Until the End by Rick Wood

Author:Rick Wood [Wood, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blood Splatter Press
Published: 2020-06-22T18:30:00+00:00

30

Thea felt the back of her head. Its collision with the fireplace had caused it to bleed, but there wasn’t that much blood. She’d be fine.

She looked up, groggy, waiting for her vision to readjust.

The crucifix lay on the floor next to her. Henry was to her left, cowering against the wall.

Above her and across the room, it stood in the hallway. Stretching its arms. Looking at its hands, its body, its legs; not so much admiring as coming to terms with it. For something so powerful, a mortal body must be like a prison cell, and Thea knew The Devil would look to release himself from it as soon as possible.

She could not let that happen.

It turned April’s body toward the hallway mirror. It stepped closer, fogging its reflection with her breath. He fish-hooked her cheek, lifting it up, exposing the gums that held her teeth in place.

He mushed her face together, squishing the nose then spreading it, watching the wrinkles on her forehead curl up then spread out.

It looked down at her body. Felt for its arms, dug dirty nails into her flesh, grabbed her breasts as if he was trying to pull them off.

His face turned, angry. Like he was undignified to be in a young woman’s body. That this humiliation was making him furious, and somebody needed to suffer as a result.

He turned its sneer toward Thea, his grimace contorting April’s features into a visage of wrath that she could never have produced.

Thea did not wait.

She grabbed the crucifix, stood, held it toward him, and edged forward as she shouted her prayer, speaking quickly and clearly.

“That you spare us, that you pardon us, that you bring us true penance.”

It lifted April’s arm, clenching her fist. Thea was lifted from the ground and smacked into the wall.

She hit her head and fell, dizzily. She ignored the concussion. She refused unconsciousness.

She had promised Oscar.

She was stronger than this.

She saw Henry quivering in the corner.

“Help me!” she said.

Henry shook his head.

“Help me, or what is the point of you being here?”

He seemed to accept this and hesitantly stepped forward, each step as wary as the last.

She turned back to The Devil.

“That you govern and preserve your Holy Church, that you preserve our Holy Father.”

April’s mouth opened, her jaw broken, and her chin fell to the base of her neck. Through that mouth came an almighty roar; the screams of the damned, with every ounce of suffering and pain caught in multiple shrieks.

“Give me the answer, Henry,” she instructed. “Lord, have mercy.”

“Lord, have mercy,” Henry answered from behind her.

“Christ, have mercy.”

“Christ, have mercy.”

She pushed herself forward, but with its scream came a destructive gust of wind, catching everything in its path. The door to the living room battered against its hinges, the sofa shifted, the light above swinging back and forth.

“Christ, hear us!” Thea persisted, shouting to be heard.

“Christ, graciously hear us.”

Thea knew this wouldn’t work. She knew that the rites of exorcism would not end this attack, nor would it stop their enemy from leaving the house and bringing destruction to the world.

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