“No,” Linda said. “No, I need to understand what happened, get a full recap of what’s gone down since I’ve been unconscious. If there’s a doctor or nurse here, we can’t talk freely.”
“Fonsi and I have been trying to put two and two together,” Maxine said, glancing over at the door to the room. “I’ve been in contact with Elton. I spoke to him briefly, and we’ve been texting back and forth. They’ve arrested Rayo—for what, I’m not sure. Even Elton had to agree that it wasn’t a coincidence you had a car crash just blocks away from where Rayo lives. That something is off.” Maxine paused and took a deep breath. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her torso. Her tell when she was overwhelmed. “Multiple residents in Georgetown said they spotted some sort of shadowy thing flitting overhead. Apparently, members of the community haven’t really experienced demon eyes on a significant level despite all the hysteria, so it’s freaking them out. A couple of people even reported seeing the blasted thing attack your car. Reportsare all over the news, as you can imagine, but nothing was captured on video. Everything happened too fast.”
“That entity that came after you, I think I know what it is,” Fonsi said. “It’s why I called you last night, Linda. I believe you encountered a dorlis.”
His voice became serious, grave. The tone he took when he was dropping dangerous knowledge about the supernatural, she suspected. “It’s a type of spirit that most prominently appeared in the Caribbean in the nineteenth century, has popped up here and there over the years but then faded into obscurity. The Guardianes, via El Gran Libro”—he gestured over to his knapsack—“they’ve kept a record of the entity’s manifestations.”
“So wearedealing with a spirit, then?” Linda asked as she tried to ignore how her body ached.
“Yes, but not a standard ghost. It’s a type of entity that’s more along the lines of what Europeans call a succubus. A dorlis’s primary objectives are to feast on human desire, on the experiences that make people happy, that they find pleasurable, which is why so many of the Afflicted have been losing their memory. The more a dorlis feasts, the longer it feasts… whether it’s via one victim or many, the more it increases its power so that in can manifest in the human world.
“I’ve been going over passages in El Gran Libro nonstop,” he continued, “reaching out to elder Guardianes just to make sure I’m not crazy. According to our lore, a dorlis will do everything it can to manifest, to exist on the earthly plane that it’s been denied. Remember what we discussed after we visited Pastor Samuelson’s home? The dorlis is a type of degraded spirit. That shadow thing that attacked you, I believe it’s a dorlis that was able to manifest as the result of feasting on its victims.”
“So the dorlis… it’s clearly connected to Rayo, right?” Linda asked. She already knew the answer.
Fonsi nodded. His face, enveloped by sadness. “I… I think so.” He pulled out his phone to show the first image of the amulet Linda had sent to him. “What we found in Pastor Samuelson’s home, I’m pretty sure that it’s an interface for the dorlis. That the spirit has been using the amulet to feast on its victims. And Rayo is the primary interface.”
“I’m not sure… I don’t understand.”
“Right,” Maxine said. “Fonsi’s been explaining things to me while we were sitting here, before you woke up.” She spoke slowly. “The amulet you discovered in Pastor Samuelson’s place, it’s a replica of the original amulet that Rayo’s been wearing. The purpose of such replicas is to allow the… this dorlis to have access to as many people as possible, to draw power into the primary interface possessed by Rayo. Think of it like a circuit.” She looked to Fonsi. “Am I getting it right?”
“You sure are,” he said. “Eons ago, one of the dorlis realized that it wasn’t effective to rely on one enchanted amulet in which to siphon energy from its victims. It could feast on its victim’s dreams and desires, the things that make someone happy, yes, but it could never siphon enough juice to fully manifest in the human realm, which is its ultimate goal. The creature deduced that replicas linked to the original amulet could be effective in drawing the energy it needs to materialize. It’s a case of one entity figuring out how to feast on the souls of many by creating permanent links to its victims.”
“Fonsi, the amulets—when you say the dorlis feasts on desire, what exactly does that mean?” Maxine asked. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around that.”
“The dorlis is an entity that’s only interested in desire, to feed itself,” he responded. “It will seek out those who are yearning for something, needing change. Or maybe those enraptured by deep, passionate love. It takes these things, these emotions and experiences that aresoregular, so human, and feasts on them for its own twisted ends. The red eyes that we’ve seenamong the Afflicted, the overheating, the blistering skin… external signs of the dorlis’s presence. There are plenty of people who’ve probably had exposure to the interfaces but haven’t succumbed to the entity’s feasting. If there’s nothing for the spirit to devour, like maybe someone’s in an emotionally numb place… no matter how often they’ve been in contact with the amulet replicas, I don’t think there’s much chance of them becoming Afflicted.”
Linda let all of the new intel float in her brain…crazyintel… as she became increasingly horrified over what the Afflicted were enduring. She tried her best to recall what she’d learned before she lost consciousness. About the amulet Rayo wore around his neck. “Okay, so what you’ve explained about the amulets, that would mean… that would mean that Rayo possesses the original, right? That’s what he’s been wearing. He’s in cahoots with the dorlis.”
“I think so. Practically, a dorlis always needs some sort of human ally in order to succeed in its plans for manifestation. All Rayo would’ve needed to do was create replicas of the original amulet and then figure out a way to distribute them.”
“Which he’s been doing with his special gatherings after the Equinox, ostensibly meant to share knowledge about so-called mystical worlds out there,” Linda said. “That’s what I discovered when I was scoping his place out.”
“I’m pretty sure the gatherings he’s been holding have been a ruse,” Fonsi said. “Rayo doesn’t care about informing folks about how we can safeguard ourselves against ghosts or have a better understanding of spirit realms. I say his primary goal has been to distribute as many copies of the amulet as possible, to give the dorlis as many opportunities as possible to manifest. I just don’t know how he got in contact with a dorlis in the first place.”
“I think I know,” Linda said. “I did a search on everything connectedto Rayo over the past few months. He was in New York City at the exact time of the Ghost Equinox. You said spirits were running amok, able to operate far more freely than normal. What if he was contacted by the dorlis? What if he’s possessed? Or fell under its influence in some way?”
Fonsi snapped his fingers. “Makes sense. According to El Gran Libro, a dorlis can make mystical promises that would speak to a human ally’s heart’s desire. A deal with the devil. If a human could make things happen with an amulet, the dorlis would grant his ally some type of elevated power or mystical ability.” Fonsi paused. “I don’t know Rayo, obviously, but who knows what his heart’s desires are. What he could’ve been seduced by.”
“Well, outside of figuring out what to do about Rayo, all of this madness is done. I destroyed the dorlis with my gift.” Linda felt a surge of relief, that her being so banged up was worth it. She’d done her job. Folks would be safe. “I willed that thing to be blown apart. It’s gone.”
“You blew it apart?” Maxine uttered with a scowl. “With your empathy? I didn’t know you could do that. You’ve never used your gift in that way.”
Fonsi’s face remained somber. “I’m sorry to say this, but it may not be so easy to destroy the entity. Not really. I could be wrong, but like I said, I’ve consulted with other Guardianes as well, including Estelle. A dorlis, once manifest, is notoriously difficult to destroy. It’s a creature of shadow, able to be both solid and ethereal. It can be blown apart temporarily, but it will continue to come back. Even destroying the amulets, presuming we could somehow find all of them… It’s too late. The dorlis has already feasted enough on its victims so that it can permanently manifest in the human realm.”
“So… that’s it, then?” Linda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You said that thing’s connection to its hosts are permanent. So it’s just… just going to exist now and feed on the Afflicted? Roam aroundand do whatever the fuck it wants? There’s gotta be something we can do.”
“I think the only thing to do is figure out a way to destroy the spirit itself, at its source, where it resides in El Intermedio. My cousin Gwendolyn might be able to pull it off with her gifts, as she can manipulate the very fabric of ghostly realms, but she’s overseas. I’ve called and texted her, told her there’s an emergency, but I haven’t heard back. Even if she dropped everything, it’ll take her a minute to get to DC. And keep in mind there’s really no way for us to find the dorlis at this point. As I mentioned, it’s essentially able to hide itself at will.”
“Which means this thing can continue to have its way with people,” Linda said. “The rest of the Afflicted… have any more died?”
“We don’t know,” Maxine said. “Elton’s keeping things close to the chest, but when I spoke to him… the way he sounded. I just have a feeling things are bad. I haven’t even shared with him what Fonsi figured out.”
“I… I didn’t know what to do,” Fonsi said. “I was just featured on the news, so I have press contacts now. But I thought just going on a show and spouting this sort of thing could induce mass panic. I wanted to get to you, get your advice on how to handle ASAP. But then when I’d heard you’d been hurt…”
“You did the right thing,” Linda said. “First and foremost, we have to get people away from the amulets. Tell them to dump them, throw them in the sea, burn ’em… whatever they need to do. And the message, ideally, needs to come from the cops or the feds.”
“On it. Sending a message to Elton now,” Maxine said.
