Chyp and the brothers rushed out of the living room and to the door between the kitchen and dining room, which led downstairs to the basement. Wesley shut the door hard behind them and joined Matthew and James at the pedestal where they kept their magical Book of Light. James hurriedly flipped through the oversized tome while Matthew stood close by, incessantly giving James information on the creature.
"I know what it looks like!" James snapped impatiently. "Shut up!"
"What's your problem?" Matthew asked.
"You keep talking in my ear," James replied. "We've all seen this thing. I know what I'm looking for, alright?"
"Must be on his period," Wesley quipped to Chyp, who paced back and forth.
Wesley nearly jumped out of his shoes when a violent bang against the door interrupted their conversation. The roar of the demon was easily audible from the other side, and all four young men could tell that he was throwing his whole body against the door, trying to knock it down.
James' attention shifted from the Book of Light to the door. He held out a hand toward it, concentrating his power on keeping the door shut. Matthew took over the job of researching information on the creature, while Chyp and Wesley reluctantly ran to work as extra blockades.
"Hurry up, Matt!" Wesley yelled from the door. His voice was shaky from the door being constantly battered.
"I'm flipping as fast as I can!" Matthew shouted back.
After what seemed like five of the longest minutes of their lives, everyone began to grow tired. Wesley and Chyp felt fatigue in their muscles from straining to keep the door closed, while the strain on using his power continuously for so long began to take its toll on James. Matthew frantically flipped through the Book, but page after page was on something other than what he needed to see. As he flipped, he began to feel a rush of wind through his hands, as if something was trying to help him. He decided to go with the flow and let go of the Book. As he thought, the small breeze picked up, quickly growing into a strong wind that caused the Book to turn its own pages. Matthew leaned in closely as the wind disappeared and the Book came to a rest.
"Time Travel spell?" he asked, halfway out loud. "What the hell is going on here?"
"I'll tell you what's going on!" Wesley shouted. He and Chyp were starting to lose their footing on the top step of the basement as the angry demon continued to bang on the door from the other side. "This demon is about to kill this door…and us along with it if you don't get back to doing what you're supposed to be doing!"
Matthew, instead of replying to Wesley, turned back to the Book of Light. He shook his head at the notion of needing to travel through time. The thought of it sent a slight rush through Matthew's head, almost sending him into a premonition, but only giving him a strong sense of déjà vu. Had he experienced some sort of time traveling before? The sound of James collapsing to the floor from exhaustion snapped him back to reality.
"Jimmy!" he heard Wesley shout out. Matthew looked up the steps to where Wesley and Chyp stood their ground. The door was now cracked considerably, the demon having gained the upper hand with James no longer helping.
He turned back to his older brother. James breathed heavily, but for the moment was barely conscious. The strain of using his power continuously had overloaded his body, causing him to black out. He lay in a slump on the ground. Matthew saw all he needed before returning to the Book, determined more than ever to find some way to vanquish this demon who caused so much of a hassle. He scanned page after page, until he finally stopped at a large picture of a creature fitting the description of what was on the other side of the basement door.
"A Vestal Demon," Matthew read to himself quickly. His eyes worked double time as they darted from left to right. He was looking for a spell. After a few more precious seconds of searching, he saw something of use. "Found it!"
He was right on time. The door burst open with a magnificent force, sending Wesley and Chyp hurtling down the steps. Both landed hard on their backs, rolling near where James lay. With three now out of commission, the demon, now identified as a Vestal demon, snarled and roared at Matthew, the only one left.
"I am not here for you," the demon hissed, its yellow snake like eyes narrowing. "I want him."
Matthew's eyes followed the demon's claws as they pointed to the three on the ground. Matthew was unclear which one the demon wanted. Whoever it was, however, Matthew was sure that he would stop this evil at any cost. He went back to the Book, once again finding the spell he needed. Thankfully, it was not a Complete spell, meaning he did not need his brothers to read it with him.
"Strength of a gorilla and venom of a snake,
This demon's existence I call to take,
I call upon the Powers; erase his space!"
The Vestal demon stopped abruptly as the spell took effect. He began to writhe in pain as smoke started to appear around his grayish brown body. He threw his hands up, fighting what looked to be nothing. Matthew watched as the demon eventually disintegrated into nothing, leaving no trace at all that he was ever there in the first place. He sighed with relief as he closed the Book and tended to Chyp and his brothers.
"Jimmy," he called, shaking James. His older brother began to stir. "Did you have a good nap?"
"I feel like I ran out of gas," James muttered, rubbing his head. "What happened?"
"I saved the day," Matthew said proudly as Wesley and Chyp began to wake up.
"My ass hurts," Wesley announced, slowly sitting up. "Where's the demon?"
"Matt saved the day," James replied, not giving Matthew a chance to say it himself. "Couldn't have done it without me, though."
"You're nothing if not consistent, brother," Matthew said smugly at James, rolling his eyes.
"Is everyone okay?" Chyp asked groggily. He slowly stood to his feet to survey his surroundings. "I can't believe I got knocked out."
"First time for everything," Matthew responded.
"Well," Wesley said, looking around, "I see that everything's all clear down here, so I'm going back to my room and take a nap before my date tonight. I'm obviously not gonna be working on my book anymore today, so I guess I should just cut my losses."
"Yeah, before someone else picks them up," James said under his breath, but just loud enough for Matthew to hear him. Matthew shot a peeved look at James before turning back to Wesley.
"What about the living room?" he asked. "It's practically destroyed. I'm not getting stuck with cleanup duty."
"Not it!" Wesley shouted before quickly limping up the stairs and out of sight.
"I heard you earlier," Matthew said to James, sighing. "I shouldn't have told you anything."
"Told him what?" Chyp asked.
"Matt's going out with two…" James began.
"Too many other things to do," Matthew quickly finished James' sentence. "I need to get some stuff worked out. We'll call you again if we need to, kid."
"It's Chyp," Chyp corrected again. "Sorry I couldn't help more this time, but we'll get it together soon enough."
"You could help clean up," James said as Chyp disappeared from the room in a blue and white sparkle of lights. "Aw, man. I guess I'll go up and take a nap myself. My head is killing me."
"Not so fast," Matthew said, grabbing the back of James' shirt. "You better not tell him. You know how he is."
"I'm just messing with you," James said to his brother. "You know I'm not gonna say anything. It's in the vault."
"Right," Matthew responded skeptically. "It better be."