by Mark Tufo
“Help me! Let me out!” She screamed.
“Cara.” A familiar voice came from behind her. She turned slowly to see her father standing a few feet behind her. He looked young and healthy. Not like the frail, sick man she remembered.
“No, you can’t be here.”
“I am here, sweetie.” Cara’s father was holding Sally in his left hand. He reached out to hand her the doll. She pressed back into the door as far away from the doll as she could.
“You’re dead. You can’t be here.”
“I came back here for a little while to help you. I knew that you were in trouble. I can’t let my baby girl get hurt. Especially not when I am going to be a Grandpa.” He moved a step towards her.
“Stay back away from me. You are not my Father!”
“I am your Daddy, Cara-mel. Remember, that’s what I used to call you when you were little. My sweet little Cara-mel. Come here and let Daddy hold you on more time.” Cara softened at the use of her childhood nickname. She relaxed her death grip on the door handle.
“That’s right, sweetie. I want to help you. I want to make all of this go away. Just come here and hug your ole Daddy.” He put his arms out in a welcoming gesture.
Cara relaxed and went to him. She melted into his arms as she smelled the familiar aftershave he used when she was a child. He hugged her tightly and kissed her on the top of the head. He let her loose and smiled. She was crying so hard now that her father looked like he was standing in a rain storm.
“It’s really you, Daddy?” She felt like the eight year old that had watched him slip into death all those years ago. "Why is this happening?"
"Because Cara-Mel, it is time for her to rise again. She will rule." Cara pulled away from him.
"What did you say?"
"She is the bringer of nightmares and disease. She is hungry."
"You're not my father." Cara said as she backed away.
"I am so much more." The thing posing as her father said as his face began to change. The skin on his neck began to move as though things were crawling underneath it, and his eyes bulged. His hair grew and changed. His clothing faded into an old style dress with a high collar. Then, standing before Cara was the woman in the picture. She was still holding the doll in her hand. Her eyes were bulged and a noose hung limply around her deformed neck. She stared at Cara and began to laugh a deep maniacal cackle. Cara covered her ears and shook her head as the woman smiled at her.
"They will all die! Your baby will die!" The dead woman laughed as she danced around in a circle.
"Help me!" Cara screamed.
"No one will help you!" The woman turned and skipped to where Cara was standing against the door. It reached out to touch her stomach. As Cara tried to scramble away, she heard the voices of children in her head. The woman stopped and looked around. She heard it, too.
"You won't stop me!" She screamed to the air. "I will rule again!"
"You are a bad, mean lady." It was the voice of the little blond girl Cara had seen days before. The door that Cara had been leaning against opened. Cara fell backwards as the woman reached out and swiped at her stomach. As Cara landed on her backside outside the door, the woman disappeared.
20.
When Ben and Rick got into the dining room, Hank was trying his best to hold Becky still in the chair. The two men looked on in horror as she struggled against his grip.
"If it's not too much trouble, guys, could I have some rope?" Hank asked through clenched teeth. Rick snapped back to reality and ran over with the rope. He circled it around Becky's shoulders and tied it in the back. She continued to buck and kick. Ben worked on tying her hands to the chair arms.
"Fuck you!" She screamed as she tried to get her hands free. Ben was working on her feet as Rick tied more rope around her midsection.
"Who are you?" Hank asked.
"I'm the one who is going to kill your daughter." Becky laughed.
"What is your name, Demon?"
"Demon?" The thing inside of Becky laughed. "I am no demon, old man. I am a Goddess. Daughter of the Sky God. The bringer of disease and the Eater of men."
Hank suddenly heard the voices of children. They were coming from all around them. The thing in the chair twisted and writhed as though the voices were causing it pain.
"NO!" It bellowed. "YOU WILL NOT STOP ME!"
Becky's head dropped to her chest and her body went completely still.
"Oh my God, where is Cara?" Ben asked as he looked around.
"She went to get you." Hank replied, looking worried. Just then, they heard a scream coming from the foyer.
"Help me!" It was Cara. Ben ran out to find her. As he got to the foyer, the door to her art studio flung open and Cara fell out onto her ass. He reached down to help her up and make sure that she was alright. When he touched her, she screamed and turned to him, arms flailing in defense.
"Calm down, baby. It's me, it's me."
"Is it really you, Ben?" she stopped flailing and looked at his face.
"Yes, it's really me." He helped her up and they walked back to the dining room in silence.
21.
"I think I found something." Hank said as they reentered the dining room. "Are you both alright?"
"We're fine."
"First, tell me what happened in the garage."
Rick told the story of their ordeal in the garage, and then Cara relayed the scene from the studio. Hank listened intently and never interrupted. After both stories were finished, he opened the big book sitting on the table.
"I believe I know who we are dealing with." He began reading from the book. "In Mesopotamian mythology, Lamashtu was a female demon or malevolent goddess who menaced women during childbirth and kidnapped children while they were breastfeeding. She was a daughter of the Sky God Anu.
"Lamashtu was said to act in malevolence of her own accord, rather than at the gods' instructions. Her evils included slaying children, unborns, and newborns, torturing mothers and expectant mothers, eating men, drinking their blood, disturbing sleep, bringing nightmares, and being a bringer of disease, sickness, and death."
"Does it say how to get rid of her?" Cara asked.
"No, it does not. We do have a few things that we can do to try and drive it away, though."
"Whatever we need to do, let's do it. I want this thing away from my wife." Ben was impatient to begin.
"There are some preparations. We need to gather some items. Cara, I need salt and water from the kitchen, bring bread and wine as well. If you have a rosary, or any amulet or item that is special to you, get that, too. Ben, stay with her at all times. Rick, open the cases, and get the smudges, the incense and candles. We aren't going to leave anything to chance here. Hurry back."
Everyone scurried off to get the items needed while Hank sat with Becky and prepared to try and drive away an evil like none he had ever encountered.
22.
Ben and Cara went to the kitchen and gathered the items needed. They took them back to the dining room. Hank was sitting in a chair, seemingly meditating, while Rick set up what looked like an altar on the table. They deposited the items for Rick to use and went upstairs to retrieve Cara's rosary.
As they walked out, Cara spotted Sally lying on the floor. She reached down and picked her up.
"She was always special."
"Then bring her, too." He kissed the top of her head. She flinched, remembering what the thing had done, posing as her father. "It's ok, baby. I won't let anything happen to you."
She smiled at him and started up the stairs. When they reached the master bedroom, Cara opened her jewelry box and pulled out the rosary her Grandmother had given her at her father's funeral. Ben took the crucifix from the wall above the door.
"I have to pee." Cara told Ben, sheepishly. Ben chuckled.
"Go ahead. I'll wait right here, or do you want me to go in with you?"
"I think I'll be ok."
"Maybe I should go in with you." Ben said, seriously.
"I'll be fine, really." She slipped into the bathroom as Ben sat down on the bed and waited. She shut the door and looked into the mirror. She looked awful. Her makeup was smudged, giving her the look of a sleep deprived raccoon. Her hair was tangled and matted with sweat. She felt bad for being vain at a time like this, but she thought it might make her feel better to at least brush her hair. She finished her grooming as quickly as she could and then sat down on the toilet. As she finished her business, she started feeling woozy. The room started to spin out of control. She tried to cry out, but the vertigo took her over and she lost consciousness.
23.
Ben was about to call out to Cara when the bathroom door opened and she came out. She had brushed her hair and washed her face.
"I was starting to get worried."
"No need, I'm done." She walked over to where Ben was sitting on the bed and stood above him, smiling. Cara reached her hands out and put them on his shoulders. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. He kissed her stomach and rested his head where their baby was growing.
"I love you, Cara. We'll get out of here, I promise."
"I love you, too" she said as she leaned down and kissed him deeply. She pushed him back on the bed and climbed on top of him, still kissing him passionately.
"We shouldn't do this." He protested, weakly. Cara pulled his t-shirt off and kissed his smooth chest. He moaned with delight as she removed her shirt as well.
"Cara." She took his nipple into her mouth, gently sucking, exactly the way he liked.
"Cara." She reached down, unbuttoned his jeans and slipped her hand inside. He gasped as her soft hand cupped him and gently squeezed.
"Cara, no." She was alternately stroking him and squeezing. He couldn't believe how good it felt. She was grinding her hips into him, and he found his hips rising to meet hers. A preview of what was to come. Soon, he would be at the point of no return. He knew that they shouldn't be doing this, but it felt so good. He was rock hard and ready to be inside of her. Ben reached up and grabbed the waistband of her pants. He pulled them down as she inched his jeans down enough to free his throbbing member. She settled on top of him and began gyrating. He put his hands on her rotating hips and thrust into her in perfect rhythm. She felt so warm and wet that he was already reaching his boiling point. He sat up and held her tight, kissing her shoulder. She began thrusting faster and faster. He was almost there. As he let his orgasm take him over, he looked up into the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door.
What he saw there was not his beautiful wife; it was a monster that he could never design, even in his worst nightmares. This beast that straddled him in the mirror had hair all over its body. Its feet looked like the talons of a huge bird of prey. It had a head that resembled a lion. He watched the reflection in horror as the monster raised its hands. The fingers on its hands were twice the length of normal fingers, each topped off with a two inch razor sharp claw. As Ben tried to scream, the monster plunged its head into his throat and sunk its teeth into the soft flesh. He felt a searing pain, and then he felt warm blood gushing down his chest. As he died, the thing continued sucking the blood from his oozing neck. The last thing he thought as he slipped away forever was 'I promised.'
24.
Cara felt like she had been hit by a truck. Her vision was blurry and her head ached. She was still sitting on the toilet with her pants around her feet. She stood up, embarrassed, and pulled her pants up. She must have passed out for a second from all this stress. She double checked herself in the mirror, and then headed out of the bathroom to get Ben.
She opened the door and walked into her worst nightmare. She saw Ben lying on the blood soaked bed with his pants pulled down around his knees. She ran over and tried to wake him.
"Ben, honey, wake up! Please wake up! PLEASE WAKE UP! Oh my God!" She wailed as she pulled him into her arms. "Please wake up! Don't leave me. Please don't leave me." His lifeless head lolled to the side, further exposing his ravaged throat.
She couldn't stand to look at him anymore. She thought that if she looked at his torn neck one more time, she might actually die of grief. She laid him back down on the bed, kissed his forehead, and proceeded to pull his pants up. She couldn't let anyone see him like that. She took the rosary, crucifix and doll from the bed. As she walked out of the room, she turned out the light and headed downstairs.
"I love you, baby."
25.
When Cara entered the dining room, Rick dropped the burning sage smudge on the ground. He scrambled to pick it up, and then went to her to see if she was alright.
"He's dead." She sat emotionless in the chair next to Hank.
"We have to hurry." Hank said, wasting no time on condolences. "Becky?"
She stirred in her seat and looked up at her dad.
Hank snapped his fingers in front of her face. Awareness spread across her face like morning sunshine.
"Yes, it's me." She said, coming out of her fog.
"We need to begin. Can we untie your hands?"
"Yes."
"Rick." Hank directed him to untie Becky's hands so that she could participate in the ritual.
Hank lifted the cover of the thurible and placed the myrrh resin on top of the charcoal block. As the smoke billowed out of the censer, he began speaking.
"I am going to say a prayer to purify myself. I need to be cleansed in order to perform this exorcism."
"Exorcism? Can you do that?" Cara exclaimed from a deep fog of grief and misery.
"Before I was an investigator, I was a Catholic Priest. I met Becky's mother and left the priesthood, but I still believe. We need to banish this evil from the house, and from you. I need to drive it away, or at least weaken it enough so that we can get out of here."
He leaned down so that he was eye level with Cara. He needed her to hear everything he said, very clearly.
"Cara, I am so sorry for your loss. Right now, we need to concentrate on saving your baby. You need to do everything I ask of you. Everything. Do you understand me?"
She blinked her eyes and looked at him, blankly.
"I understand." She said through a fresh sheet of tears.
Hank lifted the thurible again and began to swing it over the table and around the room, sending plumes of sweet smoke in wisps over each person.
" Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of heaven, descend upon me. Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself, and use me. Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanquish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds. Banish from me all spells, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical ailments. Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world. I command and bid all the powers who molest me by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary."
As he recited this prayer, Becky occasionally grunted and shifted in her chair. Hank ignored her and continued on.
"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen"
He put the censer down on the table and lit the white candles.
"Everyone needs to join hands so that we can pray."
Rick reached over and clasped Becky's restrained hand in his right, and Cara's in his left.
Hank took Cara's hand in his right, and completed the circle by taking Becky's in his left. As soon as they linked hands, everyone at the table seemed to be gripped by a convulsion so forceful that it sent them into uncontrollable spasms.
In Hank's mind, a sort of movie began to play.
26.
Laura opened the door to her new home with a flourish. She surveyed the rooms. The wallpaper that she had chosen complimented the furniture perfectly.
The young man that had driven her brought her bags in and set them in the foyer. He was jittery and nervous. Laura dismissed him with a dollar tip. He seemed grateful to be finished with the task as he headed out the door.
She removed her stole and hat as she continued to look over her new castle. She smiled and nodded her approval to the empty room.
Six months later, Laura was welcoming a young woman into the foyer. She smiled a warm smile as she sat the young girl down at the kitchen table. Laura's pregnant belly made it more difficult for her to move around, but she still managed.
The young girl looked frightened as she took a sip of the water that Laura offered her.
"What can I do for you, young lady?" she asked sweetly.
"I've gone and got myself in trouble, Ma'am." The girl said, casting her eyes downward.
"What do you intend to do about it?"
"I heard that you could help a girl in my situation. I have money. Sixty dollars." The girl dropped her money on the table and began to cry.
Laura swooped it up off of the table and put it into her apron pocket. She took the girl's hand and led her down the hallway to the basement door.
Another young woman lay in the upstairs bedroom, waiting to hold her newborn baby. She was excited to see the little boy that she had named Jacob. Her husband was on his way over from his job, and she was checking her hair in a little hand mirror when a no longer pregnant Laura entered the room. When the woman saw that Laura did not have Jacob, she was concerned. Laura sat down and explained to her that Jacob had stopped breathing and she had been unable to revive him. The woman began wailing in despair and buried her face in her hands. Laura placed a consoling hand on the woman's head and smiled gleefully.
