The Demonic: A Supernatural Horror Novel

by Lee Mountford

  Something was happening. He mother’s eyes were rolling back, and she began to bang her head on the floor, as if there were something inside of it causing her pain. But, in that moment when their eyes met, Leah saw so much agony and sadness in her mother’s eyes that her own heart broke.

  The thought of running away and leaving her and Alex behind wrenched at her gut. How could she do that?

  She was still certain that she couldn’t help her family. How could she? She was only a seventeen-year-old girl. This demon—that possessed her father, and seemed to command the souls of the dead—was so far beyond her, so much more powerful, that going up against it was futile. Anything other than running away was pointless, and a waste of her life.

  But she had to help them.

  If this act of selflessness was to be her last—and bring about the end of her life—then so be it.

  Leah had no real plan, but she had seen how her mother had set the main house ablaze, and how that had seemed to stop the entities in there—enough for the two of them to escape, anyway. An idea formulated, but she would need something to stuff inside the neck of the bottle to hold a flame.

  She used her left foot to push the boot off her right, and slid off her sock. The air was biting cold on her bare foot and, as quietly as possible, she unscrewed the top of the alcohol, the strong smell immediately assaulting her. She quickly jammed the sock into the opening and pushed it farther down with her thumb.

  Now, if she could just light the sock she’d have a makeshift weapon. One that could quite easily burn them all alive if things went wrong.

  Next, she needed to get to the torch, but in doing so she would be seen—there was no way to avoid that. It was too close to her mother, and therefore too close to her father, and that thing. It would illuminate her to them all. She just hoped she could act quickly enough, and the threat of fire would be enough of a deterrent to give them time to escape.

  Leah buried the intense fear down as far as she could and sprang to her feet, running to the torch. She swiped it up, just as her father, and that thing, turned to her.

  She made sure not to look at the monster, only her father, who frowned.

  ‘What are you doing, Leah?’ he asked sternly.

  Leah held the flame up to the sock, setting it alight. She had no idea how long it would take for the material to burn away, giving the flame access to the golden fuel beneath. ‘Let Mom go, Dad. I mean it. I won’t let you hurt her.’

  ‘Put that down!’ he screamed, his previous, unnatural calm suddenly shattered.

  ‘No!’ she shouted back, holding the bottle above her head. ‘I won’t. I won’t end up like one of those things back in the house. I’ll burn first.’

  ‘You don’t mean that,’ her father said and stood up.

  ‘Yes, I do,’ Leah said, and she saw her mother roll away, still moaning. Her father held out a large hand.

  ‘Give it to me, girl. Now.’

  Leah shook her head. She would not back down.

  ‘Untie Alex and then let us go, then you can have this. But not until.’

  ‘You don’t have it in you, Leah. You’re a coward, just like your mother. I’m surprised you both didn’t run away when you had the chance.’

  ‘Well, we didn’t,’ Leah said, seeing her mother pull herself to her knees, gulping in air. She seemed shaky and unsteady, however she made eye contact with Leah and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

  ‘Well, we didn’t run,’ Leah said, holding her father’s attention. ‘We came back here. And we won’t give in to that fucking thing, whatever it is.’

  ‘You don’t have a choice.’

  Leah saw her mother begin to climb up one of the vertical timber struts, making her way over to Alex.

  ‘Yes, we do. And so did you, but you gave up. We aren’t the cowards. You are!’

  Her mother climbed higher still, disappearing from the dim light cast from the flame of the bottle and into shadows that actually seemed to swim through the air. The horrible, monstrous thing stood directly behind her father, like a puppet master keeping its toy out ahead to act out its will.

  Her father then took a step forward. ‘That’s a lot of talk,’ he said. ‘But you still haven’t thrown the bottle. And I can see it in your eyes, you look exactly like what you are: a scared little girl.’

  Leah raised the bottle higher, genuinely ready to throw it at his feet, but she stopped herself. The man before her had the body of her father, but it wasn’t him. It was that thing controlling him. Somewhere inside, her father might still exist. And, if she acted as she wanted to, not only would she put her mother and Alex in danger, but she would also be responsible for killing her father.

  The real man, the one she knew, the one she loved, was a good man. One she was proud to call her father.

  This conflict remained unsolved, and it gave him his chance to act. He quickly stepped forward and yanked the bottle from Leah’s hand.

  ‘Told you,’ he said with a smile and grabbed a handful of her hair. She cried out as he violently shook her head. ‘Silly little bitch. You’ll learn to do as you’re told.’

  Leah still had the torch in her other hand, and she wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Her father may indeed still be inside there, somewhere, and she knew he wouldn’t want her to go down without a fight.

  She thrust the torch directly into his face.

  Her father screamed and stumbled back in pain. Now free, Leah stepped forward and pushed the fire into his face again.

  He floundered, but soon recovered and snatched the torch away from her, quickly plucking it from her grasp. Leah backed up and could smell the faint aroma of burning meat. When her father lifted his head back up with a look of absolute fury she could see raw burn marks bubble on the side of his face.

  ‘I’m going to fucking kill you,’ he said, seething.

  ‘Fine,’ Leah shouted back, feeling tears start to well up. This was it, she realised. She had failed to protect her family. He was going to kill her now. But at least she had tried. ‘Kill me, then. Kill Mom. Kill Alex, too. Kill us all. But just know one thing…’

  ‘And what is that?’

  He was gritting his teeth, still holding the torch and bottle. Leah was braced for what was going to happen to her. But, before it did, she had a message for her father.

  Her real father.

  ‘That I don’t blame you,’ she said.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I know you would never do anything like this. I know this isn’t you. I want you to know, Dad, if you’re in there, that I love you.’

  He seemed to stop and cock his head like a confused dog.

  ‘I love you,’ she repeated and closed her eyes. ‘So, you can kill me now.’

  28

  JON KNEW he should be attacking his daughter right now.

  Killing her.

  Just like that thing was commanding him to.

  Gut her, destroy her, tear her limbs off. Desecrate her body, if she will not be turned. We have no need for the weak or the wounded. Rip out her throat.

  NOW.

  But Jon didn’t.

  He had been slowly losing himself since his arrival at this place without even realising it. Slowly, and unknown to him, this presence had enthralled him, chipped away at him, and taken him piece by piece. It had him now, he knew that, and his real consciousness seemed to exist somewhere beneath all the evil that now surged through his body.

  This evil, that had taken Alex and tied him up above them. That had hit Leah and threatened his family. And it used him to do all of these things, while he could only watch. His true self had been suffocated and smothered.

  But something changed, if only briefly.

  He first felt a flicker of free will stir when Leah had pushed the flaming torch into his face. The searing pain from the fire burned at his skin, and he felt a sliver of his old self come through. And then Leah’s words, so honest and pure, and so heart wrenching, woke him fully, allowing him some measure of c
ontrol.

  But already he could feel that thing weaken him again almost immediately.

  It would not release its hold.

  He could feel it desperately repressing him, pushing him back into that cocoon. But he also knew it was acting quickly, more quickly than it would like—which it had been doing this whole weekend. It seemed time was a key factor in fully consuming someone, time it did not have, so it acted out of necessity. And maybe given more time, Jon would have been helpless to rise up no matter what had happened, regardless of what Leah had said.

  But right now, there was an opportunity.

  He was aware that Danni had climbed the timber structure and was now working to free Alex. The creature knew this too.

  It just didn’t care.

  So sure was it that when Leah was dealt with, it could easily turn its attention to Danni and Alex—to slowly, and steadily, bring them under its control.

  However, that did not have to be the case. He had a few precious moments to act. And, if Danni was quick, then maybe, just maybe, they had a chance.

  He was lost to them, he knew that. He’d already felt the thing back inside his mind, putting forward convincing arguments as to why he should tear out Leah’s insides and shove them into her mouth as she died.

  He knew he didn’t have long.

  To do what needed to be done.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said to Leah.

  Then he turned to face the unknowable creature and held the bottle high above his head. He sensed its anger, and it made a move towards him, erupting with a sound born straight from hell.

  With the last of his own agency, his own control, Jon turned the bottle upside down and pulled out the material from the neck. This allowed the alcohol inside to run free and over the open flame.

  As the liquid poured over him it ignited, like a stream of fire.

  The pain hit immediately, and his skin began to burn. He fought against his natural reaction to stop, and let more of the pure alcohol fall from the neck of the bottle, causing more of the fire to spread over him.

  He began to scream in agony as it seared and bubbled his skin, burning it away. He heard Leah scream as well, and soon he was fully ablaze.

  A human torch.

  As well as burning away his skin and slowly stripping him of his life, the purity of the fire also scorched away the hold the creature had over him.

  His last moments, as painful as they were, could be filled with unwavering love for his family.

  And sorrow. Sorrow for failing them.

  But he had, hopefully, now given them a chance by sacrificing himself. He could at least hold on to that.

  With the last of his strength, Jon threw himself forward and took hold of the furious creature that had so controlled him. He had been powerless against it before, but his wife and daughter had given him the opportunity, and the strength, to try to make things right. He heard them both scream for him, but there was nothing they could do.

  They had already done enough for him.

  Their screams sounded far away now, and the thing began to fight back against him. Jon felt its hands pierce through his stomach and pull it open. Still he clung on, letting the blanket of purifying fire wrap over the monster as well.

  He thought of his family as his life burned away in a furious, scorching pain.

  29

  LEAH HAD GIVEN DANNI AN OPPORTUNITY.

  Until her daughter’s intervention, the monster that controlled her husband like a puppet had been in her head, probing at her mind.

  Pulling it apart.

  It was a violation like none imaginable. The things it suggested, the things it wanted her to do—and the way in which it made them seem reasonable—were horrifying. But Leah, yet again, had saved her. The girl, who had been a terrified shell for most of this weekend, had stepped up and saved Danni—twice.

  Once free of the horrifying creature’s mental torture, Danni acted on instinct and climbed as quickly as she could up the thin frame. She needed to get Alex down, quickly, then bring her kids to safety.

  She just hoped that Leah could keep talking Jon down. Already, she had managed to get the rope free and Alex, who was only semi-conscious, started to slip from the loose bonds. She had to hold onto him, to keep him from falling.

  Then she heard Jon tell Leah that he loved her.

  Before setting himself ablaze.

  Danni screamed as she watched her husband burn.

  He then moved forward like a human torch and started to wrestle with the thing, holding it back, giving his life to save them. As much as Danni couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and as horrifying and heartbreaking as it was watching her husband die, Danni knew she had to act and make use of the opportunity.

  She didn’t want to.

  Despite what had happened to him, she knew Jon, the real Jon, the only man she could ever truly love, and it killed her that she had to try to ignore what was happening to him so she could get her children to safety.

  ‘Mom,’ she heard Leah yell up. The girl was wide-eyed, terrified, and had tears streaming down her face. The brave girl now looked lost, not knowing what to do.

  Sickeningly, extra light was afforded by what was happening to Jon, and, what was more, it seemed to be burning away some of the unnatural darkness that hung inside the mill.

  ‘Leah,’ Danni yelled down, trying to stay focused in the face of the chaos. ‘I need you to catch Alex when he falls.’

  ‘But—’

  Danni didn’t let her finish, she couldn’t let Leah think it through. There was no time for it. She knew the fall might injure Alex, but better an injury than staying here to suffer a similar fate as his father. She pulled the last of the rope free, and Alex fell.

  Leah acted quickly, putting her body beneath her brother. She broke his fall as he landed heavily onto her, and the two collapsed to the floor.

  Danni leapt down as well, knowing she didn’t have time to climb.

  She hit the floor hard, and her already injured ankle rolled beneath her again. There an audible snap.

  Danni screamed.

  But there was no time for pain and certainly no time to acknowledge it. She dug deep, forced herself through it, and pushed herself up. Leah was already getting to her feet, trying to pull up Alex. Danni helped her, and both women took an arm, letting his body rest between them.

  ‘What about Dad?’ Leah asked, crying freely.

  ‘We need to go,’ Danni said, herself in tears, overcome with all that was going on. She started to move forward, and Leah followed.

  Alex was almost a dead weight. He was trying to use his legs, drifting in and out of conciseness, however he was all but limp. Danni tried to take most of his weight, but it was difficult, given her injured ankle, so it was Leah who picked up the slack. The two women dragged Alex to the door, not looking back. Leah reached for the handle and pulled it open, revealing the world outside.

  Freedom.

  As they crossed the threshold Danni felt Alex pulled from their grasp.

  Both girls spun around and saw that ungodly creature standing in the centre of the mill. Jon’s burning body lay slumped on the floor by its feet, and Danni could actually see his insides spilling from his stomach. The demon—or whatever the hell it was—stood close to them, at its full, impressive height.

  And it had Alex in its arms.

  30

  DANNI’S HEART felt like it had stopped, and her blood chilled.

  The demonic creature that had caused her so much pain throughout her life now had her son in its grasp. The young boy was regaining consciousness now, and a look of horrified realisation dawned over his face as the monster’s long hand closed completely around his throat.

  After all the misery this thing had caused her: taking her mother, her childhood, turning her father away from her, scarring her for life, and also taking her husband, now it planned to push her over the edge. To take something from her that she could not live without.

  It tightened
its grip, and Alex began to gurgle.

  The vile demon planned to kill one of her children, right before her eyes.

  ‘Alex!’ Leah yelled. ‘Let him go,’ she begged the creature. ‘Please, just let him go.’

  Danni clenched her fists.

  It would not let him go. Whatever this thing was, mercy and kindness were not in its makeup. The DNA of this demon consisted of hatred, evil, cruelty, and desecration.

  Run. Little bitch.

  Danni heard the thing speak to her in her mind. As it had before, when Jon had her pinned down. It had whispered things to her as it had torn at her sanity. Now, it was commanding her.

  Run away. And always remember how I tore this defective little runt limb from limb. If I cannot have you, then I can ruin you. Now run, and survive in pain and misery until you die, or take your own pathetic life.

  Alex’s face turned red, and his eyes went wide as the thing applied more pressure.

  ‘Leah,’ Danni said quietly to her daughter. ‘I need you to do something.’

  ‘Mom—’

  ‘Just listen,’ Danni said. She just needed Leah to act when the time was right. The young girl had already saved her twice, and now she needed Leah to get Alex to safety.

  And to leave Danni behind.

  For there would be no saving her.

  This demon, this evil, spiteful thing, would not take her son from her. Danni’s children would live on.

  ‘I need to get your brother out of here.’

  ‘Mom?’

  ‘Just do it, baby. You’ll know when.’ Danni then turned her head to her sweet, brave girl. Tears were in her eyes, but she tried to smile through it. ‘And don’t look back. Just take him and go. And always remember, I love you baby.’

  She put an arm around the confused girl and squeezed her tightly. She saw the realisation creep over Leah’s face and knew the girl was now figuring out what Danni was planning. Which meant she had to act now, before Leah tried to stop her.