The Captivator

Chapter 6

“Aurelio,” I say after a short pause. The name comes out as if I was asking a question. Meaning golden, Aurelio is a unisex name of a masked hero from one of my favorite Captivator fairy tales I had heard when I was a small child from orphanage scouts. Orphanages are often scouted by Captivators looking for other, young Captivators. Parents are usually quick to abandon their children when they realize it doesn’t have a soul. I hear murmurs of assent and approval from all directions.

“Dylin…” Jeremiah murmurs with warning and apprehension. Although I cannot see him through the darkness, I imagine him tightening his grip around one of the assorted daggers at his waist. Suddenly, I hear snaps of energy then gradually the room is lit. Vyn, Jeremiah, and I are at the center of a circular domed room made entirely of dark jade green granite stone. There are statues of crouched angels, looking rather like gargoyles, with weeping faces and darkened wing tips of the already dark jade. No door is apparent so I assume the only way in or out is through teleportation, although I do see stained glass windows at the peak of the massive dome depicting spread wings in dozens of shades of green, ranging from an almost light yellow to a deep forest green. I immediately wonder why I was unable to see sunlight pooling into the room earlier. I look lower now and see there are exactly 14 people all sitting on a circle of granite pew about ten feet above us. The people range in gender and age; one younger girl looks like a punk chick with streaks of hot pink in her raven black hair, another is an old man with wrinkles in the creases of his eyes and white-gray hair.

I can still feel the chip of animus inserted into my skin on the back of my neck. I scratch it uncomfortably, then boldly inquire, “Where’s Jared? He came here with us.”

“Unfortunately, your caretaker’s assistance in bringing you here was only a means to an end. We portaled him back to your residence,” explains the old man his eyes wrinkling as he smiles apologetically. I hear Vyn and Jeremiah move slowly to stand on either side of me. My inquiry doesn’t appear to have insulted the Authority, they seem only anxious to talk. Except for the girl with pink streaks in her hair, who rolls her eyes to the heavens at my question.

“Do you perhaps know why you’re here today Adylin?” wonders the old man. Gesturing greatly with his arms, he again poses a question. “How much do you know about the evil that has been lurking lately?”

He seems not accusatory, but immensely and gravely curious, as if my answer is of the utmost importance. Jeremiah and Vyn exchange a glance I am unable to interpret. I begin to answer without fear. I am not a fearful person, I simply calculate infinite results of every one of my actions and am able to recognize danger and risk. I sense no danger now so I answer quite honestly, “I am unsure of what disturbances you speak of. Are you referring to the Captivator that attacked me?”

“Yes,” snaps a younger looking man who had, up until now, been watching the ordeal with a stony look. He seems perhaps twenty five, but the serious set of his jaw and his stubble covered face makes him seem older. He sighs with his face in his palm as if I am an ignorant child, and perhaps I am to him.

Animated, he stands and explains, “Recently, we, the Authority, have been encountering several… anomalies.” He exchanges furtive glances to his co-members, then continues when the old man nods. “There has been a great increase in demonic activity recently, in Chicago especially. Now as you probably already know, not all Captivators decide to work for the angels. There are just as many Captivators who cast their lots with the side of demons. And why wouldn’t there be some? Without souls, we are unable to have an inner voice, a conscience, to tell us right from wrong. And many of us are very susceptible and easily influenced by the demons we may have captured.” I see envy flash in his eyes. He wants a soul, I think without feeling, only interest. With that remark he eyes Vyn and Jeremiah coldly. Vyn meets his glare with one her fiery own while Jeremiah’s face remains impassive.

“Anyhow, Captivators who work with demons often possess Captive demons. They have been allowing themselves to be possessed by their Captive demons.” He waits and registers the shock on my face then continues. “This increases their power tenfold, merging their minds, their thoughts, their desires. It’s rather intimate, I imagine. The problem is, there should not be so many demons separated from their other halves, it is typically a rare and unnatural occurrence.” Vyn and Jeremiah shudder. “We think the possessed Captivators are somehow…making…all these demons.” He sighs and collapses into his pew, hand running through his hair.

I am baffled at all this information. I manage to ask, “Why is it so different, when a demon possesses a Captivator than when a demon takes control of a human? And where do we come into this?” I gesture to my Captives.

The stern man raises his eyes to the stained glass window. Without looking at me he begins to speak. “Well, this might be a bit difficult for you to comprehend, having always assumed you fought for everything right and just, as your DNA has molded you into a Captivator. You believe all Captivators have this sense of duty to bring everything evil and horrid to justice. That we work on the side of the Angels.”

I nod assuredly. This is the sacred duty of a Captivator, as it always has been and always will be.

The man finally brings his gaze back to mine. He no longer looks infused with rage, but he perhaps seems a bit saddened. “I regret to inform you, this is not technically the case. We as Captivators have built a society of good based upon our own choices, not by God’s will or the will of the Angels or the Demons. As Captivators we are shells for a human’s angel or demon. We are their bodies. Angels and demons from a human heart cannot exist fully without each other. This is the principle that makes humans. There must be some good and some bad to create the human soul. When a human becomes too evil for his or her demon to thrive in the same body as an angel, the human is quite literally replicated. They would look like twins except one would contain all the evil, the demon one, and the other would contain everything pure, the angel. This is what we are meant as bodies for, because the two duplicates have no grip on the human world any longer. That is why Captive demons can remain inside of our rods, which is basically a dimensional pocket for storage.  Most people however cannot withstand the duplication, so instead if that person becomes corrupt, he or she is dominated by one side of the spectrum, the demonic side. That leaves a person’s angel weeping and unable to do good. This is curable by our Cleansing.” The man shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I know this is confusing but please bear with me.”

I feel dizzy all of a sudden, and even my two demons cast me worried glances. I wipe my brow as I feel my mind shut down, processing this overload of information. I grit my teeth as my confusion gives way to rage as I realize all this time I had believed so much bullshit from these people. But the calculating part of my mind takes over, leaving me peacefully numb. “Continue,” I order.

The woman with pink streaks in her hair cackles, her body shaking with cruel laughter. “Oh I like this one!” she says, I assume I reference to me. “Listen up kid, you come into play now. You are the only Captivator alive who has two Captive demons. And you’ve just been attacked by a Captivator who has been possessed by a demon. This leads us to conclude that you would be somehow important to the demonic Captivators’ plan.”

“What plan?” I ask mechanically.

The girl twirls a strand of that bubblegum colored hair between her lithe fingers. “Have you wondered why sometimes in ancient scripts we capitalize the word demon and angel and sometimes we don’t? Well Demons, when capitalized, refers to one of the Seven Deadly Demons, one for each Deadly Sin. We believe the lesser demons of this Earth are trying to summon all of these Demons. And that has not happened since the dawn of time.”