TWO SOULS: INTO THE FIRE ... # 222

TWO SOULS: INTO THE FIRE
# 222
warning...adult content




~
Ghost felt around on the table for his oils and herbs. His hands were shaking, as he poured and crushed the mixture together in the little bowl, chanting the words over it like he'd done before. Then, standing up, he spoke to the thing.

Steve felt his heart skipping beats, but he held onto Ghost's jacket, just in case the demon took off with him.

"I see you...I hear you...make yourself known to us," Ghost said, not loud, but steady. "Come closer and be identified, then we can come to an understanding." He kept on talking, and then whispered to Steve, "It's coming closer. He's over by the coffin, now."

Steve still couldn't see anything. His teeth were chattering.

"We're not afraid of you, so you can stop trying to scare us. We just need you to be gone from here. You don't belong here...go back to the underworld." Ghost stared out across the back yard, pausing just a second, before speaking again.

"You probably have friends there. They miss you and want you to come back. You're their leader now, and you have to go to them. You'll never be appreciated up here among the living...ever...so, do the right thing, ok, 'cause we're tired of your shit...all the moaning, and clanking, and moving things around. It don't work anyway. We're wise to you, and we'll do everything we can to banish you. NOW GO BEFORE I GET MAD!"

He held up the pot of oily herbs, and said the incantation again, and waited for a response.
"He's still here, Steve, but he's thinking about what I said."

Steve was sweating, now, his forehead wet, with drips running into his eyes, stinging them. Ghost began talking to the demon, again.

"You know I'm right...go away and leave us alone...forever. We killed a bad assed vampire before, and we sure can kill you, too, so don't even try us. Come any closer and you'll get a taste of this here nasty stuff...ya hear me? BE GONE!" He stirred the pot, so the thing could see it.

"Hold up the big cross, Steve," Ghost said. Steve grabbed the wooden cross that was on the table. "Ok, he's moved back a little."

He suddenly put his hands over his ears. "Damn...he roared loud...did you hear it?"

Steve shook his head. He hadn't heard anything.

"Ok, that's your last chance," Ghost said. "Have some of this." He lobbed a spoonful of oil at the thing, hitting it. "Got'cha, asshole," he yelled. "Ya want more?" He waited a second, breathing hard. "Turn on the flashlight, Steve, let's blind him."

Steve flicked it on, and in that second, he actually could see a form. "Oh, my God!" he screamed. He dropped the flashlight, and it went out. With shaking hands, he reached over and got his gun from the table. He heard a whining noise...what was it? Then he realized it was himself, whining out loud with every breath. "Can I shoot it now?" he managed to ask. "Do we need to put on our pillows and stuff?"

He kept on jabbering whatever came to him. "We should light the candles, huh? Ghost?"

Ghost was quiet, just keeping an eye on the entity.

"What's it doing? That's the ugliest thing I ever saw," Steve said.

"Shh..." Ghost grabbed Steve's hand again, to calm him. "Just wait, ok...it's not coming closer. Maybe we don't have to do anything else," he said. "And I need to hear if it says anything."

Steve nodded, still trying to see something out there. But, he'd only gotten that one glimpse.

"Hand me the holy water bottle...hurry," Ghost said. Steve found it, and gave it to Ghost.

"Hey, you know what this is? It's holy water...Jesus blessed water...and I'm fixin' to pour it on you, unless you go away," Ghost said. He uncorked it. "He's cringing now, Steve...backing up some more." He watched the swirling mist, as it undulated in that one spot.

"We have  lots more stuff to kill you with...so if you want to die forever, just come on...'cause you have nothing but your misty form, and loud voice...and that's all. It doesn't scare us, and you will never be us. Go away and never come back," he yelled. He made like to throw the holy water, and it made the thing retreat a bit more.

"Hey, you're standing in it right now, anyway...holy water and rat poison is all over the grass...so you're dead already. We're bored of you and your stink. BE GONE!" Ghost yelled, and flung a few drops at the thing.

Steve was shaking all over from fright, but he was thinking, 'wow, just wow...listen to Ghost yell at the thing...amazing...'

"Shit, he's loud, Steve, but I think he's got the idea, now," Ghost said. "He's almost faded away already. I think we may have banished him, for real."

As they watched, there was a small explosion of light out by the coffin. Both of them saw it, and heard a popping electrical sound. Then all was dark and there was silence.

"He's gone. I don't see, or hear, or smell, or even feel that it's here," Ghost said.

"Can I shoot something, now?" Steve asked. "I really need to."

"Yeah, sure, shoot all ya want. If there's anything left of him, it'll reinforce our demand," Ghost said.

Steve aimed for the coffin...or at least the dark coffin shaped thing by the fence, and fired several shots, hitting the mark every time. Then, he shot out into the graveyard, just in case. "This is for disturbing the peace of the old guys out here. They're heroes...leave them alone, too," he yelled. "Damn, that felt good," he said, and smiled.

Ghost smiled too, and shook himself, to try and relax a bit. "Yeah, it does. We did a good job, and I'm pretty sure that's the end of it."

"What now?" asked Steve. "Do we still stand guard tonight?"

Ghost shrugged. "Well, I think I'd feel better if we did, just in case, ya know," he said, and yawned. "But, I'm so tired, I might go to sleep."

"Yeah, me too. Guess we can sit out here for a little while, then I'm going on in," Steve said.

"Ok. Oh, in the morning, don't let Spirit out, ok? The rat poison is still on the ground until it rains. He'll just have to be an inside cat for awhile," Ghost said.

They sat out in the darkness of the night for a bit longer. "Hey, hand me one of those snacks," Ghost said.

Steve rummaged around in the paper sack, and brought out peanut butter crackers, and two beers that were not quite ice cold any more. "You were really good doing that banishment stuff. You sounded in charge the whole time. I'm impressed, Dude." He handed Ghost a beer. "Me, I was whining like a little puppy. I wasn't brave at all." He was thinking how amazing little, pacifist Ghost was during the whole ordeal. "You really let that thing have it."

Ghost laughed. "Well, I didn't half way know what I was doing. Something just kinda took over, and I don't know how. I can't even remember what I said."

"Yeah? Well, I do, and it was great, and strong, and it worked," Steve nodded. "Oh yeah, somewhere in there you said weird words, like a foreign language or something. Now that I think about it, maybe it was one of those old mountain curses you don't even know you know. It comes out in situations like this...ya think?"

"Maybe...whatever did it, I'm glad it's over," Ghost said. "I wasn't feeling scared either, which is weird, 'cause I was real scared before. Now, I'm kinda freaked out about it all, but it worked, I think."

They sat out there on the back porch awhile, eating the snacks, and looking into the woods. It was quiet, and they heard no more disturbances. Ghost kept yawning. "I have to go to bed, Steve. I can't stay awake. You can stay out here if you want to, but I really think it's over."

"Yeah, I'm coming in, too. There's no way I'm out here by myself," Steve said.

They gathered up their equipment. "Give me those pillows. I'll put them back on the bed," Ghost said.

Steve put away the guns, leaving the other things in the box, to be put away later.

~
The next day, they finally woke about noon. "I had a weird dream," said Steve. "I kept hearing bells ringing, and we were on a game show, where we had to smash a monster on the head, and a bell would ring when it was destroyed. We won prizes."

"Cool," Ghost said. "What kind of prizes?"
Steve thought a minute. "We won things like a guitar, and cases of beer, and a famous artist oil painting, some concert tickets...well, a bunch of stuff, 'cause we were good at bashing the monsters. But, we told them we already had some of that, and could we trade it in for a trip on a plane, so they let us."

"That's a good one," Ghost said. "It sounds familiar, like us chasing away bad guys, and going to go on a plane to see your sister. It's funny how dreams are."

Steve agreed. "Yeah, we do need to plan our trip, and I have to call Linda...like today." He got up to go make the morning coffee.

Ghost fed Spirit, who then wanted outside. "Nope, kitty can't go out, sorry. You have your box, go use that, today." Spirit trotted off to the other room. As he waited for the coffee to be ready, he pulled open the kitchen curtain to take a look into the back yard. Everything looked normal. The coffin was still there, but now shot through with bullet holes.

"You aimed real good in the dark, Steve."

"I did? Let me see. I didn't know where the damn thing was in the dark...you say I hit it?"

"Yeah, just about every time, looks like," Ghost said.

Steve laughed. "Wow, guess I did, huh?"

They had a really late breakfast, then went out front to sit on the swing. Their phone rang, just as they sat down. Steve answered, then whispered over to Ghost, "It's Kinsey."

~
Next part coming soon!




Peace, Love, & Writing