Scratching The Surface

Chapter 9

Piper unlocked the front door with an unsettled heart and the feeling that she was going against her gut instincts. The priest was right behind her, a bottle of holy water in one hand and a Bible in the other. She felt wrong taking those things in the house but couldn't turn back now. If what she was doing would help her kids, then she would continue to do it. No matter what.

She ran to the dining room where she heard Leo and the kids, unable to wipe the fear off her face. "Leo, take the kids in the backyard for a couple minutes. Please."

Leo looked up at her, shaking his head. He was covered in food and had a cut on his cheek, his hair dripping syrup. "Where have you been? I can barely watch them in here. You think they'll be safe outside with me? You're insane!"

"Leo!" Piper grabbed onto his shoulders and shook him. "Leo! Do this for me. I need you to do this for me. Please. Please, Leo."

Leo frowned when he heard the priest begin to pray from the parlor. "What's that?"

"A priest," Piper admitted. She then gestured to the kids, refusing to say more in front of them. "Get them outside, now. Please."

Leo gave her a look, no doubt he thought she was insane, but took the kids in the backyard with him. As soon as they were outside she ran back to the parlor, frowning when she saw the priest leaving the house hurriedly. By the time she had the sense to go after him, he was already driving away.

~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as the priest had entered the house Nico had known. He couldn't explain it well to himself, but it was if the whole house was his web. As soon as something started shaking...he was there.

Nico appeared behind the old priest as he carried out a prayer, his fingers twitching and his neck bleeding more than it usually did. He wanted this man out of his house. He couldn't explain why he felt so strongly or why it needed to happen immediately, but getting this man out took over Nico's mind.

The crickets chirped from outside, the fireflies started to catch flight. It was sticky in the house as if the wood itself was sweating. As Nico felt his soul spread through the wood and around the room the priest stood in, the heat became unbearable. Steam rose up from the floor and the chandelier creaked from the strain. As the holy water hit the wood, it rose as smoke.

"Stupid man," Nico glared at the paling priest. "I'm not a demon. If I was, that water would have looked like acid when it fell. It didn't, you idiot."

The priest didn't seem to hear him as he drew from his pocket an expensive rosary, his swollen knuckles wrapped around the beads as he started to rattle off the prayers. It made Nico sick to think that a man of love could be so careless with who he was exorcising. Nico wasn't a demon, nor was he a threat to Piper's family. He just wanted them to understand his boundaries.

Nico stepped in front of the priest and put a hand on his shoulder, watching as the old man suppressed a shiver. "Get. Out."

His words echoed around the room, seeping out of the walls and vibrating throughout the floor. The priest, his eyes wide with shock, heard these words and did exactly what any sane person would do.

He ran out so fast Nico could barely keep track of him with his eyes.

"Father!" Piper ran into the room and stopped at the front door, her face filling with misery as she watched the priest speed away. "Father! Please!"

The chandelier stopped squeaking, the sleek walls stopped sweating, fear stopped coming out of the woodwork. In a matter of moments, the priest was gone and Nico was utterly exhausted. How long had it been since he did something that big? The last he could remember was when his father died. Even then, he was a young ghost and didn't have a lot of energy yet. After his father's death, Nico was stuck in bed for weeks.

"Piper, don't worry," Nico managed, climbing up the steps mournfully. "He freaked out over nothing." His eyes slumped and his vision blurred, and he couldn't have gotten to his room any earlier.

Piper heard his words, however, and heard his footsteps going upstairs. She followed the noises until she stopped in front of the doorway to his room, remembering very well what had happened in there, what the bath was full of. Her memory was something that would never leave her.