"No idea," Dale told them. "Report says the apparition appears to be a teen boy, and his screams already killed one person. I want to be on the road in fifteen, men. We'll update on the drive."
The team was good. They knew what to do. Twelve minutes later, all three of the SUVs were filled and heading out. Two priests rode in the last one with Dale. Thane drove the second. A guy named Ronnie drove the first, leading the way. An hour later, they arrived at the site.
Paramedics and police were already on scene. The whole place was lit up in red and blue lights. A priest stepped out, dressed like all the rest of them except for the pin at his collar. It was just enough to let the hunters know what he was, but not to make him stand out to the public. The man walked right up to the closest police officer with his hand out in greeting.
The cop accepted the handshake, and then the priest breathed a Word. Thane could feel it in the air. The team looked to Dale, and with a nod, they got permission to do what they had to. No living thing in the area would see them. None of these people would remember they'd been here.
And that was the power of the Words of God. The sound was all it took to alter the perceptions and memories of people around them. Each Word held a different power, and only the priests of their church knew them.
With the way clear, the hunters moved in. Each man pulled out a clavum. Like most, Thane had extras strapped to his belt. There was always the chance that the demon could knock one away. But with ten hunters and only one demon, the thing didn't stand a chance.
The building was a single-floor store. It was an older place, and all signs made him think it had been abandoned for a while. Some of the windows were cracked. Inside, the floor was covered in dust, but dozens of footprints proved that it was still in use by someone.
Then he rounded the corner and saw the empty bottles. Beer, hard liquor, and more. A bong had been knocked over. There were scraps of paper that could've been normal garbage, but may have been drug paraphernalia. Thane didn't stop to check. To him, it looked like a teenager's hangout, the kind of place their parents weren't supposed to know about.
Moving with the rest, he made it to the next room. There, they all stopped hard. Sure enough, it was a teen boy, but there were four paramedics around him, and none of them were working. The kid lay on his back, placed on a stretcher, but his blank eyes proved that he wouldn't be a problem.
"This the victim?" Thane asked.
"Not sure yet," Dale admitted just as a scream pierced the air.
It was a woman's voice, and it came from behind the building. The paramedics heard it too, turning like they were about to move, but the priest at the back of their group spoke another Word. Immediately, the four paramedics all relaxed. The hunters, however, were already chasing the screams.
Thane was the third one through the back door. Behind the building was open land. In the darkness of the night, it was hard to see, but a girl's silhouette was just visible. She was backing away, and before her was a form.
"It's me!" the boy kept saying. "I'm right here!"
"No, you're a ghost," the girl insisted.
That was all the hunters needed to hear. They rushed in. Lucas reached the girl first, grabbing her around the waist to spin her away from what would come next. Anthony hit the boy, trying to trap his arms, but the kid moved like his body wasn't quite solid. He turned, saw the group of hunters, and his mouth opened.
The scream that came out was not natural. It was rage, fear, and desperation, but it all came from the very pit of Hell. The sound hurt, hammering against Thane's body like a fucking wall. The girl screamed in pain, clearly more affected than the hunters, and the cross on Thane's arm began to burn in warning.
"Get her out of here!" Dale ordered. "Someone shield her!"
One of the priests spoke again, but the boy had all of Thane's attention. Eight men to one demon, and the demon wasn't going down easy. The kid lashed out, knocking a full-grown man off his feet. He screamed again, right into another's face. That hunter's eyes rolled up into his head, and he dropped.
This was definitely a banshee. His powers fit perfectly, but it seemed the creature didn't know how to use them yet. He was reacting, not truly fighting. And from the look on his face, he was as freaked out as the hunters trying to send him where he belonged.
When the next scream came, Thane ducked, getting out of the direct blast. It was just enough to let him reach the boy's side. Without hesitation or remorse, he swung the clavum in his hand as hard as he could. The silver spike tore at the cloth of the guy's shirt. It ripped through the flesh of his body. The muscles in Thane's arm burned with the force of the hit, but he didn't want to risk missing.
The moment the clavum entered the boy's body, the sound stopped. The kid's eyes went wide, and he looked over at Thane. A split second later, an explosion of energy crashed over them. Hunters staggered at the release of sound. A priest dropped to his knees. Thane's ears were ringing, but the banshee was dead. The boy's body began to dissolve even as Thane still held it.
"Dust to dust," Brice said, rubbing his ears.
"Guys?" Ronnie asked, gesturing to the growing pile of dust. "Is it just me, or is that the same dead kid with the paramedics?"
"It's the same," Thane agreed. "Looks like Hell's converting them faster."
"Or something," Dale said, turning to look at the priests. "The kid wasn't even buried?"
"You saw the drugs," the priest shot back. "Clearly, his soul was already gone. That demon had probably been living in that kid for a while. When the boy's body died, the demon was released."
"Because he wasn't staked?" Thane asked.
The priest nodded. "Most likely, yeah."
"Well, someone wipe the girl," Dale ordered. "She doesn't need to think about her boyfriend - or whatever he was - like that. Thane, kick that pile of dirt around so the cops don't wonder about it. Someone else pick up James? Wake his ass up and get him back to the SUVs. Let's move, people. I'd like to get at least a little sleep tonight!"