Zeke
I’m going to kill Jake.
It’s all I can think about. I didn’t have the energy to intervene as he hurt Julia and shattered their relationship beyond repair. I’d tried to manifest myself, to fight against Amos’s hold on Jake, but it was no use.
I wasn’t able to protect Julia.
I failed her.
A powerful surge of anger flows through me as I think about how distressed she was as she snuck outside, jumped into the driver’s seat of Jake’s car when he wasn’t looking, and sped off into the rainy night. Even though I desperately wanted to go with her, I’m unable to cross the invisible line marking the boundary of the property. I can only hope that she’s taken refuge somewhere safe, some place where Jake can’t follow.
It’s morning now, and there’s no sign of Julia. Jake lays in the driveway amidst a mess of mud and gravel, unconscious. I’m itching to kick him, but I’m still too weak to summon my corporeal form. Instead, I spare him a scathing glare as I bypass his prone form and head toward the swamp.
I feel Amos before I see him. Its gaze upon me is omnipresent, unwavering. I wade out through the receding mire and climb onto the mossy, pitted clearing where I’d once been entombed.
“Amos!” My challenge booms through the swamp. The underbrush rustles as small creatures startle at the sudden noise, and the trees whisper warnings amongst themselves. “Show yourself, you coward!”
For a moment, nothing happens.
But then the constant drone of insects ceases as though somebody simply hit pause on a recording. Nothing moves. Even the feathery leaves of the cypress trees freeze in a tense vigil; the very wind itself is holding its breath.
Amos appears in pieces, a patchwork of mottled shadows coalescing from the swamp. Its skin, paper-thin and the texture of tree bark, stretches taut over branching bones. The fine, dark hair reminds me of the soft ferns that grow in the shade of the cypress trees, feeding off the muddy decay of the marsh. It’s an eldritch amalgamation of the land itself, drawn forth into the vaguest shape of a man.
I can’t help but recoil in horror at the unnatural sight of it.
“Hezekiah,” Amos murmurs in recognition. “How nice to see you again.”
“You bastard,” I growl.
The demon wags one long, thorn-tipped finger at me. “Is that any way to greet an old friend?”
Rage boils through me. Now that I’m standing in the swamp, I can feel the power coalescing inside me. It fans the dormant embers of my energy, recharging the spent wells that I’ve drawn so much from over the last few weeks. Slowly but steadily, my body manifests.
This new surge of strength gives me the bravado to warn him. “Stay away from Julia.”
Amos’s jagged mouth opens in a squealing laugh. I wince and slap my hands over my ears, but I can’t block the sound out. It reminds me of twisting metal and the crash of an oncoming storm. When it ends, the whole swamp seems to shiver in relief.
“Julia is mine,” the demon hisses.
“She’s mine,” I spit. “She’ll never be yours.”
“Oh, but it’s already done.” The words ooze from Amos’s maw like mud. “Poor Jake, so full of sin. He was easy to convince. He didn’t even struggle, not like the last stupid fool.”
My eyes widen in terror. I knew that Jake was colluding with Amos by allowing the demon to ride around in his body and poison his mind. But after seeing the man sprawled out in the driveway just outside the front door of the house, I should have realized that a deal was already struck.
Thank God Julia made it out last night.
“You’re too late,” I goad him. Julia isn’t stupid. There’s no way she’ll come back here after what Jake did, not even for me. And since I know she’ll never be able to use that cursed potion on anybody, there’s no reason for her to come back. A pang of sorrow strikes my heart as I realize that I might never see her again, but I push it away.
I’d rather love her for eternity from afar than to watch her meet her death at Amos’s hand.
The demon laughs again, but I don’t flinch this time. “She’ll come back,” it croons. There is no room for doubt in its tone, and I wonder if perhaps it knows something I don’t. “She won’t leave you, Hezekiah. She will come back for you, and her death will forever haunt your heart.”
“Even if she does, I’ll stop you!” I roar. My voice is confident and loud, but deep down, I’m not so sure. I couldn’t even stand in Amos’s way last night. Even with my power restored, can I really stop the demon from hurting the woman I’ve grown to love?
As though sensing my unease, Amos grins. “What do you think you can possibly do about it, dead man?”
I’ll show it what I can do.
I swing my corporeal fist, aiming to shatter the demon’s brittle bones and tear through that tree bark skin, but my knuckles sing only through air, hitting nothing.
Amos swirls together a few feet away, utterly unruffled.
A war cry tears from my mouth as I barrel toward it. What feels like adrenaline flies through my veins as I advance, ready to end Amos here and now.
My body tumbles forward into the muddy ground.
“You think you can strike me?” Amos taunts, its grotesque form appearing over me. I try to scramble to my feet, but the ground is slick and I can’t get my feet beneath me. “You’re a fool, Hezekiah! My physical form is this very swamp. Nothing can hurt me here.”
An idea flickers to life at the demon’s words. Maybe like this, Amos can’t be touched. But what about when it’s possessing Jake? Does harm to the host deal damage to the parasite? It’s an interesting theory, but there’s no way to test it right now.
“I will find a way,” I grind out as I finally find my feet. “Whatever it takes, I’ll put you down.”
“You? You’re nothing. Insignificant. A mere shade will never harm me.”
A shimmer of movement behind Amos captures my attention. The spectral form of Miss Penny is just barely visible, and she’s not alone. Small, blurry shapes the size of children cluster around her, along with a myriad of other shimmering ghosts. None of them are quite as strong as I am, but there’s power in numbers.
“Maybe not just me,” I agree, pointing to the assembled spirits. “But are you willing to take the chance on all of us?”
Amos pauses for a moment. I’m confident that it never thought that we would gang up on it like this. But the sad reality is that most of us have died because of it. Accidents, murder, suicide – Amos pulled the strings on all of them. As it’s added to his collection of damned souls over the years, it’s inadvertently created its own opposition.
We won’t stand for Amos’s corruption any longer.
A simple nod from me is all it takes for us to rush the demon. The shimmering mass of spirits surrounds it in an instant, tearing and rending at its pulpy skin until it lies in shreds before us. Amos shrieks once, then twice, and then falls completely silent.
Is it over?
I hardly want to believe it. A ragged pile of debris litters the moss where Amos stood only moments before. The other spirits, their energy completely spent, flicker out of view one by one until I’m the last one left. The whole time, the swamp holds its breath.
Is this it? Is Amos truly gone for good?
But part of me knows it’s too good to be true.
Just as I’m about to turn and leave the demon’s remains to rot in the mud, the pile begins to stir. At first, it seems like the gentle rustle could just be the result of a breeze, even though the air is as still and stagnant as a grave. And then, little by little, the movement intensifies until the debris is whirling in its own miniature tornado, swirling around with such intensity that I have to brace myself against the gusting force of it.
“No!” I cry. The wind swallows up my voice as it reaches a fever pitch, drowning out the rest of the swamp. I throw my arms over my eyes in an attempt to ward off the flying debris caught in the maelstrom.
And then, as quick as it came, it’s over.
Panic and fear rush through me as I peer out over my shaking arms. I know what I’ll find before I see it.
Amos stands before me, whole once again.
My heart plummets. I hoped that we had more power in numbers. I wanted it to work. I needed it to, if only so that Julia wouldn’t have to face this thing alone.
I was wrong.
The demon is on me in a flash. Before I can even react, its spindly hand closes around my neck and thrusts me into the air, holding me there as if I weigh nothing. Its thorny claws dig into my throat, draining the little energy I have left. Its matte black eyes flash in the morning light as the thing regards me carefully.
“Did you really think you could stop me?” it snarls, squeezing my neck for emphasis.
Unable to speak, I simply glare in response.
“You’re pathetic,” Amos hisses. “You’ll never win against me. Julia will be mine.”
“Never,” I choke out defiantly.
The demon barks out a horrid laugh. “Let me tell you what will happen, Hezekiah. I’ll lure little Julia home with the promise of finding you. And once I have her in my grasp, I’ll drag her out here to the clearing and fuck her to death in the swamp.”
I thrash wildly against the demon’s hold, but it’s too strong. My power is waning after the earlier attack. The only thing allowing me to hold my form is the sheer rage that courses through my body at Amos’s words.
“How does that sound?” it taunts. “And if you’re lucky, maybe I’ll let you watch.”
“Fuck you!” I manage to roar.
The words sap the last of my strength. My corporeal body disintegrates in Amos’s touch, and I am free once again.
I linger for a moment, seething with anger as I watch Amos stare at its empty palm.
“You’ll never win,” the demon repeats, its eyes finding me in spite of me lacking a body. “She’s mine.”
“Never,” I vow.
But can I keep that promise?
The odds are not in my favor, but I have to try.