Chapter 7: The Night Watch
The house was still and heavy with the weight of the night's events. Jason lay on the couch, bandaged and finally resting, his head nestled against Sarah's shoulder. She held him close, her fingers absently running through his hair as she watched his chest rise and fall with each slow breath. Outside, the wind continued to howl, rattling the windows like the cold breath of the creatures that lurked in the dark.
Across the room, the others remained wide awake. Damion, Daniel, Emma, and Taylor sifted through Tyler's journals and notebooks, their faces illuminated by the dim glow of a single lamp. Pages rustled as they flipped through the notes, piecing together what they could, though exhaustion was etched into each of their expressions.
Damion, his eyes red from lack of sleep, leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "There's so much here, but nothing is making sense. We know Tyler was tracking the demons, but he left out all the details about these so-called 'abilities'—like he didn't want us to find out."
Taylor, who had been sitting quietly with one of the journals open in her lap, finally spoke. Her voice was soft, but it carried the weight of her grief. "He was scared. I think he knew the moment we found out about these powers, we'd become targets. That's why he kept it hidden."
Daniel frowned, flipping through another set of pages. "But if Tyler knew this was going to happen, why didn't he tell us sooner? Why did he keep us in the dark until it was too late?"
Emma, who had been methodically going through a stack of documents, rubbed her tired eyes. "Maybe he thought he could handle it on his own. Maybe he thought if he protected us from the truth, the demons wouldn't come after us."
"But they did come," Damion said bitterly, his jaw clenched. "And now Tyler's dead because of it."
Silence fell over the group as the weight of those words settled in. Taylor's eyes flickered toward the couch, where Jason and Sarah were wrapped in a quiet embrace. Even with Jason's newfound power, they all felt the same dread—uncertainty about what came next. The fear that they were all just pawns in a game they didn't fully understand.
After a long moment, Taylor broke the silence. "What's our next move?" Her voice was small, but there was a steel edge to it, a determination that hadn't been there before.
Daniel glanced up from the journal he was reading. "We need to figure out how to control these abilities. Jason might have unlocked his, but the rest of us… we don't know what we're capable of. And if these demons are coming for us, we need to be ready."
Damion crossed his arms, his expression serious. "But how do we unlock them? It's not like we can just force it. Jason's power activated when he was fighting for his life."
Emma nodded. "Maybe it's tied to survival instincts, like a defense mechanism. If the demons push us to the brink, that's when the abilities kick in."
Taylor shifted uncomfortably. "But that means we'd have to put ourselves in danger just to find out."
Daniel closed the journal with a soft thud, leaning forward with a grim look in his eyes. "We might not have a choice. If the demons are already hunting us, then danger is going to find us whether we're ready or not. We need to be prepared."
The room grew quiet again, the weight of that truth hanging in the air like a suffocating fog. They were all thinking the same thing—Jason had barely survived his encounter, and that was with his power awakened. If the others faced the same demons without knowing how to use their abilities, they might not be so lucky.
Taylor, her hands trembling slightly, spoke up again. "What if we look into Tyler's journals more? There has to be something here that explains how he knew about the abilities. Maybe there's a clue we've missed."
Emma flipped through a few more pages before nodding. "We can keep searching. But we're running out of time. The demons are getting bolder."
As they continued their discussion, Sarah glanced down at Jason's sleeping face, her heart aching for him. He had been through so much, and now, on top of the loss of his best friend, he was carrying the burden of this newfound power. She brushed a strand of hair from his forehead, hoping that when he woke, he'd have some answers—or at least some sense of peace.
Suddenly, Daniel stood up, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor breaking the silence. "We'll need to split up tomorrow," he said, his voice resolute. "Half of us will keep looking through Tyler's journals for more information. The other half needs to go to the places Tyler visited before he… before he died."
Damion nodded. "Agreed. We need to track down everything he knew. Maybe there's something he found—something about the demons we can use."
Taylor looked down at the journal in her lap, her brow furrowed. "There's a lot here about different types of demons, but there's one in particular he seemed obsessed with… something he called 'The Harbinger.'"
Emma leaned in, her eyes narrowing. "What's that?"
"I don't know," Taylor admitted. "But Tyler wrote about it over and over. It's like he thought this Harbinger was the key to everything."
Damion's face darkened. "Sounds like our next lead."
Sarah, still holding Jason close, listened quietly as the group planned their next steps. She could feel the tension in the room, the fear and uncertainty gnawing at them all. But for now, she was grateful Jason was resting—he needed it.
As the night wore on, the group continued to search through Tyler's notes and plan for the days ahead. There was no turning back now. They had already crossed a threshold, and whatever came next, they would have to face it together.
But deep down, each of them knew that the worst was yet to come.