Zooey could be vain at times, but sometimes, she could be really deep when she wanted to.
"Besides," she continued sagely; "You keep forgetting that we only just recently partnered up. The experience here is what matters, not the difficulty level. Trust me, you'll get your fair portion of difficult missions in the near future. But, before we can take up any dangerous mission, we need to actually get used to each other in the field. That's just common sense."
That last part was definitely meant to serve as a jab to his ego. Just when they were having a moment, she had to go and ruin it with that alpha-female-dominatrix thing she had going on.
"Did you really think I would pick a lowly mission like an excorcism without an ulterior motive?"
Alex blinked. Did she really just say 'exorcism?'
Zooey's sharp eyes caught the lost look in his eyes before it flashed away. Almost immediately, she attacked him verbally;
"Wait a minute, did you not read the file on this mission?"
He shrugged, and outrightly said; "No."
Alex did not even bother to deny it. If this was really an exorcism, then it proved him all the more right. Not reading it had definitely been the right call to make. An exorcism was a waste of his time.
Zooey sneered; "Oh you're cocky alright. Luckily, it's just an exorcism so that would not do too much damage."
The rickety old vehicle coughed up smoke, and raked up a cloud of dust as they pulled away from the desert, and slowly began to re-immerse themselves in the inner city. Since he had little to no information about the exorcism at hand, she decided to brief him orally. It took all but three minutes to let him know what was up.
The summary of it all was that an ordinary couple had noticed a series of bizzare occurences that was happening to their young teenage girl. They were obviously scared to have contacted the local priest at the local church. But the entity in the girl had proven to be a real menace for the poor priest.
And so, he had called upon The Guardians. As an organization, they were actually well connected. And this positioned them well to be in close to those who needed help. The local church he was one of those networks of connections. The Guardians' tentacles in the church ran so deep that some of the top priests were members themselves.
Thus, this was the background of that had brought forth their mission. It was all noble and all, but it sounded hellishly boring to someone like Alex who was built for so much more. But he had no other option right now that to sit through and watch Zooey cast out a low-level demon.
They soon arrived at their proposed destination and alighted from their vehicle. Since the couple in question were a bunch of normies, Alex and Zooey had to look normal. Hence, the old car, and simple monastery-like clothing.
The couple's home was a simple cabin in the woods that had been formulated. Thankfully, it was in a remote location. An ordinary looking couple stood on the porch, and welcomed them warmly. The mother's eyes looked drawn, like she had barely had forty five minutes of sleep all week. The husband looked even worse.
Alex was kind of moved.
This was the part of the job he had not anticipated at all- the realness. On paper, it all looked so generic. But in reality, the pain and the suffering was real. The woman feebly led them inside the house;
"The holy man says you can help my daughter, please you have to!" she pleaded; "She's all we've got! Please, the doctors all gave up on her when they could not give an accurate diagnosis of the problem. How can they treat when they have no clue as to what the problem is?!"
The husband laid his hand on her shoulders comfortingly;
"It's okay, they're here now. Don't worry, they'll get that thing out of Catherine..." he turned to them as if for confirmation; "RIGHT???"
Zooey answered with a question of her own;
"Is she in there?"
They both nodded.
"We'll take it from here. Actually, we would prefer if you not be present during the process..."
The mother retorted almost immediately; "Absolutely not!! We'll remain by her side as we always have!"
Zooey was not in the mood to argue. So, she simply said;
"Alright then. But be sure to stay maintain your distance all through the process. As you know already, these things can get really messy."
The husband and wife made no promises, but that was fine. She had done her part to warn them ahead of time. If they refused to listen, that was going to be on them.
"Open the door please."
With shaky hands, the husband reached for the handle and pushed. The wooden door creaked ominously as it gave way for the visitors to come in. A wave of hot air with an organic smell hit Zooey and Alex immediately.
The room was dark.
Heavy curtains had been drawn up to cover the blinds, almost completely blocking any kind of light from coming in. As if the woman could read their minds, she explained with sordid pain in her voice;
"Catherine likes it this way...or I guess I should say, the thing inside her likes this way. She screams like a siren everytime we try to open the windows or draw back the curtains...you're going to have to make do with this..."
Zooey did not comment immediately. But after a quick survey of the level of spiritual energy in the room, she ruled this as a small scale exorcism. To her, it was basically handled already.
"Sir, ma'am, I don't know what the priest told you, but I'm going to have to ask you to sign some documents to indemnify all the parties involved here."
She snapped her fingers at Alex, imploring him to bring the documents he was carrying.
Both the man and the woman hurriedly signed away. Alex was pretty sure that they both had no idea whatsoever of what the word 'indemnify' meant. They only wanted to get this over as soon as possible. The priest had given them his word that this organization would get the job done, and they held on to his assurance steadfastly.
With the paperwork done, the couple exited the room, while Zooey and Alex took their very first steps towards the victim. Formally, the exorcism had begun.
The victim in question was huddled in a bundle on the bed. Her pyjamas which was once white was dirty and torn in several places. Her unkempt dishevelled long hair was draped across her face, keeping her face hidden behind the thick mass of hair. She was still, very still. It was when they got closer that they noticed she was also in chains. It was indeed a pitiful sight.
"Catherine..." Zooey called out in an emotionless voice; "Are you there? Talk to me if you're awake."
There was no movement or response whatsoever that indicated that this possessed girl had heard her, or was even still breathing. If the mother had been present, she would have probably gasped as Zooey boldly walked up to the bed and promptly pulled at the feet of the seemingly unconscious girl.
The girl's sudden reaction was startling. First, she jerked compulsively.
Then it happened again, and again, until she began to jerk violently in a frenzied state. It was almost as if she was about to convulse or go into septic shock or something. The bed frame rattled in response to her gyrating body movements, building up some kind of roller coaster crescendo. Unfazed, Zooey maintained a placid face, allowing the demon to put on all the show it wanted. This was not her first rodeo.
After an eventful thirty seconds, the 'convulsion' stopped and the girl finally stirred. Like a ghoul stirring in the grave, she turned over to face them- and her mouth opened.
A sharp derisive laughter came out of her throat with the biting chill of a crow croaking at midnight. Zooey sighed. This was one dramatic demon. But Alex was the one with a look of surprise on his face. No way, he thought. He recongnized this girl! In fact, he knew her. This was hard to believe, but it was his former tormentor-in-command from his high school days; Catherine the great and terrible!
He almost could not believe his eyes!