Demon 🔥 Reddie

21

Richie turned away and put Eddie in the car, ignoring everything that Butch Bowers had said.

"Tozier! Turn over that fucking demon!" Henry snarled, looking for any reason to shoot Richie.

"He's not a demon, Bowers. We got it out of him," Bev said, holding up the necklace with the red liquid inside. "He's human."

Butch lowered his gun slowly and ordered Henry to do the same. They approached the teenagers, looking at the red liquid, that seemed to be fighting against the case it was trapped in.

"That's the demon?" Butch asked, looking disappointed.

"In a way, sir," Mike said, opening the journal. "He was born with two souls; a demon one and a human one. This is the demon soul that holds his powers. Without it, he's human."

"And he needs to go to a fucking hospital because he won't wake up!" Richie snapped, glaring at Henry and Butch.

Butch pushed past Richie and opened the car door. Eddie was laying there, breathing shallowly. There were no wings, and when Butch opened his eyelid, the eyes were brown.

"First, explain how you were able to separate these souls," Butch said, crossing his arms and leaning against the car.

Richie explained everything that had happened as quickly as possible, and soon enough Butch walked away from his car, allowing Richie to jump in.

"Henry, go check out the house. I want to make sure that fucking demon really did go back to Hell," he snarled, heading toward his patrol car.

Mike scoffed, clearly irritated. He knew it was the Bowers' family fault that protective demons were chased out of Derry, but he couldn't do much to stop it.

Stan and Bill got into the car with Richie, while Mike, Bev, and Ben said they'd stay behind to make sure that Henry didn't fuck anything up. The car peeled away from them, heading toward the hospital.

Bev sat next to Ben, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"This has to have been the weirdest week of my life," Bev said, smiling.

"How so?" Ben asked, honestly just baffled that Bev was laying on him. She could have any guy, but she was sitting beside him, leaning on him.

"Well, Richie saves me from Henry, we meet a demon, I become part of this losers club, then you do, we meet, we try to save the demon... that's just over the span of a couple days." Bev sat up and faced Ben, blushing. "My favorite part was meeting you."

Ben blushed as well, breaking eye contact. "I, uh, yeah, me too. You're... you're amazing, Bev. I don't even know you that well, but I'm blown away by you. You're brave, strong, beautiful, and nice to everyone," he said, making Bev smile even wider, her eyes crinkling with joy.

"When we finish helping Richie and whatever, would you want to go out sometime? Just us?" Bev asked, standing and helping Ben up.

"L-like a date?"

Bev nodded, her smile softening.

"Shouldn't I ask you?"

Bev giggled. "Come on, Ben. If I waited for you to ask me, it'd never happen," she said, brushing her hair out of her face.

"Not true!"

"Do you want to, though?"

Ben nodded. "Of course I do."

He and Bev hugged each other tightly, Mike applauding both of them from his spot near the front door to the Neibolt house.

That's when they heard it.

An earsplitting scream came from the depths of the Neibolt house. Mike sprinted inside, Ben and Bev following him. They ran down the stairs and hid behind a column.

"Oh, fuck," Bev whispered, glancing out from behind where they stood. She could feel fear, and knew that the demons were using their powers to spread fear around the room.

Henry was sobbing on the ground, a cut pouring blood from his stomach. Standing above him was a demon, blood dripping from its claws.

Around the room stood three other demons. They were all hissing at each other, communicating in a demonic language.

Only one spoke English, standing above Henry who was shrieking in fear and pain. It grabbed the boy by his neck and lifted him up, the blood still dripping from his stomach.

"Your people cast us away and you have one of our own. Now, they'll pay with their souls," the demon hissed, throwing Henry down into the well.

They could hear his screams along with the crackling of the fire from the well. Then, seconds later, a new demon emerged from the well. It had the same eyes as Henry.

Bev grabbed Mike and Ben's hands, nearly in tears from terror.

"Go," the lead demon said to the others around the room. "Find the boy and bring back as many sacrifices as you can."

The demons all shrieked and spread their wings, flying up the staircase and leaving the house.

"They're after Eddie," Mike said. "We need to warn him and Richie before it's too late."

"Wait, what just happened? That thing had the same eyes as Bowers!" Bev exclaimed.

"It took Henry's soul and replaced it with a demon. They're trying for revenge since humans forced them out of Derry."

"Is Henry dead?" Ben asked, looking at the pool of blood that Henry had left on the ground.

Mike sighed. "I don't know."

•••

Richie carried Eddie into the hospital, and he was given a room right away. The doctors checked him out, and informed Richie that he seemed like he'd had a minor heat stroke somehow.

Thankfully, through injection and a cool environment, Eddie woke up, looking dazed but happy.

"Rich?" he asked once he opened his eyes, seeing Richie sitting in the chair next to his bed.

"Hey, Eds," Richie said with a smile, moving to stand by the bed and hold Eddie's hand.

"I'm human?"

"Yeah, I think you are," Richie whispered, kissing Eddie's cheek. "It's all over, Eds."

Eddie giggled. "Don't call me that."

"What're you gonna do about it?"

Eddie glared playfully, punching Richie in the arm. As soon as he moved, however, he cried out loudly in pain. "My stomach!" Eddie cried out, lifting his shirt.

It was the bullet wound. It wasn't bleeding, but Richie realized that without his powers, Eddie felt normal pain like everyone else.

"Shh, it's okay," Richie whispered, climbing into the hospital bed and pulling Eddie into his lap. "You're feeling human pain now."

Eddie groaned, his hand over the wound to try to soothe it. "I thought humans were just whiny," he grumbled, realizing that the pain normal people felt was much worse than he thought.

Richie snickered, hugging Eddie. "Bev gave me this," he said, handing Eddie the necklace with the demon soul inside. "I think you should hang onto it, just in case you ever need to be part demon."

Eddie smirked, putting it around his neck. "Doubt I'll ever need to, but thanks anyway."

The two laid together for a bit, before there was a knock on Eddie's door. The person walked in, and the two were surprised to see Henry Bowers, leaning against the door frame.

"Your friends are at the portal," he said. "Something happened and they need you there."

"What? Why?" Eddie asked, sitting up and wincing at the pain in his stomach.

"I don't know, I just know they need your help. Let's go," Henry said, turning and walking away.

Richie was confused by Henry's sophisticated manner, but he stood up and helped Eddie to his feet before walking out of the room.