The First Demon Pillar

"Your brother told me this morning that you were coming." In the hallway paved with marble tiles, a sturdy-looking middle-aged Black woman blocked Anna’s path. "And I know what you intend to do, Anna."

"Good. Then let me… and my friend see my mother." Anna draped her trench coat over her arm and hugged the thin gray coat with both hands. She tilted her head, her short hair bobbing playfully. Anna stopped, supporting herself on one leg, looking as though she intended to have a proper talk with Dr. Hastings.

"I told him this wasn’t a good idea." Dr. Hastings glanced at Damon standing beside Anna. His eyes wandered, avoiding Dr. Hastings’ gaze. Anna glanced at her brother as well. "Oh? What did he say?"

"I told you, now isn’t a good time to contact your mother." Dr. Hastings was not angered by Anna’s rudeness or Damon’s evasiveness. "Your mother had a terrible night… that thing was tormenting her."

"And she’ll feel better after seeing me?" Anna made her distrust plainly clear. "We won’t know until we try, will we? You’ve let her down for twenty years. Maybe now there can be a fresh start!"

She did not like this person. Dr. Hastings was only an ordinary person and could do nothing; keeping Anna’s mother confined in a psychiatric hospital was already the greatest help she could provide. Anna disliked Dr. Hastings using psychology to probe her mother. Dr. Hastings knew her mother was possessed, and St. Teresa’s Psychiatric Hospital was funded by the Vatican. Anna believed Dr. Hastings merely wanted to use her mother as an exorcism sample—otherwise, she would not have suggested that Damon perform exorcisms in his spare time.

"I don’t know what you and your brother discussed." Dr. Hastings still did not get angry. "But your mother is my patient. I won’t allow you to see her alone, much less with this friend of unknown origin. If you go in, I’m coming too."

Anna sneered twice, her high heels striking the floor heavily. She stepped closer to Dr. Hastings. "You know that if I want to see her, you can’t stop me." Anna placed a hand on the doctor’s shoulder, uncomfortable with the rough fabric of her jacket’s shoulder pad. "Doctor."

"There are surveillance cameras everywhere. Do you really think making a scene won’t have consequences?"

Anna gave an exaggerated shrug. Dr. Hastings repeated what she had said before, clearly with no intention of yielding. "This is the only way." The doctor shook her head, ignoring Anna’s icy stare. "The only way."

"All right, Anna. Dr. Hastings is responsible. Mother is her patient." Damon tried to pull his sister away from Dr. Hastings, but his movement exposed Salomon, who had been hiding behind Anna. Faced with Dr. Hastings’ questioning look, Salomon rolled his eyes.

"God." He said, "I know I’m tall, and Anna’s tall too, so can’t I hide for a moment? Anna, do you really think I enjoy meeting strangers?"

"You were pretty enthusiastic when you came looking for me." Anna tilted her head teasingly.

Dr. Hastings gestured for Anna to explain, but Anna pretended not to notice and looked away, turning toward the window. She continued standing on one leg, looking utterly at ease, as though she did not take Dr. Hastings seriously at all.

"He’s a wizard. You should know we’re not professionals, but he has talent similar to mine…" Damon coughed twice, picking up the awkward conversation. After Damon gave Dr. Hastings a thorough explanation, the attending physician and director of St. Teresa’s Psychiatric Hospital finally nodded, half convinced.

"He’s going to see your mother too, Damon?" Dr. Hastings asked. Only after Damon gave an affirmative answer did she look Salomon over. "He will remain under my supervision," she said. "No exceptions."

"But I refuse to take responsibility for your safety." Salomon took Anna’s hand and spoke to the doctor. "Helping ordinary people involved in magical incidents is my duty, but I can’t stop someone who deliberately walks into danger. Good luck, Doctor. Anna, tell me where your mother is. You can sense that demon."

"Well, well, well. How wonderful." When Salomon entered the ward with the others, they discovered that the white-haired woman, who had previously only sat blankly on the iron bed, suddenly turned her head. Like an owl that had found the trail of a mouse, she twisted her neck to an angle nearly impossible for a human.

"My daughter, my son, and you, Solomon, kin-slayer, Lord of the Temple." Anna and Damon’s mother stared at Salomon with nearly glowing eyes. Until he stood before her, her head followed every step of the Arcanist. Damon and Dr. Hastings were somewhat curious. Before this, that thing’s attention had always been fixed on Damon, and the demon had always used its cold tone to ravage Damon’s mind—but this time, the demon paid no attention to Damon or Anna. Its focus rested entirely on the newly arrived wizard.

"So my daughter brought you here." The demon spoke in the old woman’s hoarse voice. "Is she your new lover? Ah, forgive me, I forgot. You have more than one lover. Are you satisfied with my daughter, Lord of the Temple?"

"We’re not that familiar, Marduk." Salomon’s voice was cold enough to make one shiver. This should have merely been the beginning of a hostile exchange, but Salomon felt that his words had somehow interrupted what Marduk had intended to say next.

"Not that familiar?" The old woman lowered her head. "In the past, I was called a god," the demon said. "Not only could I make crops flourish, I could influence the sun. I governed thunderstorms, war, and magic. In the Esagila Temple, I sat in the seat of the chief god."

Then, all at once, the demon’s fury erupted.

"Not that familiar!" It suddenly sat upright on the bed, spreading its arms as visions of great floods and blazing suns surged behind it. Within the illusion of the flood was a giant serpent. The demon opened its mouth, its voice deafening and shrill. "Look at me, Solomon! I am Enki’s eldest son, born of Abzu, the incarnation of water! I am Babylon’s guardian god, the king who rules the East, the one who subdued Tiamat! My right hand is a great hammer, my left hand is lightning! I am Amar-Utuk, I am Mar-Duku, I am the King of Gods, lord of all lands! I am Jehovah’s greatest enemy!"

Dr. Hastings clenched her Rosary Beads. Damon and Anna had already covered their heads when Marduk spoke that declaration. Only Salomon looked at it without being affected, his expression unchanged—the voice of Dormammu was loud as well, and after more than a decade of training, this little magical disturbance could not affect him.

"I can give you a little hint, Solomon." The demon relaxed and smiled. "Seventeen years ago, when you were born, I tried to come to the Prime Material Plane to kill you. But your teacher stopped me. Do you know what she said? ‘When he is ready to accept his destiny, you shall obey him.’ Later, Belial gave the contract to you again, and only then did I learn that you truly were you, and that the contract truly worked. But Ancient One forgot something, and Belial forgot something too: I will no longer obey as I did two thousand years ago, Solomon!"

"Are you leaving on your own, or do I have to help you?" the Arcanist asked impatiently.

"Looks like you still haven’t remembered who I am. My King, I also signed a contract with the Umbra Witches. They are all of your bloodline, and all the sexual knowledge passed down through their clan originated with me. One final hint, Solomon. The Umbra Witches’ incantation for summoning me is:

Vomit power

EX FA."

"You are…" The Arcanist seemed to remember something, though he usually dismissed such things as absurd nonsense.

"That’s right! My King!" The demon bent slightly at the waist and looked at Salomon mockingly. "I am your loyal First Demon Pillar, Baal! Hahahahahaha!"

Baal had once been a Phoenician god, a symbol of Phoenician fertility culture. He was not only the Sun God but also a god of agriculture. After falling, he became one of King Solomon’s seventy-two Demon Pillars. Baal, as described as a demon, had three heads: a human’s, a cat’s, and a large green frog’s. His body was human—or perhaps spider-like—with a cat’s tail and claws and eight spider legs. He was exceptionally ugly, had a hoarse voice, could make people invisible, and was well versed in sex and law. In medieval Hell, he was a demon king commanding sixty thousand followers.

In demonology, Marduk was called Bel or Bali—that is, Baal, the First Demon Pillar.

They were actually the same being.