Fallen

Chapter Fifty Six

"Anna?"

I woke up under my blanket on the sofa. It was dark and hot. I must have gotten some sleep last night. The exhaustion of crying finally hit me, I guess.

Slowly, I crawled out from under the covers. Jason was stood over me with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded and sat up. "I'm fine."

"Do you want a cup of tea? I've just put the kettle on."

"Yes please."

Jason smiled and ran off to make the drinks. I wanted to smile back, but my head was aching and all I wanted to do was sleep some more in an attempt to forget last night with Blaine ever happened. He'd been protecting me for so long, but I felt extremely vulnerable. Knowing what happened to Maria could happen to me too freaked me out. All I could do was hope that the Demon he killed last night wasn't part of any type of Demon family hellbent on revenge.

It wasn't long until Jason came back in and handed me a hot mug. I thanked him and brought my knees to my chest so he could sit down next to me. He sunk down into the cushions and took a sip of his tea before turning to me.

"Why are you down here?" he asked. "Have you and Blaine fallen out?"

"Just a bit," I murmured. Jason gave me a sympathetic look. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you still hunt?"

Jason's face fall. "What do you mean?"

"Blaine told me what you used to do."

"Oh, right. Well, no. We all swore we'd stop when we lost Maria."

"But are you ever tempted to carry on? Is it like an addiction?"

"I mean, it's not been easy. Hunting's in my blood. It's been in my family for generations."

"So this war's been going on for a long time?"

He nodded.

"How did it all start?"

"Well, I only know as far back as the D.I. Institution we used to live in as kids. It started in 1905 by Kendria Hartley and her twin brother Greyson when they were sixteen years old. Their dad William had an obsession with Hell. He used the cellar under his house to research Demons and Hell and had filled it with Bible scriptures and sketches of the dreams he had. William was convinced he'd seen a Demon when fighting in South Africa during the Boer War, but no one believed him. They thought he'd gone mad. It didn't stop him though. He spent three years trying to prove he was right.

So, he tried to summon a Demon by completing a Satanic ritual in his cellar. Demons have this complex symbol on their lower back that William swore he saw in a dream once so he drew it out on the cellar ground in his own blood. He then spoke a conjuring passage in Latin he had found in an ancient book, but he didn't prepare himself for it working."

"A Demon actually appeared?" I asked.

Jason nodded. "The story says that the Demon was impressed with William's efforts and decided to make a deal with him. The Demon would show his face to the world and prove William right, but only if the man sacrificed his wife and children to Hell."

"Oh my God."

"William did actually agree and the Demon took that as an invitation to possess William's body. His kids were upstairs asleep but were woken up by their mum screaming. Kendria and Greyson went downstairs to see their dad ripping their mum open and taking her energy. Greyson's account said that when he saw how dark his dad's eyes were and this thick, black liquid coming from his mouth, he knew it wasn't his dad anymore. So he took his sister down to the cellar and they barricaded themselves in.