Page 7 of Dead Evil
“Did you know about this, Ronan?” Fitz asked, sounding accusatory.
Ronan shook his head. “No, Ten’s never told me about either of those church rallies.”
“I’ve never toldanyoneabout King of Deliverance.” Ten sighed. The absolute last thing he wanted to do was tell anyone about the megachurch now, but he didn’t have a choice. “According to what I remember, KOD was founded by Pastor Levi Shackleton in October of 2001. Shackleton said the reason he founded the church was to help heal the pain and suffering after 9/11, but that wasn’t the case. He’d seen the kind of money people were donating to the American Red Cross, and other charitable organizations, and wanted a piece of the pie, which didn’t shock me, but what did, was his hatred toward the Muslim community. I suppose it gave parishioners a common cause to rally behind, but it made me sick to my stomach.”
“I remember there was a lot of that same shit going on at my father’s church in New Orleans after the towers fell,” Cope said. “You know I’m not religious at all, but Buford insisted I attend church so that we at least looked like good, God fearing people.Prior to the terror attacks, I don’t remember our church coming down on other religions in the past, aside from the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, but that was meant as more of a warning about the dangers of the flesh than it was about hating the priests who’d committed the abuse and the clergy who swept it under the rug.”
“What happened at the rallies you attended?” Ronan asked.
“It was all the usual scripture reading and singing hymns, just like it was at Union Chapel Calvary Baptist Church, but the sermon turned ugly. When the collection plate was passed around, Pastor Shackleton began to rail against homosexuality. I swear he went on for nearly an hour in ninety degree heat, telling attendees how to spot gay people, how to call them out to repent of their sins.” Ten shivered, despite the warm temperature. “When he was finished getting the crowd riled up, he asked if there were any gay people in the crowd who’d like to confess their sins and be washed clean.”
“Sweet Jesus,” Cope swore under his breath. “What did you do?”
“Nothing!” Ten gasped for air. “Listening to the pastor’s rabid hate scared the hell out of me. I wouldn’t have admitted being gay if Jesus himself had asked for people to come forward.”
“Did any people come forward?” Fitz asked.
“Yeah, one guy at first. He was brought up to the altar and had an exorcism performed on him.”
“Wait,” Jace interrupted. “I thought you said this was a Baptist tent revival. Aren’t Catholic priests the only ones who can perform the rite of exorcism?”
“That’s what I’d always been taught as well, but Shackleton introduced a demon hunter. He was able to cast the demon outof the man who’d volunteered. The man began shouting that he was free and went so far as grabbing a woman in the front row and kissing her. It was an impressive display, but it felt hollow to me.”
“What do you mean?” Cope asked.
“I have never felt like there was a demon inside me.” Ten set a hand over his heart. “I am who Jesus wants me to be. If he’d wanted me to be straight, I would have been born that way.” He paused as Everly laughed at something Wolf said. Soon all of the kids were laughing along. “Can you imagine our lives without them? Without each other?” Tears fell from Ten’s eyes, cascading down his cheeks. He let them fall. “My life was hopeless before I came to Salem. I had few friends and my parents hated who I was inside. Coming here and meeting Carson and Cole, then Ronan and Jude, Fitz, Jace, and Cope. You can’t tell me that wasn’t ordained by a higher power. You can’t tell me any of this is a sin against God. I’ve thought a lot about the man who came forward to be ‘cleansed’ that day. Did the so-called exorcism stick? Was he straight from that moment forward? Hell, was he even gay to begin with? Or just some actor Shackleton hired for the tent meeting?”
“What was his name?” Fitz asked.
“Greg Tompkins.”
“I’ll do a social media check on him tomorrow, see if I can find him,” Fitz offered.
Ten couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought to do the same thing himself. “I’d be interested in hearing what you find out.”
“What was the name of the demon hunter?” Jude asked.
“His name was Duke Barrymore. I’d never heard of him, but my mother had. She told me to pay close attention because I was about to witness a miracle first-hand. I’d never paid particular attention to Sunday sermons or those televangelist programs my parents watched. I assumed that’s where they’d heard of this guy.”
“Any chance you remember what he looked like?” Jude exchanged a guarded look with Fitzgibbon.
Ten couldn’t help but wonder why Jude was so interested in Barrymore. “Yeah, I think so. He was tall, well over six feet, and was painfully thin and reminded me of Ichabod Crane. He had brilliant ice blue eyes and blonde, almost white, hair.”
“Is this him?” Jude asked, turning his phone around to face Tennyson, who sat across the table.
“Jesus!” Ten practically fell out of his seat. “That’s him.”
“Jude, how do you know this guy?” Ronan asked, sounding scared.
“He’s a member of the Dallas Demonologists. Remember I told you Wolf and I had been watching their YouTube videos? This is the guy who founded the group. He works with two other apprentice demon hunters, but in all the videos we watched, Duke was always center stage. At some of the church meetings he attended, people would wave cash over their heads in a bid to be the next person exorcised. There was always a second collection plate sent around. Sometimes a third.”
“Did you believe in what you were seeing?” Cope asked.
Jude shook his head. “I didn’t. It seemed too theatrical for me. Like Ten said, he wondered if the man who came forward hadreally been turned straight or was an actor. I wondered the same thing about those who’d been allegedly exorcised.”
“Do we think it’s a coincidence that Barrymore is hooked up with Shackleton twenty years after Ten saw them perform together?” Jace asked.
“No!” All three detectives said at once.
