Case 1: Demon Status: Solved

The three ride the elevator up to the surface, nervous about what they may face when it opens. As it opens, they gasp in horror as the field is littered with the corpses of the demon's victims. "Shit." Drew said. "We have to find out how to stop her. This is our fault!"

"Agreed." Sam said as she scanned the horizon, spotting their van parked just inside the gate. "Looks like they towed our van here, at least we have some good luck tonight."

"Right." Drew said. "Let's get a move on."

"Where though?" Terry asked, since he had no idea where to drive them.

"We are going back to that ranch; my gut tells me there is something there we can use to stop this madness." Drew explained. "Besides, look around, if we go anywhere, she is libel to do this to everyone around us."

"Let's go then." Terry replied. "I want to put the demon and the police behind me."

"Oh, speaking normal again Terry?" Sam teased.

"Hey, I only speak in third when I am terrified." Terry said.

The three got into the van, Terry drove, and Sam and Drew got into the back, so that they could research on the way back to the ranch. "Remember Terry, do not stop anywhere, if we stop everyone near us will probably die."

"I got it." Terry said. "You think they got spare gas on this base? We don't have a full tank and I don't know if we can make it all the way back to the ranch. Speaking of the ranch, do you have the address? I have no idea where we are right now."

"Yeah, I'll get it to you." Drew opened his phone and opened the email that started them on this adventure. "Ah, here it is I will write it down for you." Drew jotted down the address on a slip of paper while Sam searched for gas. She returned shortly after with gas in hand and a question on her mind.

"Drew who sent you that email?" Sam asked.

"It was just a fan I assume; they are always suggesting locations for me." Drew explained. "Let me see, ah that's odd, it is an unknown sender."

"I bet the demon sent it." Sam replied. "Which means she wanted us for a reason, if we can figure that out, we might be able to figure out how to stop her. Gassed up now!" She shouted as she finished putting the gas in the van. They all got back inside and traveled down the road.

Sam pulled out her tablet and drew searched on his smartphone. "Ten thousand results huh?" Drew said in amazement. "I wasn't expecting that." He said as he continued to scroll.

"What did you search for?" Sam asked.

"How to get rid of a demon." Drew replied.

"And you expect to find the answer to that question on a search engine?" Sam sighed.

"It was worth a shot." Drew snapped back. "Are you finding anything in the lore we collected?"

"Well, this demon isn't your run of the mill demon." Sam explained. "Apparently each demon has its own characteristics associated with its own circle of hell. The deeper the circle, the stronger the demon. This demon causes water to instantly freeze, so she is from a frozen layer of hell, let me see which one that is." Sam changed tabs on her tablet and scrolled around. "Well damn, it's the deepest layer of hell."

"That bad?" Drew asked. "Also, hell has layers?"

"Yes, and according to the lore it does." Sam sighed. "But this is all based on a medieval poem, so who knows how accurate it is. The writer claimed to have been to hell and back and wrote what he saw. Who knows if there is any merit to any of it?"

"Regardless, if we take it as truth that would back her a very strong demon." Drew said. "How do we stop one of those?"

"This is where we get into debate, but the theory is you can weaken them with the opposing element." Sam explained. "That and anything pure, as it is a direct contrast to their corruption. So, if we combined those two theories and created a pure flame it should weaken her enough for the banishment to work."

"A pure flame, so a fire without impurities in it?" Drew said. "I think I have something that may work." He could up and dug around in a chest in the van. "Ah found it." He pulled out a portable oxygen torch. "A flame without impurities would be one made of pure oxygen as its fuel."

"Right so we just need to strike her with the torch and banish her." Sam sighed. "This is getting complicated. Why couldn't she have been a weaker demon."

"I still can't get over hell having layers." Drew said.

"Like I said, we don't know if any of it is true." Sam explained. "Hell could be what all the religions of the world says it is, or it could just be a different plane of existence separate yet connected to our own."

"Well, we have a plan to banish her." Drew said. "Now we need a plan to summon her."

"I have that covered too." Sam said. She held the tablet up to show Drew. You see that symbol; we have to draw it on the ground and place our blood inside. Then we just call her name, and bam she will appear before us."

"We don't know her name." Drew said.

"She responded to the lady of the forest, so we will use that." Sam said. "I am not going to lie, this is an all or nothing approach. When we summon her, she will know we are on to her, and she will want to kill us. IF we are wrong about any of it…"

"We just have to be right!" Drew cut her off. "Listen I can't live my life completely isolated from the rest of the world, that's not who I am. We have to free ourselves, there is no plan B."

"I agree with you fully." Sam smiled. As they finished their conversation, they felt the van come to a stop.

"We are here." Terry yelled. "I hope you all have a plan."

"We got one Terry." Drew answered. The trio exited the can and Drew explained the plan to Terry. Terry was not thrilled, but he knew it had to be done.

"Alright let me get my paint." Terry said. "I'll show you all what that art class at the community center taught me!" He said as he prepared to draw the symbol. "Where do I draw it?"

"We need some sort of floor. I think the grass will mess it up." Sam said. "Well actually that spot over there looks good." She pointed to a barren spot next to the still smoldering remains of the ranch. "Draw it there Terry."

Terry walked over and started to draw, paying close attention to the tablet so that he could copy it exactly. As he did his work, Sam asked Drew a question. "Do you have your torch ready?"

"Yeah, you got the banishing chant ready?" Drew replied.

Sam nodded. The two of them waited in silence as Terry drew the symbol.

"Done." Terry said as he got up off the ground. "Looks just like it, if I do say so myself."

"Alright, now we just need to summon her." Drew said walking towards the symbol and pulling a knife out of his pocket. He slid the blade across his palm and squeezed his blood into the symbol. "Lady of the Forest, we command you to appear." Drew shouted.

The headlights on the van began to flicker and the cold embraced them as the faceless girl appeared in the center of the symbol. Drew lit his torch as stabbed it directly into her. This made her scream in a horrifying yell that pierced their ears.

Sam taking that as a sign it worked began chanting the banishment ritual. Each line she said caused the demon to rear back in pain and slowly fade from existence. As she finished the demon completely disappeared and the lights and temperature returned to normal.

Confident in their victory the three sat next to their van and relaxed. "We did it!" Drew shouted. "We actually did it this time!"

"Our first exorcism." Sam smiled. "It does feel good to be rid of her. How about we head back now, oh and question Terry. How did you get past the barricades into town?"

"I drove through the grass." Terry smiled. "Now everyone back in the van, let's go to our next destination."

"Right, Terry take us to the studio." Drew said as he got into the van. "We need to have a chat with them and show them all the amazing footage we have. Speaking of, why didn't we film that?!"

"I totally wasn't thinking!" Sam replied. "Oh well, best everyone thinks we took care of her the first time anyway. Don't want them linking us to that military black site."

"Right, we need to never mention that." Drew said. "I doubt we could convince a judge that a demon killed all those people."

With that the trio rode off into the sunrise and their first real case was finally solved.