The priest put out a hand to Jeremy, but the child ignored it, a stubborn look descending on his features. There was an undignified struggle as Carla let go of the boy and Father Anselm got a grip on him. "These people are just trying to help you," Carla said tearfully as Father Anselm dragged Jeremy into the circle. Bree felt queasy at the sight. She'd done exorcisms on children before, and they were always the most emotionally difficult. What on earth had she been thinking to agree to this as her first one back?
She squared her shoulders and entered the circle. She would just have to make it work. Valerie's voice was a soft murmur behind her as the young woman activated the last of the candles. The warm, tingling rush of wards rising washed across Bree's back. Jeremy jerked against Father Anselm's hold, and the priest's face was pale and set.
Bree put the bottle of holy water and her bible down at her feet, and pulled off the cork on the bottle of salt she'd kept in her hand, stowing the cork in the pocket of her jeans. She poured some salt out into her palm. "Holy Father," she began, reaching inside to activate her base energy, "bless this salt that it may serve your will." Her energy swelled, and she felt a portion of it permeating the salt. As energy and salt connected, she felt a rush of well being, and the sensation nearly brought tears to her eyes. It had been so very long since she used power.
She began walking the circle just inside the candles, pouring out salt as she went. This was the beginning of raising energy for the exorcism. It started as energy from her body, from that mysterious place she was born with, but as she walked the circle, the energy began to take on a life of it's own. She could feel it forming a positive feedback loop with Valerie's wards. Valerie had done well; the wards were tuned specifically for exorcism. Her estimation of her second's skill level grew.
As she finished the circle, she put her tongue to her palm, the salt making her mouth water. At the same moment, she triggered her will energy to complete the spell. As the magical energy throbbed more fully to life, Jeremy whined, "I don't want to, let me go!" Bree didn't let herself look at him. It wasn't time to begin the dance with the demon.
She re-corked the salt bottle, set it down, then opened the one full of holy water. She sprinkled it as she walked the circle again, praying as she went, and to her relief, the spell energy intensified further. Her Exorcist ability helped her feel and shape the energy. The energy of the salt spell was white, that of the holy water spell silver. They wove together in an intricate binding that contained demonic energy. Father Anselm's lips moved in quiet prayer, and with her heightened senses, Bree could see that small, natural power of faith surrounding him like a gold mist. She glanced around at Valerie, and the energy around her was a blue-green light wavering in the air. It was beautiful. Too bad it was all so fragile. Yes, the spells could contain a demon, but only so long as it wasn't too strong. It could all come down like a house of cards if she misjudged the strength of a demon. Which she had only ever done once, during her last exorcism.
Bree felt her nascent confidence wavering at that thought. She took a deep breath and refocused. She put down the bottle of water and picked up her bible. Almost on cue, her Demonsense surged. Demons could recognize the energy of exorcism spells, as most had been exorcised numerous times in their eons of experience. And this demon was being drawn to the surface by it.
Bree looked into Jeremy's eyes as she began to draw on her will energy. Her gut twisted at the orange light she saw there. Funny to think the priest wouldn't be able to see it when, to her eyes, the demon sign positively glowed. This was going to move quickly if the demon was that close to the surface already. "Dear Lord, bless this working with your word," she said, raising the bible before her. Her voice held an embarrassing quaver as she spoke. "Bless all present here today in your service. We come together to relieve this boy, Jeremy, of the influence of evil. He has been taken by a demon unwilling."
The final words of the activation caused a familiar mix of excitement and dread to well up inside Bree. The dread, she had expected. The excitement not so much, and it was encouraging. That was the part of her ready to do battle with the demon.
She walked toward Jeremy, who had gone completely still. At every step, her Demonsense spiked further. And at this point, that's what she wanted it to do, in spite of the nausea it caused. Jeremy's eyes widened in fear, but Bree wasn't buying it. Her Demonsense let her know the demon had moved to the forefront of Jeremy's consciousness. It was in control now, miming the expressions of a terrified child.
She moved the bible closer to Jeremy, and he reared back, head impacting with a thud against Father Anselm's chest. "All sacred scripture is anathema to demon kind," Bree said conversationally. She wasn't talking to Jeremy.
"I want to go home," Jeremy whimpered convincingly.
"Perhaps we should try blessed salt next." Bree turned back and set the bible on the floor, and picked up the narrow glass bottle of salt. Bree wished that plastic didn't kill off most magical energy. She'd cut herself on broken glass during exorcisms too many times to count. Once again, she poured salt into her palm, and she approached Jeremy. She felt some of the salt sticking to the sweat that had broken out on her hands as her Demonsense rose. She held her hand palm up and, gathering her will energy, spoke the words, "Reveal yourself, demon," and blew the salt gently onto the boy.
Jeremy convulsed and howled, voice rising until it was a painful shriek. Father Anselm's voice rose along with the boy's, his prayers coming faster. He blinked at the sweat dribbling down into his eyes.
Bree felt a moment's triumph. This was going to be easy. Only a young demon would show itself so early in the process. And the faster the process went, the more likely her spells would hold.
"I see you, demon," she said, in a half-shout to override Jeremy's continual thin wail. "I see you and I command you. Leave this child. You have no place here." As she spoke, she sent her Demonsense questing, seeking to attune with this particular demon's energy. As she felt a connection click into place, Jeremy's shrieking cut off. He straightened up and looked Bree in the eye, a canny, weirdly adult look descending on his features.
"I'd like to tie you down and let a dog fuck you," the boy said.
Bree couldn't help flinching at his words. She was used to this kind of talk from demons, but it was far more disturbing coming from a child. She reminded herself that she had the upper hand here.
"So you're ready to show yourself. Ready to test my power. I assure you, you can't win."
Jeremy hissed like a cat, lips pulled back from his teeth.
"Such a small demon. Is that the best you can do?"
Jeremy lunged hard against Father Anselm's grip and got an arm free. He raked his nails down his own face, hard enough to draw blood. Bree's adrenalin surged. This was a risky part of the working. Some demons began damaging their host when they felt threatened. For some reason, they were more likely to do it when possessing children. That's why Father Anselm had taken the risk of being in the circle with the demon. He got a grip on Jeremy's wrist and forced the child's hand away from his face. Jeremy turned his head, quick as a snake, and sank his teeth into Father Anselm's hand. The priest uttered a small cry of protest as he instinctively tried to pull away. The boy bit down harder and worried at the priest's hand like a dog, coming away with a chunk of flesh.
Bree resisted the impulse to step forward and help in restraining the boy. Some demons could jump to another host on physical contact, and that was something she had to avoid at all costs. The demon would far prefer her to Father Anselm, given she was powered. Powered were like candy to demons.
Instead, she pushed harder with her Demonsense, forcing her base energy along that conduit, and attuned more closely with the demon's energy. She was feeling for the shape of it within the boy's consciousness so that she could snare it with her will energy. Father Anselm struggled to restrain Jeremy without getting too close to his teeth. Blood dripped down his wrist. The boy had dropped to the ground, trying to dislodge the priest's other hand by pulling against it with all his weight.
"I will kill you for this!" Jeremy shrieked as he dangled in Father Anselm's grip. "You cannot force me out! This is my food, mine!"
"Tell me your name," Bree demanded, squeezing against the demon's energy with her own. She had it surrounded now, she could feel all of it. It roiled in her grasp like oil, and smoke, and blood. She smothered a strong impulse to gag at the feel of it.
"I won't, you fucking cunt!" the child screamed. Father Anselm was down on the floor with him. He'd succeeded resuming his hold on Jeremy's upper arms, and had them pulled back behind the boy's body. The priest's distress at the whole process was plain to see on his face. Bree was glad the demon couldn't see it. He'd sense a weakness there and start in on the priest. Bree had to keep the demon's attention on herself.
"Holy Father, free this child from evil, I pray," Bree said breathlessly. Her abilities were stretched tight, holding the energy of the circle, keeping attunement with the demon, and focusing her will energy into her link with the demon. The demon fought her, but she almost had it. If she could just get its name, the link would be complete, and she could pull the demon out of the boy. She could do it without the name, but it would take more energy, and she was nearing her limit.
The realization came at her sideways. This demon was stronger than she thought, much stronger. She'd only ever misjudged the strength of a demon during that last exorcism. And she was rusty, she could feel it. Her will energy was sluggish to respond, and it took more effort than it should to get it to engage through the channel of her Demonsense.
"Your name!" she ground out, pressing with all her might against the demon.
Jeremy stilled, and the orange light of the demon filled his eyes. His gaze caught Bree's, and the boy smiled. That smile sent a shaft of dread through Bree, and her will energy faltered. "I will burn him if you do not release me," Jeremy said, with that teeth grating harmonic to his voice the possessed got when the demon was fully in control and no longer hiding.
Bree felt like the floor tilted under her. The demon could do it. Demons rarely burned their hosts because it hurt the demon to do it. And they could only do it on exiting the host, something they obviously didn't want to do. It was usually a hollow threat.
"I will not allow it," Bree said, trying to force conviction into her voice.
Jeremy's eyes narrowed. Dear God, the demon sensed her weakness. She tried again to press with her will energy, to establish dominance, but the energy didn't respond.
"You fear my fire," Jeremy whispered. He closed his eyes, and Bree felt the demonic energy surge with heat. And she panicked, she couldn't help it. She tried to force the demon out, even though she didn't have a full grip on it, even though her attunement was failing. She felt a spear of searing heat between her eyes as the demon lashed out at her through the link she'd established with her Demonsense. The structure of the surrounding spells shuddered. The boy's face reddened, and sweat burst out of him.
"I will burn him. His skin will crack and melt, and he will die in agony."
Bree's body froze, and her mind hurtled backwards, like a roller coaster in reverse, dipping and swerving, leaving her dizzy and disoriented
. Fire. Fire filled her sight, and Seth in the middle of it, burning. The demon howled its defiance. The subject, a teenaged girl, writhed on the floor in agony, screaming until blood vessels in her eyes burst, filling the whites with a red haze. Bree wailed, “Seth, God no, Seth!” The demon’s stench was everywhere, throbbing with nauseating power.
Bree desperately reached for the ritual energy Seth had raised for the exorcism, cast forth her Demonsense to attune with the demon, but it was too late, too late for Seth.
He collapsed before her eyes, blackened and crackling as he hit the floor, his face a mass of melted flesh, hair and beard burned away.
The blast of the shofar sounding pulled her out of the flashback. Bree was on her knees, and Valerie was standing before her. "I command you, depart!" Valerie shouted. With what was left of her tattered senses, Bree felt the demon sucked away into an opening that had appeared in the air. With an almost audible snap, the opening closed. Valerie gestured with her hands, and the wards and exorcism spells surrounding them dispersed.
"It's finished," Valerie said breathlessly over her shoulder. At first, Bree thought Valerie was talking to her, but then she heard the slap of shoes against stone floor as Carla ran down the aisle. Valerie moved to one side, and Bree could see Jeremy. He was lying on the floor, Father Anselm kneeling over him. One side of the boy's face was badly burned. Bree had to press a hand to her mouth to keep from throwing up. She had caused this. Her failure had caused this.
Carla brushed passed her and knelt on the other side of Jeremy. "Oh my God, Jeremy, honey!" Bree could no longer see the boy, but she heard him begin to cry. "It hurts!" he whimpered.
"Don't touch it, baby, it'll only hurt worse," Carla said tearfully.
"You must take him to the emergency room immediately," Father Anselm said, one hand clutching the wound on his wrist.
"What on earth will I tell them?"
"Tell them he overturned a pan of boiling water on the stove."
"They'll never believe me. They'll think I did it. Oh God, what's happening now?" Jeremy had gone limp, and his whole body shuddered.