Chapter 7

Jason felt the evil strongly as he stepped back into the house. It was like the difference between night and day. He shook his head. The thought of the two priests waiting outside, filled him with a peace and confidence that was disconcerting.

He made his way to the stairs that led to the basement, and went down them. Shortly, he was confronting the demon once again.

"I see you have returned," the demon said.

"Yes. I can't release you to this world. You must return to your own place that you have made for yourself with your kind," Jason responded firmly.

"Release me!" screamed the dark formless entity inside the pentagram.

"I WILL not!"

There was a moment of silence as the two watched each other, Jason from outside the safety of the pentagram, and the demon from within his prison.

"I can no longer access that place from which I came. When he who summoned me died, part of the spell died with him. My only way back, was closed. I am here to stay until the way is reopened, or the pentagram is broken," the demon finally stated.

That answer was totally unexpected. Jason thought for a moment.

"How can I send you back then? I have priests outside who can probably send you back to where you belong," Jason responded after a moments thought.

"You mean the two priests that are at the top of the stairs, listening to us? They cannot affect me much while I am constrained within this prison," the demon answered with a chuckle.

Jason turned and looked. Sure enough, while both priests were coming down the stairs even as he looked, it gave Jason a cause for concern. Father Ignatius was a man in his late seventies. His companion was around sixty, but in better physical health.

"I thought I told you two to wait outside," Jason said, concern in his voice.

"Forgive me, Jason, but I have been a priest for most of my life. I had to see this demon, as it is proof beyond shadow of a doubt that all the naysayers were wrong. God exists, and is in his place," Father Ignatius said with awe and wonder in his voice.

"You doubted your own belief?" Jason asked, just a bit concerned now.

"No. My faith has always been strong. But to know with your mind, to work with just faith, is different than seeing the proof with your very own eyes," was the response.

The demon laughed. "Oh this is most amusing. Now that you three are here before me, I have no need to talk with you any longer," the demon finished, then launched a mental attack on all three.

Jason gasped, and stepped backwards a step. Father Ignatius fell to his knees, and slowly grasped his cross. His companion, Father Plimpton was not fairing as well. He started screaming and held his hands to his head.

Father Plimpton walked to just short of the pentagram. Then he fell, flat and erect, across it; thus breaking the continuity of the demon's prison.

"FREE!" the demon screamed in glee, and flowed out of his prison. Jason struggled to regain control over his mind, and was able to summon the sword, Vengeance. It appeared in his hand, and the demon recoiled, recognizing it instantly.

"YOU!" the demon screamed in rage and fear, while pulling itself together and starting to form a most hideous body.

"I abjure you! Leave this place that is not yours! Return to your own place which you have forged with your own deeds!" Jason said in a voice that sounded full of doom.

All this time, Father Ignatius had been standing to the side quietly, but now was speaking in Latin and pulling a bottle out of his pocket. Father Plimpton did not move, but neither Jason nor the good Father Ignatius could spare time or energy to look to him as yet. The demon was fighting with renewed strength, coupled with fear.

Father Ignatius started sprinkling holy water in the direction of the demon. When the droplets fell upon it, it screamed. A strange glow was seen to start from wherever those drops hit the demon.

The demon screamed in rage and pain, and held out its now scaly hands. A darkness flew from his hands, that enveloped both Jason and the priest. Jason cut through his section with his glowing sword.

Jason cast a glance at Father Ignatius, and saw that he had a glow of some sort keeping the darkness off him. Jason was reassured that he was safe for the moment. Father Plimpton was lying immobile on the floor.

The demon was now fighting for its very existence. It now knew exactly who this annoying human had to be. Only one being had this sword, and it was confused. God rarely sent his angels to the earth, and when he had, they were never in a human body.

Jason was busily attacking, while the demon dodged. The demon threw items at Jason, trying to hit or distract him. It was also still in Jason's mind, talking to him, reasoning and saying soothing things even as they fought.

Finally, the demon was between Jason and Father Ignatius. The good father used the occasion to sprinkle a lot of water directly onto the demon. The demon screamed and turned its attention to the Father. This gave Jason the opening he had been looking for and he drove the sword directly into the demon's side.

There was a flash, and a concussion! It knocked down both the priest and Jason, who lost his grip on his sword. The demon started shaking. It was screaming, as it started to dissolve.

With a final scream of "NO!" it lost its body, and became a drifting cloud of glowing... something. Then even that faded, and the demon was gone. The sword that had been embedded in the demon, and then within the cloud, started falling to the floor. Then it, too, disappeared from view before touching the floor.

Silence.

Both men picked themselves up off the floor, and went to see how Father Plimpton was.