by B. Groves
They both stared at each other in the middle of the forest with the late afternoon sun beating down on both their heads.
Kyle knew deep down that Alison was right. She couldn’t save every soul she came in contact with. She was limited even with the power that God bestowed upon her, but Kyle could be stubborn about things like this. He would prove her wrong somehow. He would show her that exorcising every single demon was the right thing to do for this world.
Alison turned and walked in front of him, practically pulling Simon behind her. Kyle decided he would keep his mouth shut for now. He had a plan forming in his head. He knew who he needed to visit and show Alison that letting one demon possess a human for the rest of their earthly life was a huge mistake.
They walked back to the house in silence, and when Kyle unlocked the door, Alison went inside and packed her bags.
Kyle watched her as she checked her bag. He opened his mouth, but the words wouldn’t form. Guilt gnawed at him for doubting her. Was she leaving? Was it because of him? He still wanted to prove her wrong. She promised to do a job.
“Where are you going?”
Alison looked up from her bag. Her eyes flashed, but it wasn’t anger. “Home.”
Kyle fell into panic mode. Alison was the only one who responded to his pleas for help.
“Home? You want to leave?”
Alison slung the bag over her shoulder and picked up Simon’s leash. She stared him down with her beautiful emerald green eyes and a smirk formed on her mouth.
“Reverend, despite what you think, I have a life, and a job I need to take care of,” Alison explained. “This isn’t a one-person job. It’s much more than that. I have no clothes here or supplies. I need food for Simon. I have to go home and take care of my business.”
Kyle didn’t know what to say. She was right. She still had a life of her own in Charlotte, but for her to leave… it was the worst possible time, especially what they came upon today.
It seemed like she wanted to leave and not come back. “Since you’re leaving, then please send another one of your hunters. I can’t do this alone.”
Alison frowned. “Who said I wasn’t coming back?”
“You implied—”
“I implied nothing. You did. Just like you made the wrong assumption back in the forest,” Alison pointed out.
“Did I? Cause I’m not sure,” Kyle said.
His stubbornness overpowered his logical thinking again.
Alison shrugged. “If you don’t believe me, fine. When I come back I’ll be on my own. It’s not the first time.”
Alison started to walk past Kyle, but he stepped in front of her.
Her face and eyes went hard. Simon must have sensed her anger because he paced around her. He glanced down at the German Shepherd thinking all his owner had to do was say a few words, and the dog would tear him limb from limb.
“Get out of my way, Reverend,” Alison warned.
“Promise you’ll come back,” Kyle said.
Alison relaxed. “I always keep my word.”
“I don’t know that.”
“You don’t, but you’ll find out.”
“How long will you be gone?”
“A week,” Alison answered.
“A week? That long?” Kyle asked.
Alison cocked her head. “Reverend, as I said, I need funds, supplies, and it doesn’t look good when you up and leave your job without notice.”
The wind blew out of Kyle’s sails. Again, Alison was right. A thought occurred to Kyle as he moved out of Alison’s way.
“Next weekend is the annual founder’s festival. I know Mayor Manes will be there. Do you think you’ll be back by then?”
Alison ran a hand through her hair. “I should be. Until then, keep quiet.”
“What do you mean?”
“What I mean is, no exorcisms until I return,” Alison said.
Kyle scoffed. “What am I supposed to do until then?”
“Go on about your day like nothing happened. I don’t know the story your police chief is making up to explain why we were in the woods and found the cabin where they put feral demons, but you need to keep a low profile. Do your work, but keep vigilant,” Alison instructed.
“If something happens?”
Alison opened the door and Simon pranced outside in front of her. “Then call me.”
Alison turned, walked down the steps, and opened up her car. Kyle watched her from the doorway as she loaded Simon and her bags into the car and pulled away.
Kyle closed his front door. His gaze turned to the photos of him and his parents. He thought about calling his dad for a little guidance on Alison Stark but decided not to. He was too tired to talk to his father about the demon hunter. The long night and day were taking a toll on his mood and his thinking.
He knew he still needed to prove to Alison that her way of thinking was wrong. He didn’t like the first plan he came up within the forest, so he would go to his favorite place the next day. It was quiet there. He could get a lot done and no one would bother him. He could think of a plan.
Kyle walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator realizing he hadn’t eaten since early afternoon. He made a disgusted face at the leftover casseroles inside his refrigerator and ordered out instead. Eating out wasn’t the healthiest option, but today he had a good excuse.
He glanced at the clock and wondered if Markus would call him tonight or wait until the next day.
His thoughts turned back to the pretty blonde who looked like she stepped right out of a women’s magazine cover and not one who fought demons.
When they were walking through the forest, he tried not to focus on the scar on her face when she pushed her hair back behind her ear or the other scars he saw on her arms, and legs when the sun would shine on different places on her body.
Markus doubted she was human, but Kyle believed her when she said she was and those scars proved it.
He surmised Alison never learned to appreciate her power from their conversations. She was the stereotype reluctant hero who fought against what God had blessed her with. She saw it more as a curse than a gift. That much was obvious when she walked out of the cabin after she exorcised Billy Wilson. She never said a word. She never complained she was hurt. She left and sat by a tree, sulking.
After Kyle ordered a sub, he reached into one cabinet near his entertainment center and grabbed the DVDs that held his exorcisms. He popped the first one into the DVR player and turned on the TV.
Kyle took a deep breath and hit the play button.
The first one was Olivia when Miguel first brought her to Kyle for help. Her skin was a ghastly gray color, her eyes changed to blackened pits, her lips were cracked, and her skin was forming lesions.
She laughed at Kyle while he filmed her for his records. They all did when he filmed them.
A realization came to Kyle as he watched Olivia thrash around on the bed. What he thought was a successful exorcism, wasn’t. It was the demon taking over the human and acting like they’d been cured.
Kyle turned off Olivia’s video. Olivia’s demon would have had full control eventually. She would have insisted she was fine and that he cured her. That would have been a lie.
Kyle rose from the sofa and placed another DVD inside the player.
The possessed man was none other than Justin Ray Keller, the man who’d threatened Alison at the gas station that morning before she came back into town.
Kyle skipped ahead on the video this time. He skipped all the way until the end when Justin woke up one morning and Kyle had thought the demon had left.
His father—Bobby Keller—was there with tears running down his face thanking Kyle for saving his son.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed when he thought he saw something unusual as Justin was getting ready to leave.
He turned and looked at the camera. His mouth formed a sneer. He blinked.
What was that?
Kyle rewound the video. He tried twice to sto
p it at that exact second. Justin blinked, his eyes changed, he blinked again, and his eyes were back to their normal baby blue.
Kyle slowed down the video and rewound it again and after watching it several times, he placed his head in his hands, forgetting about his sandwich.
Kyle ejected the video and threw it down on the floor. He leaned against the entertainment center in frustration. He would give anything for Alison’s power and he would appreciate, it unlike her.
Another DVD caught his eye. The woman in the video hadn’t been attending church in quite a while. She was alive and well, he knew that much since he’d seen her around town.
He wondered… Then he decided she would be the one he’d pay a visit to. This might be his chance to prove to Alison that what she decided was wrong and how her power was for the greater good.
Chapter 22
Journal Entry December 5, Early 2010s
I never thought they’d invade my family. I never thought I would battle demons within my family.
My mom said Heather had been acting strange. She disappeared for a few days while Mom and Dan drove over to Florida State University searching for her since the police were not helping much.
They found her apartment empty, but all her belongings were still there. I was in Brisbane when my brother, Nick, called frantically telling me to come home. It took time for me to hop on a plane and fly back to Florida, but by the time I arrived, Heather had been found.
When I arrived at my mom’s house to visit my half-sister, the shadow crossed her face.
This curse has hit home. I asked it why it picked my sister. It said it didn’t pick her. It kind of fell into her. My sister had been stressed out from final exams and other obligations. I wonder if that is part of what they see when they leave their dark place. A person suffering from stress or other ailments.
Heather called out to me from her cage. She screamed my name when she spotted me on the path.
The more the demon takes over the weaker her soul becomes. I haven’t had alone time with my sister, but I keep hoping her soul will stay strong. It might be time to reveal who I am to my family. I may not have a choice.
Chapter 23
It didn’t take long for Alison to find the little cabin on the edge of Wolfpine for rent. It also didn’t take long for her to rent it for three weeks, fix the situation with her job, have funds transferred into her bank account, and set up Simon’s doggy bed, plenty of food, and some toys.
She would have everything taken care of in Charlotte until her return after she cleansed this town of its dirty little secret.
Alison made one last phone call to the cleaning company for Kyle. They would take care of his basement, and the mattress left in the forest.
The forest surrounding the cabin was as stunning as the sun lowered behind the mountains. The sunset turned the mountains a beautiful lavender hue contrasting the peach sky.
Alison thought she could live here if she ever wanted to move out of Charlotte as she walked Simon around the slightly rough terrain.
Once she went inside she examined the red marks on her neck. The marks wouldn’t show too much, and she could cover them with makeup for a week.
She stripped from her dirty clothes and took a shower while Simon stared at her from the doorway in the bathroom.
“This is pretty nice, isn’t it?” She asked the dog as she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off.
It was a nice cabin. Small and cozy with old-fashioned wallpaper, a kitchen, dining area, and even a hot tub on the deck.
She dried her hair and ate fried rice she picked up along her way to the cabin and then she settled down into the queen size bed. She flicked on the television but kept the volume low.
Her search started with one person when she opened her laptop. She had placed Emma’s name in The Network earlier that day. Her shocked look didn’t fly by Alison although Kyle may have missed it.
Kyle may have suspected Samuel Manes, and rightfully so, but she was even more suspicious on what Emma’s role was in this infestation.
It would not be the first time the demons had human help for their takeover. And, the humans were stupid enough to fall for it with promises of immortality and other such nonsense. Most people didn’t know what a demon was and didn’t care as long as they kept their promise in the afterlife or whatever.
Her private investigator and fellow hunter friend, John, gave her some quick information.
“I’m still searching, but here is the rundown,” he said in a private message to Alison.
Emma Marie Leavens (nee Winslow)
Born September 19, 1984, in Wolfpine, North Carolina
Parents Martha and David Winslow are both deceased, no siblings, but some cousins, aunts, and uncles.
Won 3 beauty pageants in some local festivals when she was in her late teens.
Won a scholarship to the University of North Carolina. Did not graduate.
Worked odd jobs over the years. Nothing I could find that was weird.
Did some local modeling, I’ll attach pics. Some nudes, some not.
The only interesting thing, I could find was a DUI when she was twenty-three, but the court dropped all charges.
She married Donald Leavens a year later. Donald was a wealthy widower. His first wife died of cancer. No children. He owned a construction company in Wolfpine that Emma sold for some serious money after a sudden heart attack at age 66.
I’ll dig deeper when I get a chance.
Alison clicked on the pictures and gazed at photos on her screen. Emma was in various poses throughout the slideshow. She sat in a field chewing some grass and wearing a light sundress with the sun behind her. Another portrait with the same type of background to highlight her fiery red hair.
Alison clicked on the next photo and found Emma covering her naked breasts and legs crossed in an artsy black and white picture. The next one was of her lying on the floor with her arms stretched behind her and her legs crossed but showing her breasts. Her hair coiffed and makeup plastered on her face, with Photoshopped angles.
Alison closed the pictures. That was all she needed to understand Emma Leavens. She was a stunning woman and she could see why Kyle had been attracted to her. She had one of those charming but mischievous smiles that made men fall all over themselves for a woman like her.
Alison replied to John thanking him for his help, and if she came across any more information to help with his search, she would send it to him.
John had also sent her Emma’s address. Tomorrow she had plans to follow the woman and see what she could find.
Alison sighed and leaned back against the headboard. Simon was on the floor beside her bed, relaxed.
Alison heard her cell phone beep with a text message. She picked it up and looked at it.
“Reverend Ellis said you left?” Miguel asked.
“Shit,” Alison muttered and dialed Miguel’s number.
When he answered, she said, “I didn’t.”
“What? Reverend Ellis said you—”
“Miguel, you’re the only one I will trust with this information. I’m still here,” Alison hesitated. “Kyle kind of… “Alison struggled with the words. She knew Miguel was Kyle’s friend, and she didn’t want to bad mouth him. “We disagreed on how to approach this. I need some time alone to investigate a few things.”
“I guess I should keep my mouth shut, then?”
“Please.”
“I promise but call me if you need help,” Miguel said.
“I will. How’s Olivia?”
“She fell asleep in the car and has been out since,” Miguel said. Alison could hear the relief in his voice.
Alison smiled. That’s what she was about to do.
“You need sleep, too,” she said.
“I know.” Miguel took a deep breath and Alison heard a yawn. “Do the demons know we found the cabin?”
“They know. So, keep alert,” Alison said. “If you see anything suspicious, call me.”<
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“You can count on it. Please, Alison, I need to help you. To avenge my wife,” Miguel said.
“I know, Miguel, but we need to be smart about this,” Alison said. “They already know I’m here.”
“You got it. Is there anything you need from me in the meantime?”