N.E.X.T.

Chapter 1

Retreat Interupted

         
      The chill air of fall began its decent upon northern Michigan forcing even the most warm blooded of individuals to pull a jacket over their shoulders. Trees once green and majestic in their age now slowly turning to different hues of brown and orange as they begin their preparation for a harsh winter. Squirrels scurrying about within the branches of the trees under which they bury there nuts in the ground for the sake of their own survival. Nature going about its business while onlookers from the south traveling as much as hundreds of miles to witness and enjoy the changing of the season from hunting to seeing the color of the leaves still on the trees. Yet those who live within the tranquil, quiet and peaceful town of Lancton enjoy the influx of money the southerners bring for nothing more than what nature already supply's.
         
      Jason Knight was one of those southerners enjoying the peacefulness as he stared out across the small lake buried deep within the woods. His small motor boat swaying slightly side to side by the small waves pushed along by the cold October breeze. This was the last time for the year he was going to be relaxing on his boat before hulling it onto the launch and winching it on to the trailer for the trip back home to Ohio.
           
      For a few summers now he had been coming up to his friends cabin on the secluded lake. There were only two other cabins besides the one he was staying in, yet he knew none of them just the occasional friendly wave. He enjoyed the quietness and the seclusion so to him they were merely a nuisance. Since his encounter with his first evil entity he had been using this spot to help clear his head of all the stresses of dealing with the unwilling dead as he liked to call them.
             
    Five years ago Jason had been a psychology student at the University of Michigan and a prominent skeptic of paranormal phenomenon. After several semesters of living with his best friend Mike Jawarski in the dorm, he decided he would rent a apartment. Two months into his occupancy an evil entity did everything it could to kill him and eventually took the life of a priest that tried to help him. Jason moved out of the apartment and it was rented to a family whose son became possessed by the same entity. For weeks Jason tried what he could to help the family despite a restraining order by the apartment owner with little use. The son eventually killed the parents and was about to kill his little sister sleeping when he was stopped by police and Jason when they broke in and found him with the knife in the air. Jess Erikson, a beautiful, blond haired, woman who Jason had befriended while attending the Institute for Paranormal Studies in a class for understanding channeling. After some time he discovered she had a talent to perform a out of body experience known as a OBE and while in the process able to see and communicate with spirits. That night at the apartment she had OBE'ed into the boys home from a church down the street with her physical body being medically monitored. When Jess entered the boy's room she could see a dark cloud surrounding him manipulating him like a puppet. Her spirit body rushed to him to stop the entity but once she made contact with the black mass she was able to will herself to grab hold of it. Back in the church the medical student,observing her body and the machines, seen a spike in her vital signs and shook her, Jess snapped back to her physical body violently but not without realizing she still had a hold of the entity. The black cloud formed into a human shape and made a growling sound while speedily floating out the open window behind the med student. Jess was shook up at first but sat up and walked out of the rectory, walked across the church and knelt in front of the alter. Since then Jason had put together a team of friends and colleagues including Jess and he named it the "Nightmare Evaluation and eXtermination Team" or just by its anagram NEXT. From that day he had determined his ambition would be to help those that were either in danger for their lives or children at risk by evil entities.
             
      Right now though he was determined to enjoy every moment he could drag out of what was left of this season. Jason leaned the captain's chair back and kicked his deck shoed feet up onto the control panel, he grabbed the bill of his Pittsburg Steelers hat and drew it down over his eyes. He loved the feeling of the breeze that blew in from under the bill of the hat and into his face, it had a calming effect. The air smelled clean with the hint of pine as it moved across the surface of the lake water. His mind began to clear of wandering thoughts, with sleep approaching ever faster.
             
    It was the sudden vibration within his blue jean pant's pocket that bolted him straight up in the seat. Everyone knew he was on his calming retreat and was not to be disturbed. Jason reached down fishing his fingers around for the cell phone. Either the office better be on fire or something better be wrong with Jess, he thought angrily as he pulled the phone up out of his pocket, flipped it open and clutched it to his ear.
             
    "Jason." He blurted into the cell annoyed.
             
    "Hi Jay. I know you said no contact while on your retreat but I felt this was important."
           
      Jason knew the voice on the other end right away, it was Tami Richards, she was the face of the team for public relations. He met her shortly after he had left the institute when she was just a local freelance journalist. She had been covering his paranormal investigations of a insane asylum in Pennsylvania. When he formed the team he realized his short comings with dealing with people was a problem and the people he handpicked for the team weren't much better. After a long negotiation he convinced her to be their public relations person and sometimes secretary, which just mainly consisted of answering the phone and keeping tabs on the members of the team so they can be assembled on short notice.

      He heard her take a deep breath then sigh.

      “Got a call a few minutes ago from a Kimberly Mansfield, she is deeply worried for her niece and nephews. Her sister, Elizabeth Clark, says her children are being physically attacked by something invisible in the house as she describes it. Ms. Mansfield was calling from a hospital where her youngest niece was being treated for lacerations and bruises from one of the latest assaults. She said the attacks are increasing in brutality and that her fifteen year old nephew is experiencing severe uncharacteristic mood swings some being violent. Child protective services have begun an investigation into the recent hospital visits by the family and the veracity of her nephew's outbursts, worrying her sister into hysterics. She was given our number by a bystander who overheard her telling the story to someone in the hall.” Tami practically said the whole story in one breath, probably trying to keep him from hanging up.
             
      As a rule, normally he would, but when it involved children he couldn't help but at least listen. Damn, he wished he had turned off his cell. "What about the parents, any attacks on them?" He asked, though knowing the answer in his head already.
             
      "No, the parents have not been attacked. Oh, and apparently the father . . ."
             
      And there it is.
   
         ". . doesn't believe any of it." Jason finished the sentence for her.“The arrogance of man, the master of his house, the alpha male of his pride. Close minded idiot. Funny how ignorance could very well get his kids killed and his son arrested then hospitalized. Any mention of how long ago this started?"
     
        “It started in August, so I would assume it being now the beginning of October, a month to a month and a half. Hey Jason, this lady sounded really scared for her family. Do you want me to start rallying the troops because I think Mike is in Las Vegas on a job, something about surveillance at one of the casinos needing an over haul? The rest are mostly at home or at their vacation houses, except Jess.” Tami’s voice trailed off into a silence, as if hiding some pertinent information he wasn’t supposed to know.
   
      “What about Jess?”
   
      “She told me to only contact her in an emergency.”
   
      “Where is she Tami?”
   
      What is so secretive about what she is doing, he thought.
   
        “Jason, I told her I would not give out any information on what she is doing even to you. Drop it. Now if you want me to assemble the team I have to start now.”
   
        The feeling to want to pry more into what Jess was up to was excruciating but she was right, she must get the team together as soon as possible. The more time that passes just puts the kids that much further into danger or worse, and to have that hanging over his head was not something he wanted.
   
        “Alright call them. Also call Travis Kendall.”
   
      “Who is he?” Tami asked.
   
      “He is a child psychologist.”
   
      “Understandable. I will get right on it. Oh, and Jay?”
   
      “Yes Tami.”
   
      “I’m sorry, and thanks.”
   
      “Yep. By the way, please make sure my office fridge has energy drinks, I’m going to need them.”
   
      “Yes sir, Bye.”
     
      “Later.” He never ended his phone conversations with bye, it always seemed to final.

             Jason placed his feet back on the floor of the boat and placed the hat back on top of his head. He didn't have a choice but to squint his eyes against the sunlight now just above the pine trees to the west putting it about six o'clock he figured. He stood up and walked across the deck to the door that led down in to the bow.
         
      The cramped space just forward of the control board down below deck was a cabin with a white leather horseshoe bench with removable cushions for more storage, a water proof outdoor blue carpet, and couple of spotlights to the front which wasn’t much at night. Where he was heading for was the closet to the right with a white metal door labeled in the front by a polished aluminum plate with large, black letters that said storage. Jason pulled on the recessed handle opening it and peered inside. The interior of the closet consisted mostly of extra rope, a couple of fishing poles, an anchor, and a duffle bag. Jason reached in and grabbed the handle of the bag and tossed it behind him on the bench and closed the metal door. He turned around taking two steps to the bench and unzipped the duffle bag. Sticking his hand in he shuffled the clothes in it around till he found what he was looking for. Pulling out a smaller bluish, purple bag with a picture of a crown on it with writing on it that said “Crown Royal”. Jason untied the gold colored strings dangling from the top and opened the mouth of the bag; he grasped the bottom corner of it and flipped it upside down unloading its contents on the cushion. A few stones of various colors, a black candle that was small and fat, a white candle also small and fat, a piece of paper folded into a square, a purple piece of chalk and a lighter fell out.
         
      Jason stepped back out on the deck of the boat. Kneeling down he drew a couple of strange characters on to the fake wood floor with the chalk, then placed the candles lit into two circles a foot across from each other. He stood up reading off the now unfolded piece of paper a phrase in an ancient language while dropping one of the three stones onto the symbols. Repeating the same procedure two more times speaking different phrases he stepped back. The air in front of him began to build in static electricity to where he could feel his hair start to stand on end and a slight but distinctive smell of sulfur. Above the candles, symbols and stones arose a shimmering column of air like that you would see coming from the top of a chimney on a cold day. The disturbance in the air formed a rough outline of a figure.
         
      A voice, not audible, but within his head kind of like a fading thought, spoke to him sternly. “Jason Knight, why again have you summoned me. I warned you last time, I will have you tortured and brought to the brink of death then let you heal and do it again. I am not your slave that is at your beckon call. Where you learned my true name, I do not know, but you will choke on my name till your skin turns blue and your brain dies of lack of your precious oxygen.”

      “Really? For a spirit that is neither good nor evil you can definitely talk some bullshit. You can neither touch nor hurt me and you know it. Because as soon as you do, you go straight to hell and I know you need the brownie points I am helping you with to get you back in good with the big guy.”

      “What do you want of me, Knight?”
     
      “I need information about a possible demon attack on a family named Clark and what I am getting into. Since you are my only informant from the other side I need your assistance.” Jason brought his hands in front of him and clasped them together at his waist relaxing his shoulders. “I have plenty of time to wait.”
   
        The voice formed again between his ears just behind his eyes. “You are lying, Knight. Did you forget, not only do I communicate through your mind but can read it too. I could just stand here and see if the children live or die and then we would know then wouldn’t we. Then again do you have the strength to hold me here that long?”
   
        “Damn it, alright, fine, I don’t have time to play around with you. I mean really, Dzmoxinos, I need that information.”
   
      “You fool, again you use my true name. There are no demon attacks on any children that I am privy to.  If there was any, it would be by a higher ranked demon that I am not accessible to, but they usually don’t toy with petty children. Why don’t you just send your little spy bitch into the spirit realm and find out for yourself.”
   
        “She bugs you, doesn’t she. Ever since you bastards found out she can transport you against your will you have been mentally harassing her in the spirit plane.”
   
      “You and your little girlfriend are not the most liked bags of skin in the spirit plane. They lie and wait, for one day you will drop your guard and they will kill you both.”
   
        “I can’t wait. Find out what you can about what is causing this so I can deal with it. By the way, for a neutral spirit you sure are bitter as hell.”
   
        “Yeah well you would be too if you were not good enough to be in heaven and not bad enough to rot in hell and have to deal with both arrogant sides, leaving me to have to deal with people like you.”
   
        “Well, you know how to reach me if you turn something up.”
     
        “Fine. Now release me you, hack!”

     
      Jason took a step forward and smeared out one of the symbols, then bent over blowing out both of the candles. The air went back to normal and the scent of pine again filled his senses. The shimmering shape dissipated and again Jason stood on the deck of his boat staring across the water.
   
      The spirit entity that he had learned to summon was one of a group of spirits that were considered neutral. The Neutral spirits were really only good for information only. They mostly were suicide deaths that didn’t do anything wrong in life to land them in hell but can’t stay in heaven either, so they kind of float between the two in the spirit plane. Dzmoxinos was really a lesser demon that kind of fell in this category for one reason or another and has admitted to wanting to at least enter purgatory but God wouldn’t listen to him. That is why he helps Jason even when he doesn’t want to because he needs the acts of good to help show he wants to enter purgatory and since he is still part demon he must obey those who speak his true name.
   
      Again the phone vibrated in his pocket.
   
    Jason promptly pulled it out and answered it. “Jason.”
   
    “Jay, we have a problem. The Clark family’s son was just arrested for assault and child abuse. They are charging him with the injuries to his sisters. You know and I know he didn’t do it.” Tami’s sounded depressed and defeated.
 
    “I am winching my boat now on to the trailer. I will be back there tomorrow morning.”
   
    “Okay. Do you think we can convince them he didn’t do it.”
   
    “Who knows? Later.”

Chapter 2

The Stewards

         

                The chill air of fall began its decent upon northern Michigan forcing even the most warm blooded of individuals to pull a jacket over their shoulders. Trees once green and majestic in their age now slowly turning to different hues of brown and orange as they begin their preparation for a harsh winter. Squirrels scurrying about within the branches of the trees under which they bury there nuts in the ground for the sake of their own survival. Nature going about its business while onlookers from the south traveling as much as hundreds of miles to witness and enjoy the changing of the season from hunting to seeing the color of the leaves still on the trees. Yet those who live within the tranquil, quiet and peaceful town of Lancton enjoy the influx of money the southerners bring for nothing more than what nature already supply's.

         Jason Knight was one of those southerners enjoying the peacefulness as he stared out across the small lake buried deep within the woods. His small motor boat swaying slightly side to side by the small waves pushed along by the cold October breeze. This was the last time for the year he was going to be relaxing on his boat before hulling it onto the launch and winching it on to the trailer for the trip back home to Ohio.

         For a few summers now he had been coming up to his friends cabin on the secluded lake. There were only two other cabins besides the one he was staying in, yet he knew none of them just the occasional friendly wave. He enjoyed the quietness and the seclusion so to him they were merely a nuisance. Since his encounter with his first evil entity he had been using this spot to help clear his head of all the stresses of dealing with the unwilling dead as he liked to call them.

         Five years ago Jason had been a psychology student at the University of Michigan and a prominent skeptic of paranormal phenomenon. After several semesters of living with his best friend Mike Jawarski in the dorm, he decided he would rent a apartment. Two months into his occupancy an evil entity did everything it could to kill him and eventually took the life of a priest that tried to help him. Jason moved out of the apartment and it was rented to a family whose son became possessed by the same entity. For weeks Jason tried what he could to help the family despite a restraining order by the apartment owner with little use. The son eventually killed the parents and was about to kill his little sister sleeping when he was stopped by police and Jason when they broke in and found him with the knife in the air. Jess Erikson, a beautiful, blond haired, woman who Jason had befriended while attending the Institute for Paranormal Studies in a class for understanding channeling. After some time he discovered she had a talent to perform a out of body experience known as a OBE and while in the process able to see and communicate with spirits. That night at the apartment she had OBE'ed into the boys home from a church down the street with her physical body being medically monitored. When Jess entered the boy's room she could see a dark cloud surrounding him manipulating him like a puppet. Her spirit body rushed to him to stop the entity but once she made contact with the black mass she was able to will herself to grab hold of it. Back in the church the medical student,observing her body and the machines, seen a spike in her vital signs and shook her, Jess snapped back to her physical body violently but not without realizing she still had a hold of the entity. The black cloud formed into a human shape and made a growling sound while speedily floating out the open window behind the med student. Jess was shook up at first but sat up and walked out of the rectory, walked across the church and knelt in front of the alter. Since then Jason had put together a team of friends and colleagues including Jess and he named it the "Nightmare Evaluation and eXtermination Team" or just by its anagram NEXT. From that day he had determined his ambition would be to help those that were either in danger for their lives or children at risk by evil entities.

         Right now though he was determined to enjoy every moment he could drag out of what was left of this season. Jason leaned the captain's chair back and kicked his deck shoed feet up onto the control panel, he grabbed the bill of his Pittsburg Steelers hat and drew it down over his eyes. He loved the feeling of the breeze that blew in from under the bill of the hat and into his face, it had a calming effect. The air smelled clean with the hint of pine as it moved across the surface of the lake water. His mind began to clear of wandering thoughts, with sleep approaching ever faster.

         It was the sudden vibration within his blue jean pant's pocket that bolted him straight up in the seat. Everyone knew he was on his calming retreat and was not to be disturbed. Jason reached down fishing his fingers around for the cell phone. Either the office better be on fire or something better be wrong with Jess, he thought angrily as he pulled the phone up out of his pocket, flipped it open and clutched it to his ear.

         "Jason." He blurted into the cell annoyed.

         "Hi Jay. I know you said no contact while on your retreat but I felt this was important."

         Jason knew the voice on the other end right away, it was Tami Richards, she was the face of the team for public relations. He met her shortly after he had left the institute when she was just a local freelance journalist. She had been covering his paranormal investigations of a insane asylum in Pennsylvania. When he formed the team he realized his short comings with dealing with people was a problem and the people he handpicked for the team weren't much better. After a long negotiation he convinced her to be their public relations person and sometimes secretary, which just mainly consisted of answering the phone and keeping tabs on the members of the team so they can be assembled on short notice.

         He heard her take a deep breath then sigh.

         “Got a call a few minutes ago from a Kimberly Mansfield, she is deeply worried for her niece and nephews. Her sister, Elizabeth Clark, says her children are being physically attacked by something invisible in the house as she describes it. Ms. Mansfield was calling from a hospital where her youngest niece was being treated for lacerations and bruises from one of the latest assaults. She said the attacks are increasing in brutality and that her fifteen year old nephew is experiencing severe uncharacteristic mood swings some being violent. Child protective services have begun an investigation into the recent hospital visits by the family and the veracity of her nephew's outbursts, worrying her sister into hysterics. She was given our number by a bystander who overheard her telling the story to someone in the hall.” Tami practically said the whole story in one breath, probably trying to keep him from hanging up.

         As a rule, normally he would, but when it involved children he couldn't help but at least listen. Damn, he wished he had turned off his cell. "What about the parents, any attacks on them?" He asked, though knowing the answer in his head already.

         "No, the parents have not been attacked. Oh, and apparently the father . . ."

         And there it is.

         ". . doesn't believe any of it." Jason finished the sentence for her.“The arrogance of man, the master of his house, the alpha male of his pride. Close minded idiot. Funny how ignorance could very well get his kids killed and his son arrested then hospitalized. Any mention of how long ago this started?"

         “It started in August, so I would assume it being now the beginning of October, a month to a month and a half. Hey Jason, this lady sounded really scared for her family. Do you want me to start rallying the troops because I think Mike is in Las Vegas on a job, something about surveillance at one of the casinos needing an over haul? The rest are mostly at home or at their vacation houses, except Jess.” Tami’s voice trailed off into a silence, as if hiding some pertinent information he wasn’t supposed to know.

         “What about Jess?”

         “She told me to only contact her in an emergency.”

         “Where is she Tami?”

         What is so secretive about what she is doing, he thought.

         “Jason, I told her I would not give out any information on what she is doing even to you. Drop it. Now if you want me to assemble the team I have to start now.”

         The feeling to want to pry more into what Jess was up to was excruciating but she was right, she must get the team together as soon as possible. The more time that passes just puts the kids that much further into danger or worse, and to have that hanging over his head was not something he wanted.

         “Alright call them. Also call Travis Kendall.”

         “Who is he?” Tami asked.

         “He is a child psychologist.”

         “Understandable. I will get right on it. Oh, and Jay?”

         “Yes Tami.”

         “I’m sorry, and thanks.”

         “Yep. By the way, please make sure my office fridge has energy drinks, I’m going to need them.”

         “Yes sir, Bye.”

         “Later.” He never ended his phone conversations with bye, it always seemed to final.

         Jason placed his feet back on the floor of the boat and placed the hat back on top of his head. He didn't have a choice but to squint his eyes against the sunlight now just above the pine trees to the west putting it about six o'clock he figured. He stood up and walked across the deck to the door that led down in to the bow.

         The cramped space just forward of the control board down below deck was a cabin with a white leather horseshoe bench with removable cushions for more storage, a water proof outdoor blue carpet, and couple of spotlights to the front which wasn’t much at night. Where he was heading for was the closet to the right with a white metal door labeled in the front by a polished aluminum plate with large, black letters that said storage. Jason pulled on the recessed handle opening it and peered inside. The interior of the closet consisted mostly of extra rope, a couple of fishing poles, an anchor, and a duffle bag. Jason reached in and grabbed the handle of the bag and tossed it behind him on the bench and closed the metal door. He turned around taking two steps to the bench and unzipped the duffle bag. Sticking his hand in he shuffled the clothes in it around till he found what he was looking for. Pulling out a smaller bluish, purple bag with a picture of a crown on it with writing on it that said “Crown Royal”. Jason untied the gold colored strings dangling from the top and opened the mouth of the bag; he grasped the bottom corner of it and flipped it upside down unloading its contents on the cushion. A few stones of various colors, a black candle that was small and fat, a white candle also small and fat, a piece of paper folded into a square, a purple piece of chalk and a lighter fell out.

         Jason stepped back out on the deck of the boat. Kneeling down he drew a couple of strange characters on to the fake wood floor with the chalk, then placed the candles lit into two circles a foot across from each other. He stood up reading off the now unfolded piece of paper a phrase in an ancient language while dropping one of the three stones onto the symbols. Repeating the same procedure two more times speaking different phrases he stepped back. The air in front of him began to build in static electricity to where he could feel his hair start to stand on end and a slight but distinctive smell of sulfur. Above the candles, symbols and stones arose a shimmering column of air like that you would see coming from the top of a chimney on a cold day. The disturbance in the air formed a rough outline of a figure.

         A voice, not audible, but within his head kind of like a fading thought, spoke to him sternly. “Jason Knight, why again have you summoned me. I warned you last time, I will have you tortured and brought to the brink of death then let you heal and do it again. I am not your slave that is at your beckon call. Where you learned my true name, I do not know, but you will choke on my name till your skin turns blue and your brain dies of lack of your precious oxygen.”

         “Really? For a spirit that is neither good nor evil you can definitely talk some bullshit. You can neither touch nor hurt me and you know it. Because as soon as you do, you go straight to hell and I know you need the brownie points I am helping you with to get you back in good with the big guy.”

         “What do you want of me, Knight?”

         “I need information about a possible demon attack on a family named Clark and what I am getting into. Since you are my only informant from the other side I need your assistance.” Jason brought his hands in front of him and clasped them together at his waist relaxing his shoulders. “I have plenty of time to wait.”

         The voice formed again between his ears just behind his eyes. “You are lying, Knight. Did you forget, not only do I communicate through your mind but can read it too. I could just stand here and see if the children live or die and then we would know then wouldn’t we. Then again do you have the strength to hold me here that long?”

         “Damn it, alright, fine, I don’t have time to play around with you. I mean really, Dzmoxinos, I need that information.”

         “You fool, again you use my true name. There are no demon attacks on any children that I am privy to. If there was any, it would be by a higher ranked demon that I am not accessible to, but they usually don’t toy with petty children. Why don’t you just send your little spy bitch into the spirit realm and find out for yourself.”

         “She bugs you, doesn’t she. Ever since you bastards found out she can transport you against your will you have been mentally harassing her in the spirit plane.”

         “You and your little girlfriend are not the most liked bags of skin in the spirit plane. They lie and wait, for one day you will drop your guard and they will kill you both.”

         “I can’t wait. Find out what you can about what is causing this so I can deal with it. By the way, for a neutral spirit you sure are bitter as hell.”

         “Yeah well you would be too if you were not good enough to be in heaven and not bad enough to rot in hell and have to deal with both arrogant sides, leaving me to have to deal with people like you.”

         “Well, you know how to reach me if you turn something up.”

         “Fine. Now release me you, hack!”


         Jason took a step forward and smeared out one of the symbols, then bent over blowing out both of the candles. The air went back to normal and the scent of pine again filled his senses. The shimmering shape dissipated and again Jason stood on the deck of his boat staring across the water.

         The spirit entity that he had learned to summon was one of a group of spirits that were considered neutral. The Neutral spirits were really only good for information only. They mostly were suicide deaths that didn’t do anything wrong in life to land them in hell but can’t stay in heaven either, so they kind of float between the two in the spirit plane. Dzmoxinos was really a lesser demon that kind of fell in this category for one reason or another and has admitted to wanting to at least enter purgatory but God wouldn’t listen to him. That is why he helps Jason even when he doesn’t want to because he needs the acts of good to help show he wants to enter purgatory and since he is still part demon he must obey those who speak his true name.

         Again the phone vibrated in his pocket.

         Jason promptly pulled it out and answered it. “Jason.”

         “Jay, we have a problem. The Clark family’s son was just arrested for assault and child abuse. They are charging him with the injuries to his sisters. You know and I know he didn’t do it.” Tami’s sounded depressed and defeated.

         “I am winching my boat now on to the trailer. I will be back there tomorrow morning.”

“Okay. Do you think we can convince them he didn’t do it.”

         “Who knows? Later.”

Chapter 2

The Stewards

         

         Jason Knight walked across the Steward’s front lawn toward the black Econoline van parked in the driveway with the acronym on the side ‘N.E.X.T.’. He recognized the tall, slender blonde haired woman standing next to Mark, an oppositely bulky framed beast of a man that was his engineer and lead technician. The woman Beatrice Kendrick had been a long standing friend and occasional expert medium for his team since he formed it many years ago. He had met her in metaphysics class at the Institute for Paranormal Studies on a project at the Gainesville Asylum where many patients were murdered to prevent the spread of a deadly disease. Hundreds of skeletons were discovered in a mass grave that she had discovered when she went into a trance and channeled many of the spirits trying to come through at one time during their investigation. Now she was here to find out just how bad a situation he was going to be dealing with on this case. 
         
                “Ms. Kendrick, how are you?” Jason asked as he approached holding his hand out for a hand shake.
         
              Beatrice rotated her slender frame away from Mark to look at Jason as he approached. She was plain looking with shoulder long brown hair and wire rimmed glasses. The idea of wearing a dress from time to time appalled her, suits to appointments and jeans or sweat pants to lounge in was what he always remembered. Still he found her straight to the point, with a no bullshit attitude, comforting. With a smile she took his hand in a handshake.
         
              “Jason, if you called a psychic to this house then something really bad is going on, we all know your disdain for them.”
         Jason let go of her soft petite hand and dropped the smile off his face. “Must we do this every time I ask you to come on a job? I just find ninety nine point nine percent of them to be a bunch of con artists feeding bullshit to unsuspecting or grieving people and asking them to enjoy it while taking the money out of their pockets. You on the other hand have proved your worth and have earned my respect in the field many times. I am starting to think you do this just so you get to hear me say this every time.” He pulled a mini smoked sausage out of his pants pocket, unwrapped it and put it between his lips like a cigarette letting the flavor of the spices in it work their magic calming his temper.
         
              She gave Jason a light hearted smile and adjusted her glasses. “Yes I do. You still get worked up over the stupidest of things but at least you are still off the cigarette habit. So what’s the story on this one?”
         
              Jason reached up and pulled the meat stick out from between his teeth. “The family is the Steward’s; they have a ten year old daughter and four year old son, Mr. Steward is thirty four and the mother is thirty, the father has been getting deep slash marks like claws in his back, thighs, and arms for a few months now. He has called in three priests to bless the house over the last few weeks and it hasn’t stopped. A few days ago a team of ghost hunters went through the house to detect any paranormal activity. The lead investigator Steven Kinsley, you should remember him from institute, he was the project leader for the Gainsville investigation, anyway his group found a multitude of readings over a two day period.”
         
            “Okay, so when did you get involved in this? I mean, just a poltergeist slashing wouldn’t usually peak your interest unless a child was involved or someone was going to get killed.”
           
              “Well there are two children in the house though none of which have been touched. The daughter, Lisa, says she had seen a monster in her bedroom mirror and that it looked like it was trying to grab her from it. Steven’s team placed a digital video camera and an EMF detector for electromagnetic field readings on it for two nights, both came up negative. They had a psychic with them one night as a tag along and she ran out of Lisa’s room screaming ‘Don’t let the child back in the room or she will die!’ and she left.” Jason bit the end of his beef jerky and put it back in his mouth. Once the juices had been sucked out of the end to him it just tasted like paper wrapped cardboard. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out an index card which he handed to her. “The name and phone number of the spooked psychic, just in case you want to compare notes.”
             
              Beatrice looked over the card and placed it in her purse still hanging off her left shoulder. “Still placing everything on index cards, you know they invented note pads.”
         
            “Yeah well, it’s just a hell of a lot easier to organize my thoughts. Anyway, I just want you to do quick walk through and give me your assessment of the house. If you don’t want to delve into the daughter’s room right now that’s fine the family is out of town for two days and we have full access to everything.”

            “Have you done a SCU perimeter sweep yet or is this a totally blind run?”
         
            Jason and Beatrice spun their heads around to look at the back of the van where the back door had been slammed shut. Jason saw Mark as he came around the corner with a scowl under reddish blonde beard distorting his round face. He had known Mark for several years now and the only time the hobbit, as he would call him sometimes, would lose his cool is when it had to do with his electronic toys gone awry  Right now the last thing they needed is for any of the sensor-control-units to be down.

          “Alright Mark, what’s up?” Jason asked as Mark got closer to where they were standing.

        “SCU 1,2,4,5 won’t uplink to the master control and the external power source adapter just fried out on SCU 3. As of right now we are running on one SCU, there goes our array till I can get them working.” Mark pulled his long hair out from around his eyes and pushed it behind his ear. “The best I can do Beatrice is set up SCU 6 in the girls room and at least give you a heads up on the activity in there since it’s the hot spot. If it’s too hot in there we can save you from going in.”

        Beatrice gave Mark a lighthearted smile and placed a hand on his broad shoulder.“You were always the thoughtful one Mark, but no I’ll go in blind best that way anyway.”

          Jason turned toward the house. “Alright people, time to see what were playing with.”
     
        He started to walk back across the lawn to the front of the house. There wasn’t an entity he was scared of and this one wasn’t going to be any different. If he had to pull out every trick in the book he would or make up a few of his own along the way.
                   
                                            **************************************************

                Beatrice hung behind Mark as Jason opened the oak front door causing the woodworked welcome sign hanging on a nail to knock against it. The foyer was decorated in floral from the wallpaper to the pattern in the carpet and family pictures hung in collage frames on the walls. The far wall archway opened into a dining room not much less decorative in floral than the foyer. She stepped onto the hardwood floors of the dining room and a rush of energy flooded across her body causing the hairs to stand on the back of her neck. Her senses right way extended out within the room searching for the source of the energy spike. Still standing still within the archway of the dining room she closed her eyes allowing her senses to feel out the room.The presence of spirits within the vicinity of a room she occupies immediately sets off her sensory alarms to prevent a spiritual ambush by demonic forces.
         
              “Beatrice, you alright?” Mark asked from behind her.
         
                Beatrice took a deep breath to reset her mind for a second in order to respond. “Yes, but something is within in this room waiting and watching, by the feel of it, it’s in that corner.” She raised her arm and pointed at the far right corner next to a Victorian high back chair again with strong floral pattern. “It’s not moving, so my bet is it is either sitting in the chair or standing in front of it.”
         
                Jason walked in around her and entered the dining room toward the chair. “Hostile or passive?”  He asked with his back to her as he pulled a square object out of his pocket and pointed it toward the corner. Jason swung his arm horizontally back and forth while staring intently into it. “I am definitely reading an EMF spike of eight point five from point two ambient.” Jason began to walk a small arc from the corner to the other side of the dining room. “Back to point three, there is definitely an anomaly in that corner, though it could be electrical leakage from the basement or the plug behind the chair.”
         
              Beatrice opened her eyes. She could not see the entity but she could still feel it in the corner of the room. A burst of air brushed against her face but not a hair moved on her head. The energy force was right in front of her now so close that if it were breathing she could feel its breath. The air around her felt electrified causing the hairs on her arms and neck to stand on end. An urge to scream began slowly creeping up within her throat but the last thing she wanted right now was to show fear. It was measuring her up she could sense it, maybe determining whether she posed a threat to it or not. Beatrice could feel a slightly growing throb within her temples moving toward her the center of her skull. The entity was trying to push its way into her mind by force. Beatrice closed her eyes again this time visualizing a white light encasing her body protecting her spiritual self from the onslaught. The hairs on her body began to relax and the energy that was in front of her dissipated along with the pressure in her head. She let out a large sigh of relief.
         
                A hand suddenly placed upon Beatrice’s shoulder caused her to jump from shock. “Beatrice, you’re white as a ghost, what the hell just happened?” Mark asked from behind her.
         
              “Something just measured me up, could feel it nose to nose if it had one. It tried to push itself into my head but I blocked it.” She was breathing heavy, somewhat light headed but nonetheless fine. Looking up she could see Jason still walking around the dining room swinging the rectangle box side to side taking his readings.
         
              “Beatrice, what about the entity, was it hostile or not? Is it the one we are looking for?” Jason asked her without turning around.
         
              “I didn’t get a sense of evil from it at all, mostly curiosity, but it is was extremely strong.” She raised her fingers to her temples and slowly tried to massage the light headedness back. Three more seconds of the mental onslaught and she wouldn’t of been able to block whatever it was from entering her mind at all.
         
              Beatrice walked as sure footed as she could across the rest of dining room floor to the living room.