"I've never seen snakes like these before," Morticia said as she carefully studied one of the torn bodies on the floor. Considering her interest in poisonous plants and dangerous animals, that alone said enough.
"Well," Ethan replied as he crushed one of the snake heads beneath his boot with a wet crack, "that's because they're not from Earth."
Black blood splattered across the stone.
Wednesday's eyes moved across the destroyed room before settling back on him. "Did you kill it?"
Ethan exhaled through his nose. "I thought I did." He looked irritated by the answer himself. "But that thing's slippery as hell. It escaped at the last second."
His gaze shifted toward the dark corridor ahead.
"Demons are unbelievably annoying to kill," he muttered. "You rip them apart, burn them, crush them, and somehow they still crawl away laughing."
Wednesday stepped over the dead snakes without hesitation, her gaze moving across the destruction with clinical interest rather than concern.
"That," she said calmly, "is precisely what separates demons from the countless amateur occultists littering the world. Infernal persistence."
She nudged one of the severed snake heads lightly with her boot. "Most psychopaths stop functioning after decapitation. Demons tend to treat it as a temporary inconvenience."
"Well, you don't need to explain demons to me," Ethan said dryly. "I've had more experience with them than I ever wanted."
Wednesday ignored that, her attention focused on the monastery itself.
"But something still doesn't make sense," she said. "If this entity can move freely through the abbey and attack without restraint, why hasn't it left already?"
Morticia glanced toward her daughter while Ethan scratched the side of his head, trying to remember details he barely recalled.
Wednesday continued before either of them answered.
"The outside world is filled with weak-minded people," she said calmly. "People a demon could manipulate or enslave almost instantly. Entire cities full of them." Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"So why would it spend decades rotting inside this monastery if escape was possible?"
Ethan scratched the back of his head, annoyed at himself for drawing blanks when it actually mattered.
The problem was that the memories came in pieces.
It had been years since he watched the movie, and now all he had left were scattered scenes, half-remembered details, and vague impressions that refused to connect into anything useful.
"Thing. Notes."
Thing immediately jumped into Wednesday's backpack and pulled out the monastery files. Wednesday flipped through the pages quickly before stopping at one section.
"Here," she said.
Her eyes scanned the faded writing.
The demonic entity remains bound to the holy grounds. Without a living vessel, it cannot leave the abbey.
Wednesday lowered the paper slightly.
"Problem solved. It stayed here because it had no choice," she said. "Without a vessel, it physically cannot cross beyond the monastery grounds."
Morticia's expression darkened faintly.
"And now," Wednesday continued, "it needs one of us if it wants to escape."
The silence after that was immediate.
Ethan looked toward the deeper corridors of the abbey, a bad feeling settling in his chest.
"Wednesday… Tyler could still be somewhere inside this place." He paused briefly. "And if that demon possesses him first—"
Wednesday's expression remained completely calm.
"Then we kill both of them simultaneously and save time."
"Do you think it's going to be easy?" Ethan asked, irritation creeping into his voice. "Demons change depending on the body they possess. Their abilities shift, their limits change."
He still remembered Baphomet walking around inside a child's body and still being dangerous. Then it possessed a stronger host and immediately became far worse.
"If Valak possesses Tyler," Ethan continued, "then who the hell knows what that thing becomes afterward."
The thought alone was bad enough.
A demon inside a Hyde would be a complete disaster.
***
Elsewhere inside the monastery, Tyler realized he was alone.
Baphomet was gone.
The corridor had fallen completely silent, the cold pressing harder against the walls while the darkness around him seemed deeper than before. Tyler slowly looked around, the feeling of being watched crawling across the back of his neck.
"Hey," he called out sharply. "We had a deal."
Nothing answered.
"You promised me revenge," Tyler snapped, his voice echoing through the corridor. "I did everything you wanted."
Then a voice came from all around him.
"Are you truly that desperate for purpose," Baphomet said softly, "that you never considered I might betray you?"
Tyler's jaw tightened as he looked around the corridor. "Why would you even do this?" he demanded. "I did everything you asked."
A low chuckle echoed through the abbey walls.
"Because you were useful," Baphomet replied calmly. "Nothing more."
"You are an unstable creature driven entirely by anger, abandonment, and obsession. An abomination barely holding itself together." There was amusement in the voice now. "The only reason I tolerated you was because I still had use for you."
Tyler's hands curled into fists.
"And now?" he asked quietly.
"Now your purpose is ending."
The cold around him intensified.
"But don't misunderstand me," Baphomet continued. "You will still have your revenge."
Something heavy shifted nearby.
A door at the end of the corridor slowly creaked open by itself.
Darkness waited beyond it.
"Because in the end," Baphomet said softly, "my fellow demon will wear your body."
Tyler stopped breathing for a second.
"And Ethan will die by your own hands," the voice finished. "Exactly as you wanted."
The figure standing inside the doorway slowly stepped forward.
A nun.
Its head hung low beneath the veil, motionless at first.
Then—
it lifted its face.
The skin looked stretched too tightly across the features beneath, pale and cracked like something dead pretending to resemble a human being. Its smile spread far wider than it should have while blackness filled the spaces where eyes should've been.
The thing just stood there staring at him.
Smiling.
***
A/N: And on Patreon, The Boys arc started.
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