to the order's cause," the half-demon continued, "thing is, back then, it was generally accepted by humans that yokai existed, and had impact on the world, heck, I've met some of the Egyptian and Greek gods."
She used air quotes around that last word. In the yokai world, the term "God" more often than not just referred to a yokai of immense power, or a yokai that ruled over a section of the world. Heck, in a roundabout way she was technically a demi-goddess.
"But we don't now," Nate added.
"Yeah, we have no real idea how we became invisible to humanity, but we know why no one remembers us apart from legends," Damona continued, "the order falsified multiple religions in order to do their work undisturbed, than made them contradict each other to make finding the truth nearly impossible."
"So then they have a lot of influence?" her fiance asked for clarification.
"Everywhere except certain countries in Asia, the Japanese were the most in tune with Yokai, and the falsified religions never took off there," Damona nodded, "we're gonna need as much help as we can get, because we have no idea when they could show up at our door."
Meanwhile, Nate's parents were in the other room watching the news.
"Devastation in Shoppers' Row, as last night, a mysterious seismic event caused upwards of thousands of dollars in damages," the news lady said over the T.V. "Scientists have determined this is NOT the result of an earthquake, as Downtown, which is even closer to the sea board than Shoppers' Row, and is almost completely unaffected. The mayor has called for the entirety of the area to be shut down until the damage is repaired."
"Wow, they're shutting down an entire chunk of the city?" Aaron said in surprise.
"I'm just glad we weren't in the crossfire, we already had to deal with our little haunting," Lily replied with a sigh. As if one cue, they heard a knock at the door, "huh, who could that be?"
Aaron stood up and walked over to the entrance. When he opened the door, he was met with a bespectacled man with grey hair, black robes, and a briefcase.
"Mr. Adams, I presume?" he said outstretching his free hand, "I'm the exorcist assigned to your case."
"Oh, really? Thank goodness, we could really use some good news right about now," the eldest Adams said shaking the man's hand.
"I was looking to speak to you about something peculiar I discovered while investigating your home, may I come in?" the exorcist said.
"Oh, of course," Aaron moved to allow the man inside. The exorcist bowed in respect before entering. Unseen by the Adams, a certain lion-dog entered as well.
Back with Nate and Damona, the two had just got off the phone with Zoey, who said she'd call Lina and the two would keep an eye out for anything suspicious. They were
About to call Katie when Nate's mother called for him.
"We'll call her right after," Nate said, to which Damona nodded. The two entered the other room, only to find his parents sitting across from a man Nate didn't recognise. He was wondering what was going on, until he noticed Komane was also present, leaning against the door with his arms folded and a scowl on his face.
The lion dog snapped and pointed to an empty seat. Nate quietly sat in the seat next to the man, careful not to look him directly in the eyes, meanwhile Damona kept her eyes on Komane.
"Nate, this is Mr. Mamoru, he's the exorcist dealing with our… issue," Nate's mother said.
"Please," the man said holding his hand out to nate, "call me Gabriel."
Nate cautiously took Gabriel's hand and shook it, "he's gotta be the one."
Gabriel adjusted his glasses before he continued, "I was wondering if I could speak to you for a moment, Mr. and Mrs. Adams, a moment alone please?"
Nate's parents were hesitant, but obliged. Komane stepped to the side to allow them out, when he was sure they were gone, Gabriel stood up and said, "so, you're the one causing us so much trouble?"
The boy was about to question him, but realised the man's gaze was shifted toward Damona.
"That's her, alright," Komane said coming closer, fists ignited.
Damona shot her Fiance a glance, which he understood as she was going to defend herself and he should be ready to provide back-up. Nate's hand was in his pocked, gripping both Faux Kappa and Swelterrier's medals.
"Now, let me explain what is going to happen," Gabriel broke the silence, "you are going to come with us, leave this family alone, and live out your punishment, attempt to resist and there will be consequences, are we clear?"
"Yeah… NO!" Damona said shooting ice at their feet, disorienting them. Nate was about to call Faux kappa, when something he had not expected, the exorcist pulled from his robes a silver stopwatch and flipped open it's lense, revealing a yokai watch dial.
"I call forth me familiar!" Gabriel said holding a yokai medal, "Yokai Medal, Set ON!"
when he inserted it, Cyan runes burst from the watch as it chimed, "Summoning, Slippery!"
"Copperled!" a red snake like yokai said on his arrival, "you called, Gabriel?"
Copperled: B rank
Slippery
"This particular demon refuses to go quietly, could you please correct her, old friend?" the man replied.
"With Pleassssure," Copperled said with a hiss in his voice, slithering over to Damona, he waved the butterfly like fan on his tail and said, "You will not ressssist arresssst!"
A red aura was pushed onto damona, only to become purple as the half-demon grinned, "resist arrest? I was already doing that!"
She fired a purple energy beam causing the snake yokai to leap back in fear, nearly losing his hat. Nate looked at the scene with glee, "of course! She has cursed skin, so any inspiritment they try will have the opposite effect!"
"NO! SSSTOP!" Copperled screamed, Damona cackled while firing more blasts the Snake was only barely dodging. Komane face palmed while Gabriel analyzed the battle.
"Peculiar, it seems she is immune to the inspiritment," the exorcist thought to himself.
"I COMMAND YOU TO YIELD!" Copperled yelled in a panic avoiding an ice blast.
"Don't yield? Why do you keep telling me to do stuff I was already doing?" Damona snickered.
"Cursed skin," Gabriel realised, "Copperled, your inspiritment will only work on her in reverse."
The slippery yokai then donned a look that obviously meant he was getting even, another wave of his tail fan and he commanded, "Do Not surrender!"
This time when the aura flooded over her, the energy she was about to launch dissipated. Her arms involuntarily went to her sides as her eyes drooped and her expression became one of neutrality. In a tired, deadpan tone she said, "I surrender."
"NOT GOOD!" Nate mentally screamed.
A small smile crept to Gabriel's face, "good work, Copperled, if that would be all then-"
He was interrupted by Nate charging him, trying to grab the watch from his hand. The older human pushed him to the floor, before Nate could do anything, the exorcist took out a container and slowly opened it, a cyan gas poured out. The boy tried not to breathe it in, but it slipped into his lips and he felt the world fade to black.
Nate fell unconscious on the floor. Gabriel stood up and brushed off his robes, he then turned to Damona, "time to put you where you belong."