Revelation: Kastor Blackwood Series: Demon Kin Read online

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, graphic symbols, organizations, places, events and incidences are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2016 T. R. Lester

  All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be used, reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transferred in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Self-published by Amazon Publishing.

  Copyright © 2016 T. R. Lester

  All rights reserved.

  Contents

  Prologue 1

  Prologue 2

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Prologue 1

  When I was four years old, my inept biological parents decided they wanted to summon a demon.

  They planned to summon one and control him so they could gain riches. However, they didn’t realize you can’t control a demon, you can only enter into an agreement with them, and so, their demon was able to walk out of the summoning circle that they didn’t close properly.

  They intended to summon a lesser demon, what they got was Abaddon the Destroyer, the angel of the abyss, king of the plagues, and all that evil stuff.

  He took me back to hell with him and handed me over to Lucifer, who trained me to be a demon hunter.

  I didn’t have the swing set in the back yard, the toy box in the corner full of toys, a bicycle, or skateboard. I had daggers, knives, and books that list all demons and their powers, lessons to create pentagrams, sigils and wards, instructions on sending demons back to hell and maintaining a mind link with Lucifer.

  They say a second war is coming. Most call it the second coming of our Father.

  My name is Kastor Blackwood. I’ve been chosen to prevent that war.

  Prologue 2

  Looking down from the top of the Trustmark National Bank, hunting. I’ve been looking for this bitch for six months. It’s been hard to get a tag on her, but here I am, sitting in the rain, on top of a building at 2:00am. Luke said she would show up here. I hope he’s right.

  She’s pissed some very important people off. Maybe that's an understatement. She’s pissed a bunch of important people off. She’s been collecting souls. It doesn’t matter that the souls she’s been collecting are far from the end of their lives, she kills them anyway. So, she’s a problem. A problem that Luke won’t tolerate. A problem that could bring the whole preternatural world to light, and that’s not good.

  You see, she’s a succubus. And yes, I mean the dreaded, soul stealing, life sucking, lust craving demon you’ve read about in stories. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a beauty. Long legs, long black hair with eyes so dark you feel like your soul is draining away just by looking at her. With hips that sway when she walks and draws in every man’s attention. A scent that starts out as rank and musty and slowly blooms into a flowering, woodsy scent that gets so intoxicating your lust level shoots right off the charts and soon she has you choking on your own drool while she drains you, body and soul.

  Her name is Carasmael. She is the alleged offspring of Lilith and Samael. Lilith, the mother of all succubi, and Samael, the archangel described as the wrath of God. They apparently had time to produce a whole shit load of little demons.

  Keeping the demons off the street is a major pain in my ass, but someone has to do it. Most demons can come to this realm and live, blend into human life, be productive, and never attract attention. Then you have those like Carasmael.

  In order for a succubus to feed, they have to increase the lust in their victims. Most humans are automatically turned on when they run into a succubus. They can’t help it. A succubus exudes lust and sex as that’s their spider web to catch prey. She will inhabit, or build, a human looking body in order to attract prey. She feeds off the over abundant amount of energy produced during intercourse and will most times drain the victim. If they lay with the same human numerous times, they will eventually die. Most succubi and incubi have learned to control their lust and not kill their victims. Cara isn’t one of those. She sees humans as an item on the menu.

  That’s why I was sent to catch her and send her back home, to hell.

  Speak of the evil and there she is. Walking down the sidewalk to the club across the street from the bank, Club Red.

  The little trollop has a line of followers ready to travel to the depths of hell for her. I wonder, if they knew what they were getting into, would they still follow her?

  She comes on the door and is waved through by the security guard, who instantly has the glassy eye look. Poor fool.

  Moving over to the edge of the building, I jump from the side, landing on my feet in a fighting stance on the pavement. Walking across the street snags some glares from oncoming traffic, and a few middle fingers. People are in too big of a hurry these days.

  As I get to the door, another guard comes out and holds his hand up.

  “Do you have an invitation?” He asks in a Spanish accent.

  “Yes, I do. Let me get that for you.” I tell him.

  I make a show of going into my pocket, then step closer so I can touch the guard on the arm. His eyes glaze over and he motions for me to come in.

  I go in. Looking around, I have to say, they have taken this strip club a little too far. You can eat, get your nails done, hair done, and watch naked females all in the comfort of one building.

  I see Cara has made her way to the table closest to the stage. Even with the low-level light, intoxicated people and dancing, she still draws attention to herself. She’s found a table of men who are throwing their hard-earned checks into the fire pits of hell for two dancers dressed like little red devils named Fannie Fox and Candy Barr. I enjoy the inventiveness of stripper names.

  I can see she has her hooks in one of the poor schleps. He’s drooling already.

  I walk over to her and place my hand on her arm. She whirls around, taking hold of my hand in her vise like grip, and snarls at me.

  “What do you want Blackwood?” she demands.

  “I want you Cara.” I tell her.

  “I’m doing nothing wrong here.” She says.

  “No, you aren’t. But you will soon. Come on and don’t make a scene.”

  “I won’t go back.”

  “Oh, you will go on your own or I’ll kick your ass back through the portal.”

  She leans down and whispers to the man, “I’ll be back soon love.”

  “I don’t think so. Unless Luke says you can.” I tell her.

  “Let’s go.” She says with a growl.

  “You can’t go around killing people Cara. You’re risking the whole preternatural world and we can’t have that.”

  “Who can’t have that Blackwood? Your Uncle?”

  “You know he tries to remain inconspicuous. We can’t have the world find out they aren’t here alone, now can we?”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, besides the fact we would be hunted, there is that one problem of being painfully banished back to hell. Or have you forgotten how that feels?”

  She looked away.

  “Come on. I’ll open a portal behind that bank so you can go home.”

  “Damn it Blackwood.”

  “Not my problem. You shouldn
’t have come back up trying to kill everyone.”

  I take her arm and head around behind the bank. She begs and pleads as we walk, but it does no good. I’d rather have her angry than Luke. No one wants him angry.

  I ask Luke to open the portal and wait for her to step through. Of course, she has to make a run for freedom.

  “Need some help here Luke.” I say in my mind.

  “Bring her back boy.”

  I open my hand, palm up, and slowly close it and pull it back in to me.

  Cara slides backwards towards me as if she’s being shoved by an invisible windstorm.

  Cursing the whole time that she slides back to me, she extends her claws and leaves a cut across my cheek when she gets within reach. Then she grabs a handful of hair and head-butts me. Now the bitch is making me mad. We look like two WWE Superstars fighting for the World Heavyweight Championship belt.

  Grabbing the nape of her neck and twisting her around, I get a hold on her belt, then toss her ass through the portal.

  “Close the portal Luke.”

  It closes with a snap and sizzle.

  Holy fuck, that was a workout.

  “Is it done?” I hear in my mind.

  “I’m fine Luke, don’t worry about me. Do me a favor and keep the bitch down there.”

  “Don’t be so cheeky. That’s what I have you up there for. You do as I request, not as you wish.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I know.”

  Luke is fair, but he’s a pain in my ass sometimes. He refuses to learn anything modern, so slang and sarcasm to him is disrespectful. I believe he likes the way I speak my mind. When he smites me, I’ll know differently. He remains in the times when he was a great ruler of his realm and everything was taken seriously with no comments, questions or backtalk.

  “You are getting to be… what is the word? A smart ass?”

  “Well, I learned from the best.”

  “Mind yourself boy.”

  “I need you to come and chat with me. We have a problem.”

  When Luke says we have a problem, it’s probably an apocalyptic event problem.

  Luke. My mentor. He’s been portrayed through times as vicious and cunning. He is. I don't deny that.

  Everyone has free will, and it was given so that humans could choose. If they choose evil, then they deal with Luke. So even though he’s associated with evil, the evil he controls had free will to choose that course.

  Once you get on his bad side and find yourself in his realm, you are forbidden from coming back unless you can abide by the accord. And trust me, you don’t want to be on his bad side.

  Lucifer Morningstar, the first descender, or the first angel tossed out of Heaven after the War of Heaven, and the ruler of the infernal pits of hell. After being tossed, he organized a ruling body called the Seven Princes. Each one of the Seven Princes rule and control vast regions of hell and its inhabitants.

  He is said to be the most powerful and most loved when he was created by God. He let pride get in his way by insisting he be revered as God was. When he wasn’t, he rose up, convinced one third of the other angels to rebel against their Father, and the War of Heaven was started. Archangel Michael led the fight to cast out the unruly angels and Lucifer was tossed out.

  Not being finished with his rebellion, even after being tossed from heaven, he took on the form of a snake and tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of good and evil. She fell for it and got her and Adam tossed from Eden.

  So, yes, Luke is vindictive and evil.

  But, that all goes back to free will, right?

  Everyone has free will to choose right and wrong. Choose wisely and you may have a blessed afterlife in heaven. Choose wrong and you will find yourself in one of the circles of hell with fire burning your ass while one of the seven grind your soul into dust.

  My name is Kastor Blackwood, Kas for short. I’m Lucifer Morningstar’s protégé, or demon hunter.

  When I was four years old, my biological parents decided they wanted to summon a demon.

  Their plans were to summon one and control him so they could gain riches. However, they didn’t realize you can’t control a demon, you can only enter into an agreement with them. Meaning, an even trade between the two of you. Idiots that they were, they also didn’t realize that when they summoned one, the pentagram would need to be drawn by an experienced summoner and closed in order to hold the demon. It wasn’t, and so the demon was able to walk out of it. The intent was to summon a lesser demon, what they got was Abaddon the Destroyer, the angel of the abyss, and king of the plagues. He was so disgusted with them for offering their child as a sacrifice that he entered their minds and drove them insane. He took me back with him and handed me over to Lucifer, who took pity on me and raised me as his hunter.

  Upon my arrival to limbo, Luke had a ritual performed that allowed him to pass on some of his essence to me.

  Hence the power to live in hell, communicate via telepathy and thought impression, telekinesis, enhanced endurance, speed, and mind control, to name a few.

  I can be killed; however, I’d end up back in Luke’s realm since he has his mark on me. He set me on a path of training and sigil use so I am able to banish the demons back to hell when they escape.

  I can also expel ghosts. This is a talent I had before I came to limbo. I’ve ignored them for a long time, not wanting to deal with a bunch of ghosts following me around for help, but lately, I’ve tried to help them to their afterlife. I have a psychopomp that aids me in guiding them. Ava, the horned owl that appeared from the trees on my first ghost sighting, is, to say the least, the most graceful spirit guide I’ve seen. She is beautiful with her tufts of feathers resembling horns, a golden bronze color around her eyes and on her back with brownish barred feathers on her side and on her wings. Having a wingspan of 3 ½ feet and measuring twenty-two inches in length, she is powerful enough to pull the most difficult spirits from their hiding places. Her round yellow eyes seem to stare through you when you catch her attention.

  I consider her my friend and comrade. Growing up in hell didn’t allow for a large variety of animals. The creatures I had contact with would give anyone nightmares. Especially the hell hounds. So, she and I have a special friendship.

  Hell, my home for 16 years. A place of torment and punishment for those who’ve committed sins during their lifetimes. Certain spots in hell mirror the same spots on Earth, only they are more run down, have a sense of despair and demons. There is said to be nine levels of hell, referred to as circles. Each circle represents the severity of the sin that was committed. I’ve only seen limbo, where I was raised as a child, and I have no desire to see the others. There is no judgement in limbo, only sadness and time for reflecting on past sins. Luke will summons me to limbo when he asks to speak to me. If you remain there long, the despair will settle in. I’m not sure how Luke prevented that from affecting me when I was growing up, but since I’m not a full-time resident anymore, it does affect me when I visit now.

  I live in an apartment in Tupelo, Mississippi. I’m 29 years old and apart from sending demons back, spending my formative years in hell and being taught and brought up by the Seven Princes of Hell, I lead an otherwise normal life. I’m not an extraordinary guy. I’m of medium build and stature. I do have the essence of Lucifer flowing through me which helps me be a little more than ordinary and perform demon eliminations. In all likelihood, the most noticeable thing about me is my eyes. They are deep blue with small swirls of silver. Neither of my parents had this color so I’m not sure how I ended up with it.

  Trying to keep a balance between the realms is not easy. I'm really trying to do the right thing. And no, my guardians don’t always see it that way, but they are demons, so what do you expect. I try to keep their tyranny to an acceptable level so it doesn’t overflow into humanity. That’s not an easy task to manage.

  I also work with the local investigators on the cases that show signs of arcane interference. Detective Marcus Jackson knows of a few of my tal
ents, however, he doesn’t know all of them.

  I’m working with him on a death by exsanguination case. It has the taint of the arcane all over it. Pentagrams, sigils and sacrifice.

  Exsanguination sounds like a vampire case, right? Yeah. I may have assumed that had the victims not been bitten all over. Normally, vampires leave one bite mark, not dozens. And I’m not sure if we have any in this area. I haven’t run into any so far.

  Now I have to go see Luke and figure out how to stop the creature causing so much death.

  This should be fun.

  Chapter 1

  After leaving Club Red, I head back to my apartment, take a shower, change clothes and get my dagger that has protection runes etched into it. I use it to kill hell born. If a demon is killed in the human world, it will discorporeate and return to the pits in a brilliance of light running through its physical body. It isn't a pretty sight to see.

  Heading to the freezer, I pull out a nice big slab of a steak and rack of ribs. I grab a few pairs of sunglasses and coffee as payment for my trip to limbo.

  Anytime I have to go to limbo, I go prepared.

  Luke was not happy with my insolence earlier so he won’t open a portal for me. I’m unable to open one in limbo, so I rely on him to do that. I think he finds it amusing that I have to negotiate my way through the gates. Perhaps I should ask for that portal.

  Hence, my choice of transportation is restricted. In fact, my only transportation is Charon. And yes, I mean the Ferryman. Luke has opened a permanent portal, in my bedroom closet, that will lead me to the river Acheron and I get a ride with Charon.

  He looks much similar as reported through history. Having a long unkempt beard, burning red eyes, long hair, dressed in a red robe that’s seen better days, and sunken cheeks, standing atop his boat at the front, always holding his ferryman’s pole in his right hand while directing the dead with his left. He’s quiet and never speaks.

  Instead of the coins he requires for the dead to pass, I bring him other items. He’s grown fond of sun glasses and coffee. I’ve brought new robes, but he hasn’t gotten the hint and changed into one of them yet.