Blood and Beasts

Chapter 41

The blinds were shut tight in the Johnson's bedroom, as they had been since they'd rushed back from their afternoon walk. Meredith had been shaken up from that boy's outburst, but all Ted had been concerned with was the migraine he felt coming over him, a heavy thrumming pain, and all the strength (minimal as it was) had gone out of his body. He'd lain in bed for the rest of the day since. Meredith had turned the T.V. on for him at one point, but he hadn't glanced at it. He had simply stared at the ceiling, dreading the night.

Meredith had eventually joining him in the bed as evening fell, and she wrapped her arms tight around him. He felt her deep love even after all these years, even through his first bout with cancer, maybe especially then, and even now that it was back. She loved him fiercely through the worst of it all, and he knew how lucky he was to have that. But he also knew there was a part of her that would sigh with relief when he was gone, when this horrid disease ate its way through the rest of him. She could go on and be free of it. He wanted that for her, he wanted her to be happy again.

She fell asleep at his side, a light snore whistling out of her nose; a little secret of hers that only he got to enjoy. Ted never slept easy, always a busy mind. Though tonight was different, his mind was still, paralyzed not with the usual running of thoughts, but just one all consuming feeling: one of absolute dread. And the monster spoke to that from the shadows of the room.

The demon Gader'el clawed the walls as a shadow, wrapping around Ted and his wife, and his ancient voice whispered in Ted's head as it had nights before. He asked the same questions. He asked again about the girl, Cara, describing her light brown skin, the white hair she tried so desperately to hide. Then he asked about the beast, the wolf in the girl's care: a beast with sharp fangs and shining yellow eyes. In previous nights Ted had answered honestly, that he didn't know of any girl, didn't know about this beast, begging the shadow monster speaking in his head to leave him alone. But Gader'el didn't believe him, tormenting him with nightmares, visions of torture and a growing blackness taking all life out of him, slowly, painfully. But this night unlike others, Ted now had something to tell the demon. Yet fear halted him from speaking the truth.

It had been the cancer that had drawn Gader'el to Ted. Gader'el had learned what Yeqon had learned, as they were of one mind. Yeqon had failed, but there had been pieces gleaned through that failed attempt. A demon that traveled from Hell back to the realm of the living didn't see as the living did. Yeqon did not know where in the world he had materialized; only that it was where the girl had been. He had seen and heard pieces. He had seen a tree in the forest; he had heard the noise of the lake. He had heard the roars of the wolf very near the girl. The girl had the werewolf, the one their great True God required. Each bit they saw circled them closer. And clearest of all had been the old man with Cara. Yeqon had sensed it, the cancer soaking through the man's body.

Gader'el and Yeqon were two of one. There had been more at their creation, but now they were two. The Watchers. What one sensed they both saw. And Gader'el saw the cancer, and went looking for it. They did not know all of Logan's tricks, the knowledge he carried, the spells and rituals learned over the years to hide from demons, and so Gader'el did not find Logan as he explored the surface world. But there was someone else in close proximity that drew him in.

The cancer that had plagued Ted Johnson had returned to his prostate, violent and aggressive, a delicious smell to Gader'el. The demon had not even realized it wasn't Logan he'd found at first, and so each night he began to plague the sick man for information on Cara and the wolf.

And Ted had sensed it in his gut as he saw Daniel and Cara; as sure as he felt the demon's voice in the dark of night, and if there had been any doubt, the yellow that had flashed in the boy's eyes had confirmed everything to him. He wasn't crazy, there was a monster watching over him each night. But he didn't want to speak any of this to the shadows. He understood the evil that had entered his home.

"You've seen...them," the slippery voice crooned in his head. "You've watched them...Tell me dear...tell and let me...see."

"What will you do to them?" Ted thought back in the dark of the bedroom.

"Our business...what happens to...the watched...We watch you...We could watch...her." Ted felt the demon's hands curling around Meredith, stroking her as she slept.

"Please leave her alone."

"The cancer that...eats you...It could eat her...Cancer is not infectious...Not true...It spreads...We spread it."

"I'm sorry, please don't, don't hurt her." Ted felt a clawing desperation, realizing the demon could make good on its threats. He had to do what it asked. For her. "I'll tell you everything about them, all about the girl. Where you can find them."

Ted told them. Gader'el listened. And then the demon saw.