The Sisters

Chapter 1

Twenty years later.

The echoes of gunshots rang throughout the dilapidated house. The moonlight created eerie shadows in the corners and against the moth-eaten furniture. The smell of mold and gunpowder filled Blake Riddle’s senses and stung the back of her throat. Her breathe grew rapid as she ran through the dark corridors looking for her younger sister, Andrea. She could feel her heart pounding inside her head as she strained to see through the darkness.

Blake tried to quiet her breathing as she slowed to a silent walk, making sure that her heavy boots didn’t make an unnecessary noise on the worn wooden floor. They had been hunting three demons that had taken interest in the people living in Beaumont, Texas. They had already managed to kill one, and while Blake was exorcising it Andrea had run off to find the other two.

“Andrea,” Blake whispered harshly. Her .45 was held tightly in between her hands that were slick with adrenaline and anxiety. Blake cursed her sister; Andrea had run off when Blake had specifically told her not too.

Blake’s ears pricked violently when she heard two more gunshots and a loud crash from the top floor of the house. She bounded up the stairs as fast as she could; griping the handrail for extra leverage and when she reached the second floor landing she called out her sister’s name again. She wasn’t met with any noise but, instead, a demon who was wearing a middle-aged man in a business suit.

Blake jumped, not expecting him to appear as suddenly as he did. “Where’s my sister?” she asked, aiming her gun at him.

His mouth curled into a malevolent smirk and he crossed his arms. “Do you think by asking me a question you’d simply get an answer?” The demon took a few steps toward Blake.

“That’s generally the idea,” she said as she watched the demon walk right into a devils trap. The demon’s smirk faded while Blake’s grew. “Gotcha!”

The demon struggled to free itself from the invisible walls created by the devils trap but it was to no success—he was stuck.

“I’ll be back for you,” promised Blake before she started down the dark hallway. She heard commotion at the end of the hallway and she ran as fast as she could to the room where she knew her sister would be.

“Blake!” Andrea yelled, “Watch out!”

Blake ducked instinctively covering her head with her arms as a coffee table collided and shattered against the wall just behind her. The woman demon had turned her attention to Blake now. “Well, well…if it isn’t the second thorn in my side.”

“Pleased to meet you,” said Blake, the taste of sarcasm hung on her tongue.

The demon launched itself at Blake, pinning her against the wall with a strong hold around Blake’s neck. The cloud of dust that had risen from the wall caused a haze around the two women. Blake gagged from the pressure around her neck and automatically grabbed the demon’s wrists and tried to pull them from her with all her strength.

Andrea was rummaging around in the debris of broken furniture and shattered glasses until she found her gun. She pointed it at the demon, closed one eye and fired two bullets into the back of each knee. The demon screamed in agony from the iron bullets that were lodged deep into her bone. She let go of Blake and dropped to the floor. Blake landed hard on the floor next to the demon.

The demon withered in pain on the floor trying to crawl its way toward Andrea. Blake moved to get up but a sharp pain shot through her side when she tried to stand. She slouched against the wall and shook off her leather jacket and peered down at her shirt—blood was seeping through the thin cotton fabric. There she saw a shard of glass sticking out of her skin.

She gritted her teeth and bit her tongue as she slid the sharp piece of glass out of her abdomen. Blake tried to put pressure on the wound but there was only so much she could do since it was at such an odd angle. There was a loud sound of struggle in front of her and her head shot up as she remembered the demon and her eyes found her sister wrestling with it.

Andrea gripped the demon’s arms firmly above the elbows and pushed down with as much force as she could against the floor. Andrea thanked the heavens that her two bullets were aimed so perfectly into the demon’s knee; the demon’s legs were rendered entirely useless.

Blake watched as the demon lay pinned to the floor and Andrea delivered the exorcism. After a few moments of incantation the woman’s mouth opened and thick black smoke made its way out of the body it had inhabited. The black smoke was the demon’s very essence; it moved through the air like a fish in the water and sank through the floorboards on its way back to Hell.

Andrea turned toward her sister after the woman’s body fell limp underneath her. “Are you all right?”

Blake exhaled a breath of air that she didn’t realize she was holding and nodded. “I’ll survive.” She glanced at the woman, “How about her?”

Andrea pressed her index and middle finger against the woman’s throat and waited to feel a pulse. Nothing. “Didn’t make it.” Blake cursed; she couldn’t stand losing someone they fought so hard to save. A new wave of blood trickled down her fingers when she moved to get up on her own.

“Help me up,” said Blake.

Andrea grabbed Blake under her shoulders and pulled her sister upright. “We still have to find the last one.”

“Way ahead of you,” she told Andrea. “He’s stuck in a devils trap.”

Andrea and Blake made their way down the dimly lit hallway until they were standing in front of the last demon. He was standing as close as he could to the edge of the circle with a cruel grin on his face.

“Miss me?” Blake asked while Andrea moved around the perimeter of the devils trap, reciting the words of another exorcism. The demon shook his head in disgust and soon began twisting in agony when Andrea shook his head in disgust and started twisting in agony when Andrea began the second verse of the prayer. He screamed and attempted to himself from the words.

“…Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregation et secta diabolica…”

With the final verse spoken the man fell lip as the demon left his body. Andrea bent down to check for any sign of life; after ten or so seconds her face lit up with a small smile. “He’s alive!”

Blake smiled too. “Awesome, let’s get him out of here.”

Andrea lightly tapped the man’s cheeks until he finally came to. “Hey…hi…hello…”

The man groaned. “Thank you…” He struggled to sit up; Andrea placed her hand against his back, steadying him. Andrea tried to keep her expression neutral but it always stunned her when she found out they were awake through entire possession.

“No problem,” she replied.

“Why don’t we get out of her? I’m starting to bleed on the carpet,” announced Blake, making Andrea and the very lucky survivor turn their heads toward her.
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I know this chapter is the same as the first chapter before, but after this it's all gonna be different.