Page 30 of Signs and Wonders

“Do what you need to do, Travis,” Seth said. “We’ve got your back.”

“Stay inside the painted circle,” Travis warned. “What’s left isn’t ghostly—it’s demonic.”

Evan had a million questions, but the darkness swept in before he could form the words. He had little magic and no psychic abilities, but primal instinct took over, and his hindbrain screamed for him to run. Forcing himself to stay in place meant ignoring a million years of survival evolution.

The temperature dropped further, with the damp cold of a crypt and the smell of the tomb. Inky blackness engulfed them, blotting out the sun and hiding their surroundings. Hideous screams felt like they pierced his skull, and he gagged from the smell of rot and sulfur.

Seth fired into the void, but the salt didn’t affect this manifestation.

Evan raised the high-capacity Super-Soaker filled with salted holy water tinged with colloidal silver.

“Here goes nothing.” Evan loosed a powerful stream on the featureless shadow. The demon screeched, nearly deafening him. But the pressure in his mind eased, just a bit, angrier now and still menacing.

Travis raised his voice in the rite of exorcism. “Exorcizamos te, omnis immundus spiritus…”

Evan shivered at the power of his words. Travis might have left the church and holy orders long ago, and perhaps his own faith was tattered, but he spoke with the full authority of his ordination.

“Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio…” Travis continued the litany, clear and strong.

“Keep firing,” Seth urged, and Evan fired again, wishing they had brought two of the guns with larger tanks.

Evan thought that the dark entity faded slightly, still hellish and menacing. Despite being protected by the painted circle, Evan sensed the demon’s power buffeting at their invisible boundary and felt a wave of devastating grief crash over him.

Everyone we’ve lost, the ones we couldn’t protect, the ones we didn’t save, that’s all on us, we’re responsible. We failed them. We failed—

Evan gritted his teeth and kept on shooting, even though tears ran down his face. He heard Seth sobbing; then he fired round after round into the demon even though the shells didn’t seem to hurt the entity.

Travis’s voice remained firm. He spoke the ancient Latin smoothly and without pause.

Evan’s gun sputtered, spewing the last drops beyond the paint circle.That’s it. I’m done. We’re all going to die.

Travis’s voice rose to a crescendo, commanding and clear as he ended the rite. “Audi nos!”

The darkness twisted and shrieked, screeching as it tried to breach their protective circle and failed.

The air felt lighter as if a storm had passed, and the temperature rose. After several minutes, birds chirped, and Evan heard the rustle of small animals in the brush.

“What was that?” Seth asked, shaken.

Evan dug a sports drink from his bag and handed it to Travis, who accepted it gratefully, taking several long swallows.

“A grief demon. Brent and I ran into some a while back. They’re not common, but they’re drawn to places where there have been mass casualties—disaster sites, mine cave-ins, that sort of thing,” Travis said.

“They feast on the emotions of the living—and when there aren’t people around, they siphon the energy of the dead. In the worst cases, they lure people into their territory to feed off them. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the deaths that happened here were because of that,” he added.

Evan had lots of questions about what Travis had learned from the spirits, but right now he couldn’t wait to put the abandoned camp in the rearview mirror. Seth kept the shotgun ready as Evan helped Travis pack his gear, and Evan kept his gun handy while they walked back to the truck.

“Do you think the demon will return?” he asked after they were back on the main road.

Travis shook his head. “I doubt it. The ghosts have moved on, and people have no reason to visit the site. That removes the food source, and being exorcised usually dissipates a particular demon for the foreseeable future.”

“What did the ghosts tell you?” Seth asked, beating Evan to the punch.

Travis finished his bottle of water and leaned back against the headrest. “Their names—if they could remember—and how they died. Some had been dead long enough that they were fading. There were a few true accidents—falls, a drowning, a sudden illness. But all the rest were killed by Swain. They were either murdered elsewhere and the bodies dumped at the camp, or they died at the camp, and the cause of death was covered up. So many…” His voice drifted off.

“I saw mostly women. Were the men and boys the ritual sacrifices?” Evan asked.

Travis nodded. “They were from before Swain re-opened the resort and changed the name to Summit. The last several cycles—like with Cameron’s father—didn’t happen here. Their bodies are probably on the mountain.”

---