Catharsis

Down to the Roots

"The brothers what?" Taylor asked, his fire still burning bright. 'Attack them, fool!! That demon is ours to banish! Go on, Taylor, KILL.' Taylor's eyes glowed a bright white. "The Brothers Way. Experts in the supernatural and paranormal. We were called here by...Virginia's son, who's apparently dealing with his own problems." The stranger responded calmly.

"I am Gerard, and that's my brother Mikey. Lay down your arms, give up the fight. Whatever you are, whoever you are ---- you don't deserve Chris's poor body, and you know it! Give us back Shiflett!"

'Trying to ruin us...trying to ruin us all!!' Taylor felt a sharp pain in his skull. Whatever was in there wanted control. He clenched his jaw, grabbing his head as he fought for control. "Our body, not yours!!" he screeched, thrashing around violently. "No, no! Not until...not until I fuckin' say so! Stop!"

As he fought, his back arched. The little appendages reappeared, but didn't make it past the thick fabric of Chris's flannel. "Get out of our body!" Taylor commanded, accidentally chucking a fireball in the brothers' direction. They luckily dodged in time. "The drug won't work on this, so I'll have to hypnotize him. Mikey, hold him back for me! Find a way to distract him!" Gerard ordered.

"You got it." Mikey said, charging at Taylor. "Hey, fuck face!" he called, waving his arms, "Over here!!" Taylor snarled, offended by the insult. Why he oughta..Mikey quickly began to run, with the goal of tiring him out. At first, the middle-aged spirit would not give in.

Inside the home, Pat watched from the kitchen window. "Chris? Fire?? On?? White?? Eyes??" he stammered in disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about?" Nate said, joining him at the window. His expression dropped to shock. "Oh." Meanwhile, the chase continued.

Mikey had found a tree to hide behind. Taylor growled softly. "I came here with a purpose!" he declared, "And you wanna take it away from me?? You want to RIP me from the very ticket that keeps me safe??" Gerard, a master of the shadows, crept up behind him.

His cold bony hands made home on his shoulders. Taylor flinched and turned around. "What??" he scoffed in disbelief. "My fire is so hot it should burn the flesh off of any mortal man in seconds!!' "It should, shouldn't it?" Gerard said playfully, before going dead serious, "But you forget. I'm not a mere mortal."

After that sentence, he opened his mouth far enough to reveal four fangs. Vampire! Gerard's eyes turned red as he recited an old Latin phrase, "Carpe noctem!" He repeated this several times until Hawkins went limp. He too passed out, control of the body being surrendered to Chris.

Mikey hauled both of the unconscious men inside, setting them down gently. The demon was put to bed, and Chris was put on the couch. The poor guitarist finally regained consciousness, groaning in pain. His eyes went wide and he shot up, quickly rushing to the nearest trashcan.

The gagging noises that followed were absolutely vile. Yet the only man with a neutral expression was Gerard. As if they hadn't been through this countless times before. Chris re-emerged once finished, staggering to the couch. His airway felt like it was being squeezed, and his head felt like a knife had been jammed in there.

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked, "Where's Dave??" If he had killed Dave...God, he'd never recover or forgive himself. "David is currently sleeping upstairs. He's fine,"
"Did you shut the door?"
"Yes, and locked it,"

"Who says it's not gonna zap out of there and into here?" Nate interjected, "Mind you, that thing can literally fucking teleport!" Mikey finally spoke up, "We've installed a magic lock on the door that can only be broken by human hands. Puts some kind of force field around the door, which again, can only be broken by humanity. We've done this a few times."