by Wood, Rick
“Oscar, get over here!” she demanded, looking over her shoulder at him with a frantic glare.
Oscar jumped into the water, wading through, pushing against the resistance, willing himself quickly forward.
He reached the side of the boat by Kaylee’s feet and held onto her ankles, gripping tightly until it hurt his fingers, doing all he could to steady it and give Julian the best chance.
Julian stood, balancing precariously, steadying himself with immense difficulty.
The demon was in hysterics. The little girl’s mouth howled with echoing, deep, manic laughter. Its crotch rose slightly in the air, feet and arms stiffening like planks, convulsing in a seizure of malevolence.
Julian was not deterred. He withdrew his cross once more, kissing it, clutching it.
“Behold the cross of the Lord, the flee band of enemies,” Julian spoke, even more assertively, removing the rosary beads from around his neck.
“The lion of the tribe of Juda,” April spoke in response to Julian’s words, tightening her grip on Kaylee’s head until the veins of her hands stuck out. “The offspring of David hath conquered.”
Julian held the cross out to the demon.
“I send you back to where you came from. Foul demon, you may have taken us to steady water, but it is nothing like the pits of hell to which I will be sending you back, in God’s almighty name.”
For the first time, Oscar saw a flicker of terror across the demon’s face.
“May thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us,” Julian spoke, full of venomous confidence.
“As great as our hope in thee,” April offered in response.
Julian dropped to his knees, Oscar quickly reacting to grip the boat hard and stop it from capsizing. Julian pressed the cross against Kaylee’s heart and the demon cried out in pain, multiple anguished voices resounding from its mouth.
“From the snares of the devil!” Julian screamed out, clutching the cross harder and harder, pushing it further into the demon’s face. The more he did this, the more the demon cried out in pain.
“Deliver us, oh Lord!” April answered, angry splashes drenching her chest.
“That thy church may serve thee in peace and liberty – free this girl!”
“Deliver us, oh Lord!”
The girl seized in an uncontrollable fit. A visible struggle entwined her face, dancing between a hateful, angry expression and innocent eyes of a young girl in torment. Oscar and April did all they could to hold the boat still, but it shook with such a mighty rage, swaying uncontrollably from side to side, thrashing water into Oscar’s eyes.
“Crush down on all enemies of thy church, and release this girl in the name of God!”
“We beseech thee to hear us!”
The fit grew more and more violent until the girl was practically rising off the boat. April clambered into the wooden vessel, laying on top of her with all her weight to prevent Kaylee from flailing into drowning submission, meaning Oscar had to put all his strength into holding the boat still by himself.
“I command you demon, in the name of God, to leave this body!”
“We beseech thee to hear us!”
April’s eyes widened toward Oscar and she gestured with her eyebrows, encouraging him to join in the chant.
“Leave this girl, in the name of God!”
“We beseech thee to hear us!”
April waved her arm at Oscar to join in. He stood strong, full of assured resolve.
“In the name of God, I command you demon – leave this girl!”
Oscar joined in with April, “We beseech thee to hear us.”
April mouthed at him, “Louder.”
“I command you in the name of God, begone demon – be gone!”
“We beseech thee to hear us!” Oscar screamed out in unison with April.
The girl stiffened into a final contorted convulsion, then… nothing.
Her body lay flat on the boat.
Julian closed his eyes in satisfied exhaustion. April’s panting grew still, calmly subsiding until she was knelt in a gently rocking boat, breathing every breath of anxiety out.
The boat’s swaying back and forth lessened, tranquillity took over, until a loosely calm steady boat floated on a peaceful lake.
Oscar’s mental state gradually changed; from feeling like he had a head full of stressed voices screaming and screaming at him, to a quiet, empty mind of passive equanimity.
“Is it done?” Oscar asked.
Julian gestured for Oscar to go to his side. Slowly, and with an affirmative glance at April who responded with an encouraging nod, Oscar meandered to Julian.
“You have the gift of being able to see these demons, Oscar,” Julian told him. “I need you to place a hand on her head. I need you to tell me if it’s gone.”
“How will I know?”
“You will know if there is a demon there. Trust yourself.”
Oscar stretched an arm over the girl, her eyes wide and terrified. They were no longer red, no longer fully dilated; but were two pained, hazy, mortified eyes, full of both relief and sadness.
Lowering his arm cautiously, he gently placed it on the girl’s forehead. It was drenched with sweat, uncomfortably hot, and shivering manically. But he saw nothing.
There was no vision like before.
Nothing at all.
“It’s gone,” he confirmed.
Julian collapsed on the base of the boat beside a teary Kaylee. His shirt was drenched with lake water and perspiration, his face red, and his eyelids heavy.
April leant back, a hand resting on her forehead.
Her eyes turned to his.
She smiled. Nodded to him. And that was all he needed. He understood what it meant. “You did well, kid,” or something along those lines.
It had worked.
The girl was safe.
The demon was gone.
Oscar looked down upon Kaylee’s face once more. A solemn tear trickled down her cheek. She shook, a face wrapped up in relief and misery. Trauma that she still didn’t fully understand.
“I want my mum…” she whispered.
Oscar nodded, and helped drag the boat to the side of the lake so they could take her back to her mother.
29
By the time Kaylee had limped and stumbled up the stairs, Nancy was on her knees.
Oscar struggled to remain unemotional as he stood in the doorway, watching mother and father reunited with their daughter.
Behind him Julian still sat on the floor recovering. April was also resting after what had been a truly remarkably savage and enduring night, gently drying her hair with a kitchen towel.
But for Oscar, he couldn’t avoid witnessing this moment.
Perhaps April and Julian were used to it. They were immune to the emotions involved, or they just learnt not to watch this moment occur to save themselves from emotional torment.
Oscar wanted to savour it.
Nancy clung to her daughter with tight, gripping arms wrapped in a desperate embrace. Her crying was loud, but she didn’t care – and why should she? She had her daughter back.
Despite being in a cripplingly weakened state, Kaylee hugged tighter and tighter. None of the malevolent stares or sinister scowls remained. The sweet, innocent, extroverted child was back, though admittedly she was considerably wounded.
Oscar wasn’t even sure what mental state she would be in. For anyone, enduring possession must be a hard, daunting experience; but for a girl so young, it must have been beyond traumatic.
As Oscar watched mother and daughter continue to cling to each other, to hug, to cry, to console each other’s vastly externalised pain, his eyes drifted to Henry, the father.
Henry, who had also endured hard times. Being locked in a jail cell, accused of incredibly devastating allegations. He, too, must have a range of emotions.
Except, he didn’t.
He stood still, expressionless. Watching his family reunite. His limp hand vaguely rubbed his wife’s back i
n an attempt at frail reassurance. There was nothing about his face or body language that suggested he was flooded with complex feelings at the sight of this.
Still, people dealt with their emotions in different ways.
Maybe this was his way. Being stern and strong for his family.
Or maybe he was in fact guilty. Now it would come out.
Ridiculous thoughts. Stop it.
There was no doubt to be had.
This was a happy moment of a family sharing their love in their own ways, on what must be an overwhelming sense of relief.
Oscar felt a soft hand upon his back and recognised the touch as April’s.
“Come on,” she prompted him, walking forward and shaking Henry’s hand.
“Thank you so much,” Henry said, taking her hand firmly in his.
Maybe he was grateful then. Maybe he was just concealing his true state of mind.
Oscar looked over his shoulder to see if he could help tidy but found that Julian had somehow already packed everything up and was on his way.
Nancy stood and faced the Sensitives, still with her arms draped around her daughter.
“Please, stay,” she insisted. “Let me do something for you. Make you tea, get you some wine, anything, I don’t know…”
Julian planted a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Please, you don’t owe us anything. Enjoy having your family back. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
“But I can’t thank you enough…”
“Seeing you reunite with your daughter,” Julian spoke sincerely, “is reward enough.”
With a warm smile, a comforting nod, and a grateful handshake, he followed April down the stairs and through the front door.
Oscar nodded at Nancy, smiling as she continued to thank them. He then echoed Julian’s sentiments in placing a reassuring hand on Henry’s shoulder.
Then he paused.
There was something…
Henry smiled back at him.
And Oscar realised he was staying in the moment for too long. It was getting awkward.
So, with a nod, he followed his new companions out the front door and to the car.
“You can drive,” Julian informed April, then turned to Oscar, “and you can ride up front. I’m laying down in the back and going to sleep. I am shattered.”
“I’m not surprised,” responded Oscar honestly.
By the time Oscar had found his seat in the front, watched April turn the ignition, and looked over his shoulder at Julian – the guy was already asleep.
As April backed down the drive, Oscar watched the house grow smaller. He smiled resolutely as she directed the car to the motorway.
“How are you feeling?” April asked. “Your first exorcism. The first demon you’ve helped get rid of.”
“I’m feeling… pretty good, April. Pretty good.”
And for once, he was not lying.
He was feeling good.
He had helped do something worthwhile.
So he buried a deep, unsettling feeling that they were leaving something unfinished, and enjoyed the relaxing ride back down the M42 and onto the M5 toward his hometown of Tewkesbury.
30
The sign for junction 9 of the M5 passed by the window and the return journey was almost at an end.
Yet Oscar couldn’t shake his bad feeling.
He glanced at the back seat where Julian was still asleep, then to April, who drove with a yawn. Neither of them seemed perturbed in the same way he was. They were the ones with the experience. The knowledge. Surely, if something wasn’t entirely right, they would see it too.
Still, leaving the family’s home just hadn’t felt right.
It felt incomplete.
“What is it?” prompted April, noticing Oscar’s discontent.
“Nothing,” he lied. “I don’t know. It’s just…”
“Shocked?” April guessed. “First time, and you don’t know how to react?”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, it was shocking. But it’s just…”
April signalled to turn off the motorway, taking the slip road toward the roundabout. Once she had slowed down and paused at the traffic lights, she turned an inquisitive stare to Oscar, trying to read him, uncomfortable at his unease.
“What?” she asked, more urgency in her voice. “What is it?”
“It just feels, I don’t know, incomplete. Like there’s something–”
Then it dawned on him.
A sudden flash.
As he left.
He nodded at Nancy. Smiling at her.
Then he turned to Henry.
Kaylee’s father.
He placed a hand on his shoulder.
And then…
“Oh, God…” Oscar stuttered, lip trembling, arms shaking.
“What?” April frantically asked, trying to keep her eyes on the road at the same time as furiously glancing at Oscar. “What is it? What do you see?”
In Henry’s eyes…
A flicker of fire faded to red. Henry’s shadow engulfed the wall in a menacing shade of black, leering over the entire room, overwhelming their eyes with a black outline of shaded claws.
Behind Henry stood a beast.
Much like the one he had seen behind Kaylee at their first meeting, except this one was far bigger. Its carnivorous eyes and volcanic breath consumed the room in an air of fiery smoke. Oscar had an inexplicable feeling that he could not articulate – but was completely certain of – that he was in the presence of complete evil.
Oscar felt his body slip away. He began convulsing, seizing with large, fevered jolts. He foamed uncontrollably at the mouth, feeling the warm liquid soak his chin. In his vision, he saw a small black dot, a black dot that grew bigger and bigger, closer and closer, until that was all he saw.
Then he was back in the Kemple’s house.
Standing before Henry Kemple.
With his reassuring hand on the father’s shoulder, just where it had been before saying goodbye.
Except, there was something else. A beast. Guiding his every move with a dominant, snake-like arm, warped around Henry’s throat like Henry was just a puppet, and this thing a puppeteer.
Behind this beastly figure were two grand wings ending in two points as sharp as a knife. Its tail spiralled from the rear end of its body, curling into a simmer of flames. Aside from a male torso, there was nothing human about it. Its face was ugly and treacherous, with a large nose, pointed fangs, and a head of hair Oscar first thought were dreadlocks, then realised were snakes. Its legs resembled that of a farm animal, with hairy, thick muscles ending in hooves that were home to three sharp curling, pointed claws.
This beast stood over Henry with a cocky grin, moving into its victim’s body until its foul exterior had gone, complete soaked into every orifice and flake of skin of Henry.
Oscar’s eyes shot open.
He lay on hard cement that dug into the back of his head. The car sat stationary beside him. April and Julian fussed over him, urging him to come to, repeatedly shouting his name.
As Oscar’s vision refocussed, he rotated his head slightly, pulling a muscle in his neck. As he winced in pain, he realised he was on the hard shoulder of the slip road, laid on his back, his whole body aching from a violent fit.
“Relax, Oscar,” Julian instructed, putting his arm out to halt April’s frantic cries and replace them with his calming, soft voice. “It’s okay.”
Julian helped Oscar lean up, giving him a minute to take in where he was, to readjust, to come back down to earth.
“You scared us,” Julian said.
Then Oscar remembered what he saw.
They didn’t have much time.
His eyes opened wide with alarm, his hand clutching onto Julian’s shoulders, his eyes shooting between him and April.
“We have to go back!” he cried out. “We have to go back!”
“Why, Oscar?” Julian asked, still keeping his cool. “What is it? What did you see?”
; “It’s Henry Kemple, her father…”
Julian’s eyes grew wide with horror and his calm façade faded away as quickly as it had arrived.
“What about him?”
“The whole thing, the demon in Kaylee, she was just a pawn. Henry…”
“What about Henry?”
Oscar thought about Kaylee. A helpless little girl.
Nancy. A loving mother with no idea what danger she and her daughter were in.
Then Henry.
“Oh, God…”
31
Henry sat back in his armchair, allowing the body to rest.
It was an older body than Lilu was used to.
But it was the only choice available.
Lilith had done her task, but unfortunately, she was done. Removed. Failed.
Pathetic, weak little girl.
The woman he loved more than hell itself, but still a disappointment.
Lilu would not be so easy to fight.
Nancy had made Kaylee some tea. Beans on toast. As Kaylee devoured it, Nancy dabbed at her wounds with a wet flannel. A whole medical kit spread out across the living room floor.
Ridiculous human.
She thinks a few little cuts on a face are going to hurt?
She thinks nursing her daughter with love and rainbows and happiness will save her from what was to come?
He grew sick of her. How much longer did he have to endure of this pitiful imbecile?
Kaylee flinched from the pressure on her wound.
“Oh, my baby, I’m so sorry,” Nancy spoke.
So weak. So eager to protect.
He stood.
Contemplated.
Watched.
“Where are you going?” Nancy asked, not moving her loving gaze from her wounded daughter.
He ignored her, stepping heavily and precisely out of the room, into the kitchen. He opened drawers, looked in cupboards, searched the sink.
Finally, he grew tired of looking. There was a solid, robust, toaster on the side.
That would do.
He ripped the toaster from the wall, took it into the living room, and stood over Nancy.
