Chapter 7

“Now that,” Loki’s breathing was strained, “that is over.” They’d made it back to their dimension from the rift, though Loki had waited until they were in the elevator, alone, to begin talking. “We can finally get you to command for proper indoctrination.”

“Are you alright?” Henry asked. Even though Loki was covered head to toe, his form seemed to be shaking, and his grim, whom he still had a hand on, was obviously the only reason he was still able to stand.

“I’ll be fine.” The eerily masked individual responded. “You’ll learn, as you go on, that not all D.E.D. willingly form contracts with us. The stronger ones can, and will, fight against you. That particular D.E.D., while extremely powerful, is rather temperamental.” Loki let out a pained laugh. “And with his power…he likes to make me suffer for his aid. Honestly he’s just angry I won’t let him do as he pleases.”

While it was obvious that massive, sword wielding wolf was powerful, Henry had to wonder if having such a creature was really all that helpful. What was the cost? How much pain, how much damage, was Loki receiving from that creature? At the very least, it was obvious there was a vast difference in how the Grim reacted to Loki, and how that other creature did.

“So, what now?” The elevator dinged, letting them out into the parking garage. Henry could hear loud cheering and the sounds of partying coming from the streets. Downtown Colorado Springs was already a popular place at night. Most of the clubs and bars in the area were focused on two streets in particular, and then there was even a park people like to spend time at as well. With the massive crowd drawn there for the Tiered Demon attack, the area was practically vibrating with life. And for those playing the game, for those who could blissfully still believe it was a game, they’d just prevented a Tiered Demon invasion and they were going to celebrate. Henry was more than a little jealous of them. If only he could still be ignorant.

“We get you to our area branch,” Loki started, responding to his question, “and they will go through the proper indoctrination with you. They’ll show you how to locate small rifts, and how to capture and train your D.E.D. They’ll further explain your connection with the D.E.D. as well, and help you understand everything that is going on.” Loki labored slowly towards his car as he spoke.

“And what about you?” Henry had to wonder, what would Loki do? “Will I see you again?”

“If you do, chances are you won’t know it’s me.” Loki chuckled, which turned into a pained cough. “General rule of thumb for exorcists, don’t let fellow exorcists know your actual power, or know all of your D.E.D. After all, humans are humans. And I can assure you, there are those in the organization who would give anything to gain the powers, or the D.E.D., that others have. Even if they had to do it by force.”

“You mean…”

“I mean the D.E.D. aren’t the only monsters that exist in this world. The founders of the exorcists knew that. We act freely in the darkness. We can flaunt our powers while we are masked on away missions. But in the daylight, you must use caution. Be discretionary, and make sure you don’t stand out.” Loki pointed towards the floating eye behind Henry. “There are many common D.E.D., such as the Evil Eye, that we will have with us at all times. More unique D.E.D., such as my Grim here, I will only have out while masked. The only people who will know who you are, and your full abilities, D.E.D. collection, and the sorts, will be the area director. She’s the one who called you earlier. She’s the one in charge of assigning our exorcists to the Tiered Demon attacks and managing our area strength. She is the only one in the organization I can say confidently that you can fully trust.”

Loki let out a grunt as he climbed into the Charger. Henry stood outside of the car, his hand on the handle, his mind racing. What was this organization? What had he gotten dragged into? All he’d done was try to play a freaking Augmented Reality game with his friends. And yet, he apparently had some supernatural power that let him form bonds with creatures from another dimension, and it was now his job to help save the human dimension from freaking demons. He’d asked for none of this. And how exactly was he going to explain all of this? How was he going to explain his absence to his friends? Which reminded him…

“We need to go back to the hookah bar first.” Henry said as he got into the car. “My friends were expecting me to be at the Tiered Demon fight. Since I was a no show, at the very least, they’d expect me to still be at the bar. My car is there. If we don’t get it, this will be a lot more difficult to explain away to them.”

Henry could feel Loki’s gaze on him. He got the feeling Loki didn’t like taking orders from anyone. Granted, considering the power Loki wielded, it made sense.

“Alright,” Loki said after a long moment. “A little extra delay isn’t going to cause any issues after all. But no more detours after you get your car. Once we’ve got your vehicle, you’re going to follow me, and we are going to get you back to our home base. Afterwards, you’re on your own.”

“Sounds good to me.” Henry said simply. He really didn’t have any objections to that. It wasn’t like he’d formed some sort of bond with Loki. The individual had been somewhat helpful in explaining what was going on, and Henry was grateful for that.

Loki had also shown just how terrifyingly powerful he was…which made Henry less likely to want to spend time around the individual. So, being free and clear of Loki was probably a safe bet. Besides, anyone who ran around with a grim by their side was usually someone you wanted to avoid. At least, based on the superstitions that is.

“One more thing.” Loki said as he started the car.

“What’s that?” Henry asked.

“You’re going to want to change back into your normal clothes before we go anywhere.”