Free Dark Exorcist by Tim Miller Page B

demon.”
         “Jesus Christ,” I said.
         “I know you don’t believe, but that is irrelevant. How did she manage to speak like your mother? How did she know things about your mother? I still have questions about that myself, by the way.”
         “Leave my mother’s death out of this.” I’d been patient with the priest so far, but he was beginning to test my patience. “So what’s the plan? You two gonna sit there and chant over her, and that will make it all better?”
         “Look, I don’t expect you to understand, but we do take precautions. That’s why I was looking for Dr. Bennett. We wanted him there to observe, both for legal and safety reasons.”
         “Right. Well, whatever. I don’t know how much you can do with the power out like this. Where is Amanda now?”
         “When I left, she was in her room on the fourth floor.”
         “So, she hadn’t gotten loose or harmed anyone?”
         “Not at all, not since her surgery, she’s been asleep.”
         I nodded, not that he could see me.
         “Any idea where Dr. Bennett might be?” I asked.
         “If he’s not in his office, he’s probably on the unit somewhere.”
         “We’ll check both, the unit door is locked.”
         I went over near the psych unit again, Father Pierce followed behind me. I heard him continue to walk farther past me, down the hall.
         “His office is empty,” Father Pierce called out.
         “All right.” I knocked on the unit door to the psychiatric ward. There was no answer. I knocked several more times and still there was no response. “Back up,” I told the priest as I drew my firearm. I was sure he’d hate this, but I didn’t see any other choice. It was difficult to know where to aim in the dark, but I felt for the locking mechanism and fired several shots at it. On the fourth shot, the door swung open
         “Do you have to shoot everything?” Father Pierce asked.
         “You have your tools, I have mine.”
         We stepped into the unit, which was just as quiet and empty as the rest of the hallway. I kept my gun drawn, since there was no telling what might jump out at us. As we made our way down the hall, I saw the unit tech standing with his back to us. I carefully approached with my gun trained on him.
         “Hey, can you hear me?” I asked. He stood there and didn’t move at all. “Hello?” I said, but still no movement. I walked around in an arching pattern so I could face him, but kept my distance. He was looking straight down the hall, his eyes glowing yellow.
         “Hey?” I said.  “Are you okay? Where is everyone?”
         “Upstairs,” he said, “waiting for you.”
     

Chapter 21
     
    Father Harlan, 3:15 a.m.
         I’ve always been a light sleeper. This night it came in especially handy. I won’t say I was expecting a phone call, but it had been a strange turn of events that brought me into town.  I had just returned from a short mission trip to Haiti when my friend Jacob called me. Jacob and I were friends in high school. Years later, he went to law school, and I went to the seminary. We hadn’t spoken much since, which made his call a complete surprise.
         He had finally met a wonderful young lady and asked her to be his wife. He asked me to preside over the wedding ceremony, which I was more than happy to oblige. I had a few weeks until my next assignment, so making the trip to see him would be a welcome break. I’d been doing an exorcism for the past several weeks, but hadn’t mentioned that to my friend. Very few people knew that was one of my duties, actually.
         I’d only been out of seminary a short time when my Bishop asked me if I was interested in becoming an exorcist. We barely touched on the subject in seminary. Most of us didn’t think the Church even performed them anymore. Once I arrived at the training center at the Vatican, I