Chapter Ten:
"Near...Death"
When Geist told Demetre the leader's name, Demmy felt like someone had just stabbed him in the heart.
Feelings of rage and revenge coveted his body as memories of that moment where Zurn Wellington murdered Dana on top of the Kira Task Force headquarters building came flooding back.
He mentally screamed, shutting his eyes, and clenched the butts of his guns so tightly that it hurt his hands. But after a moment of clouded fury, he opened his eyes with clarity of thought. He pushed all heated emotions down into his gut. He had to be collective if he was to save Sammy Baxter and he couldn't allow his emotions to distract his goal.
"Why is Zurn here?" He asked, but of no one in particular. "And why kidnap the boy?" He looked at Trickster. "Shinigami, to whom do you serve?"
Trickster cocked her head. "My presence here is not nefarious in nature, Demetre Draycott. As you recall, I'm a teacher at this school, and I only recently arrived. That should give you a clue. But I will not subject you to a guessing game. I was asked to undertake the job by another. I belong to William Baxter, Samuel's father. He is a member of the Savant Society, and since his son often visits the orphanage to learn and play with the other children, I was asked to watch over him due to a recent warning the family was issued from an unknown source. The police will eventually get involved. By that time, however, Zurn Wellington, your enemy, if you had not become involved here, would have been long gone before that and this would have been chalked up to yet nothing more than a hostage random incident."
Demetre nodded. "But how many people, Facility members and children, would they have been sacrificed to get what they want?" And if certain events didn't come into play, such as losing my cell phone and Matt finding it, then messaging Adam, and alerting me of the incident. "Something doesn't feel right. All this for money? Zurn is a member of the League of Darkness, and I highly doubt they would approve of this venture. There has to be something else to this plot?"
"Not to mention Prometheus, Zurn's Shinigami, would know that Trickster is here, and told him about you," Geist added. "But he would know that you're not able to help any of the children, including Sammy Baxter, because if you get involved, and killed, you would die."
"That is correct, Geist," Trickster stated. "Therefore, it is fortuitous that you, Demetre, came along, and are as prepared as you are, a hero, to save the masses. Or, if you believe in it, this could all be a coincidence?"
"I don't believe in them," Demetre said. "My philosophy is everything happens for a reason." I supposed Light and I have that in common, but for different reasons. "God works in mysterious ways and I was meant to come here. Everything that has occurred is according to a perfect design."
Geist shook his head. "There is no possible way that your God could know this would happen and work things in a way for you to be here to 'save the day'. That is not how the universe works."
Demetre reached into his shirt and took out his crucifix that was on a chain that hung around his neck. It was a present from his parents, he never took it off. He kissed it. Then let it drop in full view over his shirt.
"Then you need to have more faith, my friend," he said sagely. "God is the Alpha and the Omega. He knows all and can do all. And if God has chosen me to save these children, then I will not shirk from the task. God has always been my shining grace and the reason for my being. For I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, Jeremiah, Chapter 29:11; Amen."
"Quoting Bible verses again? How about some sort of battle cry to get you pumped like your Christian crusades of old?"
Demetre looked at Geist with curiosity. He could see just above the Shinigami's eyes a pair of steampunk goggles Geist always wore. It had always been a part of his ensemble, but now this somewhat prominent feature was brought down over the Shinigami's eyes as if to accept an unspoken call to action. Geist said he would always be at his side if Demetre needed him, obviously he was ready.
Demetre readied his guns, taking them out of their holsters with crossed arms. He felt like a gunslinger able to go into battle. Geist was right. This did call for some special words. But he told himself there would be no bloodshed.
The Old Testament had a lot of angriness and hatred, but Demetre knew God was not a vengeful entity. He was kind and forgiving, and he needed to heed to that philosophy. He could not go in there with vengefulness against Zurn in his heart, but with clarity and forthright, or the boy could die. Therefore, he decided he would not cite a battle cry but words of a more inspirational nature. And besides, the Crusades were long over.
He cleared his throat.
"'Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who are prosecuted for righteousness, safe, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven' Matthew: Chapter 5, verse 31."
Geist scratched his head confused. "Not much of a battle cry," he said. "I was hoping for something more heart pounding and savagery."
"Very inspiring, Demetre Draycott," Trickster said. "You are indeed quite a remarkable human. A rare breed amongst your peers. Bless you in this endeavour. I will watch over the children. They believe that I have stepped outside into the hallway to make a phone call."
The Shinigami reverted back to its human form, the auburn hair teacher Demetre saw earlier. She smiled, then re-entered the classroom and shut the door.
"Come on, Geist," Demetre said. "Time to take out the trash."
"Now you're talkin'!"
Just then, the door to the classroom with the bulk of the children swung open and Near looked out. Demetre knew he had shut the door completely when he left, but he didn't hear the handle turn to open the door. How long had Near been listening or even watching?
"Demetre Draycott, where are you going?" Near said. "And with whom were you speaking with?" Near looked down the hallway from left to right. "I heard breaks in conversation, a one-sided converse, per se, but only bits and pieces of it. You asked questions to someone now gone. And who is Zurn Wellington? From the tone of your voice, he sounds like someone you dislike. And 'geist' is another word I heard; it's another word for poltergeist or spirit. Are you in league with ghosts, Demetre? There is medication you can take if you believe you are suffering from delusions and experts in the field with promising research in shock treatment." Near smirked.
"He's an arrogant little twerp, isn't he?" Geist said irked. "Better keep a close eye on him, Demmy."
Demetre nodded. "Go back to the classroom, Near," he insisted, making it sound like an order. "I have something I need to take care of. Tell Matt and Mello that I'll be back soon and not to worry."
Near eyed him, and then said, "Don't get yourself killed, Draycott," he said straightly. "You are a very interesting person, and I would like to get to know you more. When I head the New Kira Task Force, perhaps I will call upon you…for informational purposes. You seem to have an understanding of issues that I am not yet aware of. I'll need allies, people I can trust in to catch Kira. Kira won't stay hidden from me for long when I begin to make special provisions to catch him. God speed, as religious fanatics would say. And I will see you soon, I hope."
Near returned to the classroom and shut the door.
Demetre sighed. "I don't like that kid," he said with an annoyance. "He reminds me of Light."
Demetre and Geist proceeded to the Main Facilitators Office, or Roger's Office, as Matt had said. But for simplicity state, and so he would not become personally involved in using names, he called it the MFO.
And once again he found himself listening at the door, but with his listening device. He could listen with clarity and heard everything that was taking place in the office. From a secluded corner, Geist peeked through the wall and confirmed that it was indeed the Zurn Wellington underneath the mask, the leader of the gunman who had taken the Wammy House orphanage hostage.
The question still remained: what was the purpose of this plot by Zurn? Why did he need the money, and why did the LOD approve of this? They were questions to be answered after he rescued the facilitator of the orphanage and Sammy Baxter. And if he had to, he would push a barrel of one of his Beretta's down Zurn's throat for him to answer.
He felt a little nervous, the feeling of butterflies in the stomach made him a little ill. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, but this was the first time he had come up against Zurn since the rooftop of the old Kira Task Force headquarters building. Adam had used his skills to track him to countless points around the world, but every time they got close to Zurn he would either have already fled, or was in the process of fleeing, and left others to mask his escape.
Adam had tracked him to Winchester, England, and Demetre had used a Shinigami portal to seek the villain out. But he had just missed Zurn, supposedly. Since he was already there, he had bought some flowers and went to place them on L's grave. He thought L had already been buried, but he was wrong, and then witnessed the funeral procession first hand.
The ironic thing was he wasn't sure what he would do when he found the murderous bastard. He carried a pair of handcuffs with him in one of the belt pouches, but where would he take the Zurn? Back to the Savant Society for punishment?
And yet, the man whom he sought was right behind the door now.
He had to take Zurn down without killing him. The Death Note was not an option even though he carried a couple of pages with him. Zurn was protected by the Death Note, using his own trickery to do so—much like Demetre did for himself. This made it extremely difficult to seek justice on him. Therefore, the old-fashioned way was the only way. Demetre swore he would never again kill with a supernatural book, only using it once to kill a mugger who threatened his life when he first picked it up.
Unless, and it was only as a last resort, it was needed here to protect the children. He would not hesitate to use it to protect innocent lives.
In hindsight, he wished he had done better research on Light's enemies when he first looked at the timeline in Geist's portable orb, but he'd only concentrated on L and the task force and Zurn was no where to be seen. Hence, the timeline had been changed because of Demetre picking up a Death Note. Zurn Wellington was not a prominent figure in the 'Kira incident' and only became such when Demetre became involved.
I blame myself for getting you killed, Dana. No one else is at fault. And no one else will die by my hands if it can be helped.
He put the listing device away and readied to himself with his twin Beretta's. Geist would know his position, and he turned to the Shinigami to ask, so when he barged in, he would know where to point his guns.
Suddenly, the Shinigami popped his head out of the wall, and shouted, "Demetre! Get down!"
Geist literally leapt at him. Demetre hit the ground hard as a volley of bullets smashed through the wooden door of the MFO. One bullet even bounced off Geist's boneclub and ricocheted downwards, hitting the floor inches from Demetre's face.
Geist grabbed him and Demetre was hauled away from the door across the floor to a safer place down the hall.
"Demmy, are you okay?" the Shinigami asked him. "You nearly died."
Demetre nodded, as he lay on the floor looking up. He was literally looking into the face of death, but strangely enough, it wasn't frightened in the slightest. But more taken back that he had had just been saved by a god of death...
To be continued...
