She smiled at his reassurance, and looked towards her bag.
“Shall I bring my equipment up with me?” she asked.
“Not right now. This is just a 'pop up and see how crazy shit looks' kind of visit. Once we've got an idea of how far Claire Marie has gone, we'll get our equipment and figure out a plan of attack,” Pete replied.
He felt the gaze of the students in the room, and looked over to Jim, Petra and Ben. He offered them a cheerful grin.
“Not literally, of course. We're not going to be punching her in the face or anything.” He chuckled, then led Chris and Sister Sarah to the bottom of the stairs, where Danger was waiting.
“Right then, Axl Rose,” he cheerfully said. “Lead the way.”
Danger huffed, then slowly began to ascend.
***
The stairs creaked as Danger stomped upwards, his thick and heavy boots clunking on each step. His arms dangled listlessly down by his sides. Chris, Pete and Sister Sarah followed him, but lingered far enough behind so that he did not hear.
“Did you see how tall he is? Crikey!” Pete whispered.
“He's certainly a unit, that’s for sure. How long has Claire Marie been going out with him?” Chris asked
“A couple of months,” Sarah replied. “They met at one of his gigs, I believe.”
“Ah, the mighty Handspasm,” Pete said, “Musical pioneers extraordinaire.”
“And how has he been handling this whole situation, personally. I mean, seeing your girlfriend turn into a monster can’t exactly be easy,” Chris said.
“Well, Stephano isn't exactly the most emotive person I've ever met, but ever since the possession began, he's been by Claire Marie's side,” Sarah replied. “Even when the team went in to document their meeting, he was there. He said he wanted to make sure they didn't hurt her. He's rather protective of her.”
They reached the top of the first staircase, and Danger turned and began leading them up another, even steeper staircase. Chris caught a glimpse of his eyes. They looked vacant. The trio followed him into the darker upper levels of the house.
“What do you think of him?” Chris asked.
“Well, he's certainly unconventional looking, but Claire Marie seemed to be quite taken with him, so he must have a certain charm about him,” Sarah replied.
“I didn't mean if you think he's a catch or not. I mean, do you think he's someone we can trust to stay out of the way when we need him to?”
“Oh. Yes. He's fully aware of the situation, and said that he's willing to do whatever it takes to get Claire back to her normal self. He won’t give us any trouble.”
“That’s a relief,” Chris said. “Because if we have to take him down, it'll be a two-man job, and we can’t afford to be doing that in the middle of an exorcism.”
“Plus, we didn't bring a step-ladder, so hitting him in the face unfortunately isn't an option either,” Pete added.
“You've done that before?” Sister Sarah asked, slightly shocked.
The brothers fells silent as they reached the top of the last staircase. The lights were off, and there were no windows, which made it all seem ever gloomier. If it wasn’t for the light coming from the floors below, they would have been standing in utter darkness.
There were only two rooms on this floor, one on either side of the hallway. Danger led them over to a large, old looking door that had been painted white.
C.M.’s ROOM, the sign read.
Danger stopped in front of the door, turned, and glanced down at them.
“You can go in,” he said, stepping aside.
“I'm afraid you're going to have to stay out here,” Chris said. “We need to assess Claire Marie’s condition without any outside interference. Is that okay?”
“Fine,” he said, stooping down to Chris’s level, and Chris noticed the faint smell of cigarettes on his breath. Danger headed back downstairs, leaving the three of them outside the door. He didn't even look back.
They waited in silence until they were certain he was out of earshot before saying anything, and when someone did break the silence, it was Pete.
“I hope he's livelier on stage,” he said.
Chris reached down and grabbed the door handle “You've seen a lot of these things in file and video footage, right?” he asked Sarah.
She nodded without saying a word.
“That’s good, but it’s only the very tip of the iceberg,” Chris continued. “Nothing can prepare you for the first time you come face to face with one of these things. Just bear that in mind; no matter what you see in here, no matter how hideous, contorted and demonic it looks, it is not Claire Marie. Whatever venomous curses it spits from its mouth, those are not from Claire Marie. In every way imaginable, this girl is being used by a demon to cause the most pain it can. Emotional or physical, this thing will try to hurt us. If it does push some sort of button inside you, whatever you do, don't let it know.”
“Yeah. These fuckers love nothing more than winding people up,” Pete added.
Chris gave Sister Sarah another serious look.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
Sarah’s chest expanded as she took a deep breath and then exhaled.
She nodded.
Chris nodded back, then turned the squeaky door handle, pushed the door open.
The three of them walked into the dimly-lit room.
***
The first thing that struck them was how bitterly cold the room was. It was so cold that their breath was visible. It was like walking into a fridge. The next thing they noticed was how this room looked very different from the one they had seen in the case files. In those photos, this girl’s bedroom was a wreck. Broken mirrors, furniture and torn up bedsheets littered the area. These were the tell-tale signs of a demonic possession. The beasts loved nothing more than to destroy the possessions that people loved before moving onto the people that they loved.
This room, however, was completely different. Intact. Tidy. There were posters of some classic movies and a Handspasm gig flyer pinned to the walls. It was like they had stepped into the room before the pictures were taken. Either that or someone had taken a lot of time and effort to tidy in preparation for visitors.
The three of them turned to the bed where Claire Marie was, and Sister Sarah audibly gasped.
“What the fuck?” Chris muttered.
They were expecting a writhing, abuse-spewing girl that vaguely resembled Claire Marie to be lying there, struggling against the strong leather bonds holding her firm to the bed. The images they had showed her covered in scabs, scars and dried vomit. That possessed, disfigured monster of a girl was not what was in front of them now.
Claire Marie sat on her neatly-made bed, cross-legged, clothed in a casual pyjama featuring punk rock skulls. There were no scabs, bruises or vomit to be seen. Her face was clear, her skin soft and healthy. In the photos, her hair was a hellish frizzy mess, but now it was neatly styled. For all intents and purposes, she almost looked like the beautiful young lady she used to be.
Almost.
The pupils of her eyes should have been green.
They were black.
She looked at the trio in front of her, gave them a Hollywood smile, revealing a mouth full of white, well-looked after teeth.
“Hello boys,” she said. When she spoke, the tone of her voice was that of a normal young woman in her late teens, but it had an inhuman and guttural echo beneath it that wasn’t right at all.
“I've been expecting you,” she added.
Then, almost as if a sudden gust of wind had blown into the room, the bedroom door slammed shut.
CHAPTER NINE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
Pete spun around and approached the door. He placed his hand on the handle for the briefest of moments before a searing pain forced him to relinquish his grip. He yelped in agony and stepped back. Chris turned to check on him.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. The handle is so c
old it almost burned me.”
Sister Sarah stood in front of the bed, looking at the pretty yet ominous girl sitting in front of her. Claire Marie fixed her with a gaze, and then tilted her head slightly.
“You, I wasn't expecting. Where is Montague Rhodes?” she asked.
“He is temporarily indisposed,” Sister Sarah replied, intensely looking back at the girl in front of her.
“Ah… the alcohol,” Claire Marie replied. “I suppose it was only a matter of time before that finally caught up with him. I must admit I'm slightly disappointed. I was so looking forward to discussing the priest’s particular failures, personally. No matter, though. I shall find another, more fitting time and place to deal with him.” To Sarah she said, “So, dear girl. Who is it that replaces Montague on the pyre of tonight’s festivities?”
“My name is unimportant, monster,” Sarah replied. “What matters is that you unleash your hold on that innocent girl.”
Claire Marie chuckled, and the sound made everyone else in the room shudder as if someone had run ice water into their veins.
“Innocent? Please, innocence is merely an overused term to make people sleep better at night or ignite their arousal. No one is truly innocent. Not really.” She looked at the palms of her hands and smiled. “I will say this. Claire Marie's soul is certainly more delicious than most.”
Sarah was silent in horror. Then Chris appeared at her side. She looked over at him and realised he had his hands in his pockets and looked very relaxed.
“Oh, I see! You're one of the 'I'm going to eat your soul' lot, are you? Well I hate to burst your bubble, but we've heard all that crap a million times. What next, you going to jump on the bed and say something blasphemous while taking a piss?” He fixed the demonic girl in front of him with a defiant glare. “Change the fucking record.”
Pete was next up, standing on Sarah’s other side. He shook his hand slightly.
“Yeah. And don't even think that you're gonna start flicking yourself off with a crucifix, either, because we left the bag downstairs.”
“Turning the room into a mini-fridge is an unusual tactic,” Chris said, “but it’s not the worst we've had to deal with. We're professionals. You're going to have to try harder than that to scare us.”
Claire Marie leaned back, her hands on the mattress to hold her body up. The contours of her body were clear to see. She looked at all three of the people in front of her, then briefly licked her lips with a blackened tongue before addressing them again.
“You both have a fire within you. I have heard many stories of it, but to see it for myself is quite a thing. I can see why you have accrued such a formidable reputation. However, on this particular occasion, you are mistaken. Whatever made you think I was here to scare you?”
Chris and Pete looked at each other, both confused.
“Then what do you want, monster?” Sarah asked.
Claire Marie rested her hands on her knees. She was still smiling faintly, arrogantly even.
“I wanted to see the faces of the men who have earned the anger and fear of the children of the damned. The men who have saved many souls, They are infamous in Hell.”
Sarah looked at the Idols, saw they were just as confused as she was.
“Well whoopadee-fucking-doo,” Pete said.
“Yet you are insignificant. You are the spiders that eat the flies on the web in the garden of Eden.”
“Poetic. It's nice to know that we have fans, but you clearly don't know who you are messing with,” Chris said. Claire Marie looked him dead in the eye.
“No, Christopher. I'm afraid it is you that doesn't know who you are dealing with this time,” she replied.
“Actually, we do,” Pete said. Sarah turned in surprise. Claire Marie turned her head to him.
“You know this demon’s name?” Sarah asked.
“Well, not exactly,” Pete replied. “But me and Chris are pretty sure we've met this prick before.”
“Oh really? Then please, Peter, enlighten us all. Who am I?”
“You're the demon bastard who took our mum from us,” he spat.
Claire Marie threw her head back and began to laugh. “I think you'll find it was Montague that took your mother from you, when he pulled that trigger and blew your mother’s beautiful head clean off her shoulders.”
“You son-of-a bitch. I'm going to—”
“You'll do nothing boy,” Claire Marie said, jumping onto her knees. “Nothing but listen to what I have to say.”
When Claire Marie said this the room shook slightly, and Pete took a step back.
“I am not the one who corrupted your mother and started you on the path that led you here.”
“But the markings on the floor…” Chris said.
“Just an extra incentive to ensure that you came,” Claire Marie replied. “A tasty morsel of psychological bait that made this particular case too personal to avoid.”
“Why?” Sarah asked. “Why did you need them to be the ones who took this case?”
“Christopher and Peter Idol have fought, and defeated, countless entities. Sending them back to the fold with their tails between their legs and bitterness spitting from their lips. They are better than anyone could have ever predicted.”
Pete looked at Chris. “Is this thing giving us a performance review?” he said, thumbing in the direction of Claire Marie.
“Sounds like it,” Chris replied. “It's good to know that Hell is afraid of us.”
Claire Marie chuckled once again, like nails down a chalkboard.
“I wouldn't go that far, Christopher. Not at all. You see, for all your successes, you are still nothing but a drop in an ocean. Your escapades have passed unnoticed and ignored for some time, until you became too irritating to ignore. It’s that irritation that brings me here today. You have been formidable adversaries to my children, but by becoming so you made one terrible mistake.” She paused, and then said, “You got my attention.”
Claire Marie smiled as she saw the realisation dawn on Sister Sarah's face.
“Oh no,” Sarah said.
“Oh yes!”
“You can't be,” Sarah said.
“Oh, but I am.” Clare Marie replied, her smile growing.
“Children? What are you talking about?” Pete asked, turning to Sarah, “What is she talking about?”
“This is not a demon,” Sarah said. “It is the demon. The one whom all others call father. The Morning Star.”
“Oh shit. You're not saying what I think you're saying, are you?” Chris asked.
They all turned to Claire Marie, who was still grinning.
“The beast that possesses Claire Marie,” Sarah said, “is Lucifer himself.”
***
“Oh fuck,” Pete said.
“Oh shit,” Chris said.
“Oh God,” Sarah added.
The three of them stood face to face with the Devil, and the Devil smiled back at them.
“God won't be helping you today,” she said.
“So, if you're the Devil,” Chris said, pacing around the bed and keeping eye contact with Claire Marie, “what’s your big plan here? Is this the big speech about how you're going to bring about the end of days? Rivers of blood, all that nonsense?”
“Don't flatter yourself. This world will be taken by the darkness soon enough, but I am not so primitive as to make idle threats and gestures to those of no significance. I have other plans for this world. Longer games are being played that are of no interest to you.”
“So why have you possessed this poor girl? Tell us, foul beast!” Sarah raised her voice as she spoke, but the Devil didn't seem to care. Instead, it ran its hands along the contours of Claire Marie's body, and then gently caressed her face.
“Why this shell of a girl?” it said, looking sternly at Sister Sarah. “Why not?”
Now it was Pete's turn to step forward. He straightened his jacket and looked the Prince of Lies dead in the eye.
“If there’s no apo
calypse around the corner, what do you want from us right now?”
“I would have thought that was obvious, Peter,” the Devil said. “You're all going to die tonight.”
The Idols shared a look and Sister Sarah gritted her teeth.
“You're going to die screaming. You're going to be torn limb from limb and watch your insides ripped out and devoured in front of you. The moments you have left will only be enough to watch the others who reside in this house suffer the same fate before you.” Claire Marie shuffled in her seat. “I find you infuriating, an itch that needs to be scratched. It is time for the scratching to begin. There are many from the depths who wish to see you again and take their own pound of flesh to feast upon, and tonight I shall let them have it.”
“And how are you going to do that, exactly?” Pete said. “You going to Skype them in or something?”
The Devil smiled.
“You fools. You are in the bear trap already. You were from the moment you entered this quaint little town. You know, Hullenbeck has always been one of my favourite places on this grey island. There’s always been so much… hopelessness. Bitterness. Anger. Jealousy. It’s positively dripping with malcontent. But do you know the one thing that Hullenbeck doesn't have?”
“A decent wi-fi connection?” Chris replied.
“Come on now, think about it? What is the one thing that could possibly help you, offer you sanctuary, if you were surrounded by evil?”
There was a pause. No one said anything. Until…
“Holy ground,” Sister Sarah said, her voice breaking as she spoke. “Hullenbeck doesn’t have any holy ground.”
“Precisely. Your faithful fathers deemed it wise to deconsecrate this place we now stand in, believing it unworthy to be part of their flock. And in doing so, guaranteed you all a certain, agonising doom.” Claire Marie looked at Chris. “Now that is poetic, don't you think?”
“Shit,” Chris replied.
“If you want us dead so badly, why don't you do it yourself? Or are you scared you're not up to the task?” Pete asked.
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