The Mute do Speak (The Fifth)

[John Milton]

Lips pursed against the thoughts of what he must do and what he wanted to do. What he wanted to do was go laze on a beach with an alcoholic beverage in one hand and a good book to his other. With lotion and bug spray soaked into his skin. Those eyes lifted to the building before him. The old bricks and windows some painted to block out the sun and fool those inside into thinking that it was neither late nor early. Sighing he would grumble against his own thoughts.

“Now we find ourselves wandering why the angels come in force. First we ask them to intercede in our lives and when they do so that we can actually see them we question... humanity is filled with hypocrites.” He shook his head slowly but still those styled locks remained to the top of his head. While the man often dressed as a man of the cloth, he only did so to ensure that those whom he was saving from the demons and possessions by the fallen would believe or want to believe that he was there for that purpose and not for the gain of wealth or popularity.

He reached the doors and drew them open just after knocking and hearing the soft reply that not many would be able to hear. “So you say she has been painting the windows black and every time you clean them she paints them again?” The parents of the child stood near the foyer between it and the living room.

His eyes roamed their bodies from the ground up. He could see their own demons their sin, the open doors for possession. Adjusting the collar he removed the scarf and showed he was dressed in a simple suit under his coat. “The Church said they were sending a priest.”
“No they said they were sending some one. I am that some one. So back to your daughter, does she draw on the walls or in a book?” At his question their faces became distorted with shock.
“We have scrubbed it over but they are there.”
“May I see it.”
“Of course, this way.” He was then lead to the back rooms where along the walls were works scrolled in Aramaic. He ran his fingers over them and smiled softly. “These are prayers... your daughter isn’t possessed by a demon... These are prayers to the angels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel...” He trailed off as he met the door post. “I think youd daughter knows something. Does she speak?”
“Our daughter sir is silent she was born deaf.”
“She signs then?” He saw their blank stares and then questioned “Can I see her then?”

[~Autumn Walker~]

Autumn was dressed for work. Mainly because she was working,. She ha received the call to check out a possible possession, supposedly The Vatican had sent someone, a man named John Milton. She had never met him, though sources said he was newly recruited to handle the recent rise in demonic possession, Autumn didn’t ask many questions, though she did like to know who she was working with and would make a note to check out his credentials later. Knocking on the door, she patted down her white blouse, straightening herself out after the hectic tube journey there. She had her black suit jacket on, matched with black suit pants hanging over her three inch heels. She knocked again and waited. The door opened and Autumn smiled,

“My name is Autumn Walker, I am here on behalf of the Vatican, I believe my colleague is already here..” They gestured for her to enter and Autumn stepped into the home and scanned for her supposed Colleague. Seeing him she cast a gentle eye over him, his aura was normal, no hint of anything out of the ordinary. Why would there be?
“John Milton?”

[John Milton]

John was standing, his eyes upon a wall with several lines of script when there was a second knock upon the door. The woman left to answer it and when she did she returned with another not quite normal human at least to John she wasn’t. Slowly he turned to gave the younger woman his full attention. “Yes that is me... And Angels need no introductions.”

With a bow of his head he then also lowered at his waist. The bow was low enough to show his respects before he began speaking. “I do not think this possession demonic. I think this is more on the angelical side of the playing field. A messenger of god... I have only seen one before. The host doesn’t even realize what is happening.” Once again he lifted his eyes to Autumn’s and smiled softly. “I still think we should see the girl... What does the angel say?”

[~Autumn Walker~]

Autumn lowered her eyes as a small blush rose across her cheeks at the sentiment of being called an angel. She shrugged it off and looked across the walls, "Ancient arabic...the dialect is..." Autumn moved forward and scanned over the area, "..wait...it moves..there..from the first passage down it turns to Late Old Western Aramaic....some Greek here...and there is latin..."

Autumn turned to the parents, "Is your daughter trained, educated in these languages?" They simply shook their heads at her and Autumn turned her attention back to the wall.

"I am not fluent in the languages, but i can call for some one who is...Unless of course you are fluent in the several different dialects?" Autumn frowned when John mentioned the girl may of been possessed by an Angel, "Unlikely, more like a vengeful spirit, these texts..here...though i can not decipher them, from the angle and structure of the way they were written on the wall, this is the work of some one who if frustrated, angry, and disorganized....a very human way of writing...a true possession, of angelic type would hold a clear pattern of reason..."

[John Milton]

“My lady autumn when you have been alive as long as I you pick up a couple books and learn things that others have long forgotten. These are scriptures. Quoted word for word. The child is not much older than nine and she must have been standing on something to write some of these. One of them… I do know very well and have seen it before in the depths of the Vatican. A child got lost and wrote the same thing along the walls near a cell that housed an angel.” He chuckled “I would be angry and frustrated too if someone kept cleaning my painted windows.”

His finger tapped the wall where it was scrolled in Latin “Leave the painted glass for the demons do see, they will enter my sanctuary.” He again sighed. “She has a message maybe you should get your… language man. I can see him coming in handy. I don’t like talking to people possessed by vengeful spirits... and seeing that this isn’t something that I can chase out it isn’t going to like me very much.”

Speaking of little girl she skipped down the stairs as though nothing was going on. In her hand were two dolls both of them dressed in white much like her clothing. The poor child walked right past them and to the wall where she had written and put her dolls down on a chair near by. The girl was not tall. Her long golden curls bounced around her shoulders as she lifted a marker into her right hand. Her mother added softly. "She is usually left handed."

[~Autumn Walker~]

Autumn gave a nod as John spoke, taking note of the small child coming toward them. She opened her mind, lowered her walls and tried to sense what was with in the child. There was power, a hint of warmth from her aura. Not a spirit then, Dammit, Autumn hated being wrong. A possession from angels were rare, maybe a holy man, a spirit after all,

"Are we sure this is the work of an angel possession, could be that of a Holy man, a religious spirit come back with a message..." Autumn whispered the words, out of ear shot of the parents. She then pulled back and opened up her cell phone, dialing Archer rayne, her glorified walking, talking encyclopedia,

"Archer, It's Autumn, when you get this message i need you to come down to the house...the recent case...need you to decipher something for me.."

[Archer Rayne]

Archer had been in the lab, checking the results of the tests on some 'demon saliva' that one of the agents had brought in. His mobile had no signal in this part of the building, so it wasn't until he got back to his quarter that he realized he had received a message.

As he listened to Autumn's voice, his features twisted into a face of disdain. "She could have taken a picture and sent it to me..." he muttered. Going into the field was not something he liked to do. He already had goosebumps from the nervousness. But Autumn needed him, and he would go, because it was his job. He just wasn't enthused with the idea. Especially, now that he remembered, when it had to do with a potential possession.

Sighing, he looked for the address and then went around the room, picking up things he might need. Once he had everything, he double checked it all, and then finally left his area to head to the elevators.

Once on ground floor, he nodded to the guard at the front desk, silently informing him that he would return soon. At least, so he hoped. Passing through the double doors to the street, he picked up the pace and made a beeline for his moped. Throwing a leg over the seat, he kick-started it and unlocked the chain attaching it to a telephone pole. Deciding not to put on his helmet, he sped off onto the street, heading for the residential area.

It didn't take him very long. Mopeds were good for dodging traffic. He parked it on the curb in front of the house, and pulled out his mobile. He sent Autumn a quick text message, letting her know he'd arrived. He proceeded to walk up the path to the front door, lifting his hand to knock three times.

[John Milton]

John shook his head and leaned close to Autumn. “I am not sure but I won’t be able to tell it to leave, it isn’t bad. So it won’t get the hebejebes off my aura when I use my gifts. And it doesn’t seem to be hurting the girl.” With a shrug of his shoulders he stepped close to the windows inspecting the paint. And the words scrolled along the window panes.

“My, my, my...” He was about to call for Autumn to come see but she was on the phone. With a yawn and a grumble he moved back to the girl and where she was writing. Scratching his head he lowered to her level where he began having a conversation.

“Hey my name is John.” To his words he signed the girl stopped writing for the time being and returned the signing. Their little signing game would continue with him asking her questions and her replying to them. John would be found sitting cross legged and signing with the girl. Or playing hand clapping games as though he was not more than a child interacting with another. What Autumn would notice though were the girls parents standing very still almost rigid watching the man and their daughter.

Through her eyes she would see a solitary lesser demon standing between them and around all three a circle drawn with water. Sitting next to John’s foot was that of a flask with the top open. And yet he and the child played as though nothing was going on.

[~Autumn Walker~]

Autumn got off the phone and turned to see something out of the corner of her eye. She opened her mind and there, between the parents was a lesser leveled demon. The parents seemed rigid and it was the her eyes fell to the floor, the water and then to John and the small girl. Well, this Milton character was certainly impressive. The parents has their own personal demon whispering ideals and thoughts into their fractured psyche.

Autumn turned her attention to the parents, pushing her attention solely to the demon, a small smile crossing her face.

"Well..well..well..." She smiled, "What am i going to do with you..." her attention drifted to her phone as she received the text message from Archer and moved to open the door.

"Archer, please come in, that's John Milton, the Vatican sent him...the parents...the child..." Autumn walked further into the room, "The lesser demon..." She smiled and winked at Archer knowing he found these situations nerve wracking enough.