Zeke
I’m not strong enough.
After Amos tossed me like a ragdoll from Jake’s body, I barely have any energy left. Still, I won’t stop until there’s nothing left of me. I have to fight for Julia. I can’t let Amos take her.
As Julia runs outside into the storm, I square up to the demon. It’s wearing Jake’s body like an ill-fitting suit. While it’s clumsy and uncoordinated, its movements are still powerful.
“I told you not to get in my way, Hezekiah,” Amos growls. It doesn’t seem in any rush to chase after Julia. What game is it playing? Whatever it is, I don’t want to find out.
“I won’t let you hurt her.” I stand firm, unwavering beneath its midnight stare.
“I will destroy you,” the demon threatens as it stalks forward. “I will devour your very soul.”
I parry to the side as it attempts to dart around me, blocking it from pursuing Julia’s retreating form. “You can’t kill somebody who’s already dead,” I snarl.
Amos laughs. The sound is something that a human throat shouldn’t even be able to produce, and yet it rolls like a tsunami from Jake’s slack mouth. That horrible noise drowns out my thoughts as Amos rushes forward and barrels into me.
The impact sends me sprawling to the floor. The demon steps over me, sparing me one contemptuous glance as it spits, “There are some things worse than death. Once I’m done with Julia, maybe I’ll show you.”
And then Jake’s body slouches out the door, toward Julia.
I lay paralyzed for a long, terrible moment. I barely have any energy left. The sounds of Amos pursuing Julia are blotted out by the storm, but I have no doubt that he’s after her.
And there’s nothing I can do.
“Zeke!” A familiar voice draws my attention away from the back door and into the shadowy depths of the hallway.
Miss Penny manifests a few feet away. Fear creases her features as she comes to kneel beside me.
“Zeke, you have to get up,” she insists, tugging at my arm. But her hands slide right through me. I’m barely visible, let alone solid.
“I can’t,” I pant, shame welling inside of me. “I’ve got nothing left.”
The elderly shade’s eyes grow hard. “You’re the strongest out of any of us. You have to go after her. You have to stop Amos.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head. I can’t face Miss Penny, not when I’m so pathetic and useless. All I want to do is go after Julia and tear Amos limb from limb, but I can’t.
Once again, I’ve failed.
“Look at me, Zeke,” Miss Penny says sternly.
Reluctantly, I do as she asks.
Her face is alight with determination. “If energy is what you need, I’ll give you mine,” she says. “In fact, we’ll all help.”
Even though I can’t see them clearly, I can feel the thrum of power as the ghosts of the old Gregory place gather behind her. The faces of Amos’s many victims swim out of the darkness. I know what it will mean if they do this.
They’ll no longer walk the halls of the house on the edge of the swamp.
“Miss Penny, I can’t ask that of you,” I breathe.
“There’s no other option,” she insists. “Amos bound the others here, and they’re all about ready to move on. Use our energy to kill the demon, and set us free.”
She gives me no time to argue. Instead, her hands plunge into the front of my incorporeal chest, finding my heart. Electricity zaps between us, burning through my veins with the force of the storm that rages outside. One by one, the spirits behind Miss Penny also reach out, offering me their power.
One by one, I drain them completely.
Finally, only Miss Penny is left. I’m bristling with power, but still she pushes the force of her own being into me. Her form fades before my eyes as I grow stronger, more solid.
“Thank you,” I whisper as the last vestiges of energy trickle into me.
Miss Penny offers me one final smile. “It’s time somebody around here rests in peace.”
And then she’s gone.
I’m alone.
There’s no time to grieve the loss of the spirits who have walked with me for the last century. Pushing back the pall of sadness, I jump up and tear off into the night, following in the wake of Julia and Amos. I can only hope I’m not too late.
I can’t find them at first. Sheets of rain cascade from the heavens, warping my surroundings. But then I hear the faint words of a song floating eerily on the wind.
I’m goin’ down to St. James Infirmary…
The voice is coming from the swamp, from Amos.
“Please,” I beg into the night as I slide across the backyard and launch myself into the mess of the partially drained marsh. “Please. Please, don’t let me be too late to save her.”
My feet, more solid than they’ve ever been since I’d resided in my living body, sink deeper into the mud with every treacherous step. I’ve only gone a short distance when I finally catch sight of Amos and Julia grappling out near the clearing.
“Julia!” I bellow, but she doesn’t seem to hear me. Instead, the wind whips my voice away until the words are lost in the storm.
I lunge forward, tackling Amos down into the mud. Julia slips free of its grasp and struggles forward even as the demon regains its footing.
“Go!” I cry. I claw at Amos’s legs, trying desperately to hold it back. But it dances easily out of rage, stopping only to grab a thick tree branch that has come down in the storm.
It advances steadily on Julia, who’s solely focused on wading through the mire in a final effort to reach the clearing.
Mustering my newfound strength, I fly forward to intercept Amos before it can strike.
But the demon is too quick.
It lifts the cypress branch high in the air and then cleaves it downward in one swift motion. The wood cracks against the back of Julia’s skull with an audible thud, and she crumples forward into the mud.
When the demon raises its arm to bring down another decisive blow, I realize that I only have one option left.
I’ve got to jump Jake’s body.
The process is like forcing myself through a keyhole. Jake is there, but his mind is passive and yielding. I’m not sure if he’s even aware of what Amos is doing. The demon must be placating him somehow, showing him a pleasant vision in stark contrast to the hellish events that are unfolding around him in reality.
And then there’s Amos, lashing against me in a dark tidal wave, forcing me backward. The pain is intense, but when I scream, the sound erupts from Jake’s mouth.
I’ve done it.
I’m in control.
Time is of the essence now. Even as I work the joints of Jake’s body and push him forward, Amos is still struggling for dominance. Its efforts are draining my energy quickly.
Straining against the demon’s influence, I go to Julia. Relief floods through me as I see that she’s conscious, though only barely. Blood darkens her auburn hair, but the bump doesn’t look too bad. I gather her from the mud and lift her gently in my arms.
At first, she thrashes, thinking I’m Amos.
“I’ve got you,” I soothe as I stagger forward toward the clearing. “Just hang on.”
“Zeke?” she mumbles skeptically. “Is that you?”
“For now. I’m not sure how much longer I can hold Amos off.” Every step through the mud is agonizing, and the demon’s voice rings through my head like a death knell.
Let me in.
LET ME IN!
“The cemetery,” Julia murmurs. “The potion…”
The potion? Does she really intend to use it? The thought makes me shudder.
But if she doesn’t, she will surely die.
I’ve got no choice but to continue toward the mossy clearing. Amos’s power seems to grow as I gain ground, threatening my already tenuous hold on Jake. I try to focus on the weight of Julia in my arms, the feel of her skin against mine. It’s the only thing that gives me the strength to continue.
I’ll take her. She’s mine. You can’t fight me.
LET ME IN!
I shake my head against the demon’s incessant thoughts. It’s tearing at my mind with razor sharp talons, depleting my energy with each violent strike. But I don’t give in. I have to keep going, just for a little bit longer.
“We’ll make it,” I whisper down to Julia. “I won’t let Amos win this. We’re almost there.”
She peers up at me, squinting through the rain. Her eyes are bleary, but that can’t disguise the steely conviction in her gaze. “Amos will never have me,” she vows. “It might as well drown me in the swamp.”
I open Jake’s mouth to reply, but I never get the chance to speak. A surge of darkness overtakes me, ejecting me painfully from the man’s body and back into my formless being.
Amos has wrestled back control.
“Fine,” it sneers through its chosen vessel. Julia jolts at the word, recognizing that the demon has once again invaded Jake’s mind. “I’ll claim you here in this very swamp, the place you hate so much. And when your body finally breaks beneath me, I’ll toss you into the water and watch you sink deep into the mud.”
“No!” Julia howls. She twists in its grip to try and get away. With twisted hands, it clutches at her. But Julia is covered in the slick mud of the marsh, which proves to be surprisingly helpful as she slides heavily out of its grasp and onto the ground.
She tries to stand, but her movements are sluggish. Amos lets out a thunderous laugh that rings out through the rainy night like a peal of thunder.
“Do you really think you can run from me?” it taunts as it reaches for her.
Maybe Julia can’t run, but I certainly can. I manifest my corporeal form as I throw myself between them, blocking Amos from hooking its fingers around its target.
“Enough!” Amos snarls. It twists its outstretched hand into my chest, firmly grasping the ghost of my heart.
“No!” I scream, but it’s too late.
With one tug, Amos drains me almost completely.
My corporeal form blinks out of existence in an instant. I immediately throw myself at Amos in an attempt to regain control of Jake’s body, but I’m no match for it anymore. I’m only in for a split second before it easily flicks me out again.
So I can only watch in helpless horror as the demon strides after Julia. It closes the distance between them quickly. Before she can react, it grabs her and slings her over its shoulder as though she weighs nothing at all.
“Zeke!” she shouts over the storm.
“Hezekiah can’t help you now,” Amos relishes. “Your lover will only be able to watch as I fuck you on what used to be his grave.”
The worst part is, Amos is right.
There’s nothing I can do.
Julia is already lost.