Daemons Are Forever

“Can you describe this thing they’re building?” said the Armourer.

“Not really. It’s big, maybe a hundred feet tall, and half as wide, some of it’s machinery and some of it isn’t, and it makes my head hurt just to look at it. There are hundreds of Loathly Ones here, swarming all over the bloody thing and adding bits to it.”

“Could be a weapon of some kind,” said the Armourer.

“No, really; you think so?” said Callan. “And here I was, thinking it was probably the centrepiece of a Loathly Ones theme park. Look, just get the hell down here, okay? This whole thing is creeping me out big-time. Bring reinforcements. And cold drinks.”

“Could this new structure be in any way co

“Damned if I know,” said Callan. “Nothing obvious, anyway.”

“The lines are thousands of years old,” said Pe

“There may be something in the old library,” said the Armourer.

“The location can’t be just a coincidence,” said the Sarjeant-at-Arms. “Callan, are you sure there isn’t any co

“Look, I’m just telling you what I see. And I am not getting any closer for a better look. The Loathly Ones have been attacking anyone or anything that shows up on the plain, and I like my soul where it is, thank you very much. If you want to know more about the lines, read your von Daniken.”

“Don’t say you read him too,” said Molly.

“Of course. He has a lot of good insights. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he was one of us.”

“Thank you, Callan,” I said quickly. “Keep an eye on things till we get there, and report any new activity.”

“Remember the cold drinks.”

I gestured for the communications people to shut down the display screen, and then I looked round at the rest of my I

“I don’t know about unprecedented,” the Armourer said thoughtfully. “I seem to recall something similar, back in my grandfather’s day…I’ll have to look it up in the family records.”

“They don’t normally take over anything bigger than a small town,” said Pe

“You mean it could be a trap?” said Molly.

“I don’t see how,” I said. “They’re right out in the open. And that thing they’re building worries me. No, we’ve found our first target. Taking out a major gathering of the Loathly Ones is the best way to a

“But we don’t know enough about the situation,” Pe

“The only way we’ll get more information is to go down there and kick the Loathly Ones around till they tell us what they’re doing,” said the Sarjeant.

“Exactly,” I said. “We need to move now, before they finish whatever it is they’re doing, and before they realise we know about it. So we take in a strike force, led by our new torcs, destroy as many of the Loathly Ones as possible, and tear down whatever we find there. I said we were going to war against the Loathly Ones, and this will be a great begi

“Don’t you want to check the names?” said Pe

“No,” I said. “I trust your judgement. Why, is there someone on the list you think I might object to?”

“Just the one,” said Molly. “Harry.”

“I’d have been surprised if he wasn’t on the list,” I said. “He’s an experienced field agent. And James’s son.”

“But you don’t trust him,” said Pe

“Of course not,” I said. “He’s James’s son.”

We held the great torc-giving ceremony in the Sanctity, celebrating the bestowing of fifty new torcs on deserving members of the family. The Sanctity was packed from wall to wall with excited family, standing shoulder to shoulder. More filled the corridor outside. We had to set up vid screens, all through the Hall, so everyone in the family could see. This was the start of a new era for the Droods, and I wanted everyone to feel a part of it. Even the Matriarch and her supporters were looking in, from her suite. I checked. Strange shed his beneficent light over all of us, and even broadcast some suitable music, complete with trumpets and fanfares in all the right places.

One by one they came forward and knelt before the crimson glow, the fifty, the chosen few, the new knights of the family, and out of nowhere silver torcs appeared around their necks. A great cheer went up for each of the fifty names, and the family applauded them all till everyone’s hands ached. There were smiles and tears everywhere, and much stamping of feet. There was a common feeling that these torcs were special, and these fifty men and women were special, because they had earned their torcs.

At the end, the I

“This is the start of a new day,” I said. “For the family, and for the world. No more sitting around waiting for threats, and then reacting to them. We’re going to take the fight to the enemy. And we’re going to start by bringing down the Loathly Ones! I shall lead a strike force against their new base of operations: fifty torced men and women, and two hundred volunteers, armed with all the very best toys the Armoury can supply. Salute these warriors! The Droods are going to war, and the Loathly Ones are going down! Mark this day, my family, my friends. It’s time to show the world that the Droods are back in town!”

Afterwards, Molly said to me, “Whoever told you that you know how to make a speech?”

“It’s a dirty job,” I said. “But someone’s got to do it.”

We flew down to South America in the family’s private fleet of Blackhawke aircraft. Great big black beasts of the sky, smooth and sleek and driven by powerful engines we reverse engineered from an alien starship that crash-landed in a Wiltshire field in 1947. Five planes, carrying fifty men and women with their new torcs, two hundred heavily armed volunteers, myself and Molly, Janissary Jane and Mr. Stab, and Harry and Roger Morningstar. I could have done without that last addition, but Harry wouldn’t go without him. Molly and I were there because it was my plan, Janissary Jane because she’d trained these people and knew more about fighting demons than all the rest of us put together, and Mr. Stab because…well, basically because I wanted a vicious supernatural serial killer on my side, just in case anything went wrong.

And I wanted to keep him close, where I could keep a watchful eye on him.

Mr. Stab hadn’t joined the rest of us in the Sanctity for the bestowing of the torcs, but then I hadn’t expected him to. He wasn’t what you’d call a social animal. So afterwards I sent Pe