Chapter 14
The demon had seemed far less intimidating while chained up and he could take the luxury of just looking at it. Scary, yeah, but not that threatening. Haatim had almost forgotten what they were capable of while it stayed pacified, focusing only on what he could do to it and not the other way around.
It seemed a lot like a dangerous animal someone might see in a zoo: harmless enough while in its enclosure, but once it got out …
Now, however, he stood trapped in a room with it with no exit. The priest had bolted the door from the outside, and Father Paladina had no intentions to let him out.
Cautious, the demon moved toward him, not in much of a hurry anymore. It seemed to size him up, taking things slowly. A word came to mind, Savoring, but Haatim pushed it away.
After training with Dominick, he could handle himself in a fight and could protect himself from this demon. But, for how long? Already, he’d grown sore and tired, and they had only been at this for a few minutes, maybe less.
The demon, on the other hand, would never get tired and could keep pursuing him all day. It didn’t need to rest or take breaks, and eventually, it would wear him down enough to overpower and crush him.
He needed a strategy to win this fast, but nothing came to mind. The problem was that he had enough strength to hold his own against the demon, but not enough to do much more than that.
Maybe he could chain it up again. Father Paladina had removed the collar, but it still hung on the wall, open and ready. If he could get the demon close enough, he might manage to get it around its neck and chain it up once more. Then he would be able to move to one of the corners, out of its reach.
It wouldn’t solve the problem of finding himself locked in the room with it, but he could address that later when he didn’t have a raging demon chasing after him.
He eyed the creature, backing away from it slowly, and then took off running across the room toward the collar. The demon sprang forward as well, trying to cut him off. It seemed to know what he planned to do and didn’t want to let him get close.
It dove forward at him, catching him around the shoulders in an awkward hug, and then tried to pull him back and off-balance. He threw his elbow, dipped his shoulder, and rolled away from the demon in an escape maneuver that Dominick had taught him.
Then he reached the chain. He picked it up, and the rattling sound seemed to fill the entire room and bounce off the walls. Haatim tried to get hold of the metal neck collar. He fumbled for it, and then the demon hit him from behind. It threw him into the wall, and he hit hard enough to daze him.
He managed, however, to get hold of the collar. Then he spun, lunging at the demon and getting inside its reach. In a split second, he wrapped his arm around its neck, pulled up the harness, and snapped it closed.
Victory.
Short lived.
The demon bit him just under the armpit, and he cried out in pain, jerking loose. It let him go, and then pummeled him instead. Haatim held up his hands, trying to protect his face from the blows, but he grew further dazed when it lashed out at him.
The demon stood caught, and all he had to do was get away. Enough separation and it wouldn’t be able to get to him. Haatim ducked and ran under its arm, coming up behind the demon and heading toward the closed door.
He thought he’d ran clear, all up until he saw the chain fly over his head and catch him around the throat. The demon yanked him back, and he stumbled off-balance, and then it looped the chain a second time, tying it like a noose.
Haatim reached up for his neck, trying to grab the chain and pull it loose, but already, the beast had pulled it tight. The cold links dug into his neck, biting at the tender flesh, and the pain seemed nearly unbearable. In only seconds, he developed tunnel vision and could feel his pulse throbbing painfully in his temples.
The demon stood close behind him, pulling the chain tighter and tighter. Haatim gasped, or tried to, but couldn’t draw in any air.
Not thinking, he reached back and grabbed the demon’s hand where it clenched the chain. His first impulse encouraged him to try and pry the fingers loose, but he didn’t do that.
Instead, he reached inside the hand, feeling for the demonic presence within. It felt like a white-hot energy, throbbing with rage. He crawled his way up that energy, like a tendril, until he could feel the presence of the demon. It appeared as a swirling mass in the man’s chest, like an intangible cancerous growth.
He gripped that mass, mentally clenching it, and it recoiled in surprise. A burst of terror mixed in with the demon’s rage. Terror and realization.
Haatim refused to let go, though. Mentally, he squeezed, tightening his grip on the demonic presence. It fought back, but it proved of no use. Even as Haatim’s body weakened from the pain and lack of oxygen, the demon writhed in terror under his mental grip.
He kept squeezing and squeezing, and with each passing second, the demon became more panicked and desperate. Things slipped out of focus, and Haatim could no longer see or think straight, but still, he kept squeezing.
And then the world disappeared.
***
When Haatim woke up, he had the worst headache of his life. Someone tapped on his shoulder, and when consciousness set in, the first thing he did was cry out in agony.
Or, at least, he tried to. Barely audible, what came out sounded more like a pathetic gasp than anything.
His neck hurt like nothing he’d ever experienced and felt like it had gotten torn open and set on fire. He opened his eyes. Father Paladina stood above him, a concerned expression on his face.
“Wow, he did a real number on you, didn’t he?”
Haatim reached up to touch his neck, and the old priest caught his hand.
“Wait a second. I wouldn’t do that just yet. It’ll hurt like hell later.”
It did already, but when he tried to open his mouth to speak, nothing came out. He just shook his head and looked at the priest.
“Yeah, you probably won’t be able to talk for a little while, but I don’t think you’ve got any permanent damage. I mean, I’m not a doctor or anything, but I think you’ll be fine.”
Haatim frowned.
“Don’t give me that look. It worked.”
He gestured with his hand toward the limp body lying on the ground next to them. The demon, or what remained of it, now resembled a decomposing corpse, lifeless and empty.
The presence of the demon had gone as well, completely snuffed out.
Had he done that? He recalled going after the demon and trying to crush it, but he didn’t remember exactly what had happened before he had passed out.
Father Paladina seemed to recognize the look on his face. “Yes. You banished and sent it away. It’s gone back to hell. My plan worked.”
Haatim gave him a sour look.
“Well, it mostly worked,” Father Paladina said, frowning, as he studied Haatim’s neck. He stood and reached out, helping Haatim to his feet. “I rescheduled your flight for a few hours to give you time to recover and, hopefully, get your voice back. I know you’re none too happy with me, but no way would I let you go out of the city if you couldn’t defend yourself; so, you can get mad at me later.”
Haatim reached up and, tenderly, touched the flesh around his neck. Lines marked it, and it felt painful to the touch. He winced but felt glad that the wounds hadn’t gone any deeper than they had.
“Yeah, those will go away,” Father Paladina said. Then he shrugged. “Eventually. In the meantime, how do you feel about scarves?”
