| 18+ | Damian looked so different with his shirt off and a crop in his hand. He felt more real: no longer wearing the mask of the good doctor, he was the Exorcist, the master over my wildest fears, the stones on the shore over which my ocean of ma...
His blood seeped out and his energy with it. His vision had become an oil painting, smudged and smeared and dashed with blood. He crumbled to his knees, even as the realization sunk in: Samara had stopped. She had broken through. The cleaver had cut deep but not deep enough to kill. She was still there, still living.
"Keep fighting, Samara," his voice was weak, fading. He had to stop the blood loss, and clamped his hand to the wound but it did little good. The blood seeped from between his fingers. Samara was backing away from him, head clutched in her hands, snarling and muttering. She was fighting them, fighting hard. He had to help her...
Lijiali's voice broke through his fog. "Oh, what a bother. What's this now?"
He thought it was his imagination at first, when he heard a familiar voice calling his name from upstairs. But no - there it was again. It was...
Alexander Iscariot?
"Alex!" His voice felt weak, inconsequential. But Alex must have heard it, for footsteps pounded above and the calling of his name grew louder. Not only in Alex's voice...but Amma, and Octavio. He could have wept again from sheer relief, but he was too focused on remaining conscious and keeping one eye on Samara as she retreated to the back of the cellar. He ached to reach out to her, to hold her. But not yet. The fight wasn't over.
"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!" Damian had never been so relieved to hear Alex's voice as he ran down the cellar stairs, taking in the sight of blood and splintered wood and Samara's retreating form. If only he could have seen the reapers who stalked nearby too, he likely would have cursed even longer. But Alex was beside him in an instant, swearing brightly when he saw Damian's wounds, and wasting no time to pull off his jacket and press it to Damian's neck.
Amma was there, standing protectively before him, a warrior in a old woman's fragile form. "Where is she?" she pleaded. "Where is Samara?"
Damian pointed with a trembling hand. He could only vaguely see Samara's form in the far shadows of the cellar, hunched over and whimpering. "They have her," he groaned, as Alex sat him up against the wall and Octavio looked at his wound and gasped.
"You need stitches," Octavio said urgently. "I don't have my kit-"
"I'll be fine," Damian said gruffly. "We have to help, Samara. They've taken her over, Amma. It's the Four-"
"Four Horsemen, I know," Amma said grimly. "That was why I rushed here, and these two with me. We will need your strength, Iscariot."
Alex stood, cracking his fingers eagerly. "Aye, and I'm happy to lend it. We won't lose the lass, not today."
"Need...their names..." Damian winced through the pain. "I tried to cast them out...they nearly killed me, but Samara's fighting. We can't do it without their names."
"We have little choice in the matter," Amma was rolling up her sleeves. She had already dabbed her face with ash, likely burnt herbs and oils, surrounding herself with strength and protection. "We will fight without them, so long as Samara is fighting with us."
From the corner of the room, Lijiali sighed in exasperation, making Damian look to her in alarm. "Enough of this frantic struggling," she said. "It is time to see this end."
The reaper began to move, and Damian felt his heart plummet into his stomach. He could fight Samara's demons, but a reaper? His mind raced, grasping for words but then -
"Damian, listen to me!" Kiiji, briefly unattended in his chains as his sister moved away, cried out. Lijiali stopped short, confused as she looked back. "Krahia! Peina! Nikao! Thanatos!"
Damian's breath caught in his throat. Amma noticed his confused look and frowned, looking about, no doubt sensing the reaper's presence but unable to hear his words.
"How dare you," Lijiali spat. "You dare - I will see you destroyed -"
"You would have already seen me destroyed!" Kiiji snarled. "I've nothing to lose save those I care for! Peina! Nikao! Thanatos!" Kiiji winced sharply as if in pain, gritting his teeth. His sister stalked back towards him, fury on her face. Still he managed to growl out the names one last time, "Peina...Nikao...Than....Thanatos...ahh..." He crumbled, gagging, and from the far end of the cellar there came a cry of bestial fury.
"Damian, what is it?" Amma's voice was sharp, and Alex looked confused.
"Peina," Damian murmured. "Nikao and Thanatos, and the one we knew, Krahia. The names. Those are their names."
Alex's eyes grew wide. "The name of the Four? How could you know that, lad?"
There was no time to explain. Damian grasped onto trembling Octavio, bidding the young man help him stand. "It matters not. Those are their names. We have them."
"Then we cast them out," said Amma fiercely. "Stand back from us, Octavio. Alexander, help Damian stand. Reach deep, feel your strength, do not be afraid. Samara! Fight hard, girl. We are with you."
"We're with you," Alexander murmured, taking Damian's arm over his shoulders.
"We're here, Samara," Damian called. "We're with you."
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