Demonspawn (19 page)

She looked at me upside down. “Are you
bitching?”

I was braver than usual. “Hot woman leaning
against me. I think I'm fine.”

She flashed me that bright smile, and
squirmed to get comfortable. I felt a little awkward. My attraction
to her still hadn't died down, and her touching me was sending my
head in all kinds of different directions. She was a little more
touchy than usual. She always kept her hands to herself. Weird.

I reached up and turned the living room light
off next to us. The room went dark, except for a streetlight just
outside the living room window.

We didn't say anything for a minute. I could
feel Cindy breathing next to me. She leaned her head back against
mine. Again, not very helpful. She smelled wonderful. I wanted to
wrap my free arm around her shoulders, but resisted the urge.

“Sitting in the dark. Waiting for a ghost,”
she said. “Should I be scared?”

“Nope. I'll take care of everything.”

“What do you think Leese is doing?”

I smiled. “Probably out guy hunting right
now.”

Cindy was quiet. I sensed something was
wrong.

“Everything cool?”

“Yeah. Just tired.”

She was lying. But I didn't press the issue.
“Well, I can sit on the floor. You can have the couch.”

“Hot guy letting me lean against him. I think
I'm fine.”

I smiled. I tilted my head toward hers and
smelled her hair. It felt great to feel her hair just barely
touching my face. I wanted to hold her so bad. A thought flashed
through my mind of us kissing. The guilt attacked me, and I forced
the thought away. I hoped she didn't feel me getting so close.

She fell asleep first. I peacefully watched
her for another hour before passing out myself.

I wasn't sure what time it was when I woke
up, but it was late. I don't remember dreaming. There also wasn't
any of that sleep lag that hits when you wake up early. I just
opened my eyes. I was aware of Cindy sleeping soundly against me.
She had a blanket covering her.

I was also aware of something in the dining
room watching me.

My eyes slowly slid into focus. I looked in
the dining room, but I couldn't actually see anything. But I knew
it was there. I looked down at Cindy sleeping. My arm was around
her shoulders. She held on to it like it was a pillow. I kept
perfectly still.

I looked up. Instead of seeing nothing this
time, I saw a shape. It was a silhouette of a large man. I could
make out a pair of arms, a head, legs. He was tall. Besides that, I
couldn't make out any other details.

I quickly shifted my eyes away, as if I
didn't see it. I even stretched out my free arm like I was tired. I
didn't know if this game would work, trying to fake out a ghost.
But it was worth a shot.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back
against the couch. I heard footsteps, walking right toward me. As
it drew closer, I could hear it breathing. Heavy, labored breaths.
It was inches away from my face. I held my eyes closed. The hairs
on the back of my neck stood up.

“You can't help them,” it said in that
strange hybrid voice that I hadn't yet gotten used to. It brought
back memories from five years ago. “They're all mine now.”

Anger mixed in with my fear. I wasn't the
same person I was five years ago. I wanted to reach out and grab
whatever it was. I wanted to hurt it, like it was trying to hurt
the Baker family. I resisted. Judy was right about one thing. We
had to know what was happening first.

It leaned away. It crossed the living room
and aimed for the stairs. I could still hear its footsteps, slow
and steady.

The Bakers were in trouble. It wasn't a ghost
they were dealing with.

It was a demon.

I gently squeezed Cindy's shoulder. She
slowly woke up and turned to look at me.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Listen. Stay here, okay? I'm going
upstairs.”

A look of fear touched her face. “It's
here?”

I nodded. “Just stay here. Please.”

“Be careful.”

I slowly crossed the living room, vanishing
as I did so. I'm not sure what good walking through walls or being
invisible would do, but it made me feel safer. Walking up the
steps, my feet didn't make a single noise. I felt like a ghost
myself.

I half-crouched in the middle of the hallway.
I couldn't hear a thing. Only a little bit of light came in from
the girls' open rooms. And that light was just from the moon
outside.

I heard whispering from Danielle's room.

I slowly poked my head through the wall into
her room, just enough to get my eyes in.

It was no longer only a silhouette. It looked
like a man. Three-piece suit, slicked down jet black hair. The only
thing that didn't look human were its eyes. Pure black, like
marbles.

I knew it wasn't a ghost.

Danielle tossed and turned, in the middle of
a nightmare. The demon leaned over her, whispering just a few
inches from her face.

“You should kill them. All of them. They all
hate you. Start with your father, so your mother and sister can
see. Then cut your mother's throat. Slow. You'll feel so good.”

“Hey!” I shouted. I stepped inside the
room.

The demon heard me. It stood up and whirled
around.

It screeched at me. I almost had to cover my
ears. It reached down and grabbed Danielle by the throat. Only then
did she wake up. She tried to grab a hand she couldn't see.

“Get away from her!”

I ran forward and grabbed it by the
shoulders. It spun and punched me in the chest. I fell to the
ground, but didn't feel any pain. The demon, on the other hand,
howled in pain. It cradled its hand in agony. We locked eyes, and I
could see it all over its odd-looking face.

Fear.

Then it vanished.

Danielle was sitting upright in bed,
searching the room. I appeared not too far from her. Probably not
the smartest thing. She started screaming. I almost had to shout
over her.

“Danielle! It's me, Alex!”

She slowly quieted down while rubbing her
throat. “Something just tried to-” She didn't finish her sentence.
She broke down crying.

I quickly crossed the room and wrapped her
blanket around her. I felt terrible for her, but knew I didn't have
time to comfort her.

“Listen. Do not move from this bed. Okay? No
matter what you hear.”

She nodded. I ran into the hallway. At the
end of the hall I could see Doug and Nancy at the door to their
bedroom. Rachel was right behind them. Danielle's shouts woke them
up.

“What's going on?” Doug asked.

I didn't get a chance to answer. Suddenly
Doug bent over, like he'd been punched in the stomach. Then he flew
backwards near their bed.

“Doug!” Nancy shouted.

She and Rachel retreated into their room to
check on Doug. The bedroom door was slammed shut by an unseen hand,
and all I heard were screams.

I ran down the hall. A voice at the bottom of
the steps made me pause for a moment.

“Alex!”

It was Cindy. I pointed behind me. I was
strangely calm. “Go stay with Danielle.”

I heard the front door downstairs open,
followed by some familiar voices.

“Nancy! Doug! Are you alright?”

Judy and her crew.

I didn't waste time saying hello. I vanished
as I went down the hall and went through their bedroom door.

The entire room was shaking. The bed,
dresser, everything, was bouncing up and down. The window opened
and closed, finally causing a pane of glass to break. Doug, Nancy,
and Rachel were huddled in the corner. The demon stood over them.
It leaned inches away from Rachel, who had her eyes closed and ears
covered. I didn't know if she could see it, but she could obviously
hear it. Nancy cried while Doug held his family.

“Kill them, you bitch!” it shouted at Rachel.
“If you don't kill them, I'll kill you! I'll
make
you kill
them!”

It grabbed her. Rachel let out a deep breath,
but didn't draw another.

It was trying to possess her.

I wasn't afraid anymore. I was just
angry.

I walked up behind it and wrapped my arms
around its waist. It screamed in pain. I lifted it up and backed
away a few steps. The activity in the room, beds bouncing and
windows slamming, slowed down a bit. My arms felt like there was a
small current flowing through them.

The demon twisted around and grabbed me by
the throat. However, as hard as it tried to squeeze, it couldn't. I
saw the frustration on its face. For whatever reason, I was immune
to whatever it could do.

I punched it hard in the face and grabbed it
by the throat. I didn't even squeeze very hard when it fell to its
knees. That's when the room grew quiet except for the Bakers
crying.

“Please!” The demon started begging. “Please
don't send me back!”

I had no clue what it was talking about. But
I didn't loosen my grip. It started to fade away until it was
finally gone.

Right before it vanished, it changed, just
for a second. The skin melted away into red flesh. Its eyes turned
bright red.

It looked like a monster, a red demon.

So that's what they really look like.

I fell to one knee, mentally tired more than
anything else. The bedroom door burst open behind me.

“Alex! Are you in here?” That was Cindy.

“Nancy? Is everyone alright?” That was
Judy.

The Bakers all stood up and ran out, going
through me in the process. I was still vanished to the real world.
It was only after I heard the Bakers hugging each other in the
hallway did I reappear. Cindy was waiting the whole time in the
doorway. She ran up and gave me a quick hug, then held me at arm's
length to inspect me.

I felt terrible, but that was more emotions
than anything else. I just witnessed a demon try to destroy a
family. And somehow, once again, I made it go away.

We walked into the hallway. I didn't realize
it, but Cindy was actually supporting me. My arm was over her
shoulders while I half leaned against the wall. Everyone looked at
me. In the living room beneath us I could hear people filing into
the house. They were excited. Good for them.

“How the hell did you get in there?” Doug
asked.

Rachel ran forward and hugged me. I had a
feeling I'd be throwing up before too long. But Rachel's hug told
me it was all worth it.

Danielle was behind her parents. Her eyes
never left me. I could see a mixture of fear and curiosity. She was
the only one who saw me vanish and reappear.

She smiled at me. I knew my secret was safe
with her.

*****

The early morning hours were hectic. I mostly
sat on the couch with Cindy. But Judy and her crew combed the
house. They waved their little microphones and cameras around.
After a few hours, Judy came to the same conclusion that I already
knew. The house was safe.

They tried to ask me a few questions, but I
managed to duck them for the most part. Doug shook my hand. Nancy
cried and gave me a hug. I have to admit, it made me feel great. I
did something good for someone, and this time they were alive.

If it weren't for Judy and her crew, I might
have stayed around longer. But at nine o'clock when I saw Beth pull
up outside, I almost leaped from the couch.

“I have to run, everybody.”

Doug wanted me to stay longer. Rachel even
offered me a plate of her imaginary food. But I politely shook my
head. It was time to get moving.

Beth met us on the sidewalk outside. She gave
me a nod.

“A demon?” she asked.

My eyes grew wide. If she had said that one
simple word yesterday, I might have been better prepared. I guess
it was my fault for not asking.

“Yeah. It's gone now.”

“Incredible.”

We were almost to her car when I heard Judy's
voice. She was coming out of one of their vans.

“Alex! Can I talk to you a sec?”

I took a deep breath and looked at Cindy and
Beth. “I'll be right back, guys.”

Beth nodded. “Okay. I'll see how Nancy's
doing.”

I walked over to Judy. She waved for me from
inside the van. I joined her, and they closed the door behind me.
Their van was crowded full of monitors and equipment I couldn't
begin to understand.

It was just Judy and Dan, the EM guy I met
yesterday.

They both stared at me for about ten seconds.
Neither one of them spoke.

“Uh, guys?” I said. “What's up?”

They looked at each other. Dan pulled out
what almost looked like an MP3 player. “We had this recording
inside last night. It's made to record EVP phenomena. The way it
works-”

Judy cut him off. “Let's spare him the
lesson. Alex, you saw we had camera and recorders all over the
house. We do that so we can hear what people can't. Maybe get a
glimpse into the world that spirits come from.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

Judy nodded to Dan. He pushed something on
the player.

Sounds of my little adventure last night
started playing. That voice still made my skin crawl. It was full
of static, but still audible. “Kill them, you bitch!...make you
kill them!...” A pause, then the demon's panicked voice. “Please
don't send me back!”

Dave turned on one of the monitors and played
with some buttons. I was treated to a view of the Bakers' upstairs
hallway, near Danielle's bedroom. The image was all red. Infrared,
maybe? There was no audio. What looked to be a moving ball of
static came up the stairs. I knew it was me. Then the static moved
into Danielle's room. A minute later, I could see the Bakers and
Rachel standing in front of their door. Then I came out of
Danielle's room, in the flesh. That's when Dan paused it.

“Static goes in. You come out,” Judy
said.

Dan pointed at the screen. “You can even see
your shadow fall into the hallway, out of nowhere.”