Who Ya Gonna Call?!

"Are you?" he asked, serious for once.

"Yes." He answered briskly, but he felt his heart rate speed up as he felt around for his rosary still. Without it, he had very little power. Something brushed his fingers and he reached for it, but then it was gone again.

"...You lost your rosary, didn't you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

He nodded sheepishly.

Rolling his eyes, he gripped Mars's hand firmly.

"Don't let go, okay?"

"Why?" He asked instinctively.

He rolled his eyes.

"I'm the holiest thing you've got now--let go and you lose that protection."

Mars nodded, though he looked unsatisfied with that answer.

Priestly gently helped Mars to his feet, only lightly touching his waist to steady him.

"Well, we're better off than when we started," he said cheerily, smiling.

"And how is that?"

"We know it lives here--ISN'T THAT RIGHT?!" he voice echoed throughout the entire attic to no response; for the moment, he seemed rather foolish if not crazy.

Mars just waited, sure Priestly knew what he was doing. He DID know what he was doing, right? Right?

Suddenly, he felt less confident.

And then, out of nowhere, dark hands grabbed Mars from behind, attempting to yank him from Priestly's grasp.

Mars grabbed onto him with an inhuman grip.

"Priestly!" He shrieked in a totally manly way.

In contrast to Mars's girly squeals, Priestly turned around and punched the demon in its goddamn face, momentarily the picture of badassery.

He held up his rosary, chanting a prayer in Latin--the beast squealed and tried to run away. Pushing mars slightly behind him, Priestly pulled out a water bottle, yanked off the top, and threw its contents at the demon. It let out a horrible, in human shriek before falling to the ground, seizing and writhing in pain.

"Are you alright, Mars?" he asked, withdrawing a wooden stake from his messenger bag.

Mars nodded, though he was quite pale.

"What...Is it?"

Soaking the stake messily with the rest of the holy water, he pinned the creature the the ground, ignoring its squeals.

"It's a demon, of course, Mars...at least, we can hope it is. Now we just wait until it stops screaming." He sat down, watching the best in earnest and pulling out a small plastic bag. "Cherry, Mars?"

"...No thank you." He hadn't taken his eyes off of the creature. It was his second encounter with a demon. Hopefully this one would end much nicer.

He popped one into his mouth, humming pleasantly. "You sure? They're ripe and delicious."

"Yes." He said simply. "You seem calm for someone about to commit murder."

He smiled.

"Now, now, Marsy--I'm many things, but you know I'm not a murderer. Now scoot closer, you'll want to see everything."

The beast was beginning to grow quiet as it resigned itself to its fate; both of its tails stopped twitching and fell to the ground limply.

Mars didn't once take his eyes off the beast. He moved a bit closer to Priestly, watching intently.

"Are you about done?" asked Priestly, eating another cherry.

The demon flicked one of its tails, letting out a noise akin to a sigh.

"Good. Now tell me--why are you here to bother these good people? You almost killed that lady's husband, and it's tearing their relationship apart."

The beast didn't answer, flicking its tail again.

He watched, unable to look away. This demon looked nothing like the one that had attacked him, which made it all the more interesting.

"Come on," he said calmly. "I don't want to hurt you--speak."

Gasping for air, the creature finally spoke in a deep, raspy voice.

"That woman...she's a whore! I thought I killed her...I thought she died, but she came back! I waited again, I waited so long, but she came back...defiling my home, my beautiful home for years and years and years...I couldn't take it anymore.

"So I killed her. But she's still here--and now, she has another man. Filthy, wretched whore! I'm going to kill her..."

Priestly smiled, lightly patting mars on the back.

"Oh, I do so love cases like this!"