Reaper

A Lesson in Advanced Demonology

Ryder walked up to a bookshelf mounted near the blackboard and pulled out a couple of ancient looking books bound in black leather. The first one was titled, ‘A compendium of monsters’ while the second one had the words ‘Advanced Demonology’ etched in silver on its front cover.

Placing both the books on the table, Ryder addressed David, “Everything you need to know, can be found in these books.” He then walked up to the blackboard and drew three broad columns, each with their respective headings. The first column was dedicated to ‘Monsters’ while the second and the third were headed by the words, ‘Spirits’ and ‘Demons’ respectively. Underlining each of these words, he turned back to them.

“I sense that you feel the urge to put forth a query. Go ahead, Mr. David. Ask away.”

David mustered up his courage and asked what he had been meaning to from the very start. “Why did you choose me? Why do you think I am the perfect person for this job?”

“The answer to that is rather simple. You have an eye for finer details and you were quite excellent at solving complex cases during your training at the academy. But above all, you neither worship God nor the Devil, which makes you ideal for this impartial vocation.” Rolling the chalk between his fingers, Ryder narrowed his gaze on David. “When you became a cop, you wanted to save lives, you wanted to protect the people and make this city a safer place. But sadly, you were leashed to a desk because you weren’t corrupt. Now is your chance to serve the people once more. Now, are you ready for your first lesson?”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice here,” David replied.

“Splendid!” Ryder grinned faintly and rubbed his hands together. “For an ordinary human; monsters, spirits and demons are all just the same. But a Reaper must know that each of these entities is unique. Monsters are creatures born out of dark magic; they came to this world when the first witches carelessly opened a portal to a parallel world. Just like most predatory animals, monsters too are made of flesh and blood, which means they can be harmed by physical attacks. However, not all weapons are equally effective against all kinds of monsters. Each unique monster has a different set of strengths and weaknesses. And different methods must be employed to exterminate different types of monsters. All kinds of magic spells and charms are effective when dealing with them.”

He scribbled the points in the first column and then faced them once again. “Moving on, the spirits are ethereal entities with no corporeal frame. Meaning, they aren’t made of flesh and blood. They are fundamentally, wandering souls trapped on earth. Physical attacks do them no harm since they have no body. They can be discouraged by prayers and incantations and bound by magic. However, they cannot be killed since they are essentially lost souls. To get rid of a malevolent spirit, you must destroy the object which binds it to this world and perform its last rites. Only then, can they be compelled to move on to the afterlife. Unlike the monsters, spirits cannot enter sacred ground.”

Ryder stopped at that and whispered something to a male butler standing close by. All this was too much for David to take in so suddenly. Throughout his entire life, he had never believed in supernatural entities and here he was, learning how to tell the difference between two such beings. He was still not fully convinced that these creatures actually existed.

The butler returned to the room within a few minutes, dragging a trolley draped in a thick black towel. David heard once more, the gnashing of teeth, interspersed with screeching sounds. There was something moving under the towel. Ryder walked up to the trolley and instructed his butler to move aside. Keeping his gaze fixed on David, he pulled away the towel, revealing a beast trapped inside a large rectangular cage. David felt his lips drying up as he set his eyes on the monster which had attacked him that night. It had the same deformed body with no skin and exposed rotting muscles.

“Does that change your beliefs, Mr. David?” Ryder questioned. “This is the same kind of creature which attacked you that night. It’s a carrion eater, the lowest of all monsters, a ghoul.”

David felt his heart skip a beat. The creature trapped inside the cage with its long bony limbs and sharp elongated claws didn’t seem like an animal. Even his skeptical mind had to come to terms with the fact that monsters did exist. The irrefutable evidence was right in front of his eyes.

Ryder looked at Vanessa and requested her to volunteer for the next demonstration. “Ms. Chase, please be so kind as to come up here and help me out.”

Vanessa got up at once and quietly made her way to the cage.

“Now, do you mind telling us whether it’s a male or a female?”

“It’s a female, a ghulah. Male ghouls have black eyes but this one has gray. And it’s also very docile.”

“Docile? That thing is vicious!” David interjected. The ghoul inside the cage looked anything but docile. It was constantly screaming and trying to grab hold of Ryder’s coat with its sharp claws.

David’s remark inspired a look of scorn on Vanessa’s face. She looked at him as if he were some uneducated buffoon. Ryder however broke out into a hearty laughter.

“Mr. David, I think our definitions of docile do not match. The ghoul which attacked you at night was a male. And if that same ghoul was inside this cage, it would have already twisted the bars and chewed through the lock. Here is another lesson for you, if you ever have the need to capture a ghoul, always try to go for the females. The males are far more aggressive and extremely agile, easily capable of jumping from one wall to another. Though the females hunt in packs, they are easily scared and cannot jump higher than a few feet in the air.”

“Why would I ever want to capture something so dangerous?”

“We are wasting time on him! This guy’s going to piss his pants the moment he encounters a monster,” Vanessa snapped angrily.

Ryder looked at her and went on calmly. “Careful, Ms. Chase. One must never insult a guest. Surely, I have taught you better.”

She stole away her eyes and lowered her gaze. “I am sorry.”

Pulling out a small knife from inside his coat’s hidden pocket, Ryder handed it to Vanessa, “Ms. Chase, you know what to do.”

Vanessa clutched the knife and gripping it firmly in her left hand, turned towards the cage. In the blink of an eye she sliced off the ghoul’s left paw with the weapon. The monster screamed in pain as black blood dripped from its severed wrist. Immediately the young butler standing beside the cage threw a raw lamb’s leg into the cage. The ghoul quickly pounced on the meat, ignoring its wounded arm and began chewing on the flesh. David was surprised to see that the monster’s paw started regenerating. By the time it was done devouring the entire leg, the ghoul’s whole left paw had grown back.

“Ghouls have an active regenerating ability. Consuming any kind of flesh heals their injuries, no matter how severe. You can slice off all their limbs but give them a pound of flesh and their limbs will grow back in minutes.” Ryder now turned to David and motioned him to come up to the cage.

Overcoming the initial jitters, he rose from his seat and made his way to where they were standing.

“Now, let’s move on to the next part of the demonstration.” Following Ryder’s words, Vanessa took out a silver dagger from her leather sheath. She was about to attack the ghoul, when the old man caught hold of her arm. “I think we should give Mr. David a chance.”

Vanessa handed the silver dagger to David, with a look of contempt.

“Go on, Mr. David, give it a try,” Ryder urged. But David felt nauseous at the very thought of slicing the ghoul’s limb and watching its black blood drip on the ground. The old man looked at him sternly and guided his arm near the cage before gently letting go. “It seems like you have never actually fired a single bullet at a live target. I thought you always wanted to prove how capable an officer you were. But I see now, you truly were more suited for a safe desk job.”

Ryder had touched David’s sore spot. He hated it when anyone reminded him of his desk job and how he wasn’t suited to field work. All he had ever wanted to do was to fight crime on the streets and keep the city safe. David scowled and screwed up his courage. And then, with a quick and clean s***h, chopped off the ghoul’s left paw once more. Just as before, the butler threw in another piece of meat into the cage. The ghoul gobbled it up in seconds. This time however, the bleeding did not stop and the paw did not grow back. The ghoul kept shrieking in pain, rattling the cage with its other arm.

“Its arm is not healing,” David remarked.

“An astute observation,” Ryder replied. “Do you know what made the difference, this time?”

“I used a different weapon.”

“Splendid! Your academic record didn’t lie after all. You see, Mr. David, silver is lethal to most monsters. It burns their flesh, interferes with their regenerative abilities and causes fatal damage to them. And that is why, when dealing with such creatures, you must always use a silver weapon. That would be all for today.”

As soon as Ryder had finished speaking, Vanessa pulled out her second silver dagger and plunged it into the ghoul’s head, finishing it off.

With the first lesson at an end, Ryder turned to go, when his path was blocked by a burly looking man in his late fifties.

“Master, I tried to stop him, but he barged inside!” Marianne cried, bursting into the room, chasing after the intruder.

Ryder raised his left arm and told her to stop. “It’s fine. Get back to your work.” He then turned his eyes towards the new visitor.

The visitor was panting for breath and sweaty all over. Even in the cold, all he had on was a loose black t-shirt, frayed at the edges and a pair of black trousers caked with mud. His cheap second hand boots were soaked in brown sludge which he had smeared all along his path. He folded his arms together and begged Ryder, “I did as you asked, sir. I...kept me eyes glued to the graveyard. And I saw terrible demons rise from the graves! I thought them demons were gonna tear me to pieces.”

“I assure you, they wouldn’t have attacked you. Not with that silver chain around your neck. In any case, you have done us a great service.” Motioning towards his young butler, he added, “James will see that you are adequately compensated for your troubles. Please follow him outside. Thank you.”

“Who was that? What had you asked him to do?” asked David.

Instead of answering his questions, Ryder turned to Vanessa. “Ms. Chase, I believe this is a job for you. And take Mr. David along.”

Vanessa looked surprised at his suggestion. “But he hasn’t even been trained yet,” she protested.

“Ah, there is no better training than field work. And I am sure he can handle himself. After all, he used to be a cop.” He looked at David and smiled with satisfaction. “You will find your weapons on the table outside. Good luck, Mr. David.”