When Evil Comes to Play

by B. L. Brunnemer

  Isaac came into sight. His eyes were glowing red, the shadow slithered over his face.

  “Uh, does anyone else see that?” I asked the room.

  “Yes,” Craig and the other Templars said in unison. Oh, good. I wasn’t nuts.

  The demon smiled wickedly, its eyes on the priest. “Father Francis of the Templars. I’ve heard of you.” The voice coming out of Isaac was the same as before; deep, dark, and chilling. “How’s the family?”

  “What’s your name, demon?” Francis demanded.

  The demon cackled as he looked around the room. His eyes found Ethan. “Hermano, tu lo que eres un idiota, eres un imbécil. No te preocupes, yo me encargo de el,” he taunted. Ethan’s hands balled into fists at his side. Those demon eyes moved to me and his smile grew. “Ah, Red, we need to talk.”

  “Go fuck yourself,” I growled. His eyes flared red. Faster than I thought possible, he was on his knees and lunging for me. The Templars and Zeke tackled Isaac to the bed before he could reach me. Hades jumped on to the bed. Francis shouted for back up. Someone shoved me; I stumbled and fell. My head hit something. Pain exploded through my head, making my vision grow dark. There was more shouting, but it seemed far away. Nausea rolled through me. Where… where was I? Hard wood pressed against my face. What…? There were voices I knew, shouting. I opened my eyes and the world tilted. I closed them again with a groan.

  “Lexie? Lexie?” Someone was saying my name.

  “Ow…” I muttered. My head hurt so much it felt like it was going to pop. The sound suddenly came back.

  Miles was kneeling next to me, his eyes worried. “Lexie, look at me.” There was shouting elsewhere, barking… Zeke’s voice was among them.

  I looked up at Miles. “Wha’ happened?”

  “You were shoved and hit the desk with your head. And you’re bleeding,” he informed me. Yeah… that felt about right.

  “Zeke!” Ethan shouted. “Let them take care of Isaac, Lexie’s still down!”

  “You have to move her!” a man ordered. Miles looked up. The look he gave the man sent a chill down my spine.

  “She hit her head,” Miles shot back, his voice chilly.

  “We need to move him. Now!” the man shouted. Isaac…

  “Lexie?” Zeke yelled. “Get the fuck out of my way!”

  I started pushing up off the floor only for my arms to give out. “I need a hand,” I admitted, still a bit foggy.

  “Asher! I can’t carry her.” Miles called.

  “Isaac. They need to move him,” I said as I pushed myself up again on trembling arms. Large arms helped me to my feet before they lifted me. The smell of cinnamon filled my lungs. I lay limp against Asher as he carried me into the hall. I opened my eyes to watch as the Templars rolled Isaac’s bed out of the room. Handcuffs held him to the railing. Hades was on the bed as they ran down the hall, growling. Ethan ran after them. Things were a bit blurry as Asher set me down against the wall. I rested the back of my head against the cool stone. Ah… that felt good. Cold good.

  “Lexie, how are you feeling?” Miles asked as he knelt in front of me. “You’re bleeding.” Miles was surrounded by stars as he looked up at the door. “Dr. Zimmer!” Cloth was pressed against my forehead. The world was still spinning as my stomach rolled. Oh, this wasn’t good. I closed my eyes.

  “What the fuck happened?” Zeke snapped. I whimpered and covered my ears. Too loud.

  “Go with Isaac,” I told them as I dropped my hands. I swallowed hard against the bile rising in the back of my throat.

  “Ally…”

  “Go,” I ordered. “I’m fine. Doc is coming. Go.” Asher cursed as a pair of footsteps walked off. Footsteps came out of the room.

  “Miles, let me in,” Dr. Zimmer stated.

  “Hey, sorry about running into you. I’ve called a medic for you,” a man’s voice said. Zeke growled; something hit stone.

  “Lexie.” It was all Miles had to say.

  “Zeke… don’t,” I ordered weakly. Zeke cursed over and over. I opened my eyes to look up at them. “Go with Isaac.”

  “Lexie…” Zeke warned.

  “Zimmer’s here,” I pointed out, “and no one is with the twins. Stay with them.” The guys shared a look. Cursing, everyone but Miles headed down the hallway.

  Miles eyed me, clearly torn. He turned to Dr. Zimmer. “Take care of her.”

  “Of course,” Dr. Zimmer reassured him. Miles headed down the hallway.

  A woman in the Templar black clothes and tattoos came up carrying a large pack. “Someone called for a medic?” she said, her voice cheerful.

  I shook my head. “Zimmer’s got me.”

  Dr. Zimmer looked up over his shoulder. “Stay, I need to know about your facilities.” He turned back to me.

  She nodded.

  “What happened?” Dr. Zimmer asked.

  “Miles said I hit my head on a desk,” I told him.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked as he slipped on a pair of gloves.

  “Um.” I closed my eyes and tried to think. “I’m… dizzy, nauseous, and I feel like my head is going to explode. The dizziness is starting to slow down, though.”

  “You also have a cut on your hairline,” Dr. Zimmer announced as he pulled a pen light from his pocket. He turned it on. “Alright, look at my finger.” I did. He shone the light into my eyes then took it away. He did this several more times. “Well, your pupils are sluggish.” He put the light away and tore open a small package. “This is going to sting,” the doctor warned. He started cleaning the cut on my forehead.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” I snapped.

  When he was done, he put a small butterfly bandage on my forehead then put the trash and his gloves into a small Ziploc bag. Zimmer looked up at the medic. “What kind of facilities do you have?”

  “We have a full hospital in the med wing,” she announced. “We’re equipped to treat everything and do anything.”

  He nodded. “Good.” He turned back to me. “I think you have a concussion. Your pupils are reacting slowly, which means you probably have some pressure on your optic nerve. You need to go to the med wing and get a CT scan.”

  I shook my head slowly. “No way, I’m not going anywhere until I know Isaac is going to be okay.”

  He sighed. “I expected that. Listen, I don’t know if I believe what’s happening here, but something is wrong with Isaac. You seem to have an idea about how to fix that, so… I won’t force you to go,” he said. “But if you don’t go, any damage this causes can be permanent.”

  I met his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere except to wherever they have Isaac.”

  He gave me a small smile, as if he expected it. “Okay. But if the headache gets worse, you get dizzy again, or you vomit, I'm making the Templars take you to the medical wing because that means it’s gotten worse.”

  “I will.” If it got worse, yeah, I’d get help. He picked up his bag and helped me to my feet.

  “They probably took him to the ward room. It’s the door at the very end of the hall,” the medic told me with a smile.

  Dr. Zimmer turned to her. “Show me the medical wing.”

  She nodded and they began walking down the hallway to the stairs.

  I took a moment to take a breath and then I was moving down the hall. When I reached the only door at the end of the hall, I didn’t bother knocking. I stepped into a small room where the priest, Templars in black and my guys were standing. Across from the door was a large window. Isaac was in the center of a large, empty, stone room. Runes written in white paint circled the bed. Isaac’s face was completely shadowed. Those glowing red eyes glared at… Hades. Hades lay on Isaac’s body, his front paws resting on his chest, his eyes on the demon. What the…?

  “So, that’s it?” Ethan asked, drawing my attention. “An exorcism?” My stomach knotted.

  “Yes,” Francis said. “It’s that or nothing.”

  I looked back out the window at Isaac. The demon was smiling. “Do it,” I ordered
before turning back to them.

  Francis nodded. “I’ll need an hour to prepare.” He looked at one of his men. “Assign them rooms and give them the tour.”

  Craig nodded. “Follow me.” The others started to follow. I didn’t budge, neither did Ethan.

  “What did the doctor say?” Zeke asked.

  “I’m fine.” I didn’t even turn away from the window.

  “What did he say?” Zeke demanded.

  “Leave it, Zeke.” I wasn’t asking.

  “I will carry your ass back out to Zimmer if I have to,” Zeke warned.

  I looked up and met his eyes. “I saw the doc, I’m fine.”

  He kept staring into my eyes. “Lexie.” His voice was hard and sharp.

  “I can’t,” I said, my voice growing raspy. I winced at the sound and then looked back at the glass.

  “I’ll get some water,” Zeke growled.

  “If you can find some aspirin, you'd be my hero for the day,” I said absently. He cursed under his breath the whole way out the door. Then it was just Ethan, me and two Templars.

  Ethan

  My chest was tight, it was hard to breathe. Isaac was possessed by a demon. Lexie slipped her hand into mine. I clung to her warmth as I watched my brother through the glass.

  Why didn’t I see this? How did I miss it? He’d been off for days. Not sleeping, not eating…. That should have fucking tipped me off!

  I took a deep breath, trying to ease the tightness in my lungs. My stomach rolled with bone deep fear. It clawed at me, made me want to scream and pound something into the ground.

  “I-I-I can’t lose him,” I breathed, my voice cracking.

  She held my hand tighter. “That’s not going to happen.” Her own voice was cracking and rough.

  “He’s… that thing… he’s trapped inside his own body with that thing,” I said again, because I had to say it out loud.

  “Yes and no.” Her voice was soft and soothing. “He’s in his center. I told him how to bring in light and how it works. How to defend himself. I… I don’t know if he understood. There wasn’t time.”

  I slipped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. Her arm slid around my waist as she leaned against me. Her warmth and the scent of rosemary helped me take a deep breath. “You tried. I wish…” I swallowed hard. “I wish I could talk to him, just for a minute.”

  “You will, when we get that thing out of him,” she said. Isaac’s body jerked at the handcuffs. Hades growled, baring his teeth until the demon settled down.

  “What is Hades doing?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, but… he seems to be keeping him in place.”

  I held her tighter against me. “I’m scared, Lexie.”

  She carefully squeezed me back. “Me too.”

  Lexie

  It was a little more than an hour later when Zeke had come back with aspirin and water bottles. He was my hero for the day. Now if only my damn head would stop hurting. The guys were back in the small, dim room, sitting in a few chairs while we waited.

  The door opened. Father Francis came in wearing a white stole with gold embroidery. His eyes looked around the group.

  He gave us a warm smile. “I’m going to have to ask you guys to wait in the hall. This is going to be very trying on Isaac as it is.” We exchanged looks. No one was happy about it, but everyone got to their feet and moved out into the hall. Everyone but me.

  I stepped in front of the priest and met his eyes. “I’m not leaving. In fact, I’m going in with you.”

  “Lexie…” Ethan stopped before going out the door.

  I kept my eyes on Father Francis’s. “You said the demon will destroy his soul. I’m guessing if you start this, it’s going to get angry and probably take it out on Isaac. Right?”

  The Templar behind Francis narrowed his eyes and eyed me. “That usually occurs,” he admitted.

  “Well, I can feel Isaac. I can tell you if he starts to… have trouble.” I didn’t even want to think it.

  Father Francis thought about it before he met my eyes again. “This is extremely dangerous. Do you understand that?”

  I looked at Isaac through the window, pinned under my dog. The demon was growling at Hades. I turned back to the priest. “Yeah, I do.”

  Father Francis sighed. “You do not say a word. You will ignore anything it says. It will do everything possible to get an emotional reaction, including using Isaac’s knowledge of you. Do not fall for it. You will follow orders in there, understood?”

  “Got it,” I agreed.

  “This is Father Andrew. He’s the head priest for the Templars,” Francis announced.

  “Nice to meet you,” Andrew greeted.

  “Lexie. You too,” I said. Francis went through the door into the room with Isaac.

  “Lexie...” Ethan’s worried voice had me turning back to him. He was frowning. “Are you sure?”

  I met Ethan's eyes and nodded before he closed the door behind him. I followed Father Francis and Father Andrew into the room. It was bright as hell. There was not a single shadow in that room. Not to mention that it was cold, but I doubted it was from the air-conditioning. They stood at the end of the bed. I moved to the side and out of the way. Huh, that window was a two-way mirror. Everyone was standing inside the circle of runes. Hades didn’t take his gaze off Isaac as the room grew even colder.

  Isaac’s face twisted into a creepy smile. “Red, we need to talk.”

  I rolled my eyes and placed my hand on Isaac’s wrist. The demon tried to bite me. Hades gave a low growl. I smacked it on the forehead. “Knock it off or I’ll put a muzzle on you.”

  It smiled at me. I looked up in time to watch Father Andrew biting back a laugh.

  I put my hand back on Isaac’s wrist. I could feel him there, like a pocket of hot air. You couldn’t see it, you just felt it.

  Father Francis began to speak in Latin. Honestly, I didn’t understand a word of it. But apparently the demon did. It started laughing. Then Francis splashed it with holy water and it writhed in pain under Hades’ weight. It cursed, growled, promised to hurt us in many different and inventive ways, it was rather strange to hear from the demon handcuffed to a bed. Father Francis continued. The two men got into a rhythm with their prayers. It was rather nice, except for the hate spewing demon in the bed.

  Time went on. I focused on feeling Isaac’s soul in his body. I fell into a calm space where there was only Isaac’s soul and the sound of prayers. It went on and on until Isaac’s soul flickered. I focused completely on it as Hades whined. There was a shift under his skin, the feel of Isaac fading.

  “Stop,” I ordered. Father Francis and Father Andrew looked at me. “He’s starting to fade.”

  Father Francis seemed to struggle with something as he looked at Isaac. Isaac’s body was pale and sweating. He was taking deep breaths, as if he had just run a marathon. Father Francis closed his bible with a sigh before he turned and headed for the door. Leaving Hades to watch Isaac, I followed them through the dim outer room and into the hallway.

  The guys got to their feet.

  “Did it work?” Ethan demanded.

  Francis sighed. “No, he started to fade so we stopped.” He ran his hand down his face. “Come with me to the cafeteria. I’ll explain what’s going on.”

  Everyone followed the priest down the hall and up the stairs. Ethan fell into step next to me. “How was he?” he whispered.

  “He’s sweating and pale, but… he seems okay,” I answered. Ethan nodded. I took his hand and squeezed. He squeezed back.

  We walked into a large, empty cafeteria. Francis led us over to a big coffee maker and cold display fridges.

  “Please, grab whatever you’d like,” Francis instructed as he picked up a mug and poured a cup of coffee. Everyone grabbed something. I grabbed a water bottle and sat down with everyone at the nearest table.

  Father Andrew took a sip of coffee before looking at us. “Here’s the situation,” he began. “If we can’t
get the demon out through a standard exorcism, then we need to be able to name the demon so we can do a focused exorcism.”

  “A name?” Asher asked, his face full of disbelief.

  “Yes,” Andrew told us. “Demons like to talk and torment their victim’s friends and family. In doing that they sometimes slip. Which means, we need to find out who it will talk to. It also serves as a distraction to give Isaac a break.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?” I asked bluntly.

  Francis sighed. “I’m going to make a call to… some people. I’ll see if they can send help. But if they can’t… we need that name.”

  A thought occurred to me. They weren’t the only one with people. I got to my feet. “Restroom?”

  Father Andrew pointed to the hallway we came from. “First door on the right,” he said. I headed that way without another word. It was a small, one-person bathroom and it was perfect. I locked the door, put the lid down and sat down. I took a deep breath, let it out and closed my eyes. Then I dropped.

  I landed in the Veil almost instantly. “Zahur!” I shouted as I straightened. Nothing. “Zahur! I need you now!”

  A figure shimmered into form in front of me. Exactly like me in every way, Zahur frowned at me. The foghorn alarm blared, shaking me down to my bones. When it was done, Zahur was scowling at me.

  “What? I was finally making progress on a fucking mountain of paperwork,” she snapped.

  Paperwork? Oh, fuck it, no time. “Listen, my friend is possessed by a demon. I need fucking help because this priest and some group called the Templars can’t get it out of him.”

  She eyed me. “Seriously?”

  “Yeah,” I snapped.