Chapter 35
Author: W.B. Merlin
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

Matt didn’t mention it to Emmy while they were eating but he was starting to feel lightheaded. By the time dinner was ending, he could not cope up with it anymore that he hurriedly finished his meal, and excused himself by mentioning that trash needed to be taken out.

He'd been itching for a smoke for hours, he just could not leave his family. The path seemed to shake with every step he took but he stubbornly made his way out, trash in hand.

He found his kids still at the table when he came back, exchanging opinions about a certain young singer. He remembered the videos they used to watch. The boy badly needed a haircut. He smiled at the sight. He gargled at the sink while washing his hands then proceeded to head to the living room to sit in from of the TV, pretending to watch.

His focus waned. He could barely keep his eyes open. Even the highly negative prime time news could not hold his attention. He was aware he was seated, but he felt like he was float

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    He came to when he felt tapping on his shoulder. It was Emmy.“Uh… hey. How long was I asleep?”“About an hour. Didn’t wanna disturb you while I cleaned up.”“Mmmm,” he stretched, “You done?”“Yep, all done. Let’s go up. I think you’d be more comfortable in our bed. No, I’m sure you’ll be.” She finished beaming him a smile.“I like the sound of that.”“Nope, didn’t mean that.”“Pffft.” He replied, scrunching his face.She turned towards the stairs and left him. Matt went to check the locks, made sure the windows were locked too, then checked on the laptop. Having made sure it was recording, he turned the lights off. As he walked up the stairs, he noted that he no longer felt lightheaded.Perhaps a little rest was all I needed. He first popped in to their room. He hear

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    The confusion only lasted for a moment. Curiosity followed immediately. He could not understand why it happened, or how it could happen.What in the world…?He increased the number of anchors and sent them all inside the house, crowding the places where the previous ones seemed to have just disappeared. The swarm appeared like a thick mass of black vines of varying thickness. He engaged Vein Sight again.The rate at which his feelers where disappearing was almost on par with how many he was willing into existence. He brought more in. With his sight ability, he focused inside the house, on the spot where his anchors seemed to vanish.The fuck?He could not remember the last time he felt a chill run down his spine. The image he was seeing, although incomplete because of the rapidly disappearing anchors, concerned him. It was a large figure, towering and bulky that was responsible. As soon as he got an image of it, he felt it

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    “Are we there yet?” She asked her companion.“Not yet child, we have long to go.”The stroll was pleasant. They passed meadows filled with small, fluffy creatures and trees filled with brightly colored birds. Jean loved whenever they went through a gem-filled bridge and would ogle at the stream below where fish of different sizes swam.The air was peaceful, the breeze cool. The sky had just enough fluffy clouds and had a beautiful shade of blue. Periodically, a rainbow would appear between the clouds before they got blown away, scattering into tiny little cotton balls of fluffiness. She was happy here. Princess Jessamine’s kingdom was a wonderful, wonderful place.“You said your palace was big! Are we going there?”“My palace is big, indeed. But we are not going there today.” The Princess with her golden dress answered.“But you said we’ll be going there.”“

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    “It’s a family!” She exclaimed in delight.Jean was so taken by how cute the rabbits looked like that she almost asked to have them for pets. She held her request when she saw the tall grass move towards the right. Jean put two hands together and stuck it on the glass to get a better view. The grass was moving against the wind, it seemed to have a pattern.“Oh!”She was surprised to see the face of a lion cub peer out of the grass. The cub approached slowly. It was crouched so low that it looked like it was dragging itself. It was like a bigger cat with a more beautiful coat. But Jean knew it would grow bigger and even more awesome. Her jaw dropped.“No! No! No!” She said, worried.The cub had its eyes on the family of rabbits. It was hunting. She pounded on the glass door but both the rabbits and the cub paid her no mind.“And now, I sense an adventure coming.” The princess remarked.

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    Jean knew it was not the princess who spoke this time because she did not open her mouth.“I’m scared.” Said the little girl, holding on to the princess’ golden dress.“Remember what I said, little one. You cannot help by just wishing for it. You have to be brave. You have to fight the lion.”“But… there’s a giant snake!”I will help you.The voice rang in her head, a female voice. But it was not the princess. Jean looked up at the serpent with the gem-like scales. It flicked its forked tongue at her. When she looked back at the princess, the princess nodded.He slowly, cautiously, walked back towards the glass door. The voice kept repeating in her head. Jean noticed that she always heard the voice when the snake’s tongue flicked. Then, it would strike the glass with its head, making a loud, thudding sound.She looked at the rabbits and found that they were st

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    The serpent’s eyes glowed. Then it glowed some more until they appeared like fire. Fire that leaked molten metal. It flicked its tongue rapidly. Then, it attacked her, its maw going for her face.Jean cringed in pain as the serpent attacked her, but she did not cry out. She closed her eyes. She suffered through the searing heat and the stabbing pains as the snake’s fangs bore into her face. She had to be strong and fearless. She heard a mighty roar.A strength, overwhelming and energizing, coursed through her. She had never felt like this before. The hairs on her skin stood up from sheer joy. She was so strong. And that made her very happy. When she opened her eyes she saw that her arms glowed.Around her, the earth was burnt. With her newly gained power, she cast her eyes towards where the rabbits were and she cried out in rage. The lion cub was feasting on the poor rabbits. Although some of the small ones were able to scamper away, the large ones,

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    “You were brave,” the princess commended, gliding to her side, “but you were also late.”Her power disappeared just as the fight ended. She was back in her own form, untouched, unblemished.“I was slow,” the little girl admitted, “the parents are dead.”“You were afraid in the beginning. That’s why they died.”“What will happen to the little bunnies that got away?”“They will live, or they will die. Without their parents, its hard to tell. They will have to learn how to take care of themselves. Some of them will not grow up.”“It’s my fault. I was afraid.”“It’s good you are afraid. Your fear tells you that something is not okay. But never let it consume you. You have to rise above it, always.” Said the princess, gazing into Jean’s eyes lovingly. “Now, come along child. There are other adventures wa

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    The voices of her friends grew softer. It now sounded like it came from directly in front of her. They laughed and mocked her. She shook terrified as she tried to put the call on speaker. In her clamor she made a mistake. The screen went dark. The call was ended.Another roar reverberated in the darkness. It came from behind.Gina could hear it breathing. She had to exercise every ounce of control she had to pace her breathing, afraid to make a sound. She kept mashing the phone with her thumb to keep it from locking itself. The sound of twigs snapping came neared. The steps were measured, slow, and heavy.Her shoelace came off just as she was able to get her phone back on the camera app again. She snapped pictures again, cringing every time she heard vegetation being crushed or branches snapping. Tears started rolling down her cheeks. It was starting to overwhelm her.The slow approach by the monstrous figure only served to heighten her terror. Every time

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    He was getting impatient. It was the last leg and he had nothing better else to do. The onboard entertainment’s picks did not hold anything interesting. Then again, most things called entertainment nowadays didn’t hold his interest. He found them almost always superficial and a little on the pandering side.But this was the last leg and he was going to land soon. Unlike most countries, he visited this one regularly. He did not have a choice, he had to come back every time. This time however, he was early. There were so many things he needed to know. So many things he needed to ask. This time, he hoped he would get answers.There was not a need to ask before. If he was being honest, there wasn’t even such a question before. There was just him, his abilities, and the man who trained him. The man he called Tata, or uncle. The man who helped him get revenge all those decades ago. The man who, at times, almost seemed like his personal warden. The only one he knew who was more powerful than

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    “Here’s why I think that’s what happened. If, there was only one demon, or even a group of them with one purpose, just like we usually see, the chances are it would only possess one. Meaning, it-”“It would only harass one, and all the rest will be collateral.” The bishop finished.Father Anton nodded and paused to give the bishop time to connect things.“That means, there were at least two groups of demons there. My gut tells me the other one was a lone demon, and the on the other side, the one that possessed the children, were the other group.That explains why the parents needed to die, and Cain had to die. And his friend would have also died had he not run away, though, God bless his soul, I think it would have been better if he just died.”“I get most of it but not about the part where everyone, well, almost everyone needed to die.” The bishop admitted.“Let’s take the testimonies of those who knew them. Nobody will say that the father was capable of such abuse. But there was abu

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    It was not the waiting that he hated. Bob was the bishop after all. He had many things to attend to. It was the things going through his head as he sat outside the bishop’s office that he did not like. It was all too sudden and the person directly responsible for Cain, the situation wasn’t looking good.“Tony?” He heard the bishop call, peeking out his door.Father Anton Ramirez got up and walked towards the door of the bishop’s office. Finding that the bishop had already taken his place behind his desk, he closed the door behind him and locked it.“It’s a mess Tony, I was not expecting this.”“I’m sorry Your Excellency. I was… this is a first.”“Drop the formalities. I know it’s not your fault. Well, maybe a little bit. A little bit our faults. Why don’t you start from the beginning?”Father Anton sat first then opened the satchel he had with him and began taking out folders and placing them on the bishop’s desk.“Let’s deal with those later. Just tell me what you saw and what you th

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    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 owner

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    Emmy felt a burst of anger fill her, a fury of such strength it made her forget pain. Her eyes smoldered with hate. Just moments ago, she felt like dirt but that didn’t matter now. She would have ignored what the demons were saying. It might have been true for her, or not. But, the expression on her husband’s face said it all.“Tell me I’m wrong Matt. TELL ME!” She demanded as she crawled on the debris, hands feeling, looking for something.Matt did not reply. He did not even look at her. She could see it in his eyes. How he struggled, how he could not hide it, how ashamed he was. It didn’t matter that his cheeks glistened with the torrent of tears streaming down his face. He was guilty. Her hands found something pointy. She got up as he screamed.“You… YOU FUCKED YOUR DAUGHTER?”She could tell. The demon’s words were not just insinuations. This was more unforgivable than coupling with an entity she could not even put a face to. Her mind raced, trying to give him the benefit of the do

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    His skin was a literal field of goosebumps. The creatures seemed to have already delivered and still wasn’t done yet. While he heard the otherworldly voices above everyone else’s, it wasn’t the demonic voices that drew his attention but the emotions that flooded the whole house.Confusion was the overwhelming feeling that he got but that was just the surface. Underneath was denial, disgust, and fear. It flared off in varying degrees on all the humans present. And he was harvesting it all.Despite the large number of anchors he had, the ring which glowed in many different colors, now felt cooler in his finger. He chuckled to himself, forgetting the real threat that the hulking creature, or the ones who sought his help, posed.True to their agreement, he let go of the young child. There was not much to her anyway. She was afraid, and disoriented, but not in levels that the adults were giving off.The one he labeled as a priest of some kind had been trying to get up but could only manage

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    It was not the voice, or how they came to him. It was not even how they knew to do something only one has been able to do until days ago. It was the request.“What… what do you mean?” He asked.It’s too strong. For me. For us. He’s too strong.He paced back and forth, not taking his eyes of the figures that stood before him, touching his anchors. The large creature did not need to touch his anchors to tell him to leave, then again, it was just standing there, like a ghost, among all the anchors.How the fuck do these things know about things I didn’t even know I had?“I don’t understand,” he finally spoke, “but what I understand is, that motherfucker is too strong. I don’t-” He paused, he sensed amusement when he said the last phrase. “You find that funny? At a time like this?”Yes. But still, help.“Like I was saying, that one is strong. And you’re obviously many and stronger than I am. If you can’t stop it, what the hell do you think I can do against it?”We know what you want. You

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    Matt was getting frustrated with everything. Every bone in his body ached, every uncovered part of his skin was either bruised or scratched, or both. While the words came out automatically in prayer, he found himself drifting. They were not getting anywhere. Cain was not getting anywhere. When the demons answered his wife, he was quite relieved.A start! An opening!Intending to hear more, Matt focused on the exchange not noticing that he had already dropped his prayers in exchange for the tidbits he was hearing.“I did not fail my Gina!” Emmy answered, defending against the insinuation.“OH! SHE DIDN’T, SHE SAYS.”Cain, being the closest to the possessed child, had to cover his ears in fear of rupturing his eardrums.“But you did. You allowed your child to be defiled! IN YOUR OWN HOME!”It could not have been clearer that the demons wanted to emphasize the last phrase. The many voices sounded like they were about to go berserk. More debris rose from the ground, this time mainly from

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    “Holy fucking shit!” He remarked aloud as his anchors completely swarmed the entire first floor of the house.With Vein Sight, he clearly saw the full picture. There were other unseen figures moving about in the space. He counted a little over two dozen, the bulk of them standing by the child that everybody seemed to be facing.That unnerved him. One entity was powerful enough to have made him run away. Over two dozen was a disaster.This doesn’t make any fucking sense!The other demons who were mostly clustered around the child, whom he thought was the one who was possessed, were of a different build. While the one that had confronted him twice was tall, muscular, and impossibly wide, the other creatures were tall and wiry. Based on the power and hostility he was getting, he assumed that the creature who confronted him twice now, was the reason everything was as it was in that house.I’m out of my fucking depth here, he admitted to himself.He could not hear everything, but based on