As soon as his anchors were within a few yards of the house, he felt all the varied emotions emanating from inside. Among them, there was a strong sense of malice and scorn. His anxiousness and excitement showed in the number of cigarettes he lit, one after the other.
“Think you can have this all for yourself, huh?”
The ring on his finger glowed in several colors as he sent his anchors to encircle the house. With the strength of all the emotions he was getting, this would be the largest, most plentiful harvest he would have done in a single night, if he survived. The thought sent shivers down his spine.
With the mass of viny, snakelike anchors spread in every corner, his Vein Sight started. He first found the father, his original target. The mother and child were next. He latched on to them, no longer caring about the creature that warned him. When he latched on to the one who seemed to be able to sense him, he could not help but be impressed. The man was significantly calmer than everybody else. As his anchors spread through the first floor, his brows furrowed.
Where the hell did you go?
His wondering about the whereabouts of the man he was monitoring earlier, the one who was in pain, came to a stop as the anchors swarmed on a figure. The figure.
“There you are!”
He wondered why he could swarm around it now when it was able to evade detection when it came to confront him earlier. It also did not pay his anchors any mind, allowing them to completely swarm it instead. There was no doubt about it. The malice, the malevolent intent, was coming from it.
With his Vein Sight in place, he could map out where everybody was. Father, mother, and child stood together. The religious man was in front of them. The hulking creature stood to the side near the father. Everyone, including the creature, seemed to be facing one direction. He sent his anchors to swarm that direction too.
“Oh… Shit!”
~0~
The demon laughed as Cain turned his back to check on the family. He looked at Matt and Emmy without saying a word, his demeanor reminding them what he told them beforehand.
“We will begin with the Litany of Saints.” He said, then started. “Lord, have mercy.”
“Lord, have mercy.” Matt and Emmy answered.
“Stupid fucking sinners! All of you! Stupid!” The demon taunted.
Cain was used to it but the gasps he heard from behind him indicated just how horrifying it was for the family of one possessed to deal with a demon. He had commanded the family to keep their eyes on pieces of paper where the prayer was printed on, but hearing those words uttered from the mouth of their child was simply hard to ignore.
“God, the son, have mercy on us.” He continued.
“Have mercy on us.” The couple answered.
“God, the Holy Spirit ha-”
“Holy shhhhhiiiiiiiiit!” The demon interrupted.
As the many voices laughed, the cupboards that served as dividers shook and were pushed backwards. The sound of their bases grating against the tiled floor almost proved too annoying to ignore.
As the prayer continued, so did the taunting and attempts at interrupting the rite. When came the part where the names of saints were uttered, the cupboards swayed, spilling some of its contents to the floor, most of them breaking on contact. Jean stood transfixed by the sight.
“A, B, C! Demon fucked me! One, two, three! Flee!”
When the interruptions went ignored, the demon changed its strategy. The cupboards tilted at impossible angles before righting back up. All the contents that could be spilled, spilled. All that could be broken, broke. And all the broken pieces of glass and porcelain rose up in the air.
When that too was ignored, Cain noted that the shards floated nearby to taunt and threaten. Some of the shards directly passed by his field of vision then reverted. Cain who was accustomed to such tactics paid it no mind. Even when the demon snarled and made gurgling noises, Cain proceeded with the litany with an iron will. His attention was only momentarily disturbed when the shards that hung in the air, sped at them at an alarming speed. His, and the couple’s eyes follow, all of them cringing, anticipating being hit.
The shards sped past them and hit empty air, vaporizing as if it hit an invisible wall and broke into even tinier pieces. When the Litany of Saints was done, Cain decided it was time to begin with the exorcism. He started with a prayer that was meant as a plea for protection for the child.
The demon inside the girl laughed with its many voices as Cain recited the prayer loudly. The demon laughed so hard that it appeared like Gina’s body had turned paler from lack or air. A short while later, Gina’s face appeared to still be laughing but no sound came from her throat anymore. Cain was unperturbed.
“Let your mighty hand cast him. Cast him out almighty God. Let not your servant, Gina, suffer. Cast the demons out that it may no longer hold sway on your servant whom you created in your image. Let her be redeemed through the sacrifice of your son who is with you in the unity of t-”
“Fucking stupid!” The demon hissed, the chair rose up and down, banging on the floor. “God? God? You ask protection from GOD? Didn’t he allow thisssssssss?”
The hissing from the last word sounded like metal grating on metal. Cain was almost tempted to cover his ears. Gina’s body tried to contort, all of her veins from parts of her body that was visible, popped out. The loud gasps from behind him alerted Cain that the couple had raised their gazes.
He had angered the demon. It did not matter what angered it, only that it was angered. It would grow angrier with his continued defiance, especially that he was reaching the end of the prayer. Cain wished the couple would just ignore it, but he knew it was hard to achieve that.
The dividers fell, all together. This time Emmy yelled loudly. Cain noted that the dividers fell in their direction this time as opposed to the other side where they tilted towards just minutes ago. He looked back to see Emmy and Matt approaching the little girl. It appeared that in their fright, the couple jumped back leaving the child behind him. Jean, apart from covering her ears, looked like she was fine. When she put her hands down, Cain noted how calm the girl looked as she watched her sister with a curious eye. He thanked the innocence of youth for that and proceeded to finish the prayer.
“Amen.” The couple replied, marking the end of that part of the rite.
“All stupid! All blind! Can’t you seeeeeeeee?” It asked in a mocking tone. “I protect the child. We protect the child!”
As if to reiterate its point, more debris flew around them, rose up to the height of the ceiling, and rained down just behind Matt. Like the display earlier, all the debris broke into tinier pieces in the empty air.
Cain continued, not even looking back. It was time to charge the demon for its transgressions. He focused all his energy into reading the emanations coming from the demon to confirm something, something that was bothering him.
“In the name of the King of Kings, I command you to name yourself, demon.”
“I have many names for we are many!”
“In the name of the Holy Spirit, I command you to name yourselves!”
“Ha! The stupid idiot knows how to listen!” The many voices chuckled. “The child is under my protection now. I will not give her to you!”
“Your names, demons, or I will cast you out forcefully.” Cain threatened.
As if in response, the furniture in the living room were dragged towards them, stopping only where it met a barrier.
“Idiot priestling. You’re not even a priest!” The voices laughed. “Can’t you see you have no power here? Your god has failed you. Your god has failed this child! I protect her now. We protect her!”
As the demons were intent on changing the topic, Cain proceeded to the next step. He hoped the demon, or demons, would just have given the names but knew it was unlikely to happen until it was late. He began reciting the acts of transgressions, charging the entities with them.
As he progressed with the recitation, Cain was able to read from the entities inside Gina. He wondered why despite the taunting, the mocking, and the belittling, the demons had not attacked anyone from the group yet. He read an intense hatred, a strong defiance, and also something that made him question himself.
Why?
“… to our aid and hasten to our calling, for your divine help and take from ruination, from the grasp of the devil, this human being made in your image and-”
“Lies, lies, LIES!”
The scream of the many voices cracked the glass panes before blowing them out. The floorboards above creaked. Even the toppled table that was resting on its side, slid.
“LIAR!”
Gina with the chair, shot up in the air and stopped shortly within a mere fraction of the ceiling as the demons continued to scream the same word over and over again. It wasn’t only Emmy who was crying, Matt yelled out in surprise, but also strode forward in an effort to pull his daughter down. Cain stopped him.
“Remember what I told you. He wants you to react. They want you to react.”
“This god, this god, this abomination of a god,” the demons continued, “they failed. You do not see, you do not know. But I do. We do. Your god failed!”
Looking up, Cain felt the words. There was a deep anger as it said the words. It was beyond hatred.
“Father into your hands, I commend my spirit.” The demons mocked, reciting a passage from the bible. “Father into your hands, I call BULLSHIT!”
Cain called on inwardly for strength and continued reciting the lines he had committed to heart.
“If you want to pray, priestling. Why don’t you join me? Join us! We know the child’s thoughts and fears. We know exactly what she will be saying! Join me priestling!”
To make his defiance even clearer, Cain raised his voice, even louder. He drew his voice from his stomach such that each word he uttered reverberated in his chest.
“You know this line priestling. Father, father, FATHER!” The ground itself seemed to shake. “Why have you forsaken me? In your heart, in your thoughts. WHY!”
With the last word, the chair came down faster than anything falling would have fallen. A wave of unseen energy swept the area around the possessed girl sending pushing everything outward.
For the second time that night, Cain found himself flying backwards.