The Possessed Read online

  “No way,” I said. Although Jake sounded supportive, I heard indecision in his voice, possibly because he wasn’t here when I needed him. Did he feel guilty for not being here? He should. At least a little. But then, the demon had messed up his life, too. Besides, he couldn’t fight this demon, so even if he was here right now, he couldn’t help me.

  We said goodbye and hung up. Soon enough, I visited the bookstore to research demonology. I’d considered visiting the Fairfield Public Library Branch, but since it was so small, I doubted it would have the prodigious amount of material I’d hoped to read.

  Five hours later, I’d learned a lot about demon possession, but so much information contradicted various claims on the internet that I was more confused than I’d been before entering the bookstore. I didn’t know what to think, but I couldn’t pretend to feign indifference by everything I’d read. If anything, I was more afraid now than I’d been before meeting Eloise.

  My phone vibrated in my pocket. I scooped it out, turned it over, and saw Eloise’s number. It sparked hope in my heart. “Hello.”

  “Hey, it’s Eloise. I spoke with Nona. She wants to visit.”

  “Great. When?”

  “We’re on our way to your house now. We’ll be there in half an hour.”

  15

  Afraid to enter my house alone, I leaned against my car at the curb and waited for Eloise and Nona to arrive. When I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, I glanced in that direction.

  Noelle, waving as she stood on my porch, got my attention and released a giant smirk. She held up a glass. “Tell Nona that I whipped up some lemonade for her.” She placed a hand beside her mouth as though ready to deliver a secret, which looked bizarre because she had yelled. “It’s her favorite!”

  Eloise told me that demons knew certain aspects about those they had a special interest in, but it freaked me out that this demon knew something so peculiar.

  “I’ll be waiting for you!” it said.

  I shouldn’t have seen the delightful wink in the demon’s eyes from this distance, but I did, and it made me shudder, even as it giggled to itself before sneaking back into the house. There wasn’t a big difference between the demon and the one it inhabited. So far, the only difference was a predilection toward darkness, which made it difficult because Noelle was pretty cynical. But overall, I didn’t really notice a big difference between my sister and the demon. It seemed the evil spirit did a fantastic job of hiding by using its host’s speech pattern and mannerisms.

  A short time later, Eloise’s rust-bucket Oldsmobile rumbled down the street and stopped on the other side of the street.

  I stepped up to the driver’s side door, only to see a frail-looking Hispanic woman whose body appeared ready to collapse on itself in the passenger seat. Heavy bags hung under dark eyes that carried a vibrancy that sharply contrasted with the exhaustion that made her shoulders sag inwards. Wearing a copper and black knit cardigan over a white blouse and a cross necklace against her chest, she stepped out of the car and her black slacks billowed in the wind, revealing that her legs must have thinned out because her pants were two sizes too large.

  Eloise got out of her vehicle and stepped close to me to reveal a secret. “Nona doesn’t shake hands. Fake news and all, she thinks she’ll get leprosy, herpes, the Black Death, and all that from human contact. I keep telling her not to believe—”

  Nona interrupted her with a weary sigh. “When will you realize my hearing is better than you think?” She turned a pleasant smile upon me. “Please excuse Eloise. When she gets nervous, she makes jokes. In truth, I’m often on the losing side when it comes to my battle with a poor immune system, so it’s easy for me to contract colds, the flu, and infections. For that reason, I prefer not to shake hands or get too close to others. Please don’t take offense.”

  Eloise rocked on her heels. “And her family are sooo thankful not to be next to her ‘old people smell.’”

  “For your information, Eloise, I shower every day. Truth be told, I’m partial to baths.”

  “Showers,” Eloise said, “are for the young.” She jerked a thumb toward Nona. “When you’ve been retired for thirty-years, how else do you fill your time? You can only play Backgammon and Parcheesi so many times. Plus, she wears herself out playing board games. It’s like the equivalent of doing barbell curls. We played Risk once, and her blood pressure spiked so high that she risked getting a heart attack.”

  “That’s because you were cheating,” Nona replied. She shut her eyes and shook her head. “She always cheats.”

  “I do not!” Eloise said. “It happened once because I thought it was my turn to—”

  “Oh, so that’s what you call lying: being ‘mistaken.’ I’ll tuck that away for future reference.”

  “Besides,” said Eloise. “I thought you gave up board games.” She looked my way. “The last few months, she’s been big into Bocce ball.”

  Nona rolled her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with Bocce ball.”

  “There is,” Eloise said, “if you only go to hit on younger men.” Her gaze met mine. “And by ‘younger men,’ I’m talking about men in their sixties.”

  I presumed they playfully sparred as a form of friendship and respect. Maybe they did so to notch down the tension they’d soon face. Maybe they loosened up for my sake. Either way, it worked for me, so I appreciated their humor. On second thought, Nona mentioned that Eloise relied on humor whenever she was nervous.

  Why was she so nervous? Um, maybe because a demon has possessed my sister?

  Based on our conversation earlier, she had a lot of faith and trust in Nona, who with the exception of her eyes, looked depleted of energy. And now seeing Eloise glancing at Nona with great concern, I suspected that, since Eloise seemed confident the first time she visited, she now worried about her mentor, perhaps suspecting that she shouldn’t have taken on this case when Nona appeared so fragile.

  That possibility made me shiver. If I couldn’t count on Nona to get rid of this demon, I didn’t know where else to turn.

  Nona, standing a couple of inches shy of five feet, folded her hands under her abdomen and met my eyes with a serious stare. “Now, then, Eloise filled me in on her suspicions, but is there anything you’d like to add before we enter your home?”

  I clammed up now because I didn’t want to walk into my house again.

  Eloise turned to me with a grave expression. “I can feel your fear. The more frightened you are, the more it will work against us. Darkness often feeds on fear and anger.”

  “I can’t not be afraid. There’s a demon in my—”

  “That may or may not be true,” said Nona. “I’ll do my best to identify any unwelcome visitor, but I’m afraid Eloise is correct. The more frightened you are, the more courageous an entity will become. Please keep that in mind.” Nona turned and faced the house. “It’s certainly good to see you again,” she said.

  Had I heard her correctly? We’d never met before today, so maybe Alzheimer’s had set in. That didn’t bode well. If she had trouble keeping facts right, how could I expect her to deal with the supernatural?

  “Ready?” She flashed a pleasant smile, the kind that best-loved grandmothers have practiced since the beginning of time.

  It surprised me how this kind, timid old woman who looked like she couldn’t lift a hamburger to her mouth, planned to stand up to the forces of evil. I feared for Nona’s safety, and I began to have second thoughts about letting her into my home. If a demon inhabited my sister’s body, it would be stronger and more dangerous than Nona.

  “Trust her,” Eloise whispered in my ear. “She knows what she’s doing.”

  Hearing her voice in my ear, I almost jumped. Despite my misgivings, I tried to trust Eloise that Nona could take care of whatever went down in my home. It made a small difference. Instead of thinking about losing my sister to the demon, I focused on how to get rid of the demon inside her body. Putting things in that context allowed me to approach the sit
uation from a more dispassionate place. When we arrived at the porch, I took in a heavy breath and let it out evenly.

  “You’ll be fine,” Nona said, looking straight ahead at the door.

  I couldn’t tell if she was talking to me…or herself. Regardless, I nodded, placed my hand around the doorknob, and opened the door.

  Eloise staggered in place for a moment before catching her balance. She glanced down at the ground, as though searching for a doormat or something that could have caused her to stumble.

  I glanced at the ground but didn’t see anything that may have given Eloise pause. This setback let doubt creep into my mind.

  Nona stepped forward, entered my home, and stopped within a few feet of the doorway.

  Neither the demon nor my mother inhabited the room.

  Nona scanned the floor and the walls, let her gaze pass over the television and couch, stared at the stairwell and looked into the kitchen.

  “Nona,” said the demon, emerging from the kitchen. “It’s good to see you again.” It bit down as if it said more than it had planned. A millisecond later, it released that expression, only to return to a cunning smile. “What a pleasant treat.” It lifted the glass. “Lemonade? I even added a hint of vodka to settle your nerves.”

  “No, thank you.”

  I turned to Eloise, who instantly bit back the wince that had appeared on her face.

  “Nona’s fine,” she assured me.

  “Yeah,” I said. “But are you?”

  “There’s a lot of hatred in this room.” A reassuring smile tugged at the corner of Eloise’s mouth. “But Nona’s here now. I’ll be fine.” As if to underscore her assuredness, she broke away from me and started towards the staircase.

  “Eloise?” asked the demon. “I could set you up with a screwdriver if you’d like. It’s quite tasty.”

  Eloise looked at her shoes and shook her head.

  “Suit yourself.” The demon set its gaze on mine, and its act as a pleasant host vanished when a frown emerged. “What’re you looking at me for? You live here. Get your own drink.” It picked up the smile it dropped before addressing me. “So, Nona, what convinced you to drop by?”

  “How are you?” asked Nona with a determination that belied the standing of a woman whose frame seemed so fragile that a stiff breeze might knock her over.

  “I’m peachy,” said the demon. “You look good.” Then it released a harsh cackle.

  “Please accept my apologies,” said Lilah as she approached us from the hallway near the den. “My daughters occasionally forget their manners.”

  “I didn’t forget them,” the demon said. “It’s just sometimes I don’t want to deal with all that nonsense. Oh, and Mother?” Its tone was cold, demanding. “Nona doesn’t like to shake hands.” It turned to Eloise. “What was it you said? She fears getting the Black Death?” It chuckled. “Nona, that disease isn’t a threat to your immune deficiency. You’re not old enough to forget that, are you?” It took a sip from the glass of lemonade. It grinned and held it out for Nona. “Oops. Germs, I forgot. But, hey, I tasted it to show you that I didn’t spike it with anything…duplicitous.”

  “Thank you,” Nona said, “for going through the trouble, but I’m content as is.”

  “Content, huh?” The demon walked over to my mother and handed the glass to her.

  Lilah pivoted to enter the kitchen. “I’m certain it needs an extra kick.”

  “No need to leave the room,” said the demon. “It’s got a couple of shots of vodka in it already.”

  My mother shook her head as though two shots wouldn’t suffice. “But you said—”

  “I knew Nona wouldn’t accept our hospitality, so I set it up the way you like it. Go ahead. Give it a taste.”

  Not needing more encouragement than that, my mother took a gulp, and an approving sound came from her throat. “It’s perfect.”

  “See?” the demon said to Nona. “If you didn’t come to chat over a nice glass of lemonade, what’s up?”

  It unnerved me that they were talking about lemonade, an otherwise harmless drink that children sell at stands in the summer in exchange for some coins. But the way the demon spoke made it clear that it was far from innocent.

  “Jocelyn invited us over to see how you were doing.”

  “I’m awesome.” The demon turned to Lilah. “You awesome?”

  My mother snarled at having to remove her mouth from the now half-filled glass of lemonade. “Yes. I’m feeling much better than one minute ago.” She looked at the glass as if it held magical properties and slightly angled it toward Nona as if to say “cheers”.

  “Yeah, so we’re good.” The demon glanced at me. “It would have been nice if you’d given us a heads up about dropping by with your friends, so we could have cleaned up, you know, make the house presentable and all.”

  “What did I tell you?” Lilah asked Eloise. “Bad form. Both of them.”

  “So, sis, where’s your hottie boyfriend? Surprised Jake’s not sticking close to your hip. Maybe he doesn’t love you, after all.”

  “He’s busy. Trying to fix everything you tried to destroy.”

  “Whatever do you mean?” the demon asked as it approached us.

  The closer it drew, the quicker the temperature dropped. “Do you plan on just standing here talking all day?” asked the demon. “Or was there a point to Nona and Eloise visiting? I mean, Mother has some major league drinking to do, and she likes doing it in private. Apparently, interruptions are a buzz kill. Right, Mother Dearest?”

  Nodding, Lilah crushed an ice cube between her teeth. She went over to the couch, plunked herself down, grabbed the remote, and switched on the channel. She took a gulp from her glass and started switching channels until she landed on the show Friends. Lilah tossed the remote aside, took a healthy swig from her glass, and set her attention on the screen, as if there wasn’t a supernatural showdown going on around her.

  Nona looked to Eloise. She didn’t say a word, but she lifted an eyebrow, which served as a question that her counterpart must have understood because Eloise said to me, “Noelle’s fighting it. She doesn’t want any part of this.”

  A crimp at the edge of Nona’s eyes made it clear she approved of Eloise’s answer. She fidgeted with the cross pendant resting against her chest. “I think we should take leave.”

  What? I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They just got here. What was it with these two? Why are they always leaving within minutes of visiting?

  “Awww,” the demon said, “so soon?” It smirked as its gaze passed from Eloise to Nona. “Or have you forgotten how long you’ve been here? Has age finally caught up with you?” It gave a slow nod. “You’re relying on someone a quarter as old as you and just as inexperienced to help you on your fact-finding mission? You must be really forgetful and weak.” Through it all, however, with Nona standing in her path, the demon stopped about six feet away from her. “Gee, I wonder why.” It tapped a finger on its lower lip. “You’re a dried up old prune. All wrinkles and creaky bones. I know how long it takes you to get out of bed every…single…day.”

  Until this moment, I’d placed all my attention on the demon because I didn’t trust it, but as if against my own volition, my gaze veered to Nona, and I had to agree with my sister: Nona’s torso looked concaved, as if someone had shot a cannonball into her chest, slumping her shoulders forward and making her thighs tremble. My confidence dwindled, and I caught Eloise’s gaze, hoping she’d somehow help matters. I mouthed the words, “Do something!”

  She swallowed, eyes bright yet uncertain. Looking helpless, she shrugged.

  The demon started toward Nona with a cocky grin.

  Nona’s chest expanded, her thighs now sturdy, and removed the necklace from around her head. She stepped forward and held fast to the cross in her hand.

  The demon flinched as if punched in the eye, and it staggered back as though it stepped on marbles and needed to regain its balance. A moment later, the demon regained i
ts poise. It scowled at Nona. “Oh, but you are so wrong. Hasn’t your psychic-friend already told you? I was welcomed into this home. And I’m not leaving!” The demon turned its obnoxious smile on me. “You knew that, right? I’m here by invitation. Yes, deep down, you knew the truth. A high school degree, not even trade school, and your sister is an anchor on the nightly news? Come on, that’s pretty far-fetched, isn’t it?”

  Lilah broke out laughing a second before the laugh track on television. She sipped from her glass again.

  “See?” said the demon, oblivious that my mother wasn’t paying attention. “Even Lilah thinks you’re an idiot. And you’re the one with the college degree? Today’s youth: complete morons.”

  It turned to Nona. “It seems you’ve figured some things out, huh?” It put its hands together and clapped them slowly, mocking her. “Well done, old lady.”

  The demon leapt forward and swatted Nona’s wrist, dislodging the pendant from her hand. It skittered across the floor and stopped at Eloise’s feet. The demon reached out with lightning speed, clutched Nona’s neck, and lifted her a few inches in the air.

  I staggered back, shocked. Eloise stated that demons had superhuman strength, but I had no idea it could lift a person off the floor with one hand.

  Eloise snatched the pendant necklace from the ground, rushed forward, and pressed the cross against the right side of the demon’s neck. A hissing sound issued forth as smoke rose from its flesh.

  The demon groaned in agony and let go of Nona, who swerved off to the side, banged into the sofa, scooting it a couple of inches across the floor and eliciting a snarl from Lilah, who said, “Violence will not be tolerated. Visiting hours are over.”

  After colliding with the couch, Nona spun off to the side, heading for an end table.

  Moments before her head collided with it, I dashed over, latched onto her arm, and yanked her upright and toward me. She leaned all of her weight against me, unable to bear the brunt of her own weight. Unfortunately, I’d barely slept for over thirty hours, and while I handled the job, my muscles trembled under her weight. Uncertain how long Nona could take this abuse and overpower the demon inside my sister’s body, and unsure how long I could help Nona, I spun around and rushed toward the front door.