The Castrator by Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov, Atanas Marinov (short books for teens txt) 📕

PACK. AND YET WE HAD TO REMEMBER THAT THIS GANG WAS MADE UP OF EX-MILITARY AIRMEN WHO WERE GENERALLY

THEN I THOUGHT OF SOMETHING BOLD AND BRUTAL. AND IT WAS GETTING DARKER ALL AROUND. THE SURFACE OF THE LAKE WAS UTTERLY BEWITCHING - AS IF TO SUGGEST TO US THAT THE MIRRORED SURFACE OF THE LAKE DID NOT MEAN THAT A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE WAS NOT BREWING BELOW!

- "WHAT IF WE TRIED TO USE A KIND OF EXTRACTION FOR ELEMENTS OF FELISTER'S DREAMS USING THE DEMON ITSELF!," I SUGGESTED.

EVEN THE ROCKERS LOOKED AT ME LIKE I'D LOST MY MIND - THAT SOUNDED EXTREMELY DANGEROUS.

I MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN TO MENTION THAT WE HAD MANAGED TO PICK UP THE CORPSE OF GUS BENZOUR AND HAD HIDDEN IT UNDER ONE OF THE ROCKER BLANKETS. WHILE WE WERE IN BIG BAY TOWN PARK, WE MANAGED TO LEAVE THE CORPSE IN A PLACE WHERE WE COULD EASILY PICK IT BACK UP LATER, BUT THE PROBLEM WAS THAT THE BODY WAS DECOMPOSING, WHICH WAS A NATURAL AND IRREVERSIBLE PROCESS. AND THE SMELL MIGHT HAVE ATTRACTED SOMEONE - IT WASN'T VERY LIKELY, BUT THERE WAS STILL SUCH A DANGER. FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT AWARE, DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE BODY CAN ENDURE DIFFERENT LENGTHS OF TIME-USUALLY THE INTERNAL ORGANS DECOMPOSED FROM TWENTY-FOUR TO SEVENTY-TWO HOURS AFTER THE MOMENT OF DEATH, AND THE CHANGE IN THE BODY'S COLORATION OCCURRED AFTER THE FIRST FEW HOURS, WHEN IT TOOK ON A REDDISH-PURPLE COLOR DUE TO THE PRECIPITATION OF BLOOD, AND WITHIN THE FIRST THIRTY-SIX HOURS IT TURNED A WHITISH GREEN DUE TO DECAY. FROM WHAT WE COULD JUDGE, FELISTER HAD DIED LESS THAN THREE DAYS AGO - MOREOVER - THE BODY WAS IN RELATIVELY GOOD CONDITION - ALTHOUGH THE "FIRST LESIONS" WERE ALREADY VISIBLE.

WHILST WORKING ON FELISTER'S FARM I DETESTED OUTSIDE NOISES. THE PATTER OF RAIN ON THE ROOF OF THE BARN OR THE EMBANKS' HOUSE, RANDOM SOUNDS COMING FROM SOMEWHERE. POSSIBLE ATTACKS BY WILD ANIMALS, WHICH WEREN'T EXACTLY RARE. AND I CERTAINLY DIDN'T SUFFER FROM WHAT WAS CALLED MISOPHONIA, WHICH WAS A LOWER TOLERANCE FOR CERTAIN KINDS OF SOUNDS. EACH OF THE WORKERS THERE WAS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK. FELISTER TAUGHT US THAT OUR WORK WAS PARAMOUNT AND THEREFORE WE WERE NOT TO BE DISTRACTED. THE SLAUGHTERED PIGS WERE PROPERLY SORTED AND THEN RICHLY INJECTED WITH THE ENRICHED OPIATE-FENTANYL SUBSTANCE.

ONE OF THE TRICKS EMPLOYED BY THE INGENIOUS BREEDER WAS TO EXPLOIT THE FACT THAT HE NEVER USED THE SAME GRIP MORE THAN ONCE.

ON A SUMMER MORNING-PERHAPS AT THE BEGINNING OF THAT SUMMER'S POLICE RAID-HE ADDRESSED US WITH THE WORDS:

- SOME OF YOU WILL BECOME STRONG MEN AND WILL HAVE TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO LIFE - FIGHT FOR EVERY SECOND OF IT! AND NATURE IS AGAINST YOU. AND YOU WILL HATE YOUR OWN LIFE!  THE GREATEST DELUSION YOU ARE DROWNING IN IS THAT IT IS A GIFT, AND YOU ARE IN DEBT FROM BIRTH!

HIS STRANGE SERMON WAS FILLED WITH SUCH PROFOUND THOUGHT THAT EVEN SOME FORMER RECIDIVISTS WHO HAD JUST ARRIVED AS NEW RECRUITS DARED NOT EVEN RAISE THEIR EYES, REALIZING THE TRAP OF THEIR DOOM.

SINCE THE TURNOVER WAS SOMETIMES ENORMOUS, FELISTER HAD TO RECRUIT HIS STAFF EVEN FROM THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY CORRECTION CENTERS.

BUT WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF REALITY? THE SECRET WAS THAT IT WAS WILLING TO PLAY WITH ALL SORTS OF MATTER AND ENERGY WITHOUT IMPOSING ITS SENTENCE AND WITHOUT DEPRIVING US OF THE RIGHT TO SEE WHAT LAY BEYOND! BUT IT CAME AT A PRICE! AFTER ALL, THE FOOD OF SOULS WAS THE ACQUIRED AND CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE, AND THE ECHO OF SOULS...

INTERESTING PART OF THE PROCESS OF KILLING AND CASTRATING THE PIGS WAS THE ACTUAL STUNNING OF THEM. THEY GENERALLY DID NOT HAVE GOOD EYESIGHT, BUT THEY HAD GREAT HEARING AND AN EXCELLENT SENSE OF SMELL - PERHAPS EVEN BETTER THAN THAT OF DOGS. WHAT I REMEMBERED WAS THAT THEY DIDN'T LIKE THE DARK AND SOMETIMES THE MALES COULD BE EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE - SO WE HAD TO TAKE APPROPRIATE MEASURES TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS FROM HAPPENING. I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER A FRIEND CALLED RAUL HAVING HIS ARM BITTEN OFF JUST BECAUSE OF THE DIRTY BOARS. THAT VERY DAY WE TOOK CRUEL REVENGE ON THEM. AND THE NUMBER OF ANIMALS KILLED ROSE ENORMOUSLY, WHICH ONLY LINED THE POCKETS OF THE BOGUS BREEDER WHO WAS OUR EMPLOYER.

RAOUL WAS SHOT DEAD A SHORT TIME LATER PERSONALLY ON THE ORDERS OF A FELISTER WITH THE SIMPLE ARGUMENT THAT HE COULD NOT WORK EFFECTIVELY WITH ONE HAND.

THE PIGS DID NOT LIKE THE DARK AT ALL, AND ALSO THE SPECIFIC REFLECTIONS OF THE LIGHT THAT COULD DISORIENT THEM, BUT INSTEAD - WE WERE DOING SOMETHING VERY PRACTICAL. WE LET THEM INTO A SPECIAL CORRIDOR WITH WOODEN PARTITIONS ON BOTH SIDES, BEHIND WHICH WE STOOD, WHERE THE FLOOR WAS PRE-TREATED TO MAKE IT SLIPPERY, AND WE USED ELECTRODES. THEN THE POWERFUL CHARGE STUNNED THEM AND THE REST WAS CLEAR...

WHEN THEY SHOT RAUL, I REMEMBER HIS EYES - HE LOOKED A LOT LIKE THE PIGS THAT WERE SCURRYING AROUND WITH NO WAY OUT IN THE SPECIALLY ADAPTED BARN OF DEATH. AND RAUL WAS BY NO MEANS A COWARD - QUITE THE OPPOSITE! HIS COURAGE WAS PROVERBIAL AND ...

REST IN PEACE!

LOOKING BACK, PERHAPS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE WE MADE WAS THAT WE VIEWED THIS "RETURNING" HOME AS THE BEST PART OF OUR TRIP. AND HOW WAS THE CURRENT SITUATION ANY DIFFERENT THAN THEN? WE JUST REPLACED THE FARM WITH AN ANCIENT RITUAL! AND THE PLINTH, OR RATHER OUR JOURNEY, CONTINUED.

THERE WAS NO WAY TO PRESERVE THE CORPSE OF A BENZOUR MORE EFFICIENTLY SINCE WE HAD NO ICE, NOR NITROGEN CHAMBER, NOR ANYTHING ELSE. IT WASN'T A GOOD IDEA TO THROW IT IN THE LAKE EITHER, BECAUSE THE DECOMPOSITION PROCESS HAD STARTED ANYWAY - EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IN A RELATIVELY EARLY STAGE.

AFTER THE NIGHT PASSED AND WE TOOK TURNS LOOKING AT THE HIDDEN CORPSE, WHICH WE HOPED WOULD NOT DECOMPOSE COMPLETELY, I NOW HAD A CLEAR PLAN FOR SUMMONING THE DEMON. I WAS AWARE THAT BOTH DEMONS AND ANGELS WERE CAPABLE OF POSSESSING A DEAD BODY, BUT ANGELS NEEDED SPECIAL PERMISSION FOR THIS PURPOSE.

INCIDENTALLY, ANYONE WHO DEALT SERIOUSLY AND PROFESSIONALLY WITH DIVINATION[4] HAD TO BE AWARE THAT THERE WERE CERTAIN RHYTHMS CONCERNING ENERGY -AND THIS WAS ESPECIALLY TRUE OF DREAM STATES, WHICH COULD BE EXTREMELY SPECIFIC. TO SUMMON THE DEMON, I NEEDED A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF PREPARATION, WHICH TOOK TIME, AND FOR THE INVOCATIONS[5] IN GENERAL WE HAD TO GO BACK TO THE CEMETERY LA POINTE - I MAY HAVE FAILED TO MENTION THAT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE PARK AND THE CEMETERY WAS OVER FIVE KILOMETRES, AND AS WE WERE BY THE LAKE IT WAS EVEN GREATER - ON THE ORDER OF ABOUT EIGHT, AND NOW IMAGINE WALKING AROUND WITH A CORPSE WHICH YOU HAD TO CARRY TO THE APPROPRIATE PLACE - THIS WAS NO EASY TASK. THE ONLY THING THAT GENERALLY WORKED IN OUR FAVOUR WAS THE COLD TEMPERATURES, WHICH PROTECTED THE BODY AND SLOWED DOWN THE DECOMPOSITION PROCESS. THE ROCKERS CAME OUT STIFF TYPES AND THE DISGUSTING STENCH OF THE OLD GAS DEFINITELY DID NOT PREVENT THEM FROM DOING THEIR JOB REALLY WELL. AND THE REASON FOR TAKING IT WITH US WAS MORE THAN OBVIOUS -SOMEONE COULD TAKE IT AND THEN EVERYTHING WE HAD FOUGHT FOR SO FAR WAS RUINED. THE DEMON IN GUS BENZOUR'S BODY OR IN HIS CORPSE WOULD GIVE US THE REAL INSTRUCTIONS ON WHAT WE HAD TO DO TO COMPLETE THE RITUAL ONCE AND FOR ALL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO SHARE WHAT THOUGHTS WERE RAGING IN MY MIND, AS I NEVER IMAGINED EXACTLY WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AND THAT I WOULD USE PEOPLE LIKE THE HELLS ANGELS FOR MY PLANS. THE REAL IDEA WAS THAT THE MEMBERS OF THE HELLS ANGELS WERE BORN FOR THIS AND IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE FOR THEM TO BECOME LIKE THIS - IT WAS A WAY OF LIFE. THEY WERE BIKERS - THAT'S IT! THEIR PATH WAS MAPPED OUT LONG BEFORE THEY EVEN GOT ON THE BIKE.

ANYWAY, SOMEONE HAD ASKED ME ONCE WHAT WAS THE PATH OF THE MAVERICKS? NOW I CERTAINLY KNOW THE ANSWER AND CAN POINT TO A VERY WORTHWHILE ARGUMENT FOR IT. THE SECESSIONISTS HAD THEIR COMMUNITIES FOR THE OBJECTIVE REASON THAT IT WAS THE ONLY WAY THEY COULD THRIVE. REMEMBER THAT BIBLE STORY ABOUT MOLOKH, DAGON, BELIAL, BEELZEBUB AND SATAN HIMSELF. I COULD HARDLY POINT TO A MORE ELOQUENT AND CONCRETE EXAMPLE THAN THAT.

YET THE BODY MIGHT HAVE BEEN CARRIED AWAY IN A VERY TACTFUL MANNER, AS THERE WERE NO VERY GREAT OPPORTUNITIES ON THE ISLAND.

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS, OF COURSE, WAS TO BE SURE EXACTLY WHICH DEMON HAD POSSESSED GUS BENZOURE-ONE THING I KNEW FOR SURE-THERE WAS A GOOD CHANCE THAT IT WAS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO "TAKE US AWAY," AND IT WAS NECESSARY TO CONCENTRATE OUR EFFORTS ON GETTING CONTROL OF IT BEFORE IT MADE ANY TROUBLE. DEMONIC CREATURES WERE EXTREMELY CUNNING AND COULD BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, BUT ONE HAD TO BE ABLE TO HANDLE THEM PROPERLY. HOWEVER, FEW WERE AWARE THAT THERE WERE SO-CALLED GUARDIAN SPIRITS AND GUARDIAN SPIRITS. MY GUARDIAN SPIRIT WAS BARAKIEL, AND MY GUARDIAN OR OVERSEER WAS THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL.

BUT THE SUBTLE POINT WAS THAT THERE WAS ALSO A GUARDIAN DEMON THAT HAD TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT - IN OTHER WORDS, THE DEMON COULD BE THE GUARDIAN DEMON ITSELF... AND YET THE SUMMONING OF ANY KIND OF DEMON CARRIED THE INEVITABLE DANGER OF DISTORTION OR PERVERSION OF THE SOUL OR POSSESSION OF THE BODY.

BUT DID THAT MEAN THAT GUS BENZOUR WAS THE FELISTER HIMSELF? OR DID HE?

IT WASN'T POSSIBLE-FELISTER HAD BEEN DEAD TOO LONG, AND HIS BONES WERE ROTTEN. IT WAS EVEN IN THE POLICE REPORTS. WHY ON EARTH WOULD HE DO THAT WITH A LIVING PERSON CARRYING HIS VERY CONSCIOUSNESS - THERE WAS SOMETHING THAT WASN'T QUITE CLEAR?

WE HAD TO CHOOSE AND GO WITH AN OPTION - EITHER WE'D BE SHIELDED FROM THE FORCES OF LIGHT, WHICH DIDN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE, OR WE COULD STILL MAKE THE DEMON SHOW ITSELF - WHICH WAS STILL SOMETHING - IT DEPENDED ON EXACTLY HOW MUCH HE WAS ABLE TO TELL US!

IT WAS THE TIME AND PLACE THAT WAS IMPORTANT - WE HAD TO BE CAREFULLY READY FOR ALL OF THIS.

THE ROCKERS SEEMED TO BEGIN TO REALIZE THAT THERE WAS NO JOKE - AND WE HAD TO BE VERY CAREFUL. BUT HOW GREAT WAS THE DEPTH OF THE CONSPIRACY?

THE FELISTER GUARDIAN DEMON WAS DEFINITELY SUPPOSED TO BE VERY, VERY BADASS, AND I WAS HONESTLY HESITANT ABOUT WHAT METHOD OF SUMMONING TO USE - THINGS WERE WEIRD AND STRANGE. THEY WERE CHANGING SO FAST.

THE GRAVEYARD ATMOSPHERE WAS CHILLING AND DISGUSTING. APPARENTLY THE GUARD HADN'T PICKED UP THE SMELL OF A CORPSE, OR THE WIND WAS BLOWING IN ANOTHER DIRECTION. ALL IN ALL, WE DIDN'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT AND SET ABOUT PREPARING THE RITUAL.

REGINALD HAD COME TO REALIZE THAT HE HAD LONG SINCE TRANSCENDED HUMAN BOUNDARIES AND WAS, FOR ALL TOO UNDERSTANDABLE REASONS, TRYING TO FIND HIS PLACE IN THE SUPERNATURAL.

ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN IN SUCH AN INVOCATION, BUT AT THE LAST MOMENT ZONARA STOPPED ME:

- YOU HAVE TO DECIDE IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET OF THE FELISTER OR IF WE SHOULD DO THE RITUAL WITH THE GUARDIAN ANGEL. CAN'T HAVE IT BOTH WAYS - TAKE YOUR PICK.

THERE WAS TOO MUCH TRUTH IN HER WORDS. ARLO WAS FEELING DECIDEDLY UNHAPPY WITH US. I DON'T KNOW IF SOME OUTSIDE FORCES WERE AFFECTING HIM OR IF SOMETHING ELSE HAD HAPPENED, BUT I COULD FEEL THE CHANGE.

ANGELS WERE MORE SPECIAL CREATURES THAN DEMONS - YES, THEY COULD LOVE AND ACCOMPANY YOU TO A CERTAIN PLACE, BUT THEIR NATURE WAS SPECIAL. SOME OF THEM TOOK UP RESIDENCE HERE - ON EARTH. AND THE CYCLE BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH WAS ENDLESS.

IF I COULD DESCRIBE MY FEELINGS - I WOULDN'T SAY I FELT HUMILITY, BUT RATHER SADNESS AND A PARTICULAR KIND OF WEIGHTLESSNESS - THE PATH OF SUFFERING... THIS WAS FELISTER -