Page 29 of Chillingham Castle

“Use holy water on those wounds. It may have tried to infect you,” Jack stated.

“Done.” Both Coffee and Reaver replied moments later.

“I’ve an idea,” Haunt said. He crouched down, searched through my bag, and pulled out some chalk. He began drawing a containment circle, using protective and imprisonment runes.

“Add a weakening rune,” Lich suggested.

“You ever tried this before?” Jack asked.

“No. And I’ve no clue if it will work.”

“Worth a try,” Jack muttered as he was shoved violently moments after. He staggered, caught his balance, and glared at nothing in particular.

I continued with the exorcism; I knew better than to be distracted.

Haunt sat back a few minutes later. “Reaver, Lich, check my workings,” he said.

“They look correct to me,” Lich replied.

“Okay. So, take a corner and start trickling holy water and salt around. Lock each area off and force it towards the circle,” Haunt ordered.

“Won’t work. Fools.” The demon cackled. But I heard the worry it tried to hide. Oh yeah, this had a chance.

Haunt and Reaver took one side, Jack and Coffee the other, and Lich covered me as I prayed beside him, and we locked down our areas. The creature shrieked, and Coffee exclaimed loudly.

“Fucker burned my arm,” he snarled.

Haunt flashed his torch on him, and I shook my head. Five red finger marks had appeared just above Coffee’s wrist.

“Foul creature, what you reap you shall sow. Do you not recall this?” I redoubled my efforts as we kept moving. A shadow emerged, and I finally glimpsed the demon.

“I see you!” I cried and threw holy water at it. The demon shrieked and writhed away, stumbling into Jack’s path. Jack flung salt at it, and it shifted again. Bit by bit, we forced it towards the circle. Haunt lunged forward and tossed a bottle of holy water straight into its face.

A hissing noise rose as the creature screamed and staggered back from Haunt and directly into the containment circle.

“You shall not pass the walls,” I cried as Lich reacted and dropped salt around the outside, effectively making another barrier. Angrily, it threw itself against the edges of the circle, and we all tensed, but it couldn’t get through.

“Nice idea,” I murmured to Haunt, who nodded.

I cocked my head. Despite what most people thought, a demon could fully hide its true shape behind constantly shifting shadows.

I got ready to send its ass back to hell.

Coffee

I glanced at my phone. It was already three a.m. It had taken hours to banish the demon, but we’d succeeded. Now we had to find a solution for La Llorona.

I’d not been sure about bringing extra people in; it had been us ten for thirty years, since we were kids. But Jack was proving he was worth his weight in gold, and the girls appeared to be settling in nicely. Okay, they may have only been here two days, but even so, there was no drama yet.

In fact, I felt sorry for Jack. The women had each other, and we had our brothers; he seemed to be the lone man out. Not that he looked bothered. Jack was fitting into the team seamlessly, which was vital. After Chauncey and Gloria, we were all wary. Both had betrayed us in a multitude of ways. Neither would ever be welcome back.

A piercing shriek forced me to cover my ears, and I glanced wide-eyed at the others.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded, shocked.

“I don’t know, but—”

A roar cut Haunt off, and we gazed around. A second screech followed, hate-filled and full of pain, and I felt a sinking sensation in my gut.