Riding with Demons

Vigilantism on a new light.

Riding with Demons

Written by

Steven Childress

            The world is a dark place and gives no quarter. The poor, the weak and the down trodden look for a brighter day after the darkness of death, a pearly gate beyond Death’s shroud where all will live free of the harness on their backs. This was the message preacher John Daniels spoke of on every Sabbath from his exalted pulpit, but even this preacher accepted he was a sinner and fell from grace every day. It was another Sabbath day and Preacher Daniels wasn’t putting on his suit; instead he was putting on his colors. A worn leather vest, wore the top and bottom rocker of a local M.C. a motorcycle club. The Apothic Riders were this preacher’s brothers, and these brothers could have been a modern day James gang.

            Preacher Daniels put on his leather vest and the weight of the patches on his back reminded him of the weights we all carry “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” John muttered as he opened his door and left the comfort and safety of his home. John straddled his Harley and with rumbling thunder it roared to life. John loved the sound of his iron horse, a Harley Davidson soft tail painted in black with two gothic crosses on the sides of the tear drop gas tank. John put his bike into gear and blasted out onto the street with sounds of thunder in his wake. He rode for hours down the highway; the cool night air rushed past him as thoughts and dreams mingled in his troubled mind. He came upon a couple of his brothers in the M.C. and they assumed a half diamond formation and rode silent of voice.

            These brothers of the Apothic Riders were on a dark mission, a journey for justice in the eyes of the club, an eye for an eye journey for justice as the preacher had said at the club table. The three M.C. brothers rode in tight formation for many miles. The white lines flowed out before them guiding them.  . They never spoke; they just rode with the rumble of damnation singing its dark song atop the hot black asphalt. They took their exit, an exit leading them to luxury row. Sulfur was smelled in the air as if they were approaching the gates of hell itself.

            The bikes stopped outside of a plantation white two story mansion. The grass was a black sea under the night sky. The quieted rumble of the bikes was replaced with the trickle of a pond and fountain. The silhouetted fountain sat just before two large white columns before a gaudy red door. John walked point up to the door, and took a deep breath as he kicked it in. The door flung open and slammed against the wall as all three bikers stepped inside the upper crust home. John drew his Colt 1911 as did his brothers; the house was quiet and for a moment seemed empty. Steps echoed through the house as a tall man with dark hair dressed in his bathrobe bolted out from the kitchen. Upon seeing his unwelcomed guests, he tried to run down the hallway towards a set of white French doors leading to the backyard.

            The two men accompanying Preacher Daniels gave chase and tackled the man to the floor, and they drug him back into the main room of the home as Preacher Daniels shut the blinds on all the windows. John’s brothers brought the whining man to his knees on his shiny and freshly waxed hardwood floors. Preacher Daniel’s cohorts held the man down as John approached with a look of disgust on his scruffy face.

 “Judgment is upon you senator.” He voiced softly as he slid back the chamber on his black 1911.

 “You can’t do this…you are a man of God playing a devil.” The senator voiced in trembling fear as he looked into Preacher Daniels cold eyes.

John Daniels smirked as he slapped the senator with the barrel of his pistol “I simply ride with demons senator…even Christ rode with sinners.” John spoke calmly with sharp words off of his tongue. The senator started to sob as he feared his life of corruption and indulgence was at an end.

            John looked into the fearful eyes of the sobbing senator as he voiced grievances against the vile politician “You seek only greed, lies upon lies dance from your forked tongue, you work to enslave those you are a servant to, and children are precious in the eyes of the Lord.”

 The senator shook his head as tears rolled down his cheeks “No….no…I was absolved by the courts.” he protested.

John looked at his brothers and they all laughed together “The truly righteous man attains life, but he who pursues evil goes to his death.” John voiced with a harsh tone as he raised the pistol into firing position.

The senator sobbed harder and a pool gathered under him as he tried to beg for his life once more “Wait…wait…you are a man of God…judgment is for him alone….right?” the senator’s voice passed onto the air with trembling fear.

Preacher Daniels moved his finger and readied to throw the switch “Judgment is for him alone…I realized complacency and indifference are too common these days, and I realized my divine purpose in this dark world of corruption and sin…is to bring people like you to judgment.” Preacher Daniels paused as he added a bit more pressure on the kill switch “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Preacher Daniels voiced with dread confidence as he squeezed the trigger and sent another to the judgment of the Lord.