Cult Theory

Mullins asked the nurses at the desk about Rowen's doctor and was told that they would call him. Twenty minutes later a man in his late forties with short grey hair and brown eyes, wearing a white jacket, approached. His name tag said that he was Dr. Lee.

"I was told that you had a question?"

Mullins liked that he got straight to the point. It made her job easier.

"Yes. I'm Officer Mullins, currently in charge of watching over Rowen Nieves. I was wondering if there was any way she could be discharged this afternoon?"

Dr. Lee moved to the room number where Rowen was staying and waved his hand over the plate. A projection of her records for the current stay appeared and he moved through the information. He frowned as he reached the end and turned to Mullins.

"It says that she showed no signs of injury, not even a paper cut, but that shock was a possibility. There is also a note about a potential demonic possession. Was that verified? It's not often that a patient makes it through the wards and it is not verified."

"I'm afraid I cannot comment about her status in relation to demons. She's traumatized, but that's something that'll take a therapist and a few years of work. I don't think that shock is an issue."

Dr. Lee looked over the records again then dismissed them. He opened the door and walked in. Rowen had been sitting up, flipping through the tv channels again, and turned to look at them. She smiled when she saw the doctor, though it went away when Mullins shook her head behind the doctor.

"I need to do a quick check-up. If everything checks out I don't see a reason why you can't be released. I'm assuming that a place has been prepared for her to go to?"

The doctor turned to look at Mullins as he pulled out his stethoscope.

"Yes. She will be coming home with me, I've been made her guardian."

The doctor raised an eyebrow but turned his attention to Rowen. Lee had been at the job long enough to know that it was not normal for an officer to become the guardian of a victim. It made him curious about the child's demonic status.

Dr. Lee ran a basic check of Rowen's vitals, going as far as checking her reaction times and her ability to track movement. Once he was finished there he had her lay back, spoke an activator word under his breath, and a light shot out of his hand and covered her body. To anyone else watching, nothing happened, but to Dr. Lee, he could see inside her body. This was to make certain she had no broken bones or internal bleeding.

"What is your name?"

"Rowen Diona Nieves."

"What year is it?"

Rowen frowned and glanced at Mullins.

"The quicker you answer the doctor's questions the quicker you can leave."

Rowen rolled her eyes, "It is the year three thousand and thirteen of the third cycle of our Lord Rhis, in the month of Teshi. It is the, um, seventh day? I believe that's correct."

Rowen looked at Mullins who nodded in confirmation of the day. She found it strange that so much had happened in only a day. She had lost her parents and fused her soul with a demon in such a short time. Life had a way of being cruel.

"Good. What is your birth date?"

"The year two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-eight. On the fifth day of Rhazin."

"Very good." Dr. Lee turned to Mullins, "I'll have them get the necessary paperwork to you, and once it's signed she can go. Make sure that you make a follow-up appointment for a week from today. I'd like to check in on her and see if she is still doing well then."

"I will do that, doctor. Thank you."

Mullins waited until the doctor had left to turn her attention to Rowen.

"Do you have anything you want from home? It's still considered a crime scene so you can't go, but I can get your things for you."

"I just want my laptop."

"You don't want any of your clothes?"

Rowen sat up and threw the blanket back to hang her legs off the side of the bed. She tilted her head and motioned to the hospital gown.

"I've grown rather fond of this ugly thing. I only want my laptop, nothing else."

She pushed off the bed and stood up then she made her way to the bathroom.

"Has Detective Austin discovered anything about who the group was that I killed?"

Rowen wandered out of the bathroom a few minutes later and sat back on the bed.

"I will let Detective Austin talk with you about that."

"About what?"

Startled, Mullins turned around to find Detective Austin standing in the doorway. He looked a little more worn out than when they had last seen him. His hair was a wild mess, his uniform a little less crisp, and his eyes bloodshot from a lack of sleep.

"Rowen was asking about the case. I'm not sure what you want her to know so I wasn't going to say anything."

Detective Austin ran a hand through his hair, "That's for the best. I'll take over here, you go grab her stuff."

"She only wants her laptop and refuses her clothes."

"I'm good with the gown."

Rowen shrugged when they both looked at her. She just could not cope with seeing things from her life before. It would be bad enough with the laptop, but it was needed for Gabriel to look things up.

"I guess that this is a good time to give you this." Austin took out his wallet and pulled out a gold card that he handed to a puzzled Mullins.

"This is for the kid. You're listed as a foster parent so you'll get a set amount of money every month. It's to be used for clothing and living expenses.

"Not to blow on whatever."

Detective Austin said the last while he looked at Rowen.

"So it's true that Officer Mullins here is my guardian?"

Austin nodded, "It is. I also got you signed up with Gailuri Magic Academy. First classes start the fourth of Senzala so you'll have a little over two months to prepare. The current school year won't end until the end of this month but the headmaster and I both agreed that it would do more harm than good to start you now."

Mullins excused herself and went to grab Rowen's laptop and get her some clothes. Detective Austin grabbed the chair by the door and set it down. He sat on it backward with his arms resting in front of him, on the back of the chair.

"What can you tell me about the case?"

"Not much because we don't know much. I'm thinking they were part of the Cult of Dein, one of the more recent offshoots of Zorinity."

"I thought that Zorinity doesn't mess with demons? I'm not as familiar with it as Ilevisha so I may be missing something."

"You have it right, Zorinitian's don't even believe in demons so they tend to pretend they don't exist. Dein has been popping up in the last few months. They believe that devils were misnamed and that it's actually demons. They view demons as the true gods and worship them. When they first appeared, in Rozala last year, they had bombed the Summoner's biggest gathering of the year.

"They managed to destroy the building, but only three Summoners died. Their message after the attack was to declare war on all Summoners. Dein does not believe that humans should be binding gods."

~I could get behind a religion that worshiped demons. What they were doing, however, was very much a binding summons. It's strange that they would worship us, try and destroy Summoners, then turn around and summon one of us.~

"That's weird because it was definitely a binding summons, at least that's what Gabriel said."

Detective Austin looked at her strangely, his lips twitching like he was trying not to smile.

"Is that its name?"

Rowen shrugged, "The name I picked for it, anyway. I thought it appropriate. Do you know where the name comes from?"

"Oh, I do and I can't argue that it doesn't have plenty of irony to it, especially when I believe Dein is involved. As a detective, we're required to know the ins and outs of all religions, even the cults.

"Now, I don't want you to do anything but worry about starting school. Leave catching the criminals to us."

"It's not like I have the means to find them."

Rowen laid back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The anger that she had awakened the day before burned hot within her. She wanted them dead, all of them dead, killed as slowly and painfully as she could.