The Evil Within

by William King

  The warmth and coziness suddenly vanished from the living room and a coldness, nothing like I have ever felt before consumed me, slowly creeping its way through my body and into my bones. I could sense a presence with me, one in which I was no way a match for, I could feel it as it stalked my being.

  I shouted, “In God’s name, why have you transformed this magnificent manor into an old dilapidated single story shack, and aged anyone within it sixty plus years?

  Why do you walk this earth amongst the living?”

  The uncomfortable coldness that filled the room had vanished, leaving behind an awful smell that resembled that of a rotting carcass. I turned to my left and there lying on the end table was the Demon Ring. I knew that the supernatural force that had left it sure did not mean it as a token of friendship. This must be one of the fallen angels, knowing all too well that the Demon Ring could not harm them. It now occurred to me that our deliverance would be slow in coming, and the only thing I could do was be patient and wait.

  I grabbed the Demon Ring and slipped it onto one of my fingers. However, I soon realized that it was draining my body of its energy. So quickly in fact, that I had just enough life left in me to sit down in the recliner before I had passed out from the loss of energy, totally unaware of the supernatural forces taking place within the walls of the Blackwood Manor.

  When I awakened, I could feel the warmth of the sun shining through the windows into the living room onto my body. I looked over at the grandfather clock to see what time in the morning it was, and it was six o’clock, and the magnificent Blackwood Manor was transformed back to its original self. Once again, I had miraculously survived another Witching Hour, and acquired a Demon Ring to boot.

  Then Elizabeth popped into my mind. My God, I had left her passed out on the couch in the library. I rushed to the library and she was nowhere to be found. I wondered where she could be. Did she succumb to this hellish nightmare of the Witching Hour? Then it dawned on me, Alexandrea, and knew exactly where I could find her. I quickly ran down the hall and up the stairs to Alexandrea’s room and there she was, standing next to Alexandrea’s lifeless body, once again young and virile.

  My heart cried out to her in silence, as I saw tears gently running down her soft white cheeks. The love and respect that Elizabeth had for this woman, who now laid before her like a wax figure of someone she had known long ago was almost more than I could bear. Therefore, I swiftly took Elizabeth by her arm and pulled her out of the room, as her torment seemed to tear away at my very soul. I held her as we both walked back to the library where we sat down on the couch and soaked up the warmth of the sunrays that shinned through the windows, warming our chilled bodies. It seemed like an eternity before I was able to speak, but I spoke up and said, “Let’s go get some breakfast Elizabeth. I will make us some waffles and sausage with maple syrup to top it off.”

  “Alright Mason, I am starving.”

  Therefore, I got out the waffle mix, poured it into a bowl, added some water, and started mixing away until it was all mixed evenly together. I poured the mix into the waffle maker and put some sausage on the skillet for the both of us. The smell of the sausage filled the kitchen, making me hungrier. As I set Elizabeth’s plate on the table, I laughed and said, “Damn I am a great cook aren’t I?”

  Elizabeth laughed as well and said, “Mason Williams, you sure can brighten up a room, that is for sure, and are quite an attractive man if I do say so myself.”

  When we finished eating our breakfast, we went to sit in the library to talk about what our next move would be. As we sat there talking and sipping our hot tea we noticed that the morning was flying by. In fact, it was already ten o’clock when I said, “Elizabeth, I have an idea that might just save Alexandrea.”

  Elizabeth bluntly replied, “What in the world are you talking about Mason, Alexandrea is already dead!”

  “No! I do not believe that she is Elizabeth, that could not be farther from the truth. I believe that Alexandrea’s body has been possessed by an evil supernatural force unlike anything that I have ever seen, and there is still the possibility that she can be saved.”

  The statement brightened her aura right up, and she gave me her full attention with a surprised look on her face and said, “How do you plan on saving Alexandrea?”

  “Well first of all Elizabeth. I am going to bless every room throughout the Blackwood Manor by sprinkling Holy Water on the floors while saying a special prayer. Then I will try banishing the supernatural entity from within her body, which is not an easy task. In fact, it is tremendously difficult to do. Elizabeth, I want you to know that this procedure will only work with the weaker and lower level demons, and does nothing at all to the fallen angels. In most cases this just aggravates and enrages them even further.”

  “Very well Mason, let’s get to it, daylight is wasting, and midnight will be here before we know it.”

  “Alright Elizabeth, come help me get the things that I need from my room to start the cleansing process, so we can remove the evil supernatural force from within the Blackwood Manor. I think that we should start upstairs since that is where Alexandrea’s room is located. I will start out by saying a cleansing spell. Keep a watchful eye out for any trouble.”

  “Alright Mason, go for it. I believe that I am as ready as I will ever be.”

  “Here it goes!”

  We drive you evil from this place, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, demons, satanic powers, all inferior invaders, stop deceiving us human beings and poisoning our souls with your eternal damnation. Be goneI say, the bloodline of Lucifer, who is the inventor and master of all deceit, the enemy of man’s salvation. Stop now and flee this place at once, I command you.

  By the time we had finished with the cleansing of the Blackwood Manor it had taken the entire day, and it was now well past eight o’clock in the evening.

  “Well Elizabeth, that took entirely longer than I had originally expected it to. Have you seen or heard anything unusual since we had started the cleansing?”

  “As a matter of fact Mason, I had noticed that everything in the Blackwood Manor seems to be way to quiet.”

  “Well I guess the only other alternative we have now is to try an exorcism on Alexandrea.”

  We made our way into her bedroom and noticed that she was still lying in her bed, lifeless, like a wax figure. I touched her arm and she was cold, like an ice cube.

  “Elizabeth, I want you to hold the Holy Water and stand directly behind me when I start this exorcism. This is going to be very dangerous for all three of us. Alright, here it goes!”

  Almighty God, Lord of all creation, who gave to your Holy Apostles the power to tramp underfoot the malevolent serpents and scorpions who along with the other mandates to work miracles and grant them the authority and power to say, depart you demon and by whose might Lucifer was made to fall from the heavens like lightning. I humbly call upon you asking that you grant me the will and steadfast faith I need along with the power of your might to confront this evil and expel this evil demon from this loving and kind woman.

  It was at that moment that we heard a loud screech coming from within the Blackwood Manor. The plastered walls of the Manor shook violently, and things began to fly around the room. I wondered just how long the old place could stand the tremendous forces being released upon it. Then suddenly, I heard a hissing sound directly behind me, and as I turned around to get a glance of what it was, an evil force with unimaginative powers grabbed me by the throat. Within an instant, the life was quickly sucked out from within my body, and I was barely conscious. The only thing that I can distinctly remember is the room having a very strong smell of rotting flesh, as I lost consciousness.

  When I awakened, it was already past midnight and the Witching Hour was at hand. Once again, the super-natural forces had transformed the Blackwood Manor into a single story dilapidated old shack, and Elizabeth and I were now aged sixty plus years. Everything was quiet at the moment, but in shambles. This was the
first sign of violence encountered since arriving at the Blackwood Manor, but I knew there was more to come. I had cheated them out of Elizabeth and the Blackwood Manor, and the supernatural force was informing me that I was not about to cheat them out of Alexandrea without a fight.

  When I asked Elizabeth what happened while I was unconscious, and how long I out was, a very strange look appeared on her face. She stared at me, frozen in time, as I asked her a second time, “Elizabeth what happened to me, and how long was I unconscious?”

  “Mason, it was most unbelievable. I sat beside you the entire time that you were unconscious and saw the unimaginable happen. You are not going to believe what I am about to tell you. I distinctly got the impression that there were two supernatural forces within this room tonight.”

  “Two supernatural forces, Elizabeth are you sure?”

  “Yes! If I interpreted the entire situation right, they were fighting over the both of us, who are the only living people left in the Blackwood Manor. There were times when your entire body thrashed around the room until I thought every bone in your body must be crushed. Then your body would lay lifeless, suspended in mid-air while the supernatural forces proceeded with their ungodly battle.”

  “Elizabeth, was there a smell of rotting flesh in the room?”

  With a blank look on her face, she tried her best to remember.

  “Rotting flesh, yes, I am pretty sure that it smelled like rotting flesh, or like something dead. I noticed the strong smell when your body was forcefully moved towards the couch by the supernatural force, and then there was some sort of an interruption in the fighting, and everything in the room became very quiet. In fact it became so quiet that you could actually hear a pin drop onto the kitchen floor.”

  “Elizabeth, I could be wrong here, but I do think there are two supernatural beings in this house, a good one, and an evil one.

  However, we had no way of knowing which one was which. A seed of thought was already beginning to grow within my mind, but I was not about to let Elizabeth know, not just yet. I had a strong hunch that whoever or whatever carried the scent of rotting flesh was indeed a female fallen angel, and a very powerful one at that. I knew that the next time the opportunity arose I would know for sure.

  I was certain that the supernatural forces within the Blackwood Manor where in fact most assuredly ready to do battle for the two of us, but why? That answer could take longer than we had to figure out, and I doubt we would survive very long. How long would these two supernatural beings play with our lives were any ones guess.

  I knew one thing for sure, and that was, I was not about to sit around helplessly while we waited for one or the other to win. The stakes were much too high. We would have to put off any further confrontation with these supernatural beings. At least until we knew if Alexandrea was either terminally dead, or I released the supernatural force that had taken her body hostage. Deep down I knew that I could not accomplish this terrifying task. The end would be a bitter one when it came, and I sure hoped that the battle did not require more power than I had to give. My mind whirled with questions to which I had no answers. I also knew that unless I somehow found those answers we were in for a rough ride in a hellish nightmare that could very well lead us both to our death.

  However, if I could find a way to relinquish this evil supernatural force from Alexandrea’s body, would she be the same person she had once been? I said nothing to Elizabeth, as I did not want to cause her anymore-needless worries.

  It was around four o’clock in the morning when the two of us finally went to bed. The ticking of the clock was intensifying, keeping me from going to sleep. I felt as though its ticking were a time bomb just waiting to explode. All that I could think about was, even if I could manage to rid Alexandrea’s body of this supernatural entity, was she going to be her old self again? I knew that Elizabeth would feel even worse if I brought her back and she was not completely herself again. I had seen that happen before, and it was not a pretty sight. I was not going to alarm Elizabeth about this. It would kill her to have her last shred of hope striped away from her now. There was always the slim chance that I could be wrong. All I could do now was wait and pray that what I was going to do would turn out to be the right thing to do.

  Somehow, I managed to fall sleep with the ticking of the clock, but it was short lived. I suddenly awoke from a deep sleep to the strong smell of roses. My eyes popped open as wide as they could possibly be, but in the darkness, I could see nothing. My ears strained just listening for the sound of any movement when I heard a voice, a dull and whispery sound of a woman’s voice saying, “Leave this place now, leave this place while you still can, before it’s too late. I will try to help you if I can, but you must go this instant. Alexandrea cannot leave with you, she belongs to Bastelet now.”

  I jumped up onto my feet and yelled, “Who the hell are you, and why have you invaded the Blackwood Manor? What do you want with Elizabeth and Alexandrea?”

  I heard the voice again, but this time it said, “The answers you seek go back thousands of years,” and then all was silent. I ran over and flipped the bedroom light on but to my surprise, there was absolutely no one in the room with me but myself. There was one thing that I knew for sure, and that was there was something peculiar about the voice that I just heard. I could have sworn that I heard it somewhere before, but where, I did not know. I wondered if I dared to trust anything that the woman’s voice had said, but then, did I dare not to. I knew that this time I should not take another chance of keeping this a secret from Elizabeth. However, the decision had to be made by her, and only her.

  I dressed as quickly as I could and made my way down the hall to Elizabeth’s room. Before I got to her room, I had the strangest feeling that she would not be there when I opened the door, but I had to make sure. I got to the bedroom door, paused for a brief moment before slowly opening it just enough to reach inside for the light switch, and flicked it on. Nonetheless, it was as I had expected, Elizabeth was not in her room. I flicked the light switch off, closed the door to her room behind me, and headed down the hall to Alexandrea’s room. As I made my way to her bedroom door, I paused for a brief moment once in front of it to gather my strength, then slowly opened it, and walked inside. Alexandrea’s body had still rested in a trance like state of some sort, as if she had been frozen in time. Elizabeth was in the room as well. However, she was standing beside the bed leaning over Alexandrea’s body, as if she too was in some strange trance, just looking down at her with no movement whatsoever.

  I yelled in a firm voice saying, “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, are you alright, can you hear me?”

  However, it was as if it fell on deaf ears, as she never heard my voice, even though I was yelling. I turned and glanced at Alexandrea and said, “Oh God in heaven do not do this to her.”

  Alexandrea’s eyes were open as wide as they could have possibly been, and then quickly rolled back into her head, leaving only the whites of her eyes visible, as if she had still somehow been possessed. The whites of her eyes were locked onto Elizabeth’s eyes. I grabbed Elizabeth’s arm, pulling as hard as I could, trying to break whatever supernatural force was holding her there, but it was no use. No matter how hard I pulled, I could not turn her attention away from Alexandrea. It was like trying to move a car, she would not budge one bit. The only thing that I could think of at the moment was to get the Demon Ring. Therefore, I ran down the hall into my bedroom, retrieved the Demon Ring out from within my duffel bag, and placed it on my middle finger. Right away, I could feel the immense power of the ring. I could feel it draining the life from my body, but fought it off the best that I could, as I ran back into Alexandrea’s room. Even though I had never used the Demon Ring before, and had no idea of how to use it, I aimed it right at Alexandrea and commanded the super-natural force that had possessed her to leave her body at once.

  Suddenly, the unbelievable happened, the true power of the Demon Ring started to show its effect on whatever supernatural force
was holding Alexandrea’s body hostage. Her tormented screams filled the room with a glass shattering affect, which will leave me scared for the rest of my life. I knew that the Demon Ring was having an effect on Alexandrea, but it was in no means powerful enough to kill the supernatural force that held her body hostage. The sight of her was indescribable, and the evil that was within her sent chills through my body, making the hair on my arms stand straight up, as if there was a massive amount of electrical discharge within the bedroom.

  The voice I heard said, “You will never take her away from me, she’s mine forever.”

  Then right before my eyes, she disappeared in a thick cloud of black smoke. My only consolation was that it had never really been Alexandrea at all that I had used the Demon Ring on, only an evil supernatural force taking her form. I tried to talk to Elizabeth and snap her out of the trance that she was in but she only looked at me with hatred, which had matched the evil words that had come from Alexandrea’s impersonator.

  “Elizabeth, you have to listen to me. I did not kill the Alexandrea that you knew and loved so dearly. Yeah,sure, it looked like her, but that is what it was intended to do. Elizabeth, do you really believe that the real Alexandrea would have tried to take possession of your soul? I am terribly sorry to tell you this, but the real Alexandrea is gone forever.”

  She stood there ashamed, as tears flowed down her soft pale cheeks, completely vulnerable, just like a small child. I could tell as she spoke to me that her words held no conviction whatsoever, and she no longer cared what happened to her.

  “Mason, I knew deep down when Alexandrea had looked at me it was not her, but when she opened her eyes and looked up at me I could not move a muscle. All I heard was her voice saying that she wanted me to come with her. I kept hearing it repeatedly inside my head saying, ‘Come on Elizabeth, come with me, we are going home’. She repeated it over and over until I lost all consciousness.”