Demon 🔥 Reddie

28

They drove into town and Eddie told Avi to go directly to his house. He didn't know how many demons were around and who had been possessed, so the best bet was to go straight to the place where they knew their friends were waiting.

Everyone was cautious as they made it to the house and unlocked the door (Sonia had given Eddie the keys). The house seemed untouched, thankfully, and the two boys went to where Sonia said her cellar area was.

The board that was the trap door was bolted into the floor, but between Eddie and Avi's powers, they were able to open it with ease. Once it was open, Avi created one of her purple orbs on her hand to illuminate the dark room and the descended into the hiding place.

"Guys? We're back," Richie said, looking around.

No one responded, and Richie began to worry that they had left and were in danger when bright lights shone all around them and Eddie covered his eyes, clearly bothered by the light.

"We've got you surrounded! If you're really our friends, tell us one thing that only our friends would know!" came Mike's voice, deep and hostile.

"Uh, I really like to read and I'm hotter than all of you whores combined?" Richie tried, and he heard a snigger and all the lights turned off.

A lamp was turned on, leaving a much more mellow glow around the room, and Richie saw all of his friends sitting on couches that had been brought to the cellar. It looked as though Sonia had prepared for world war three. There were couches, blankets, an AC unit and heater, as well as a closet stocked with long lasting food.

"Damn, Sonia's prepared for the end of the world," Richie said, looking around at how prepped the cellar was.

"If we don't get those demons contained, it may as well be," Avi said, leaning against a column with her arms crossed.

"No offense, but who the fuck are you?" Stan asked, sitting on one of the couches with his head in Bill's lap. He seemed completely done with the whole situation and was half asleep.

"Aviana, I'm here to clean up the mess you idiots made," Avi said, clearly not pleased with Stan's lack of interest in the issue.

"I'd say pleasure to meet you, but you seem like a bitch," Stan added, smirking and sitting up, before leaning on Bill's shoulder.

Avi smiled. "Likewise."

Richie leaned over to Mike, who was standing next to him. "Is that how that people who hate themselves greet each other?"

"I guess so," Mike responded before clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. He turned to Avi and held out his hand. "I'm Mike. You're the one who's able to help stop all of this?"

Avi nodded and too Mike's hand, shaking it firmly. "Call me Avi. I helped stop this all last time, and I plan on doing it again."

"So what's the plan?"

Avi opened the box of containment devices that she had brought and divided them among all of the losers equally. They each had a string around them and everyone put them around their necks.

"These are containment devices. I'm not sure how many demons have escaped, but there should be enough devices to contain them. If there aren't, between Eddie and myself, we should be able to force them back into their portal," Avi said, before asking Eddie if he had a map of the town.

"I ha-have one," Bill said, pulling one out of his backpack.

"Nerd," Richie whispered, earning a punch to the arm from Eddie.

Avi took the map and spread it out, before marking bright purple lines out using her powers.

"Town square is the center in this equation. There's four quadrants, per-say, so two of us will go down each. If your partner gets possessed and you're not in a safe space to extract the demon..." Avi looked around at all of them, seriousness looming in her dark eyes, "run. The demons are too strong for even myself and Eddie to control, especially when they're seeking revenge. You find one of us and we'll try to help, but there's no promises. This could be life or death."

"Sounds like a plan. Fuck life, am I right?" Stan said, standing up and walking to the stairs to the basement.

"Stan! Wh-what did we talk ab-about?" Bill snapped, walking over and grabbing Stan's hand, pulling him back into the main part of the room.

"Demons aren't smart themselves. They're cunning and vengeful, but they're not smart, necessarily. However, if they're joined with a human, they basically absorb all of that human's knowledge. They'll be harder to find if they're already possessing people, which would definitely be their first move," Eddie said, which surprised Avi.

"How can you tell if they're human or demon?" Ben asked.

"They'll act unnatural. While they're trying to take on human traits, their goal is to get as many people transferred to being full demons as they can. So basically, if you see anyone walking toward their portal, stab them with the device. If they're human, you'll extract a golden soul, and if that happens, just put it back,"Avi said, walking up toward the stairs.

"Is it possible to save people if they've been transferred to full demons?" Richie asked, suddenly worried for people he knew. He didn't know if his mom or dad had been turned.

"The human souls are sent to Hell, so they'll be an empty host, basically. So, no, there's no way to save them unless we go through their portal and end up in Hell. That's a one way trip unless you're a demon, so I really don't want to have to deal with that."

The group all seemed to understand the weight of the situation, so they got with their partners and began to walk up toward the main level of the house. Everyone went to the center of town together, bidding their friends goodbye and good luck before heading their own ways.