An agonized scream echoed down the hall. Agnes felt her stomach clench at the sound. That poor girl. What had she done to deserve such horror?
Picking up the water pitcher, she made her way down the hall, bracing herself for the sight of Gretchen, fighting the monster within. They took turns tending to her, no one wanting to stay in its presence longer than necessary.
Agnes couldn’t help but feel personally responsible for what happened. She promised the girl’s mother that she would keep her safe before she died and now she was possessed. That was on her.
I have to find a way to help her.
The rest of the coven were looking of course, but so far, any attempts to exorcise always led to the death of the person involved.
Pausing at the door, Agnes took a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking hands. Doing her best to keep her face neutral, she stepped into the room. The temperature immediately dropped several degrees.
On the bed, Gretchen writhed against the ropes, her nightgown soaked in sweat. Agnes tried to avoid eye contact as she took the pitcher to the nightstand. As she poured water into the bowl already there, she couldn’t help but look.
It stared back at her with black eyes that sent a chill through her. Swallowing, she turned away.
“Something wrong, Agnes?” it asked in a deep voice.
She ignored it and lifted a cloth, dipping it in the water. Wringing it out, she wiped at Gretchen’s skin, trying to keep her clean. She left her face until last.
“Look at me, Agnes,” it said.
Agnes ignored it. She knew their tricks. They liked to scare people, get into their heads, and drive them crazy. One woman, long before Agnes joined the coven, dove from the top of the building after spending too long with a demon.
Her hand went to the pendant around her neck. It was supposed to offer protection against demons, but being this close to it, she had her doubts.
As if reading her mind, it chuckled. “That won’t protect you. Let me go and I’ll let you live. Your friends won’t be so lucky.”
Agnes finished cleaning her and then moved to her face. Keeping her gaze firmly fixed on Gretchen’s chin, she wiped her skin clean of sweat. She dreaded to think what Gretchen was going through, trapped inside her own body with that monster.
Gretchen came to the coven at four years old. She lost her mother a few years later. Even as a young girl, she showed such promise with magic. Maybe that was why the demon chose her, for her strength.
“Agnes.” Gretchen’s voice.
She was so shocked, she actually looked at the girl. The black eyes were gone, and Gretchen had returned.
“Help me,” she whispered.
“Gretchen? It’s going to be okay. I promise I’ll…”
“Agnes!”
She jumped at the voice from the doorway. Looking up, she found the coven leader, Helen, glaring at her. Straightening up, she set the cloth down and clasped her hands in front of her. “Yes?”
“I need to speak with you.”
Agnes followed her from the room. Helen didn’t seem to have any problems keeping her eyes off Gretchen. She was a hard woman who had probably already written the girl off.
With a final glance back at the girl, Agnes moved down the hall to where Helen stood.
“What are you doing?” Helen asked.
“I was washing her.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, and you know it. You do not engage with that thing. It is trying to trick you.”
Agnes knew better than to argue with her, but still felt compelled to do what she could for Gretchen. “She’s still in there too. You know that it loses its grip at times. I was trying to reassure her.”
Helen shook her head in disgust. “We cannot make any mistakes where they are concerned. That thing has her now, there is nothing we can do.”
So she had given up on Gretchen.
“What if we found another way? Convinced it to leave her of its own accord? Then she wouldn’t have to die.”
Helen’s eyes widened in horror. “We do not negotiate with those things.”
“But if we could find a way to trap it or…” There were spells to take it out of her and put it in another host, it might work.
“Enough!”
Agnes fell silent. She was so desperate she would try anything. No matter how much Gretchen had grown, she couldn’t get the image of the little girl she used to be out of her head. There had to be a way to save her.
“It’s been decided tonight by the other Elders, but it looks like we will be exorcising her when the next full moon rises.”
“That’s two days from now.”
“This discussion is over,” Helen said. She turned on her heel and marched off down the hall.
Agnes sagged against the wall. Two days and Gretchen would die a most horrible death. And the thing that festered inside her would simply be sent back to Hell where it would one day escape to take another innocent soul.
Wiping at the tears on her face, Agnes knew that she couldn’t let Gretchen die without at least trying to find another way.
A howl came from the room. Instead of going back in, Agnes ran down the hallway to the main hall. It held the coven spell books. If she could find a way to save her, she would.
Another scream echoed after her.