The third floor of the hospital had a much nicer interior than the last two with its surfaces bereft of the bawdy and oftentimes racist gang graffiti that dominated its cracked white tiled walls and rotten wooden floors. The scent of hyacinths and lavender permeated the air of the hallways as the lone hunter strode against the wave of unease that beset his aching body.
The fight with the zombie had taken a toll on him, worse than he calculated. Sure, it was exhilarating to go hay wild and fight tooth-and-nail against an unfeeling and un-tiring object of death, but the heat of the moment made him forget the other purpose of their raid. To find Elaine Grimsby and the demon who awaits his arrival.
"Now I have to deal with another witch without Garth." He sighed while he checked the room that comes across, all empty and broken like the others below them.
Charlotte's mother. A mighty witch if her daughter is to believe, which Irwin did. Facing her would be an uphill battle, one he would do without a real solution to her spellcasting given that their only weapon against witches is currently in use. Another problem to sort out is whether the demon will fight beside her since it knows of his arrival, more so when their guns began firing.
Ducking under a large cobweb underneath a broken metal sign, Irwin sniffed the air around the halls of the hospital and smelled the sweet scent of lavender and mint permeating his nose.
Irwin stopped for a moment as he passed by a wheelchair in the corner of a room. He was tired, exhausted even, and sore and swelling and beaten. Maybe a relaxing chair like that could do him some good.
"Might as well..." He muttered with a shrug as he entered the dilapidated room and sat on the dusty wheelchair with surprisingly lubricated wheels. Irwin moaned as he felt the leather seat caress his aching thighs, putting his ankles atop the handles. "That's the stuff."
He sighed once more as the burden of the fight leaves his shoulders. "You know what I'm missing? Orange juice and pancakes." He mused as he rested his head against the leather pads of the chair, lightly yawning.
Silence reigned over the room until a light snore escaped Irwin's mouth. The snores fill the chambers with a comfy ambience as though no horrible things have happened within the very chambers.
A moment later, a series of footsteps accompanied the snores as a graceful woman entered the room. Charlotte's mother silently cooed at the sleeping hunter as she walked up to his figure sitting in the wheelchair and caressed his face.
"So young," She muttered, a gentle smile on her face while her hands tucked back the loose hair hanging atop his nose. "Yet too eager to die."
A short yet sweet laugh escaped her before she squinted her eyes as she noticed the seemingly out-of-place dirt atop his forehead. "Fuck!" Her eyes widened in recognition, nearly stumbling back before Irwin's hands shot up and firmly grabbed the wrist on her stretched-out hand.
"I think so too," Irwin grinned as he opened his eyes with delight. "At least compared to your old ass."
She tried to pull back her hand with a heavy grunt but stopped once Irwin brought his other hand near her. A plastic bag containing the components for a spell held firmly inside.
"Don't move too much or I'll burn you like I'm Don Rickles!" He exclaimed with a grin, shifting on his sit to get a proper look at his enemy. "Now, aren't you a beaut? Sorry! That was sexist of me. I was just admiring your Glamour charms."
The woman scoffed, indignified and hurt. "I assure you, hunter, this is all real."
"And I don't use lifts on my shoes. Let's be real here." He quipped before tightening his grip on her wrist causing her to scowl even further. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you..."
She pointedly looked at her wrist.
"... anymore." Irwin corrected before clearing his throat.
Apprehension clouded her eyes as she scrutinized the hunter before her eyes. She nodded for him to go on.
"I don't want to fight. I mean, I do, but... I was pretty hurt by your daughter." He admitted, cracking his neck.
"I did teach her well." She replied, pride overtaking her gritted tone.
"I'm going to get to the point: We can negotiate. Strike a deal, a bargain, in your favour. Like demon deals, but, you know, less fire and brimstone."
Another scoff escaped her mouth. "What makes you think I would bargain with a human like you?" Comdesention oozed out of her tone, but Irwin knew that it was nothing but a mere facade.
"Well, three things actually," He said, letting go of her wrist and pocketing the plastic bag.
The witch was bewildered by his actions and just as she hastily took out a hex bag from within her heavy bosoms, she stopped entirely. Her gaze trained fully on Irwin's smile, hesitation beset her body.
"Good girl." He mocked." First, I have your daughter trapped in a Witchcatcher and guarded by a skilled hunter. If you don't know-"
"I know." She said through gritted teeth. "You just told me."
"Good, you we're listening. Two- oh, sorry. Second, I know you Borrowers. You all seemed to hate the demons you made pacts with, sooner or later. They're bitches and snakes who seek nothing but utter chaos. They don't care if they lose, they just want you to be devastated. Finally... I mean, C'mon. You know the mark on my forehead. That kind of Celtic sigil, its old. Older and stronger than you. You know if you kill me that it doesn't matter where you hide... my teacher will find and kill you." His words rang deep within her chest as his smile turned devious, more so that the demon they'd made a pact with. "So, a deal?"
The woman snorted in contempt, gazing deep into his blue eyes for a while before reluctantly agreeing. "Fine. I may have some grievances towards the bastard and I do love my dearest daughter, no matter how ditzy she may be."
"Ah, begrudging acceptance, my bread and butter." He joked, much to the witch's annoyance. "Now, first things first, what's your name?"
"Agatha." She proclaimed graciously.
"Bit cliche, but I can work with it," Rolling his eyes at her arrogant expression. "I'm Richard Greythorne. Nice to meet you!"
Agatha did not respond, merely raising her eyebrow and holding her hands akimbo.
"Right." He cleared his throat and produced a yellowed scroll from out of nowhere and handed it towards her. "That's a contract that contains a sliver of power from the god of oaths. It's called Sancus' Corpus Protectoris."
She raised her eyebrows in slight astonishment, not annoyance this time, as she took the scroll and performed a visual and olfactory inspection with utter fascination.
"Why are you fucking smelling it?" Being weirded out by her actions, Irwin hurriedly grabbed back the contract.
Agatha scoffed. "Contracts like that are quite rare outside of Southern Europe. Fascinating."
"Are you familiar with it?" He asked warily.
"No, not intimately." She replied with a tilt of her head. "Hard to access such luxury from the Cammora."
"Good. Very good." He unfurled the scroll, showing its blank centre and the esoteric sigils as its borders. "I'll state my end of the deal and drop my blood. if you agree, it's your turn. We can negotiate as usual."
"And if we don't make a compromise?"
"I hope you won't miss your daughter." He smiled, but Agatha could see his eyes hardening.
She hummed and began their negotiation.
Now, it has to be pointed out that Irwin had neither the experience nor intelligence to outwit a witch like Agatha. A dog would have a better chance. So leaned on his advantages: Her daughter's survival, her hate for the demon, his purported petty and vengeful teacher, and his desire to merely let her go without a fight. A royal flush of advantages as Irwin would say if he knew how poker or any card games work.
His demands are simple, after all, merely to not fight her and acquire information regarding the demon and his meatsuit, Elaine Grimsby; a non-aggression pact and information for the life of her daughter in simple words. But, of course, negotiating with a witch is never simple.
"Quite a lot." She remarked, earning a scoff from Irwin which merely amused her more. "Well, my demands are simple..."
He could not help but vehemently reject her demands for it was, well, too demanding. Much like him, she demanded information regarding the spell he had used to neutralize her subtle sleeping spell, the safety and release of her daughter, and a promise to let her leave unaccosted.
"I'm not that demanding." She defended whilst checking her red fingernails.
"Oh, it is. The spell is a personal creation of my teacher which means I have no real authority to disseminate such information. But I can agree with your second and third conditions. Once I am done dealing with the demon, we will meet at a neutral location and give you the key to unlock your daughter's Witchcatcher."
"Oh, dear. It seems, then, that we have no deal." She said, testing his patience by flexing her long little fingers.
"You would risk your daughter for a spell?" He asked.
"I taught her never to be captured... it's not my fault." She responded, rolling her eyes.
He scoffed back, steepling his fingers. "Fine, I will give you the spell scroll... alongside the key to your daughter's Witchcatcher key. I will give them both and I and my partner will not use any spells to kill you. And seeing as we had such a hard time acquiring one Witchcatcher, there would be no weapon on hand that can kill you on the site of our exchange."
"You will add those lines to the contract?" She asked suspiciously. His nod only added more to her suspicion as she scrutinized his face, getting in all the angles of his olive skin and blue eyes. She hummed in contemplation. "Good. Now, for the information..."
Much to Irwin's surprise, Agatha did divulge many a thing to him, mostly the demon'serratic behaviour and recent hastiness and rambling regarding the conduct of their operation and about its lord, the one the demon serves. She also told of Elaine's recent ambition causing her abduction and forced possession as the demon tried to tie up loose ends and subsequently get the attention of Elaine's brothers.
"So she's here? Elaine is safe?" He asked, standing from his seat and sheat the iron-loaded gun into his holster and replacing it with Devil's trap gun.
"Further down there in a closet, tied and gagged." She answered as she snapped her finger that materialised a drop of crimson blood in the air mere inched above her fingers. "Shall we?"
The Iridium knife gently scraped against Irwin's fingertips, producing a single drop of blood which he pressed unto the surface of the scroll while he attuned his mind to inscribing the deal they had set forth. Agatha did the same as her blood flew towards the other end of the parchment, dying the scroll with her blood as it ran up the surface and formed her end of the contract. with both their blood and demands met, the unfurled scroll shook between Irwin's grasp before dissipating into a golden light that weaved around both of their arms. The golden light suddenly latched upon their wrist, branding them with their oaths as they feel the sudden surge of euphoria pervade their minds and souls. The contract has been set and the deal has been made.
"May you defeat your demons." She wished him luck before snapping her fingers and walking away.
"And I you." He replied, twitching his nose that was now bereft of lavender and mint.
Irwin sneakily peered his head through the halls and saw the empty expanse before sighing to himself and patting his back for a job well done. He had, after all, negotiated a witch for his life and more.
Not wasting a second more, Irwin jogged towards Elaine's location. A fairly large cabinet used to contain staff uniforms had been the demon's makeshift prison, now dirtied with dust and pieces of bubble gum.
He found it unlocked and saw the figure of a dark-skinned woman with frizzy black hair and piercing brown eyes dully gazing straight at her lap. The demon had bent her body and stuffed her in here, tightly gagged and tied which he removed hurriedly.
"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas," He began chanting, firmly cupping her cheeks and forcing her to gaze straight at his eyes. "Omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica..."
Elaine's eyes fluttered as his chant neared its end. "Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te!" A gasp lightly startled him but he steadied his hold, checking her visible orifices for any sign of smoke. Irwin sighed when a second passed and found none.
"Hey! Elaine, look at me. Grendel sent me. Elaine." He slapped her cheeks and pushed her delirious eyes wide, fully revealing her dilated irises and delusional mutterings. He tried a few more times before judging her state as unrepairable in the short period he has.
"Fuck." He exclaimed, taking out his phone and calling Lieutenant Mercer, whim answered the call almost immediately. "Agent Crawford. I'm going to text you a location of a mental hospital... Yes, we found our killer... an ambulance, paramedics, a lot of it because there's a victim here who got some drugs injected in her. Yeah, go fast and let me handle the paperwork afterwards."
He hung up after ordering the cop and began to scour the surrounding area for something to help Elaine be protected from the demon. He soon found one, a piece of rusty crowbar below a bawdy gang graffiti most probably left by a startled sprayer seeing its rather unfinished facade.
The closet door closed as Irwin placed the crowbar between its handle before tugging it open firmly. He sighed in relief, believing this to be the safest she can be in the event the demon remain top-side after their fight.
As the hunter recouped his breath, another took a deep one, cold and unfeeling. Whatever semblance of hope and glimmer of moonlight that once bedraggled itself in by the edges of the boarded windows, now had left the environment. The musty air turned rancid and heavy, a shift in the wind so infinitesimal that only those attuned to their senses could feel. Irwin, however improbable, could somehow feel.
The demon has arrived.
●●●●●●
Irwin stood face to face against his most powerful enemy yet: An enraged demon.
"Naughty, naughty, Mister Greythorne..." Purred the demon as his sclera vanished within the inky blackness. If the phrase "The eyes are the window to a person's soul" was true then the creature before him was a damned soul who succumbed to the evils of humanity.
"Oh, you know my name?" He said, narrowing his brows in suspicion and tilting his head in a friendly gesture. "Pleasure to meet you...?"
"Madkosh." It supplied as it offered a grandiose bow.
"Right. A pleasure to meet you, Madkosh." He greeted in a polite tone as he eyed the demon's meatsuit.
Contrary to his expectation, the demon chose a rather stout human to possess. Bulky frame yet short of height, the meatsuit had brown locks of unkempt tightly-coiled hair with large inky black eyes and a light skin tone. The callouses visible within the palms of the man and shallow dark spots on the sides of his face and forehead suggest long hours of back-breaking work in the sun.
A brawler's build, he thought, compatible with the demon's inability to be killed and super endurance.
"I see you're compensating for your... ah... physical prowess? Or lack thereof." He remarked, eyeing the minute changes within the demon's form as his hand, hidden beneath his suit jacket, tightly clutched his only gun.
It laughed mirthfully. "Quite so. I'm afraid my physical abilities are not my strongest aspect. My witchcraft, however, is rather... uniquely powerful. Case in point." The demons' eyes glowed a dark purple colouration as a sudden wave of torrential energy pulsed within the very room.
Irwin lurched back as he brought his hands up, aimed the gun in his hand at the demon and fired a shot. The bullet pushed off against the revolver and traversed the air before the pulsing wave of arcane energy pulled it off its original track and whizz towards the ceiling of the room. "Fuck!" He cursed as the revolver in his hand became too much to handle. He hunched his form, trying to keep the gun still but the magical force pulsed once more as the gun flung from his hand and hit his mouth before sticking to the ceiling.
Laughter filled the room as the demon clapped in joy, amused by the way Irwin tried to resist its magic. "Good. Very good. Our battle, however short, will be quite entertaining, hunter."
"You really think I didn't prepare for this encounter? You insult me, hellspawn." Irwin spat the blood forming on his swollen lower gums near the demon. "Now, before we start. Let me ask you a question."
"Oh, do go on, Richard. I have plenty of time." The demon replied politely.
"Why didn't you tell them? The witches, why didn't you tell them that I'd be arriving?"
The demon boisterously laughed. "Well, that wouldn't be fun, would it? Besides, I was getting tired of their incompetence anyway, so why not let you handle them? Saves me time and manpower."
Irwin scoffed, initially due to the demon's undue arrogance, but once he digested his words, Irwin knew he was in for a tough fight.
A beat of tension elapsed between them before Irwin surged in with the demon rushing along. Irwin swung his fist wide in a right hook which the demon evaded with ease. The demon scoffed and hurriedly placed a well-timed kidney shot to his enemy's unguarded right side.
Irwin grunted but barely moved from his position, returning a lightning-fast three-time jab combo with a left, right, and another left. Every punch caused the demon to stagger backwards until it hit a wall.
The demon became irate at his enemy's quick reflexes, sharp perception, and strong punches. Unnaturally strong. The demon could feel himself being hurt not just physically, but metaphysically as well. Like his very essence was being hurt.
"Still got it," Irwin muttered through bated breath, amazed by his ferocity before instinctively holding up his hands to his face and blocking an elbow chop by the demon. "You, on the other hand, need further training."
The demon bellowed as its blackened eyes crinkled in anger, deepening the cracks upon his head. The demon latched onto Irwin's waist as the latter threw a punch to his head, missing and breaking into the cement wall. The demon heaved Irwin to the air for but a second, confusing the latter, before smashing his back to the ground.
[Warning!]
The air around Irwin whistled and assaulted his bare skin before indescribable pain, too, assaulted his body as a soul-crushing crack resounded across the room. Dirt and cement were blown away by the sheer force of the body slam, cracking and denting the century-old paved floor.
Not one to waste his chances, the demon straddled Irwin's chest and pummeled him with his tightly clenched fist, putting all his demonic strength into the punches.
[Warning!]
Irwin defended to the best of his abilities, covering his head with his bloodied arms yet still feeling the brunt of the infernal-fueled beating. Although he knew he could last minute from being beaten by the supernatural entity given his abnormal bloodline, it still hurts like hell and it was safe to say that he was not a masochist. Feeling another punch leaving his swollen arm, Irwin through gritted teeth muttered: "Christo!"
The demon flinched as his eyes glowed with black light giving Irwin a second to grab his last bag of spell components and aimed it at the demon's face. "Flagello flammarum!"
Irwin eyes succumb to the force of his magic as his normal light blue saturated into a purple glow, his hands curving across the demon's face turned into a bright orange whip-like fire that scraped against the latter's head and launched it back towards the wall.
Dust and cement blew outwards as the demon crashed into the wall with the Flame Whip following along. The demon's body fell off the wall and into the ground with a heavy thud.
Forcing the bucking flaming whip to settle down his hands, Irwin waved away the dust and dirt around the wall and saw the scarred figure of the demon, muttering his own incantation before a flash of red light enchanted its way out his hands. A spear with three forks: A trident, appeared in his hands, its pole was made of metal and its sharp forks emitted a scorching blaze that left the surrounding air to waver.
The demon rushed forward and used his pole advantage to stab Irwin from afar. His trident mere inches away from the hunter's skin before being swept away by a flash of orange light for a whip made out of flames swung alive.
The demon grunted in frustration and continued his assault, thrusting hard and fast as he relied on his superior strength and near-endless stamina to force Irwin backwards.
The demon suddenly swung his head backwards as another whip of flames whizzed past him Irwin conjured another spell and dual-wielded him, with a flourish.
"Just learned I could do this." He boasted with a humble tilt of his head.
"Good for you, sweetie." The demon's voice turned gentle and honeyed in a feminine voice, betrayed only by the fact that his marred face looked scornful and was flourishing his scorching trident.
Irwin breathed out for a second, eyeing his enemy's nonchalant movement before flailing his whip straight for the jugular. The flames lit ablaze as it traversed the space and threatened to hit the demon only for it to suddenly step to the side, evading the attack.
The two moved and fought back and forth, the demon becoming frustrated by Irwin's growing expertise in the Flame Whip spell. The wind cracked, the floor creaked, and the walls boomed as the flames lit the room ablaze with their ferocity.
"I found the trick to it, demon." With a boisterous laugh, his eyes surged with pulsing purple light that traversed the entirety of his body before breaking into the whips on both of his hands. The combination of purple and orange light mesmerized even its owner as the blaze intensified so much so that it scorched the nearby environment. "Want to be my guinea pig?"
"No, thanks." It smiled before slashing its trident at the hunter. The jagged tip of the trident nearly slashed Irwin's carotid artery before the latter hastily dodged to the side, leaving a trail of boiling blood amidst his descent into a crouching position.
Irwin felt the weight of his body bore down upon his ankles as he utilized his enemy's precarious positioning and willed a flaming whip to latch onto the hand that held onto the bottom pole of the trident. The demon hissed at the scorching pain before another flash of orange light whizzed past its peripheral vision and latched unto its neck.
[Warning!]
With a boisterous war cry, Irwin stretched his already-red ankles to their fullest and rushed forward, the demon in tow. The other ends of his whips wrapped around his wrist and arm as he pulled the demon with all his might and slammed it towards the nearby wall.
A deafening boom filled the quaking room, dust and dirt formed an outward explosion that assailed Irwin's weakened form. As the dust slowly settled, only one figure, surrounded by an entwining purple and orange light, stood alone.
Irwin silently gasped for breath as his whole body felt raw and painful. With but a single command the enhanced Flaming Whip flickered into nothingness. He would rejoice right now for defeating the demon in combat if it not for the aching and resurfacing pain that swath his form as well as the loudening groans of the demon.
With another step, Irwin nearly crumpled to the ground with an agonizing grunt as he reached down his other ankle which had a less disgusting and twisted wounded form and retrieved his Sony Walkman. He pressed play.
~Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas,~
Coughing from the hit and still bleary, the demon roared as he heard the monotone and almost staticky chanting from somewhere within the cloud of dust, fear and anxiousness marring his burned face. He tried to crawl away as the effects of the exorcism began to take effect to no avail. "You son of a whore! I will flay your family alive! We will come for you, we will eat you, we will torture you!" He sc1reamed and screamed as the walkman continued.
~omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica.~
Fearing the ending of the exorcism and the calling of the damned, the demon opened his maw and ejected out of his meatsuit. An ashen black smoke came out off the meatsuit, forcefully pulsing and flowing towards the open window; the exorcism, however, seemed to have taken effect as a forceful tug prevented him from leaving the room.
~Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te.~
"See you in hell, bud," Irwin muttered as he lay on the cracked wooden floor, completely exhausted.
The smoke changed its direction as it slammed itself into the paved floor, cracking the cement and causing the smoke to dissipate within the very cracks it created.
The lone man laughed his heart out, filling the desolate facility with much-needed mirth and joy. With broken bones, swollen joints, and scorched flesh, Irwin Bellios has defeated and exorcised his first demon.