I'm switching to first person completely. Sorry for the constant changing, I promise this is the last time.

Emma

I looked at myself in the mirror once. Walked away and turned around to check myself again, just because I could. Just because I was a nervous wreck and just because it was my first day as an editor for a huge publishing house. Yeah I looked okay.

My long dark hair was tied into a high pony tail, curled slightly just at the bottom. My makeup was light and barely there. I had to wear my rimmed glasses today because I had somehow lost my contact lenses and they wouldn't come in for another week. It was just my luck. My first day of work and I was going to be blind. I had to admit they made me look like a sexy librarian though.

I sighed when I saw a wrinkle in my skirt. I had been so anal about everything that I tried on several pairs of skirts before I decided on my first choice pencil skirt. I looked pretty good I thought after a while. My white blouse made me look lady like but at the same time it was very feminine. After the first couple of incidents I would bury myself into fashion magazines to get rid of the stress. I used to think fashion was vain and materialistic but I soon learned it was a way of expression and even art. With my figure though nothing usually looked presentable. I had the Latina curves my mother passed down to me. I was just thankful my dad was so tall. All in all I gave myself an 8 or 9.

"I can't keep stalling," I said to no one in particular. I had to go and drive to work which I still hadn't visited. Everything would be okay. I wouldn't get lost, I would make friends and life would be perfect.

I put my heels on and walked into my living room hearing the click clack of the heels on the wooden floor. Something in the air was off, literally; it smelled weird. I walked into the kitchen to make sure nothing was burning but nothing was on. I put my nose to the stove to make sure the gas was off and it was. I caught the time on the clock on the wall and nearly screamed. I was late. I would have to deal with the smell later.

I rushed out the door and into my car as fast as humanly possible and headed to work. Today would be fine. I wouldn't accept anything less than fine.

Ryan

"How long has it been since you saw Emma?" Michelle asked. I was currently having a video conference with her regarding some interviews she was doing for PRS but of course she wanted to know how Emma's thing was going.

"I don't know. Couple of days I suppose," I tried not to look at my monitor, making it seem like I was busy signing some papers but I had to look up and I saw Michelle's eyebrow arch at my response. Of course I knew how long it had been. Too long. "Can we get back to business?"

"No," Michelle said, she was normally not this involved in anything I did personally but this was her friend. Emma had grown on her fast and she just wanted to know how it was going. "She isn't telling me anything, she keeps saying that nothing has happened and that you've only just started to get to know each other."

"It's true," I defended, "honestly, I haven't even brought up anything about what I want to do regarding her situation."

Michelle looked surprised. It looked like she wanted to say something else but insisted on not doing so. Instead she asked, "What do you have planned? If I can know."

"Oh, you're choosing now to be polite huh?" I joked. I could be condescending if I wanted too. I was the boss.

"Ryan Daniel Buell just answer my question," she didn't seem to like my attempt at joking. "I'm surprised nothing has happened."

I regarded her carefully, "How often does that thing try to harm her?"

Michelle sighed and leaned back in her chair seemingly thinking, "She was with me for a while, maybe a month or month and a half. We had 4 or 5 incidents."

"4 or 5? Why the or?" Maybe I would have to reconsider my plans. I knew Emma had been downplaying her situation a bit.

"Because towards the end It just started getting clever," she regarded the entity as it. I didn't really like the way she said it either, "some big bulking dog chased her down the street, it would have been funny had it not stalked the house for hours. It seemed possessed and determined to get in and take Emma. The dog pound couldn't take it, we had to call the cops eventually. Emma was traumatized, she loves dogs."

I thought back to Emma meeting Xander and everything had been fine. I sat back just like Michelle and contemplated my plans. I would have to change them again.

"I know that face," Michelle said. She looked as wise I had ever seen her even through the computer screen, "you'll figure it out, you know people."

"I think I'm going to call Lorraine," I suggested but balked the moment I saw Michelle's surprised expression.

"No!" she stuttered before gathering her wits, "I mean, just don't call Lorraine yet. If you insist then just tell Emma before you do. She doesn't like her very much."

"Why?" I asked defensive. I loved Lorraine very much and I completely trusted her. I knew there were people who still held her against certain events but come on.

Michelle sighed heavily, I remembered she wasn't so warm and welcoming to Lorraine at first either, "It has nothing to do with Amityville; trust me, it's more to do with the whole religious aspect."

I was not handling this well. I couldn't help Emma if she refused some of my suggestions. Some of them were going to have to deal with this aspect and I wanted Lorraine to be a part of it. "I'll talk to her," I said. I rubbed my eyes feeling the ache and stress dissipate lightly. I looked at my calendar and noticed the date. Emma would have started work today. It was late now and I wondered if she would take my call. She had to be home by now.

I looked back at Michelle who still looked worried, "What?" I asked her.

"Is there something going on?" she asked after a while. I didn't know what she was referring to but I had a gut feeling she knew about my dreams as ridiculous as that sounded. Sometimes it felt like Michelle could read my mind.

"What do you mean?" I asked her and shuffled my papers. Anything to distract myself.

"Never mind," she said with a knowing smirk, "lets get back to business." And we did. We worked for another hour before I decided I would call Emma and set up a date to talk to her about her options. I called her landline but she didn't answer. I called her cell phone and it went to voicemail after a while. I didn't want to seem too eager but something felt wrong. Something WAS wrong, I just knew it.

I grabbed my shoulder bag and left the offices, even I had sent everyone home a while ago. A publishing house kept early hours not late ones. I was glad she didn't live much farther from my own place. I could make it to her house in no time at all.

I felt a vibration in my pocket and took my phone out to find that Emma was returning my call. I stopped walking and answered, "Glad you could call me back-"

"Ryan…" Emma whispered into the phone, "Ryan he's here, right now…"

I picked up my pace and hurried to her place, "Where are you Emma?"

"Right in front of my house," she sounded like she was about to cry, "he's at the end of the street Ryan…"

"Get inside your house," I tried to stay calm but I wasn't doing a good job of it, "I'm coming, just get inside."

"Okay," she said into the line and hung up.

I still had a few blocks to go so I started running. I stopped a block away from her house, panting and cursing. I could see her street and place but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That was until I saw a man about my own height and body build standing at her window, seemingly staring inside. A feeling of protectiveness and anger surrounded me. I began walking over, slowly so as to not make my presence obvious but it was a fruitless task because my phone vibrated again with a call.

The man or whatever it was turned around but instead of finding a face where there should have been one, there was nothing, he was absolutely faceless. I put my phone to my ear, never taking my eyes of that thing.

"I'm right outside your house," I said into the phone.

I didn't hear a reply right away, I could only hear Emma's deep breathing, "Help…" she said softly before I heard her drop her phone and simultaneously I was blasted off my feet landing on my back on the cement.

It took me a while to come back to myself, at least it felt like a while. I sat up slowly and realized there had been an explosion. I looked up to Emma's house and saw that the one over to it had a gaping hole where the front door and window should have been. Much too close to Emma's own door which was hanging open on one hinge. I didn't stop to think what had happened or even bother to look around for the dark entity. My only worry was making sure Emma was okay.

I ran down the rest of the way to her house and pushed the door open. All of her furniture was either toppled or pushed to the other extreme of the room. But that's not what I noticed first. I smelled the air and almost gagged. There was a gas leak, maybe that was what had caused the explosion. I ran down her hall and into the room where I had seen her take her things. The door was hanging loose much like the one outside.

I looked around and saw her laying on her back at the foot of her bed. I bent down and checked her breathing. She was gasping slowly for air. I gathered her into my arms and hurried down the hall. I didn't know how many explosions there were but I didn't want us to be inside waiting to find out. I was already lightheaded by the time I made it outside. The fresh air was like a gift to my lungs.

Emma opened her eyes while I held onto her and walked over to where I had dropped my phone on the curb although I didn't need to call the police, there were plenty of people already outside on their phones. I could hear a distinctly loud woman talking to an operator on her phone about how there might be a child next door. I looked around and nobody was getting close. There were no flames, I supposed that was an indication of a gas leak or gas explosion. I just held onto Emma, hoping and praying that there really wasn't a child inside. It would be too dangerous to go in now.

Emma grabbed onto my shirt with her hand, gripping as hard as she could but I realized that wasn't much. She had inhaled too much gas. She was still breathing too hard for comfort and her grip was loosening.

"Stay with me darlin' don't close your eyes," I whispered. People were starting to gather around us, clearly worried about Emma as well.

The loud lady from the phone came over and looked over my shoulder at Emma, "You hang in there little girl, the ambulance is coming."

Emma didn't look at the woman or acknowledge her at all, she just stared at me; trying to hold my stare. I didn't have to ask or even wonder out loud. I knew this time it had been a close call for her. I sat down on the curb as gracefully as I could while still holding Emma. I tucked her head in-between my shoulder and neck to try to regulate her breathing. I rocked her back and forth until she stopped gasping and started breathing normally again.

The lady still hadn't left my side but she had stopped talking which was great. People were still gathered around us looking onto the house probably wondering about the people who lived there.

"Ryan…" I heard Emma whisper. I looked at her and noticed her eyes were shut tightly. I wanted to see her beautiful green eyes, I wanted her to laugh or make a joke or anything.

"Look at me darlin'," I encouraged, all the stress and worry was bring out my southern accent.

Emma opened her eyes slowly, a tear streamed down her face as she gripped my shirt again, "Thank you."

I brought her back into my arms and resumed my rocking. I didn't know what to say, you're welcome? No worries. Anytime.

When the ambulance arrived I insisted on carrying her over to the gurney and staying with her. I was the only person she knew here anyway. At least I thought so. They allowed me and I zoned out on the ambulance while they worked on her. She never took her eyes off of mine and I hers. She held onto my hand for as long as possible until we were forced to separate. They took her into the ER and I had to go to the waiting room.

I had a feeling she would kill me for doing this but I didn't have a choice. I took my phone out, dialed and waited for the answer, "Ryan how wonderful to hear from you."

"Lorraine, I need your help."

A/N:

Incase you didn't know, I don't like Lorraine Warren much. As a matter of fact I don't like her late husband or Chip Coffey as well. I won't try to give you a reason unless you really want to know, in which case you're more than welcome to PM me or send me a message on tumblr about it. If you're reading this please please please review. It's extremely helpful and it encourages me to update sooner.

Review! Please (: