My dear friends and readers, you have previously marvelled at my account of the hideous experiences and grotesque adventures that the wonderful Miss Millie Drake and I experienced in our dealings with the strange woman known as “The Mystical TeAnna”. This individual, whose legal name was Mrs. TeAnna Crusse, was a protégé of the horrid and ungodly black magician and Spectral Paranormal agent known to eternal infamy as Vince Wilson (thankfully now deceased).
TeAnna Crusse (whose maiden name was Tandon) was herself a miscegenation of mixed savagery, a genetic chaos of partially subhuman ancestry that showed in both her darksome physical features and her utterly immoral actions. Presenting herself as a “psychic medium”, Crusse at first appeared to be merely yet another charlatan intent upon bilking the public with her occult fakery. Nonetheless, time soon proved her to be of a far more diabolical intent.
You see, the real and true goal of The Mystical TeAnna was to bring into manifestation the powers of the ancient pagan deity known as Moloch -- the “king of shame” whose followers were once the scourge of the Holy Land, denounced and battled by the Patriarchs and Prophets of Israel. But our own encounter with TeAnna Crusse revealed something else, in sooth something of even more eldritch and unnameable horror than the return of an old demonic god of the heathens; for we learned that the very being of Moloch was actually a reverse mentalist projection of none that than Vince Wilson the Paranormalist himself -- a psychic essence ejected back through Time due to a residue of his dealings with certain extraterrestrial entities in his own attempts to establish himself as ruler of the planet Earth!
Of course, Millie Drake and I managed to defeat TeAnna Crusse and her mad scheme -- a scheme which included her attempt to offer her own teenaged daughter, Willow, as a blood sacrifice in order to bring the hideous Moloch into manifestation. We managed -- after an hard-fought battle filled with occult terrors and magical fear beyond any sane imaginings -- to save the girl, and to send the sickening Mystical TeAnna to her proper reward in death.
Those of you who have read my account of these happenings -- which are found in our files under the title of “Vince Wilson Created Woman” -- will know that Millie and I promised to check up on Willow and her remaining family (this consisting of her two younger siblings -- sister Brylee and brother Cade -- and her father, a blacksmith by the name of James Crusse who, as it turned out, knew little of his late wife’s occult activities and did not approve of them). You will also know that I made another promise; forsooth, a promise to you, my much-appreciated readers. It was a promise to tell you, when the time was right to do so, of our further adventures when we did again encounter the Crusse family.
My friends, that time is now. …
My name is RUMANOS -- DOCTOR DANIEL RUMANOS, Extraterrestrial Espionage Agent and Intergalactic Man of Mystery. Even though I have the physical appearance of an human being, I am in fact several thousands of years old and do carry within my blood the vastly superior genes of the legendary Watchers of the Daemon-Star ALGOL. Originating ninety-three light years from planet Earth, we are the most intellectually advanced race in all of the known galaxies, whose technology is so sophisticated it often appears to be miraculous to lesser beings.
Whilst most Algolites tend to keep to themselves, preferring to live in elitist seclusion from the rest of the Universe and thus merely observing the goings-on of the myriad races of the vast reaches around them, I am an Operative for a secret organisation known as the KOSMIKOS, tasked with maintaining peace and order throughout the farthest reaches of Space and Time. It is our ongoing mission to defend the weak, the unfortunate, and the innocent from those who would harm or exploit them.
Currently assigned to Earth -- and assisted by the beautiful Miss Millie Drake -- I protect its people from alien invasions, mad scientists, and indeed all manner of menace. I am the sword of justice from the planet Daemonia.
I am -- THE DAEMON-STAR!!! …
We rode down Stemmers Run Road, located as it is in the Essex/Middle River area of the County, on that oppressively humid day. I was driving my specially modified canary-yellow Edwardian roadster, affectionately known as “Lizzie”, with the wonderful Millie Drake seated next to me.
I was clad in my usual finery, including a frilled poet shirt, purple velvet suit, jungle boots, panama hat, sunspecs, and one of my favourite opera capes. My golden Star of David pendent hung on a chain about my neck.
Millie is an exceedingly beautiful young lady -- petite and perfect with luxurious chestnut hair, lovely violet eyes, sun-kissed skin, and luscious cherry lips. The tight, short, flowered dress she wore only served to highlight the soft lines of her gorgeous adolescent figure.
Also with us was Kit-10, our mobile personal computer that resembles nothing more or less than a small mechanical cat.
“Brylee Crusse said she would meet us at a local fast-food establishment, hmmm?” I said. “It is a McDougal’s, I believe.”
“Brylee is Willow’s little sister?” enquired Millie Drake.
“Quite so,” I affirmed. “Willow herself has moved to Pennsylvania were she was accepted into a private school for girls. However, she left our contact information with Brylee, who called yesterday asking for a meeting with us.”
“So is she all right?” asked Millie. “Brylee, I mean.”
“She sounded a bit worried on the telephone,” I pondered, “but said she would feel more comfortable giving us the information in person. All I managed to get out of her about it is that it has something to do with her brother, Cade.”
“Brylee and Cade are fraternal twins, aren’t they?” queried Millie. “I remember Willow mentioned it.”
“Quite so,” I affirmed. “Twins are interesting creatures. Even non-identical ones can have unusual connections to each other. It is a certain unique form of biological interplay that even leads, in a few rare cases, to profound mentalist connections.”
“Do you think it could be something like that she wants to talk about?”
“Perhaps, my dear Mills. It is also unfortunately likely that there could be some residual effect upon the family due to their late mother’s occult dabbling, hmmm?”
Then I was suddenly interrupted by the simulated yet pleasantly feminine voice of our robotic feline friend, Kit-10.
“S--,” she said. “Detecting energy surges in the near by atmosphere. Systems identify source as of extraterrestrial origin. More precise confirmation is not currently available.”
(It should be noted here that Kit-10, in addition to her other catlike characteristics, is completely unable to openly show respect to anyone. In point of fact, the closest she ever comes to it is by addressing me with a slight “s--” sound -- for “sir” -- and Millie Drake by “m--” -- for “ma’am”.)
“Spires of Daemonia!” I swore upon hearing Kit-10’s report. “If the energy detected has some connection to us going to meet with Brylee Crusse, then it could be any of several things.”
“Wouldn’t it have some connection with Moloch,” rejoined Millie, “the pagan deity that her mother tried to evoke?”
“Not necessarily,” I countered. “The late TeAnna Crusse’s satanic activities could have attracted any of numerous other entities, demonic or otherwise. It could have caused one or more eldritch horrors to attach themselves to the family. Such is always a danger when…”
“Daniel, look at that!” cried Millie Drake in sudden fright.
What she beheld was an horror indeed, for at that very moment, an huge shape like a face loomed in the sky just in front of and above our vehicle. It was pitch black, with glowing crimson eyes and two long twisted horns!
I swerved the car to avoid the looming terror, but then the horrific thing quickly vanished. I pulled over to the side of the road and put Lizzie in idle, then I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Transonic -- an highly advanced scientific device in physical form somewhat resembling a large writing pen. I then utilised it to scan the area.
“Daniel,” said Millie, “what was that thing? It looked like the devil from old legends!”
“Indeed it did, love,” I replied, “and according to the transonic it is indeed an extraterrestrial force like Kit-10 detected and… By the Eternal Stars!”
“What is it, Daniel?” asked Millie Drake concernedly.
“Millie, you remember that I had Willow Crusse give us a DNA sample, hmmm?” said I. “I coded it into the transonic device in case we ever encountered any residuals from her mother’s activities. Well, the transonic reading shows that the demoniacal energy we just encountered is indeed currently possessing a member of the Crusse family!”
“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Millie. “Which one of them?”
“That cannot as yet be determined. It could be Brylee or Cade, or even their father, James Crusse -- although I sincerely doubt the latter possibility since he is no genetic relation to TeAnna Tandon’s savage blood.”
“We need to find out which one of them it is.”
“Quite so, my dear Millie,” I agreed. “Quite so. Fortunately, we are only a block away from the McDougal’s at which we are scheduled to meet Brylee.”
A few minutes later, we entered the fast food restaurant. First, we went to the front counter where I purchased a bag of hamburgers and a couple of cola drinks for Millie and myself. I had to several times assure the morbidly-obese African-American woman server -- who seemed quite perplexed by the idea -- that no indeed we definitely did not want cheese on the burgers!
We were just approaching a table when a young girl entered the restaurant and came up to us.
“Doctor Rumanos?” she said.
“Indeed so,” I affirmed, “and this is my companion Miss Drake and our friend Kit-10. You would be Brylee, hmmm?”
Brylee Crusse was a small and quite attractive teenage girl; her brown hair dyed with blonde highlights, and her eyes a deep shade of green. She was wearing a blue crop top, white miniskirt, and high-top sneakers. Thankfully, there was nothing in her appearance that brought to mind the genetic inferiority of her late mother’s grotesquely mixed heritage.
Following the appropriate introductions, Millie, Brylee, and I sat down at the table with Kit-10 on the floor near by. We encouraged Brylee to tell her story, and a strange tale it was indeed. It seems that of late her brother, Cade, had in sooth been exhibiting some odd behaviour. Several times Brylee had noticed a sort of black aura around him, a darksome glow that seemed to surround and permeate his being. In addition, his voice had changed -- not according to the usual ways of puberty, but in stead having lowered at times into a low animalistic growl. With this, his manner had become surly and insulting to all.
Whilst we were talking with the girl, I only vaguely noticed a feeling of dread approaching, in truth a sensation as of eldritch darkness and otherworldly madness. It increased when a figure approached the door of the restaurant -- a figure that soon burst through that same door with a roar of inhuman rage.
We all turned to see what or who had entered. In physical form, it was the figure of a young boy clad in a sweatshirt and jeans. His white skin, unkempt reddish hair, and squinting pink eyes marking him as an albino -- a being in which I immediately recognised the hereditary degeneracy of one who was the sadly-cursed child of that horrid miscegenation known to eternal damnation as TeAnna Tandon-Crusse or “The Mystical TeAnna”.
“It’s Cade!” said Brylee in fright. “It’s my brother Cade!”
Millie Drake and I sprang to our feet in proper defensive postures. At this, the possessed boy known as Cade Crusse stalked directly to-wards us and, as the darkling energies surrounding him seemed to increase to a demoniacal crescendo, bellowed forth the following statement:
“You cannot escape me, Brylee! Hiding among these Algolite agents will do nothing to help you! I am now the host of a power beyond anything that they can stand against! It is the power of a being ancient and known as the prince of demons! He is I and I am he! For I am now not only Cade, I am the dark one! I am the arch-devil! I am ASMODEUS!”
Asmodeus! I could not help but to shudder at the thought of that diabolical creature, that demonic entity that I had encountered on several pervious occasions that were some of the most horrid and danger-filled experiences of my long and storied career. I thought of my encounters with the diabolical cults and sects throughout the years that had been influenced by the demon -- human beings who had given up all vestiges of morality or civilisation in order to fulfil their demonic lusts and desires as influenced by Asmodeus, the one known to eternal infamy as the lord of damnation, the evil spirit of sexual sin -- that prince of devils that had now apparently become incarnate in the strange young boy known as Cade Crusse!
“Daniel,” said Millie Drake, “do you think what he is saying is true at all? Do you think that he could really be… Asmodeus?”
“So it appears, Mills,” said I whilst scanning the area with the transonic. “The energies match up, though they have become grotesquely modified due to the influence of the particular peculiarities of the Tandon-Crusse heritage.”
Brylee then cried, “But what is it? What is the thing that’s in my brother?!”
“Asmodeus is a legendary demon found in Jewish and Islamic lore,” I explained. “In reality it was the offspring of a human woman named Naamah, who is mentioned in the Torah as one of the descendents of Cain. Asmodeus is the result of her having mated with one of the Cacodemons of Andromeda, during those archaic times when they were still in physical form, and visited Earth whilst on leave from the Galactic Wars.”
The possessed Cade Crusse was still moving to-wards us, the dark energies of the demon swirling about him.
“Kit-10!” I called.
At this, the robotic cat sent forth a blast of her nose laser directly at the demon-drenched boy. It had little effect, the strongly focused beam of light barely clearing a slight hole in the black energies that was then immediately refilled.
Nevertheless, the distraction was enough that Millie Drake, Kit-10, and I could use it in order to change our position in the restaurant to one better for fighting the diabolical forces. Millie and the robot managed to get to the back of the establishment, with their backs to the wall. I would have joined them there but for one thing.
Brylee Crusse had been so frightened that she was well-nigh petrified with it. I had attempted to drag her behind us, but she had stumbled and fallen just in front of the table.
I raised the transonic instrument to-wards the demonic Cade Crusse, but the setting had no noticeable effect on him.
“The usual exorcisms are not working,” I said to myself. “It is due to the baleful influence of the biological connection to his late mother.”
I pushed Brylee under the table and then joined her there, consequently sheltering somewhat from the ebon black energies of the demon -- the sinister and shadowed energies that Cade had now begun to throw at us. I knew our position would not last for long, as the devilish powers had already begun to splinter the polished wood surface of the table.
“You cannot escape me, sister Brylee,” mocked Cade Crusse. “You cannot escape, and soon you will join me as the plaything of Asmodeus -- and we shall fulfil our family destiny as the true worshippers of the powers of darkness!”
My dear friends and readers, do you recognise the complete and utter horror, forsooth the extreme satanic terror of this situation? There we were in that McDougal’s fast food restaurant -- Millie Drake, Kit-10, Brylee Crusse, and I -- as the demonically possessed Cade Crusse approached us -- approached us whilst wielding the awesome darkling powers of the legendary demon known as Asmodeus!!
Still under the table, Brylee Crusse clung to me in fear.
“Brylee, do you trust me?” I enquired of her.
“Yes…” stammered the frightened girl. “Yes, I guess so…”
I then pulled young Brylee to-wards me and kissed her on the lips. It was long, lingering, and passionate, and she offered no resistance to my embrace.
When I pulled away from the girl, I beheld a certain look in her eyes and I knew that my plan was working. I reached into my pocket and quickly activated a setting on the transonic device. A strange light played around Brylee’s figure for a moment, and then a blast of energy issued forth from her, forsooth an energy of a deep golden colour that shot forth directly at the demonically possessed Cade Crusse, blasting away the black power of Asmodeus.
There was a sound -- a noise like unto the howling of a thousand infernal curs -- whilst the building briefly shook around us. Then all was quiet. The demonic force had vanished as if it had never been there.
I looked at the remaining figure of young Cade and, a moment later, it also had faded from view, albeit peacefully.
“What… What happened?” stammered Brylee Crusse.
“After sexually stimulating you in order to enhance the effect,” I explained, “I then used the transonic to channel a bit of my own Algolitish essence through you. It temporarily combined with your own DNA, the resultant combination then causing the creature known as Asmodeus to be cast out of your brother Cade and to be banished to a certain inter-dimensional hell.”
“But what about Cade?” asked Brylee with concern. “What happened to him?”
“You will find your brother peacefully sleeping in his room at home. He will remember nothing of this, or of the otherworldly being by which he was previously possessed. His whole presence here was, in a sense, only an illusion.”
I helped Brylee out from under the table and we met Millie Drake and Kit-10 in the middle of the restaurant.
“Worry not, my dear Mills,” I assured her after ascertaining that both she and the mechanical cat were unharmed. “Asmodeus is gone, and all is now well.”
“But what happened, Daniel?” she queried. “How did you exorcise the demon?”
“I managed to utilise an old psyche-genetic technique,” I told her. “I shall explain later.”
Brylee was still a bit shaken by her experience, and I held her hand as we left the restaurant, signalling to Millie Drake to be certain to bring the bag of hamburgers. As we exited, I noticed that the McDougal’s employees did not seem at all concerned with the violence that had occurred there. In point of fact, they were more entranced by some celebrity gossip they were currently viewing on their mobile telephones.
“So, Doctor Rumanos,” said Brylee when we were outside. “Is it really all over?”
“Yes, it is,” I assured the girl. “The thing that threatened your family has now been exorcised, and all should be well with you from now on.”
Nonetheless, as Millie, Kit-10, and I helped Brylee Crusse into Lizzie -- in which we would take the girl safely home before returning to our downtown headquarters -- we did not know that a further horrific adventure soon awaited us after we took our leave of that suburban family. We did not know that an horror was rising, an almost-forgotten terror from my own past that would threaten to engulf the world in unspeakable chaos.
We did not know that, at that very time, in a secret location underneath one of the City’s many public parks, an act of even further ungodly outrage was being committed. For at that time, the master intergalactic criminal and renegade Algolite known as Magister Don Wingus was busy in plotting a most infamous act -- forsooth an act of villainy and terror involving that past horror.
"I call you forth!" intoned Don Wingus whilst standing before the hideous altar. "I call you forth by the rites of darkness! I call you forth to destroy Daniel Rumanos!!"
It was an act that would indeed lead to one of the strangest and most bizarre and danger-fraught experiences that Millie Drake and I would ever be forced to endure!
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
