“Got anything else?” I asked. I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic. Even as I thought it, I saw Connor yank on his collar.
“Phil, are you okay? Michelle?” I demanded, worried.
“Jack, it’s getting stuffy in here,” Phil stated.
“Get some air in here,” Connor said as he pulled on his top again.
Phil and I headed for the windows, but we stopped halfway there.
“Fuck,” Phil exclaimed, his camera firmly on them.
“We can’t open these, they’re jammed,” Michelle called over her shoulder.
“Same here, they’re covered in ectoplasm,” Phil said. I exchanged glances with him as the atmosphere grew thicker. We needed some fresh air.
“Merrick, we’re in trouble here,” Connor shouted through the door.
“Connor, if I’m in distress, yank me out,” I muttered and slipped my hands into the viscous liquid.
I was immediately hit with an overload of emotions. The prevailing one was hate; it swept through me, taking no prisoners. Instantly, I tried to pull back, but the ectoplasm held my hand trapped.
“Jack!” someone yelled, but I couldn’t discern who.
Voices came to me from a distance, despite the fact that they were close. My vision narrowed to what was in front of me as I was battered mercilessly. Despair hit next, followed by resignation. Grief nearly brought me to my knees, while greed made me heave. I felt as if I were inside a whirlpool, with no escape.
The pressure continued, distaste and the urge for revenge. The need to kill was almost uncontrollable, and mixed with red-hot rage, I barely held on. I gritted my teeth as the emotions hammered into me.
“Jack!” my name was screamed again.
I reeled backwards as images surfaced in my mind. Scenes of blood and murder assaulted me, followed by faceless victims writhing in pain. They flashed forward, and I saw a dark red skyline with destroyed buildings and corpses lying on cracked and broken roads. A throne stood upon a hill with twisted human bodies piled before it.
On it sat an immense black humanoid figure, with red eyes and curved horns protruding from its head. A naked, writhing woman was held to its mouth, and it seemed to be sucking her dry. When it finished, it threw her away, but I noted it appeared to grow. Eyes met mine, and a voice boomed inside my head.
“Human!”
“Jack!”
Somebody hit me hard, and I was knocked sideways.
I screamed as I broke free, and the abruptness caused sharp pain. Merrick rolled off me and placed his fingers on my pulse as I stared at the ceiling. My breath left my body in visible puffy clouds, as if I were breathing in cold air.
“I’m okay,” I forced out through stiff lips. Terror still resided deep in my bones. I’d never been so scared.
“What happened?” Michelle asked, pressing a silver cross to my forehead. When it didn’t burn me or make me screech in agony, Michelle nodded in satisfaction.
“You need to exorcise this fucker,” I whispered.
“Jack?”
“It’s a demon, and a high one, or it thinks it is. I saw it sitting on a throne with bodies beneath its feet. It showed me images of Armageddon. There’s nothing but darkness in its soul,” I replied.
“They don’t have souls,” Michelle stated, and I sent her a look. “Ah, right, sorry,” she muttered.
I shoved upwards, wincing at the pain in my body, and grabbed Merrick’s outstretched hand. He held me steady as I gasped.
“This fucker is beyond evil. It forced emotions on me, and the hate it felt—that level shouldn’t exist. Michelle, I don’t know if it’s a top-tier demon or aiming to be one, but it plans to destroy our world,” I explained.
“It will fight the exorcism,” she guessed.
