The Ghost Hunter Chronicles - A Place of Nightmares Vol 1.

A Place of Nightmares Chapter 21 Taken

From my prone position on the couch, I couldn't see what was going on but I could hear it all. Apparently Hannah had unleashed a demon and sent it after Aiden. It had him and Jim bailed up on the stairs. At this point I wasn't too worried, I had seen Aiden kick demon butt before, Jim too. But the fact I could hear Jim whimpering in fear told me this time might be different.

I sat listening to the exchange on the stairs and was surprised to see Jim hurrying back through the door.

"What's going on?" I asked as he hurried by.

"The demon Azazul is paying us a visit!" He replied.

"What?" Asked Ambrose rising from his position on the floor followed by Doctor McAllister.

"Azazul, he stalked Aide as a child, he told me about it once." Jim replied.

"I thought something like this might happen!" Declared McAllister, "Can Ye fellows bless some water balloons?"

"What?" Asked Jim.

"Aye! I got pulled away from ma wee girl's birthday party, still had a bunch in ma pocket. Filled up while we had a lull, we can lob them at the thing!" He replied.

"Great idea!" Cardinal Ambrose said and he and Jim got to work blessing the balloons.

Shea and Bobby could only watch, they were in as a bad a shape as I was. The three dashed passed as Aide began yelling at the demon and it started hissing.

The next thing I heard was the sound of the balloons being lobbed at the beast, it shrieking in anger and pain. Then the stink of smoke again and the poisonous stink of sulphur. It screamed again, the fire alarms joining in once more, then there was silence.

I breathed a sigh of relief, which was short lived as I looked down and something shiny caught my eye on the carpet.

What was that? I leaned forward, my blood ran cold. It was my Cherokee necklace, the one made of turquoise and silver, and blessed by one of our elders. It must have fallen from my neck when I got thrown. I leaned forward more and my ribs sang with pain, sweat beading my brow, I couldn't reach it.

"What's up?" Asked Bobby.

"I need my necklace, I can't reach it." Bobby tried to stand up and lurched side ways, Shea couldn't move. I'd grab Aide when they came back in and get him to grab it for me. No sooner had I had that thought and I was the one being grabbed.

I'd no sooner leaned back and felt some thing grab me by my shoulders, it was strong and clamped down like a vice. Next, I felt myself lifted into the air once more. Some how I found my voice and screamed as loud as I could, my constricted lungs and busted ribs sending white hot bolts of pain through my entire body.

Shea and Bobby were screaming and yelling for the others. I felt myself hefted across broad shoulders, and realized I could smell a fetid stink, like dead rat only much older. I glanced down to see a dirt encrusted coat, and torn trousers. Rotted flesh barely hanging on the bones. At first I thought Hannah must have sent her long dead husband Paddy after me, but then I remembered he had been cremated to stop exactly that.

What was this thing? It grunted and groaned but moved with astonishing speed.

I caught a bare glimpse of a shocked looking Aiden and Jim with the Doc and Ambrose coming in behind them and something whooshed open behind me. I was pitched into a freezing cold semi darkness the last thing I saw was the thing's arm arching towards my face, then all was black. The lights had gone out - again.

*****************************************

Aiden and the men raced into the living room in time to see Shania being carried out of the place by what could only have been described as a monster. Huge, dressed for the grave and older than the land they stood on. It raced across the room with Shania over it's shoulder and seemed to pass through the wall and disappear.