My Mother's Shadow

Chapter Five: A Demon Slayer Christmas

Rose's excitement for Christmas morning was shattered. She rolled into a sitting position on her bed and held her head in her hand. Apollo knocked on her door, waiting for permission to open it. He looked at her through the monocle.

"It's not any closer." He told her.

"Good." She nodded.

The exorcist had agreed that Rosemary's haunting was dire, and he said he would be there at four in the morning.

Rose had already thought of fifty things to tell her grandmother about why she was inviting a stranger into their home. She decided to go with the story that he was a college-friend without a family to spend Christmas with.

As expected, Cecile had almost immediately begun making a place for him. She set a place for him at the table and grabbed blankets for him to sleep on the couch. Rose hoped he wouldn't need to stay for dinner.

"He's here." Apollo said, looking out of Rose's bedroom window.

She nodded, getting out of bed and going downstairs. She brought a knife from the kitchen to answer the door.

"Woah, what's that for?" Apollo asked, taking a step away from her.

"Just in case a couple of strangers turn out to be untrustworthy." She answered with a shrug.

Rose opened the front door before the man could knock and wake Cecile.

She was greeted by a golden-haired white man. His skin seemed to shine, and his smile made it brighter. His teeth were as white as the snow falling behind him.

"Good Morning, children of God." The man smiled, his voice was like music; an angel singing into their ears.

"Uh, good morning. Come in," Rose stuttered out, discarding the knife on a shelf. An unexplainable feeling of safety washed over her, convincing her she didn't need to defend herself. Closing the door behind Michael, she switched on the light.

"My name is Michael." He said, still smiling. He reached out a hand to shake Rose's. He turned to Apollo and shook his hand.

"I'm Rose. This is my brother Apollo."

"Merry Christmas," Apollo said, offering the man a gift box. Rose hadn't seen him grab a gift, but seeing as this man had come all the way to help them, she was glad he did.

"That's very thoughtful, thank you." The man said with a smile, taking the gift, "It's nice to meet you both. Tell me the story from beginning to end. We'll see if I can give you the help you need," He said, still smiling as he walked over to the couch and took a seat.

She started with the day her father died. She told him of his funeral, her mother leaving them, her mother's funeral, the priest, the necklace's power, the demon haunting her mother and the demon haunting her.

"The demon following you lives in an empty place. When someone comes in, it torments them. In your case, it would have lived in your house when your grandparents moved in, then decided your mother was the easiest target. Once it latched on to her, it would feed off the pain its torments cause the victim and her family. It finished with your mother and you're suffering because of it, so it wants you. Once it finishes you, it'll go after your brother, until your entire family is gone, then it'll rest in the house the last person lived in until a new family comes and it does the same to them." Michael explained, looking up at Rosemary, who was too anxious to sit.

"If that's how it works, then how did my dad have one too?" Rose asked, surprising her brother.

"These demons are more common than they seem. Your father was the most vulnerable member of his family when they moved into their home or someone else was and he was the most affected by their death."