Author's note: Lots of love to those who have chosen to keep reading, thank you. You're drawing close to the end, so hang on a bit longer! (And review)
Sherlock waited for the knife, but it never came. After a couple of intense moments Sherlock dared to open his eyes a crack and saw the demon standing there, the knife still poised above its head. Then a word slipped from John's mouth.
"No." It was barely a whisper, but Sherlock recognized the voice. It sounded distant, as though it was coming from deep inside John, but it was John.
"John?" Sherlock asked hopefully and tried to break free of the demon's powers. John squeezed his eyes shut and backed away from Sherlock shaking his head.
"No." He repeated and Sherlock was suddenly released from the demon's grasp. He tried to move towards John but John continued to back away.
"John? Is that you?" Sherlock asked, hoping desperately that it was. John shook his head again and dropped the knife onto the carpet. He looked up at Sherlock and Sherlock's heart rose, because John's eyes were back to their natural hazel color. Sherlock was about to run and pull John into a hug he was so relieved but he didn't get the chance because at that precise moment John shouted at the top of his lungs
"NO!" And he flung himself out of the window. The glass shattered as John's body came into contact with it and Sherlock heard a painful thwack as John collided with the pavement. Sherlock ran to the shattered window and looked down to see John peel himself off the ground and run away into the night. Sherlock turned around to run out of the flat after John but crashed into Lestrade halfway down the steps. They tumbled over each other until they landed in a heap at the bottom of the steps. Sherlock untangled himself from Lestrade and tried to dash out the door but was stopped by a pair of hands on his ankle.
"Sherlock, wait." Lestrade said as he picked himself off of the floor. Sherlock didn't wait and once again tried to run after John. He was stopped in the doorway by Lestrade's strong arms which wrapped around him and held him back.
"Let me go! I need to get to John." Sherlock said as he struggled against Lestrade.
"Sherlock, he's the killer!" Lestrade shouted as he tried to hold Sherlock back.
"No he isn't, he's possessed!" Sherlock finally spun out of Lestrade's arms and ran out of the door to look for John. Much to his frustration John was nowhere in sight, Lestrade had prevented him from getting after John in time. Sherlock cursed under his breath and marched back inside. He walked straight past Lestrade who was looking at Sherlock with wide eyes. Sherlock ignored him and stormed up the stairs into his flat. He grabbed John's laptop, guessed the password, and immediately began to look a way to free John of the demon.
"You knew, didn't you? You knew that John was the killer." Lestrade said from the entrance to the flat.
"How did you know?" Sherlock countered with his own question.
"We sent a sketch artist down to the hospital after you left. The girl described the killer and I recognized him as John the moment she was finished." Lestrade said.
"So you're the only one who knows?" Sherlock asked, trying to hide his worry.
"Yes, me and you are the only ones. Unless you told someone that John was the killer." Lestrade said pointedly.
Sherlock didn't slow his rapid typing when he answered.
"John isn't the killer. The thing that's possessing him is." Sherlock stated simply and Lestrade exploded.
"You did know! You've known since the beginning! How could you not say anything? How could you let him just get away? You saw what he did, he's a monster!" Sherlock stood so quickly he knocked his chair over and he walked up to Lestrade with an expression of barely contained rage.
"John did not hurt anyone. John did not commit those murders. And John is not a monster. The thing that is possessing him is though." Sherlock said through clenched teeth. Lestrade stared back at Sherlock with a severely pissed off expression.
"And you expect me to believe that?" He asked.
"Yes." Sherlock said and he met Lestrade's eyes with his own so he could see just how serious he was. Lestrade shook his head in disbelief and Sherlock grabbed the side of his arm to get his attention.
"Have I not proved my trustworthiness to you? Have I not solved dozens of crimes where there was seemingly no evidence? Have I not assisted you with cases that had all of Scotland Yard baffled? I have helped you more times than I can count for nothing in exchange, now I'm asking you for your help. Just this once, trust me." Sherlock looked into Lestrade's eyes and Lestrade looked right back. After a moment of visible indecision Lestrade nodded and asked
"What do you need?" Sherlock let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and turned John's laptop so Lestrade could see. Lestrade glanced skeptically at the website for "The Ghostfacers" and gave Sherlock an expression that read 'seriously?' Sherlock nodded almost imperceptibly and went off to the kitchen to get salt.
After a couple calls to Mycroft and a crash course in demonic exorcism Sherlock and Lestrade were in a cab headed to (demon) John's location. Lestrade was sweating quite a bit and so was Sherlock, yet they were both doing their best to conceal their worry. Sherlock was looking out of the window when the cab came to a stop. He practically leapt out of the cab and paid the driver as quickly as possible before jogging towards the building where John was hiding out.
"You know I still am having trouble believing that John is possessed and possessed or not, I will shoot him if he tries to hurt you." Lestrade said and Sherlock nodded grimly. Lestrade clapped Sherlock on the shoulder in familiarity and walked off to set up the second part of Sherlock's plan. Sherlock took a deep breath and opened the door to the building were John was hiding.
It was dark inside and Sherlock could barely make out the dark shapes of covered machinery. Then one of them moved and Sherlock whipped around to face it. The lights came on and Sherlock was momentarily blinded but when his vision cleared he saw John standing before him with his hands held behind his back.
"Sherlock." He said with a polite nod and Sherlock stared back at him coldly. The demon pouted and his eyes turned into that pitch black that Sherlock hated.
"What, you're not even going to say hello?" It asked and Sherlock continued his silence.
"Alright, you can give me the silent treatment if you like but it's not going to help John." The demon said and Sherlock inhaled sharply at the mention of John. The demon made a sudden movement towards Sherlock and he pulled the gun he had been keeping inside his coat. The demon raised its hands in a gesture of surrender but it smiled at the same time.
"Careful there Sherlock, don't want to hurt John." It said and Sherlock tightened his grip on the gun.
"I'm not going to hurt John, just you." He said angrily and the demon laughed loudly.
"Oh, silly boy. You can't hurt me, anything you do to this body will only hurt John and it won't have the slightest effect on me." Sherlock's jaw tightened in rage but he didn't lower the gun. Then the demon put its hands down impatiently and flashed Sherlock a disappointed look.
"Why are you doing this?" Sherlock asked as he moved slowly closer to the demon. The demon laughed and spread its arms as though the answer was obvious.
"For fun!" It said and Sherlock grimaced. The demon then folded its arms across its chest and feigned a yawn.
"As much as I'm enjoying our fun little chat I would really like to move things along, so if you wouldn't mind taking a course of action…" The demon said in a bored tone. Sherlock stayed firmly where he was and the demon rolled its eyes (Sherlock didn't know how, but it managed it).
"Fine then, I'll do it." Sherlock frowned for a moment in confusion but it was short lived. The demon pulled a knife from its belt and before Sherlock could do anything the demon raised the knife above its head and drove it deep into John's abdomen.
"NO!" Sherlock screamed as blood began to seep from the wound the demon had just inflicted on John. The demon looked up into Sherlock's horrified face and grinned with blood stained teeth.
"This is your fault you know." The demon said as blood dripped from its mouth.
"You and John's argument, it made him wide open for demonic possession. All those emotions tumbling about in his head, you might as well have painted a big sign on his back." The demon said with a pained laugh. Sherlock's heart stopped with fear, anger, and guilt.
"If it weren't for you John would've lived a full and happy life. But now, because of you, he's going to die." Sherlock saw red and screamed. He launched himself at the demon and at the same time he pulled the small vial of holy water he had from his jacket. He tackled the demon to the ground and poured the contents of the container onto it. The demon screamed and flung Sherlock across the room without even touching him. Sherlock slid across the floor and quickly stood up to see the demon standing as well.
"I'll make you pay for that." The demon said with an enraged expression. It ran at Sherlock and Sherlock sprinted as fast as he could out of the building into an alleyway. He didn't get very far as the demon sent him flying into a wall with a flick of its wrist. Sherlock's head hit the wall hard and when he opened his eyes the world was spinning around him. He tried to stand but he was too weak so all he could do was lay there helplessly as the demon approached.
"This is why I hate your kind; you're all nothing but primitive, violent scum who want nothing more than to tear out each other's throats." The demon said as it limped over to where Sherlock was laying.
"I'm glad I chose to possess this human, because otherwise I wouldn't have had the opportunity to kill the piece of human garbage that is you." The demon raised its arm but froze suddenly with a look of genuine surprise that quickly became rage as it looked up at the devil's trap that Lestrade had spray painted onto the fire escape. It cried out in rage and turned to where Lestrade was standing behind it. Lestrade's eyes went wide as he saw the completely black eyes of the demon. The demon was angry though so Lestrade's disbelieving expression quickly contorted into an expression of pain as the demon used its powers to do invisible harm to the detective inspector. Just then Sherlock regained his strength and he jumped to his feet. He dashed over to the demon while pulling a container of salt out of his pocket. The momentarily distracted demon was unable to defend itself as Sherlock grabbed it by the head and poured salt into its open mouth. The demon screamed and a stream of black smoke came rocketing out of John's mouth. The demon tried to flee but it was caught in the devil's trap where it struggled for a moment before combusting in a flash of orange, fiery light. Sherlock and Lestrade recovered at the same time and both of them ran to John's side.
"John? John!? Can you hear me?" Sherlock said as he frantically tried to find John's pulse.
"C'mon mate." Lestrade said with knitted brows and Sherlock took John into his arms. John's eyes fluttered and then opened to reveal the warm hazel irises that Sherlock thought he might never see again.
"Sherlock?" John asked in a weak voice and Sherlock nearly fainted in relief.
"You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice." Sherlock stated with a relieved laugh which Lestrade reciprocated. John smiled a smile that made Sherlock beyond happy to see, because it was John's smile again, not that thing's. Lestrade stood and began to call an ambulance. John's face wrenched in pain and Sherlock took his hand to help alleviate John's suffering.
"Sherlock, there's something you need to know." John said and he began to cough violently, little specks of blood appearing on his lips as he did so.
"Try not to strain yourself John, the ambulance is almost here." Sherlock said as John continued coughing.
"Sherlock-" John started but Sherlock opened his mouth to stop him speaking only to be cut off by John's finger to his lips.
"Sherlock, I love you too." And with that John slipped into unconsciousness just as the ambulance pulled up to take him away.
Sherlock hadn't left the hospital since John had been admitted there a few days ago. He had sat by John's side all day and all night, refusing to leave. Thankfully Lestrade had talked to the nurses so Sherlock could be exempt from the usual rules about visiting hours. So Sherlock was asleep with his head resting on John's hospital bed when John awoke. He let out a soft chuckle at seeing Sherlock asleep like that but the small shake of the bed caused Sherlock to wake with a start.
"Morning sleepyhead." John said fondly although it was till nighttime. Sherlock looked up into John's hazel eyes and didn't even hesitate to capture John's lips in a kiss. When it broke John looked into Sherlock's silvery eyes and asked
"What was that for?" Sherlock smiled tiredly and answered him
"For being you." He stated simply and John kissed him again gently. John laid back on his pillows and smiled at Sherlock the warm smile that was only John's.
"Don't change." Sherlock told John whose smile grew wider on his face.
"I won't if you won't." He said and Sherlock leaned his forehead against John's.
"Never." He told John, and they sat there in the darkness thanking their lucky stars that they had each other just the way they were.
Author's note: And that's a wrap! Hope you enjoyed, please leave a review if you did or if you didn't let me know what I can do better. Thanks again for reading! So, until next time, I bid you adieu.