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The exorcism.

“ Vampyr : Vampyrs are lower demons dwelling in the bowels of Hell. They have a strong aversion to light, even compared to other species. Their appetite controls them, and they feed on the blood of creatures that wander too far into the Chasm’s dark corners. Unsurprisingly, human myths of the vampiric creatures found in different civilizations all originate from the possession of vampyrs. During the European Middle Ages, people buried the possessed face down, with a stake through their back, to prevent their rising again.

Vampyrs are some of the easiest demons to exorcise, but only if you can capture them. Hosts inhabited by vampyrs mutate quickly, and these major mutations include extreme speed, night vision, and a powerful sense of smell to detect warm-blooded creatures. Their aversion to light is a weakness that can be used to your advantage. (See words of banishment page 301).”

-Extract from the State Exorcist’s Manual , edition of 2047.

KETRON ISLAND, WASHINGTON STATE, 2042

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months on Ketron Island. Intense physical training, weapon practice, and practical theory on demons and Hell filled every waking hour. The rest of the time, exhaustion left us only able to wash, eat, and sleep.

To everyone’s disbelief, I had no trouble keeping up. My mutated body could take it, and I had a keen mind. They stopped making fun of me. Especially after I sent a few of them to the mat during combat training. I was still lean, but my muscles were filling up enough that I couldn’t be called a twig anymore.

New recruits arrived weekly, but I was still the youngest. The dropout rate was over fifty percent, not counting the seriously injured. Only half a dozen actually became exorcists every year.

Robb had started exorcisms with the other advanced recruits, but we still did runs together in the morning and shared meals. I came to know him more than I knew my relatives. He was the eldest of a family of six, born and raised in Idaho. He’d been training to join the special forces when he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. During a liberty evening, he and some of his bunkmates had gone to a bar to blow off some steam. They’d ended up in a fight with a possessed. Two of his friends had died that night before Robb could kill the demon’s host. He joined the State Exorcists’ training the next week.

“I tell you, kid,” he said one night over dinner. “Exorcisms are hard, but not for the reason you might expect. Killing them would be so much easier. But we have to make sure we keep the hosts alive, and half the time they try to kill themselves.”

There was a new hollowness to him that had nothing to do with physical training.

“Aren’t they locked up?” I asked.

“Oh yeah, they’re strapped to a stone table. But they’re strong, and they figure out ways. One broke his skull on the stone the other day. Another one tried to bite his tongue off. We barely had time to finish the exorcism before he bled out.”

I paled. My demon had never set out to hurt me, aside from the little headaches. I wondered what he would do if I ever attempted to exorcise him. Could I even do it on my own?

I was getting good at resisting him. Sometimes, I could even take back control when he took over. I’d stopped him from killing another recruit a few weeks previously. The man had tried to drown me in the river during training. That very night, my demon had snuck out of the dorm to get payback. The man would never know how close he’d come to death.

“But apparently they’re doing trials for a new drug,” Robb continued. “Well, not really new. I’ve heard it’s an old military-grade drug they brought back from whatever shady experiments they did during the Cold War. Authorities deemed it unsafe for combat use. But they say it’s good enough to give us an edge against demons. I’ve signed up to be part of the trials. They already call it the Angels’ Tears.” He snorted. “So dramatic.”

“Is it safe?” I asked.

Robb shrugged. “Time will tell. But at least it’s safer than going out there to find demons without an edge.”

In retrospect, I should have argued for caution. Time is a bitch.

By the end of his sixty-three weeks of training on Ketron Island, Robb left to become an official State Exorcist and work in the field. I stayed behind. He called me often, at first. Then the calls turned into texts that irrevocably diminished over the months. I missed him more than I could admit. He was my only real friend and the only adult who ever cared for me.

I waited another two months before they assigned me to exorcism training with the other recruits. By then, the apprehension was high. We had all heard the screams and seen the injuries the others had endured. And yet, most recruits were there for revenge; they wanted to face the invaders from Hell.

I was just worried my demon might act up in front of everyone. But that day, he stayed dormant as we made our way to the building where the exorcism would take place.

To no one’s surprise, they took us underground. I hesitated at the top of the stairs. The air coming up was warmer, and it reeked of sulfur. An older recruit urged me on, and I walked a few steps. One of the three instructors closed the door behind me with worrying finality. They locked me down there as much as the demon we were going to exorcise.

They led us to a large room with white tiles on the floor.

Easier to wash the blood , I thought grimly.

The stone table we all came to know from anecdotes and rumors was at the center. A man was bound to it. He laid motionless, and for a harrowing moment, I thought he had already died.

“He should come around at any moment now,” one instructor said, gesturing toward the possessed. “And so will his demon. We keep them heavily sedated most of the time, or else they might exhaust their host to death. You can come closer.”

The man looked peaceful in his drug-induced sleep. He was old—maybe seventy—with white hair and a wrinkly face.

“Do we know what demon inhabits him?” asked a recruit.

“Yes. We tested his DNA when he arrived at the facility four days ago,” said a different instructor. This one wore a kind of lab coat. He was part of the team of searchers we had on base. “He’s inhabited by a class-four demon, as you would expect for your first exorcism. It’s what we like to call vampyrs.”

Whispers spread among us like wildfire. Vampyrs had been a recent addition to the demonic lexicon. We theorized that most myths about vampires stemmed from hosts possessed by blood-sucking creatures from Hell.

The others were asking questions and advancing what they thought would be the best ways to kick the vampyr back to where it came from.

“Who is it?” I asked after a time.

The others quieted. I rarely opened my mouth.

“Excuse me?” said the instructor in the lab coat.

“The host. Who is it?”

He smiled. “Good question. Most exorcists forget that the possessed they face are human beings.” When he said that, the other two instructors eyed him with disapproval. “This man here is called William Brook, sixty-five years old. He’s an inmate at a local prison. Armed robbery. The report says he made an unsavory deal with demonic traders and they didn’t uphold their end of the bargain. Guards neutralized him before his demon could kill other inmates or correctional officers. The next day, they brought him here.

“He had it coming if he made a deal with demonic traders,” says a recruit.

A few others agreed. I couldn’t pass judgment. Not when I kept my demon a secret.

The man on the table stirred, and a few people stepped away, wary. They’d strapped his head to the table—it looked like they’d learned their lesson. His eyes traveled around the room, fearful.

“Help…me…” William Brook said. Tears were welling up to the surface. “Please…”

Unlike the others, I stepped closer to reassure him.

“We’re exorcists,” I told him. “We’ve got you.”

I put a hand on his arm. No one tried to stop me.

“It’s… coming… please, I—”

But I would never know the rest. As the demon took over with the force of a freight train, the veins on his face swelled, and his neck corded like an old tree. An inhuman growl rose from his chest, and he bit the air, trying to reach me. I took my hand away.

“ We call them urluks ,” my demon said in my head. “ Leeches . Mindless creatures driven by their craving for blood. They are despised, even in my world. Lower demons, all of them. They rarely cross to your world .”

But the few who crossed left an impression , I wanted to say. Vampires had become the kings and queens of paranormal stories.

“Very well,” announced the instructor. “Today we’re going to guide you through the exorcism.”

My mind came up blank as the others offered suggestions on how to proceed. All I could do was stare at the possessed on the table, wondering if it would be me one day.

The other recruits took turns reciting words of banishment. The vampyr screeched and struggled. It was working.

I only felt a slight itch under my skin. My demon was unbothered.

They never went all the way through the exorcism; they kept the creature on the frontier between both planes. It raged and screamed. William’s face had turned red and inhuman by then. It suddenly appeared barbaric to me. We had turned the possessed into a guinea pig.

When, at last, they urged me to try it myself, I recited the words loud and fast. I didn’t stop to heed the instructors’ warning and sent the vampyr back to Hell. The host fell on a table, unconscious. His torment was over.

I kept quiet, my eyes down as the two instructors and the other recruits berated me. I would get punished for disobeying orders.

I couldn’t give a shit about retaliation, not when William Brook was finally at peace.

When we walked out a few minutes later, the man in the lab coat said quietly to me, “You will make a fine exorcist, young man.”

I quickly became one of the best exorcists in training. My words of banishment were stronger than the others, even if they tasted bitter on my tongue. I was sending demons back to Hell faster than anyone in the facility, including our first class-two demon. She resisted longer than most, and she was smarter. But I kicked her out of the host before she could hurt him.

I think the reason it came so easily to me was because I carried a sliver of Hell. Some days, I could feel my demon’s power growing inside my chest, like a flame rising above tinder. I was running out of time. My body would soon be strong enough, and he would devour my soul.

Preparing my exorcism required discretion. I needed to hide my intentions not only from the State Exorcists, but also from my demon. He couldn’t read my mind, but he could see what I saw and experience what I did. I gathered salt for weeks, pinch after pinch, from practical studies on rituals and from the mess. I dropped them inside the bag where I kept my toothbrush every time I brushed my teeth after eating. The candles were more difficult. I slid disregarded ones, almost burnt out, in my pockets with other objects. My demon was often dormant, and I hoped he wouldn’t notice among the myriad of unimportant things I did every day.

To exorcise a demon, you don’t require a ritual. On the field, you wouldn’t have time to prepare one, so they didn’t teach us how to do them. They didn’t want to risk bringing worse to our world.

But in theory, an open passage to Hell would make kicking a powerful demon back to the other side easier. And if I were doing it on my own, I needed all the help I could get.

I waited until we were on Christmas leave to do it. By then, I was almost at the end of my training. I was as good as I could get. Of course, going to my father’s house for the holidays was out of the question. He hadn’t even called me once since I left. So, I rented a hunting cabin in the forest above Seattle, far enough from civilization that no one would hear my screams if it came to that. I doubted my demon would leave quietly. I told the very few who asked that I just needed fresh air, far away from the matters of Hell.

On the day when I drove my rented car through the snow-covered forest, I hummed a song to pretend I was just looking forward to some time in nature. I even bought an ice-fishing rod and some hiking gear—everything to carry my deception.

The cabin in the woods was the perfect setting for my personal horror story. It was close to the frozen banks of a small lake. The trees hid the very little sunlight that pierced the heavy clouds, and all the animals had gone into hiding during the colder months. There was a generator, but I only used the fireplace for warmth and light.

My demon was more active at night, so I waited until morning on the third day before acting. I woke up and made my coffee on the stove like I would any other time. I kept calm by orienting all of my thoughts to the lyrics of the music that I played in my earbuds while I carried my toothbrush bag to the center of the cabin.

I had pushed the table and carpet away while dusting the floor the day before. I drew a circle with salt and chalk while humming to myself. My demon didn’t say a word.

By the time I was lighting the candles, I thought I had fooled the devil.

Until he said, “ Do you think you are outdoing me, little human?”

I heard him over the music, like always. There was no escaping his voice; he was inside my head.

“I’m getting rid of you,” I said, taking out my earbuds and throwing them over the couch.

The ritual was ready.

He chuckled. “ Do you think I did not notice the salt you gathered? Do you think I did not let you lead us here, knowing what you had in mind? I am not a mere demon you can send back to Hell, human .”

“We’ll see about that.”

I grabbed a vial of holy water I always kept close—all exorcists were told to carry one at all times—and crushed it in my fist. The glass pierced my skin, and the water burned my cells.

I’d been cautious not to touch any during my training. I knew it would reveal what I really was.

I screamed as the smell of melting flesh invaded the cabin. The pain should help me keep the demon at bay.

“ You fool ,” he roared.

I dropped to my knees and sang the words to open a passage to Hell. There was no visible sign it was happening, but the room got warmer, and the smell of sulfur choked the air. I doubted a demon would try to get to my world through me; my devil had buried his talons deep into my soul.

Once the passage was open, I switched to the words of banishment. The strongest ones that I knew worked best. I poured all of my conviction into the exorcism. My limbs tensed, and he bent me in two until my back broke. I roared in agony.

My demon growled as he fought to take control. But he didn’t realize how good I’d become at resisting him. We’d lived for so long together that I knew the feeling of his presence. Over time, we blurred the lines separating our souls. I closed the doors of my mind to slow down his assault. I’d built a castle of stone and mortar around his burning fire.

He turned my hands against me. They tightened around my neck, cutting the airflow. And yet, I kept singing the words with a broken voice.

His roars turned into manic laughter. “ You surprise me, Jonah!” He so rarely used my name. “ You are deserving of my soul. But I cannot let you send me back to Hell. My mission here remains unaccomplished.”

I felt his real onslaught then. A burst of light, so bright and so hot that it burned my castle to the ground. He took over and crushed my mind with such force that I blacked out for a moment.

When I came back to reality, we were standing, and the cabin was alight. A phantom wind had swept away the salt lines on the floor. As soon as the radiance dimmed sufficiently, I saw my reflection in the dark window. My eyes were two pools of white light, and my horns had grown tall above my head. They were as pale as sun-bleached bone. And my skin was… glowing. I was the source of the radiance.

“What…?” I said. But the words failed me.

I’d never heard of a demon of light. But then again, he’d told me years ago that he was the last of his kind.

“What are you?” I asked at last.

“ You already know the answer, Jonah ,” he said with my voice. “ You have had your suspicions for years now .”

“No, I—”

I’d known he was something else. Someone stronger than the demons we knew about. But…

“ In my world, they call me the Light Bearer. You humans called me many things over the centuries, but one name traveled through civilizations and distances. I am Lucifer, the Morning Star. And you cannot exorcise me, Jonah. Many have tried. But I am the oldest traveler between our worlds, and I come and go as I please .”

That morning, I recoiled from the truth and let Lucifer have my body. He went out into the wilds. The snow melted under my bare feet and reflected the pale glow of my body under the trees.

Come evening, he’d exhausted all of my human strength. We fell into a three-day coma. When I finally woke, I had to carve my horns with my army knife and the iron file. I threw the bloody remnants into the frozen lake.

The Devil inhabited me, and there was nothing I could do about it.