Haunted

Chapter Fifteen

"The stairs should be right here," Ian hisses, hovering anxiously where there's nothing but a blank, dirty wall. "We just came up them!" 

His flashlight swings back and forth, as if he thinks that'll make the stairs appear.  I can see the nervousness in his pinched face.

I lay heavily in Kole's arms, my head against his shoulder. I'm so tired, all I want to do is sleep, but he keeps jostling me. My eyes keep ghosting shut, but then he'll move, he'll walk, and it'll wake me back up. His grip is tight one me, and I can feel his heart beating in his chest, the thunder of it against my own body.

He's getting worried, I can tell.

"It's getting in our heads," Kole mutters, looking irritated when I tilt my head back to look up at him. "That's what it does."

"We're demons, it can't ---."

"We're demons trapped in human form. We're as vulnerable as she is to it," Kole interrupts Ian, his voice brisk. "It's making us see things we shouldn't. The stairs are there, we just need to go down them."

Ian looks a little skeptical.

"I know how these entities work, Ian, trust me. We walk through that wall, we'll find the stairs."

"But it's solid."

"It's an illusion. I've encountered his type before, I know what's happening." Kole says flatly, and I don't think he's afraid at all. That's comforting, to know he doesn't fear the monster that's terrifying me. I feel a little safer at the thought, maybe we'll make it out of here after all.

They're demons, they're minions of hell. They shouldn't be afraid of anything, right? Sure, this ghost has got some freaky skills, but there's no telling how long it's been doing this. 

"We need to go," I mumble, my eyes over Kole's shoulder. "It's coming."

"We know," he sighs, shifting me a little bit. I tighten my grip around his neck, feeling like a child, completely useless. I'm just so tired, and I don't think my legs will work if he puts me down. Something's wrong with me, the longer I stay here, the worse it seems to get.

Click, click, click.

I squeeze my eyes shut, shuddering as I hear the sound.

"Don't focus on it," Kole suddenly says, squeezing me slightly. "It's feeding off of you, Amelia, and you're letting it. It gets in your head, it finds your weaknesses and it uses them against you. This entity must have been hiding in the aura of the other one, that's why we didn't notice it before. I've dealt with this kind, it just needs a taste of its own medicine." He mutters, more to himself than anything.

"How do you propose we do that?" Ian places his hand firmly against the bare wall, dust clinging to his skin as he moves it back and forth. "It's doing a damn good job of screwing us over."

"We have to make it fearful," Kole frowns thoughtfully. I have to admit, I'm impressed by the fact he's handling this so well. We're like ten feet from being eaten by darkness and he's acting like it's a bright summer day and he's choosing his favorite flavor of ice cream. He might be a demon, and he might be a jerk, but I don't think I'd rather have anyone else with me at this moment.

Weirdly, I know he's going to figure this out, I have faith in him. He'll defend me from the ghost, as much as I hate to go all damsel in distress. But, considering my head is bleeding, I'm fairly sure I'll fall down by myself, and I feel sick again, maybe it's better to let him take the lead on this one.

Or, well, all of them.

I frown as I think about it.

"You sure do a lot of saving me from ghosts," I mutter after a moment, irritated. Ian snorts, but Kole shoots me an almost smile.