The Memory Garden

Chapter 8 by Carl McPherson 

           
Jericho closed his eyes and tucked his head in as his body crashed through the front window.  It seemed to take forever for him to land and he tried not to brace himself against the impact, but go with the flow.  The air rushed out of his body as he hit the ground and bounced once before slamming against the wall of another building.  It didn’t take long for the pain to fill the emptiness that the air had left.   

            He slowly opened his eyes trying to see through the haze of pain brought on by several broken ribs.  He saw the two demons exit the bar, one of them stepped out the window that he’d been thrown through and the other used the door.            “Get up you little meat bag.”  One of the demons’ said. 
Jericho wasn’t to sure which one it was as these particular demons all looked the same.  He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position and could already breathe easier and with less pain as his bones started knitting together and the hole in his lung closed.            “We want our money back.  You stole it.”  The other demon said. 
Jericho lowered his head and laughed.            “What’s so funny meat bag?”  The first demon asked.            “First off, I am a professional.  If I were to steal from you, you wouldn’t know it until I was long gone and second I would steal more than a few coins.”            “You are a thief.”  The second demon stated.            “My aren’t you a real genius?  I just said that.”  This seemed to confuse the second demon.
Jericho was starting to get up when the first demon picked him up and slammed him against the wall. 
Jericho stifled a scream as several more ribs broke near his spine.            “I don’t care if it was you are not, someone took our money and you are going to pay for it,
Jericho.”  The first demon said.            “Oh, so you do know who I am.  Well now I know who wears the brains in your relationship.”  The demon took a swing at
Jericho, but he ducked it, and was promptly shoved back into the wall by the second demon.            “We know all about you.  Jericho Kane, the great thief.”  “Do you still have your little power ring?”  The first demon asked.              “Can you make silly things with it and try to hurt us like that guy, Pink Lantern?”  The second demon asked and then started to chuckle at his little joke.            “Okay, you rejects from a Disney movie, if you are going to compare me to a fictional comic book character, at least get the character right.” 
Jericho said standing away from the wall.  “So let’s get down to business, dumb and dumber, or should I call you Pain and Panic?”  This seemed to confuse both of the demons. While the demons were trying to figure out what
Jericho was talking about, he took a swing at the first demon with his left hand.  It was promptly caught.              “See we aren’t that stupid.”  Pain, the first demon said, as he started to squeeze his fist tighter. 
Jericho heard the bones in his hand cracking before he felt the pain.            “To answer your question,”
Jericho said through the pain, “Yes, I am going to hurt you with my ‘power ring’.”  Both demons looked at each other puzzled.  It didn’t take long for Pain’s hand to start heating up and go from blue to red and began burning.  Pain screamed and let go of
Jericho.             “Thanks honey.” 
Jericho said and kissed the ring.  The stench of burnt flesh permeated the air.  Panic, the second demon, went to the aid of his friend.  Once it seemed that the other demon would survive, he turned his attention to
Jericho. 
Jericho was nowhere to be seen.            “Where did you go? Are you a coward?”  Panic asked.              “Nope, just playing it smart.” 
Jericho said.  Panic turned trying to find where the voice came from.            “Can’t catch what you can’t see, can you?” 
Jericho’s voice asked.  Panic started swinging at the air wildly.              “Missed… Missed again.” 
Jericho taunted.  Panic swung faster and harder trying to hit the hidden human.  He wasn’t paying attention to where he was swinging and ended up connecting with the back of Pain’s head at full force, knocking the other demon against the wall and rendering him unconscious.  It took a few seconds to realize what he had done, at first thinking that he had gotten the human.            “Nice shot.” 
Jericho said as he materialized behind Panic.  As the demon turned to face the human,
Jericho swung a large sledgehammer and connected with the demon’s skull.  Panic stood there stunned by the hit, but didn’t go down. 
Jericho swung again and this time hit the demon in the side of the head.  Blood and fangs flew from the demon’s mouth as it staggered away, but kept on its feet.            “The dumber they are, the harder they fall.” 
Jericho said as he took another shot at the demon.  This one connected with the back of the demon’s head and shattered the head of the sledgehammer.  Panic still stood.            “What does it take for these things to go down?” 
Jericho asked himself as he walked around the face the demon.  Panic tottered and his eyes has had rolled up into his head. 
Jericho took the handle of the sledgehammer and pushed the demon over.  Panic hit the ground hard.            “I hate demons.”  He said. He looked around at the crowd that had gathered and figured that the local constabulary would be along shortly.  He pushed his way into the crowd, the opposite way he figured that the authorities would arrive and quickly disappeared into the night. 

           
Jericho materialized several blocks from home and walked confidently down the street.  His mind was wandering and he didn’t notice the large bodyguard standing outside a floating door that wasn’t there a short time before.            “
Jericho.”  The bodyguard said.  The sound of his name brought him back to reality.  He turned to face the bodyguard and sighed.              “Hey, Bruno.”  He said as he walked toward the bodyguard.  “I see you are still working for Zuul.  You could do better than him you know.”  The lesser demon just shrugged his shoulders and turned the knob on the floating door and pushed it open.  “He is anxious to see you.”  Bruno said. With resignation,
Jericho walked through the floating door and into another realm.  Instantly he stood in a large audience room filled with lesser demons.  Directly in front of him was a large throne made of human and demon skulls.  Upon the throne sat Zuul, one of the many demon lords.            “What the fuck do you want Zuul?” 
Jericho asked, as he got closer to the throne.            “Is that anyway to treat a friend?”  Zuul asked.            “Friend? Who the fuck ever said that you were a friend?  A deceiver and a murderer, yes but NEVER a friend.” 
Jericho tried not to let him anger get the best of him, especially in here.            “Are you still a little bitter about our last business deal?”  Zuul taunted.  “I figured that you would have gotten over that by now.”            “Bitter? You son of a bitch…”
Jericho tried to rush the throne, but was stopped by two large guards that grabbed him and held him in place.  “You killed my family, and you think that would be something that I would just get over?” 
Jericho’s rage was running rampant and if he could have loosed it on the demon lord, he would have in a heartbeat.            “You screwed me, so you had to be taught a lesson.  It is not my fault that your wife and daughter got home that night before you did.”  Zuul stated as a matter of fact.  Zuul got off the throne and walked down to
Jericho.  “And your little ring was able to save your wife anyways.”  He grabbed
Jericho’s left arm by the wrist and drew it to him to get a better look at the ring. 
Jericho felt all his rage drain out of himself and into Zuul.  “Where did you get a hold of a Soul Collector’s ring?”            “It was my father’s ring.  He was a Soul Collector.  When he gave it to me as a wedding ring, he didn’t tell me what it really was.” 
Jericho said.            “Well imagine to my surprise when I found out the your wife’s soul never made to heaven or hell.”  Zuul said.  “But that is neither here nor there.  I have a job for you to do.”            What in hell makes you think that I would ever work for you again?” 
Jericho asked.            “Besides the fact that I am the one that gave you your powers, I have something that might interest you.”  Zuul let go of
Jericho and held his hand palm up and whispered a few words.  A small cube materialized in his hand.            “So what, it is a box.” 
Jericho said.            “My aren’t we impatient, watch and see.”  With that said the contents of the box started to swirl and a face of a small girl appeared.  The girl appeared to be scared and was calling out someone’s name.            “Celeste.” 
Jericho called out as if the little girl could hear his voice.  “You bastard, how did you get her soul?”              “I had some associates catch it before it got to heaven and have been saving it for a rainy day.”  Zuul said. 
Jericho could feel the rage building once again.  “You do this job for me and your daughter’s soul is yours to do with as you please.”            “How do I know that you will keep your word?” 
Jericho asked, trying to keep the anger in check.            “You don’t.  But are you willing to risk your daughter’s soul by not taking this assignment?” 
Jericho lowered his head.  “Good, now you will find all the information you need on the person in question.  A lesser demon appeared and handed
Jericho, who had just been let go by the two bodyguards a file folder.            “So you sent those two idiots after me didn’t you?”            “Yes, I wanted to see if you were still at the top of your game and up to the challenge.”  Zuul said.            “Tell me about her.” 
Jericho said as he flipped through the file ignoring the comment.            “Her name is Clemancy Forrester and she works for the Ministry of Ill Begots, it is a subdivision of the Ministry of Belongings.”  Zuul explained.            “I know what it is, I have been there a few time before.” 
Jericho said.  “What do you want with her?”            “An associate wants her, but his reasons are not of your concern.  Know that he wants her alive and unharmed.”            “So, am I just finding her and bringing her to you or what?” 
Jericho asked as he saw something that caught his attention in the file.            “No, she is or will be traveling with a small group of people.  You are to join this group and keep a watchful eye on her and keep her safe until my associate is ready for her to be extracted from the group.”            “Tell me about the group.” He asked as the file disappeared into his trench coat.            “There are two other members at this time, one of the is a half demon.”  Zuul stated.            “And the other?”            “That you will have to find out for yourself.  Surely there will be more that join the group.  They are on a journey to find something that is believed to be lost, what that is, isn’t a concern of yours as you shouldn’t be with the group for that long.”            “So, how do you expect me to get myself into this little band of merry men?” 
Jericho asked.            “That I will leave up to you.”            “You know Zuul, sometimes you are as useless as tits on a bull.” 
Jericho said.  Zuul just smiled at him.            “When this is done, you and me are going to settle things.  I will have my daughter’s soul back and things will be done between us.”  Jericho said, and before Zuul had a chance to respond,
Jericho turned and walked towards the floating door. 

            Once the floating door closed and disappeared, Zuul tossed the box to the floor.  For a second it sat there, but then it shimmered and started to lose its shape.  Shapelessly it grew larger until it reformed into a female demon.            “He bought it.”  She said.            “Did you truly doubt me?”  Zuul asked.            “Why didn’t you use an illusion?”  The female demon asked ignoring Zuul’s question.            “Because I gave
Jericho his powers and one of them was to see through illusions.”            “Then how come he couldn’t see through mine?”  She asked.  Zuul sighed.            “Your illusion was created from your substance. Most illusions are tricks of the mind, nothing really there.”  The female demon looked at Zuul puzzled.  “Never mind.”  He sighed.            “Do you think he will succeed?”  The demon that handed
Jericho the file asked.            “It doesn’t really matter.  He is but a small pawn in the larger game.” 

            Shortly after leaving Zuul and the floating door behind,
Jericho entered his apartment and flopped down onto his couch.  It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.  A sleep that was restless and full of nightmares.