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“I was having a panic attack! I couldn’t think straight, and I don’t want to be your little puppet, Annoth!

” I stop walking and turn to face her. “I don’t want to hurt people, ok?

I’m trying to find you a one-way ticket home, but you won’t stop fucking around!

If you’d have just stayed inside me like I told you to–”

“Very well!” she snaps, folding her arms and averting her eyes.

“I will no longer attempt to take advantage of your emotions, if you will swear not to harm yourself.” There’s something different about her demeanor, as if watching my near-death experience actually put the fear of God into her.

At least now she knows I’m not bluffing, but I still don’t trust her.

I turn and continue toward the church we’re headed for, hoping that we aren’t too late to catch the priest outside after Mass. Annoth falls into step beside me.

“Did they give you acting lessons in Hell too?” I ask. “That accent was something else.”

“I saw a television program that mentioned foreign students visiting your universities here,” she replies with a shrug. “The woman on the program had an accent, and I thought it might make a sufficient cover story for you.”

“That was…very good planning,” I tell her, refusing to actually say thank you.

She doesn’t respond, and we’re silent for a good portion of the walk, but I can’t help noticing that she seems interested in the city, taking everything in as if she’s on vacation in another country.

Everything seems to fascinate her, and I can hear her reading the signs under her breath.

Even looking as normal as she possibly can, I notice that she attracts plenty of attention herself.

Both men and women check her out as we walk by, then they see me an d raise their eyebrows.

Probably because I look like a hobo and she looks like a Victoria’s Secret model.

“Your city is cleaner than I expected it to be,” she remarks as we wait for a light to cross the street. “I was told that human cities are cesspools of filth and sin.”

“Sounds like the sort of place you’d enjoy. You’d hate my hometown,” I tell her, not sure why I feel the need to continue talking. “It’s tiny, idyllic, clean, safe…full of nice people who take care of their neighbors.”

“Then why do you live here and not there, Saint Theodore?” she asks with a wide grin.

“That’s a very long story that we don’t have time for,” I reply, waving my hand ahead at where Mass attendees are spilling out onto the sidewalk from the old, historic cathedral. I spot the priest shaking hands at the front doors, then pull Annoth into a narrow alley between buildings.

“I need you to…go back inside me now,” I tell her. “It’s going to look weird if we both approach him about this sort of thing.”

She crosses her arms and huffs, “What if I have something to say?”

“I seriously don’t think there’s anything you need to be saying to a priest. And you swore you wouldn’t fuck with me again. Just do what I ask and this can be over sooner, for both of us.”

“Very well,” she sighs loudly. In a puff of dark smoke, she vanishes, and I can feel her floating around inside me.

Shaking the sensation away, I peek around the corner and watch as the last parishioner walks away.

The priest bends down to unlatch one of the big front doors and close it, so I go up to the bottom of the steps and stop.

I didn’t actually ask Annoth what will happen to me if I set foot on church property, but I think it’s better not to risk it.

“Father?” I say, as gently as I can. He looks up and smiles.

“Yes, young man? What can I do for you?”

“Would you mind…speaking with me for a moment? Down he re?” I nod down at the sidewalk. He frowns, but grabs a puffer jacket hanging on the railing and puts it on over his liturgical robe as he comes down the steps.

“Is something the matter?”

“Look, I know this sounds a little…crazy, but do you know anyone who can…perform an exorcism?” I look behind me as I say it, afraid that somehow my parents might be standing there.

The priest looks appropriately concerned. “I’m afraid that’s not a joking matter, son.”

“I know it’s not, trust me. I’m not fooling around here. Please.” Annoth swirls in my head, impatient and hostile, and I just hope she doesn’t try to hurt him like she did with Father Benjamin.

“Well…official church policy is that I can’t perform one without the express permission of my bishop–”

“Ok, how do you go about getting that?”

“Hang on. I need the permission of the bishop, but also the family of the individual in question, and that’s after a battery of mental health tests to make sure there are no underlying problems. You understand, I’m sure…”

I let out a long sigh. Of course. It’s not the 80s anymore. They can’t just go around exorcising people just for behaving erratically. I was an idiot to think this would work.

“No, I-I understand completely. Thank you, Father.” I turn to walk away, but he reaches out and puts a hand on my arm, causing Annoth to hiss loudly inside my head.

“Please take this,” he says, handing me a business card, “as well as my prayers.” I take the card and walk away quickly. It’s a list of mental health resources, and a suicide hotline. Great. Annoth waits until we’re around the corner, alone on a side street before coming back out.

“Now what?” she growls.

“I don’t fucking know,” I snap back. “You got us into this mess! You figure it out!”

“I told you, I cannot–” She stops talking suddenly, her intense gaze fixed on something behind me.

I turn and look. Getting out of an old-school, weirdly familiar black car down the block is a man wearing a leather jacket and dark sunglasses.

Annoth goes completely still and doesn’t tear her eyes away from him as he leans on the side of the car and looks down at his phone.

“What?” I ask. “Why are you staring?”

“It is him,” she says in a low voice. “Father Benjamin. The priest who robbed you.”

I look again. Sure enough, he takes off his sunglasses and turns so I can see his face better. It’s definitely him, just wearing street clothes.

“Stop staring!” I say to her. “You look like a snake stalking a mouse! What are you going to do?”

“He can complete the ritual outside of the authority of the church,” she whispers. “He did not finish it because he was too frightened, but now he must believe, and we can force his hand by threatening to turn him in for the robbery and fraud he has committed.”

“What?! Annoth, that’s not–”

But she’s already walking toward him, her hands balled into fists at her side. I follow, absolutely sure that I’m about to witness a gruesome murder. He looks up just as she reaches the back of his car.

“Hi there,” he says, looking her up and down appreciatively. “Do I know–”

Before he can finish the sentence, Annoth seizes him by the back of his neck.

He gasps in pain as she forces him into a crouch, both of them hidden by the car.

The tips of her fingers have turned into sharp black claws.

My heart begins to hammer double-time, but at least I’m thinking clearly enough to take out my phone and snap a picture of his license plate.

Insurance , I tell myself. Leverage, says the voice in the back of my mind .

“You do know me, and I am in need of your services, Father ,” Annoth says softly as I stand in front of them, glancing up and down the street to make sure there’s no one around. Father Benjamin looks up and appears to recognize me.

Panic contorts his face. “ You …you! Hey, I’m really sorry about yesterday! I swear, I wasn’t trying to–”

“Shut up!” I bark, kneeling down next to him.

Desperation crushes my chest, making it harder for me to breathe; desperation for this nightmare to be over, for things to return to normal.

I’m going to get what I need from him, but I can’t help feeling a little guilty.

He’s obviously terrified, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and eyes wide.

I shove the guilt down. I have to end this, and I can’t let myself feel anything about it. As long as no one gets hurt.

“Look, I’ve still got most of your cash,” the priest rambles. “I’ll give it back if you just let me go, ok? We don’t need to make this a whole thing. I really wasn’t–”

“We do not need the money,” Annoth interjects.

“We require you to complete the ritual. To separate us.” Benjamin looks up at her and his mouth falls open as he takes her in.

Her eyes have now gone wholly black, with no white and no pupil or iris, and there’s dark veins creeping up her neck and face.

She looks like something out of a horror movie, with her fangs and claws bared near his throat.

“ You’re the demon…” he whispers. “You’re the…the entity I saw. Dios mío , I thought I was finally going crazy…” Something different comes over him, like he’s actually less afraid now, and he turns his eyes to me. “She’s possessing you…and you need me to finish the exorcism.”

I nod, unwilling to explain further while we’re still on a public street.

“So, you’re going to come back with us and finish it.

Alright? You’re not going to make a scene, or else I’ll go straight to the cops and give them your name, email, license plate number, everything.

I’ll tell them that you robbed me, and that I suspect you’re scamming other people too. ”

He actually laughs in response. “Oh, I see. You think half the cops in this city don’t already know me, huh? Alright, here, I’ll come quietly if you just call off your…attack dog, and let me grab my bag.”

Annoth hisses again, but releases her grip on his neck.

There’s a few red marks, but no apparent damage.

He stands up and brushes himself off, then gives me a thousand-watt smile that, unfortunately, makes my stomach squirm.

Where the fuck did this man come from, and how is he a priest?

He’s wearing dark jeans and a faded Green Day t-shirt under the leather jacket, there’s a little silver hoop in one of his ears, and… he’s definitely checking Annoth out.

I do not want to take this man home. He seems like trouble, and I already have more than enough of that.