Hard Day's Knight Read Online Free Page B

don’t suppose you’ve got anything to eat in that bag?” I eyed his satchel hopefully.

    Mike shook his head. “Sorry, my – um – Jimmy. I don’t exactly keep the red in with the Host.”

    “It’s alright. I’ll go out for a snack later. For now, we need to find out what’s gotten into this kid. Literally.”

    Mike’s eyes got wide, and he actually inched closer to his bag. “You think she may be possessed?”

    “Not my field. But I know she’s way stronger than she should be, and she sensed us as vamps from way farther away than even a bloodhound could have.”

    “Hmmm. Well, extra-dimensional beings would certainly be able to sense the presence of other creatures of their ilk, and demons are reputed to have incredible strength.”

    “Hey! Go easy on the ilk, old buddy. Remember, me and my ilk used to slip you
Playboys
in middle school.”

    “No offense meant, James. It’s just a term. Now, let me get a closer look at her.” He knelt on the floor beside the girl, and only my speed allowed me to grab his shoulders and pull him back intact. The girl lunged at his face, trying for all the world to eat his nose. I yanked him out of the way, and whatever she was laughed. And it was the kind of laugh that makes places inside you go very, very cold.

    “Come closer, priest. Give us a little kiss,” it mocked. Mike grabbed a crucifix from his bag, and thrust it at the girl-thing. It hissed and tried to roll away, but I kinda lost sight of things for a minute there. Probably because I was trying to put a sarcophagus between myself and the holy symbol. Mike was the truest type of true believer, and the cross in his hands gave me a monster of a migraine, and from the looks of things whatever was inside the girl liked it even less than I did.

    “In the name of God the Father and Jesus Christ his Son on Earth I command you to leave this girl!” When I opened my eyes again, peeking carefully over the big stone coffin I was hiding behind, Mike was standing over the girl, cross in his left hand and a Bible in his right. The cross was glowing with an ethereal light, and it looked like something was floating around the girl. It was like a cloud of glowing red gnats, buzzing and angry, was coalescing around her head. Then I heard the voice again, and not for the first time that night, I got really worried.

    “Foolish priest! Do you think that your trappings of faith can save you?” The voice seemed even freakier now that it was coming from the cloud instead of the girl. The sound was all around us, swirling in and out of the air like an angry wind. “I see inside your soul, priest! I see your darkest thoughts, your blackest fears, and you are
not
holy!”

    “I am a servant of the Lord God Almighty and by his grace I am sanctified. You are a beast of Hell and I command you to leave this girl!” Mike raised his Bible over his head and pointed the cross at the girl like a conductor in Beethoven’s Fifth.

    The thing laughed, and I swear the girl’s eyes glowed red, like something out of a bad horror movie. “I serve a power older and stronger than your pitiful little carpenter. Your little book means nothing to me, and you cannot command one with power such as mine!” With its words, Mike’s Bible burst into flames, and he threw the book at the girl.

    Mike switched into Latin, and since I’m not old enough and certainly not religious enough to have much of a grasp on dead languages, I had no idea what he was saying. But after a couple of seconds of chanting, the cloud-thing screamed in rage and pain, and then flew out at Mike like a comic-book bee colony, heading straight for his hand. The crucifix flared into blinding light, first white, then a deep crimson red.

    I heard the thing laugh again, and then through that awful cackling laughter, I heard Mike begin to scream. There was one last flash of red light, and a wave of force blew out from Mike and the girl. I felt it in my chest like a hurricane;