Page 16 of Dead Evil
Ronan wore a dubious look. “So you’re saying Barrymore’s aura could be off because demons have ricocheted off him on their way back to hell?”
“Makes perfect sense to me,” Ten said. “It’s just like shooting someone and getting their blood on you. Or when you take a shower in the morning and people can smell your shampoo an hour later.”
“You think this contamination could cause all of you to feel uneasy around the demon hunters?”
“I do. Did you feel that way before Everly told you she didn’t like Barrymore?” Ten asked.
“I didn’t, but Raven did. Made me wonder what the hell else I’ve missed because I don’t have Everly’s gifts.” Ronan looked like he had more to say, when Ten’s phone dinged with an incoming text.
Tapping his phone, Ten saw the message was from Carson. “Sweet Jesus.”
“What is it?”
“You’re not going to believe this,” Ten began, “but KOD is going to appear on stage tomorrow night with the Dallas Demonologists. It’s going to be like the tent revivals I went to when I was a kid. I don’t understand what the hell is going on.”
“It answers one question though.” Ronan grabbed his phone and opened it to Jude’s text stream. He dashed off a quick message.
“What question?” Ten asked.
“Why the KOD members didn’t cause a scene today and land themselves in jail.”
“If they’re in jail, they can’t be onstage.” Ten sighed. He had to admit the tactic was brilliant. “So, not only do they act like little angels, outside the venue, trying to save people and get them to accept Jesus into their hearts and lives, but now they’re going to be front and center at the largest paranormal convention in the United States. What better way to drum up new clients? Show them the Godly error of their ways and offer a gift that is unattainable through the occult; eternal salvation. According to Paranormal Phantasmagoria’s website, tickets to be delivered of your personal demons are going for a thousand dollars a pop.”
“That explains why they offered tickets tonight for half that price. Barrymore knew that word of mouth would spread after the demonstration on the convention floor and also with thedeliverances that took place in the auditorium.” Ten sighed. “All I wanted was to enjoy this convention with my friends and drum up some new clients. How the hell are we going to accomplish that when King of Deliverance goes against everything we stand for?” Exhausted, Ten felt like he was going to cry.
Ronan threw an arm around Ten. “Yeah, but you’re forgetting that the people who bought tickets for the con did so to get readings from psychics, right? To have their palms and futures read. They came to buy crystal balls and new tarot decks. To make friends. To play tourist in Salem. None of them came here for a bible study or to have their own beliefs judged. I have a feeling KOD is going to get booed off the stage tomorrow night. I, for one, can’t wait to see it happen live and in living color.”
“Jesus, Ronan, don’t tell me you spent a thousand dollars for a ticket to get into that show.” Ten felt a headache coming on.
“Don’t be ridiculous. Jude bought tickets for all of us to go to the Dallas Demonologists show as spectators. There was no way he was paying for the VIP package, which includes the chance to have your demons cast out. Neither one of us believes we have demons inside us.”
“I don’t think we do either,” Ten agreed. He pulled his laptop closer and looked up the Dallas Demon Hunters website. It was loaded with pictures and videos of Barrymore and his partners casting demons out of all sorts of people. He clicked the play button for one of their promotional videos.
“Hey, y’all I’m Duke Barrymore, President and founder of the Dallas Demonologists.”Duke was dressed in jeans and black t-shirt with the DD logo.“Are you an alcoholic or addicted to drugs? Don’t let those libtard doctors fool you into a pricy rehab where you talk about your feelings and meditate on the beach. You need a kickass hunter to cast out the demon that’skeeping you addicted. Call and make an appointment with one of our certified demonologists. We guarantee to exorcise your demon no matter what! But wait, there’s more! Call now and I’ll throw in an exciting free gift, one of our fantastic DD shirts. Pay only shipping and handling! Don’t wait, call now! Dallas Demonologists where the only good demon is an exorcised demon!”
Ten hit the pause button. “Can you believe that?”
“Barrymore is definitely a showman,” Ronan said.
Ten clicked the webpage closed and pulled up a Word document. “Fitz asked us to do some research on the Dallas Demonologists. I joined their social media pages and saw mostly positive reviews of their work. The group had some trolls, but that’s what Facebook has become over the years. There was no mention made of how people felt after the exorcism or what happened to the towns the demonologists visited.”
“Damn, I was hoping we’d come up with something better than that.”
“But wait, there’s more!” Ten said, doing a Duke Barrymore imitation. “I looked at their scheduled appearances for the year and searched for articles about the towns they’d visited. One of the articles I read was from Orlando where there was a near riot staged because not everyone could have their demons cast out. Private deliverance sessions were offered to those people for five grand a piece.”
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least. It’s the law of supply and demand.”
“Similar things happened in appearances in Tulsa and San Antonio. One of the writers described the crowd as ‘desperately frenzied.’ Which sounds scary, if you ask me.”
“I’m guessing that’s what happened on theTitanicwhen people realized all the lifeboats were gone,” Ronan said. “Did you find anything about the people who experienced a demon deliverance?”
“Only one.” Ten sighed. This had been the most frustrating part of his research. There were so many people who were unwilling to speak about what happened to them. “One woman was willing to speak on the record with the condition of anonymity. She said whiskey was her personal demon. How she’d tried for years and been to rehab several times in an attempt to kick her addiction, but everything failed. When this woman heard Dallas Demonologists were coming to their city, she begged her parents to put up the money for her to get a private meeting with them. It wasn’t until the money was sent that she got a disclaimer letter from DD stating that their services are not guaranteed and were for entertainment purposes only.”
“Jesus,” Ronan muttered. “It’s like having life guards on the beach because they look good, not so they can save swimmers.”
“Exactly,” Ten agreed. “She said she went through the exorcism, believing it would work and it did.”
“For how long?”
