The Last Guardian

Chapter_16: The Exorcism Pt.1

The wind howled mercilessly as Johnathan tried to revive Lisa. She was still breathing but was unconscious, he was starting to wonder whether the magic coin was a dud.

“C’mon- grab her, we need to get out of here,” Raven shouted at him.

Suddenly Lisa woke up with her eyes wide open and gasping for air, as if she has been brought back to life. She began to breathe heavily and Johnathan tried to calm her down.

“Oh God- Oh God- No, I thought I was dead-“she said.

“We’ve got to get out of here now! C’mon Lisa-“said Johnathan.

He helped her up and took her to her car. The storm was becoming more intense and it seemed like they were in the middle of a hurricane. Raven ran towards her bike but again she saw the old lady blocking her path, with her pale white face and worn out old dress and hair as white as snow falling down on her shoulders. It was the witch, or maybe someone possessed by the witch. Raven recalled what Billy had said earlier- the witch couldn’t possess any other person for long unless it was Lisa herself. Even if she did then it would be merely temporary because only Lisa was her bloodline and any other person she would possess would deteriorate and die slowly.

Raven noticed that this old lady was dying slowly, her skin looked like dead leaves in autumn and she could barely walk. Thinking it would be easy to take her down, Raven rushed towards her with a knife, intending on stabbing her, she was a ruthless killer after all. But the witch still had control over the old lady, even though she was dying, she could still make her do things and control her like a zombie. The old woman leapt towards Raven within a flash of a second and kicked her in the guts. Raven felt like her insides were turned out and fell three metres into the parking lot.

Johnathan was about to drive away with Lisa when he saw this. He couldn’t leave Raven behind. Lisa on the other hand was on the passenger seat, still in shock and fear.

“Don’t leave me,” she cried as Johnathan got out of the car to help Raven.

“Don’t worry, take this, I’ll be back in a jiffy,” said Johnathan handing her the old magic coin.

The old woman who was possessed by the witch was walking towards Raven to finish her off. But Johnathan blocked her path and stood right in the middle. The storm was slowing down now. He looked at the old woman and she looked at him. Her face lit up with an evil grin and suddenly her nails began to grow almost as long as her arm. Johnathan knew he had to use lethal force or this would end badly. He never dreamt of hurting an elderly woman but he had no other choice. No other kind of magic would work- the coin only lifted curses and this dying old woman was entirely possessed by the Witch. He too knew that she wouldn’t last long in this condition but he had no time to wait for her to die.

The withering old woman looked at Johnathan and let out a horrible scream. Johnathan reached for his sword through the window of the car and took it out from the sheath. The Katana buzzed with power and the old lady gnashed her teeth. It was now or never, both of them rushed towards each other. Johnathan took a huge swing at the woman but he was amazed to see that she got out of the way and punched him hard in his stomach.

Johnathan blacked out for a second. The punch was so brutal that he spewed blood through his mouth. But the possessed old lady was not done yet. She choked his throat and pushed him back. Johnathan had his sword in his hand but he was paralyzed by the choking and the terror. Somehow he managed to gather all his strength and lift his sword and push it right in her chest. The old woman let go off of him immediately- she seemed surprised that he could stop her with just his sword, he was surprised as well knowing that he could have ended it a long ago, if he had just lifted his sword. Johnathan pulled his sword back and swung at her, this time aiming for her head. Her head came rolling down on the ground and Johnathan felt the streaks of blood scattering all over his face…

The weather soon turned back to normal, Raven picked herself up and walked towards him. He was still in shock, somehow he felt guilty of having to kill an innocent old woman.

“She was dead the minute she was possessed, don’t blame yourself-“said Raven patting his back.

Johnathan sighed and went towards the car. Lisa looked at his blood stained face and nervously handed him her handkerchief.

“What about your car?” asked Raven sitting on her bike.

“I’ll come get it later- have you taken care of the dead woman? “he replied.

Raven nodded and together they drove away from the scene. The battle was won but the war was still far from over. They still had to finish off the witch before she hurts anymore innocent people. The night was dead calm and neither Johnathan nor Lisa said anything to each other; both of them had seen enough for one night…

Back at the store, the poor old manager was watching everything from behind the window. He was glad that the nightmare was finally over. He saw Raven drag away the dead body of the old woman towards the bushes and he also saw them driving away into the dark roads. But he was curious, he wanted to know more. He went out towards the spot in the parking lot where the entire incident took place and saw the blood stained ground. He kneeled down and pointed his flash light at the spot, he felt hypnotized by something. He kept looking at the blood and the more he looked the more enchanted he became. The spots of blood on the ground began to boil mysteriously- the old man looked closer and closer and SPLAT! The blood suddenly splashed all over his face- he fell down unconscious on the ground…