Exorcist Servant: Demon Hunter

After Sean's urgent warning, John headed toward the house, expecting to see a monstrous humanoid babbling, cursing, and only a step away from insanity.

In fact, he saw a handsome young man with a bad attitude.

Caleb Jensen has long hair, a thin build in a hand-knit sweater and ripped jeans.Rather than scaring seasoned cops into pissing their pants, this outfit makes Caleb look more like an anti-war hippie.

Of course, the appearance of the human host is not the same as the appearance of the non-human spirit body inside.

That's right, and John could feel the psychic energy around him from a few feet away.

Nothing unusual about it, but it made him feel better: when he saw Ben Jensen's body, the spirit, whatever it was, was never inside the body.

John finished his prayers and leaned forward with a mental force he could hardly describe to non-exorcists.

It was a bit like sticking out a barbed rope, but the rope and hook were part of him, connected to his own power and nervous system.

He'd hook the inhuman spirit, yank it out of Caleb, force it into the spirit bottle, and hand it over to the disposal team.

A piece of cake.

When the pressure in the circle dropped suddenly, John's eardrum vibrated.

The smell of ozone filled the air, along with a hint of sandalwood and rain-drenched desert earth.

A gust of wind blew up from nowhere, causing Caleb's long hair to fly and his clothes to fly.All four candles went out at once.

That's not the plan.

Caleb's head was thrown back, and his eyes were no longer light brown, but black as obsidian mirrors.Jagged lightning flashed across their depths.

But compared to the energy that suddenly flooded into the circle and hit John's sensitive nerves directly, the change in his appearance was nothing worth mentioning.

What John met was a storm of thunder and lightning, powerful enough to wipe out everything in its path.

Hold!John took a step back subconsciously, and gripped the ritual sword tightly.Damn, how did the situation go bad so quickly, from no signs of possession to full possession in seconds?

"I've never seen anything like it," Sean said, and damn it, John should have listened to him.Because no matter how the inhuman spirit body treated the meagerly talented Xion at that time, at this moment, I had definitely attracted its attention.

The spirit tugged Caleb's body a step toward him, and damn it, there was animal strength and grace in the way it moved.

In such a form, and with such a strong energy, it feels like being trapped in a cage with a hungry tiger.

John himself took another step back, fighting instinct and reason.Danger!run!Hide!His mind screamed, but just staying on his feet without taking a step back took almost all of his strength.Because once the circle is broken, it will be put outside and attack the rest of the team.

Kania is out there somewhere, with a gun.If things did get out of hand, she'd sieve it with silver-plated bullets.

If John was lucky, she'd be able to knock his head down before it was ripped off cleanly.

Psychic energy flitted past him and surrounded him.His cock swelled in response, pushing against the zipper of his slacks.

What the hell?

He'd done exorcisms dozens of times, and the only time he'd gotten hard had been a succubus -- and even that hadn't affected him as strongly as this pure, raw energy.

"What are you doing?" the inhuman spirit asked.Its voice was still Caleb's, but with a low growl, like the rumble of thunder.

John's mind froze, not knowing what to do, for he had been trained to stab it directly with the ritual sword, and then force all the power he could summon upon it, forcing it out of Caleb's dying body. out, but really, it just sounded like... well, bored.

no anger.There was no madness, no flattery or reconciliation, like trying to trick him into letting him go.It's just a little edgy, as if he's causing the slightest inconvenience.

Just the psionic energy oozing out of it shocked John.If it doesn't want to, he has no way to let this spirit leave Caleb's body, unless he kills Caleb.But he wasn't ready to do so, at least not while it was threatening right now.

"What's your name?" John asked cautiously, some inhuman beings had names, or acquired names, and the question was a good way to delay until he figured out what to do next.

The inhuman stared at him without blinking. "Ash," it said, fangs flicking behind its lips this time.

Fuck it, Sean was right all along, this is what a vampire is.

"Ash?" He repeated foolishly.

"Everything was gray before"—oh, so "gray" isn't a name—"no sound. Even the memories of the dead were faded and unreal. Now there was color, and taste. So What a smell. I never knew there were other smells besides demons."

It's getting weirder. "You mean non-human spirits? Non-human spirits? We, uh, don't call your kind demons anymore."

The vampire—Ash, John couldn't help remembering the name—glared at him angrily.Apparently, John has a talent for making it mad. "I am not like them. Demons are food, and I am not food. Therefore, I am not a demon."

"Demons—I mean other non-human spirits—are food?" Goddess, he sounded like an idiot, just repeating what the other said.But the whole conversation is just crazy.Maybe it was a dream, maybe he'd wake up in bed and find that Caleb was just a perfectly normal, non-possessed handsome guy he'd brought back from the bar.

But the energy emanating from Caleb, huge and dangerous, like a thunderstorm, was all too real for any dream.Not to mention John still had an erection.

"Of course." It was annoyed again, like John was a particularly stupid kid.

"I hunt them, I eat them." Hui held up a hand, curled his fingers, each finger had retractable claws, just like a cat's.

"There used to be a demon here, and I was following it, but it found me first. Humans blocked my way, and they destroyed my sojourning body, so I occupied the nearest body." Its indifferent expression was captured Doubt covered, "But he didn't remain dead."

ah.Was that why it bothered talking to him in the first place?Was he—it—whatever it was—looking for answers?

"Someone gave him CPR," John hesitated, but what else could he do? "Leave him, and if you really only hunt, uh, demons, leave Caleb's body and find another."

A low growl rumbled like thunder from Caleb's throat.And the next second he's only a few feet away from John's face, how the hell is he moving so fast?

His black hair whipped around his face like an angry snake, whipping in the wind, and he grinned to show his fangs.The adrenaline was making John's heart race, but he forced himself not to flinch, without batting an eyelid.

"I can't," there was anger in the words, and fear. "When a body is destroyed I'll leave and go into the closest suitable body. But I don't have a choice, I didn't intend to, but it just happened, so—"

The vampire shuddered suddenly.The stormy energy against John's skin suddenly trembled, then collapsed inward, subsided.

Caleb staggered to his feet, blinking his brown eyes in horror.His hair was matted around his cheeks, and the hand he reached out to brush it away showed no sign of a claw.

"Oh God," he whispered, the fangs out of his mouth, and his voice back to normal, no low thunderous rumble, "it didn't work, did it? Fucking didn't work!"

***

John stood on the half-sunken porch, wishing he could have a stiff drink.Or he could learn to smoke; then at least he could do something other than stand around shivering—a chill that had nothing to do with the cold pre-dawn air.

"Agent Starkweather, what do you think?" Kania asked him calmly.

It was as if she hadn't stood in the shadow behind John during the failed exorcism just now, and she didn't feel the huge psionic storm churning up from Caleb's thin body.

He straightened up as much as he could, meeting her gaze. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I'll tell you." Sean murmured.

Kania raised an eyebrow. "To organize the next steps, I need more information."

"I have nothing more to say!" He paused, calmed down and continued, "Ash—that inhuman spirit—is very powerful. Beyond anything I've seen or read. Now I can't call it by any other name than Sean gave it. It's a vampire, Dracula."

"You think it's powerful enough to inhabit a corpse?" Kania asked.

It's a pity that the love reader can only perceive the emotions of primates, otherwise Pittman can tell them whether Hui has lied. "I don't know. If there is any non-human spirit that can do this, it must be him."

"That's not a 'he,'" Sean reminded sharply, "and you shouldn't name it like a goddamn pet. It's dangerous, and we need to kill us all when it has full control over the host." Fix it before you stay."

"I don't agree," John's shivering stopped, and he turned to face Sean. "I never felt that Hui was playing tricks on me, or... lying to me."

"It says it eats other non-human spirits. You don't believe it's telling the truth, do you?" Sean asked with his eyes raised.

"Why not? Maybe... maybe they do have some kind of ecosystem." Because the truth is, no one really has a detailed understanding of spirits.

For centuries—thousands of years—people have explained spirit bodies in stories of gods, angels, and demons, and cultures have interpreted them in different ways and passed on their memory in the form of stories. "When you think about it, we only know something about some of them because they interact with humans. Maybe not all spirits interact with people, and maybe most don't."

"Do you think it's some kind of - I don't know how to put it - some kind of apex predator?" Kania asked, but at least she sounded like she was considering the possibility.

"Why not? Even great white sharks get eaten by orcas."

But Sean took another cigarette out of the box and said, "Who cares what it is, except that it's dangerous."

"McNamara, I need to speak with Starkweather alone," Kania said.

"Okay," Sean took out the lighter, "I'll wait by the car."

"Have a good night's rest."

For a moment, John thought Sean would protest—but no one was going to argue with Kania.At least, people who don't want to be beaten by her - purely metaphorically - with a feather duster will not argue with her.

Sean evidently realized he had been dismissed, and he trudged back down the street without even saying "good night."

John wants to say something nice for his friend, but he's not sure how to say it.

If he wanted to reassure Kania that Sion wasn't intimidated, then she'd wonder why that was a concern.

And if he tried to tell her that Sean was an excellent exorcist, she would just reply that she knew what he was doing, and thanks for letting me know.

Maybe it's best not to draw attention to Sean.John nodded in the direction of the house, where Caleb was huddled miserably in the chalk circle, and said, "Look, at least we've got Mr. Johnson under control for now. Once he's cleared, we'll start investigating. See if anyone else has encountered this inhuman spirit."

"Speaking of which," said Kania, "I want you to take him home with you."