Call to Arms - Chapter 4

The Demons are Everywhere - the title says it all.

Chapter 4 – The Demons are Everywhere
 

‘Matt Newman,’ the boy offered in a quiet voice, holding out his hand. The service had ended and the organist was playing something thankfully brighter than the hymns he had destroyed earlier.

‘Nathan Price,’ I replied, taking his hand in a firm grip and shaking it like Dad had taught me. ‘Good to meet you, Matt. Tell me, did you see anything… unusual during the reading?’

‘The armour?’ he asked softly. ‘Yes. You saw it too, didn’t you?’

I nodded.

‘I’ve been seeing it on and off for about a month now,’ he continued. ‘Out of interest, have you heard of the Toronto Blessing?’

I shook my head. ‘Means nothing to me,’ I admitted.

‘I’m told it happened some years ago,’ he said. ‘Before I was born. But this is different. God seems to be doing something new again. I’m new to this Christian stuff but from what I can tell, ever since the times described in the bible, God’s Spirit has done many strange, and sometimes miraculous things. You’re the first other person I’ve met who can see it, but I’ve had a look round on the internet. We’re not alone. Others around the world – mainly young people – have seen it, too. And have you seen them yet?’

I looked round nervously and lowered my voice still further. ‘You mean the demons?’ I whispered.

He nodded.

‘I saw a mass of them attacking the Baptist Church in Oxtree on Friday. Scared the bejeebers out of me!’

‘So you’ve not seen them up close?’ he asked.

‘No, thank goodness!’ I said, a shudder running down my back.

‘It won’t be long,’ Matt promised, his eyes taking on a haunted look. ‘You’ll see.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked. It felt like an icy cold bomb had settled inside my stomach, ready to explode at any moment.

‘The demons are everywhere,’ he whispered, his eyes flicking round the church as if he expected to see demons closing in from all sides. ‘And they follow you constantly, looking for any weakness they can use to torment you.’

‘Follow?’

He nodded.

‘They’ve followed you?’

‘More and more,’ he confirmed. ‘I don’t know what would have happened if it hadn’t been for those three,’ he added nodding his head towards the back of the church.

I knew instantly who he meant. The three hulking warriors. I glanced back again to where they had held their flaming swords aloft and was shocked to see Gladys, Mable and another old lady sitting deep in conversation. Surely there was some mistake. They couldn’t be the warriors I saw, could they? As if she felt my gaze, Gladys looked up and our eyes met for an instant. She smiled and I nodded back, feeling my face flush with embarrassment.

‘The three old ladies?’ I asked.

‘Gladys, Dot and Mable, yes,’ he confirmed. ‘They’re amazing. They hold this church together. They live and breathe the bible, praying every day for the church and the people who come here. They might seem like unlikely heroes, but trust me, their faith is unshakeable. They’re the prayer warriors here and without them the place would be overrun by the forces of darkness in no time. You’ll be glad you met them before the week’s out. You’ll see.’

I really didn’t know what to make of this. It was good to know that I wasn’t going crazy, or that if I was, then at least I wasn’t the only one. Others had seen the armour and the demons, but what did it mean? Why me? And why now? I’d never heard of anything like this in religious studies lessons at school. The thought of having demons stalking me made my skin crawl. My thoughts flashed back to my bike ride to the church the previous day and the feeling I’d had that I was being watched. Had there been demons following me? It would certainly explain why I’d been so on edge.

‘What do the demons do to you?’ I asked, unsure that I really wanted to know the answer.

‘That depends,’ Matt said with a shrug. ‘Just like people, every one’s different. They come in all shapes and sizes, and their methods are different, but they all want to make you do bad stuff. Some people seem to attract more attention from them than others. I’m not sure why. I’ve even seen people who seem to be vaguely aware of them, but who make no effort to drive them away. It’s as if they want them to be a part of their life. Come. I’ll show you.’

‘Show me?’ I asked, instantly uncomfortable.

Matt got to his feet and beckoned for me to follow. He was heading for the door with a determined look. I walked after him, a nervous fluttering feeling in my gut. I had no desire to see more demons. He used an elderly couple who were leaving as a shield to avoid having to talk to the vicar, who had taken up position at the door and was enthusiastically chatting with people as they left. Matt slipped past, so I did the same.

Outside the sun was shining and the sky was a clean blue with not so much as a hint of cloud. It was warm without being hot. To my surprise, Matt immediately turned from the path and walked across the grass to an old memorial bench. Surely he didn’t expect to see demons in broad daylight. They were creatures of darkness, weren’t they?

‘Come and take a seat,’ Matt offered. ‘I think you’ll find the view interesting.’

I did as he suggested, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. The rooks were cawing in the trees overhead and the noise from the now distant-sounding church organ suddenly ceased as the organist finished his retiring piece. There was not a breath of wind. It was a beautiful day.

‘What am I looking at?’ I asked.

‘The people leaving,’ he replied. ‘Watch what happens as they come down the path. You will need to concentrate. Really focus.’

I did as he asked, watching as folk exited the church and walked down the path towards their cars, but I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.’

‘Tell me, what do you see?’

‘Nothing,’ I said.

‘No, you’re not listening,’ he replied. ‘Tell me, what do you see?’

I decided to humour him.

‘I see people leaving church,’ I said.

‘And…?’

‘I can see the vicar in the doorway, moss covered gravestones, blue sky…’

‘Limit yourself to things that are moving,’ he ordered.

‘There’s a car coming down the road, there’s a couple of rooks flying above us, there’s a cloud of insects on the other side of the path…’

‘Aha!’ he exclaimed. ‘Those are not insects. Focus. Watch them. Do they move like insects?’

Now that he mentioned it, their movement was a bit unusual. When flies swarmed there was an almost rhythmic movement to their combined flight.

‘No,’ I admitted. ‘Something’s wrong, but I can’t put my finger on it.’

‘Now look up at the eaves above the doorway.’

I did. There appeared to be a line of grey bulbous, sack-like things hanging in a line that I’d not noticed before. As I watched, one of them stretched and moved. To my horror, leathery wings unfurled and a head became apparent.

‘You can see them, can’t you?’ Matt stated more than asked. ‘Now look at the base of that tree over there.’

My eyes went automatically to the tree he’d indicated and I wished they hadn’t. I gasped as another creature, fearsome in appearance, crouched on all fours like a dog, seemed almost to materialise before my eyes. It’s hard to explain exactly what happened, but one moment I was sitting in a perfectly normal churchyard and the next it was as if someone had given me a set of glasses that allowed me to see into another dimension. All around us were a host of bizarre and terrifying creatures that had previously blended perfectly into the surroundings. Most were no bigger than regular household pets, but there were a few larger ones, horned and scaly that looked more like the almost human-shaped demon images I’d seen in books.

‘Pretty scary, aren’t they?’ Matt said.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt constricted, as if it had been tightly bound. I wanted to get up and run, but even if I’d managed to get to my feet, I doubt that my legs would have worked. I opened my mouth and then closed it again. Panic consumed me.

To my horror, I watched as the creatures approached the people leaving along the path. The insect-sized ones flew into their mouths, ears and up into their nostrils, but the people did not so much as flinch. Other, larger creatures clambered up legs and either clung to the person’s back, or draped themselves across shoulders. Some seemed to absorb themselves into their host’s body, some were almost ephemeral and allowed themselves to be inhaled. The largest demons contented themselves to follow along behind, trailing by no more than a pace or two.

‘Why don’t the people notice?’ I choked, feeling sick to the very core of my being.

‘I think in a vague way, everyone is aware of the demons that are part of their life,’ Matt said with a shrug. ‘Each seems to attach themselves for a particular purpose. From what I’ve seen, the little insect-like ones mostly seem to encourage gossip, lying, mockery and a host of other nasty things. They feed and grow from the evil they encourage.’

‘So the bigger ones have grown from those tiny little things?’ I asked with fascinated horror.

‘Some, but not all,’ Matt replied. ‘Some start out bigger. See that fat one draping itself across the man’s shoulders?’

I could see exactly which one Matt meant. The man was big, being both tall and overweight, but his footsteps looked disproportionately laboured. I could see why. Carrying that thing around with him must have been hard work.

‘That’s a form of sloth demon,’ he went on. ‘And I think the others clinging to his back and his belly are gluttony demons.’

I felt a pang of sorrow for the man. In that moment I wanted to help him, but I wasn’t sure how.

Suddenly I noticed something strange. Some of the demons trying to approach people were being blocked by the same sort of barrier that I’d seen protecting the church in Oxtree.

‘Why do some demons get a hold when others are blocked?’

‘I wondered how long it would take you to notice that. The ones that can’t get a grasp are being stopped by a prayer barrier,’ he replied.

‘So if we pray, those things won’t be able to keep hold of him?’ I asked, nodding towards the big man carrying the sloth demon.

‘I wish it was that simple,’ Matt said, giving me a wry grin. ‘Try it. We can try together if you like, but I should warn you before we begin that the demons won’t like it. We will certainly draw attention.’

‘What will they do?’

‘Honestly? I can’t say for sure. When I tried it last, a bunch of the smaller ones swarmed round me, but they couldn’t get past the barrier round me. It frightened me fart-less! It seems that when you start to pray, you step into the battle lines,’ he warned. ‘If we start firing weapons, it makes sense that we need to be prepared for the enemy to fight back.’

I looked round the churchyard at the demons lurking in wait to leech off the people exiting the church and I felt the cold fingers of fear grip me. Did I dare to pick a fight with these things? I had no shining armour to protect me. Not even the helmet that Matt wore. I could see it again now, glowing faintly golden in the sunlight. His eyes were sparkling and in that instant I knew he wouldn’t turn away from a fight if I picked one. I looked round again at the demons. There were just so many of them.

‘I hadn’t thought of prayers as weapons,’ I admitted. ‘I thought they were just words. Let’s watch a bit more. Maybe we can try prayer another time.’

I tucked my hands between my legs in an effort to hide the fact that they were trembling with fear.

He nodded. ‘I understand.’

‘I’m still trying to make sense of all this,’ I added, feeling a sudden need to steer the conversation away from anything that might attract the demons’ attention. ‘I mean… why me? Why can I see these things when others can’t? I’m not a Christian. I’ve barely ever set foot inside a church before this week.’

Matt laughed and shook his head.

‘Beats me!’ he chuckled. ‘Don’t know why I was chosen either. You’d think that God would pick on people who knew what they were doing, wouldn’t you? I guess it just goes to show that whoever came up with the phrase God works in mysterious ways knew what they were talking about.’
‘You think we were specifically chosen?’ I asked. ‘What makes you think that?’

‘It was the theme of the vicar’s talk on the day I decided to become a Christian,’ he answered. ‘He spoke about lots of different examples of unlikely people who God chose in biblical times and related it to how he still chooses people today. I’m not sure what I have to do to get the rest of my armour, but I like the idea that there is a purpose to my life.’

I already have a purpose for my life, I thought. I’m bright. I’m going to do well in school and then become successful and wealthy. The last thing I need is for something bizarre like this to get in the way.

At that moment I sensed a movement behind me. I turned and wished that I hadn’t. My heart seemed to leap into my throat and I was on my feet faster than you could say the word ‘demon’.

‘Oh wow!’ Matt exclaimed, also jumping from the bench and backing away slowly. ‘It looks like he’s one of yours!’

It was huge! The demon was standing on two feet like a human, but it was not like any person I’d ever seen. The thing could have walked straight out of a fantasy computer game! Muscles seemed to bulge beneath the creature’s scaly hide along its thick arms and legs. Horns curled from either side of its forehead and its eyes burned a deep, deep red as they locked with mine. We regarded each other for a brief moment and then the creature’s lipless mouth stretched wide into a grin, revealing row after row of needle sharp teeth.

For an instant I felt as though I was shrinking, but then my body decided to act independently of my brain. The next thing I knew I was out through the churchyard gate and sprinting for my bike. I vaguely remember Matt calling to me, but I have no idea what he was saying. I was on my bike and pedalling like crazy and there was no way I was looking back for anyone.

*

And that's it, folks. That's all I wrote before I abandoned the project. Sorry to leave it on a bit of a cliff-hanger. With hindsight, I can see why the publishers rejected it, but it has been fun looking back at it and tweaking it a bit. The good news is that I think I have learned something about how my own mind works by having read back through this and I think it's going to help me make The Griffin's Ring better as a result.

Thanks to all those who read through to this point and for the reviews and words of encouragement. They are much appreciated. Thanks especially for the in depth critiques, as I've definitely learned some stuff from those, too.