Page 26 of Demon Huntress
“I didn’t,” Cass snapped. “You’re telling me this raises the mood permanently without side effects?”
“It might,” Schindler said. “The information here isn’t long-range. But the projections suggest that, yes, the state would be permanent with no downside. Quite fascinating, really. I’d like to see the readouts for what happens if someone was taken off it suddenly ... like most antidepressants, it’s cumulative.”
“So, it’s actually good for you?” Cass asked in disbelief. “This drug is completely legit?"
"I didn’t say that,'' Schindler said, his voice firm. "There is a signature in this data that is not chemical. I couldn’t understand it at first, but I’ve finally cracked it. This is why I had to run the numbers so many times."
"What is it?" Slade asked. Schindler sighed.
"There is an invocation in the chemical makeup of the drug. It’s ingenious, really. The chemical compound puts the mind in a blissful, suggestible state. Even psychics with strong shields would be completely unguarded just from one dose of it. The chain that I could not identify is not chemical. It’s a spell.”
“A spell?” Cassandra echoed, beginning to understand why this drug was so dangerous.
“What kind of spell?” Slade asked.
“It’s a summoning,” Schindler replied. “It allows anyone with this drug in their system to be possessed.”
Cass struggled to absorb the concept. She’d never heard of anything like this before. Possessing someone wasn’t easy. If it was, demons would be overrunning the streets.
“So, the chemical compound makes the person happy and relaxed. Then there is a summoning spell literally carved into the chemical signature?”
“That’s correct, yes,” Schindler said, nodding. “As I said, it’s ingenious. Never seen anything like this before. The combination of chemistry and arcane magic is quite admirable.”
“Well, if I find the person responsible, I’ll bring them around so you can geek out together,” Slade muttered. “That is if I don’t kill them first.”
Cassandra stared straight ahead, her eyes focused on nothing. Her life’s work was to hunt and slay demons. Possession was the worst of all because often, killing the demon couldn’t be done without also killing the host. She hated it when an innocent had to die.
Up to now, that was a scenario that hadn’t happened very often. Getting the person into the right vulnerable state and calling the demon into them was a difficult process. The person had to be kept suggestible, too, in case they started to fight the demon.
Now, all of that was irrelevant. Upon taking one tiny pill, any person walking down the street could become a vessel for demons and their spawn. She thought of all the innocent souls who could be taken over and turned evil by this, fury and despair filling her in equal measure.
Then she thought of how large the demon army could swell and how few hunters there were. If the cost of innocent lives wasn’t enough, this pill could see the Earth easily overrun by her deadly enemies.
Chapter13
Flash
Flash whistled merrily as he walked onto the parking garage construction site. Even though it wasn’t necessary, he carried a small stack of cardboard tubes and wore a hard hat as an accompaniment to his well-tailored business suit.
The site was massive, with a crew on the ground floor working with cement mixers, massive pylons, and metal saws that spewed sparks across the concrete. He found the busy atmosphere thrilling and his only worry was that he’d give himself away by being too enthusiastic.
As he headed for the office building’s front door, one of the workers hurried over to him. Flash tried to get around him, but the guy flagged him down.
“Hey, you’re one of the bosses, right?”
“Yeah,” Flash confirmed. “First day on-site, though, bud. What can I do for you?”
“Six of the guys on G crew blasted out a load-bearing pillar this morning by accident,” he said. “We can repair it, but I figure you’d want to discipline the guys.”
“Are they your crew?” Flash asked, thinking fast. This was exactly the kind of thing he was trying to stay out of. A new manager who fucked up proper procedure would be noticed immediately on his first day.
“Yes, they are, sir,” the guy said. “Newbies. More muscle than good sense, I’d say.”
“I tell you what,” Flash said smoothly, “you do your best with them for now. I’ll chat with the others and see what they want to do. You fixed the situation, didn’t you? There have been no delays in the job?”
“No, sir, no delays. We’re on schedule.”
“Great! Take care of it then, and I’ll get back to you.”
