Azail

Preal Kent, is the guys name. The one we rescued from the Panopticon. He says he doesn't remember anything about the Fears. Which means that the mind linking gizmo they use works. I've told him about the Fears, but he didn't believe me at first. Not until the magic dead guy phased through our hotel wall to check on us. Seriously, Marshall? You can't give us a bit of a heads up that you're dropping by?
So, yeah. Preal believes us now. He's also agreed to stick with us, at least until he figures out what to do from here. I think he might have been a runner. And Marshall has informed us that Isiore is still alive. I'm not sure how he knows that, but he didn't say anything else on the matter. At least Keursio found it reassuring.
Anyway, we left Tennessee to check out Bill Dawson and Angelo Nox's base. We were standing outside when a guy a few years older then me approached us.
“They aren't there,” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“Angelo and William,” he said. “They moved. They knew you were on to them, Tony. So they saw fit to relocate.”
“How do you know my name?” I asked.
“Been reading the blog,” he said, smiling. “Duh.”
“And how do you know that they moved?”
“I've been looking into them too,” he said.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Someone you can Trust,” he said.
Something about the way he said that made me think of “Trust” being capitalized. Anyway, I guess he was trustworthy. Or, at least nonthreatening. I don't know, but he didn't seem like one of the bad guys.
“What's your name?” I asked.
He chuckled a bit.
“You can call me AJ,” he said.
“All right, AJ,” I said. “Where'd they go?”
“The breadcrumbs shouldn't be hard for you to follow,” he said.
“What about their backer?” I asked. “Do you know where I can find him?”
“Well, no,” AJ said. “But I know how you can track him.”
“How?” I asked.
“Well, he's funding those guys, and probably several others,” AJ said. “He must be getting the money from somewhere, right?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“And where is he getting it?” AJ asked.
“Either he's already rich, or has a very high paying job,” I said.
“Or?” AJ pressed.
I thought for a second before realizing where AJ was going with this.
“I need to look into disappearances,” I said. “Robberies. If there's anything in the news about stolen money, then he might be involved.”
“Bingo,” AJ said. “Listen, I gotta go, but here's something else that might help.”
He handed me a large book, wrapped in tissue paper.
“Ta-ta,” he said, turning to leaving.
As he walked away, I opened the tissue paper carefully. It contained a large, demonic text. I've been looking into demonology a bit, but haven't found anything useful. But seeing that book, I just knew I was holding the answers I needed in the palm of my hand. That guy, AJ, was extremely helpful.
I got back to our current hotel and started pouring over the text. I've been reading it for about three days now. I haven't read all of it. Far from it. But I've read everything about Azail The enabler.
Of the ten Daemon lords, he's the only one who doesn't keep servants. As his name suggests, he embodies the sin of enabling. While conventional demonology only uses 7 sins, this one lists ten. Azail is known to allow those around him to spread wanton destruction and war as they please, despite the fact that he could easily stop them. He even forges the weapons they use to do so. He is one of the oldest of the Daemon lords. While most Daemons are monstrous, and wage war for no other reason then their own enjoyment, Azail seems to show little interest in violence. That's not to say he isn' dangerous. As a Lord, he is exceptionally powerful, and could level armies of other Daemons if he chose to. He's just less active then the other Lords, apparently.
The book also has instructions on how to summon Daemons. It even has a list of precautions to keep them contained. However, there is a warning. The book says never, under any circumstances, should a mortal attempt to summon one of the Lords.
Reading that warning, I thought of Daniel. I thought of what he would do in this situation. I can't say for sure what he would do. He's not always predictable. But I can guess. Daniel would ignore the rules. He would stare death in the face, without backing down. He would stand up to an enemy he stands no chance against. He would draw he sword, and announce that he's not afraid. And that's exactly what I plan to do.
I'm going to summon Azail.
God help me.


-Tony Helioson, signing out.