Days went by and nothing came for us. We waited and waited, but nothing. We took to watching the news channel. The missing bodies count was now over five hundred. We had also had it confirmed that something supernatural was at work. The police and the FBI, who were now involved, had put security on all the graveyards in the now nine affected states. Yet still the graves had been dug up. Of course, nobody else thought of demons.
Keira had now been gone fifteen days and that’s how long it had been since Lily had stepped outside the house. We decided to go out and get some fresh air. Lily wasn’t very impressed at being dragged out, but I think she felt better for it after a while. We only went into the countryside for a picnic, but it was a change from the four walls of the house.
“This is nice,” Danny said. “It’s nice when we all go out…” his voice trailed away as sadness crept across his face.
“Where do you think she is?” Lily asked.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” a deep husky voice answered.
We stood up quickly, looking around us, but nothing was there. Then the sky turned from a beautiful pastel-blue color to almost black. Thunder roared, lightning struck the ground, and the temperature plummeted around us. All our eyes changed as we waited for someone or something to attack us.
“How tragic losing someone so close. Well, soon you will all join her!” The voice jeered. “Don’t worry I promise I’ll make it quick and painless for you.”
“Show yourself!” I demanded. “Come on, you coward.”
“Soon, boy, very soon.”
The black clouds disappeared and with it the thunder and lightning. The temperature returned to normal.
“What the hell is going on?” Tyler shouted.
“It’s messing with us, trying to make us nervous,” Danny said.
“Well, it’s not going to work,” I snapped. “I’m not nervous at all. How powerful can this creep be if he has to raise an army to fight for him,” I said louder, trying to provoke him.
Sadly it didn’t work – nothing answered me.
“Do you guys want to stay out or go home?” I asked.
“We’re staying out – we won’t be made to run home!” Tyler said, sitting back down.
After a few minutes we all sat down with him. All of us were on edge though, constantly looking around in case it came back. My main concern was for Lily. If we were ambushed now, how would she protect herself? Would we be able to protect her, fight and protect ourselves?
We stayed out another couple of hours. We spent most of the time lying back on the grass in silence, but it was better than being in the house, surrounded by Keira’s things. When we did talk it was only about what was happening and about Keira. I also started to feel really sorry for Jake. He was grieving too, but he had to hide it constantly from Lily – one, so he didn’t upset her and, two, so he could appear to be strong for her. There would come a time when he would need to release his pent-up anger and grief. But for now, the only thing he did was look after Lily. In the end we all started to get restless and decided to go back to the house.
When we got in, Tyler put the news on. The police still hadn’t found anything, but revealed that last night was the first that no bodies had been taken.
“Do you think it has enough now?” Tyler asked openly.
“Possibly,” Jake answered.
“Why go to so much trouble when there are only eight of us with the power?’
“Maybe ours is stronger than that of this army. It might need reassurance,” I suggested.
“Or maybe it’s not just us it’s going to attack,” Danny suggested. “Just because we are the only ones with this power doesn’t mean there aren’t other people out there with other powers.”
“We won’t know the reason until it wants us to know,” Tyler said, turning the TV off, “So we all we can do is something we’ve all gotten very good at – we wait.”
“I’m sick of waiting!” Danny shouted, walking out of the room.
“Aren’t we all?” I said to myself. It was starting to drive me insane. Maybe that’s what it wanted. To make us lose our minds…well, fat chance; I wasn’t going to let it win.
I walked outside to the rose garden and knelt down in front of the black marble gravestone we had had made.
“God, I wish you were here. I wish I could talk to you…just for a moment,” I said as I traced her name on the stone. “I wish I could bring you back. We’re all stressing out here, Keira. If you were here you’d keep us all calm. We don’t know what to do; we just want everything to go back to how it used to be. The six of us, having a giggle, the odd disagreement, enjoying each other’s company. We want you dressed like a goth in Heaven and Hell, dancing around, getting drunk and making us laugh. I’d do anything for that.”
“Are you ok?” I heard Lily ask, just before she knelt opposite me.
“Yeah,” I told her as I wiped a tear away. “I just miss her so much.”
“So do I.”
“How are you holding up, really I mean?”
“Not good. I have moments where I’m ok and then I do something, and it reminds me of something either she did or we did together. Then I go off again.”
“I’m glad it’s not just me,” Tyler added, coming to join us. “Hey, miss,” he said, looking at the grave, “It’s all right for you, just chilling out wherever you are. You should come back here, make us all coffee and give us a kick up the ass.”
All of us smiled. We knew she would be smiling too.
“Can we go out somewhere tonight?” Lily asked. “I don’t mean to a bar or somewhere crowded, just for a drive or something.”
“Yeah, why not? It should be a clear night. We’ll go to the top of the hills – you can see all the lights of the new town when the sun has set. It’s a really nice view,” I told her.
“There’s an old church up there too – it’s massive. I think you could probably fit the population of Salem and more in it,” Tyler told her. “But it’s been abandoned for years.”
“Cool,” she said.
***
Lily, as usual, cooked us all dinner, but she hardly ate anything herself. We decided to ask our parents if they wanted to come along, it would be nice for them to get out too, and anyway we hadn’t seen them much lately. They jumped at the idea and told us they’d meet us there. At 7 p.m. we set off. It was only a few miles out, so we’d be there in no time. We were all a little chattier on the way there, which was a relief – I didn’t want us to be silent anymore. Keira would be going mad. When we arrived we found our parents sitting together waiting for us, with a few lanterns for when it got dark. They had brought some drinks – non-alcoholic – and a few snacks. We walked over and sat with them.
“Hey,” Sofia said carefully.
“How are you?” David asked.
“Not too bad,” Danny sighed.
“It’s nice to see you all,” my mom said.
“Lily love, you’ve lost some weight. Please don’t get too thin,” Michelle said.
“Have you been watching the news?” Tyler asked them.
“Yeah,” my dad and Corey said as the others nodded.
“Looks like it’s over for now,” Sofia said, pouring us all a drink.
“The view is beautiful,” Lily interrupted, looking out towards the town. “I like it here.”
“Have you seen the church?” Melanie asked her. “It’s just behind us.”
“Wow!” She said, turning her head. “You weren’t lying when you said it was massive.”
“One of the largest in North America,” Corey told her.
“I bet it was beautiful when it was in use.”
“It still is – beautiful, I mean. You can see through the windows. Everything’s still in there just covered in dust.”
“I’ll go and have a look before it gets dark.”
We carried on making general chit-chat. Nobody really knew what else to say to one another for fear of upsetting someone. I spent most of my
time staring at the town below us. I wanted everyone to be ok, and be able to move on a little. Not forget her, just try and put our lives back together. She wouldn’t want us all to be like this; she would have wanted us to remember the good times and get on with our lives. But even though I knew that’s what we should be doing, I found it really difficult. I would go off in my own world for hours and hours at a time, just thinking about her. About what we’d all be doing if she was here now. How she would have been waiting for something to attack us so she could kill it once and for all.
“Lucian?” My mom said. “Are you ok, darling?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I told her. “What have you been doing with yourself lately?”
“Not a lot to be honest. I’ve no interest in things at the moment. I’ve cleaned the house from top to bottom, just to keep myself busy.”
“Sounds exciting.”
“Have you opened the store again yet?” Jason asked Lily and Jake.
“Not yet, no, but I think we’ll have to next week,” Jake told him.
“Neither of us has been in the right frame of mind,” Lily said.
“I understand, but it may take your mind of things,” Jason said softly.
“We’ll see how we feel next week.”
I turned my attention back to the view and went into my own world again. A few minutes later I started to get the shivers, first just down my spine, and then through the whole of my body. All the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I turned to look at the others and noticed they were shivering too, well, all the men were. The women hadn’t noticed anything. We all stood up and looked around us.
“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.
“Sush, stay quiet and don’t move!” I whispered.
The ground started to shake, not violently, just like a continuous little tremor.
“Can you feel that?” Danny asked.
“Earthquake maybe?” My dad suggested.
The temperature dropped. The women could feel it now, too. They all started to shiver and moved closer together. Then we saw shadows moving up the hill. Hundreds of them, moving at a running speed.
“It’s started!” I declared
“They’re coming!” Jake shouted.
“Evelyn, take everyone inside the church. The door will be open when you get there. Do not come out. Hide!” My dad told her.
“Lily!” Jake shouted.
He walked over to her and took her hands in his.
“I need to tell you something, I need you to know in case anything happens…”
“What is it?” She asked.
“I’m in love with you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, and I will always love you.”
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.
“I love you,” she told him as the kiss ended.
“Lily, come on!” My mom said.
She grabbed Lily’s arm and dragged her towards the church.
“Watch your backs! Keep your eyes open! Kill or be killed!” David cried.
“God help us all!” Jake said.
We all stood in a line, eyes as black as coal – waiting.
Chapter 27
Lucian’s Story – It Begins
We stood there waiting for what seemed like a lifetime, watching as the shadows came closer and closer. They weren’t all together, which was good for us. They seemed to be split up into groups of, at a guess, fifty. It was as though they had set off running at us at different times. But why? Surely if they wanted us dead they would have all been coming at us at once. We heard the doors of the church behind us slam shut. The women were safe and knowing that made me a lot happier.
“Keira if you’re watching, please give us the strength to get through this,” Jake prayed.
“Please give us a sign you’re watching over us,” I asked, looking towards the sky.
“Here they come!” Danny said, developing two energy balls, one in each hand.
I looked in front of me. I could see them properly now. All of them looked human, but their eyes were glowing green, a sure sign they were possessed. Lifeless, soul-less bodies that had been taken over by demons. They were puppets.
“Everybody stay close to one another,” Jason said. “Watch out for yourselves and everyone else.”
Once the first group of puppets were only a few feet away from us, Jake, Corey and Tyler threw shockwaves at them, while the rest of us continuously threw energy balls at them. Some of them were thrown backwards a few feet while others just fell to the ground. None of them stayed down for long though. Within seconds they were on their feet again and attacking us. I sent another shockwave at the three that were coming for me, but found myself slammed in the chest by another one’s fist. I stumbled back a little – they were so strong and I wasn’t expecting that.
“Lucian, catch,” I heard Danny say.
I looked over at him as he threw a lighter to me. I lit the flame and manipulated it so it soared out in front of me. It seemed to keep them at bay for a few minutes. The ones who got too close had their clothes set alight and rolled on the ground trying to extinguish the flames. The others started circling me. I could see the other guys fighting. Corey was surrounded by five of them – he punched and sent energy balls at them but they kept coming back at him. Danny was doing the same as me with his other lighter. Jason was using telekinesis to throw some of the rocks from the field at them. Some of the puppets blasted them with their own energy balls, smashing the rocks into bits. Others were hit by them, but not hard enough to stop them.
I watched as Jake grabbed one of them, restraining them while David snapped its neck. But the puppet just laughed before sending a burst of electricity through its whole body, blowing Jake about ten yards across the field. David tried to attack it again but it punched him and knocked him to the ground. I saw my dad run over and grab the lanterns they had brought out with them. They were filled with petrol. He unscrewed them all quickly and threw the petrol out at some of the puppets, drenching their clothes.
“Lucian, throw the flame at them,” he shouted.
I made the fire travel further out and set a large group of them on fire just before the lighter ran out of fluid. I sent more shockwaves out and energy balls. We all used telekinesis to throw some of them away from us. But it didn’t matter what we did to them – they kept coming back for more.
Tyler came running over to me. “How the hell are we supposed to win this when they won’t die? How can we kill something that’s already dead?” He asked out of breath.
“I don’t know.”
“Lucian, we need to run – we’ll die if we stay here.”
Just as he said that we saw a larger figure walking towards us. He was even taller that Danny, and twice the width of me. His eyes were bright orange.
“He must be the one,” I said to Tyler.
“We won’t stand a chance. If we can’t kill these, what chance do we stand against him?”
“You’re right.”
I looked at the tall figure again. He was glaring at me now, showing his rotten teeth.
“Lucian,” my dad said, grabbing me. “We can’t win this.”
We ran quickly towards the church, throwing shockwaves out at the puppets so we could get past them. Corey put his hands up and the church door burst open. We ran inside slamming the large wooden doors behind us and bolting them. Lily and my mom came running towards us.
“We need to block the doors,” Jake told them.
Everyone started grabbing old chairs and stacking them behind the double doors.
“This church is big – there are places to hide. Take all the women and find somewhere you will go unnoticed,” I told Lily. “Do not come out – no matter what happens!”
“Ok,” she said, grabbing my mother.
I watched as they all ran down the long aisle towards the back of the church.
“There’s nothing else we can use,” David said as he put the last of the chairs behind the doors.
“Err, guys…I don’t think it would matter anyway,” Danny said.
We all turned around to see the puppets appearing between the church pews and in the aisle.
“They must be teleporting themselves inside,” Corey said.
“Shit, what now?” Jake asked.
But all the puppets were just standing there, still as statues, all of them facing us.
“Why aren’t they attacking?” My dad said.
“Jake!!” We heard Lily scream.
When we looked to the right of us we saw all the women. Each of them were being held by one of the demon-come-humans. Their arms were locked behind their backs, while each of the demons had one of their hands around the women’s throats, forcing their heads up slightly. We walked towards them.
“If you move any closer they will die,” a voice said.
The crowd of demons divided and the orange-eyed leader became visible.
“We wouldn’t want anything to happen to these lovely ladies now, would we? That would be terrible wouldn’t it?” He said with a horrible smirk on his face.
“Let them go!” I ordered.
“Ha, you telling me what to do, that’s hilarious,” he laughed.
“If you hurt them I swear…” Michael began.
“You’ll do what? Kill me? I hardly think so.”
“Who are you?” Tyler asked.
“Ah, so now you want a chit-chat…well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for you to know the name of the one who is going to kill you…” he laughed. “You can call me Argyle.”
“I’d prefer to refer to you as an asshole,” Danny shot bitterly.
“Call me whatever you want – your words do not offend me.”
As soon as he’d finished his sentence he raised his hand. All of us rose with it. He moved his hand towards his body and we all slowly began to float closer to him. All of the possessed corpses turned as we floated past them, never taking their eyes off us. None of us could move a muscle – we were powerless. I could see the women watching us in horror out of the corner of my eye, all of them struggling to try and break free. But the human puppets held them back with ease. When we were no more than three feet away from him we stopped moving.