The 3 monsters spread out to try to surround us. There was no way we'd make it out alive, but I didn't want to go without a fight even if it meant exposing my dark secret. I focused and imagined my wolf form, and then I felt the pain. I fell on my knees in pain, and Jonathan immediately knelt down beside me. "Val, what's wrong?" he asked panicking not understanding why I was suddenly hurting.
"Get back!" I shouted and pushed him away. He watched my fangs, claws, and raven fur grow. His mouth dropped as he watched me transform into a large wolf.
"Holy shit," Steve uttered in shock. Nancy couldn't move or speak. And I didn't care. I didn't care what they thought of me at that moment. All I cared about was saving all our lives.
I stood my ground, standing in front of my friends to protect them till the end. I growled and watched the 3 monsters approaching me almost mockingly, taunting me. I waited until they made the first move. The middle one lunged at me, and I dodged it. I back-tracked and bit into the monster's back. It howled and threw me down to the ground. It slashed me, and I staggered back in pain. "Val, be careful!" Nancy shouted.
I growled and snarled to intimidate and to build up my own courage. I attacked once more, but I had no chance against 3. I was overpowered, and I was beaten badly. They slashed, bit, and tore me apart. One threw me down like a rag doll, and I tumbled to Jonathan's side weak and unable to move from the pain. He knelt down and put his hand on my abdomen feeling the fur on his skin while holding onto the bat with his other hand. "Val," he uttered.
Jonathan stood up, pissed and with no fear. There he was standing up against 3 monsters he never faced before till tonight. He held the bat tightly in his hand, glaring down the creatures. He was going to fight for me like he said. I couldn't believe how brave he was, how much courage he had to stand up and fight against these monsters for me. I lied on the floor watching Jonathan take a step forward to protect me the way I did before for him. "You want her?" he exclaimed. "You'll have to kill me first."
"Kill him," Barb ordered the monsters. Before the monsters could've attacked, two werewolves lunged forward out from the trees and stood in front of Jonathan to prevent him from fighting he'd die from. It was my dad and Uncle Kaet. They came to save us, to save me.
My dad attacked first, and he was good. I watched with disbelief at how strong and agile he was. He easily took down a monster, and so did Uncle Kaet. There was one monster left standing, and Barb knew it was over. How the tides had turned so quickly. Barb had to improvise, and so she used this moment to carry out her diabolical plan.
My dad and Uncle Kaet were busy taking care of the last monster that they didn't notice Barb transforming herself into a Nightwalker. It was a power the Master had granted her once he made her his possession. With her superhuman speed, she shoved Jonathan out of her way. He fell on his back a couple feet away from where he was standing and dropped the bat, unaware at what made him fall to the floor.
Barb picked me up by the neck as a wolf, and she was choking the life out of me. I couldn't breathe, and I felt myself transforming back into a human. She knew she didn't have a lot of time, so she started her chant quickly. She was trying to possess my body by transferring her soul into me. "No," I muttered breathlessly.
I was completely frightened. I didn't want to be possessed by this demon, but little did I know she was no demon. She was something greater, something more powerful and it would've been a disgrace to call her just a demon. Barb choked me harder and snarled with a smile while continuing the chant, nearly complete. "Let her go!" Nancy shouted. Steve grabbed a rock and threw it at Barb. It barely made a scratch on her, and she didn't falter her gaze into my eyes. She wanted to see the last bit of life sucked out of me before she could take over my soul.
Steve grabbed another rock and threw it again, this time hitting Barb in the head. She stopped the chant for a moment, and it was this moment that saved my life...
*Jonathan's POV*
Steve grabbed another rock and threw it at Barbara's head. It hit her hard, and I guess it pissed her off. She continued to choke Valerie, but she stopped speaking and glared at Steve. I knew I had to do something now at this very moment. I had to save Valerie no matter what.
I grabbed the bat and made a run for it towards Barbara and Valerie. With all my might, with my full power, I swung the bat and it hit Barbara in the head. She was caught off guard by my swing, and she dropped Valerie on the ground. I was about to take another swing, but the two werewolves took care of Barbara.
Man, it was a sight to see, that fight. Two werewolves completely mauling and destroying this...this creature. Just thinking back to this image of Barbara still sends chills down my spine. She had blood red eyes, and they were dilated. Fangs like a monster, no hair anywhere, and hieroglyphs on the body. She had no chance against two werewolves, and they were literally tearing her body apart into pieces. It was gruesome, but I couldn't look away.
Her arm was thrown one direction, her leg was thrown in the other direction, and her decapitated head was stomped on by the werewolves. Jesus Christ, it was gruesome, real bloody, downright from a horror movie.
I heard Valerie gag, and I dropped to my knees to look at her. I dropped the bat and held her in my arms. I prayed to God I wasn't too late, but I was. Valerie started convulsing, and the werewolves were done destroying Barbara's body. Nancy and Steve ran to us and knelt down. "Oh my god," Nancy cried, "what's happening to her?"
One of the werewolves grabbed Valerie from my arms and started walking away with her. "Hey wait!" I shouted as I grabbed the nailed bat again, not wanting to take a risk. "Where are you going with her?!" They didn't turn back. They kept walking and I followed them from behind. Nancy and Steve followed me. When we finally managed to get out of the woods, I noticed that it wasn't a werewolf holding Valerie anymore. It was her dad, and an old Native American man was walking beside him.
I looked back at Nancy and Steve, and they couldn't believe it either. Faceless creatures from another world, vampire-looking monsters, and werewolves. It all happened in one night. How could anyone have expected such a thing?
We followed Valerie's dad to his house, and we all entered. Her dad put her down in her bed, and she wasn't convulsing anymore. It looked like she was sleeping now. Right when Valerie's dad turned back to talk to us, I saw Valerie sit up in bed with one motion. "Val!" I shouted.
Her dad turned around, and I knew something was wrong. It just didn't look like Valerie was back, and she was far from it. "You are too late, old fools!" she snarled in a demonic voice, glaring at her father and uncle. "Her body now belongs to the Master!" She then screamed at the top of her lungs, and it made me jump from fright. I saw burns and sores forming on Val's arms, and her dad pushed her down to the bed.
"Get out from her body, you demon!" he shouted angrily.
"I am no demon!" Valerie spat back. "I am the offspring of the Mother of Evil! I am the Beast, and nothing you do will stop the Master from taking this world back from those wretched beings!" She laughed demonically, and it sent chills down my spine. I was afraid of what was controlling Valerie's body, and it reminded me of The Exorcist. It was a terrifying movie, and it was even more so in real life.
Valerie's dad started saying something in another language, and I could only assume he was praying for his daughter. Maybe it was Latin? I couldn't tell. I just stood there watching everything. Valerie's uncle then turned to us and ushered us out of her room. He closed the door to leave Valerie and her father alone, and he led us to the living room.
"Take a seat," he said to us. We all sat down on one couch, me in the middle with Nancy on my right and Steve on my left. It was a while since we sat, and I almost sunk into the couch tired from the long night. "You kids, who are you?" We looked at each other, and I spoke up first.
"I'm Jonathan. This is Nancy and Steve. We're Valerie's friends."
"Friends, huh? I recognize you," he said looking at Nancy, and she recognized him, too. "What were you doing with Val in the woods? Start from the very beginning."
"Jonathan and I, we found out how to draw in the monster," Nancy began. "It's attracted to blood. So Jonathan and I tried to draw out the monster in his house."
"Why?"
"Because my mother and the sheriff are trying to save my little brother from the lab out in the woods," I replied. "If they were confronted by the monster, they would've died. So Nancy and I had to make sure nothing got in their way on...the other side."
"So Jonathan and I managed to get the monster to come out in his house, and that's when Val showed up. And she...she started talking in this weird language. I never heard of it before. And the monster...she managed to kill it. It turned into dust. But there were more in the woods, and we decided that they needed to be killed."
"How stupid!" We all jumped from the man's sudden reaction. "You had no idea what you were going up against, and you decided to go and try to kill it?!"
"If we didn't, then they would've hurt my mother and the sheriff, and maybe even my little brother," I spoke up. "Is she going to be alright? Valerie's gonna be okay, right?"
"I don't know."
"What's happened to her?" Steve asked. "Why was she talking like that in there?"
"It seems the demon has possessed her body."
"Barb?" Nancy asked in tears. "Barb possessed Val's body?"
"It seems so," he replied sadly.
"She said she was the Beast, the offspring of the Mother of Evil," I said. "What did she mean by that? Was she talking about the Beast from the Bible?"
"I don't know."
"Well, what can we do for her?" Steve asked. "There's gotta be something we can do to help."
"I'm afraid not. The only thing we can do is wait and pray for her soul."
"Pray for her soul?" Nancy asked. "Is...is she being tortured or something?"
"And worse. A demon has possessed Valerie's body. She must now fight back to take over, or she will be lost forever." I couldn't believe any of this was happening. It was all too much. How could a demon possess Valerie's body? What was happening to her? To her soul? Was she really being tortured? I couldn't even begin to imagine what she was going through. But I did what the man told me to do. I sat there, waited, and prayed for Valerie.
Nancy held my hand tightly, and I looked at her. "We need to pray," she said to me. I nodded, and I put my hands together to pray for Valerie.
God, I pray for Valerie, that you will save her soul. Please bring her back to us. I beg of you. Please bring Valerie back. Give her the strength to fight back the demon and to take back her body. Please give her the strength. You gave me the courage to fight those monsters and Barbara, and I know it was to protect Valerie. Please, please save her. Bring her back to me, God...please...I know I don't deserve her, I know I don't. But...but I want her. I want to love her. Just give me this one chance, God, I beg of you. Please-
The door opened, and I stopped my prayer mid-sentence. Valerie's dad stepped out and closed the door behind him. He noticed we were still there but ignored us and turned to the man. "I need to make a few phone calls."
"What about these kids? They saw everything." Valerie's dad looked at us again and sighed. He approached us, and we all just looked at him. He was slightly intimidating, and we were all silent.
"It'd be best if we keep all this between us in this room." We all nodded quietly, not daring to speak up against that statement. "Val's sick...and I don't know when she'll get better."
"What can we do to help?" Nancy asked.
"Nothing. There's nothing any of us can do but wait and pray. This is a fight between the demon and Val's soul. She needs to be strong enough to overcome it. So pray for her."
"Sh-should we go back home?" Steve asked.
"If you want." We all looked at one another and knew we couldn't leave just yet. But I needed to know what happened to my mom and Will.
"Jonathan, you should call your mom and see where she is," Nancy said to me. "See if she's back with Will."
"Y-Yeah," I replied.
"Do you need a phone?" Valerie's dad asked me.
"Yeah. Do you mind?"
"Not at all."
I walked to use their landline, and I dialed my mom's number. Luckily she picked up. "Mom?" I asked.
"Jonathan? Oh Jonathan, thank god it's you! We found Will! We found him!" she cried over the phone.
"You found him," I cried with joy happy that my little brother was found. "W-where are you guys?"
"We're at the hospital. We're in Room 777."
"Alright. I'll be there soon. Love you, mom."
"I love you too, Jonathan," she cried. We hung up, and I looked back to Valerie's room.
"She won't be going anywhere," her dad said to me. "You should go to your little brother."
"What about you two?" I asked Nancy and Steve.
"We'll stay here and watch over Val," Nancy suggested. "Go to Will. He needs you there."
"Yeah, we'll let you know if anything happens with Val," Steve chimed in. "Go see your brother first."
"Can I come back after?" I asked Valerie's dad.
"Yeah. She'll need as much support as she can get." I sighed, feeling uncomfortable leaving Valerie alone to fight off the demon possessing her body. But there really was nothing I could do. It was her own battle, and I had to believe she was strong enough to defeat it by herself. I reluctantly left Valerie's house and went back to mine to drive to the hospital.
I arrived at Room 777, and I quietly opened the door. There I saw Will on the hospital bed talking with my mom. I smiled and couldn't stop crying seeing him there alive. All this time, he was alive. How scared he must've been to be up against those monsters all by himself. I went to Will's bedside, and my mom smiled at me. I sat beside Will, and he smiled at me. "Hey," he said weakly to me.
"Hey," I said right back. I wiped my tears, but more just came.
"Where's Val?"
"...she's..." My mom looked at me with curious eyes wondering what had happened to her. She knew it must've been something bad by the look on my face.
"What happened to her?" Will asked concerned.
"Something...possessed her."
"What?" my mom asked with disbelief.
"It's a long story, mom. But...Val is trying to fight for her life. Nancy and Steve are with her, and her dad's there, too."
"Is she gonna be okay?" she asked.
"I don't know. I...I'm praying she'll be fine."
"How are you, honey?" I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to lie that I was fine because I really wasn't.
"Go to her," Will said to me. I looked at him, and he smiled weakly. "I'm fine. Mom's with me. But Val needs you."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. She helped save me. You should go to save her for me."
"Go, honey," my mom said. "I'll be here with Will. And if anything happens, I'll go to the house and come find you."
"Thanks mom. I'll be home when you get there, alright, kiddo?"
"Yeah," Will nodded. I stood up and smiled at my little brother. My mom gave my hand a kiss.
"Go save her for us, Jonathan," she said. I nodded, and left the hospital. I drove back to Valerie's house, and I knocked on the front door. Nancy came to the door and let me in. Valerie's dad was on the phone, and I sat back on the couch with Nancy and Steve.
"How's Will?" Nancy asked.
"He's fine. My mom's with him. He's awake."
"Thank god," she said with relief. "Nothing's happened much with Val. Her dad's making phone calls to doctors. I'm guessing he knows them personally."
"Hey Jonathan, I uh..." Steve started out but stopped. Nancy and I both looked at him. "I just wanted to apologize for everything. Everything I did to you, man. It was all uncool. I mean, I broke your camera, I said all those horrible things about you and your family. I'm...I'm just really sorry, man."
"It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"No, I really mean it, man. I didn't...realize how hard you got it. And I'm really sorry, Jonathan."
"Seriously. It's fine." I sighed, and Nancy held my hand comfortingly.
"Val's gonna be fine," she said to me reassuringly.
