Demon System Download

John rubbed his forehead. He was just sitting there on the ground with Jasmine but he was sweating bullets.

"How the hell did they get inside Adam?"

"This is the work of a very powerful necromancer." Jasmine's eyes grew dark. "Americans call them Voo Doo Priests. Other areas of the world call them Warlocks because they are able to control the Shadow Realm spirits."

John grimaced.

"How do they control the spirits?"

"I'm not familiar with the process," Jasmine shook her head. "But just like a farmer raises pigs and chickens by feeding them and penning them in, this necromancer did the same and gained control over their souls."

John shook his head.

"I'm having a lot of problems trying to digest this 'soul control' business. There's gotta be a better explanation for all this."

"What do you think is a better explanation?" Jasmine turned to look at him.

John rubbed his head with both hands and tried to still his rapidly beating heart.

"Maybe Adam really is insane and really needs to be in the hospital." He looked up helplessly at Jasmine. "What if he's getting worse and we're the ones who did it to him by taking him away from medical care?"

"Look." Jasmine pointed to Adam's seated figure.

Su Dai Tu Liem had seated herself, lotus style behind Adam. With her eyes closed and lips chanting wordlessly, she placed her palms flat onto Adam's back, causing Adam's body to jerk with some unseen power.

A violet-tinged smoke began effusing from under the bell as the lunatic shrieking increased in volume and level of profanity.

Down-wind, where Jasmine stood, the smell of rotten eggs and feces wafted over her, causing her to gag and cover her nose with her hands.

Even John, familiar as he was with the smell of putrefied flesh from long-dead corpses, grimaced in disgust.

Several of the younger monks sitting near Su Dai Tu Liem were overwhelmed by the smell and began to retch as miserable waves of nauseous gasses assaulted them.

The wailing was getting more and more desperate, almost incomprehensible by now.

As if responding to that wretched sound, from the ranks of chanting monks, a short-stature nun wearing a black sari with a yellow sash detached herself and joined Su Dai Tu Liem.

She lowered herself down and took up a position beside Su Dai Tu Liem in detached, yet palpable support. Jasmine recognized her immediately.

It was her aunt, Dai Tien Ha.

Before Jasmine could even wonder why Aunt Dai Tien Ha was there, she had raised her voice up above the consistent chanting of the monks and nuns.

Her voice rose above even the bonging of the bell.

It was a clear commanding voice, ringing out into the crystal sunshine. It overpowered the maniacal ravings of the souls within Adam.

"With enlightenment comes eternal peace. Accept that peace within you and you shall be set free."

"Fuck you ho!" The voice yelled back.

Dark inky smoke plumed up from under the bell, so thick it was barely recognizable as the violet-tinged smoke that was barely visible before.

The foul stench slapped Jasmine in the face.

She bowled over, gagging with the effort to keep from vomiting as John reached out to steady her.

Beside her, Blake was horrified. If this was what the monks had to deal with, it was no wonder he could only hold out for a couple of weeks.

This was not him taking his own life on a whim. It was a desperate attempt at self-preservation!

This situation was so far out of his league that he was surprised he even lasted two weeks with those ghouls inside of him, torturing him every moment of the day and night.

What Blake needed at that time was help of this nature, but how would he have known to ask Jazzie for help? He'd barely known her for two weeks, ever since she joined the band.

"Man, that's just gross. We should go over there and tell that ghoul and his woman to just cut it out and leave Adam alone." Terry glowered.

"They don't have a choice, Terry." Luis looked pained. "They are stuck inside his head until he dies which then releases them from within his mind. They're trapped just as much as he is."

Terry turned back to Blake.

"Man, you have the Demon system. Why can't you go over there and do something? Adam is in big trouble!"

Blake shook his head. "This is way beyond my capabilities and understanding, Terry. Besides, he's getting professional help right now. Just stand back and let them do their jobs."

"Blake, these are just monks!" He rolled his eyes with disgust. "All they do is sit and chant and try to be good. What do you think they can possibly do to these ghouls?"

Luis rubbed his eyes, shaking his head with disgust at Terry.

"Are you even listening to yourself? 'Cause I don't think you know what you're talking about. You just need to chill and—"

"And what???" Terry turned on Luis. "I died because of those ghouls. They need to pay for what they did to me. To us!!!"

"And what are you going to do to them, pray tell?" Luis turned to him with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I would go over there and knock them out of him and teach them a lesson or two."

"You really want to be a part of this Demon system thing, don't you?"

"Yeah!!!"

Luis' eyes were red-rimmed and enraged. He reached back with his powerful arms and slugged Terry in the face.

BAAAM!!!

"Arggghhhh!!!" Terry howled.

Beside Blake, Jasmine gave a startled jerk as if she had actually heard Terry's cry.

She looked around with large spooked eyes.

Not seeing anything that could have possibly made such a howl of pain and rage, she returned to watching Adam's situation unfolding in front of her.

For a moment, Terry lolled on the ground. The punch came so unexpected, he didn't even have time to brace himself.

As he fell over onto the grass, he held out his hand to brace himself and suddenly paused.

His eyes were seeing something that no one else could see.

Blake narrowed his eyes. It was easy to guess what had happened.

Luis had given Terry the Demon system download.