Chapter 3:


    You Should’ve stayed


    Peter had a very visible frown that covered his entire face. He was frustrated. Not with Vivian, not with anyone but himself. He decided to leave to gather help, although the act in itself didn’t sound that bad, the context behind it was. Peter was scared. He was scared of the town and the demons, but what especially scared him was the thought of him dying. No one would know, and he’d never get a proper burial. His parents were nomads. They never stayed in one place for long, so if he died in FieldFord, there wouldn’t be anybody to notify them. They’d go on living their lives, thinking their precious son was living his best life, he bet that they don’t even know he dropped out of college. His overwhelming fear caused him to make the decision to leave and bring back his brother. It was the perfect excuse for his pathetic escape. Peter had fully come to terms with what it means to do this type of work. Death was a definite possibility every single day. He never thought it could happen to him, he always assumed everything would be alright, that’s what Paradise would always say anyway. He thought he’d just have to talk to some ghosts, have a heart-to-heart, then go do paperwork. This is how his brother described the job. To Peter, this sounded perfect, but now, he realizes how naive he was. Nothing is ever as easy as it’s expected to be.


    The car shrieked to a stop, nearly missing the white painted line on the busy road. He waited for the light to turn green, but he secretly wished it would stay red forever. There was something eating at him deep inside, screaming at him to hide. Peter really didn’t want to face his older brother, he didn’t want to see his disappointed face. Hell, he could barely face his own self, but the honking cars behind him remind him to hurry up. This really wasn’t about him, Vivian needed help. He left her there with a ghost in a town full of demons. She needed his help. There was a huge knot in his stomach, he could barely stop himself from shivering in anxiety. He dreaded what he had to do, but he made his decision, now he must live with it. At last, he was face to face with the big building, it looked even more intimidating than usual. Peter sees his brother’s painted van and sighs. He parks the old Ford right next to it, slipping the keys in his jacket pocket before dragging his feet forward.


    Every step felt heavy as he made his way into his place of employment. As he took his first step inside, his heart skipped several beats. The first thing his eyes laid upon when he entered the office building was his brother. He was standing right next to the secretary''s desk, bothering them as usual. This made Peter break out into a sweat. He hoped he’d have more time to prepare himself and to figure out what to say to his brother without angering him. Sadly, he was out of time. Paradise’s head shot up from his slouched position, scanning the area as if he’s looking for something or someone. Somehow he felt Peter’s presence. Paradise let out the biggest goofy grin he could muster before taking large steps towards the clearly distressed younger brother. Peter froze. He didn’t know what to do, and the shock made him stiff as a board. As Paradise approaches, he opens up his arms to give his brother a large hug. He wraps his arms around his brother and tightly grips him while shaking him.


    “Petey! I''ve been looking for you. Did you have fun on your first, well, almost first mission?” Paradise releases him, “Where’s Vivi? Oh and I think you have my necklace.”


    Peter immediately becomes flustered, tripping over his own thoughts. He tried to spit out a coherent sentence, but was shushed by the figure in front of him.


    “Damn, was it that bad? You don’t look injured though?” Peter shakes his head, glancing at his feet before mustering up the long awaited words. “We need to go somewhere private.”


    Paradise doesn’t question it and immediately nods his head. “Alrighty, get in the van. We’ll drive someplace and get lunch.” He turns his head to the secretary he was previously flirting with, “Hey, cutie! Tell Ms. Boss, I''m going on my lunch break.” Without even giving her a chance to respond, he immediately grabs Peter’s hand and leads him out of the office building, but as they leave, you can faintly hear the secretary say, “But you’ve already had your second lunch break!”


    The trip was short to the restaurant, they were at Paradise’s favorite place, The Vegan Vine. No one but himself and a couple other odd balls ate here, some could say that they were in business just because of him. The two enter the small restaurant, passing the wall displayed with a custom photo of Paradise, titled, “Our best customer”.  He leads Peter to a booth in the corner of the well decorated store. They sit, the cushion beneath them squishing from their weight. Both brothers make eye contact as they sit across from each other, silence guiding one of them to speak.


    “So why’d you want to go somewhere private?” Peter’s heart shakes as he gathers the courage to tell his brother the truth, but before he can muster the words, their waitress comes to take their order.


    “Hi pumpkin, I see you brought your lil brother with ya. Can I get you the usual?” Before Paradise even orders, she writes down what she expects him to say.


    “Sorry Passion. We’re not here to eat today. Well, maybe just a fruit smoothie. Two fruit smoothies, please.”


    “Alright, hun–” Before she can finish her sentence, Peter blurts out what he’s been holding in for the past hour. “I left Vivian behind!”


    Paradise slowly turns his gaze towards Peter, his eyes full of confusion and slight malice. “You did what?!” Paradise raises his tone. Uncaring about the scene he’s making. “You’re not supposed to leave your partner behind! That’s always how good people die. You should’ve stayed!”


    Peter turns his gaze away, trying to hold back his tears. “I– I There were too many demons! I got attacked, and then we kidnapped a demon and I tried to save their soul, but couldn''t, then Vivian tried to train me and I still wasn’t good enough, she didn’t think I could fight with her so she told me to come get you and. . .and. . .and. . .” Peter finally broke down in tears. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m a coward. I know I should’ve stayed, but I was scared.”


    Paradise’s gaze softens. He let out a sigh and comforted his brother. “Stop crying Peter. I’m not mad. If Vivian told you to come get me, then it must be serious. I’m sorry, I shouldn''t have raised my voice, but Vivian always puts on this facade that she’s got everything handled, even if she doesn’t. This is much more my fault than it is yours. We both made mistakes, what matters now is our actions to make sure those mistakes don’t happen again.” Paradise places his hand onto Peter’s shoulder, rubbing it slightly. “Lead me to where she is.”


    Peter wipes away his tears. “We need to get supplies. We barely had any food.”


    “Alright buddy. We’ll figure that out later. Right now, we need to head back immediately.” Paradise stands up and apologetically looks at his waitress. “I’m sorry. We have to leave; we have something really important to do.”


    “No worries. I’ll pretend I ain’t hear nothing. Anything for our best customer.” She blows Paradise a kiss and walks off.


    “Come on. Let’s go. I’m driving. Don’t expect any breaks, and we’re speeding the entire way.”


    Fssshhh. Vivian’s flame immediately engulfs the possessed person. Before they even had a chance to refute, they were already turned to dust, cremated. Vivian no longer had to hold back. She could use her powers without having to worry about her protégé’s safety. To Vivian, this was as free as she could ever be. Using her powers gave her relief, the flames didn’t engulf her, but her target. With every quick and precise movement she made, another demon was burnt to a crisp. Even Tara was holding their own. Although lacking as much firepower as Vivian, their time as a ghost gave them many useful abilities. The main one being possession. They barely had to think, and they’d fly out of the body of the deceased shopkeeper and into the body of whatever demon came their way, and then within seconds, she’d rip the souls apart.


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    “How much longer do we have to do this for?” Tara asked inquisitively while switching from body to body. Their voice changing tones to match the body they’re in.


    “Just until Peter and Paradise get back. It’s not like we can’t hold them off for that long. Just keep fighting.”  As Vivian responds, she grabs another demon and her flames spike. In almost an instant, the demon’s face is covered in an unyielding amount of flames. Going limp, and she drops the corpse to the ground. “Plus, their numbers are decreasing. Less of them are starting to come out.”


    As soon as Peter left, the sun started to set. Wicked howls filtered through the air, once again reminding Vivian about how dire the situation truly is. Tara, being a ghost, already knew who those howls belonged to, the body they’re borrowing clenched its fist. No words needed to be exchanged between the two, Vivian and Tara walked out into the street, preparing themselves for the long, harsh battle that was going to happen. Like clockwork, someone emerged from an alleyway a couple buildings down, snarling. The possessed body was that of a woman who looked to be in her mid-forties. She ran hunched over, body twisting in ways that humans can’t handle. When she leaped at Tara, Vivian swiftly punched her out of the air and onto the ground with a closed fist. The demon laid thrashing for a second, trying to regain itself. She wasn’t given a chance to continue, flames igniting from the punch landed. That was how their night started.


    That was two hours ago. They’ve been fighting ever since then, without a chance for a break. Vivian and Tara had the upper hand at first, possessing more strength and techniques between the two of them. They were easily able to destroy waves upon waves of demons. However, as time went on, they were losing their advantage, the demons easily had more numbers along with their ability to make inhuman movements. Not being restricted to only walking on two legs or being unable to fully turn their head backwards, human joints didn’t matter to them. They had no problems breaking bones, tearing ligaments, or losing blood because they got enjoyment from all the pain they felt. It was intoxicating to them. The only way to fully dispatch them was to either target their souls, or destroy the brains to make their bodies unusable.


    Vivian grunts, her muscles aching as she sets her hands ablaze again. She’s sweating heavily from the heat her body is producing. Tara senses that she’s overwhelmed, but the three demons surrounding them were enough to keep them occupied on only themself. Vivian yells, the demons charging towards her withering away into pieces, and the demons behind them, too. At this point, the hoards have drastically decreased, but so have the duo''s movements. Tara’s borrowed body has visible wounds, and Vivian has minor scratches and bruising. Her hands were starting to turn a painful red, and blisters littered her palm. Vivian’s once quiet and precise movements were now replaced with groans of pain. To their relief, only a few demons circled them now, around five. Tara dodges out of the way of two jaws trying to coordinate in tearing her arms off. They jump out of their body, diving into the nearest demon, and within three minutes, the possessed body drops. Vivian takes a lunge forward, slapping her hands across the faces of the beasts, hoping to land a hit on all of them. She snaps her fingers, igniting everyone she touches. Now they look around for any more late night visitors, but there are none.


    “God, I wish they would hurry. I don’t know how much more of this I can handle.” Tara stretches their arms and lets out a low groan. “I don’t even eat, but I could go for a drink. Anything to take the edge off.”


    “They’ll be here soon. They have to be. If a second horde comes, we won’t be able to survive the night. Come on, we need to find a hiding spot in case they want to attack again. If we stay out in the open waiting, we’ll be sitting ducks.”


    Vivian motions for them to move up the street, “We can go to the old corner store we originally found that body you’re possessing.” She points at Tara, “No one should be there now, plus maybe I can find something to patch us up.” When they turn the corner, a shriek from the distance makes them slow down. They crouch down, pressing their bodies against the walls. There it is, there’s the demon. It’s tearing a stray dog to pieces. Tara shakes their head.


    The shop looks the exact same way they left it, dusty and broken. The glass from yesterday still scattered across the floor. This was a good sign, it meant no unexpected intruders besides themselves. It’s too risky to stay up front, the store has giant glass windows that reveal the inside, so they make their way towards the back. Vivian hopes that this is where they keep inventory.


    In the back, past the door, was a storage room. At the end of that storage room was another door that was slightly open, that must be the office or bathroom. Tara shuts the door behind them, and Vivian searches through old and broken boxes. There had to be some kind of ointment or cream she could use for her hands, if not, she is going to have a very hard time holding up. Tara on the other hand either needed to possess a new body or wrap up the wounds littering their current one. Either way, they could not afford to fight any more tonight. Vivian finds a metal box inside a crate, it looks to be locked. She picks it up, shaking it. Something sharp was in there, she could tell. But what really made her want to open it was the faded red and white paint across it, a first aid kit. How to open it was the new goal. Vivian wishes the crystal necklace from earlier still had any use. Unfortunately, after healing her first wounds from the earlier fight, it lost its effect and stopped working all together. Now, this first aid kit was her last hope of not suffering from severe second degree burns later.


    Vivian recalls there being a key located right next to the register in the front of the store. Tara, seeing that Vivian isn’t fit to take the risk in her current state, decides to go in her stead. With her possessed body, she could make similar movements to the demons. Instead of normally walking to the register, she crawls on all fours, thinking of it as being stealthier. She grabs the key and heads back to their previous location. With the key, Vivian is able to unlock the first aid kit. Inside was the burn ointment she desperately needed. She applies it to her hands very thoroughly and pockets the rest of the ointment for later use.


    “Do you feel any better now?” Tara says with curiosity and eeriness in her voice.


    “Yeah, I’ll live. Well, for now anyway. Don’t you have some type of special connection with Paradise? I remember he was always able to find the necklace you were in. Even when I hid the necklace to test his abilities, he still found it.”


    Tara shrugs their shoulders. “The connection’s not with me, it’s with the necklace. He has that connection with all the crystals he makes. Doesn’t matter if it''s halfway across the world, he’s still able to tell where it is.”


    “Well, If I had to guess, it’s around eightish. So it shouldn’t be long now until they’re here.”


    “You keep saying that, but how do you know for sure that they’re even coming? What if they encountered some trouble? What if Peter is still scared to come back? Or what if neither of them want to come back?” Tara asked inquiringly while wrapping their injuries.


    “You may have lived in Paradise’s necklace for God knows how long, but you don’t know him as well as I do. Trust me, they’ll come.” Vivian sighs more to herself, gazing at her scratches expressionless.


    “Were the two of you able to find any information about this town at all? Because I can make an educated guess as to what is controlling all those damn demons.” Tara finishes dressing their wounded arm, passing the wraps to Vivian to do the same.


    “Yeah, from the information we have gathered from our surroundings, this place hasn’t been kept up since the 50’s. And I did interrogate a demon,” she points at the shopkeeper''s body, “It was in that body you’re using now. The demon mentioned something about eating Peter alive, or someone killing him like they did years ago. Based on that, and the fact they are spawning in such a condensed spot– well, there’s definitely a Devil somewhere.”


    Tara agrees, “There’s no doubt about that, the issue is that normally we could handle it ourselves. But since there’s so many demons attacking us all at once, and from what I’ve seen, they have been possessing the townies'' bodies for decades….I can only imagine how hard this mission is going to be.”


    Vivian, now with her wounds fully bandaged, stands. She searches through a couple more boxes, diligently looking for something to ease her discomfort. Her bones ached, and so did her core. This gift from God felt more like a curse sometimes, Tara could sense that. Both of them searched boxes, taking their time to find any items they deemed to be useful. A pile formed on the old desk in the corner of the small storage area. With both of their items combined, they had enough for a quaint makeshift dinner, mostly for Vivian. Tara didn’t need to eat necessarily, but to keep the body they’re borrowing intact, they have to oblige by human rules, and humans have to rest, drink, eat, and heal their wounds. That’s something Tara didn’t miss about being human.


    Vivian was able to find a can of baked beans, water, and a couple of pieces of fabric that she was going to use as a makeshift pillow. Using her powers, this time from her mouth, she heats the can up, cooking it. A part of her really doesn’t want to eat it, her OCD screams not to dare to. But the hunger in her stomach begs her otherwise. It didn’t taste too bad, a little off, but overall still edible. She could eat this entire can within the next minute or two, and she did. She chugged her water down, wincing at the soreness of her throat. Vivian swears she can feel the water in her veins, putting out her fires. She felt chilled to the bone, but she liked it.


    No one bothers to make anymore conversation, too tired to move their lips. They instead just take comfort in each other''s presence, glad not to be alone in this personal hell. Like Dante’s Inferno, what layer did this town rest at? That was the last thought Vivian had before laying her aching body on the grimy floor to recover for the night.