A/N: Warnings for cursing and violence. FYI, this chapter is not happy.
Rossi swallowed at the sight of his dear friend lying prone, and looking like death warmed over. The demon was being quiet, save for the weeping sores covering her body. The tears the creature had torn in her skin had flushed bright red, and erupted with a putrid, yellowish puss. One of the priests had made an attempt with rubbing alcohol, but it failed to help any.
They'd fought like hell to make sure one of them was in the room with Emily during the exorcism, and being the only faithful Catholic among them, Rossi was given the job. Morgan had fought for it, but it was easy for the priests to sense the tension between the man and his religion. They had refused and insisted it was Dave himself or no one. Rossi wasn't sure how he felt about witnessing an exorcism, let alone one of a woman who'd come to mean a great deal to him.
They had switched Emily from a robe to a hospital gown and fixed her wrists and ankles to the iron bed frame with shackles. Jimmy had explained that they'd been blessed, and so couldn't be broken by evil. His old friend was beside him now in the room full of priests. Hughes was outside with the rest of the team, his job was to keep them all calm as the exorcism proceeded. Father Richard was inside, beside the exorcist, Father Fiore. He was Italian American, and had smiled at hearing Rossi's name in the introductions.
He had to be pushing seventy, and Rossi was wondering how doing exorcisms hadn't given him a heart attack yet. But he appeared calm as he prepared himself to banish a demon from the beautiful, very sick woman on the bed. He wore the traditional black cassock with a black surplice overtop, and a purple stole hanging gently around his shoulders. After finishing his prayers, he made the sign of the cross over himself, and moved around the room, crossing each of them. When he turned and did the same in the air over Emily, she flinched, but remained still.
He accepted a small bottle from Father Richard, and removed the cap, placing a single finger over the opening, before shaking the bottle at them. Rossi tensed when the holy water hit him, unprepared for the spritz.
When he shook the water over Emily, life suddenly seemed to flow back into her. Her body tensed, and her eyes flew open, fury burning inside them. She growled at the priest.
He continued unbothered, speaking in a clear, deep voice. "Lord have mercy."
"Lord have mercy," the other priests repeated.
"Christ have mercy," Father Fiore said.
"Christ have mercy," they repeated.
"Christ hear us," Fiore said, and Rossi finally recognized the Litany of the Saints.
He repeated with the others, "Christ graciously hear us."
The four of them calmly went through the whole prayer, the demon alternately snarling and laughing at them.
"Rossi. Rossi." It was Emily's voice, and he immediately looked up at him.
Jimmy grabbed his arms. "Don't look into its eyes."
Rossi ducked his head again. The demon continued to try and get his attention.
"Rossi, please help me. Dave, oh god, please help," it begged in Emily's sob.
He ignored it.
"I trusted you," she said, voice strained. "I trusted you. I confided in you, told you my secrets. Don't do this to me! Please don't do this to me!"
He wanted to look at her, he wanted to assure her that he'd do everything he could to help her, and he wanted to run over to the bed, wrap her in his arms, and promise that they'd save her. He could do none of those things. He could only stand by helplessly as she begged him.
He repeated verses with the priests, searching his mind desperately for some, and tried not to listen to her. He tried not to think of how much pain his friend was in, and how she may not even survive the ceremony.
Father Fiore cleared his throat, held the cross over Emily, and began to recite words Rossi had never heard in all his days going to church. "Holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; hasten to our call for help and snatch from ruination and from the clutches of the noonday devil this human being made in your image and likeness."
Emily began to scream. Not in the demon's voice, but her own.
Pain coursed through her, and Emily stumbled and fell again. She breathed heavily, and shaking, pushed herself up to a sitting position. There was a strange force that kept knocking her around. It felt like she was in a dryer almost. After a minute with nothing happening, Emily got onto her feet. She was still trembling, but managed to take a step forward.
She had no idea where she was.
It didn't look like any place she'd ever been before, or any place she might be inclined to go. It was as weird and hellish as any place she'd been in what felt like days. The shower, the living room, the café, it was like some horrendous nightmare that she couldn't escape. And this landscape didn't appear any different. It looked almost like desert, but the sand was grayish, not golden like it should have been.
Some force slammed into her back then, knocking her to the ground again. But she didn't land.
No, Emily was gone for a minute, her body was wracked with agony, and strange men surrounded her. They were chanting, or almost chanting.
As quick as she left, she was back in the desert, picking herself up of the ground again. She felt something scraping her left leg, and moved to see what it was. She could barely make it out, so Emily grabbed it with a hand, and tugged. She tugged harder and harder, until it came free, the force knocking her on her back. She sat up, and looked at the object in her hand.
It was a piece of a bone. The top or bottom of a very small tibia. The kind that would only fit a child.
Emily stared at the bone and at the sand, her eyes wide in realization. She abruptly dropped the bone, and sat taking deep breaths and trying not to throw-up.
The force from earlier hit her again, rocketing into her chest and pushing her onto her back.
She was in the room from before, her body heavy with pain. An older man in a purple stole was speaking, reciting something, and Emily looked around frantically. She saw Rossi.
Emily opened her mouth to yell to him, but was ripped away again, back into the desert. The desert of bone dust.
Her body jerked several times, and she left again. She wanted to stay. She wanted to talk to Rossi, even with the pain she was feeling.
"Dave!" She hollered before being ejected back to the desert.
She couldn't even catch her breath before it happened again. And again. And again.
Her body jerked and twisted every time, before she suddenly appeared in the room full of priests and Rossi. Then she'd be returned to the bone desert to start all over again.
Emily began to cry.
"Depart, then impious one! Depart, accursed one! Depart with all your deceits, for God has willed that man should be His temple!" Father Fiore yelled at the demon. It had been hours since they began, but the old priest wasn't tired yet.
Rossi was exhausted.
It cackled. "Spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling!"
Rossi's palms were sweating, and his heart was racing faster than he'd ever felt it go before. He was sure he'd have a coronary.
The crucifixes nailed to the wall were shaking, and the lights were flickering, threatening to go out any minute. He heard things out in the hallway being tossed about, and he hoped the others were keeping out of the way of it.
"But God you cannot mock! It is He who casts you out, from whose sight nothing is hidden! It is He who repels you!" The priest shouted back.
Suddenly, the demon turned to Rossi. "I will destroy her! I will rip her to pieces! I will fuck her and shred her from the inside out!"
"By the power of Christ I command you to depart! Leave this woman! Leave this servant of God! I command you now! Depart evil one! Depart unclean spirit!"
Father Fiore continued to shout and condemn the demon as the three of them cycled through the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary and the Creed over and over.
The creature squealed suddenly, and Rossi's head shot up. Something was different. Then it was gone.
"An unquenchable fire stands ready for you and for your minions, you prince of accursed murderers, father of lechery! Depart now! Depart!"
Emily began to shake on the bed. No, not shake, her body wracked with tremors, almost as if she was having seizures. Full-blown grand mal seizures.
The lights flicked off, sending them completely into darkness. The ruckus outside increased, and he could hear the others shouting. Objects began to crash into the door, as if aiming for it, as if trying to break it down.
The demon screamed. "Fuck you! Fuck you! I'll rip your hearts out, all of you!"
"God commands you back to Hell, you creator of sin! With the power of Jesus Christ, savior of man, I send you back, vile spirit! Depart from us! Depart! You cannot have this woman's immortal soul!"
The demon screamed and screamed. With it's broken, ugly voice it nearly deafened them. Then the scream became human.
For several seconds it was Emily screaming, until there was nothing. No screaming, no body jerking around on the bed, no pounding on the door.
It was over.
A/N: It feels like it's been forever since I updated this, sorry for that. I've been rather busy for the last week and a half. Thank you all so much for the reviews and for continuing to follow this story!
Since I almost forgot, I'm adding a reminder here for anyone with a shoddy memory like mine. For anyone planning on voting for the Profiler's Choice Awards, the deadline is coming up fast to get nomination ballots in (10/15).
A/N Update: Further testament to my shit-tastic memory, I meant to note that I pulled most of the exorcism rite from a rite I found online. Most of that is what is actually said, though not necessarily in that order. Thank you marcallie for pointing that out.
