Chapter 6: A Gathering of Shadows
By the time Jason and Sarah finally reached the house, Jason was barely holding on. His wounds burned with every movement, and his vision blurred, the edges of his sight darkening as the blood loss took its toll. But he refused to stop. They needed to tell the others what had happened—what they had seen.
The front door creaked open as they stumbled inside. Damion, Daniel, Emma, and Taylor looked up from the piles of papers and journals scattered around the room, their expressions shifting from exhaustion to shock the moment they saw Jason.
"Jason!" Damion rushed over, his eyes wide as he took in the sight of his friend, blood-soaked and barely standing. "What the hell happened?"
Jason tried to speak, but his voice was weak, his body swaying as the adrenaline began to wear off. Sarah caught him by the arm, helping to steady him. "We were attacked," she said breathlessly. "Something… a demon. It was like nothing we've ever seen before. Jason—he—"
"He fought it off," Jason croaked, forcing the words out. "Killed it. But it wasn't just any demon… this one was different."
Daniel and Emma exchanged worried glances as Taylor stood up, her face pale. "What do you mean different? How?"
Jason groaned as he sat down on the couch, his hand pressed to the deep gashes across his chest. His skin felt like it was on fire. "It was tall… black… and its eyes… it had souls in its eyes. It was powerful, fast. I barely survived."
"But that's not all," Sarah interrupted, her voice shaking slightly. "Jason… he grabbed it, and then… flames. He set the thing on fire, but not with anything we had. It came from him."
Damion's eyes widened in disbelief. "Wait… what? You mean… like an ability?"
Jason nodded slowly, his breath labored. "I don't know how. It just… happened. My eyes—Sarah said they were glowing. Red, like the demon's."
Emma knelt beside Jason, her face full of concern. "We need to bandage you up first. You're losing too much blood." She grabbed a first-aid kit from the kitchen and started tearing gauze as Daniel pulled Jason's jacket off, revealing the extent of his injuries.
"Holy crap," Daniel muttered. "You're lucky to even be alive."
Taylor stood off to the side, her eyes wide as she watched them work. "If Jason has some kind of power… does that mean Tyler knew all along? Is that why he kept so many secrets?"
Jason winced as Emma applied pressure to the wound, but he nodded again. "I think so. He wrote about it. 'The ability of my friends.' He knew there was something in us, something tied to the demons."
Damion paced the room, his fists clenched. "If that's true, then what else has Tyler been hiding? If these demons are after us because of these abilities, why didn't he warn us sooner?"
"He was trying to protect us," Taylor said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "But it cost him everything."
Jason's head throbbed as the room seemed to tilt slightly. His vision blurred again, and for a moment, he thought he might pass out. Emma and Sarah worked quickly, wrapping the bandages tightly around his wounds to stop the bleeding, but the exhaustion was setting in.
"You need to rest," Emma urged, looking up at him with concern. "You're not going to make it through the night like this."
Jason shook his head, though the weight of his own body was becoming unbearable. "No. We need to figure this out. If I have this power, then so do the rest of you. That's why the demons are coming after us. Tyler was trying to keep us safe, but now he's gone. We have to figure out what we're dealing with, before it's too late."
Damion stopped pacing and looked at Jason, determination flickering in his eyes. "If you unlocked something, maybe it's connected to whatever ritual or summoning Tyler was trying to perform. If we figure that out, we might know what abilities we have—and how to fight the demons."
Sarah, her face still pale from the night's horrors, shook her head. "But what if using these abilities only makes us more vulnerable? What if it draws the demons closer?"
Jason leaned his head back against the couch, his breathing ragged. "It doesn't matter. If they're coming for us, we don't have a choice. We need to be ready."
Daniel, who had been flipping through one of Tyler's old notebooks, spoke up. "There's more here, in these journals. It's like Tyler was leaving clues—warnings, maybe. We've only scratched the surface."
Taylor, her voice trembling, whispered, "What if the demons aren't just hunting us because of the abilities? What if… what if they want to use us for something?"
The room fell silent, the weight of her words hanging in the air like a dark cloud. None of them wanted to admit it, but the fear was there—what if the demons' endgame wasn't just to kill them, but to control them?
"We'll figure it out," Jason said, his voice hoarse. "But first, I need to rest. Tomorrow… we start looking for answers."
Emma finished bandaging his wounds and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Get some sleep, Jason. We'll watch over things tonight."
Jason nodded, his body finally giving in to the exhaustion. As he closed his eyes, the image of the demon's red, soul-filled eyes burned in his mind. He knew this wasn't over. This was only the beginning of something far darker, and far more dangerous, than they could have ever imagined.
And whatever it was, it was coming for them.
As the night deepened, the house grew eerily quiet. Outside, the wind howled through the trees, carrying with it the whispers of the demons lurking in the shadows, waiting for their next move.