Chapter 3:  war 

Trigger warning: blood and gore

Errol sped through the forest, screaming his sisters name. he ran, the branches of trees smacking his face 

“RACHEL” he screamed into the early morning “RACHEL” he screamed again  he charged through the brush, snapping twigs and destroying mushrooms as he ran, darting through his forest, which seemed to have turned on him. He followed the blood trail through the forest, he grabbed a hatchet off his pack, which they always kept with them whenever they left the house. He charged through the snow, the blood just a red smear to his eyes. He was going so fast  until finally he stopped, he looked around, and searched again and again until finally the trail stopped, right underneath a large oak tree, he stopped and  looked around. Nothing. Absolutely nothing, he had lost the trail, the footprint stopped, the indentations stopped, and so did the blood. He fell to his knees and tears sprang to his eyes, they dripped down his nose, and ran off off his face into the snow he sobbed into the side of the tree, his mind kept chanting

She dead dead dead she's dead she's dead she's dead dead dead

He cried until he couldn't cry anymore and then some more. He didn't know how long he sat there, but finally he felt something warm run through his eyes, it wasn't tears, it was thick, what- he put his hand on his face, and it pulled back red, his fear mounting he looked up 

A pair of moccasined feet. A body in the tree. He nearly screamed as he fell back and crab crawled away, so he could see the full body  and now he did scream

It was Rachel, a noose around her neck hanging from the tree, here eyes wide and blank, hanging sideways on a snapped neck blood trickled from her mouth, and here face was distraught in terror 

***

Son, tell me again, tell me what happened” his father said, his voice grave  and his eyes full of tears,  his mother sat on a chair by the fireplace, weeping, and all his brothers and sisters seemed to be choking back tears.

“So it begins” his father said, he wiped up his tears and took a deep breath

“Pa? ‘So it begins?’ “ Abe echoed who had tears running down both his cheeks 

“Abe, jedidiah, and jeremiah, come with me” 

“Pa can't do whatever you want us to do, wait, your sister-” Abe’s voice broke “our sisters dead” he finally broke down into tears. It was a horrible thing, seeing one's older brother cry, he didn't know his older brother could even cry.

“Family” papa said gently “i understand you are sad, but the thing that killed her, i expect it will be after us soon, curse those oscars, i should've known they would have attacked our coven at some point and now they done sent a demon after us”

“Pa? Demon? Oscars? You're not making any sense!” Errol said

“Just come with me, the eldest come” 

He led them into the back room, where Abe, Jedidiah and Jeremiah  looked around. This was the weapons closet, why were they in the weapons closet?

“Boys listen carefully, I fear me and your mother will be dead by dawn, I'm afraid, but that's the truth, and so the truth must come out. So i'll just say it: were witches son, were a coven of witches, and that outside, that killed our rachel: is a demon, a real deal one 

“PA YOUR NOT MAKING AND SENSE, CALM DOWN, I KNOW YOU'RE IN GRIEF BUT THIS IS NO TIME TO TELL JOKES!” Abe yelled this at their father angrily 

“I AM NOT JOKING SON, WATCH!’ his father took a deep breath and muttered “boy i haven't done this in years. And carefully drew an odd symbol in the air. He poked it with his finger and a ball of light appeared. He smiled sadly at his three eldest boys, who started in wonder at the light “witchcraft” Jeremiah said softly “dad, i thought we were god-fearing men?”

“Witchcraft, at least, the magic brand, is not a religion, it has nothing to do with satan, and nothing to do with the occult, you can still love god and be a witch, as I do. Not only that witches have covens, or families, and we have a very large powerful coven, envied by many others, so samuel Blade decided to go live off grid because he was scared of what would happen, and so life goes on, but i fear that a demon was hired to kill us by another rival coven. Now listen carefully, we may be able to kill it, if we work hard, here, use this. He popped open the weapons closet and handed each of the brothers a shotgun and a box of shells   use it well, their unplugged, so they have 8 or 9 shots in them, now, when the demon comes, protect your mother and the children, go get everyone else

The family was assembled and the story told they alls stared  in disbelief at the ball of light in front of them ,  finally sarah spoke 

“THIS. IS. STUPID!! WITCHES? WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!” im outta here” she snarled, she grabbed her coat and walked toward the door, a look of fury written on her face

“Sweetheart wait” pa said, but she spoke over him “DON'T YOU ‘SWEETHEART’ ME!! YOU LIED TO US, IM. GOING!”

She stepped out the door night had fallen, and it was black as night and in seconds, that's when IT was upon her,  a noosed rope, it flopped over her head, and before she could scream, cinched tight and dragged her away into the darkness

“SARAH” their mother screamed and tried to run out the door, but she was held back by the two twins. Everyone grabbed a gun out of the weapons closet, and those who did not (errol and the youngest of them) grabbed hatchets, knives and other sharp objects. And they all waited at the door, breathtakingly, the seconds passed by and then a knock came upon the door

“Housekeeping” a eloquent voice crooned from the other side of the door 

Abe screamed and fired the shotgun through the door but something tapped the door, and the bullets stopped in midair,  and then slowly, the door opened. Standing on the porch was a man, he had very sharp teeth, a red suit and a red top hat , one side of the suit was checkered with black diamonds. With his red tie, he reminded Errol of santa clause, if santa were thin and spindly and had blood stained teeth and carried a hangman's noose

“I hope you don't mind my bold entrance, but you seem to be trying to kill me.he withdrew a knife from the folds of his suit. Now, I'm going to suck the soul out of every one of your cute little mortal faces, ok? Now hold still. And with that he darted forward and  plunged the knife into little beth's body  barley ten years old, she crumbled and fell, a  pool of blood underneath her, and the family all stared in stunned silence the demon grinned at them all, a delightedly clapped his hands like a child on christmas morning “ oh goody, you're actually going to hold still!” and it's like that broke the spell, everyone ran for it, knocking over tables and l chairs, taking up defensive positions around the room, the blade family would die tonight, but not without a fight and the roar of multiple shotguns shattered the night as the creature began to walk, slowly forward,  he raised a hand and the bullets went through it  he charged forward still grinning, and lashed out with the rope it wound its way around their mothers neck first, and cinched tight, dragging her to the floor they all watched in horror as he strangled  her to death, her muffled screams reverberating all around the house until she finally stopped moving he bit down on her arm and sucked some blood (or perhaps soul?)  out of her, his mouth dripping with blood he grinned at them all then lashed out with his rope once again  Jedidiah attacked from behind with a pistol    he got  a few shots off but the demon dodged them all and grabbed him by the throat, swiftly crushed his windpipe and left him gasping at air on the floor

 One by one, they were cut down, gunshot after gunshot he dodged, child after child he threw to the floor, heads were rolling, literally.  Some of the children jumped on his back and stabbed away with a knife this did little, for they were soon killed, until finally errol was all that was left, he dodged a rope lashing out at him, and then hit the deck as a knife flew over him .  Errol ran for his life, the creature behind, him, a bloody mass of red suit and white  flesh and bone screamed and dove forward, trying to catch him,  he dove forward as well, and managed to get away, but the creature continued to attack and pursue,  it was large, with short point oddly white teeth and were the eyes should be, there were two sockets, and its mouth was forced into the most horrible of smiles. blood was in the air, and Errol felt that soon it would be he jumped and the rope whistled under him and ran through a doorway, heading for the back door a the demon ran at him from behind throwing his noose again and again until he finally felt it wrapped around his foot, it dragged him to the floor, and he fell, it dragged him backward, throughout the house, and he finally grabbed onto a ledge wall, and held on tight,the demon heaved against the rope, and he could feel his hands slipped, but there, like an angel in the night, was Abe’s shotgun he reached out and his fingers grazed the butt of the gun, he heaved out again and grabbed hold of  it, and finally, letting go, he allowed himself and the shotgun to be dragged away, he pumped the shotgun and aimed at the demon's head, the demons eyes widen in surprise, and tried to raise his hand. Too late, Errol fired and the demon's head promptly exploded into a mass of blood and  brains and fell to the floor. Dead.