Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary so I'm posting it a day early as we have plans. See you at the bottom.

Enjoy.


"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against rulers, against authorities, against the
powers of the dark world, and against the spiritual
forces of evil in heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12

Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana: August 1879.

Ethan Maxwell is at the reins as horses hooves pound over a muddy, dirt road with his ranch hand seated beside him. He's leading the team toward a two-story farmhouse with a covered porch in the distance. Maple and Hickory trees tower around it. Dull light stabs out from several windows and smoke plumes from the fireplace.

Lightening cracks across a violent, dark sky, as sunrise, is just starting to break through the horizon. Ethan pulls out a gold pocket watch, 5:30 it reads. As he puts his watch away, he hears something. Cocks his head - there it is again - a baby wailing but this isn't a hungry or tired cry, this is swelling eruptions of excruciating pain.

Ethan cracks the reins hard - the horses rear, then bolt like they're shot out of a cannon, kicking up mud as they thunder faster to the house.

The wails are almost more than Ethan can take as he drives the team right to the front door, and reins back hard, hopping off the wagon before it comes to a halt.

Just as he steps onto the front porch, the wailing stops. He whips open the front door and a large gray cat scrambles to get out, nearly tripping Ethan as he heads inside.

His attention is immediately drawn to a living room on his right, where the shadows of flames from the fireplace dance wickedly off the horrified look on his face. He just stares into it - almost unable to comprehend what he's seeing.

As tears well, he slowly moves deeper into the room. It's as if time has stood still for him. As he gets closer and closer to the fireplace, the orange of the fire gets brighter on his face and the wood crackles louder and pops louder as the flames consume it.

Ethan stops before the hearth, then looks to his feet, where a pair of long, narrow knitting needles lie on the wood floor in a puddle of blood. His peripheral vision picks up on something outside moving quickly past a window.

Rage fills his face. Ethan pivots and dashes back out the front door, where he leaps off the porch and dashes by the ranch hand who's reigning in the horses that seem spooked. He picks up speed as he moves around the side of the house, where he sees a woman in a long gray dress, bare feet, and lengthy jet-black hair, dashing into the barn and closing the door behind her.

Ethan races to the barn but the door won't budge as he tries to open it. He viciously pulls on the handle over and over, testing the lock and hinges before finally throwing his shoulder into it, breaking it open.

He rushes inside where he stops and listens for sounds. It's cave dark- the dawn light only penetrating the first few feet of the opening.

Just as Ethan's about to move in deeper, the back end of a thick shovel swings out of the inky blackness and whacks him hard.

Blood runs down his face as he breathes his last.


Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana: Present day.

Having finally reached their destination after a long 700-mile trip, Matt Donovan turns his Chevy Tahoe into the driveway of their new home. An Allied moving van pulls in and parks behind them.

A hundred yards back is a two-story farmhouse and barn surrounded by thick groves of Maple and Hickory trees. Wildflowers are blooming and foxtail grass is growing wild on the property.

Matt and his wife Penny get out of their car to have a look at their new home.

Hopping out of the back are their two daughters, Mackenna and Alyssa.

As Mackenna enthusiastically runs ahead to the porch, Matt turns to Penny. "I've always loved the architecture of these old Victorian houses."

"Oh, Matt, I'm so happy. I just can't wait to make it into our home."

A slow-growing smile cracks across Matt's face as he pulls her into his arms to hold her close.

"It was a real godsend," Matt remarks as he releases her.

Penny looks over to the open space between the house and the barn. "I'm going to put you to work tilling up that ground for a garden."

"In due time," Matt laughs as he lets her go. "Vicki is going to come to help out as soon as she can arrange some time off," he adds. Taking Penny's hand, they ascend the porch steps and he unlocks the door.

Mackenna dashes inside. "I get first dibs on the rooms."

Alyssa looks at her dad as she enters. "Is there any wifi out here? What about TV?"

Matt glances at an amused.

"Yes, sweetheart. We'll get the television people out here to install a satellite dish. Yes, we have cellphone service and I'll talk to the internet provider tomorrow. Okay?"

"You mean I have to go without internet until tomorrow?" Alyssa blurts out with a devastated look on her face.

"We have a ton of DVDs to entertain you for a few days. Chill."

"A few days!" Her lower lip sticks out in a pronounced pout.

"You'll survive."

"Fine," she mumbles as she turns and heads up the stairs to choose a bedroom.

Penny chuckles as she watches her daughter saunter up the staircase with her shoulders slumped.

She gives Matt a quick kiss and he playfully slaps her on the ass as she heads upstairs to the master bedroom.

The house has been in his family for generations. Grateful to have inherited it from his grandfather, Matt stares at it for a brief moment before heading inside.


Matt stands in the foyer, which opens up to a hallway that runs through the middle of the house. A staircase with an ornate railing rises on one side. He can already imagine how much fun Penny and the girls will have wrapping garland around it at Christmas time. There's a kitchen to his left and the living room to his right. Their home is already a bee hive of activity and boxes are stacked everywhere.

Two burly movers carefully maneuver a wooden gun case through the front door that goes into the living room.

They make the turn as another mover follows carrying a heavy box. He stops to allow Matt to read the words scrawled across the top.

"Put that in the cellar. It's the last door on the right." Matt points to it.

The guy nods and continues on past him.

Penny stands at a counter next to a sink, unpacking several knickknacks from a box. The glass cabinets are open and already loaded with dishes.

A large oak table and chairs are set up in a nook with a hutch tucked tight against a wall opposite it. Penny peels off packing paper from some of her knick-knacks and sets them on the window ledge over the sink.

Mackenna comes in carrying the laser-cut wind spinner they purchased on a roadside stand on the drive to their new home.

"Can I hang it outside?"

"Of course. I think I saw a hook on the back porch."

Mackenna moves to a back door and makes a face. Bugs have already started to use the porch light as a gathering hub and low mist hangs over the ground.

She sees the hook her mom was talking about and carries the wind spinner over to it.

As she gets up on her tiptoes to hang it, a hiss of a voice calls her name. Mackenna slowly turns but she can't figure out where it's coming from as she scans the darkness.

"...Hello?"

Hearing no reply and more confused than scared, she hangs up the wind spinner. Just as she's about to head inside, she spots a large, mangy-looking gray cat passing by the bottom step of the porch.

"Oh, hello..."

It continues walking. She heads down the steps to catch up.

"Where'd you come from? C'mere kitty," she calls out to it as it walks around the corner of the house.

Mackenna follows but there's no cat. She looks for a place it might have ducked into but doesn't see anything.

"That's weird," she says to herself and comes back inside just as Matt enters from the hallway.

"Were you calling me?"

"No. Why?"

"I thought I heard my name...I think a stray cat lives here..." Mackenna says over her shoulder as she leaves the kitchen.

"I haven't seen any cats." Matt comes up behind Penny, who's putting the silverware neatly in the drawer. He slides his arms around her and kisses her neck.

"Careful, this may turn into something fun," she says in low voice.

"...If only I had the energy...I'm hungry. I was thinking about taking the girls and running into town to get some burgers at McDonald's. We passed one on the drive out here."

"That would be great. I'm hungry too." Penny turns and faces him. "Thank you for this."

"You're welcome. Keep that earlier thought." He winks at her as he lifts the keys from the holder and walks out the door.


As soon as the theme song starts to play, Klaus Mikaelson checks his appearance one final time before walking out from behind the curtain and into the studio.

"Hello everyone, how are you all today?" Klaus smiles as the audience stands and erupts in applause. He gives his short monologue as and then teases the audience.

For tonight's show, we're going to do a little something different." Klaus lets the words hang to raise the audience's anticipation as he walks to his desk.

"Would you all join me in welcoming Damon and Elena Salvatore," Klaus introduces them and claps with the audience as they join him on the stage. They shake hands and sit down.

"So, what are you guys? I mean, what do people call you?" Klaus asks.

Damon smiles as he answers the question. "Demonologists. Ghost hunters, paranormal researchers..."

The audience listens with rapt attention.

Elena smiles, adding, "Kooks, grifters, nut jobs, hucksters...Really, we're just Elena and Damon Salvatore."

Raucous laughter fills the studio. When the sound dies down, Klause intones.

"I suspect you've given your opinions on Amityville many times. What I would really like to ask about is Annabelle."

Elena sighs and forces a smile. "The story of the Annabelle doll began when a woman purchased an antique Raggedy Ann doll from a hobby store as a gift for her daughter. Within a few days, the doll began to move. At first, it just made slight changes in position, but the doll eventually began showing up in entirely different rooms.

Things quickly escalated. The girl and her roommate sought out a medium who told them they were dealing with the spirit of a little girl named Annabelle Higgins who was found dead at age 7. According to the psychic, she had lived on the property before it became an apartment building.

The girls had a male friend who also lived with them. He repeatedly maintained that the doll was evil.

In one instance, he believed that someone had broken into the apartment but only found the doll in one of the girl's rooms. When he turned his back, he suffered scratches that yielded several burning claw marks.

At the behest of a priest, an investigation concluded that the doll was not attached to the spirit of a little girl at all rather it was a violent demonic entity that was using the doll as a conduit. Since demons can't possess inanimate objects, this spirit had hoped to hang around long enough to possess one of the occupants of the apartment," Elena concludes and picks up her glass for a swallow of water.

"Scary just thinking about it," Klaus remarks as his eyes sweep over his audience and he asks, "Any questions?

A young man stands up when Klaus points to him. "Where's the doll now?"

"Someplace safe," Damon states firmly.

"I don't think I'll ever buy my daughter a Raggedy Ann doll," Klaus quips, adding, "we'll take a commercial break before our next guest joins us."


"We're back for more with ghost-hunting royalty, Elena, and Damon Salvatore. Now I want to introduce my next guest, Dr. Atticus Shane who says that the Salvatores have no validity."

Klaus stands to shake his hand as Damon and Elena move slide over to make room for him to sit next to their host.

"What say you, Dr. Shane?" Klaus asks.

"It has been proven that Amityville was a hoax. The Lutz family and the book's author invented it to benefit from all the publicity."

"That is not true!" Damon interrupts.

"Listen, we see it all the time. People make up these stories. Hollywood comes calling. Book sales skyrocket. It's all a farce," Shane insists.

"It is easy to say that from the outside but it's something completely different to experience it firsthand," Elena states calmly as she squeezes Damon's hand.

"I don't have to go to Devil's Tower to know there's not some alien space base there. While Mrs. Salvatore blows smoke and jingles, everyone starts to believe in those things. It's all a bunch of hocus pocus," Shane contends, looking smugly at the audience.

Elena locks eyes with Shane. "What kind of doctor are you exactly?"

"Please have some class, will you?" he looks away.

"I will not show class to someone who spreads lies about us." Damon counters.

"Be very careful when you call someone a liar!" Shane replies haughtily.

"We come on these programs to inform people. But every time I open my mouth, another one of these idiots...er academics appears to undo what we've done." Damon glares at Shane.

"Let's cut to a commercial." Klaus nods at his cameraman who pans at the audience and cuts to black.


"Please calm down." Elena looks at Damon as they walk backstage after their segment is over.

"I know, I know. I know, Elena but it's so frustrating. These people call us quacks and grifters."

"We know it's not true. The people we help know it's not true. Don't let that ignorant fool get to you."

"You're right." Damon smiles at Elena as he pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He pulls her into his arms and presses a kiss to her forehead.

They step apart when Klaus approaches.

"I came to apologize. I wanted a dissenting opinion but I didn't know Shane would be such an asshole."

"Forget about it," Damon calls over his shoulder as he and Elena leave the studio to go home.


Damon and Elena exit a door off of their kitchen. Across their well-groomed yard is a large fancy cat house where their daughter Melanie, carrying one of the kittens is with Sheila, their live-in nanny, and dear friend. They're walking out of the building with cats at their feet.

"Be careful, sweetie, you don't want to let Tux out." Sheila points at the black and white tuxedo cat.

Just as Sheila pulls the door closed, Melanie spots her parents.

"Daddy!"

"Hey there, little girl." Damon returns the greeting.

Melanie hands the kitten to Sheila and races toward her parents.

"Hi mommy!" she runs across the yard and leaps into Damon's arms, giving him a big hug.

Elena notices that she has chocolate smeared around her mouth.

"What's all over your face?"

"Ice cream bars." Her little eyes go wide. "I ate what was left!"

Sheila approaches with a smile. "Not all of them. She did give me one." She winks at Melanie.

Damon looks to Elena who's half-laughing and passes Melanie over to her, who gives her mom a big hug.

"I missed you!"

"And I missed you." Elena gives her a big squeeze and carries her into the house to wash her face.


Damon pulls a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. As he pushes it shut, he smiles at the photo of Melanie, framed with popsicle sticks and stuck on the refrigerator. Scribbled along the bottom it says, "Happy birthday, daddy".

He walks out of the kitchen and into Melanie's room to say goodnight. He enters just as Elena finishes braiding their daughter's hair.

"C'mon, let's get you into bed."

Elena stands and lifts the covers. Melanie slides in under them.

"I love you, mommy and daddy."

"We love you, too, baby girl, more than you'll ever know." Elena gives Melanie a tender kiss goodnight, then reaches over and flips off the nightlight.

"Goodnight, sweetheart. Sweet dreams," Damon kisses her forehead and snaps the door shut softly as he and Elena leave the room.


Penny's eyes snap open, awakened by what sounds like distant screams. She glances at Matt, who is sound asleep. Slipping out of bed to investigate, she walks out of the back door. Her attention is drawn to the woods directly behind the house where the sounds are much louder.

Penny about jumps out of her skin when a hand touches her shoulder. She whirls, expelling a huge sigh of relief to see Matt standing behind her.

"Whoa! I didn't mean to startle you."

Penny slowly turns back around to face the woods.

"What is that sound?"

"Tree frogs." A twinkle fills his eye as he lowers his mouth to her ear. "They're...you know..." Matt fists his hand in sexual innuendo.

She draws her brows together as she looks at him. "And you know this how?"

"I used to catch them as a kid at my uncle's place."

Penny looks back out into the night. "Sounds like some pretty rough sex."

Matt playfully pulls her into an embrace. "It takes time for city folk to get used to country living."

"I suppose you're right." she snuggles against him. "You still too tired?"

"Frogs make you horny?"

"No...you do." Her eyes darken.

As they head inside, Penny's gaze drifts back over her shoulder one more time to peer into the darkness.


Tying up her robe, Penny comes out of the bedroom, sidestepping a few boxes. The morning light streaks in through several windows, illuminating the fact that they still have so much unpacking to do.

The bathroom door opens and Alyssa sticks her head out. "Mom, the toilet doesn't flush."

"Tell your dad."

"There was this really bad smell in my bedroom last night like something died," Mackenna tells her mom as she comes down the stairs.

"Is it still there?"

"No. It was gone when I woke up."

"Then I don't see the problem."

Mackenna rolls her eyes.

Penny laughs as she digs the coffee maker out of the box and moves to the sink to fill it up with water.

She turns to see Mackenna standing at the kitchen door.

"I'm going to go outside to feed the birds." She picks up the bag of birdseed and tears out of the kitchen, dodging Matt as he enters.

"Slow down there, kiddo," he laughs and comes behind his wife to give her a morning kiss.


Mackenna comes out of the front door and walks over to the bird feeder. As she's filling it with seed, she catches a glimpse of something gray.

Thinking it's the cat she saw last evening, Mackenna comes down the last step and blanches. Her little lips start to tremble.

Several blackbirds lay scattered and dead on the ground.

Mackenna screams.


"Fear is defined as a feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. I don't care if it's a demon, a ghost, a spirit, or an entity - they all feed on it. Take Michael here..."

Damon and Elena Salvatore are on the stage standing behind a podium. An audience of close to two hundred college students is seated before them as film footage rolls on a large screen of a young boy. His eyes are black, matching his hair and his skin is pasty white. A Catholic priest standing next to him is reciting Latin in barely audible words.

"He was a young boy, a good boy yet after helping his sister and her fiance relocate to a new home, he became possessed by a demon. Evil found its home in this boy because he was the most vulnerable."

Elena pauses to take a swallow of water. "If you look into his eyes, you can see how black and lifeless they are." She highlights them with a laser pointer.

The boy suddenly screams, his body writhing as a demonic-sounding voice escapes his mouth.

The audience is watching attentively as Damon signals for the lights to be turned back on when the film reel ends.

As the house lights kick back on, Damon invites questions.

"Do you really stay busy with this schtick?" A skeptical man asks.

"We investigate roughly a hundred or so cases a year."

"Cool. How can I sign up?"

"It doesn't work that way, I'm afraid," Elena replies as Damon points to another student.

"This is some creepy shit!" the guy remarks and a subtle laugh escapes the crowd. "Do they follow you home? Aren't you afraid of possession yourself?" he asks and sits down.

"We don't get personally involved with people we're working with or what we're investigating. It makes us emotionally vulnerable which gives them a way in. And faith is very much a part of our lives."

Eager hands fly up again.

Elena points to a female student in the front row, who gets to her feet. She seems a little hesitant to speak...

"I wake up at night sometimes and it feels like I'm being watched. Have you ever dealt with anything like that before?"

"Many times," Elena confirms. "Does it scare you?"

"Yeah, it's unnerving, to say the least," the girl replies.

"Unnerved is normal, do you feel threatened?" Elena prods.

"...Not really. It's just a weird feeling."

"Come here for a sec." Elena summons her and moves to the edge of the stage, joining the girl. "Give me your hands."

The girl complies and Elena takes hold, then closes her eyes for several moments. "The bed you sleep in belonged to someone close to you. Am I right?"

She bobs her head. "How did you know that?"

"And you were very close before she died."

"My aunt, she raised me."

Elena opens her eyes and looks directly into the young woman's. "It's her."

The girl's eyes well up with tears as she tries to contain her emotions.

"You need to let her know that you're okay so she can move on. She still worries about you."

"How do I do that?" the girl asks.

With a gentle smile, Elena squeezes her hands. "Next time you have that feeling. Tell her," Elena explains as she releases her hands.

"Thank you." the woman nods and sits back down.

Damon points to another male student in the front row.

"I'd love to know what scares you the most?"

Damon smirks and glances at Elena as he answers.

"Being married to a clairvoyant. There's not a whole lot I can get away with."


"So, what sounds good for supper?" Damon turns to Elena as he puts the equipment into the trunk of their vehicle.

"How about KFC? Fried chicken sounds good and it's Melanie's favorite."

"We better get extra mashed potatoes," Damon quips as he opens the door for Elena, and pushes it closed after she slides in.

Once behind the wheel, Damon shifts into drive and turns the Camaro onto the highway.


Penny yawns as she carries a basket of folded laundry under her arm and heads down the hallway toward her room at the end of it.

She stops at the closed bathroom door at the sound of her oldest daughter's voice.

"... School sucks, there are no cute guys here and there's so many fucking bugs."

Penny sighs as she opens the door to see Alyssa standing in front of a mirror, phone to her ear, comparing two different shades of eye shadow.

"Which one do you like best?" Alyssa asks as she turns to look at her mom.

"The copper shade makes your green eyes pop."

"Mom thinks I should go with cooper," she tells her friend on the phone.

"Bed. Five minutes." Penny holds up her hand with her fingers spread before snapping the door closed.


With her bedside lamp casting a nice light, Mackenna is snuggled in her bed reading a book.

Her body tightens as she catches a quick glimpse of something furry jumping onto her bed. She slowly lowers her book to get a better look and finds the cat she saw earlier standing at the foot of her bed. It's looking right at her.

"How'd you get in here?" she asks. As she sits upright, the cat scurries off the bed and out of her room into the hallway.

Mackenna scrambles out from under the covers and quickly follows. She looks out her door in time to see the cat slip into Allysa's room just down the hall.

As Mackenna moves to her sister's room, she can hear her still talking on the phone in the bathroom. Her mom is folding clothes on the bed in the master bedroom at the end, unaware of her presence.

Mackenna stands in the doorway looking to see where the cat went. Scattered clothes litter the floor. The bed's unmade. She can't see the cat anywhere, then she hears it hissing from under the bed.

"What's wrong, kitty?" She kneels and as she looks underneath, her eyes fall on her rag doll, seemingly staring at her. It raises goosebumps on her arms. Mackenna hears the hissing again but she still doesn't see the cat as her vision is obscured by other dolls stuffed under the bed.

She reaches in and moves a couple aside and finally sees the cat, but her breath gets caught in her throat. Its eyes look wild, almost demonic as it stares at something that's seemingly right behind her. She snaps a look back over her shoulder, but nothing's there.

The cat suddenly bolts right past her - startling Mackenna, who instinctively recoils. She watches the cat slip through a partially opened closet door into the darkness beyond.

As she gets to her feet, Penny appears in the doorway.

"What are you doing in your sister's room? You're supposed to be asleep."

"I saw that cat again, it went into the closet." Mackenna heads to it.

A very curious Penny flips a light switch on the wall as she enters. "Really...?"

She joins Mackenna in the closet. Penny opens the door wider and pulls the overhead light string, filling the large walk-in closet with bright light. There's an array of clothes and shoes, but they find no cat.

Penny turns to Mackenna. "You sure?"

"Yeah, I swear." the young girl crosses her heart.

"It's not here now. It probably just slipped out and we missed it."

Mackenna drops to her knees again to look under Alyssa's bed again. "I know what I saw."

"C'mon, let's get you back into bed. I'll look for it." Penny nudges her daughter out of her sister's room and pulls the door closed behind them.

"When is daddy coming home?" Mackenna asks as she crawls into bed.

"He said he's going to try to make it home tonight." Penny begins to tuck her in.

"How come he's gone so much?"

"He lost his job when we moved here, sweetie, so he's doing construction for anyone who's hiring right now. We have bills to pay."

"Well, bills suck."

Penny smiles. "They sure do."

"Will you lay by me for a little bit?"

"Sure," she slides in next to her daughter and closes her eyes.


Sometime later, Penny, who's fallen asleep next to Mackenna, awakens to a distant scratching noise. She listens for a few beats before climbing out of bed to investigate.

The sound is coming from downstairs. She walks by several pictures of Alyssa and Mackenna hanging on the wall as she heads toward the staircase. Suddenly the noise turns violent like nails dragging across the wood.

Cautiously, she heads downstairs as the scratching continues. She comes off the bottom step and guardedly moves down the hallway to the cellar door.

Just as she's about to lay her hand on the doorknob, the noise abruptly stops and the house gets church quiet. She listens intently, torn on what to do. Penny retreats momentarily to the kitchen and comes out a few seconds later brandishing a flashlight.

Slowly she drops to her hands and knees, targeting a one-inch gap between the bottom of the door and the floor with the flashlight. The beam instantly reflects off two eyes boring right back at her from within the dark recess.

There's nothing human or animal about them.

Penny recoils in a frenzy of motion. She scrambles back to the kitchen door where she grabs a rubber wedge and ushers it back to the cellar door and slams it into the gap.

"What's going on?"

Penny spins and sees her daughters staring down at her from the top of the stairs.

"Stay up there," she yells at them, fear in her eyes.


Matt heads down his driveway. His headlights capture Penny staring out the living room window, looking terrified and anxious. She runs out to meet him and after she explains what's been happening, he runs to the gun case and quickly loads ammo in a handgun.

He comes out of the living room wielding the weapon.

Penny and the girls watch him from the top of the stairs as he heads for the cellar door, which has a chair propped under the handle as well as the door wedge.

"Be careful, Matt."

He removes the chair and wedge and slowly opens the door.

Penny gasps at the deep scratch marks that crisscross the back of it.

Matt stands still for a moment before heading down the wooden stairs that seem to get lost in the darkness. As he inches down the steps cautiously, he flips a nearby wall switch, washing the cellar in dull, yellow light.

Matt reaches the bottom step with his gun cocked as he peruses the shelves of canned goods, stacked moving boxes, and old furniture.

He moves toward two wardrobe boxes, both big enough for something or someone to hide behind. The knuckle on his trigger finger whitens from pressure. He kicks one of the boxes over and finds nothing.

Matt looks behind the other but finds it empty, too.

He comes up the stairs, closes the door behind him, and looks at Penny and the girls.

"There's nothing down there. The scratches were probably already on the door and your light was playing tricks on you; maybe it reflected off the railing or something."

"I know what I saw Matt, and I know what I heard."

"Then I don't know what to tell you. Nothing's down there."

Mackenna's nervously chewing on her fingernails. "Maybe it was the cat."

"This house gives me the creeps, we never should've moved here. I want to go back to Texas." Allysa folds into her mother's arms.

"I'm scared, mommy." Mackenna presses against Penny.

"Stop, both of you. There's nothing down there. Now it's late and you have school in the morning. Just go to bed." Matt points to their rooms.

"Yes, daddy." The girls walk away leaving Penny standing there.

Matt's attention shifts to her and he shakes his head.

"You think I imagined this or made it up?"

"I think moving here has been a big adjustment for all of us. Maybe too big." He says as he puts his gun back in the case and locks it up.


Dark rain clouds threaten and the sky is an ominous gray color.

Mackenna and Alyssa scramble to help their mom take down some bath towels from the clothesline before it starts to rain.

Penny sends the girls to fold the towels while she looks for Matt and finds him in the kitchen talking to his boss.

"I'll take it," he says as he hangs up his cell phone. "I'll be gone for a few days to Alabama and Mississippi," Matt tells her as he walks away.


Mackenna is in bed, sound asleep. Pouring rain pelts against her window. Her eyes abruptly snap open and she finds herself facing the grey cat perched on the foot of her bed. Its ears are drawn back as it hisses through exposed fangs. Ready for a fight, its eyes slowly track something moving just behind her.

Mackenna's peripheral vision suddenly picks up the outline of two hands folding her pillow up on the sides and closing in on her face.

The cat hisses and leaps to the floor.

Penny and Matt are rattled from a dead sleep by Mackenna's blood-curdling scream.

They both scramble out of bed to get to her. Matt reaches the doorway first. He Looks in to see the bed's empty. His eyes shift looking for his girl, but areas of the room are swallowed in darkness.

"Mackenna?"

Penny nearly runs into him as he stops to hit the light switch revealing their daughter who's curled in a corner and hyperventilating with fear. Tears are flowing as she stares at her bed.

Matt stoops down in front of her. "Did you have a nightmare?"

She shakes her head no before launching herself into his arms.

"Let's go back to bed. It was just a bad dream." Penny starts to pull back the covers but she refuses to let go of Matt, clinging to him as if he's a life preserver.

Sharing a look with his wife, he carries her into their room and lays her down on his side of the bed.

Picking up a throw blanket, Matt walks out of the room with Penny on his heels.

He's pissed as he faces her just outside their bedroom "Creatures peering in through windows, cold spots, doors rattling, voices, noxious smells. The girls were fine until you started putting all this scared, city-girl bullshit in their heads."

"This isn't my fault. There's something wrong with this place," she grits back, angry herself.

"Then how come I haven't seen any of it?"

"I don't know! I'm scared to death, Matt. We need to get someone out here, a priest or someone to come out here."

"To do what?" he snaps back, his hands on his hips.

"I have no idea. Bless it, I guess."

"That's just what the girls need to see next - someone walking around here with a cross damning everything out of this house." Matt shakes his head. "I can't listen to any more of this shit," he grumbles and heads downstairs.

"Matt, please?" Penny pleads but he doesn't turn around. Frustrated, she hits off the light switch and crawls into bed with Mackenna.


Matt's asleep on one of two sofas that face each other in front of the fireplace. There's a coffee table between the sofas with a half-empty bottle of scotch.

Awakening abruptly, Matt sits up and rubs his groggy eyes before reaching for the remote. Just as he turns off the TV, he hears the low creaking sound of a door opening. He heads into the hallway to investigate.

As Matt comes into the kitchen, he notices the door is ajar. As he moves toward it, it starts to bang against the door jam in bursts of three.

Matt's mind is racing. "What the actual hell?"

The banging stops the minute he gets to the door. The house falls into an awful silence. He opens the kitchen door to look outside. A night light cascading from a socket next to the sink kicks out enough glow to see that no one's out there.

A soft breeze coming in through the kitchen window caresses the curtains.

Rolling his eyes at himself, he locks the door and returns to the couch to go back to sleep.


Damon pulls his car into the driveway and rolls to a stop before entering the garage to avoid crushing the blue bicycle parked on its side, blocking the entrance.

"Melanie..." He mutters under his breath as he shakes his head and closes the car door behind him.

"Daddy! You're home!" Melanie flies out the front door, her long curls bobbing with each bouncing step. She launches herself at Damon, and he catches her in midair and sweeps her into his arms.

He rests his forehead against hers and she wraps her arms around his neck.

"Did you bring me anything?"

"Why would you think I'd bring you anything?"

She smiles widely, revealing the dimple in her cheeks as her bright blue eyes sparkle with laughter. "Daddy." She begins to reach into his jacket pockets. "You always bring me something."

"I brought you M&Ms but you don't get them until after supper."

"Are they the tiny ones?"

Damon nods. He looks around for Elena as he carries his daughter up the front sidewalk. "Where's mommy?"

"Mommy's in the kitchen," she tells him just as Elena appears wiping off her hands with a paper towel.

Damon approaches and presses a quick kiss to her lips.

"Someone left their bicycle laying in the driveway..." He looks down at Melanie.

"Daddy, I didn't leave it there." She shakes her head back and forth slowly.

"Sure you didn't." Damon winks at Elena.

"It's time for dinner. Go wash your hands," Elena tells Melanie.

Melanie's eyes widen as she scurries out of Damon's arms. "Mommy made spaghetti," she squeals and runs into the kitchen.

"Shall we?"

"Yes, but first this..." Damon lowers his chin and his lips sink down on hers. He kisses her. Soft and slow, deepening it as he pulls her flush against him.

"Are you coming? I'm hungry," comes Melanie's squeal.

An amused smile twists the corner of Damon's mouth as he follows Elena into the kitchen.


Penny pokes her head into her oldest daughter's room to say goodnight.

"How's the homework going?"

"Okay, I guess." Alyssa raises her eyes at her mother.

"Mackenna and I are going to bed."

"I'll be in, in a little bit," she replies as Penny ducks out of her room.

A half-hour later, Alyssa finishes her homework. As she collects her things and puts them in her backpack, her bedroom door begins to make a soft, repetitive bang bang bang noise like something's pushing against it from the other side.

"Mom?" she asks softly but gets no response.

Keeping her eyes on the door, Alyssa slides off of the bed and moves toward it as the banging continues, the soft impact barely rattling the door. She hits the brakes when she sees a shadow of something appear in the gap between the base of the door and the floor.

Alyssa digs deep for courage, then continues toward it. She's a foot away and the banging suddenly stops. She waits in silence, listening.

The door slowly opens on its own. Alyssa takes a cautionary step backward, but nothing's there. She takes reluctant steps up to the door jamb and cranes her head in both directions in the hallway for a look. All clear. She sees that her mom's door is open a couple of inches.

Two steps into the hallway, she pauses momentarily reacting to a foul smell. She then moves forward, and as she's about to enter her mom's room, she stops mid-stride and her face goes taut.

Standing next to the bed is a woman with dark matted hair, and white skin, her body awkwardly hunched forward over her mom and sister, who are sleeping, completely unaware of her presence.

The woman slowly cranes her head toward Alyssa. She stares at her with pupil-less, snow-white eyes. She suddenly surges toward her lightning fast, passing right through her body, and vanishes at the sound of Alyssa's blood-curdling scream.


After dropping her daughters off at school, Penny drives to the local Catholic church. It's a simple white structure with a steeple and pretty stained glass windows.

A young priest is outside walking an older woman to her vehicle.

"Excuse me, Father?"

He looks over to see Penny approaching. He raises a hand to wave goodbye to his parishioner before giving Penny his full attention.

"I'm Father Thomas. Come sit down with me," he states, noticing the distressed look on the woman's face.

He leads her into the rectory's kitchen and starts a pot of coffee. He hands her a cup and sits down at the table with her.

Penny tells him everything she knows and her hands are shaking when she picks up her cup to take a swallow.

"It sounds to me that it's far beyond just needing a blessing," the priest remarks, looking at her intensely.

"Let me make a call to the Diocese to see if we can get someone to help that's a little more qualified in these matters."

Penny breathes a slight sigh of relief as she utters, "Thank you."


"...Hello?" Damon states, answering the phone.

"Mr. Salvatore, I have Monsignor Rodenbur calling for you"

"Sure, put him on."


Elena is sitting at an outdoor table and has a cup of coffee in hand. Damon sits opposite her. Melanie is outside too, playing on the swing set.

"I wish you had discussed this with me. We're a couple, Damon, that's what couples do."

"I'm sorry and you're right, Elena, I should have talked it over with you before agreeing to help. It sounds like this family really needs us."

Elena lets her eyes drift to Melanie.

"We were in North Carolina last week, New York the week before..."

Damon looks at her. He knows her too well. "Talk to me, Elena. What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?"

Elena pauses as she runs her fingertip along the rim of the coffee cup. "We talked about trying for another child, Damon. We can't do that if we're constantly running all over the place."

"I know you're tired and yes, I'd like nothing more than to have another little Salvatore running around, but from what the Monsignor said, this family really is at wit's end."

"There's always going to be another case, Damon." Elena casts her eyes at their daughter.

"Tell you what, let's check this one out, and then we'll take as long a break as you want with no exceptions. I think a vacation would do us both good. And afterward, if you still feel this way, I'll look into another line of work."

Elena's eyes lock with his. "Pinkie swear." She holds her up.

"God, I love you," he states as he presses his lips to hers.


Damon and Elena ride in silence along a lonely two-lane stretch of road through the rural countryside. He turns and heads down a gravel strip of road that winds its way through the trees to a mailbox where they turn onto the driveway.

Although it's dark and cloudy, scattered moonlight casts an eerie glow over the farmhouse.

Lights on the inside of the house splinter out through several windows. Damon pulls up and parks alongside another car.

Elena suddenly stops cold. Her smile vanishes. She stands still and slowly scans over the property.

Damon pops the trunk to retrieve their gear from the trunk and closes it.

He steps beside Elena who shows him her goosebump-covered arms.

"I guess we're in the right place," Damon states, looking at her arms.

The two of them head up the walkway. Just as they round a slight turn, Elena stops suddenly.

A large wolf leaps at her. Its teeth are barred as it snarls viciously. His jaws snap as it strains against the chain, which is tethered to a metal post driven in the grass.

Damon looks at Elena. "You're getting something?"

"Um-hum." Elena nods as they walk up the porch steps and the door swings open.

"Penny Donovan?"

"Mr. Salvatore?"

Damon nods. "This is my wife, Elena."

"We're so grateful you're here. Please come in." She steps aside to let them pass. "These are my daughters, Mackenna and Alyssa."

Penny shows them around the house. "In the last few nights, it's gotten even worse."

"And these apparitions, do any of them have a smell?"

"The one I saw. It was horrible, like the worst fart you can smell."

Damon glances at Elena.

"What? What is it? Please," Penny pleads, desperation visible in her eyes.

"It usually indicates some kind of demonic activity," Damon explains.

An elevated wave of fear washes over Penny and the girls.

Damon's eyes drift to a set of double doors that line the hallway. He's curious about the pieces of rope wrapped around the knobs.

"Matt, my husband rigged that up to placate me. It keeps them from banging at night."

"Does it come in threes; like bang, bang, bang?"

Penny nods. "Is that significant?"

"It's an insult to the Trinity," Damon explains. "It stops at dawn?" he continues questioning her.

"Always." Penny sucks her lower lip between her teeth.

"Do you have a dog or a dog-wolf hybrid?" Elena asks, her eyes searching.

"Matt and I have talked about getting a dog for protection but we don't have one now."

Elena notices the cellar door that's blocked shut by a chair wedged against the knob and starts toward it.

"Again, Matt did that to mollify me. I don't go down there anymore."

"Why?" Damon asks.

"Because there's something in there that keeps scratching from the other side."

Elena pulls the chair free and opens the door, revealing deep violent-looking scratches. She hits the switch on the wall and heads down the stairs. As she steps off the bottom step, she's hit with a bombardment of fast hard-hitting, unsettling images.

The cement floor is flowing with blood. Shadowed individuals chant to a glowing pentagram. The scene abruptly changes at the flash of a gun's muzzle illuminating the face of a heavy-set man as he pulls the trigger with its barrel pressed to his temple.

Damon comes off the stairs and joins her.

Elena is sickened and shakes her head in disgust at what's happened in this cellar.

"This is bad, Damon."


Damon lags behind as Elena follows Penny and the girls into the living room.

"When did you move in?" he asks as he looks things over.

"About five months ago. This home has been in my husband's family for generations. I believe it was built in the 1850s. We were having trouble making ends meet and when he received word of this inheritance, we packed up and moved."

Elena's eyes drift over to the fireplace where she's hit with another image of blood dripping from the mantle.

"Was someone hurt here?" Elena asks, her eyes locking on Penny.

"The only person I'm aware of was one of my husband's ancestors. A great, great, great uncle or something like that was murdered in the barn. He was beaten with a shovel." Penny looks at Elena fearfully.

"And your husband hasn't seen any of this?"

Penny shakes her head. "No, these things only seem to happen when he's gone. He thinks I'm losing my damn mind."

"He's not being shown anything on purpose," Damon explains. "It creates friction in the relationship, negative energy for whatever you have here to feed on."

"Well, it's working."


While Damon goes into the kitchen to chat with Penny, Elena exits the house.

She pauses on the landing for a moment. Looking around, she notices the scarecrow now standing in the empty garden, worn and weathered, looking like someone crucified with its arms spread out.

Her eyes move to the barn, shadowed in the dark like some ill-boding beast. She steps off the porch. Halfway across the yard, she stops. Sensing something, Elena's gaze shifts just beyond the building, where a restless breeze has the entire landscape in motion. Determined, she continues on to the barn.

Elena opens the door and looks in. Sabers of moonlight pierce in through gaps in the tired, dilapidated wood siding, then she's hit with an image of Ethan Maxwell on the ground, his blood face smashed in.

Stepping inside, Elena continues several feet in. She stops to take in her environment. There are six abandoned horse stalls tucked along one side and a ladder leading up to the loft on the other.

As she turns to leave, she hears a creaking sound and looks to the rafters where a noose is hanging taut and swaying. It's almost as if an invisible body is swinging back and forth.

"There you are."

Elena's eyes snap to Damon standing in the doorway.

"Let's go." she takes his hand and together they had back to the house.


Penny refills their coffee cups and sits back down with Damon and Elena.

"When these things invade a home, it's quite possible that something has invited them here, or conjured them up somehow. I've asked the girls, but we need to know...have either you or your husband ever practiced any kind of Satanic worship or the occult?" Elena asks as she looks into the woman's eyes.

Penny pales, appalled at the notion. "My God, no!" she states adamantly.

"Please don't be offended," Damon remarks. "We have to ask. People dabble, and think it's fun to play with Ouija boards. Sometimes they invoke things up in a seance and then can't get rid of them. It happens more often than you know."

"Do you know any more of the history of this house?" Elena asks, taking a swallow of her coffee.

"No, all I know is what I already told you."

Elena takes Penny's hands and gives them a squeeze. "This house obviously has to be exorcised, but to do that, we need the church to authorize a priest to perform one."

"If that's what it takes to give us some peace, I'm all for it."

"It's a little more complicated than that. We have to provide proof that what you're claiming is in fact real. And that can be hard because things don't always happen when we need them to," Damon tells her.

"So...if you don't get evidence?"

"Then we don't have the church," Damon adds, sharing a brief glance with Elena.

Penny floods with emotion. "It's all too much."

Elena pulls her into an embrace. "This is your house. Damon and I are going to do everything we can to keep it that way. Okay?"

Penny wipes away a tear as she croaks out, "Thank you."


Elena's sitting on the edge of a queen-size bed in their motel room with her cell phone at her ear. She makes eye contact with Damon, who enters from outside, carrying a small suitcase.

"Well, that's very nice of Sheila... seeing as it's so far past your bedtime and you have school tomorrow."

Damon places their suitcase on a dresser.

"Yes honey, daddy's right here. I love you too." She holds out the phone for Damon, who takes a seat next to her.

"Hi, little girl, why are you up so late?" Damon asks, winking at Elena as she gets up and retreats into the bathroom.

"Oh, cartoons," he laughs. "We'll talk to you tomorrow. I love you, sweetheart. Goodnight." Damon tosses the phone on the mattress and starts stripping out of his clothes to join Elena in the tub.


Elena's soaking in the tub filled with sparkling bubbles.

There is barely a ripple on the water's surface as he gets into the tub. He slides one arm around Elena's waist and shifts her so that her back is to one edge of the tub and she is stretched out across his lap. Her feet float out in front of her and her back is pressed to Damon's chest.

"Close your eyes," he says softly

Elena complies. At first, all she hears is the sound of her own breathing and all she feels is the water's edge licking at her skin.

Damon lifts her hair over his shoulder so that her head is tucked into the curve of his neck and he has ideal access to hers. He braces his arms on either side of her but lets one hand trail down between her legs.

Elena squirms against him. "Stop teasing."

Damon chuckles in her ear.

"Patience is a virtue." he winks at her as he slips a finger inside her.

She clamps down on it hard – and begins massaging her clit with his thumb. Elena finds herself digging her nails into his thighs as her hips surge upwards and into his touch, seeking more of everything he's giving her.

Damon is careful to pace the build of her climax; one finger becomes two becomes three. Gradually he replaces his fingers with the tip of his erection. The very instant he penetrates her warmth, he moans aloud and shudders.

"Holy," he gasps in fevered pleasure and pushes forward a bit, filling her body in painstaking inches. He groans as she consumes his length as he pushes deeper inside her, higher, harder.

Feeling him expand within her and the heat that comes with the surge, Elena emits a guttural groan from deep in her throat. "Damon…"

She opens her thighs as wide as she can within the confines of the tub as he begins to rock inside her.

Damon holds her hips against him as he surges inside her again and again. His breath comes in shallow grunts of pleasure.

'"Damon…please…" Elena pleads, lifting her hips urgently to meet each demanding thrust.

Before long, the wave begins to build within her. Her muscles flex and contract around his rigid length.

Seconds later they come apart, crashing, gasping, and groaning in the aftermath.

Damon continues to pump inside Elena in shallow forays, riding out the last trembling tendrils of his climax before dropping his head back against the tub and withdrawing from her body.

They lay quietly together until they find the wherewithal to dry off and go to bed.


Once they're back at the Donovan home and have their equipment set up, they prepare for a long night. Elena's standing by the window staring at the full moon. A loud thud captures her attention. Peering through the darkness, she catches a glimpse of something flopping on the ground by the barn, raising dust.

Damon walks into the room carrying a cup of steaming coffee for each of them.

"Keep your eyes on the monitors. I'll be right back. Elena heads out of the room.

Once outside, she walks toward the flopping movement, which seems to be slowing with each step she takes. As she gets to it, the sound stops. She frowns at the site of an enormous raven, its neck broken and eyes wide open.

A compassionate look sweeps over Elena's face until she hears a distant blend of voices. She follows them to the back of the barn, where through a thick wall of trees and shrubs, she can barely make out an old, beaten pathway. The voices begin to grow in volume as Elena walks deeper into the growth, fighting her way through overgrown branches, following what's left of the pathway.

She comes out into a small clearing to see where the voices are coming from.

Before her, surrounded by a crumbling stone wall and completely overgrown with weeds, is an old cemetery with maybe thirty tombstones within; some broken, some toppled, some incredibly worn. The voices seem to be coming from somewhere on the other side.

She moves into it. A wind begins to tumble pieces of foliage across the ground, then one tombstone catches her attention - the name reads Ethan Maxwell. She moves up to it as the voices get louder and louder - it's almost deafening. Abruptly they stop and an awful silence takes their place. It becomes unnerving as Elena senses something, a presence, very close.

She scans the surrounding trees, but everything beyond is swallowed in the shadows of the night. Elena keeps staring, knowing something is just beyond. After a moment, she turns around to Ethan's grave.

Something's protruding slightly from the ground before it. It's a man's hand, half covered with dirt and leaves; the skin is white and full of grime.

More leaves blow away, revealing more of the barely buried remains.

Elena inches closer. Matted hair clings to the porcelain white skin on the side of his face. The head is turned sideways. As Elena moves around to get a better view, the color drains out of her face.

Damon.

The exposed white skin begins to grey, and continues to darken and becomes ash-like allowing the breeze to blow every part of him away.

Panic invades Elena's body as a slow realization overwhelms her. She takes off running back the way she came.

Trees branches claw at Elena's clothes as she retraces her steps in a wild scramble to get back. She can see the barn ahead. She blows out the overgrowth and continues her sprint past the barn and to the house, barely slowing to whip open the front door.

As she dashes into the house and heads to the kitchen, Damon looks at her from the living room, confused by her frenzy of motion.

Elena comes running into the kitchen. Her chest is heaving as she struggles to take a breath.

"What is it?" Damon asks.

She raises her hand for him to give her a second.

"Elena, you're scaring me."

"I saw you, out there... dead." She looks to Damon, troubled. Tears trail furiously down her cheeks.

"I'm not. I'm right here." Damon pulls her into an embrace, holding her as close as he possibly can as he kisses her hair and soothes her fears.


Sometime later after Elena has regained her composure, she sits down with Penny.

Penny smiles. "You know, when things get quiet like now I can imagine how all this must look from your end."

"I discovered I was clairvoyant at a young age. However, parapsychology isn't something you can master in. There are no certificates of graduation, and no license to practice. I'm a professional psychologist who spends too much time engaged in this ghostly business."

"I wish this wasn't happening. We're not church-goers but we're good people."

"I know, Penny. There are so many things that are beyond our power to comprehend. Sometimes I imagine being the first human stepping out of the forest, seeing the moon for the first time, and throwing rocks at it."

"If I die will I come back as a ghost?" Mackenna asks as she snuggles against her mom.

Elena smiles at the young girl. "Some people believe that when you die your soul goes to heaven."

"When Grandma Donovan died, I looked at her on the hospital bed, but nothing came out of her."

"Some people believe that when you die there is a wonderful light. As bright as the sun but it doesn't hurt to look into it. All the answers to all the questions you want to know are inside that light. And when you walk into it... you become a part of it forever. And some people who die, but they don't know they're gone."

"So the people doing this still think they're alive?"

Elena nods. "They might. Maybe they didn't want to die. Maybe they weren't ready. Maybe they hadn't begun to live yet or lived a long, long time anyway, but wanted more life. They resist going into the light no matter how hard the light wants them. They hang around, watch TV, and watch their friends grow up, feeling unhappy or jealous and those feelings are bad, they hurt. And then some people just get lost on the way to the light. They need someone to lead them there."

"So some people get angry and throw things around like in my bedroom to scare me?"

"Yes. Just like in school. There are people who are nice and people who are mean."

"I never got beat up but a girl took my lunch money once," Mackenna tells her with a yawn.

"Let's get some shut-eye." Penny nods at the mattress on the floor and covers her up.

"Goodnight, Mrs. Salvatore." Mackenna puts her head down on the pillow and snuggles next to Alyssa who's already asleep.

Elena and Penny share a warm look as her eyes drop closed.


Damon is concentrating on his work, having set up cameras to get the proof they need.

Slowly, the equipment comes alive. With Bohemian Rhapsody leaking from his headphones, Damon is too involved with the music and the book on his lap to notice the glow at the top of the stairs nor the beginning of its descent.

Elena enters the room, her eyes riveted to the staircase. She feels in the dark until her hand touches Damon's head.

He turns around to see who's behind him and shines his flashlight up into Elena's face.

Damon looks immediately in that direction. The crawling mass resembles a giant hand with long, searching fingers, flowing down the stairs and heading right for them.

He stands and backs away two steps. The air in the room is suddenly thin and electrostatically charged.

"It's manifesting! Look at the scope," Damon points at it without taking his eyes off of the apparition.

"Temperature's dropping," Elena adds as folds her arms over her chest.

The smoking fingertips suddenly rise straight up into the air like sky-writhing. Another tentacle of ectoplasm seems to come forward. It's larger and thicker than the rest and still growing, it studies the equipment as it waltzes above and hovers curiously close before retracting suddenly like a King Cobra.

Ectoplasmic mist wanders aimlessly, passing under tables, chairs, and circling lamps.

"Have you experienced this before?" Elena asks Penny who's transfixed.

She shakes her head back and forth, her eyes staring unblinkingly.

Suddenly every lightbulb in the room comes on and just as abruptly everything goes dark and the room grows very quiet.

Elena breaks the silence.

"Roll it back, Damon."

He hits the rewind switch on the data recorder. "Yes. Yes... we got it!

They see the empty hallway and staircase in black and white on one screen. On the other is a spectroscopic breakdown of color patterns in infrared.

The picture on the screen becomes grainy and smoky. A bright glowing substance begins to form into tendrils that move down the stairs and very close to the cameras.

The smoky substance twists and melts and forms what appears to be the shape of a man's back. The shape moves in front of the camera and what could be an old man looking over his shoulder with a suspicious expression and then walking past a little girl holding a ball. She wanders through the living room as if lost. Suddenly, the living room is filled with manifestations. Four men in burlap-type coats, floppy hats, denim, and boots face away from the cameras, and a woman dressed in the style of the 1800's moves through the room, tears on her face - people of all ages and descriptions wander aimlessly, lost and sad through the living room.

None of the manifestations makes contact with any other. They don't even seem to be aware that others exist. An old woman glances at the cameras disinterestedly and a young boy moves toward the camera and evaporates.

The screen suddenly becomes black, filled with two glowing beams - they are the eyes of something scary. It is the face of pure chaotic horror. A vision of madness and murder.

Penny covers her eyes and screams. "That thing is in my house!?"

"My God, Damon, there are dozens...it makes sense, though, with that old graveyard out beyond the barn." Elena discloses as she embraces Penny to soothe her.

Damon takes out the two tapes and puts them into his briefcase.

"This evidence should convince the Church."


St Louis Cathedral: New Orleans.

Damon parks the Camaro in front of the very large, impressive stone structure with peaked roofs and stained glass. As he and Elena get out of the car, they hear the soft, angelic voices of a young boy emanating from the open front doors of the Cathedral.

With Damon clutching Elena's hand, they walk inside. They are dwarfed by the massive size of the Cathedral. The center aisle splits through numerous rows of pews. Up front, a choir director stands off to the side during a rehearsal, as a young boy sings his heart out. An all-boys choir stands silent behind them.

Damon dips his fingertips into a bowl sculpted from marble, full of Holy water. Says a silent prayer, then crosses himself. Elena does the same. As they look up, they're approached by one of the priests who greets them with a warm smile.

"I've been expecting you. Monsignor Rodenbur gave me a call. I'm Father Vincent. Let's see what you've got."

"Thank you for seeing us," Elena shakes his hand.

"I've never seen this beautiful church before," she marvels at the stained glass windows and gorgeous architecture.

"Thank you, Mrs. Salvatore. The Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States. It is dedicated to Saint Louis, also known as King Louis IX of France. The first church on the site was built in 1718; the third, under Spanish rule, was built in 1789 and raised to cathedral rank in 1793. The second cathedral burned during the great fire of 1788. It was largely rebuilt and completed in the 1850s, with little of the 1789 structure remaining."

"It's incredible," Damon adds as he and Elena follow Father Vincent as he gives them a short tour before taking them into the rectory.


Damon and Elena are sitting down with Father Vincent.

Thick curtains are pulled across a paned window. Father Vincent turns off a projector next to him that's been throwing the sequence onto a screen set up against a wall.

They look to the man for his response.

He seems a little stunned.

"You weren't kidding. Please wait here, I'll get this to the Archbishop right away." He rises to his feet and hurries out of the office.


Damon and Elena walk right into the Archbishop's office, who's in the middle of speaking with Father Vincent. Both look up when they're shown into the room.

"I want to know what the hell's going on here," the older man demands.

"Damon and Elena, this is the Archbishop."

They shake hands and he tells them to take a seat."

"I don't want to sit down. An exorcism needs to be performed as soon as possible. The Donovan family lives in fear for their lives."

"Is there a problem?" Elena asks at the uneasy look on their faces.

Father Vincent takes a beat - what he's about to say doesn't look easy.

"The church is refusing to grant one."

Damon looks like he's been sucker punched but it quickly morphs into anger.

"The family aren't parishioners."

"So what?" Elena fumes.

"Believe me, we've tried, but the Vatican is worried about public opinion if they were to step outside the boundaries of the church," the Archbishop explains.

"Tell the Vatican no one gives a shit. This family needs help. Now!" Damon counters, his hand in a white-knuckle fist at his side.

"Please understand, my hands are tied on this matter. I feel horrible about this."

Damon is dumbfounded. "So you're going to do nothing? This is unbelievable," he adds as he storms out of the office with Elena on his heels.


A bitter Damon and Elena walk out of the church with Father Vincent.

"We're just going to have to find someone else." Damon levels his stare at the priest.

"You're not going to get anyone to go against the church, Damon."

"I'm appalled," Elena shakes her head in frustration and starts toward the Camaro.

Father Vincent reaches out to Damon and Elena, stopping them. As their eyes meet, there's an intensity to his gaze.

"You've both witnessed it done dozens of times."

Damon looks at him like he's out of his mind.

"That doesn't make us qualified," Damon counters.

"But your strength and knowledge of the scriptures can," Father Vincent contends.

"Father, Vincent, we've seen it go horribly wrong, even with a Priest." Elena locks her stare on him.

"I believe our Lord recognizes faith far more than he does training and education, or politics for that matter. This family doesn't have a choice, but you do - and, you have God on your side. If you want to help them, then help them."

Damon looks at Elena, both their minds a whirl of limited options.


Elena is uncharacteristically silent as they drive back to Derry, Louisiana.

Damon exits into a rest area and turns off the car.

"Talk to me, Elena," Damon asks as their eyes meet.

"You - You're not a priest. You can't do this."

"Well, you got a better idea?" Damon asks in frustration.

"Damon, I can't lose you. And what about Melanie?" Elena's eyes fill with tears.

"I know you're scared. I am, too." Damon pauses to take a breath. "We can't abandon these people. You know that."

"You can't. I won't let you."

"We were brought us together for a reason, this is it. I need you, Elena, I can't do this alone."

"I love you too much to abandon you, Damon, but know you're doing this against my wishes."

"We have no other choice if the Church won't help us," Damon states as he starts the car and pulls back onto the highway.


Mackenna and Alyssa get off the school bus and approach their home.

It's inexplicably quiet so they walk up to the front door with caution in their steps. A chill chews on their spines. Alyssa takes Mackenna by the hand and reluctantly heads toward the porch. They walk slowly step after slow step.

"Look," Mackenna points to a car parked near the barn.

"That's Aunt Vicki's car." Alyssa comments, looking at her sister confused. Just as she reaches for the doorknob, the door swings open. Vicki is standing before them. Her dirty hair is pulled back and she's wearing a long black dress. She looks gaunt and unkempt, the complete antithesis of the glamour queen they know their aunt to be.

She steps out, closing the door behind her.

"Where's mom and dad?" Mackenna stammers in fear.

Standing back, Alyssa is trying to look into the house. She gasps when she sees her mother lying on the floor. She's not moving and there's blood in her hair. Her instincts are screaming at her to run.

"What's the matter with mom?" She screams and tries to run to her but she's blocked by her aunt.

"Nothing!" Vicki's eyes are dark, menacing, and soulless. She snarls at her nieces, slams the door closed, and clicks the lock.

Alyssa and Mackenna look at each other fearfully.

"We have to call Mr. Salvatore," Mackenna stumbles over the words in her fear.

Alyssa nods vigorously, grabs Mackenna, and pulls her off the porch and behind the big Red Oak tree to search for the number.


Damon holds a phone to his ear. Elena is waiting in the Camaro while he pays for their gas and drinks.

"Hello? Hello?"

"Mr. Salvatore, this is Alyssa Donovan," she tells him shakily. "You have to help us. Something's happened. I saw my mom laying on the floor before she locked me and Mackenna out of the house. She wasn't moving. I...I'm scared."

"Who locked you out of the house?" Damon asks as he glances at Elena with concern.

"Our Aunt Vicki. Something's wrong with her."

"Where's your dad?"

"I don't know. We haven't seen him."

"Listen to me, Alyssa. Don't try to go inside. Find a place to hide and we'll be there as soon as we can." Damon tries to assure her.

"Please hurry!" she pleads and ends the call.


Damon is driving at a high speed as they slide a turn onto the Donovan driveway and skid to a stop

Screams echo in the night at the sound of gunfire. Elena turns and gives Damon a disturbed look. They kick into high and race toward the house.

Damon runs to the front door. It's locked and he kicks the crap out of it until it busts from its frame and rushes inside.

Vicky has her arms wrapped around Penny in a death grip, holding her next against the wall. Plaster is scattered on the floor from a fresh bullet hole in the ceiling above.

Matt picks up the gun and aims it at his sister. "Don't make me do this, Vic, please?" he screams through his tears.

"It's not her who's doing this," Damon tells him.

Penny struggles and is barely able to breathe. "Help me," she croaks.

Damon moves closer. "Matt, pulling that trigger is exactly what the demon wants...a sacrifice."

"Matt, just lower the gun, and give it to me," Elena instructs as she cautiously moves closer.

"No! Vicki, let her go!" Matt's finger is hovering over the trigger.

Elena stares at Vicki's maniacal face before her. She seems to be enjoying every second of tormenting her brother.

"Please, Matt," Elena repeats, her eyes darting between the siblings.

Vicki taunts him by putting more pressure on Penny's neck.

"Don't give it what it wants, Matt," Damon urges her.

"You better be right." Matt finally yields and as he lowers the gun, Vicki kicks him with such brute force, he flies backward across the room into a wall. Glass shatters, and the gun slides across the floor.

Damon and Elena move in to grab hold of Vicki.

Elena gets a backhand to the face and recoils momentarily.

Damon leaps onto Vicki, bringing her and Penny to the floor but her grip remains strong as she continues to squeeze the life out of Penny.

Matt joins the fray and latches onto Vicky's arms but her strength is overwhelming.

Damon jumps to his feet, extracts a vial of Holy Water from his pocket, dips his forefinger into it, and makes the Sign of the Cross.

Vicki roars demonically.

"Be silent!" Damon sprinkles some holy water on her.

Vicki throws her head back and cries in pain.

Damon opens up The Roman Ritual. "Our Father who art in heaven..."

Vicki spits and hits Damon in the eye with a yellowish glob of mucus that slowly oozes down his cheek. He grimaces as he wipes it away and continues.

"My Lord, you are all powerful, you are God, you are our Father."

Damon gets close, reaching out, placing his finger on his forehead, and making the sign of the cross.

"Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom comes, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from the evil one."

Vicki is coughing and groaning as Damon continues reading from the book.

Objects in the room launch at super-sonic speed and disintegrate against the wall. Glass shatters and rains down on them, its shards piercing their skin.

Paralyzed with fear, Matt stands frozen and unable to move.

"I beg you, Lord, through the intercession and help of the archangels Michael, Rafael, and Gabriel, for the deliverance of Vicki who is enslaved by the evil one."

Damon makes the sign of the cross over his chest, then flicks more Holy Water on her.

A guttural scream escapes her mouth as she begins to writhe and rotate on the cement floor, taking Penny with her.

A window flies open and wind erupts in the room, spinning everything around. Their hair and clothing whip uncontrollably.

Damon continues reading the Latin text. *"Percute terrorem Domine in bestiam, nunc devastando vineam tuam, ejiciat eum valida manus tua e servo tuo Vicki Donovan, ne amplius capiat illam."

Elena watches as Vicki's eyes keep fading back and forth from pitch-black pupils to blue as if there is an internal struggle going on.

"Fight it, Vicki! Don't let it take you!" Elena clutches her rosary in her hand.

The dresser slides across the floor, ripping deep scratches in the wood. It misses Elena by a fraction as it plows right by her, bounces off an old bed frame, and embeds itself in the drywall.

Damon pauses for a second, his mind racing through limited options. He doesn't know if he's causing more harm than good but he has no choice but to continue. "...and the power to confront this cruel demon."

"Bastards! Stop!" Vicki falls back and begins to groan.

Damon's eyes suddenly clamp shut. Beads of sweat rise from every pore on his face. Tiny bumps all over his skin. Then as a low unearthly moan rises from the depths of his belly, his face grimaces and his skin stretches tight.

As he shakes and shudders convulsively, another sound rises from within him. It begins as a moan - a wet moan with a kind of slurping shucking sound as if something is literally rising from some internal sea within him.

With a sucking gasp, Damon's mouth opens wide - wider - impossibly wide - as if his face must rip in half.

"No, Damon no! You can not face it alone. Please! Please! Come back to me, I can not lose you," Elena screams and runs to him. Clutching his face, she forces him to look at her. As quickly as it came, his features return to normal.

"I'm okay," he breathes as his hand encircles the crucifix in a white knuckle grip.

Elena stands by his side and with the chaos encircling them, he resumes the ritual.

He holds the crucifix over Vicki. "See the cross of the Lord. Be gone you hostile power."

"Shove it up your ass!" Vicki's head hits the floor with a loud thud but keeps his death grip on Penny, who's now limp in her arms.

Elena and Matt frantically try to pry her fingers off of Penny but she's too strong.

The wind builds in intensity as Elena looks into Vicki's eyes which continue to fade back and forth.

"Please Vicki, please! You have to stop," Matt pleads. "Let go of my wife."

**"Nos eriperes de potestate diaboli. ab omni hoste visibili et invisibili et ubique in hoc saeculo liberetur." Damon reads as he again sprinkles holy water on Vicki.

The windows blast open, and the lights surge with power.

"On behalf of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I condemn you back to Hell!"

Vicki gives one last burst of energy; muscles twitch and veins rise from under her skin, but everyone holds her down tight - then, she stops moving, and becomes limp, almost catatonic. Her arms finally release Penny, who rolls to the floor in a dead heap as everything falls still.

It's over.

Still frozen in fear, Matt watches anxiously while Elena immediately leaps into action and begins doing chest compressions on Penny.

With her face awash in confusion, Vicki coughs and struggles to sit up.

Damon helps her to her feet

A small gasp erupts from Penny, who finally takes a deep breath. Matt drops to his feet and pulls his wife into his arms as tears flood their eyes.

"I'm so sorry I didn't believe you," Matt rocks Penny in his arms as Alyssa and Mackenna rush down the stairs to join them.

Elena gets to her feet and takes a beat. She looks at Damon and goes to him. Their eyes meet and she sighs in relief.

He wraps an arm around her. "You saved her life. You saved me."

Elena's overwhelmed with a flood of adrenaline and rests her head against Damon's chest as her heart nearly beats out of her chest.

"Still feel like quitting?" he asks softly against her hair.

A slow smile grows on Elena's lips. "Not just yet."


Damon and Elena pull up in their driveway. Melanie and Sheila come out the front door to greet them.

Melanie runs to the car. As Elena gives her a warm hug, Damon extracts a box from the back seat.

She opens it to find a fluffy grey kitten.

Her smile grows as Damon sweeps her into his arms to carry her inside.

Elena laughs at their antics. She links her arm with Sheila and together they go inside...

The end.


*Strike terror Lord, into the beast, now laying waste your vineyard, let your mighty hand cast him out of your servant, Vicki Donovan, so he may no longer hold her captive.

**Deliver us from the power of the devil. Be freed from every enemy visible and invisible and everywhere in this world.


I watched a documentary 'The Devil's Road' on Discovery Plus about paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren. They are both deceased now. They investigated many famous hauntings. Lorraine said "That's as close to hell as I ever want to get." after being inside the house at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, Long Island.

I also watched a documentary on the Perron family whose story is told in The Conjuring. Ed and Lorraine investigated that haunting and are featured in the movie. I hate horror movies, the only scary movie I like is the original "Poltergeist." I did take a little inspiration from it, too for this story. (I do love the old Universal monster movies from the 1930s but they're different.) I did watch the movie after starting this story. All credit goes to the script and screenwriters for their idea.

The reference to the alien base on Devil's Tower is a nod to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Devil's Tower in Wyoming is one of my favorite places. I remember crying when we had to leave the first time I was there as a little girl.

Thank you, Eva, and Bonnie, for pre-reading.

Thank you for reading and have a Happy Halloween a day early.