Carey and Irene sat in the backseat of Molly's car with the duffel bag across both of their laps.
"I still don't know why you insisted on coming," Molly glanced in the rearview mirror. "We really do have this under control. We read the books and everything."
"The books?"
"Yeah," Jack admitted reluctantly. "We, uh, we think that the mystery attacker is actually a centuries-old demon with the power to turn itself invisible."
"I knew it," Irene said. "I knew both of you had gone crazy."
"Come on, after everything we've been through? It isn't completely impossible," Molly pointed out.
"Yes. It is."
Jack intervened. "Well, the main thing is, if we're right and we are looking for the Drac, it's important to remember that he feeds on anger and fear. It went after Clu and Fi because they were afraid. Ned was angry. So if you're going to come with us--"
"Which they aren't," interjected Molly.
"--then you'll have to really try to be as detached as possible. I think it's the only way to really be safe around this thing. That and the deterrent spell from the demon book might be our only defenses against it." He handed Irene an extra copy of the spell.
"Right," Irene snorted. She refused to look at the folded paper; Carey pocketed it instead.
They were silent until Molly pulled the car off the road at the appropriate spot, parking on the shoulder. She and Jack armed themselves with flashlights from the duffel bag and issued a last instruction to Irene and Carey. "Just stay here. Please," Molly said. "You'll only put us in more danger if you come."
"We're coming," Carey insisted, locking eyes with her, refusing to back down. Finally she relented and turned to Jack. "What if you and Irene stay here, in case it's tracking victims on the road? Clu and Fi were interrupted while they were driving. Maybe that's where it starts looking for food."
"No, no, no, I'm staying with--" Jack tried to protest.
"You'll be of more help this way," Molly told him gently, and began to pull items from the bag. "You keep the salt and your rosary and all this other stuff. I'll take the axe, the garlic, the cross, and the big knife--just in case--along with my copy of the deterrent spell." Jack appeared to sulk.
"If anything happens..." he started.
"If anything happens, you know I love you. We'll all be fine," she assured him, hugging him tightly. "Let's go," she ordered in a colder tone to Carey, who said his own goodbye to Irene, and then followed Molly into the dark forest, shining weak flashlight beams suspiciously, carefully, down potential paths. She led the way, armed with her knife and cross, focused on the task at hand. "Remember," she reminded him, "stay detached."
"Right," he said shortly.
That was the last word spoken for a good hour or two. They walked and walked and walked in circles around the wooded area, trying to keep track of the road. The only forest sounds were animals and wind; no signs of any recent attacks, no screams from other parts of the forest, no footsteps behind them, just their own breathing and the treading of dead leaves.
"This isn't doing any good," he finally spoke up.
"It's better than sitting at home waiting for it to attack someone else," she replied tightly.
"Is it? You feel like you're doing something, but all you're doing is running around blindly, hoping to run into something eventually."
"If you think it's such a bad idea, why did you insist on coming along?" The leaves crunched beneath their feet as she pointed her light in a different direction and took off determinedly.
"You know why."
"I told you to stop that."
"You don't just stop loving a person. You accept that the person has qualities that sometimes make it hard for you to love them, but you don't just stop," he said.
"What do I have to do, then, huh? What can I do that's terrible enough to make you stop this?"
"Why do we have to stop this?"
"Because it's never going to be anything serious, because it would kill everyone we know if they found out, because it's insane!"
"It is not insane," he protested. "You're just afraid."
"Afraid?" she stopped plowing forward and turned to face him. "I am not afraid. I'm practical."
"You're afraid of saying what it is you really want because you think you'll lose it. So you pretend you don't want it so when you lose it, you don't have to feel bad later. Well, look at me, Molly, it's not working! I'm still here!"
"What the fuck do you know about what I want?"
"More than you do, apparently."
"Oh, you've got a clever little answer for everything, don't you? Well, you're not as perceptive as you think you are."
"Then tell me I'm wrong, tell me you aren't in love with me."
"You're wrong."
"I don't believe you."
"That isn't my problem," she retorted, and began walking again. "Do you really think now is the best time to talk about this?"
"Look, I get that because of Rick you're probably not into the idea of--"
And then it happened. They heard Irene scream and the sound of a body being dragged through leaves. Molly broke into a run toward the sound, and Carey followed after her, shouting for her to stop, to wait, to think about what she was doing first. She didn't heed his advice, instead throwing the cross into the trees and wrapping both hands around the handle of the axe. There it was: Jack was clearly being clutched by something, lifted into the air. He stared at it and took a deep breath, then another, then another, trying to calm himself down. The creature seemed to pause, and after a few tense moments, it dropped him.
Crunch, crunch. Perhaps it was turning toward them now. They squinted in the dark, shined their lights in its direction, but there was nothing out there. It took Carey first, lifting him into the air. He tried the same calming technique that seemed to have worked for Jack, but nothing happened. Molly closed her eyes and swung the axe, connecting with something that roared in pain. She opened her eyes as the Drac tossed Carey into a tree, like Fi had described, like a rag doll. Presumably its attentions were focused on her now. She lifted the axe again and brought it down hard, and was rewarded with another ear-shattering howl. She attacked again and again, but the monster did not retreat; she could hear its breath, ragged and indignant now. It was waiting for an opportunity to strike back. And it did; she felt sharp claws digging into her sides, pressing her back against the trunk of a tree. Its talons were prepared to pierce her, and she thought she could sense its relief that feeding could finally begin.
Then: "Baratum, melbido, asiridium," Carey choked out weakly. Jack, though powerless to move, joined in, and they continued to chant the rest of the deterrent spell as the monster's wounded howl grew louder. Finally it dropped her, and heavy footsteps retreated quickly into the forest. Clearly, they had not defeated the monster after all; from the looks of it when Irene arrived, armed with her cell phone and flanked by paramedics, it had defeated them.