Human vs. Phantom

Chapter- 5 Episode- 5 Devil's Trap

Chapter- 5

Episode- 5

Devil's Trap

“Reeve remembers what I’ve just told you,” Jim said to Reeve in a serious tone. He had his head in a volume he was holding in his hands while sitting on the passenger seat. The car was in motion while Reeve was driving and listening to what Jim was telling him.

“of course, I know.” He stopped the car and swung the key out of the ignition and spoke. They both got out of the car which is now dusty blue, parking it in front of a lavish mansion, which was supposed to be the place where Rocky Shire lives. “be safe my baby.” Reeve said closing the door of his car. The building that they were standing in front of looked expensive and beautiful, it was all concrete with tall glass windows welcoming the warm and bright sun rays. It stood alone amid the beautiful nature. Beautiful forest and hills were embracing it in its arm. It is a place where your soul can feel peace. Nature does attract artists. It didn’t look centuries old; it had modern architecture. It is a kind of place that everyone dreams about going to at least once in their lifetime but does not get the chance to stay.

“he is a writer you said,” Reeve commented mesmerized by the beauty of the place. It was almost like heaven.

“Yeah, he is,” Jim answered enthralled.

“then how is he living in such a place?” Reeve again said not believing a writer could live in such a place.

“I don’t know maybe he is a big shot in his work,” Jim spoke clueless.

“let’s check inside, we should not waste time in admiring things non-relevant to our work.” Jim again said.

“you are right. Let’s go in.” passing through the unlocked iron gate of the mansion, in a minute they passed through the big beautiful garden with a beautiful water fountain and colorful florals in front of the house. They are now standing in front of the door of that beautiful mansion. The bocote door. It was like something they have never seen before. It was like a portal to another world, a world unseen for any average citizen. It had beautiful wooden carvings; they knew behind this door was something breathtaking. Without further due, Reeve dinged the bell door. The doorbell must have a new battery. The sound is harsher than the morning alarm wake-ups in a head-ache inducing kind of the way it vibrated in their heads.

They waited for a few minutes standing on the doorstep, but no one opened the door.

“you said you were tired of unlocking normal doors, how about you try this one?” Reeve said to Jim jokingly.

“haha very funny,” Jim said making his ha ha face to his brother.

Jim pulled a black palm-sized slim lock picking case from his pocket. This is something he had in his pockets every time he is on the field. It contains a rake, a hook, and a tension wrench. He took out his tools and unlock the door. It took him longer than usual. But he succeeded in the end, there was no doubt in it from the start, he was more skilled than what one will think from his manly features.

The interior was much better than what they were expecting to see. Calling it lavish was just an understatement. It was beyond that. How much a person should earn to get to live in this place? It won’t be a figure Jim and Reeve can ever earn. Forging identity cards and credit cards won’t earn them that much money.

“How did you guys get inside?” they heard an unfamiliar voice falling in their ears making them looking in the way.

“are you Rocky Shire?” Jim asked.

“you didn’t answer my question.” The bearded man said rudely.

“I am officer Springsteen and this is my partner Officer Bennett. We are here to ask you a few questions.” Jim said calmly showing him his badge, Reeve too showed him his badge. He took both of their badges in his hands and carefully examined them. Looking at it for a few seconds he pursed his lips and looked at the boys standing in front of him and said, “how can I help you officers?” his voice this time came out calmer and not rude as it was before.

“Mr. Shire, your life is in danger,” Reeve said hoarsely.

“what?” Rocky said stunned.

“yes, Mr. Shire. You might not believe this. but it is true.” Jim said trying to calm the atmosphere.

“How can you be so sure? Who would want to kill me?” Rocky tried and reason.

“We have a strong lead about this, that’s why we are all the way here. But don’t worry we are here to protect you.” Reeve said praising himself.

“Are you really serious about this?” he again asked.

“eight persons, same age as you died this week. And we suspect the killer behind their murders is one person.” Jim explained.

“what do you mean?”

“We found out that all the people who died were born on the same day as you, September thirty 1998. Someone is targeting them; we still don’t know the reason.” Reeve was trying to explain when suddenly the doorbell ranged.

“Are you expecting someone?” Jim asked Rocky.

“Yeah, my girlfriend is coming to visit me, we have a date later today.” He said and got up from the dark brown barrel chair to open the door.

As he opened the door, there standing was a girl dressed in a black knee-length skater dress, her hair in a loose curl. At that distance, she looked all nice and put together to both the boys. She hugged Rocky and came inside. As her face was getting clearer, she was more and more pretty for their eyes. Her jewelry was blinging under the reflection of the light on that bright living room. And the tik-tok of her heals revived the whole room.

“babe, what is going on? Who are them?” She asked.

“babe they are officer Springsteen and officer Bennett and officers this is my girlfriend and manager Sandy. They are saying that my life is in danger.” Rocky told his girlfriend.

“what? What is going on officer? Is it true?” she started panicking.

“This is true, but you should calm yourself down, we won’t let him die, or be in harm’s way. We are here to protect him. This is the only way we can catch the culprit.” Reeve started calming her down a bit, he acts weird in front of girls, especially the pretty ones. it doesn’t matter to him if she is single or taken.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Flashback, when they were on their way to Rocky’s mansion.

“Attempts by the evil spirit to appear and act as the victim, to be seen as the same person whom he possesses. The exorcist's first job is to break this Pretence and find out who the demon really is. Naming the demon is the most important first step.” Jim reads out this sentence from the book he was holding.

"Possession might be defined as the direct action of the Devil, operating on an individual whose own sins had exposed them to this terrible fate." It is crucial to realize that a possession can't and won't occur without the consent, however minimal, of the victim. This consent predominately takes the form of past sins and regrets.

When a person is demonically possessed, he or she suffers from a complete seizure of their personality by a diabolical being. This allows the demon to dominate their person allowing them to become, even somewhat physically, that demonic being.” Jim reads.

“so, it means if a man has some weakness or if he is hiding something, then they are vulnerable to be possessed by the demon,” Jim explained.

“so, it means that the demons disguise themselves and acts like a victim in front of others and the meat suit that they chose for themselves is weak and vulnerable?” Reeve said.

“yes, we must be very alert; this is our last chance to know why are all the occurrences are going on,” Jim said.

“and Reeve remember what I’ve just told you. This book said that the demon flinches and become uncomfortable at the name of god.”

“of course, I know”. Reeve said getting out of the car, when Jim again said, “say it in Latin.” And again, Reeve said, “I know.” “it’s Christo in Latin.” Jim spoke out. “dude, I know, relax. I'm older than you.”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Christo.” Reeve silently said. To his words, no one looked at him but Sandy. His voice was so hushed that even Jim couldn’t hear the word he said. Jim looked at Sandy looking at his brother and he saw how her eyes turned all black for a moment in the name of god. It was the first time that Reeve and Jim came face to face with a demon. The black-eyed thing was spine chilling. Sandy turned her vision back to her boyfriend when both Jim and Reeve shared a glance as if telling each that “hey this is the demon we were looking for”.

They did have a plan before they entered the place but things change when the demon is a girl. If you hurt the demon, the host will be injured too. men are stronger in the pain inflictions than women, but the aftermath of possessions can be handled by women better than men psychology. In this case, they will have to take the harder path to get the information out of the demon’s mouth and for that, the host must have to go through a tough time containing the demon inside their body. But it is better if the demon left her body sooner than later or else if a demon is in the host for too long, he will take full control over them making them do whatever they please. There will be no part of the original owner left in the body after a time and that time actually depends on how strong their psychological capabilities are.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Flashback, before entering the mansion, in their car.

“we will need something where we can capture it so that he will be unable to use his superhuman strength on us. Is there something on this in that book?” Reeve asked Jim who was looking through the book for about an hour.

“got it.” Jim said and started reading, “Demon traps were very popular as well in Medieval Europe, where fear and uncertainty made evil spirits and demons a very real thing for much of the populace. Such things were written of in the Old Testament of the Bible, where the legend of King Solomon states that a ring was given to him by the majestic Archangel Michael, inscribed with a magical seal and called the “Seal of Solomon.” This magic ring apparently gave him the power to control demons and has been depicted in some form or another in Christian, Islamic, and Jewish culture. This would all evolve into the belief that roaming demons could be trapped and bound within certain objects, especially capitalizing on the fact that these entities were thought to be quite stupid, and would follow bright and shiny things or certain symbols or artifacts to become thoroughly enraptured infinitely to their doom.

In many cases, the demon traps of Medieval Europe consisted of symbols that would draw in a demon’s curiosity and then seal it in with a never-ending loop. These symbols would be designed so that any passing demon would be lured in to investigate, after which they would apparently be locked away within the symbol. Such symbols would be used in buildings dating all the way up to the 18th and 19th centuries, becoming almost a formality for any building or residence that did not want the unwanted attention of evil spirits and demons.”

“We can use it. Does it have a picture of it?” Reeve asked.

“oh yeah, see.” Jim showed him the image that was drawn in the book.

“We have paint cans in the trunk, right?” Jim asked.

“lots of it,” Reeve spoke.