The Eye of the Knife

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Smalls Family.

I mentally groaned. I hated it when people couldn't answer the simple questions that I asked. I have been sitting with Mrs. Smalls for the last hour and a half and we have gotten nowhere.

I have asked her several times if she has seen the demon herself, has any actual proof that there is one like a scratch or something. But all she says is for me to call her Lauren instead of Mrs Smalls or that only her kids said it was real.

So here I was, rubbing my temples to prevent the headache that I felt coming. She was continuing to babble about how her kids would wake her in the night because of 'something under the bed' or 'in the closet'.

This case was going to overactive imaginations and fast. I had no evidence that it was an actual demon, and the mother was too worried about her superstitions to figure out if it was just imaginary or not. But one thing was for sure, I had to look at the house itself to find the route of the problem.

"Mrs. Smalls, I need to look at your house, itself, and see if it is an actual demon or if your children just have an active imagination. It is quite common for kids to see things such as demons on TV, and make up situations that seem like a demon could be involved. Or it could just be your children are afraid of the dark and are seeing things." I stated deciding that I should voice this to her in hopes it would get us somewhere in this conversation finally.

"Lauren." she stated holding up her index finger to make a point of correcting me once again. "And.... I guess that would be okay. I would hate to waste your time, and the money that I paid you." I nodded to let her know that it would be best if that is what was to happen.

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I stood on the front porch of the beautiful town house that Mrs. Smalls and her family lives in. I think it is a tad big, what with the six bedrooms, to be called a town house. Lauren had given me a short tour of the house, with the huge, professional kitchen, dinning room, two living rooms, an office, six bedrooms including the master, all four of the bathrooms, the office, and the finished basement that they use to rent out to people.

So far, while I looked at the wooden oak door, I didn't feel any demons in the area. But then again you can't feel all of them, especially the ones that don't want to be found. I looked in the kid's rooms and closets, and saw what looked to be demon activity. I asked Mrs. Smalls how long she had been in the house, and she said only for a year or two, meaning that the demon that was here could have moved on with the other family.

One thing about a demon is that they attach themselves to the family, not the house or the place that gives them a home for awhile. So if a family leaves the house, the demon will follow. The only way to fully get rid of the demon is to break the bond between it and the family that it has attached to.

Now, even if the demon is gone, traces that it was there could still exist. Sometimes you can't tell if the demon trace is fresh, or if it is years old. That could be the case here, the family before the Smalls could have had a demon, and not have known it. Therefore the trace of the beast would not have been cleaned up. Or they did know, and the hunter of the creature didn't clean up after themselves.

I brought myself back to the present, and looked again around the crowded wooden porch. Bikes, chalk, and other outdoors things crowded one side of the porch, while on the other sat a sitting area. I got the vibe that something was wrong, but I couldn't place my finger on it. Quickly I did a chant that would expose the demon's aura to me. The cool thing about there aura is that is shows where a demon has been, kind of like a trail that is invisible to the naked eye.

Almost immediately the porch and perimeter of the house lit up like a Christmas tree. The aura was fresh, really fresh. And there was a lot of it. This meant that there was a demon here, and it was hiding itself well, and was on the prowl to strike, most likely at me. Judging from all of the different paths, the creature had been following me outside the house, while I was inside.

I cocked my head as I continued to study the green paths. Each demon's aura is a different color; the warmer the color, the more powerful the demon is. I tried to see where the demon had last been, but couldn't even find were one path was, too many criss crosses and zig zags. My head started to ache as I tried to find the difference between one path and the other.

I knitted my eyebrows together as the sun finally sunk in the sky behind me, making the aura glow eerily. The only person that could see the paths was me, and any other hunter if one was near. Inside I could hear the distant screech of a kid followed by laughter. It was getting to be bedtime for the little ones soon, and the tension of that hung in the air. I knew, and so did the parents, that each day the kids feared going to sleep more and more.

That's why I had to find the thing even faster, kids were at stake. They didn't need to know that demons were an actual thing, and not just made up creatures. To kids that is how it is supposed to be; they don't need to fear about the things coming to get them or their family. That's why only certain people, usually the ones with the demon problem, know that the creatures exist. Once a hunter has rid the family of the monsters, then the family's mind get erased, and we convince them that they paid us to clean their house, or something along that line.

A roar erupted behind me, interrupting myself from my thoughts. I stood up from the crouch I was in, and wiped my hands off on my pant legs. I had been looking to see if I could find any distinct foot print to help me find out what type of demon it was. I turned slowly and came face to face with the one thing that had been standing between these children and sleeping soundly.

Its big, yellow, pointed teeth were shoved in my face, and hot stale breath sprayed from the mouth and across my face, making my nose wrinkle with disgust. The black eyes were locked on mine, as anger and hatred swirled inside them. I felt the need to rip the thing's head off for even looking at me, but from the size of the beast, it would be easier said than done. The thing stood on its back legs, that resembled a wolf's, and towered over me reaching nearly twice my size. It snarled, sending more stale breath my way, and reached out to swipe at me.

I leapt back with a smile on my face. Hell yeah! It is so on!!! I reached behind my back and pulled out my favorite banishing sword. I grabbed the hilt and swung the sliver cutting machine, at the beast with all my might. I felt the slight tug as metal hit bone and muscle. I looked up and saw a satisfying slash across the torso, with black blood going everywhere.

I leapt back as the thing swung in anger at me, missing me by centimeters. I laughed, really laughed. There was no way this little baby one would win against me, the one who has had ten years under her belt. I swung the sword up and caught the thing in the throat, making more blood gush out. The thing gripped at the wound with meaty claws trying, unsuccessfully, to stop the bleeding. I took the opportunity to smash the hilt against the thing's skull, making it go down in a heap. Once it was on the ground, I brought my sword down into the bone, and into the brain to finish the creature off.

As soon as the body stopped moving the banishing spell flowed from my mouth like it did so many other times, and the creature's body disappeared in a cloud of black dust, leaving no trace behind.

But now it was time to clean up the aura, and any other invisible trace that the thing had been here.

And to erase the family's memories of the occurrence.