“Well now I’m not gonna do it.” He spat aloud. “The fuck you mean leave, huh?”
He was still shaking from the encounter. If there were doubts before, there were none now. He was outmatched. The fact that the creature just stood there while his anchors passed through it, and all the time he could not sense it, was a display of power, if he had ever seen one.
He could have run. He knew that. But that plan was only if he sighted it first. He also knew it was not possible for him to outrun a creature that only a literal blink to cover dozens of yards.
Only his pride allowed him to still stand and act indignantly. Forgoing all the care he exercised earlier, he took a cigarette out from the pack and smoked. He increased the number of anchors around him even more. He did not know what to do with them yet, but he wanted to be prepared. He heard another scream coming from the house.
“Leave, my ass. And have all the fun to yourself? Ha!”
As he paced, he started to think about what that meant, why the creature told him to leave. There was no doubt about it, the creature told him to leave, directly into his head. Close to a century of walking the face of the earth and he knew of only one person who could do that. Now there were two.
Leave. Hmmm. Why?
They seemed to share the same ability, to a degree, he reasoned. Did it think him a threat? Did it want all the juicy emotions to itself? Did it actually fear him? A woman’s scream interrupted his evaluation.
He discarded the notions without even reconsidering their merit. The presence of a religious person suggested it was a demon. If it was a demon, he reasoned, then its goal was to possess someone.
Why do demons possess people anyway? It’s not like they do what I do. For fun then?
He heard another scream then the sound of things hitting other things erupted briefly from the house. He felt a brief surge of outrage, bordering on resentful. Then, it was completely overpowered by a rage that filled the entire space, making his hairs stand on their ends again.
Interesting. Very fucking interesting!
He lit another cigarette and paced some more, as he considered what to do next. The feeling of rage that permeated the area was unmistakable. It had no subtext, unlike any other emotions. It just wanted to hurt someone.
“Fuck it! It’s been a nice century. Almost.” He said aloud and sent his anchors to surround the house.
~0~
The family huddled with Cain as he led the prayer of protection. He was almost done when he noticed it. Cain decided to say the prayer one more time to buy time. He felt all the varied emotions coming from the entire family. That was the least of his worries. As he said the prayer, he engaged his passive sight. Every single person in front of him had their energy’s colors matching with the emotions he was reading off them. Everyone except Gina.
Cain read spite coming from her. Her energy stopped flaring and remained at a constant pulse, but it was almost triple the size of her previous one. The color was now also all black. As if that wasn’t enough, Gina, or the creature that now had her, leered at him while the prayer was being said. Exactly why he had the family huddle with their backs to the possessed child. If the leering and the black eyes were not enough to take them out of the prayer, the child, floating in the air on the chair she was tied to would have done it.
“Let us close our eyes, bow our heads, and submit to the Lord.” Cain intoned, glad that the entity possessing Gina had not uttered a single word yet.
He had completed three prayers of protection, but the child still remained in the air. His request for the family to close their eyes and bow their heads was an excuse. He fixed his stare at the leering child and proceeded to recite the Anima Christi. By the third repetition, the chair was back on the ground.
“These are the prayers I will go through,” he said to Matt and Emmy, “in it are the Reponses you should make. One more thing, whatever comes out of that child’s mouth, you are to ignore. It may sound like your daughter, it may ask for help, it might even appeal to your parental instincts. Ignore it. Do you understand?”
He saw the hesitation in both parents before they nodded. This was something he was used to. The hesitation was understandable, especially when all exorcism was viewed as nothing but a destructive rite in modern times. He looked them in the eyes and repeated.
“I need you both to understand. It’s just your daughter’s body now. She’s no longer in control. Your real daughter will not be safe until the ritual is completed. For all your sakes and mine, believe me when I say, ignore whatever words that come out of its mouth until I say it’s safe to do so. Understood?”
The couple readily nodded this time. He gave them a weak smile. Cain knelt down and faced Jean. He had been getting mixed emotions from the child. It was not wise to ignore a child in a moment such as the one they were all experiencing.
“Hey, how are you Jean?”
“I’m scared.” The girl replied.
“That’s a wise feeling. It’s good you feel scared. That means you understand a little bit about what’s happening.” Cain said.
“But I don’t understand what’s happening.”
“But you understand it’s a little dangerous, yeah?”
The child nodded.
“Your sister just… she went away for a bit, and something just took over without permission. We’re going to take her back. You understand?” Cain waited until the girl was able to process it. He continued when she nodded. “Good. Now in order for that to happen, I need you to follow whatever I, or your parents tell you. Yeah?”
He forced a sweet smile when the girl nodded again. He then motioned for the family to stand behind him while he stood directly in front of Gina. He stared at the black eyes, not breaking eye contact. It was a trick he learned early on. The more one is afraid to look a demon in the eye, the harder the time they had exorcising it. It also gave him the opportunity to engage his passive sight and observe the colors of the energy.
“E, F, G, A, B, C, one two three!” The demon began speaking.
Audible gasps erupted from behind him. It wasn’t the words. It was the voice. It sounded like a hundred different voices speaking all together. Man, woman, child, young, and old.
Cain was unfazed. He just kept staring at the demonic eyes. The child’s lips curved into a wicked smile then snarled, baring the teeth, as if to challenge Cain.
“Who are you? What’s your name, demon?” Cain asked.
“One, two, three. A, B, C. I suggest you flee!”
The demon cackled, as if what it said was funny. It laughed until the voice was raspy. It changed from a little girl’s to an old man’s.
“Very well. I asked nicely.” Cain said.
It bothered him that the neither the energy nor the color changed. He was reading an intention to hurt, a sinister feel but at the same time he was sensing amusement, arrogance, and spite. The air was thick of it that he could not even pinpoint if all of it was simultaneously oozing off the demon.
“In the name of our savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ, I command you to give me-”
Brief screams erupted and even Cain ducked as the dining table flew towards the kitchen wall. Panes on the window shattered. The voices inside the girl spoke again.
“Command me? Give you my name?” It taunted. “Stupid, stupid stupid!”
The voices laughed maniacally. The sound of a hundred different voices had its eerie effect take root on Emmy. Cain heard her sobbing in the back. He asked again.
“In the name of our savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ, I command you to-”
“Jesus fucking Christ! Get a load of this guy!” The demon remarked in a voice eerily similar to Jon’s. “Stupid! One, two, three. I suggest you flee!” It cackled again then continued. “If you want my name, bring popcorn for I have a thousand. I am many. We are many!” It finished in a shout.
The expression on Gina’s face was one of absolute contempt. Cain remained unfazed, his expression, in stark contrast with that of the girl, was blank.
“I asked nicely, demon. You brought this to yourself.”
“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
He expected it but he still flinched. Although he did not look back, he could tell from the edges of his vision that stuff was flying around. Some of them sounded like they were banging against each other. The creature’s laughter in a hundred different voices rang through the house.