Free Of Kings and Demons by George Han

ears, Gwyneth.”

Chapter
14
Encounter
    He had lost count of the number
of years spent fighting the Demons. Is this the eight hundredth or eight hundred
and tenth year? Jin had been so immersed in the battle that time as a variable had
grown meaningless. He thought he should ask the captain of the Guardian Angels,
Alastair, when they saw each other again.
    However, endless stream of time
had not diminished his appetite to seek and fight the Demons, whether it was on
the Alps Mountains, Gates of Vienna, and Waterloo, the deserts of North Africa
or in plains of China.
    After parting company with
Gwyneth and Maganus, Jin had sensed the familiar foreboding that lurks like a
black cloud in a sky of blue. It was one of those feelings that he felt before
those enormous and cataclysmic encounters with the Demons.
    Gwyneth had felt the same way,
and she was a lot more sensitive.
    Experience had taught him that
the Demons would head for the schools, the incubators where the kinglings were
educated and guided.
    His paramount task was to visit
the prominent institutions where the kinglings had been placed. With a keen eye
on the dark miasma, Jin searched vigilantly from spot to spot. At each
location, Jin summoned the guardian spirits, entities nominated by Angels to
safeguard the locality from Demons. There were members of the human race who
were distinguished individuals in their living years. Men and women, young boys
and girls, who had chalked up records of selfless service to fellow men, and
their faith made them ideal allies of the Angels.
    After hours, he was relieved to
hear the reports. No detection of dark forces. Jin then made a spin of the
hospitals, areas where there was a high concentration of weaker members of the
human race—old, sick, and young.
    The inspection went smoothly
until he reached a public school in the town of Charlton, Massachusetts. By a
boulder along the edge of the woods, he received a visit by friends of the
Angels—the tree fairies. They arrived in pairs and illuminated a soothing blue
as they emerged through the green of the woods.
    “Jin the Silent,” the taller of
the two fairies said as he bowed in greeting.
    “Fairies of the woods ? What a pleasant
surprise.”
    “We are the designated guardians
of these woods, Lord Jin. My name is Greenie and this is Gracie.”
    “What brings you here?”
    “The detection of the dark presence,”
Gracie said in a voice as brittle as ice but just as soothing.
    Jin was confounded by the first
confirmation of demonic presence.
    “Kindly be specific. I have
sensed nothing here.”
    “There is a contingent of Familiars
moving through the Delaware reserves.”
    “Familiars?”
    “Yes, and they had a number of
skirmishes with the Amicitia . There were traces of blood and carcasses
everywhere. We have already sent word to the clans that reside in the depths of
the woods.”
    “This is worrying. What else,
my friends?”
    “We overheard a conversation
between some Familiars.”
    “What was said?”
    There was hesitation.
    “Speak.”
    “We heard the name, Lord
Barbatos,” Greenie said.
    Jin squinted his eyes.
    “Darius, as he was formerly
known to the Angels, if my memory serves me correctly,” Gracie added.
    Jin repeated the name. Darius
would always resonate amongst his community, ugly reminiscences of a dreadful
past association.
    “Lord Jin, it seems he is
raising a new campaign against the human race,” Greenie said.
    “Advise me on the names.”
    Greenie flocked over and
whispered into Jin’s ears.
    “This confirms the vision.” He
murmured.
    After he thanked the fairies,
he headed off to complete his surveillance. He started with the schools St.
Michael, St. Xavier Public, All Saints, and all seemed fine. His final stop was
St. Catherine Public, the public education institution in the state.
    The campus was located to the
south of the Delaware reserves, resting between rolling hills in the midst of
idyllic greenery. From the air, it looked