Her exertions soon reached its peak and Emmy stopped and plopped onto her dead husband’s carcass. Her knuckles were covered in blood, his and hers. She laughed as she felt the last of his blood spurt out of his neck, grazing hers. Her screaming had made her voice hoarse but that did not matter anymore.
She pushed herself up and regarded her handiwork. She burst out laughing hysterically. Her madness had taken over completely that she did not even dare question what that shadow was, that shadow that was tall and thick and wide that stood before her. A shadow that went against the light.
“The children are ours! OURS!” The demons hissed.
The shadow reached out a massive arm for her to grab on. She took it, still laughing. As she stood up, the shadow started to come into view. She was intrigued at how majestic and powerful it looked with its thick arms and legs that were muscled and huge as tree trunks. She laughed and laughed. A laughing that was interrupted by the demons declaring ownership of the child again.
“I PROTECT THE CHILD! WE PRTOECT THE CHILDREN!”
Emmy was annoyed. How dare they interrupt her moment with this magnificent creature? She turned her gaze towards it and saw her daughter, A flash of recognition ignited within her and she was instantly horrified, as if remembering just then, what had transpired so far. Then, her daughter’s face morphed into something else. Something from her nightmares.
“I will end you. I WILL FUCKING END YOU!” She screamed at the face.
She sunk to her knees, scrambling, looking for more sharp debris to use. The leering woman in her dreams who had decapitated her daughter was now wearing her daughter’s face. She could not let it! Never!
As she scrambled, she noticed a figure, a small figure coming slowly towards her. She stopped, stared, and recognized her daughter, Jean. Her eyes were blacker than coal. Jean had something in her hand. Something that Jean introduced to her throat.
~0~
He could not believe what he was seeing through his Vein Sight. He moved away from where he hid and went towards the window to look in. What he saw with his Vein Sight did not coincide with the actual thing he was witnessing.
With his ability, he saw the kid crawl out from somewhere in the kitchen. Then, the kid just disappeared, replaced by something else that stood tall and thick and bent. Like an old person. If an old person were a snake with short arms.
Looking through one of the panes, he saw that it was the little girl that was showing as the new arrival. He watched the girl extend a hand and a knife came flying to her hand just as the demons possessing the tied up girl declared that again that the children were under their protection.
He still had his anchors latched on the mother and was struck with fear when the anchors vanished. He knew it was the other demon and it was about to possess the mother. It would have been easy, he realized. Even easier than it did the father, partly because of his doing. Then, the mother was dead.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” He exclaimed as he watched the child stick her mother on the throat with the knife.
He felt the malevolence in the air and knew that the hulking figure was going to go all out. He saw it come into view and make for the child tied down on the chair. It could only take one step.
Debris floated up, glass, wood, porcelain, even pots and pans. It all flew towards the muscly demon, most of it impaling its dark skin. It growled a growl that inspired a terror in him. Furniture from the living room floated up and shot towards the child but it only hit empty air.
The dark demon disappeared from his view and he could only track it with his Vein Sight. The broken debris kept hitting it despite the demon being invisible. He did not understand how that was possible. The empty space where it stood looked like a bad, kindergarten art project. Then, with a loud roar, the demon disappeared from his Vein sight too.
You had that all along and you didn’t use it from the start?
Looking at the carnage, he decided it was time to go.
~0~
Since he gave up all hop of salvaging the situation, Cain withdrew inwardly and tried to ignore everything. The screams, the taunts, the pain. He applied himself to prayer immediately after seeing the couple’s energy vanish. He knew he was defeated. He checked his hands for the color of his energy and saw that there was none. He knew then that he was going to die. The only question remaining was how.
He let go of focusing his energies for sensing anything else, choosing instead to conserve it until the last moment. He held steadfast in his prayer, even as he heard the hair-raising growls. He heard the soft footfalls approach just as he finished a prayer asking for forgiveness.
“Awww, are you afraid, Cain? Look at me.” A voice that was too familiar said to him.
He ignored it and chose to proceed with the next prayer. He was awarded with a nick to the nose. He opened his eyes in surprise and saw the little girl standing in front of him, looking all innocent, except for the black eyes and blood-soaked clothes. Gina was standing behind her. She also had black orbs for eyes.
“Nice of you to join us, priestling.” Said the demons in Gina’s body. “How does it feel to be wrong?”
Gina’s face came within inches of his, smiling. He was ashamed. He was focused on exorcising the demons as the signs escalated, that he missed the other signs. It was too late when he realized, and only with the repeated insistence of the very demons he had tried to get rid of.
“You wouldn’t listen, Cain. We gave the answer. We would have helped you, but you didn’t listen. We protect the children. Was that not enough for you?”
“Silence demons! Enough of your trickery!” He snarled. “You know very well that you will forever be bound to the bodies of these children until the next exorcist comes along. And he, he will make you suffer!”
Both children laughed – Gina with the demon’s voices, Jean with her own. As if what the layman said was just a joke.
“Cain, Cain, Cain.” Jean spoke, running the knife softly on his cheek. “You know better that to lie to us. You know you’re going to die. With your death, we are free to come and go as we please. I protect the children.”
It was true, he admitted to himself. Without anyone to tell the story, the children would only be taken care of by the system.
“How will be, Cain?” The demons in Gina asked. “Shall we leave to it, or do you want to go on your own terms?”
Both children crowded him, Gina raised his chin, Jean held the knife to his neck. Both of them stared him directly in the eyes. He did not reply.
“We can turn it off, you know? The thing that has made you suffer all your life. Consider it a gift and know peace in your last moments.”
He found himself in agreement to their proposal after a few seconds of thinking.
“I think it’s time.” He said, holding out a hand.
Jean placed the knife on his hand and Gina raised his chin up higher so that he was looking up at her black, lifeless eyes. In a few moments, he felt light. He no longer felt the emotions around him. He could not even feel his own, as if they were now just distant concepts.
“Why did you help the children?” He asked.
“For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” The demons in Gina replied.
Cain chuckled and found the answer satisfactory. His chuckle gave way to a laugh as he felt truly free for the first time in a long time.
~0~
“I… I helped! What more do you ask?” He asked nervously.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when, as he was running back to his car in the dark, the figures just appeared in front of him. Among them, was the bent, snakelike figure with short arms that towered over everyone.
You helped, yes. And now your reward.
He could not see them well so he slowly filled the area around them with his anchors so he may see then through his Vein Sight.
You have no need of those. Just hold out your hand.
He obeyed, reluctantly.
The other one. With the ring.
He did as asked and within seconds, the ring felt like it was freezing. He exhaled loudly, eyes widening to their limits as he felt it, all the energy building up inside him, coursing through him. It was more than he’d hoped for, the equivalent of months of harvesting from the victims he had trapped within their own heads.
“Ho- how did… how can you do that?”
It matters not. We agreed, you delivered.
He had many questions, all of them wanting to be asked first. Before he could speak a word, all the creatures vanished.
I gotta fuckin’ disappear from here, and quickly!
He ran to his rental and did not look back.