Lily floated in the center of the clearing, red mist twisting around her legs like vines. Her body was deteriorating and the ritual was unraveling as a result.
Felix stood at the edge of the scorched circle, the ground beneath his shoes still hot from the explosion he'd used to break free.
His dagger still hovered mid-air, stuck in place by invisible force. Its blade quivered slightly, suspended like a trapped wasp in amber. But Lily's body was trembling now. Her grip on the power was starting to break.
A pulse rolled through the circle. The air warped like heat above asphalt. Cracks spidered through the scorched ground.
And then, with a sudden jolt, the spell shattered.
The dagger dropped.
Felix caught it mid-fall without looking. The heat in the hilt pulsed against his palm like a heartbeat.
Her skin was pale and blotchy, veins pulsing with corruption. She couldn't hold it in much longer.
Felix raised his hand and whispered, "Your body can't sustain that power, Lily. Let it go."
She didn't seem to hear him.
Lawley stood just behind him, breath ragged. "Whatever your plan is, you better do it quickly.."
"I know."
He stepped forward and entered the circle.
Immediately the air changed. The gravel beneath his feet burned with a low pulse, like a dying heartbeat.
Felix lowered his head, eyes glowing faintly red. Flame gathered around his hands.
And then, softly, he began to speak.
"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Exsúrgat Deus et dissipéntur inimíci ejus: et fúgiant qui odérunt eum a fácie ejus.
Sicut déficit fumus defíciant; sicut fluit cera a fácie ígnis, sic péreant peccatóres a fácie Dei."
The Latin left his mouth like swords. Sharp and absolute.
The demon inside Lily screamed. Not aloud but through her. Through her eyes, her twitching hands, the frantic trembling of her limbs.
She twisted and lifted midair, body convulsing, and vomited up a thick gout of black smoke. The power tore from her chest in a wailing storm.
Felix didn't flinch and instead opened himself to it.
The smoke hit him like a tidal wave, the circle exploding in blue flames as Felix dragged the demon into himself.
Every nerve inside of him screamed. His back arched as if struck by lightning. His throat opened in a silent yell.
And then silence.
Darkness.
Then dust.
It crept in across a dead plain, clinging to Felix's shoes like ash. The world was colorless, empty, echoing.
He stood alone until the sound of hooves cracked through the dark like splitting bone.
A shape emerged from the haze.
It walked like a beast that had learned to mock the way men moved.
Seven feet of twisted sinew and matted hair, its limbs caught between animal and man. Its torso was human-shaped, broad and powerful, but covered in a dark oily pelt.
Its hands ended in curled claws, dragging as it moved.
And its head was a horse's skull, distorted and soaked in rot, gaped with twitching jaws and burning with flaming red eyes.
Long teeth clicked wetly with every breath. It reared once, bucking up with a cloud of dust—like a stallion risen from a grave.
Then it spoke.
"She begged for me, you know," it rasped, voice layered and cracking, like several mouths whispering over each other.
"Please, she said. Help me. Fill the hollow. Make it stop hurting."
It took a step closer.
"You humans... always so soft in your grief. So easy to hollow out. It takes so little. Just a whisper in the dark. Just one broken prayer."
Felix didn't speak. The dagger hadn't formed yet, but he clenched his fists.
The demon tilted its massive head.
"And you.. you're worse. You let me in. You invited me. Just like her. Dressed it up in bravery. In sacrifice. But in the end, you're just a scared little boy. Pretending you can win in here."
It crouched low, claws splaying in the dust like knives. The red eyes gleamed.
"Now let's see what you're made of... boy."
Then it charged.
The beast came fast. Unnaturally fast.
It galloped on two legs, hooves cracking across the dust plane like thunder. Its claws dug trenches in the dark ground as it lunged, rearing up mid-sprint and aiming both hooves straight at Felix's chest.
Felix dove to the side, gravel and smoke bursting beneath him. The impact behind him hit like a meteor, sending cracks through the world.
He rolled, sprang to his feet, and shouted, "Come on, then!"
The dagger bloomed into his hand, obsidian and alive, flame dancing along its jagged edge.
The demon turned slowly. Smoke curled from its nostrils. Black ichor still dripped from its flanks where old wounds burned. But it didn't flinch. If anything, it smiled.
Not with lips but with teeth.
"I will savor your death," it hissed.
Then it was on him again.
The first swing came fast in a wide arc with claws like scythes. Felix ducked low and parried with his dagger, the force jarring up his arm.
He struck back, slashing the beast's forearm. Sparks and black blood flew. The thing roared and spun, hoof sweeping out to catch his ribs.
It connected.
Felix flew backward, skidding hard across the dirt and coughing blood.
The demon stalked forward with confidence now, like a predator toying with its prey.
"I've worn kings like cloaks," it sneered. "What are you? A broken little brat playing exorcist?"
Felix stood and wiped his mouth, raising his dagger in an offensive stance.
"I'm the last thing you'll ever see."
He ran.
They met in a clash of violence, blade to claw, flame to flesh.
Felix ducked a crushing blow and stabbed upward, his dagger sliding deep into the demon's ribs.
It screamed and flailed, catching him with a clawed backhand that sent him tumbling.
But Felix was already up and moving again.
He jumped and spun, carving a glowing X across the beast's back.
The demon shrieked, smoke spewing from the wounds, its form beginning to stutter at the edges like static. It lashed out, a claw catching Felix's shoulder and tearing deep.
Pain seared hot. Felix dropped to a knee.
The beast towered over him.
It raised a hoof aiming to crush him into pulp.
Felix didn't dodge.
He threw himself forward, and with a cry, plunged his dagger straight into the creature's hoof.
The obsidian blade slid deep between blackened bone and sinew.
The demon screamed and fell sideways. Felix went with it, yanking the dagger free as they tumbled into the dust.
He rolled on top, pinning its chest with his knee, and slammed the dagger down toward its throat.
The demon caught his wrist.
They both froze, locked in a silent struggle that was inches from the end.
Flaming red eyes burned into his.
"You think you win here?" it spat, blood seeping from its mouth.
"You let me in. You opened the door.You belong to us now."
Felix's eyes narrowed.
"I'm not yours," he growled.
With his free hand, he grabbed the dagger's hilt and drove it home.
Straight through the beast's neck.
The blade sank deep. The world split with light.
The demon thrashed once.
Then stilled as it's head lolled.
Its body collapsed into black dust, crumbling beneath Felix like rotten wood.
The silence afterward was absolute.
Felix sat in it, panting, heart still hammering like war drums in his chest.
And then,
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Slow. Amused.
From the dark behind him, the other presence stirred.
"Well," said a voice, cool and giddy. "That was fun to watch."
Felix didn't look back.
Reality returned like a punch to the lungs.
Felix's eyes flew open, and he gasped—deep, ragged, like he'd been drowning.
Smoke hissed from his shoulders. His hoodie was half-scorched, clinging to him in wet tatters. The ground beneath him sizzled where his body touched it, heat bleeding out in thin blue veins that spidered through the gravel.
He was on his knees, trembling.
Alive.
The silence was sharp. No chanting. No magic pressure. No Lily's voice mangled by a demon.
Just wind and the hiss of cooling metal.
Lawley stared from a few feet away, kneeling beside Lily's unconscious body. Her pistol hung loose in one hand, her other pressed hard against her bleeding side.
She was watching him like he might explode.
"Felix?" she said cautiously. "Are you..?"
He didn't answer right away.
His breath was still coming in uneven pulls. His hand clenched and unclenched, the dagger still solid in his grip. Its flames were gone, but it pulsed with leftover heat.
Lily lay motionless in Lawley's lap. Her clothes were burned at the edges, skin pale and slick with sweat. But her chest rose and fell. Her eyes fluttered—no longer black.
She was breathing.
Felix swallowed.
He stood slowly. The world spun once before it caught itself. He barely noticed the blood on his lip.
"She's safe," he said hoarsely. "It's out."
Lawley blinked. "You… you pulled it into you, didn't you?"
Felix didn't answer. Just exhaled through his nose, eyes distant.
"Jesus, kid. You have the worst survival instincts I've ever seen."
Felix gave a tired shrug. "Worked, didn't it?"
Lawley stared at him for a second longer, then shook her head with a low chuckle.
"Unbelievable. You're a stubborn kid, you know that?"
Felix offered the faintest smirk. "Not the first time I've heard that."
He stepped past her, over the scorched ritual ring, and toward the rest of the clearing.
Harry was still tied to the rusted car frame nearby, alive, wide-eyed, and shaking. The other three girls sat slumped and dazed in the dirt, ropes singed but intact.
They stared at him like he wasn't real.
Felix dropped to one knee and started cutting them loose.
Behind him, Lawley wiped her brow with her sleeve and muttered, "This town's gonna need a therapist. Or five."
Felix moved from one girl to the next, slicing through ropes with practiced speed. The blade in his hand was steady now, cool and dark, no longer flickering with fire.
Ana Cruz blinked slowly when he cut her free, eyes glassy. "Wha… what happened…?"
"Don't move yet," Felix said gently. "You're safe now."
Britney Sullivan coughed beside her, pressing a hand to her temple. Karli Hayes just sat frozen, eyes locked on the circle they'd been bound inside, lips trembling like she was trying not to scream.
He crouched next to her. "Hey. Karli. You with me?"
She gave the slightest nod.
Then her eyes darted to Lily, lying limp in Lawley's arms.
"Is she…?"
"She's okay," Felix said. "She's gonna be okay."
Harry was last.
Still gagged, still tied to the car frame, but very much awake. Felix moved to him, slicing the ropes quickly. Harry tore the gag out of his mouth and sucked in air like it hurt.
"Felix! Holy shit, what the hell!"
Felix pulled him into a rough hug.
Harry stiffened in surprise… then hugged him back.
And for a moment, it was quiet. Just two kids sitting in a junkyard surrounded by smoke and ruin, the worst behind them.
Almost.
Felix exhaled.
He pulled back and looked at Harry's face, wide-eyed, scared, loyal. A knot twisted in his stomach.
"Sorry, man."
Harry blinked. "For what?"
Felix's eyes shimmered faintly. Red. Barely visible in the low light.
"Sleep."
Harry's eyes glazed over in seconds. His shoulders slumped. Felix caught him gently and laid him down against the car.
The girls were next.
He stood, and with each one, repeated the motion. One hand over their foreheads. Voice low. Eyes glowing like dying embers.
"Forget."
Ana slumped first. Then Britney. Then Karli.
Their fear melted away. Their expressions softened. Their memories, fractured, twisted, painful, unspooled like old film and vanished into the void.
Lawley watched him do it all without speaking.
When he finished, he turned to her.
"They won't remember any of this," he said.
"Even Harry?" she asked.
Felix looked at him.
"…Yeah."
Lawley's face darkened. "That kid liked you."
"I know."
He wiped his hand on his jeans and stood.
"Help me carry them."
The wind picked up as they worked, blowing smoke and gravel in lazy swirls through the wreckage. The junkyard was quiet now. No chanting. No screaming.
Felix moved.
He carried Ana first, light and limp, her head resting against his shoulder like she'd just fallen asleep in class. Lawley opened the rear door of the SUV, and he laid the girl down against the passenger-side window.
Next came Britney, then Karli. He propped them up beside Ana, heads resting lightly against one another. They barely stirred.
Felix rounded to the other side and gently placed Lily across their laps. Her breath was shallow. She didn't move.
He slid Harry into the front passenger seat last, folding him in carefully and making sure his head rested comfortably against the window.
Felix shut the last door and leaned against it for a second. Just to breathe.
His hands were still shaking.
"You good?" Lawley asked from the driver's seat.
He didn't answer right away.
Then he nodded. "Yeah. Just… tired."
She looked at him for a long second, like she wasn't sure if she believed him.
Then she turned the key.
The engine rumbled to life, low and even.
Felix climbed into the passenger side, nudging Harry's shoulder gently as he did. No response. Just soft breathing.
Good.
As they pulled out of the junkyard, the sun had started to set, turning the horizon into a bruised orange line above the trees. The clouds hung low and heavy.
They drove in silence for a while with just the road ahead and the stillness behind.
After a few miles, Lawley spoke without looking at him.
"Hospital's ten minutes. I'll drop them, tell them I found a group of kids drugged in the woods. No IDs, no story. Think that story'll work?"
Felix nodded slowly. "Yeah. It'll hold."
Lawley flexed her fingers on the wheel.
"You sure about wiping Harry?" she asked again, quieter now.
Felix looked at the boy beside him.
At the faint bruise on his cheek. The smudge of blood on his collar.
Then he looked out the window.
"…He doesn't deserve to remember any of this."
Lawley didn't argue.
The tires hummed against the road. A bird passed overhead.
The town of Cloverleaf had no idea it had just been inches from Hell.
The hospital lot buzzed with early evening activity. The sun hung low, casting the ER doors in gold. Nurses wheeled patients through automatic doors.
EMTs unloaded stretchers from the back of ambulances.
The usual chaos of a late shift.
Lawley pulled into the ambulance bay quickly.
Felix jumped out before the car had fully stopped and opened the back doors.
The girls—Ana, Britney, Karli, and Lily—lay slumped together like wreckage. Silent. Breathing. Harry dozed in the front seat, still under the haze of compulsion.
Lawley met Felix's eyes as she circled around.
"Grab Lily," she said. "She needs it most."
Felix nodded and scooped her up. Her head lolled against his chest, breath shallow, skin clammy with sweat.
They moved fast.
The ER doors slid open, and a nurse at the check-in desk barely looked up before Lawley barked, "I've got five unconscious teens. Dumped behind a Cloverleaf auto shop. No IDs. One of them's crashing. Need a doctor now."
The nurse's eyes went wide at the badge. "Room two's open. Get her inside."
Staff flooded in like a storm. Felix barely got Lily onto the gurney before a nurse pushed him gently aside, snapping orders over her shoulder.
A second team moved for the other girls and Harry.
"Where'd you find them?" a doctor asked, jogging beside a stretcher.
"Got a tip-off," Lawley said, walking fast. "Found them all drugged and unconscious in the woods. No suspects in sight."
"And you are?"
She pulled out her badge.
"Detective Lawley. CPD."
That was all it took.
Felix hung back again, watching as hospital staff took over. They moved quickly, hooking Lily up to oxygen, checking the girls' pupils, and leading Harry through intake.
It felt like watching someone else's movie.
He didn't belong in it.
Not really.
When the doors swung shut behind the last stretcher, Felix turned and stepped outside without a word.
He stood near the edge of the ambulance bay, leaning against a low wall under the fading orange sky. The cool evening breeze cut through the sweat and blood crusted on his skin, but he didn't shiver.
He was too used to this feeling.
Too used to being alone after the storm passed.
The automatic doors hissed open behind him.
Footsteps came slow and limping.
Detective Lawley.
She moved like someone who'd had a very long day, one hand pressed tight to the gash in her side, her jacket dark with dried blood. But her face was calm.
"Told you I'd get them in," she said, voice lighter than it had been all night.
He turned slightly.
"How's Lily?"
"She's stable," Lawley said. "O2's good. Doc thinks she'll pull through."
Felix let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
"They'll all make it," she added. "Though they'll definitely need a shitload of therapy."
Felix nodded slowly. "They won't remember what happened."
"Still," she said, wincing as she shifted her weight. "That kind of fear doesn't always stay buried. It finds a way to leak through."
He glanced at her side. "You're bleeding."
Lawley looked down like she'd forgotten.
"Yeah. I'll get patched up after. They come first."
Felix raised a brow. "That's not exactly good medical advice."
"I'm tough," she said. "You'd be surprised how many gashes you can ignore with enough adrenaline and caffeine."
A quiet moment passed between them, stretched thin by everything unsaid.
After a pause, her tone softened. "Felix…"
He turned to her.
"I was hard on you," she said. "Back there. Before all this. I've seen real monsters. And you're not one of them."
He stayed quiet, unsure how to respond.
"You don't like hurting people," she went on. "And you could've let that thing tear her apart. But you didn't."
She took a step closer.
And before he could react, she pulled him into a hug.
Warm. Brief. But real.
"You're a good kid."
Felix blinked and froze.
His cheeks flared pink before he could stop them.
"…Yeah yeah," he muttered. "That's what they all say."
Lawley pulled back, rolling her eyes. "You ruined a good moment, kid."
Felix smirked, tucking his hands into his tattered jacket pockets.
"Guess I've got a talent for that."
INNER WORLD
The sea of darkness churned.
No ground. No sky. Just endless black stretching in every direction, thick and formless, like the world had forgotten how to be real.
Orobas floated in it.
Barely.
His equine head hung low, steam rising from the cracks in his twisted flesh. His once-towering form had shrunk, broken by the boy's blade, by Felix's will, but still clinging to some last delusion of survival.
He snarled into the void, blood bubbling between jagged teeth.
"I will not be erased," he growled.
From the depths of the dark, something laughed.
Soft, and close.
Then the water rippled.
A shadowy figure rose from the black like smoke woven into the shape of a man.
Felix's other half.
The eyes came first. Red. Slitted. Glowing in the dark like a predator watching from tall grass.
Then the smirk.
"You already are," the voice mocked.
Orobas lifted his head and flinched the moment he locked eyes with the figure.
"…You," he rasped. His voice cracked.
The figure strolled forward through the void as if it were nothing. "You know, I expected more from someone with a name. Usually the ones with names last longer."
Orobas growled, trying to rise, but the sea gripped him like tar. Every movement sent ripples of pain through his warped body.
"You shouldn't be here," he hissed. "You're not supposed to be awake."
The demon's smile widened.
"Allowed?" He let out a soft laugh. "Oh, Orobas. You poor, dumb bastard."
The name landed like a curse. Orobas twitched.
The smile turned cold.
"Don't," the horse-headed demon rasped. "We could coexist. I have power. Knowledge."
"And I have an appetite," the inner demon said simply.
Then he was on him.
Orobas screamed, body convulsing, but it didn't matter.
The other demon opened his mouth, far too wide, full of void and teeth, and swallowed him whole.
Orobas vanished into the darkness of it's maw.
Gone.
Silence.
Felix's inner demon stood alone again, licking his fingers like he'd just finished dessert.
"Mm. Bitter. But filling."