“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.”