Chapter 66
Author: W.B. Merlin
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

He watched the man, the one he latched his anchors to, talking to another man. The tripod, with its silver frame, drew attention to the camera. It seemed to be pointed at the man he had hoped to harvest. The man got up and went inside.

He watched the other man, who remained where he was seated, for some time. He could not send his anchors yet as he could not tell what might happen after so he observed. The man seemed to be taking notes and pondering. After minutes with barely anything happening, he turned his attention elsewhere.

He moved positions to get a better view. At first he thought it was just the lights playing tricks, but now he could see it clearly. A broken truck sat in front of the house. He noted how it seemed to lean sideways, towards him, and some windows, including the windshield he noticed earlier, were cracked. His eyes scanned the front of the house, including the other car to his left but did not find anything that could explain what happened to the truck.

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    Upon entering, Cain noticed that Matt was eager to show him the videos. He was leaning towards Jon’s laptop when Cain came in. Jon went outside briefly to get the camera and set it up such that it now pointed towards the back door. It was a simple repositioning, no new wires needed to be run but it still took a few minutes to get the angle right. When he was done, Jon played the videos captured by the CCTV’s.As his interview progressed, his doubts disappeared. He no longer called it a presence or spirit. It was a demon. What it wanted out of this family, he was still unsure. It wasn’t uncommon for seemingly happy individuals to be pestered by demons. It was rare but it happens. It was why he told Matt when he asked. Everyone save the little girl seemed to have gone through the stages of Infestation and Oppression already. A possession was a high likelihood, given the circumstances.He kept quiet and contained his reactions to temper Matt’s expectations. While he recognized the value

  • The House By The River: A Paranormal Horror Novel   Chapter 68

    “Are those…” he paused mid-sentence to look at Matt.Matt nodded to confirm his unfinished question. His skin crawled with hairs standing up. He listened to Matt who was doing his best to seem unfazed. Matt related seeing the creature through the mirror. And how it appeared to him like it was squatting on the bed. He proceeded to describe what it looked like then added that it was holding his daughter up, which was why they saw a chair flying over the bed.“I tried to throw it where I was sure it would connect, based on what I was seeing in the mirror, but it went wide. There was only empty air.” Matt explained.Cain realized what it was – a show of power. The demon was toying with the child and the parent’s emotions. He kept his own feelings in check and watched apprehensively as the video unfolded. Cain did not want to react in any way that could be misconstrued by the house’s occupants, but it was obvious what was happening. The demon was powerful enough to keep the child afloat wh

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    The pain in his head throbbed and seemed to only get stronger. Jon stopped thinking about getting medicine for it, fearing he might overdose or have an allergic reaction due to the may tablets he had already taken so far. As soon the discussion about the video was over, Jon followed Emmy to the kitchen, asking if he could get a sampling of the late snacks she had prepared.He went back to his makeshift station with a plate half-filled with potato fries and ranch dip. Jon could still function. His only job was to monitor whatever inputs came to his laptop. The laptop did most of the work, he only needed to watch and listen. As usual, on investigations with Cain, his laptop was strained to the last bit.When he was halfway through his plate, the laptop played sounds the recorders upstairs were picking up. It let out a garbled mechanical voice that meant nothing and sounded like pure nonsense. Jon pursed his lips.The software recorded the audio feed and played any sound that was above t

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    Jon was left to man his station, checking on his equipment as Cain and the family started. He was familiar with the ritual. He heard Cain call it a blessing when discussing with the family, but it was a cleansing rite. If it didn’t clean up the entity or entities hanging about, it would at least bolster the energy of the place, at least that’s how he saw it. Cain explained it to him before by saying that it made the area akin to a consecrated ground, giving him more to work with in case the worst happens.It was a procession. It started from the living room and proceeded slowly. Cain led, reading from his missal, and the family followed behind him. Matt, Emmy, and Gina were given copies of the parts of the rite they were to read along. His job was to monitor any activity and alert Cain later, after the procession was done. It was going to take a while with the house having two storeys. Jon was not sure he could last.His headache made his vision blurry sometimes. It was sporadic. Some

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    The sounds came from the software controlling the cameras. It started giving off notifications when the family was upstairs. The notifications were coming from the camera pointed at the dining area. Jon inspected the feed, including the ones captured by the full spectrum cameras and found nothing, so he ignored it.The cameras’ tracking was controlled by the software itself. Jon found it annoying that that the feed kept panning to one side, then the other but the display showed nothing. He brought the window forward to stop it from giving off more sounds from the notification.When the group started descending the stairs, the cameras upstairs started behaving in the same manner. As opposed to motion sensing equipment, his cameras were controlled by the software and any changes in the scenery, anything at all the software detected was moving, caused the cameras to follow.He got more notifications, this time from the software handling the sound recorders as the family was almost down t

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    He felt it. Even with only one anchor out, an anchor that was latching on to the man who kept giving off pained vibes, he felt it. A deep kind of anger. Anger that bordered on hate and malicious intent.He heard it too, the sudden rumbling and sounds of things breaking, of things being thrown around. As fast it came, the heavy emotion disappeared. He was unnerved.He had spent decades honing his skills, his ability. He could do the same thing and flood the entire area, even beyond the house with the same vibe and probably make it just as strong but for it to vanish that quick, in an instant. That was something that took more than just years of training.Like it was never there. Fascinating.His was like smoke, the old man had told him. When he flooded an area with an emotion, it gradually disappeared. It may hang around, for those who feel more deeply than others, but it fizzles out the moment he stops concentrating on keep it up. This one was different. It came and went in almost the

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    Emmy was thankful that despite their fears, all the grown-ups seemed to understand the unspoken rule – no talking about paranormal things while the children were present.It was already late, but the children enjoyed the snacks she had prepared anyway. Normally, the family would be upstairs already at this hour and even if they weren’t the children would be yawning on the couch as they watched the TV. Tonight, the children did not show a hint of sleepiness. The sisters chatted happily as they snacked.Jon joined in and had coffee. Matt followed shortly and engaged Jon in a conversation about his hobby and the different kinds of equipment he used. Cain came in and joined them at the table, asking for a cup of coffee too.Cain and Emmy talked about their previous occupations. As Cain did not have any, most of the conversation flowed towards Emmy’s previous jobs. She spoke about her plans on picking her online gig back up once internet was available in the house again.As Matt sat with h

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    He focused on Jon’s face almost like he was seeing through it. As the background blurred, Cain he noticed two things that almost sent him into a panic. Gina’s energy was flaring. It doubled, sometimes tripled in size as she watched Jon screaming. Jon’s energy was disappearing drastically.There has only been two instances where he has witnessed people walking around without the colors their energies gave off, the last one being the person who interviewed them. In all other cases, when people’s colors waned, they died.Still, it was possible for people to continue living without them, so he hoped. By the time Jon stood up, the colors were gone.Jon fought his hold on him. He could see that Jon did not recognize any of them.“Close your eyes Jon. It’s me. It’s Cain.”“What’s happening to him?” Matt asked.“He’s hallucinating. It looks like he does not recognize any of us.” He explained. “Matt, go and get the ropes!”Matt made a run for Jon’s station. Emmy withdrew to the far end of the

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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