Deracinate (Coprolalia Part One)

Seventeen: Closing Hell Would Have Fixed All Their Problems

Claire awoke rudely to being ranked out of bed by her ankle, a hand pressed roughly over her mouth.

She looked around her wildly, she was so scared. Chloe was still deep asleep, so was Jesse. But then where was...

She looked up at her attacker....... it was Ben.

She bit his hand, but the blood that came into her mouth didn't taste human. He hissed, kicked open the motel door, and threw her out into the parking lot with strength that he didn't possess.

Claire hit the ground with a loud umph. "Ben! What the hell?" She yelled at her boyfriend.

Ben smirked at her, and she noticed a blood stain bleeding through his gray t-shirt, right over his chest, where his anti-possession tattoo was. "Ben's not home right now." He told her. He blinked, and when his eyes opened, they were the eyes of a demon.

Claire's eyes widened and she tried to stand up, but her ankle was sprained and she couldn't. Ben was possessed, she was injured, her freinds were asleep, what the fuck was she going to do? "Jesse! Chloe!" She yelled.

The demon laughed. "I drugged them, sweet cheeks. They aren't coming to help you."

Claire felt tears begin to prickle in her eyes. Her holy water vial was in her jacket back in the room, so was her knife, so she did the only thing she could think of. "Exorcizamus te, omnis immundo-" She started to say, but the demon cut her off with a blow to the gut.

She felt the knife enter her stomach, and knew that she had to get that demon out of her friend before everyone she loved died. "Shut up, bitch." He hissed at her. "If you stop, I might just snap that pretty little neck of yours, make it quick."

"Immundos spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio inferni-" She said quickly, but was broken off again when the demon jumped on her, knocking her to the ground.

Ben's angel blade dug into her temple, causing blood to drip down her face. "Your little boyfriend is screaming at me to stop this. That's why I'm going to enjoy killing you."

Claire glared at him, then had a thought. Her phone was in her pocket, if she could just get to it... She pulled it out and in a few seconds activated a prerecorded excorsism.

"Inferniis adversarii, omnis iegio" the demon was twitching uncontrolably, and the knife slashed along her hand.

"Omnis congregato et secta diaboiica. Ergo, draco maidicte." Ben's eyes were black again now, and she thought she saw recognition and horror flash through his eyes, only for a moment.

"Ecctiam tuam secri tibi facias" Another flash of recognition seemed to flash through his face, then it was gone, and the twelve inch blade was stabbed through her, slicing through her spinal cord. Claire couldn't feel anything below where the knife had come in, and above it only pain. Oh god, she was going to die here.

"Iibertate servire, te rogamus." Ben fell off of her, black smoke pouring from his mouth. Then the door threw open, Chloe and Jesse running out.

Chloe's hand flew to her mouth, and both her friends started crying. "Oh my god." Chloe said as she rushed over to her. "Claire, oh my god Claire I'm so sorry. There's- there's nothing I can do." She buried her head in her hands and started sobbing.

"It's not your fault. It was a demon, one that possessed Ben." She told her freind. As if on cue, Ben's eyes opened and he entered her line of vision.

"Claire, Claire stay with me. We're going to get you fixed up, everything's going to be alright." He told her as he picked up her head and put it in his lap.

Claire hissed in pain at the movement. "It- it's too late, Ben, i'm sorry. I- I'm paralyzed from the waste down, that- that knife sliced my spinal cord. And- and I'm bleeding out, you cant save me this time." She told him sadly, but her voice already seemed farther away.

"No, no, Claire. I'm not losing you." Ben told her frantically, tears rolling down his face. He reached for her hands that were clutched around the knife.

"No." She said, and his hands moved back. "Ben, you can't. You, Chloe, Jesse, you're all going to be okay. You're in charge now."

"NO. You're staying Claire. I-I love you, I can't lose you, not like this."

Her vision was going black. "Don't forget me, Ben. I- I love you two, and I'll try to come back, I promise." Then the world went black and silent.