Bailey
I feel powerless.
Anxiety gnaws at me as I lie in bed, my mind playing back the agreement that Tanner and I had brokered yesterday afternoon. I’d given him one last day to sort out the situation at the construction site. Keeping my side of the deal, I’d told Helen at the beginning of my shift that we were leaving town. The older woman had been supportive and understanding, urging me to do whatever I needed to do to get away from the swamp.
Now all I have to do is wait for Tanner’s workday to finish later this evening, and we’ll be free.
But it’s torturous, sitting here unable to do anything. I’ve already packed myself a bag and taken some money out of the bank. Other than that, I can’t think of anything else that I can possibly do to prepare, especially since we don’t even know where we’re going once we leave.
Tanner has a large family spread out all over the country. Maybe we’d be able to stay with a cousin or an aunt for a while until we can find somewhere to settle. Or perhaps we could head to Florida and seek out Layla, who would surely help us once she knows what we’ve been going through.
I should call her, I decide. It will give me something to do to kill the time, especially since my mind’s been cooking up horrible scenarios of the demon forcing Tanner to do unforgiveable things.
Rolling out of bed, I pad over to the door of my childhood room and ease it shut. It’s still very early, and I don’t want to wake my mom up. I’ve already told her that I’m going to go away for a while to clear my head, and she had agreed that it was a healthy idea. I think she might change her mind if she heard me rambling about demons and curses.
I settle back down on the bed and pull out my phone, dialing Layla’s number before I have the chance to chicken out. The phone rings once, and then she picks up.
“Hey girl!” Layla greets me.
A dam inside me breaks at the sound of my friend’s voice, and the tears I’ve been holding back since yesterday burst out in a deep, wretched sob.
“Bailey?” Layla asks, her tone more urgent now. “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
“We’re leaving,” I choke out between shaking breaths. “We’re getting out of this fucking place. I can’t stand this any longer, I can’t, I…”
“Whoa, Bailey. Slow down,” she soothes. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”
I draw in a shuddering gulp of air, trying to calm myself down. Finally, I’m collected enough to whisper, “I’m scared, Layla.”
There’s a pause before she presses, “What’s going on, Bailey? Talk to me.”
“There’s something in the swamp,” I babble. “Something evil. It…it wants Tanner.”
Silence crawls down the line. It stretches on for so long that I’m starting to think that my service has dropped when Layla whispers, “Amos.”
The name drips with dread and hangs between us like a dead thing.
“He came for you, too,” I utter. Even though I’ve always suspected, I know it for sure now.
Layla sniffles, and I realize she’s crying. “He did,” she admits finally. “He started fucking with me the moment I stepped foot in Aunt Penny’s house.”
I close my eyes and wait in horrified stillness for her to speak again.
After a long moment, she continues, “Everything I know is kind of pieced together. From what I understand, the demon’s always been there, wandering out in the swamp. Ages ago, my ancestors made some kind of deal with it, but it went wrong. It’s been haunting the property ever since, driving the Gregory family crazy and killing anybody who gets too close.”
“Helen said it’s called Asmodeus,” I add. “They used some kind of voodoo spell.” It sounds so wild when I say it out loud. Do I really believe in witchcraft and conjuring and all of that woo-woo nonsense?
Yes. After all the things I’ve seen, I have no doubt in my mind.
“I swear, Bailey, I thought it was gone.” Layla sounds sick to her stomach. “But I should have realized. I should have warned you. And when you told me that Tanner was working there, I…I fucked up. I failed you.”
“No,” I tell her firmly. “None of this is your fault. And do you really think I would have believed you if you had told me right away? It’s undeniable now that I’ve seen it with my own eyes, but back then, I would have thought you’d lost your mind.”
“It really is back, isn’t it?” Layla whispers.
“It is,” I confirm. “But I need to know. What happened to you there?”
Layla sighs. “It tried to take me, to use my like it used Aunt Penny. It started small. I’d have these weird dreams. I’d lose time. Objects would move around or appear from nowhere. Roses,” she remembers in a haunted tone. “It would leave me roses.”
“Did you ever see it?” I ask, thinking back to the thing that wasn’t Dalton that had hunted me in my bedroom.
“Yeah, out in the swamp. I followed it once. Dalton had to pull me out of the mud. And I felt it. Remember the time we all went to the club in NOLA?”
A shudder runs through me as I recall the hands that had roamed my body and the horrible things the demon has hissed into my ear at the same bar. “Yeah,” I say. “Why?”
“It followed me there,” Layla explains. “I’d had a bit too much to drink, and I was dancing, and I… I thought it was Dalton. It kind of looked like him. But it wasn’t. I think… I think that was the first time I really understood that something bad was happening.”
“I saw it there too,” I confess, squeezing my eyes shut against the onslaught of emotion. “It… touched me. That’s why I asked about Dalton last time we talked. It had looked like Tanner at first, and then like Dalton. I guess I thought it would be better to chalk it up to your boyfriend having a wild night out than a demon coming after me in a club.”
We sit for a moment as we both try to process what we’ve heard. Every revelation is more horrifying than the last, but it’s also strangely cathartic to let the truth out to somebody who understands unconditionally.
Layla is the first to break the silence. “You said it wants Tanner?” she asks.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I think it possessed him,” I say. “He lost time, said he didn’t remember anything. He tried to… he grabbed me. I punched him and got away. It was his body, but it wasn’t him inside. I know it wasn’t.”
“Oh god,” Layla gasps. “Bailey, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I lie, staring down at my swollen, bandaged hand. “I gave him a pretty good shiner though.”
“It took Dalton, too, right before the fire,” my friend tells me. “It used him to try to get to me. I think… maybe it doesn’t want Tanner. Maybe it wants you, and he’s just a tool to get you.”
Bile rises in my throat at the thought. This whole time, I’d assumed that the demon wanted Tanner. Given the amount of time he’d been spending out at the old Gregory property, I’d just thought that he’d have been the easiest target and that I was just collateral.
Is it possible that Amos has been after me the whole time?
I think back to how its body had pressed against mine in the club. At the time, I’d been into it, thinking it was Tanner. But now….
Desperately needing to change the subject, I pivot and ask, “What really happened with the fire?”
“Aunt Penny started it on purpose,” she confirms. “She knew that Amos was getting too strong. It was the only thing she could do to try and stop it. After you helped me get her out, Amos took over Dalton to try to claim me before the house burned down. We just barely got away. Honestly, it’s a miracle we’re both still alive.”
She isn’t exaggerating. The sight of the old Gregory home in flames had frightened me more than anything in my life up until that point. Even Tanner, who had been there fighting back the scorching tongues of the fire, had been shocked that all of us had made it out relatively unscathed. Demons aside, they had been very lucky.
Layla adds, “Before she died, Aunt Penny and I made a pact that no Gregory would ever set foot on the property again. We’d hoped that after the fire, Amos had been killed or banished or whatever happens to demons when they go away for good. But maybe it just weakened it.”
“What if the fire freed it?” I pose, echoing what Helen had said to me a few nights before. “What if its power was weakened, but the curse that bound it to the Gregory family was broken?”
Horror blossoms between us as we ponder the consequences of the theory. It makes sense, especially if the demon is after me now that Layla’s out of the picture. Did that mean it was still attached to the property? Maybe it could only follow us temporarily, but that connection would be broken by time and distance?
I had to believe we could run far and fast–and ultimately be free.
“We’re leaving tonight,” I tell her.
“Where will you go?”
“Anywhere, as long as it’s not here,” I reply staunchly.
“Come to Florida,” Layla offers, her tone pleading. “You can stay with us as long as you need to. We can help you find a place. Dalton can find some work for Tanner, and I think you’d be a great fit if you want to join my team for a while.”
It’s such a tempting offer. Even though I really don’t want to refuse, I double check, “Are you sure? What if it tries to follow us?”
“Then we’ll fuck it up for good,” she says fiercely. “It’ll be four against one.”
“Okay,” I breathe over the phone. I can already imagine Tanner and I packed into his truck, rolling down the highway toward the state line out of Louisiana. Sweet relief teases my nerves as I let myself bask in the possibilities of freedom. “As soon as Tanner’s done, we’ll head your way.”
Layla sucks in a sharp gasp. “Done? Done with what?” she asks, her tone urgent once again.
“He’s just getting everything sorted at the construction site so we can leave,” I explain.
My friend’s voice rises in alarm. “The construction site? As in, Aunt Penny’s place?”
Dread swirls through me as I realize where Layla is going with this. “Yeah,” I say weakly.
“Bailey, listen to me. If Tanner is at the house, you need to go get him. Right fucking now, do you hear me? Get him and go!”
Overwhelmed by sour fear, I have to admit that she’s right.
I have to go to the house.
I have to face the demon.
Tanner’s life might depend on it.