The Repentant Demon Trilogy Book 1: The Demon Calumnius (6 page)

But something new was happening here. It wasn't that he was beginning to have a certain admiration for her.  That, he had felt before, which only made the kill even more rewarding.  A hunter prefers the biggest, most elusive, and even more dangerous prey—and that often kindles a kind of appreciation for the creature.  Indeed, hunters are known to behead their best specimens, preserve them in attractive poses, and gaze upon their mounted and preserved trophies for years.  This one was to become that for him, so he willingly accepted a certain amount of unexpected developments in this pursuit.  This was one hunter who was not going to become one of those who gazed through his rifle sights to view the beauty of his prey with awe and then let it live.  This was not happening to Calumnius, he vowed. 
She is going down, and I will revel in her demise, despite whatever admiration she instills in me.  We are all going to Iraq,
he told her as she slept—
you, the new guy who causes you to adjust your appearance in the mirror, and me—Calumnius, who is to become a Master demon again.

Morning came to the sound of a phone ringing impatiently.  Abigail awakened suddenly and roused herself to action, as if she were late for some event.  Her shopping excursion with Doug Anderson was not scheduled until early evening, but still it was he whom she expected to hear.  The shock of who had called set her into a whirlwind of activity.  She dressed, combed her hair back into a long, smooth ponytail, gathered her papers and laptop, and then rushed to the university, arriving in record time.

“Thank you for coming so quickly, Miss Fitzgerald,” said the dean, offering her a seat in the chair across from his desk. “I hope this matter can be cleared up with no problems.”

“I'm sure it can, Dean Chapman,” she said, removing a ledger and some folders from her book bag.  “Here are Josh Reid's records.  As you can see, compared to the other students' grades, his work is markedly below standard.  That is what this accusation is all about.  There is no truth to it whatsoever.”

“Well, you've certainly never had any complaints against you before,” the dean said, distressed.  “I just hope we can convince him that it wouldn't be in his interest to go public with his charges.”

“I fail to understand what he hopes to gain,” said Abigail. “I've explained this to him already.  It isn't going to help him get into medical school if he looks like someone anxious to sue a college.  His only option is to retake the class—with another teacher, of course, and have this grade purged.”

“He is requesting a change in his grade,” said the dean. “So far that is what he is after.  Of course, if his chances become ruined for being accepted in medical school, he may be desperate enough to sue for money.”

“He threatened me in an alley, Dean Chapman,” said Abigail, “and I will not change his grade.  As far as I am concerned, he is lazy, deceitful, and conniving.  He isn't someone I would want to see become a doctor, really.”

“No witnesses, I assume,” he asked, knowing the answer.

“Of course not,” Abigail replied, stating the obvious. 

Well, there was one witness
, Calumnius thought,
but I will not be able to testify to her version of the story.  Perhaps this might change her positive attitude, turn her from her faith in God. 
He hoped again for career destruction. 
No trip to Iraq, no future—that or lust, either way works for me.

“I'm sure you understand our problem here, Miss Fitzgerald,” he confided.  “There are never witnesses to fight such accusations.  These days the victims are believed and the accused is guilty until proven innocent.  How do we prove a negative?  There is no way to verify that you did not have sexual relations with this man.  All we have is his word against yours.”

“No, sir, I beg to differ,” she said firmly. “I do have proof.  Not that I would enjoy going to court and submitting the evidence in a public trial—but I am a virgin.  I have not had sex with Mr. Reid or with anyone.”

The dean's face registered astonished disbelief.  Then he smiled broadly.

“I think that may make a big difference,” he said, gathering her papers and handing them back.  “As long as he doesn't try to claim you performed other kinds of sex acts that did not violate your—physical condition.  We will need to have him make statements in writing, then trap him in his own words.  Undoubtedly he will back down if this works out to our advantage.  There's no way he could know of your virginity, I suppose,” he said, making implications that she found insulting.

“No, I don't broadcast my sex life, or lack thereof, to the world, especially to my students,” she answered indignantly.

“I realize that, Miss Fitzgerald,” he said, seeming apologetic. “I thought perhaps when he confronted you in the alley you might have said something along that line to discourage him from pursuing this action.  I'm asking if you could have, even inadvertently, said anything that even hinted at this.  I know this is a sensitive matter, and I apologize if I've insulted you.”

“I do understand, Dean Chapman,” she said calmly, “and I can tell you that I gave him no reason to have any idea of my—state.”

After this meeting, Miss Abigail Rayetta Fitzgerald walked hurriedly down the hall and then across the campus toward her apartment, holding back tears.  When she was safe inside and unseen, she threw herself into a comfortable chair and cried softly into a tissue.  Holding her legs close at the knees, she tried to curl into a protective position for some sense of physical comfort.  Calumnius watched her carefully.

After only moments, she gathered herself together, releasing her stance, and breathed deeply while raising her head and chin upwards. 
She's praying again
, Calumnius observed.  All stress lines from her face disappeared.  He peered closely at her, his huge head inches from her face, and he heard her words in his head.

“I come to you again, Father, asking in Jesus' name that I be spared the humiliation and the scorn that would come from this threat of false accusation I now face.  Although, as your precious Son faced worse at the hands of his accusers, suffering torture and death for me that I might have salvation—I, too, accept your will for me.  I pray for strength to endure this ordeal if that is to be my fate.  And I trust in your love and protection, Lord.  Even if I lose my job and my career, I know that you will provide for me and send me where you want me to be.  If you want me to wash dishes, to scrub floors—I will embrace this with happiness in my heart to be doing your will.”

She is incredible
, thought Calumnius. 
How can she trust in God so wholeheartedly?  This is the God who condemned me and my kind without regard, casting us into the eternal abyss of never-ending fire.  I must attempt to do more to bring about her downfall.  These kinds of challenges are not enough, they only make her stronger. 

Abigail had not planned on telling anyone about the potential charges from Josh Reid, but as she ate a hamburger with Doug at the mall, he pulled it out of her.  He had known something was wrong the moment he picked her up in his car as they left for their shopping excursion. 

“This is a very confidential matter,” she said, even after he had promised his silence. “It's embarrassing and frightening, but I'm sure it's in God's hands.”  She did not tell him the really personal part, only that she had been accused.

“You should put your mind at ease, Abigail,” he said with confidence.  “All this is going to disappear, and sooner than you think.”

“How can you say that?” she said, amused and curious.  “Don't tell me you have a friend in covert operations.  I could believe that, you know.  If Mr. Reid suddenly disappears from the face of the earth,” she tried to joke, “I don't want to know the details.”

“Well, I wouldn't tell you the details,” he said, causing her to raise her eyebrows and drop her mouth open, mocking shock that her joking may have been more accurate than she imagined.  “No, I'm not talking about a covert operation,” he assured her, addressing her reaction.

“I suspected what Josh Reid was planning to do—at least, his confrontation with you.  He admitted it to me after class one night when he was really angry about a grade he'd received.  I offered to help him study for the exam and tried to encourage him that he could probably bring up his score if he did well the rest of the semester, but he wanted no part of actually exerting effort.  So tell the dean you have a witness that can testify to his evil plot.”

“You are an answer to my prayers,” said Abigail, astonished, “again!”

“Yeah, that's what all the women say,” he joked, downplaying his redemptive gesture and his offer of the trip to Iraq.

“Seriously, you are,” she said emphatically, “and you know it, too.  I think you know how God works through people.  You will be blessed greatly, I'm sure, for everything you've done for me.”

“Oh, I've already been blessed,” he said thoughtfully.  “If one were keeping a tally, I still owe Him big time.”

“There's a story there I want to hear,” she said seriously.  “Are you referring to your time in the service—in Iraq?  I'm really curious about all these friends you've made there and how that came about.”

“It's a long story,” he said, “and we have shopping to do.”

Abigail knew that it wasn't only their long checklist or time restraints that made him reluctant to discuss Iraq or his life there.  She understood his attitude, as she herself did not like to share her past easily with others.  If they became closer, she would have to do that.  As for now, Abigail was happy to put those things aside to buy gifts for a family of Iraqi people.

Calumnius began to wonder if it were possible that God actually were acting in this woman's life. 
These are coincidences
, he told himself. 
She is just lucky.
But he had difficulty believing that with all his awareness that all the bad luck in the world certainly was not chance.  Demons worked to bring about many human disasters—if not the natural ones in the earth itself.  Random chaos was not as random as people supposed. 
So what if it were possible that God actually intervened in the individual lives of these creatures?  Was he not too big for such concerns?  He must love them,
he thought, incomprehensible as that was to him.

When she arrived back at the apartment, she was laden with several appropriate gifts for the female family members—things that not only would please them but would travel well.  Doug explained to her that it was improper for a man to give a woman a gift in Iraq unless he said it was from his wife, mother, or sister.  They knew that he had none of these living relations, so they had awkwardly accepted gifts from him in the past with understanding.  Abigail was happy to relieve him of his duty by getting gifts for the three female family members—the mother, Noora, and her two daughters, Malik and Kasi. 

She could see that Doug enjoyed buying toys for the boys, seeing him holding up the truck he had chosen for Jahmir, the youngest boy, who was now seven.  He explained that he was tempted by the army helicopter with remote control, but that when one lived with the realities of war, that kind of play was spoiled by the vicious reality around them.  American children had never experienced bombings and the loss of family members who got in the line of fire.

In deference to such cultural differences, Abigail was careful to avoid dolls dressed in indiscreet clothing and things that required electricity or batteries.  Still, the choices were abundant among the sports aisles, school and art supplies, and musical toys.

Watching her, Calumnius pondered over her enjoyment at buying these gifts, then wrapping them gaily and packing them away in her suitcase.  She thrilled at spending money on others and seemed to be filled with genuine pleasure.  A set of sewing implements in a pretty basket brought smiles to her face as she imagined the mother, Noora, loving it, as she was skilled in all the domestic crafts—even spinning her own yarn from the goat hair produced on their small farm.  They also produced an abundance of foods—goat cheese, eggs, vegetables from their garden as well as grapes from the vineyard, and dates, figs, and avocados from their trees.  Abigail looked forward to meeting these people and hoped they would become dear friends.

Calumnius thought hard and could not remember a single instance of any demon ever giving away anything to anyone or even doing another a favor.  It wasn't their nature, nor was it compatible with their world.  Even in the human world one required a competitive spirit to acquire the better things it had to offer.  He had not observed many examples of true giving among humanity.  Abigail did not possess many of the finer things that humans typically craved, and she did not seem to care particularly for what she did not have.  He wondered at her delight in giving to others... like providing payment for those strangers at the coffee shop... like enjoying the purchase of gifts for children that were nothing to her.

After setting down her shopping bags, Abigail noticed that her phone had a message, so she turned on the speaker while continuing with her chores.  She heard the voice of Dean Chapman, as Calumnius listened along with her.

“We have received faxed copies of Mr. Reid's statement, Miss Fitzgerald, and I feel encouraged that he has included details we will easily be able to refute.  The matter is not yet over, but I wanted to let you know the positive news so that you will be able to enjoy your weekend without too much concern.  I am dealing with him personally, and if things proceed as I hope, we may not even need to involve you any further in this mess.  Thank you for your time and cooperation, Miss Fitzgerald.  Good-bye.”

Abigail sighed in relief, then stopped what she was doing to fold her hand in a short prayer of gratitude to her God.  How was it that she so earnestly believed he could hear her?  Calumnius pondered this constant upset to his plans.  Yet—he himself could hear her, he realized.  Even with his superior nature, he did not compare to the power and greatness of the Supreme Being, so it could be possible, he finally admitted.