John Peters In the Land of Demons

By A.H Matai

John Peters was just a normal architecture student and skeptical of the supernatural. That is until his friend David disappears.

Obsessed with the metaphysical and the paranormal, David was attempting to contact Satan, before he vanished completely. Worried for the safety of their friend, John and his friend Kate attempt to unravel the mystery of David's disappearance.

Who has taken him? And why?

After finding a powerful tablet in an abandoned cemetery John and Kate decide to journey into another land - a unknown demon realm - to get David back.

Can they survive in this place of evil, confronting the worst monsters the universe has to offer? Can two witches really offer them the help they desperately need?

Follow this incredible fantasy adventure and find out if these three friends have the will to survive through hell and defeat the Devil Himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387454747

Book preview

John Peters In the Land of Demons

John Peters in the land of Demons

Copyright© 978-1-387-45474-7

2017 BY

John Peters is the first book of a series of epic fantasy novels written by A.H Matai

John Peters in the land of Demons

Chapter 1

Satan’s Party

The Aston University landscape was more beautiful in spring than any other time of the year. This day, at noon, the spring drizzle had created special effects, glistening on the green of the grass and new leaves on the trees.

The drizzle that made the grass glisten dampened the road leading to the university just enough so the wheels of the cars left tracks on the street. It was the end of classes and some of the students were chatting in the college yard, while others were still inside the university. Students, alone or in groups of two or more, were stepping down the wide stairs and their voices carried to the yard. Some birds, sitting on the flowers and grass, flew off when they heard the students approach. The rain gradually stopped, the clouds disappeared, and the sun found a chance to show herself off in the Birmingham sky. This created a stimulating landscape in the university yard.

The different fields and highly qualified teachers promoted the scientific level of the university. The university board at the entrance to the university was full of the conferences and special meetings, even some recreational meetings, that the variety of teachers produced.

Near this board, which was placed at the right side of the stairs, some students were speaking. It was clear that this discussion was not about a scientific meeting or discussion. The students’ laughter indicated this. One of the students held a picture up in his hand and some others, gathered around him, asked him to show them the picture.

Some people read something near the board and called, David, hurry up.

David was a senior student of psychology. He was tall and handsome, with long, blond hair and blue eyes. He wore glasses that sat comfortably on his long nose. His kindness made him attractive to many of the girls.

From the first year he entered the university most of the girls used different tricks to attract him, but David was always looking for the one girl he wanted.

Once his mother asked him, Why you don’t have a girlfriend?

He answered, Don’t you remember Sonia, who I made friends with in high school? I don’t have a relationship with anybody because I want to find somebody I really love. I want to find a girl to be cool, to be like me.  You don’t think I am homosexual, do you?

And when he saw his mother looking at him with anger, he was silent.

Sonia was a beautiful girl, like David was a handsome guy. Many guys wanted to be with Sonia.

Sometimes they invited her to dinner, the cinema, a party, and different places, and Sonia, unlike David who didn’t pay attention to other girls, accepted the invitations and it made David angry. Finally, at the end of the year he told Sonia that he couldn’t bear her any more. Sonia accepted this very easily.

Now, David told the students gathered around him, This is not a painting. Everybody might draw it, but wow, what a face!

One by one, he showed the photo to them. A few students looked at it, and each said something with wonder. One said, I have never seen such a thing.

And David Lorimer, as he pulled the picture from their hands, said, That’s enough.

Then he headed off down the stairs with long strides with some of the students following him. At the same time Mr. Murphy, the head of the university, called to him from the hall, David.

As students went around him, David returned and Mr. Murphy said, You’ll make problems for yourself. Don’t do this.

But David said with certainty, It’s okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Then he faced his friends and said, Whoever would like to, come to my house tonight at eight.

Kate came from behind as if she already knew the issue, approached him, and said without any preamble, I will come to see whether you’re right or not.

You won’t be disappointed. Don’t forget, bring John to laugh.

Didn’t you tell him yourself?

No, I think he didn’t come to university today.

Yesterday he was at his grandmother’s house. I’ll tell him myself and I’ll bring him.

Some students approached the exit door from the middle of the university yard. When they reached the university parking, the students separated and Kate and David went to David’s car.

Kate turned to David and said, I know if you take me home, it is out of your way. I can take a taxi.

Don’t be stupid. I can take you home.

Kate smiled and said, Thanks.

They arrived at a tree lined street near the university. Far away, at the horizon, it was raining and a beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky. David took Kate to her house.

As she was getting out he said, Don’t forget. Call John. Kate replied, Won’t you come in?

No, I have a lot of jobs to do.

Ok, see you later. 

David drove off quickly.

***

Kate’s house was big and luxurious, at Greystone Avenue. The lawn in front of the house was always well tended. Kate’s father, Roger Pendelton, was very interested in mowing and using lawn mowers, especially when he whistled and hummed his favorite songs. He was about fifty and had dark straight hair which was turning white at the temples. His face was very kind. He was tall, about six foot, and he was the manager of an advertising company. He loved his job.

Kate opened the door and entered the house. Her mother was cooking a cake in the kitchen. After saying hello to her mother, Kate went to her room and threw herself on her bed, which was covered by a turquoise satin counterpane decorated with violet flowers. She was very tired and tried to sleep.

Three hours later, when she got up, she changed her clothes and went to their small but very messy kitchen. Her mother had put many papers on the table and searched them carefully.

Tonight her father would come late, become he had a meeting for a contract with a cannery company.

Kate loved her mother’s food.

Her mother, Mary, was a part-time teacher at high school. She had chosen a part-time job since she was more interested in cooking and housekeeping. It did not mean that they needed more money, but Mary chose this job to fill her leisure time and feel more independent. Kate had cut some of the cake made by her mother and sat near Mary with two cups of tea.

Mary straightened her tight purple t-shirt, pulled back her recently colored copper hair, looked at her daughter and said, You look tired. Are you okay?

Kate put a slice of cake in her mouth and said with a mouth half full, I’m fine. Tonight I’m going to David’s house but first I will collect John.

Is it important? Honestly, I want to change the curtains. I think tonight is a good time to search the internet and find some curtain models. I want to know your and Rog’s ideas about the color. He said I can choose whatever I want, but I want your input.

Kate rested her chin on her hands and stared at Mary. She knew her mother was very fastidious at selecting her clothes or furniture for the house. She said, I don’t know. I think a blue or purple curtain is completely matched with our white wall. We should change these sofas, I think. If both of them were turquoise, it would be perfect. I know you like blue, but I think if we select blue curtains we should change the furniture. Their color should be white or blue. But our sofas are brown.

Don’t be silly. These are made of wood and if they were brown, they would be very natural and beautiful.

This is just an idea. Give it up for now and later we will think about it.

Okay. I will think about it. Mary drank a sip of her tea and looked at her papers.

After washing her cup, Kate left the kitchen and climbed up the long stairs to her room where she went to her room. She looked at the project she had been working on. It was nearly over, but needed to be edited.

She pulled her mobile out of her pocket and eagerly called John. She said, Hi, how are you? Why didn’t you come university today?

He said, I didn’t have class today. I had an appointment with a professor for my project.

I will come for you in half an hour to see David’s show.

John said with a laugh, Okay, I will come to see your show.

Shut up, John, It’s nothing to do with me.

Okay, I will be waiting for you. Then he took a deep breath and said, Why are you so happy?

While checking her watch, Kate said, I don’t agree with these things, but not like you. You don’t believe it at all. It is not a play or recalling spirits. It’s just something like that. Today, he brought a picture. It was of creatures nobody has ever seen. It was not Photoshop. It was more like a painting, as if somebody has drawn them, but David insisted they are natural and real and he had a lot of difficulty finding them. He said he had a surprise. Come to the party, maybe you’ll change your mind. It’s not bad, and then she said goodbye.

***

John threw his cell phone on the table. He didn’t agree with David, but sometimes he participated in his meetings. John was an architecture student. He was tall, thin, and very humorous. He had a small nose, brown eyes, and brown hair, which was soft and always stood straight on his head. He was as handsome as David, even more when he laughed and his eyes crinkled at the corners. He had arranged a curriculum for himself and most of the time tried to do his programs regularly. His parents were retired nurses. John was born when his parents, Suzanne and Jack Peters, were not expecting to have a baby after ten years of marriage.

John was very skeptical, careful, and meticulous. Each day he arranged his room very carefully. John put his pen on the table and hooked up his hands behind his head. He stood up, arranged the table, and opened the closet near the window. At the top of the closet his clothes were hung in an orderly fashion, while his shoes were put at the bottom. He had three formal pairs of shoes, two black and one dark brown. There were two pairs of sports shoes and one pair of boots. He used them when he went to the mountain or jungle with his friends. He took his sports shoes out and closed the door.

***

Kate stood next to the mirror, combed her brown hair, and fastened her ponytail. Kate’s eyes were brown, like John’s, but her nose was longer. Also, Kate had a longer forehead. Kate was five foot seven and was considered a tall girl.

She usually didn’t eat much to keep her figure. She went down and took a cookie, put it in her mouth and said, Maybe I  will be late. 

Mary looked at Kate, and said, Okay, but don’t you want to eat anything? Then she stood up and said, Wait, I will make you a sandwich. Eat it on the way to John’s house, otherwise you have to eat dinner when you come back.

Oh, no, Mom, I’m not hungry. We will find something to eat at David’s house.

Mary frowned and said, Look how thin you are. You don’t eat enough lunch or dinner.

Kate didn’t let Mary finish her speech and said, Mom, I’m late. I’m going to get John. Bye.

Kate drove her car, a blue Hyundai, to John’s house. On the way she stopped near a bookshop, entered and spoke to the salesman as if they were familiar. She was looking for a book. Mr. Morton, a middle aged salesman, gave a book from the shelf at the end of the library to Kate.

Kate took the book and because she didn’t want it, she said, This is not very useful to me. The name of the book was Peoples’ Personality Science. She put the book on the table and again looked at the shelves. It was obvious that nothing else attracted her attention. She said goodbye to Mr. Morton who nodded and gave a short smile, watching Kate as she left the bookshop. Turning up the music in the car Kate drove to John’s house at Hampstead Hill.

***

John took his watch from the table and put it on, hearing the bell. He came down, opened the door happily, and invited Kate inside.

He looked out the door at Kate’s car and said, Let me know, what was the problem? Was it okay finally?

Kate answered, I should buy the new model.

If you want to go back to the university, it’s not bad.

Kate pulled John in and closed the door, saying, Where are the others? You’re alone?

Yes, they all went to Gold’s gym. My mom wanted to go to the association but Dad insisted so she accompanied him. Some of their friends and colleagues are going to go there today.

Kate hummed, Association.

John leaned against the wall in front of Kate and said, Yes, she has recently become a member of an association. It’s about helping children with cancer.

Kate raised her eyebrows and nodded.

John said, What about you? I got you something to eat, so take whatever you like.

Kate went toward the door and said, No, let’s go to David’s house. She opened the door, and John followed her.

***

David’s house was nearly at Allen’s Croft. It had an interesting street view, with trees and a tidy lawn in front of the house. It was white, and clean. David’s room was up the stairs. It was small and always untidy. David’s parents, John and Sam Lorimer, worked as professors at Portsmouth University. Sometimes they came to visit David. They were wealthy. Since they lived at Portsmouth University, David only saw them occasionally. However, his parents were not upset about this because they thought David was old enough. The only problem was missing him, which they had to bear.

John looked out from the car’s window, watching two young boys chasing each other. As he watched they fell down the lawn and wrestled.

John turned his head and said, It’s 8:00. When does this ridiculous show start?

Kate stopped the car a few meters farther along. John looked at the two-story building, which seemed bigger than the buildings around it, and climbed up the three front steps with Kate.

They went in the front door, but David was not in the lounge room. John saw some guys sitting on the sofa in the corner. They were boys, talking quietly to each other. John knew them from when he had gone to see a basketball game between their university team and a team from Leeds University. They were David’s teammates.

John and Kate had both gone to watch David’s game. That game had finished with 97 to 94 in favor of Aston University. And David had a good game, scoring fifteen goals of that game. John waved his hand at the other guests.

A beautiful girl with black hair was sitting in a corner with her boyfriend. She had taken her boyfriend’s hand, as if she was being careful he did not escape. It was obvious from the expression on Michael’s face that he didn’t like this kind of meeting, or, as he said, this ridiculous behavior.

The lounge room was neat because David only used it occasionally. It was decorated with leather sofas, which were well proportionated, and had white walls. There were some glasses and some drinks. A girl with a big nose, blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, was sitting on a chair near the table. She was with her beautiful, but fickle friend. She had brown hair and gray eyes and John felt absorbed by their beauty. The name of the girl with brown hair was Anna.

John was angry and his face was red. He saw them looking at him. He stared at Anna with disgust, frowned, held onto Kate’s arm, and tried not to attack Anna. He had seen her at the cafeteria before. John remembered that she was sitting in front of him with a tray full of spaghetti and salad and had put her hands under her chin, staring at John.

It had made John angry and he couldn’t finish his lunch. Finally, he asked her, Do I know you?

The girl took her hands from her chin, stretched her arms, and said, Hi, I’m Anna. Now you know me, but I don’t know you.

John had raised his eyebrow, looking at her with surprise, and saw that her hand was hanging in the air in front of him. He understood that he hadn’t shaken her hand. He rectified that, but before he could introduce himself somebody put her hand on his shoulder. It was Kate.

She said, I’m sorry. Did I disturb you? Then she sat next to John and stared at the girl.

John let go of Anna’s hand and wanted to say, yes, you disturbed me but he instead replied, No.

But Kate still was looking at Anna, and said, I know you. You’re the one who betrayed Mara Crick and got her fired from the university.

John got Kate’s meaning. Kate had talked about this before, but now he was shocked.

Anna was ashamed but confidently said, That was her problem. She shouldn’t do that nasty job.

Kate hit her hand on the table and said, Damn, she just suggested you, she didn’t force you.

Anna still looked at her with coolness and said, So what? All students know that she forced me, she suggested me. Kate said loudly and angrily, Oh, are you serious? Don’t say you didn’t want it? Have you ever done this way with your friend, Tiffany?

Now people sitting at the table beside them were looking at them, realizing they were arguing about something.

Anna couldn’t control herself and cried with anger, If you don’t care about what you say, you are faced with this disaster, too. Then she continued, smiling, Do you get what I say?

John became angry and cried, Shut up. What do you think about yourself? If you were not a girl, I would show you. Anna stood up, put her hand on her waist, and said, What the hell would you do?

Kate trembled with anger. She ran to the table and before John could stop her had taken Anna’s collar and slapped her in the face.

John and other guys stood up and separated them. John stuck to Kate and the others had taken Anna whose face was red. Kate was very angry. This was the first time John had seen Kate this way.

She said, I’ll kill you. I swear I’ll kill you.

Kate saw Anna sitting next to Tiffany. Her face had been red from anxiety. She frowned at her. Anna smiled and turned her head.

Kate said to John angrily, If you hadn’t prevented me that day, I would have killed her.

Yes, but you would be in prison now. You shouldn’t make problems for yourself.

Kate pulled her arm out of John’s hand and said, Release me. Look, David is coming. Come with me and I’ll show you something so that you forget physics and mathematics.

As all three were going to David’s room, John said, Mr. Psychologist, tonight, I hope, we get a chance not to go to the mad house. Then loud music stopped them. John turned his head and said, surprised, Is it a party?

David said, No, I didn’t start it yet. Then he said firmly to the guy who had turned on the music, Reduce the sound.

The guy who had turned up the volume, said No problem. Let’s amuse ourselves.

I swear, I will come early and give you a good time. Now, if it is possible, reduce that sound.

The boy was disappointed, but he turned down the sound. The guys loved David. They felt comforted since he was a kind person.

When they entered the room David took a parcel with an orange envelope out of his long wooden closet and left the room. Then he went down the stairs. Kate and John looked at each other in bemusement and followed him to the lounge.

David said, I fulfilled my promise. I will start the subject very quickly.

Then he put the pictures on the table. John and the others looked at them in surprise.

Michael said with wonder, These are paintings. They’re not real.

Kate and John were sitting on the sofa beside Michael and his girlfriend. Kate tried to ignore Anna, and sat so John was in front of her and Anna was behind. One of the boys, who had been sitting on the sofa and had hooded eyes and blond hair, which covered part of his face, took the picture and looked at it very carefully.

Explain, from where did you take this? I want to know. They’re interesting but I don’t think they are real.

David shook his head and said, It’s good to believe there is something unusual in the picture. I myself don’t know what they are. And don’t forget that we are here to find out if these are real or not. And what they are, exactly. Now clear off the table and get back.

The guys sat back down and David brought out a box from under the table.

One jokingly said, God have mercy on us.

David said, Of course, I shouldn’t forget God because we can always use his power.

Others, except John and Kate, looked at each other and raised eyebrows.

David was religious and believed in God from the bottom of his heart. Kate didn’t think like John, and believed that for a person be useful both for himself and for his society was enough. And when she felt loneliness or fear, or faced a problem, she thought there was somebody to hear her voice and could help her. So at this time she asked God to help her. John also had a general viewpoint about this subject and once David asked him about his belief in God.

John said, "When I was small I went to the church with my parents like other kids. I don’t think about these subjects now. Look, when people get older, they look at everything logically. And they don’t pay attention to the emotional things. Generally, I think everybody believes in God in his heart and sometimes finds him, especially when he has a problem. Also, some people see God in different things. For example, in the old days they saw God in stone