It was a sunny afternoon in Atlantic City, where Millie and I had travelled in order to spend some time at Tanger Outlets, the large upscale shopping plaza at the centre of town. I was clad in my usual finery, including a frilled poet shirt, purple velvet suit, jungle boots, sunspecs, my Magen David necklace, and of course one of my favourite opera capes.
My companion, known as Miss Millie Drake, is an exceedingly beautiful young lady with luxurious chestnut-hued hair, enchanting violet eyes, and sun-kissed skin. The royal blue mini-dress she wore only served to highlight her slender figure.
“It’s such a nice day, Daniel,” she said. “I think we’re going to enjoy just spending a day shopping for a change!”
“Quite so, my dear Mills,” I agreed. “It will be good to get away from having to constantly save the planet from alien invasions and mad scientists, hmmm?”
Kit-10, our catlike portable personal computer, had stayed back at headquarters for a systems update.
“I want to look at these dresses,” said Millie as we entered one of the clothing establishments. “This pace is supposed to have all the latest retro fashions!”
“I say,” I said. “Hawaiian shirts! I have been pondering adding a few of these to my own wardrobe, hmmm?”
Millie had gone on to the ladies’ department whilst I looked at the colourful shirts in menswear, when I suddenly felt a strange tingling in my Algolitish senses. I glanced to-wards the large plate glass front of the shop and beheld what had triggered this.
At first it seemed like a quite normal scene; a girl with blonde hair and azure eyes, dressed in a pink crop-top and matching miniskirt, was passing by, accompanied by a dark-haired man clad in a grey sports jacket and slacks. However, as they passed I noticed something that precipitated what was going to be an horror indeed. For as the man briefly turned his face to-wards me -- a face with handsome Mediterranean type features -- I noticed his eyes flash with an horrid glow of utter hellish blackness.
“By the Triple Star!” I swore to myself. “He is possessed by a demon!” …
My name is Doctor Daniel Rumanos, and with the magical technology of the legendary Watchers of Algol, I protect Earth from all manner of menace. I am -- The Daemon-Star! …
I hurried out of the store without any delay and headed to-wards the demonically-possessed man and the girl who was with him. They had already passed around the corner to a sort of ramp passage to another section of the plaza.
When I arrived around the corner I saw the girl, but there was no sign of the man.
“Excuse me, young lady,” said I. “My name is Doctor Rumanos. Are you all right and unharmed?”
“Huh?” she said, turning around to face me. “What do you mean?”
The girl was quite pretty and could not have been older than sixteen.
“The man you were with,” I attempted to explain. “Did he touch you? Has he harmed you in any way?”
“No. Why would he do that? His name is Tony and I just met him. I’m Carrie. My mom brought me here today, but I went off to look at some stuff on my own. That guy just said hi and asked if he could walk with me. He seemed nice so I said okay. I don‘t know where he‘s gone now.”
“Did you notice anything strange about him?” I enquired.
“No, not at all,” Carrie replied. “Oh, wait a minute. He did smell kind of funny, but I thought it was some kind of aftershave or something.”
“Ah, brimstone,” I pondered, twiddling my frills. “Of course, the result of the demon‘s trans-dimensional crossing. Carrie, if you see that man again please stay away from him.”
“But why, Doctor? Is he sick or something?”
“Far worse than that, Carrie. He is possessed.”
“Possessed?” she repeated with a look of fear mixed with amusement. “You mean like in those horror movies?”
“Something like that, except that the demons are actually the psychic essences of certain alien beings that filtered down to Earth in ancient times. They now roam around looking for human beings they can possess -- and for others to victimise in other ways.”
By now I had taken the transonic mezuzah from my jacket and used it to scan the area.
“Spires of Daemonia!” I swore upon looking at the resultant readings before returning the instrument to my pocket. “According to the transonic, there is indeed demonic activity in the area, specifically of the type denoting the presence of an incubus!”
“What does that mean, Doctor?” queried the young girl.
“An incubus is a male demon, the female equivalent being a succubus, that victimises people sexually, using this to drain energy from the victim. If one of them has possessed this Tony fellow, it is obviously planning to…”
“Doctor, look out!”
I just barely managed to turn around and see what had so startled Carrie before the energy hit me. It came from the possessed Tony, who had circled around the plaza in order to secretly approach me from behind. He was running to-wards me when he suddenly raised his hands and unleashed an huge surge of black and blue demoniacal energy directly at me.
Whilst I began to sink to the pavement as a result of the unholy blast, I saw the demonically controlled man grab the girl and run away with her at an incredible speed. Soon, as I reeled from the pain I was experiencing, they were lost to my sight!
I fought hard against the agony I was feeling, and sought to banish it from my senses. I thought of that innocent girl in the clutches of that demonically-possessed man and rallied myself. I struggled to my feet and took off in a run to-wards the direction in which I had seen them going.
Around another corner of the shopping complex I beheld them again. Carrie was struggling against the possessed Tony but could not break free of him. I reached into my pocket for the transonic just as Tony noticed that I was following them. He dropped the girl and turned to face me, sending another black and blue bolt of the incubus energy to-wards me. I dodged aside and managed to avoid most of the force of the bolt, which harmlessly hit the pavement, but the shock was enough to send the transonic device flying from my hand. It clattered to the ground several metres distant.
Then I heard the demon speak through the man.
“You cannot exorcise me, Algolite,” it said, its voice a growling otherworldly mockery of human speech. “I am the incubus, and I shall pour my seed into this girl-child of Earth, taking from her the energy of sensual intercourse that I may multiply my powers tenfold, an hundredfold!”
“You shall not succeed, demon,” I countered. “I am Doctor Daniel Rumanos of the Kosmikos of the Watchers. I shall cast you out that you do no further harm to any on this planet.”
With this, the incubus-possessed Tony let out with a laugh -- forsooth a laugh of absolute satanic evil beyond any and all sane reckoning.
“No, Rumanos of Algol,” it said, “you shall do nothing but die!”
With this, the possessed man let forth with a surge of the demonic power beyond even what I had before experienced. It was an huge eldritch swirling mass of black and blue energy accompanied by the odor of brimstone and by a sound like unto the barking and howling of a thousand infernal hounds. It hit me directly and sent me sprawling across the plaza!
My dear friends and most appreciated readers, I am wondering if it is at all possible for you to even begin to comprehend the unhallowed horror, forsooth the extreme unnameable terror of what I was then experiencing, there at the seemingly ordinary location of Tanger Outlets in Atlantic City, New Jersey. There I was -- Doctor Daniel Rumanos -- the only one there to stand against the unhallowed horror of the incubus that planned to ravish innocent young Carrie, the helpless girl who even now swooned in fear at what was happening.
Fortunately, the part of Tanger Outlets in which this part of our narrative occurred was at the moment not too very crowded. I shudder to think what could happen if any hapless Earthling passers-by were to suddenly witness the phantasmal terror of the incubus energy, born as it was by the storage within the demon of countless counts of rape and debauchery.
The demoniacal energy continued to flow at me, as I strove against it with every fibre of my being.
“You cannot win, Algolite!” howled the demon. “I will end your life, and then I will take this child as my plaything!”
Then I noticed something. I had landed on the pavement quite near to the transonic mezuzah. Ignoring the taunts of the incubus, I stretched my hand out and picked it up, then quickly turning to face my opponent.
“Be gone, creature of darkness!” said I, whilst activating a certain function of the device. “I do cast you out in the name of Hashem the God of Israel!”
It was then that I heard the demon scream. It screamed with a long eldritch bay that suggested the calling of an air-raid siren. The black and blue energy swirled all back in Tony’s direction, and I beheld the man shudder and lurch as the demonic force started to leave his body. Then, with a sound like unto the snapping of an eternal cord, all evidence of the presence of the incubus vanished.
Now free of the evil, Tony, after a moment of confusion, ran off to-wards the Ducktown neighbourhood of the city. I let him go. After all, he himself was a victim of the evil and in no way guilty of what it had intended.
I went over and helped the girl to her feet. She was just recovering from her faint and I was glad to see she was unharmed.
“What…” she stammered. “What happened?”
“I pronounced the words of exorcism,” I explained. “This, aided with a certain cabalistic charm setting of my transonic, sent the incubus demon back into the outer darkness of Space, where it can do no further harm.”
The young girl looked rather confused but then smiled.
“I’m glad I met you, Doctor,” she said. “You remind me of the knights in shining armour in that old King Arthur book my dad used to read to me.”
“Well, Carrie,” I replied with a smile, “I actually am a type of…”
“There’s my mom!” she suddenly announced. “I’ve got to go!”
With only a slight wave goodbye, Carrie then ran across the plaza. I looked and saw her meeting up with a smartly-dressed woman who looked somewhat like an older version of herself. They strolled happily off into another section of the outlet mall.
Just then, Millie Drake came up to me with a large shopping bag full of purchases.
“I found some nice new dresses,” she said whilst hugging me. “I hope you’ll like the way I look in them!”
“I am certain I will, love,” I assured her.
“So what have you been up to, Daniel?” said Millie.
“Oh, nothing unusual, my dear,” I replied as we walked on to continue our shopping. “Nothing unusual.”
***** DANIEL RUMANOS AND MILLIE DRAKE SHALL RETURN
