CHAPTER EIGHT
Wham!
Jake rolled out of bed and landed on the floor on his hands and knees. His eyes quickly scanned from side to side, assessing the area for threats, looking for cover. His heart pounded in his ears and his breathing was fast and ragged. He reached for his weapon, but it wasn’t there. When he looked down to see if he dropped it, Jake saw that he was wearing a bright pair of pajama bottoms. Confusion clouded his mind for a few moments before he came to reality and realized he had transferred to another body.
Jake looked around again, this time not looking for threats but for clues as to where he was. There was a twin-sized bed with a bland looking wooden frame, a small night table by the head of the bed with a landline phone, a cell phone and watch on it, a medium-sized dresser, and a closet with no doors that had plastic hangers in it. Inside the closet, Jake saw a small travel suitcase and a black plastic suit bag hanging from the hook. A thick curtain barely covered a large window where light came through around the edges and gave enough illumination for Jake to see that he was in a hotel room. Now, the only questions was where?
He stood up from his crouch, walked to the curtain, pulled it open from the left side and looked out the window. He couldn’t see for a few moments because of the glare and he let his eyes adjust. He must have been facing west, because the setting sun was directly in front of him. When his sight returned, he gasped as he saw the skyline, and then the buildings around the hotel.
From his vantage point, Jake could see that he was fairly high. He guessed that maybe it was twenty to twenty-five stories with a lot of the buildings in the immediate surrounding areas standing ten to fifteen stories high. So, he could view a fairly large area. The city beyond the smaller buildings was fairly large and the buildings were close together, giving Jake the impression that they were crowded. On top of that, the air seemed a little bit hazy and he could make out thousands of people on the sidewalks and hundreds of vehicles and bikes on the streets.
But what really told him where he was, was the famous mountain in the distance and all of the signs; on the buildings, billboards, and the traffic signs. They were all in Japanese, with most but not all, having English translations beneath.
He was in Japan. Jake didn’t know what city it was, but he was definitely in Japan. He’d been in the country about fourteen years before, when he’d been tasked to train the special tactics squadron of the interior defense force, which had its’ headquarters in Tokyo and branches all over the rest of the country. For the three months he’d been there, his stay had been enjoyable, and Jake had come to appreciate the Japanese people. Their customs, morals and traditions had resonated with him. He’d been practicing Japanese martial arts since he’d been a teenager. That training had exposed him to some of the traditions and had given him a ‘centre,’ something to focus on after the accident with Ben.
Jake turned from the window, walked around the night table, then opened the drawer and pulled out a telephone book. He noticed there was a Bible in the drawer too. He closed his eyes and offered up a brief prayer of thanks to God for helping him to defeat the demon.
When he was done praying, Jake looked at the phone book. It said Tokyo. Jake looked out the window again and shook his head. It sure didn’t look like the city he remembered. Of course, that visit had been fourteen years before, so there was certainly going to be progress since then. Once, Jake had asked one of the men he’d been training with, a man about Jake’s age and who he’d had a good rapport with, why the Japanese people were so focused on building so many new things. He pointed around the block, they were standing in the middle of an industrial area, having used one of the factories to practice a bomb scare response, and there was new construction going on in almost every direction; some buildings that were being knocked down to be replaced looked less than ten years old. He’d never seen so much construction back in the states.
The man, whose name was surprisingly, John Kamakura, and who Jake called Johnny K, had paused in the middle of breaking down his weapon to pack it into a carry case for transporting, and smiled at Jake humourlessly. He motioned for Jake to sit down beside him.
“Jake-San,” he said. When Jake had sat on the ground, he spoke perfect English and Jake heard a slight Boston accent. “The Japanese people are a highly complex society, although they sometimes appear to have dual personalities. You see, after the second World War, and even as recently as the 1970’s , the image of Japan that the average American or European had was a country of geisha, cherry blossoms, and of Mount Fuji. Hell, just a few months ago, a tourist asked me if we lived in paper houses!” He shook his head in disgust.
“Anyway, this was the image that the Japanese people felt westerners had of our country and it tends to irk us, since we have been a highly industrialized society since the late 1950’s and 60’s and have been at the forefront of technology since the 1970’s. Our attitude was. And still is to some extent, like that of the Englishman who takes a fierce pride in his heritage, feeling vaguely irritated that foreigners should find his country quaint and perhaps even antiquated because of the old customs that are still preserved." He looked at Jake for a moment to make sure he was understanding. Jake nodded to show he was following him.
“Similarly,” John continued. “We, not wishing our country to be thought backward or old fashioned, will go out of our way to offer proof of our modernity at every opportunity, forgetting perhaps that most foreigners who visit us wishes to see the more traditional aspects of our culture. Do you see?”
Jake nodded his head and they had finished packing their equipment and left. During Jake’s stay, he and John had had many discussions about many different topics, from philosophy to engineering, and of course, the martial arts. They’d spent many nights out drinking and mornings sparring and practicing. He always thought fondly of John.
Jake shook his head, coming back to the present. He rubbed his temples and eyes, then picked up the phone and called the front desk to find out what hotel he was in and where he was in the city.
The attendant he talked to told him he was in the Hilton International and that they were in the Shinjuku business district. He thanked the woman, then had the call transferred to the kitchen to order something to eat. When he was finished ordering, Jake went into the bathroom to freshen up and to see what kind of body he would be working with this time.
When Jake looked into the mirror, he was shocked to see that the body he was inhabiting was oriental.
He should not have been shocked though. After all, he was in Japan, and of course the best way to blend in with the population was to look like a native, although he wished the body was in better shape. He pinched about two or three inches of fat at his waist and sized himself up. He guessed he was about five feet, six or seven and weighed around one-hundred eighty or ninety pounds. He was pale and there was very little muscles beneath the fat. It didn’t appear as if the guy worked out at all.
Maybe he works in an office and doesn’t get time to keep himself in shape, Jake thought. He looked at his face and noticed a sparse bit of beard stubble along with some dark circles under his eyes. He gazed at his hair which was cut short in a business-like style and didn’t see any grey there; he guessed his age was maybe in the late twenties or early thirties. Looking at his hands, Jake sighed when he saw they were manicured and had no calluses.
After using the bathroom, Jake went back into the sleeping area and performed some quick stretches, followed by a few yoga positions and martial arts moves to get a feel for his body. The extra weight and being five to six inches shorter made some of the positions and moves awkward, and Jake could feel a bit of strain in muscles that were not used to the repetitive work. He shook his head. He wondered what the guy would think and feel when he ‘woke up’ after Jake was done with the body. He was thinking about that when a knock came at the door and his meal was delivered. He had an awkward moment when he signed the bill, but he faked his way through it by scribbling an unreadable signature.
After he ate, Jake took a shower and looked around the room for some comfortable clothes but only found two suits which looked like they were of very high quality in the suit bag and some underclothes in an overnight bag pushed beneath the bed. Behind the bag, he saw an expensive briefcase. He guessed that the guy, whose name he found out by looking at papers in the briefcase, was Toshi Tanaka, was just here for a one day conference or something of that sort. Jake hoped he didn’t mess up the guy’s life by missing it. He shrugged. It was best not to think that way; to lose focus. Besides, it was almost night time and the business had probably already been taken care of earlier. He sat down and called the front desk again, this time asking where the nearest casual clothing store was. After finding the hotel had a store in the lobby, Jake hung up, then called the number in America that Father McLanahan had given him. After three rings, the phone picked up.
“Hello?” Jake recognized the priest’s voice immediately.
“Hello, Father, this is Jake.” There was a pause. “Hello, Father, are you there,” Jake asked, thinking that maybe he had a bad connection.
“Jake, Jake, I’m here,” McLanahan replied. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize your voice.” He chuckled self-consciously. “Of course, I should have expected that, but I guess I’m not used to the idea yet.”
“I understand, Father,” Jake replied dryly. “It’s taken me a while to get used to it also.”
McLanahan chuckled again, “Yes, I guess it would.” He paused for a moment and Jake sensed something. In his mind, Jake saw the priest hanging bloody from the cross again.
“Father, how are you? Are you in any pain from the experience?”
McLanahan sighed. “No, Jake. I’m alright physically. I’m feeling a little put out and tired because Stephen was buried this morning. I’ve been consoling his ex-wife and two daughters the past few days and it has been kind of tough. Although, they were separated, they were still close, and I think they would have gotten back together.” The priest started to say something more, but Jake interrupted him.
“Father, what day is it?”
McLanahan gave him the date and Jake was shocked. It was five days after the experience at the cemetery. He told this to the priest and asked if he knew why so much time had passed.
“well, Jake, I’ve been studying the literature about demon stalkers and although some of it is conjecture and rumors from what I could piece together from the ‘true’ evidence, it indicates that they show up at unpredictable times and places, which, when you think about it, is a good thing; if there’s no discernible place or time of arrival that can be predicted, then it makes things that much harder for the enemy to figure out where you’ll be and when you’ll be there.” He took a breath then continued. “Then also, to my knowledge there has never been a threat like this since Solomon trapped those Demon Kings in the first place. I believe this may be a harbinger of great events, maybe even the end of days.
“You’re talking about the Apocalypse, right,” Jake said disbelievingly. “The one in Revelations?”
“That’s exactly what I mean, Jake,” McLanahan replied. From the limited information I’ve been reading through, there are a few references to a great evil that will be released on Earth to create chaos before the seals are broken and God’s plan is revealed. The information I’ve looked at so far though, is vague, so I’ll be going to the Vatican archives. There should be much more extensive information available there. The more information I can get, the more help I can provide for you,” he finished.
“Ok,” Jake replied. He ran the fingers of his left hand through his hair and was about to say something when a thought occurred to him.
“Father, how many people have you told about me?”
“I’ve only spoken to one brother about you, Jake,” the priest replied. “We have protocols in place for this kind of situation. Your mission is the most important thing in the world, Jake,” he said earnestly. “And we will take every precaution to protect you.”
“Alright, Father,” Jake said. “I believe you. I just wanted to know for my own peace of mind.” He sighed, then changed directions, telling McLanahan he was in Tokyo and asking if he had any contacts in the area. The priest asked Jake if he had a few moments while he checked. He heard the rustling of papers as McLanahan checked some files. Jake felt better that the priest didn’t keep his information on a computer.
After a minute or two, McLanahan came back to the phone.
“Ok, Jake, I found a brother you can contact. His name is Kaji Murotomi. You can reach him at the Sensoji Temple.” He gave him a phone number. Jake wrote it down on the back of his room service bill and asked the priest a question.
“Is he a Christian?”
“Of course he is, Jake. All of the Sons of Solomon are Christians. The one true God and Jesus are the foundation of our organization. It has been that way for over twenty-nine hundred years, when Solomon’s son, Rehoboam established the organization.”
Jake was confused. He’d read the Bible, and had taken some religion courses in college, and did not remember reading or hearing any mention of Jesus in Solomon’s time. He asked McLanahan about this.
“I’m sorry, Jake. I should have been more clear. We were first organized to serve God, then later we added Jesus as our Saviour. Does that help any?”
“Ok,” Jake said. “That’s fine. Now this guy, Kaji Murotomi. You say he can be reached at the Sensoji Temple?”
“Yes,” McLanahan replied. “He lives there.”
Jake exhaled loudly in exasperation and ran his left hand through his hair again. “So he lives there, which means he’s a monk, right?” Jake remembered visiting some of the Temples before, and the only people who had lived in the buildings had been monks, and they had all been Buddhists.
“Yes, Jake,” McLanahan replied. “And before you ask, John is also Christian. The best, and shortest, explanation I can give you is that with Kaji, the two beliefs do not conflict with each other. If you want to know more, you’ll have to talk to him.”
“Okay, Okay,” Jake said. I’ll discuss that with him later, if I have a chance.” He sighed again and rubbed his temples. His ‘demon sense’ as he was calling it, that the demon he was going to be hunting was a fair distance away. He didn’t know how far. The signal was weaker than the previous two, so Jake assumed it was farther than the ten to fifteen miles those had been. He told this to the priest.
“That’s good, Jake. That means that the demon probably can’t sense you.” He started to say something else, but Jake interrupted him.
“Wait. You mean demons can sense me like I can sense them?”
Jake’s heart fluttered for a moment and he felt an adrenaline surge run through him.
“From the accounts I’ve read, which again, were very few,” McLanahan said. “The demons have a limited ability to sense a stalker. Certainly, the distance is not as far as a Stalker’s, but then, you also should consider that none of the demons whose accounts I’ve read about were Demon Kings. I’m assuming that they have more extensive abilities than the average demon.” He sighed. This worries me, Jake, and it also worries Prelate Jessup , my contact in the Vatican, who has access to much more information about them than I do. When I told him about our encounter and your defeat of Crocell. He was amazed that you were not killed again, as you were when you first encountered the Demon King.
“Well, thank the Prelate for his vote of confidence.” Jake said sarcastically.
“Oh, don’t take that the wrong way, Jake. Consider this; These Demon Kings are some of the most powerful and evil beings in the universe. They have lived since before God created the universe, and have powers that we can’t even conceive. You have only been a demon stalker for about a week, and you really have no idea what you’re doing. I’ll grant you that your combat experience with the military will help you, but these creatures are more dangerous,” the priest said emphatically, “than any threat you’ve ever faced. What I’d like to do is get as much information about demons and the Demon Kings as possible. Once I get access to our archives, I will compile a packet for you and get it to you as soon as I can.” He paused for a moment. I don’t know if I can get it to you before you confront the current Demon King, but I will try. I know you have a very limited time before you have to leave so I will try my best to at least get you something. In the meantime, I want you to take some time with brother Kaji. He has fought two demons during his tenure in Japan and he could be very helpful to you.”
“Have you already contacted him about me,” Jake asked.
“No. As I mentioned before, I want to keep your existence as secret as possible, Jake. There’s a recognition signal and code I’ll give you to show Kaji that you’re not a member of the enemy’s groups. Once he knows you’re legitimate, you can speak with him and plan your next moves.”
“Alright, that sounds good,” Jake said. “So, what are these groups? Are they something I need to worry about?” He absentmindedly grasped his bottom lip with his thumb and forefinger and squeezed it, thinking about what he was going to do if he had another threat to face.
There are several groups out there that worship Satan, and some of them are organized, but most of them are just general nuisances. Of all the groups out there, there may be five that may pose any real threat to you if they found out about your existence. Of these five, there is only one that I would truly worry about.”
“And who would that be, Father,” Jake asked.
“That would be the Hellfire Club, Jake,” McLanahan answered.
“The Hellfire Club. Hmm. That sounds familiar.” Jake sat back in his chair and thought for a minute, then it came to him.
Okay, weren’t they some high society nuts in Britain or Ireland back in the seventeen-hundreds or eighteen-hundreds who got together to mock religion and have some kind of ceremonies that were the opposite of those that were in churches at the time? I think I remember reading about them in a religion class in college that they were just a joke at the time, basically just a small footnote of history.”
“Yes, Jake, that particular group was basically a joke, but the Hellfire Club I’m talking about is much larger, much more dangerous organization. They started their organization around the same time the other group did, and we believe they used the other group’s infamy to make themselves look more inconspicuous. Kind of a ‘hiding-in-plain-sight’ move. We that maybe even the first group was set up to fail on purpose in order to hide the more serious group.”
“Alright,” Jake said dubiously. Although he understood the thinking behind those kind of machinations, he didn’t see how that affected him today. “So what makes them so dangerous now?”
“Jake, have you ever heard of Evanescent Energy Corp?”
“Yeah, they’re the second largest energy company in the world, right?”
“Yes, they are. They have offices all over the world, they own hundreds of other companies, and all of their board members are also Hellfire Club members. Their reach and influence are incalculable, and they’re all dedicated to instigating the end of days. In fact, it’s very likely that they were the ones that released the Demon Kings from King Solomon’s confinement container.”
“Let me get this straight,” Jake said. “Three thousand years ago, King Solomon sealed these demons in a container, and they were released by the people in this Hellfire Club in order to precipitate the final battle, the battle mentioned in Revelations. Do I have it right so far?”
“Yes,” said the priest.
“Ok. So, if Solomon sealed these Demon Kings away. I’m assuming that he went through some kind of ritual or that God gave him some kind knowledge and power to do so.”
“That’s right,” McLanahan said cautiously.
“So, if you’re an ancestor to Solomon and a member of the organization, would you be able to have access to that information, and if so, would you be able to seal them back up?”
“That’s a complicated question, Jake, but I’ll give you a simple answer: no, we can’t seal them back into the container. First, the knowledge that Solomon had about the Demon Kings is written on an Emerald tablet that was found in the ruins of one of his many dwellings. We have this tablet, but we cannot decipher any of the writing on hit. We believe that the tablet came directly from God and could only be read by Solomon himself.
Maybe Jesus will read it when he comes here for the final battle, or destroy of confine all of Satan’s demons in the pit. Second, none of us has the power that Solomon had. We all derive some of our power from being Solomon’s ancestors, and the remaining power comes from the ring we wear and from the sanctified weapons we use.”
“How do you get power from a ring,” Jake asked.
“There was a second Emerald tablet found with the first, but it was shattered into hundreds of pieces. Many attempts were made to reassemble it, but too many of the pieces were missing or destroyed. Then, one of our brothers, I think it was Solomon’s great-grandson, discovered that pieces of the tablet gave strength and resistance when fighting demons. He had the pieces cut and polished into stones, then placed in rings and other pieces of jewellery from Solomon’s treasury, then bequeathed to Solomon’s ancestors. All of our brothers are given a piece when they pass their initiation.
“Okay, I get that,” Jake said. He sighed and ran his left hand through his hair. It seemed that the more he learned about all of this, the more complicated and troubling things were becoming. Now, he not only had to worry about all of the Demon Kings and whatever chaos and destruction they were up to, but he also had to fight against one of the largest companies in the world; a company that could afford to throw almost unlimited funds and people at whatever problems that came up, and Jake knew that if he had any success in his mission, it would not be long before he would become one of their problems. He told this to McLanahan and they discussed security measures to Jake from becoming a spot on the Hellfire Club’s radar. They spoke for another fifteen minutes, coming up with strategies to keep communications secure and how to keep Jake’s identity anonymous. Jake’s military training and McLanahan’s experience with the organization made planning easy.
When they were finished, Jake got dressed in his dress pants, shirt and shoes, then went downstairs to the hotels’ lobby to do some shopping for comfortable clothes and a few other items to help him in his mission.