Judas Is the Demon I Cling To

The blinding light of early morning sun flooded my irises as I stared out the window. Balancing myself on the window sill, I sat staring up at the sun, lifting my face to its rays. The white, mesh curtains blew around me gently as a breeze wafted in through the window screen and played through them. I pursed my lips, staring up into the light. All the strange events of the past few days swirled around in my mind, bumping together and causing my head to throb. I raised my palm to my forehead, pressing forcefully against the center, sighing as the pain eased.

I wish things could just be simple... Why did this have to happen?
Why did it happen?
It was all so confusing. my head throbbed once more, my palm no longer relieving the pain.

The sound of someone clearing their throat caught my attention. I jumped a bit on the sill, coming out of my trance. I shifted my weight and twisted on the sill, turning to face the source of the sound.

Reuben stood in the center of the stark, white-walled room that was my father's study. His arms were crossed across his chest and his head was thrown back, his eyes boring invisible holes into the ceiling. He sighed deeply, forcing the air out in a rush through his lips and lowered his head, his eyes finding my face. He raised an eyebrow, the look on his face clearly questioning. What are we in for?

I shook my head and shrugged. Sighing, I turned away and glanced around the rest of the room.

My father's large, dark cherry-wood desk lay against the back wall. It was strewn with books and pieces of old parchment. The wall itself had become a giant tack board, with photos and hand written note littering its once white surface, changing it into a collage of information. I squinted at the yellowing papers briefly before following along the wall, my eyes falling on the dark, leather armchair in the room's south right corner. And the figure sitting in it.

A blonde, shaggy head hung low from a lanky, scrawny frame. Blue eyes framed behind dark, rectangular glasses focused intently on the screen of the laptop balanced on his lap, my youngest brother typed furiously away on the keys, his thin lips twitching every so often. I watched him quietly for a moment, feeling a smile begin to tug at the corners of my mouth.

Sydney was the sibling I was closest to. Though I loved them all immensely, I felt a special connection to him. And, inwardly, I felt proud of him. The boy was attending on-line classes through M.I.T. He was an expert in research, and could solve many simple hauntings in a matter of hours. Though he was only fourteen, I had to admit that I looked-up to him in many ways.

The soft, unmistakable sound of a door knob being turned interrupted my train of thought, and I snapped my head in the direction of the study door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sydney and Reuben look up as well.

Creaking in protest on its hinges, the whitewashed door swung open slowly, revealing a tall, stocky figure standing in its wake. The man strode through the doorway at a slow, confident pace. His dark shirt and pants were a vast contrast to the room's bright white theme. His dark, blonde hair stood up from his scalp in stiff, pointed spikes and his dark eyes were full of seriousness and brooding.

This intimidating figure made his way across the room in a few slow steps, his heavy boots making little noise on the plush carpet. He stopped before me, looking down at me for a long moment, before engulfing me in a large, welcoming hug. I laughed happily and wrapped my arms around his middle as best as I could.

"Hiya, Ros!" He chuckled heartily, stepping back a bit and placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Jared." I smiled up at my older brother, genuinely happy to see him again. "I can't believe you're here."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't be, except dad sounded really upset when he called me."

He stepped away and crossed the floor to where Reuben stood. I watched anxiously as Jared extended his hand to Reuben in greeting. Reuben stared at it for a moment, his arms still crossed, deliberation etched onto his features. I held my breath.

Relief flooded me as I saw a grin break out on Reuben's face. I exhaled loudly as he took Jared's hand and hugged him briefly.

What a relief. The last thing we needed to add was a fight between those two...

Jared and Reuben were usually on the outs. Jared saw no reason for our family to be close knit. To stay together the way we did. As the second oldest, he had always resented living in Reuben's shadow. And Reuben reacted poorly to Jared's attitude, thinking him self-centered. it had frightened me, when I was younger, to see them fight with each other. Though they were much better about accepting each others' opinions now, they had had a large fight before we had left for our respective hunts.

Jared had claimed that we was never returning.

Seeing him here, and seeing them talking and embracing each other made my heart soar. But I was also sad that we were reuniting under such serious circumstances.

As Jared and Reuben's brief conversation began to die out, I heard the noise of the knob again. I pushed myself off the sill, straightening up in anticipation. I glanced quickly over at Sydney, who had set his laptop down on the floor. The hinges of the door creaked once again.

In walked a short, thin man garbed in the black uniform of a priest. His graying hair was cropped short and his blue eyes sparkled merrily as he approached and stopped in the middle of the room, turning his head and surveying each of us slowly.

"Good morning, all." My father called out robustly, his deep, tenuous voice filling the entire study. "I hope you all slept well. We have much to discuss."

He crossed to his desk and pulled out the dark swivel chair before it. Settling himself into it with a sigh, he nodded at Jared.

"Glad you decided to come back after all, son." He smiled broadly for a moment, before turning his gaze and attention to our small group.

He cleared his throat, his eyes growing serious. Reuben shot another glance in my direction.

We'll finally get the answers we so desperately want.

"I know all of you are asking yourselves the same questions. You're all wondering why I canceled your hunts. Why I called you and told you to hurry home as soon as possible." He leaned forward, his hands clasped in his lap, his eyes studying each of our faces in turn.

"As Roswell told you, Reuben and Sydney, last night at dinner, she got a strange phone call while she was on her hunt.

"A phone call from a demon."

Jared let out a breath in a huff. Since he had just gotten home mere minutes ago, he knew nothing about my telephone conversation. I shifted anxiously, waiting for my father to go on. Waiting for him to explain it all.

"Now, you all know that under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have canceled all of the hunts. I may not have canceled Ros', even. But this demon wanted to talk with her. It knew things, according to what she told me over the phone.

"It wanted to talk with her. Specifically."

I bit my lip as I felt my brothers' gazes fall upon me. I studied my father's face intently.

"What does that mean?" Jared blurted out, an edge to his voice. "The only time a demon has ever contacted a member of our family is when-"

He stopped mid-sentence and clamped his jaw shut. I turned my head to look at him. His eyes had turned steely and hard. I looked down at the floor quickly.

"Yes," my father sighed, "as far as we know, they only contact a member of our family in regards to the curse."

Wait, but... I looked up again and met Reuben's eyes. He turned his gaze to my father.

"But a member of our family has succumbed to the curse." He flinched as he spoke the words. "The contract on our blood-line states that 'one per generation shall be over-taken'."

My father nodded slowly. "Indeed, Reuben. It does.

"Which is why I felt the need to call you all back. This situation is not only out of the ordinary, it is extremely dangerous, especially for Roswell."

"What do we do?" Sydney spoke up, concern thick in his voice. "They already took... Her. If they do want Ros, we can't just let them take her too!"

I looked around Reuben at Sydney. His thin, young cheeks burned a bright red. His teeth gnashed together in anger. His hands were balled into neat fists at his sides.

Reuben reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "That won't happen, Sydney."

I walked around Reuben and hugged Sydney tightly.

"I won't let it happen, Syd." I whispered vehemently.

I pulled away and gave him a firm nod. His face began to relax and he smiled a small smile.

"What do we need to do?" I left Syd's side and returned to my spot on the opposite side of Reuben as Jared questioned my father.

"We need to find out if there is any clause, any small portion of the curse contract that may be missing. That we might have over-looked." My father ran both hands over his face and back behind his head.

"I've been over the contract hundreds of times, dad. There isn't anything in there that we don't already know about."

"We have no way of knowing if a solution even exists." Jared chimed in, his voice dripping with frustration. "For centuries, our family members have been forcibly over-taken by evil. Good people, succumbing to darkness and betraying their blood.

"They were doing research to cure it then, and found nothing."

Reuben cleared his throat to speak. My father turned his attention to him, fixing him with his gaze as he began.

"Is it possible that some of the translation of the contract is wrong?" He held father's gaze. "It is written in Daemonica Davinan, the demon tongue."

My father inclined his head. "Yes, it's very possible."

"And only demons and those possessed or influenced by them can read it and fully translate it." Reuben turned to look at me.

My eyes widened as I began to understand his point.

But no, we can't do that.

"That's true as well." Father's brow furrowed as he tried to make sense of Reuben's point.

A heartbeat later, that sense was made.

A darkness fell over his features and his usually merry, welcoming eyes grew hard. His jaw jutted forward and the veins in his neck pulsated, standing out beneath the skin. He rose slowly from his chair, straightening up and looking Reuben in the face.

"No." His voice was deep and rumbled through the room with authority.

"We will do everything in our power to find out what is going on. We will do everything we can to keep your sister safe. To keep this horrible fate from befalling her.

"But the one thing we cannot do, is that."

I felt my eyes grow wide in shock as my father, usually so full of verve and happiness, turned a bright red, his eyes bulging with anger. He stood before Reuben for a moment, as if he wanted to say more. But he said nothing.

He simply pushed past Reuben and strode quickly to the door of his study, pulling it open forcefully and stepping out, letting it slam behind him.

My brothers stared at each other, wide eyed and slack jawed. Shocked to the core by my father's reaction. I was astounded by it. But as I stood and thought about it, it made sense.

We couldn't ask the one living family member who had fallen to the curse to come back.
It would be putting us all in danger.
And it would break my father's heart all over again.