Rise of the Nephilim (4 page)

Father Gallo shambled out of the
Palazzo Apostolico
,
the papal palace and government office of the Vatican, and paused to soak in the sunlight warming his cheeks. He had survived his debriefing on the incident in the United States. The cardinal in charge of the exorcism office, the Vicar General of Rome, in fact, had initially been angry at the news of the botched expedition and the resources used to keep the Church’s involvement in it secret. After hearing Gallo’s testimony and the statement written by Jude, however, his concern shifted to discovering what, if any, message the demon had been trying to convey. Gallo was now tasked with this responsibility as penance for his hubris in conducting Danny’s case.

“Holy Father, please guide my path, for I know not what I must do.” Gallo pleaded earnestly. He walked carefully down the steps of the
Palazzo
and crossed the courtyard into the opposing network of buildings.

Gallo found Jude in the Vatican Library amid mountains of old books and scattered papers. He was disheveled from near sleeplessness and carried a wild look in his eye, as if driven almost to madness by his studies. The priest quietly observed his friend’s fervor from just inside the doorway. As much of an annoyance as Gallo had always found Jude’s blunt pragmatism, the man had an uncanny ability to uncover truths not many other were able to mimic. His doggedness and intelligence were what had eventually made him such a popular television host in America. His popularity, however, served as a double-edged sword. Gallo had faced staunch opposition, when he suggested Jude as a possible consultant. Some of his colleagues felt Jude would only cheapen their mission by commercializing it. Gallo had staked his word as a man of cloth that Jude would perform otherwise.

Jude slammed his fist on the table.

“Dammit” He yelled in a fit of rage. Realizing where he was, he spun around sheepishly to determine if he’d been heard. A couple of clerics on the other side of the hallway gave him disapproving glares. He spotted Gallo and quietly waved him over.

“Antonio, I’m glad you’re here,” he said pacing in front of the table and motioning to the seat he had just occupied. “I hope the meeting was okay.”

“I’ll live to see another day. You seem to have been busy, Jude,” Gallo observed, nodding toward the books on the table, as he situated himself. “Please, tell me how things are going.”

“Slowly,” Jude admitted. “He didn’t leave us much to work with past some vague threats.” His eyes were staring downward through the marble floor in deep thought, as he continued pacing back and forth.

“That demon mentioned some kind of reaping, but who really knows what that means. I figured the best way to begin gathering information is to look for historical cases of possessions correlating to significant events. I’ve found a number of accounts documenting rises in demonic activity occurring around such points in time. Look here.”

Jude picked up one of the tomes and began flipping through bookmarked pages.

“The same story repeats with some of the worst groups and rulers in history. Emperor Caligula of Rome became deathly ill, possibly poison, and made a miraculous recovery. He then became a sadistic hedonist who almost bankrupted the imperium, until he was ultimately assassinated. Elizabeth B
á
thory of Hungary suffered the loss of her firstborn daughter, which triggered a gruesome change in her demeanor. She began torturing young girls in the surrounding villages, even reportedly bathing in their blood to keep herself looking young.”

Jude looked up from the book.

“More recently, we have evidence of Hitler and his closest subordinates dabbling in the occult, all who hypnotized the German nation into committing unspeakable atrocities during World War Two. Even non-Christian sources have analog stories like the Oracle at Delphi being possessed by the spirit of Apollo to foretell the future or the avatars of Vishnu in Indian culture.”

He leaned in closer.

“Tell me what the Church knows of the pathways to possession. Pretend I’ve never been exposed to the lore.”

“Well,” Gallo answered,” the most common pathways of possession exist because a person becomes vulnerable due to sin in their life and the lack of repentance. It can also be the result of apostasy or a curse or even, God forbid, willful invitation. What point are you trying to make?”

Jude replied, “Look at the issue without a religious perspective for a second. Major personal events tend to occur around the time of possession. Maybe the gateway is not sin or a curse
per se
. Maybe it’s the situation! Don’t you think the psychological stress of everyday life is enough to weaken a person’s mental barriers and allow for the loss of control?”

He pulled a handful of case files from the pile of papers to his right and began laying them down one by one.

“Joseph Merkel was laid off from his job and his wife had left him. This one, Angela Strong, survived a tragic car accident that simultaneously killed her husband. Robert Fisher had been molested as a child. Danny had recently lost his father and was possibly the victim of a neglectful mother. All of these people experienced traumatic events and suffered from them before they were taken. It doesn’t seem to matter how religiously active they were.”

Gallo interjected at this point, “So if the practice of religion isn’t a major factor, then why do religious ceremonies work when casting them out?”

Jude frowned, “I have no idea. There’s got to be something common to all of the rituals around the world that makes them work. There also has to be a reason some people are more susceptible than others. Almost everyone experiences something terrible at some point in their life. If the common factor was merely pain and suffering, everyone would be possessed…”

“That’s exactly what these devils want, though, Jude,” Gallo said. “They want everyone to be so beaten down, that they can take whomever they please. I don’t like what that Akheron spirit said. The Vicar agrees and has given us every avenue to investigate this and act accordingly. If some new kind of woe is coming, we need to figure out just what it is and how to effectively combat it.”

“Whatever it is, Antonio,” Jude said quietly, as he rubbed his tired eyes. “I think it can wait until tomorrow. Right now, I’m in dire need of a glass of wine. Do you know of a nice, quiet place to go near here?”

“I know a great place on the
Via Pomponio Leto
. I quite agree with you on the drink. Don’t look so surprised, Jude!” Gallo laughed at the man’s raised eyebrow. “Even Jesus turned water into wine, and even an old
retrogrado
such as me can learn to relax every now and then. Allow me to change into my street clothes, and I shall accompany you.”

The wine bar was as small as the street on which it was located. Stone walls hemmed it in, and a low-vaulted ceiling shielded its twenty wooden tables and bar from the elements. Shelves of wine bottles lined the majority of the walls, reflecting smoky images of the candles separating the diners. Dim electric light glowed from the single bronze and glass chandelier dangling from the middle of the room. Replicas of Renaissance art shared wall space with the
avant garde
abstractions of local aspiring Michelangelos, punctuating the blend of ancient and modern in this more than two thousand year old city.

Jude and Father Gallo sat at a four seat table in the back corner of the dining room. Jude had taken the chair facing toward the wall, while Gallo sat opposite on the long wooden bench spanning the length of the wall. Jude swirled his glass of Barbera d’Asti thoughtfully.

“I’ve been wondering, Antonio. Why did you choose to become an exorcist?”

Gallo sipped his Chardonnay before beginning his story. “I had a feeling you would ask me eventually. Eight years ago I was on rotation pastoring a small congregation in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The city is largely industrialized, but the general culture has not matured at the same pace. I encountered dozens of different mixtures of aboriginal religions, Christianity, Islam, and even Hinduism. I don’t know why that surprised me so much when I first arrived. Now that I look back, such a large port would be out of place without the mixing of so many different ethnicities and faiths.

I had been at my post for a little over a year when one of the church elders approached me and introduced me to a woman I had never seen before. She had been crying and had torn her clothes in anguish, a normal custom in that area. She tried to communicate, but I couldn’t understand her specific dialect of Afrikaans. Luckily, the elder, her brother, was able to translate for me. According to her story, her daughter had fallen under the curse of a suspected warlock, after she had refused his advances. The accused attacker had conjured a Tokoleshe spirit to inhabit her body, and she had since only communicated in growls and was hostile to anyone who approached her. The poor mother knew her brother held me in high esteem and came to beg me to heal her daughter.

I initially thought, as you pointed out in our first meeting, that the issue was surely due to some mental illness, and the mother was drawing unnecessary conclusions based upon recent events. I invited a local doctor - Hughes, I believe was his name - to accompany me, so that he might tend to the girl, while I prayed for her fast recovery.

We arrived at a little village just outside of town. Most of the abodes were merely stick huts adorned with bits of tin roofing laid across thatch to protect them from the elements and used pieces of fabric for doors and windows. I had truly never seen such destitution before then. We found the girl imprisoned in a cage inside her mother’s house. What the poor woman had said was true. The girl was acting like some feral animal.

I must admit I was quite taken aback. It was the first time I had ever witnessed any affliction such as that. The only thing I could think of was the story of Nebuchadnezzar’s madness in the book of Daniel, when he was compelled to roam the fields and eat grass like an ox. The doctor tried to take a blood sample from the girl, but she snapped at him through the bars and spoke in an unintelligible tongue. He called for a tranquilizer, and we managed to trap her arm and inject her with it, after some difficulty. To our mutual surprise, though, the tranquilizer had no effect. If anything, she became more agitated.

The
medico
was at a loss over this development. The girl began screaming uncontrollably. My lack of experience and impulsiveness led me to pray over her and begin the rite of exorcism without as much as a consultation or preparation. She cursed at me and threw herself against the bars of her prison, as I continued praying for what must have easily been two hours. She began throwing feces and spitting blood at me in an attempt to make me falter, but I quelled my fear and disgust and continued to pray over her, protecting my mouth with my robes. At last, she collapsed into the dirt and the affliction subsided.

We finally managed to convince her mother to let us free her and get her into a bed. She slept for two days, before she came back around. When I saw the clarity in her eyes and her new devotion to our Lord, I finally knew my true calling. Not long after that incident, I reported the incident to my archbishop to inform him of what had happened. I was reprimanded for taking matters into my own hands instead of contacting the Church first, but he used his influence to pass word of my new found interest along to his friends in Rome. A few months later, I was contacted by the Order, and that is where I find myself today.”

Jude roused himself from the rapt attention he had given Gallo. “That’s a fascinating story. What ultimately happened to the girl?”

Gallo replied, “She fully recovered, and her whole family joined the Church shortly after. I still write to her from time to time to check in. She joined a convent in the area to be educated, and is now a great instrument for God in her village.”

“It’s amazing how resilient people can be,” observed Jude.

“Indeed.” Gallo gestured to Jude’s empty glass, as he slid out from the table. “Would you like another?”

Jude nodded his assent, and Gallo sauntered toward an open spot at the bar. He turned to his left and gazed around the room to take in the scene. The crowd was beginning to trickle in, and the previously quiet murmur of the establishment was rising to a bustling din. The Romans would never tire of their wine.

His eye fell on a slender girl in a blue satin dress sitting at the bar facing him. Her jet black hair was flung to one side, as she conversed with her neighboring bar mates. She had a beautifully white smile behind her red thin lips and a duchess nose that made his heart skip a beat. He fixated on her for what seemed like minutes, until she her gaze fell upon him.

Flustered, he looked away quickly and turned back around to the wall, pretending as if his ogling was nothing more than a slight lingering glance. He silently cursed himself for getting caught and was certain he had just made himself seem like a creep.

Gallo returned shortly with the next round of drinks and resumed his station at the table. Jude watched the man perform his own scan of the room. The priest cracked a smile and winked at Jude.

“It seems you have an admirer,
amico mio
. I see a young lady glancing your way.”

“It’s not the one in blue, is it?” Jude asked in simultaneous exhilaration and anxiety.

“So you have seen her, then? She is quite the attractive one, if I do say so myself. If I didn’t respect my vows, I would admit I would have to compete with you. At the very least, allow me to be your ‘wingman’, as they say in the States.”

Before Jude could object, Gallo was motioning for her to join them. He could feel the blood rush to his cheeks and remained paralyzed in his seat, as he anticipated the arrival of the dark haired siren. He focused on her growing shadow on the wall before him.

“Good evening, my dear,” Gallo greeted her amicably. “I noticed you and I have the same tastes in refreshment. Care to share a bottle with me and provide us with some much needed company?”

“Why thank you!” She said in a refined British accent. “It would be my pleasure.”

Jude and Gallo both stood up to welcome their new companion.

Gallo took the lead. “My name is Antiono Gallo and this is…”

“… Jude Sullivan,” the woman interjected and held out her hand. “I must admit I’m a bit of a fan. I just couldn’t believe it was you until you looked my way. It really is an honor.”

“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss…?”

“Cooper. Emily Cooper,” she answered with a smile as she sat down in the chair next to Jude.