Chapter 20
Zhen
On the scale of size, original doll size being a no, thank you, this size in front of me registered as a fuck me. How had it gotten so big already?!
I lifted the bow in my hands and fired on pure instinct. The demon swatted the arrow aside like a mosquito, thin lips curving up in a way that gave me the heebie-jeebies. My goosepimples had goosepimples.
Morgan drawled out behind me, “You missed.”
“It was a range-finding shot!”
“Uh-huh.”
Some friends. So disloyal.
Now, for a Raggedy Ann-type doll, I didn’t expect much speed.
Turned out I was dead wrong. It charged me like an anime character hyped up on the power of friendship.
I threw myself out of the way, rolling sideways, and barely landed on my feet.
I clipped an end cap full of Christmas decorations, sending glittery ceramics crashing to the floor.
Why were there Christmas decorations for sale already?!
Not the time, not the time. Focus, me!
I leapt over the shattered products, dropping the bow. Clearly even blessed arrows weren’t going to do anything, so I pulled free my trusty silver sword from the scabbard on my back. At least silver could hurt the bastard.
“Remember,” Morgan sing-songed, “you can’t shoot a sword!”
“You are so utterly not helpful!” I snarked back.
Morgan had a Super Soaker filled with holy water, and sprayed the demon right in the face. The doll hissed, a guttural sound, and flinched back before charging us again.
I put myself in its path, swiping diagonally.
When I grazed the cloth at its chest, the demon hissed again, jumping back a good five feet in one go.
Jesus Christ, the mouth was this gaping maw of blackness.
Which should not be the case, not at all.
Like, stuffing, yoohoo? Why was there an abyss inside instead of fluffy whiteness? No like.
Dammit, if we only knew the demon’s true name, we’d have some kind of advantage, here!
The demon threw hands and this inky blackness like ribbons shot out.
I deflected the first ribbon, the impact jarring straight up into my shoulder.
Holy fuck, it felt like hitting a steel pole.
I gritted my teeth and battled back the other ribbon before it could reach Morgan.
I was tank in this partnership, with him being offense.
Supposedly, anyway, that had been the plan.
Only I was no longer sure we had a single weapon on us strong enough to actually do the doll damage.
Even my sword cut from earlier had healed like I’d never touched it.
My silver-coated dirks were blessed, but the arrows were of the same make, and the demon had treated those like flying sewing needles.
Irritating but incapable of true damage.
Then again, we were so close to the ley line it only made sense the demon could regenerate.
A bullet hit the side of its head, making the doll tilt for a moment. Steam visibly rose from the bullet hole. I didn’t need to look to know my wife had just sniped Annabelle. Damn, she was really a good shot; at least four displays impeded her view from the front door.
I just wished the bullet had done something more than catch Annabelle off guard for a second.
I watched the bullet sink into the doll’s head, heard hissing as metal burned to ash.
Which, uh, that wasn’t okay. What even was that, the internal fires of hell?
Those round black eyes between that triangular nose focused on me, and the way it stared and stared without blinking was creepy as fuck.
Giant shivers raced up and down my spine.
Mixed with that discomfort was a chilling fear: Could I even inflict actual damage to this thing?
Oh, I did not like that thought. I fucking hated that insidious fear. It was frustrating to not know what to try next, but the idea of nothing will work was a fear I did not need to unlock and deploy at this time, thanks muchly.
Morgan fired over my shoulder, hitting the thing right in the mouth this time with his holy water.
The demon screamed like the damned soul it was, the cacophony of overlaying voices and tones both eerie and piercing.
The noise absolutely killed my ears, and my eyes scrunched up in protest. Oh, good shot!
As expected of Morgan, he knew how to spot and take advantage of the opportune moment.
Ethan and Evan ran out of Jewelry, weapons at the ready, and for a moment I had hope this plan would succeed. We had our shit together. The four of us could totally drive the demon toward Electronics where Gramps was, as planned.
Ribbons of darkness shot out of mitten hands again, but instead of aiming directly for Ethan and Evan, the doll grabbed one of the big shelves and yanked. In a single breath, the twins were crushed beneath an entire shelf of Christmas décor. Shit!
The demon cackled at the destruction and weaved through the remaining Seasonal shelving, taking a left toward Groceries, which was the direction we wanted, at least. I hesitated strongly, not sure whether to continue the pursuit or help the twins.
Through the walkie-talkie came Ethan’s strained voice. “Ignore crash, we’re okay.”
Kris was quick to respond. “We saw a shelf topple! Need help?”
A groaned “Maybe. Glitter. There’s glitter everywhere. Ugh, it’s in my mouth.”
“Jo Jo and Jun Hie are on their way! Bailey, you’re closest, can you help?”
Bailey’s voice joined in. “River and I are on our way, you might need some opposable thumbs.”
Trust Kris to be the most awesomest of support. I left my friends in my wife’s very capable hands and started chasing after Annabelle.
My bond wasn’t happy with Jo Jo leaving Kris’s side. A little twingey, but I ignored it, chanting to myself that she was surrounded by huodou and her special protective cage, and Annabelle was headed the opposite direction. She’d be fine. I was in far more danger than her.
Morgan hoofed it next to me. Morgan was not a sprinter, more a long-distance runner, one of those naturally stocky men. He huffed next to me, sounding much like an old steam engine getting up to speed.
“I really hate this bitch.”
I grunted in agreement because same.
Over the loudspeakers, bell chimes rang out like a church bell. Eh? Whosa, whatsit?
To my surprise, Annabelle put both hands over its ears and screamed. Huh, it really didn’t like that. Goodie! I didn’t know who’d hijacked the speakers and started playing church bells, but I had a feeling it was Gramps. I’d kiss his brain later. Bells were much more effective than I’d expected.
Still screaming, Annabelle lurched and kept running. It wasn’t playing, it was really running this time.
Kris got another shot off, this one impacting it in the shoulder, and seriously, she’s becoming such a good sniper.
I was so proud of her. I put on a burst of speed to keep up, almost leaving Morgan in the dust. Then realized the doll had darted behind a stand-alone display and somehow disappeared.
I had to slow down to a fast walk, checking each aisle, prepping myself for the jump scare of all jump scares.
Annabelle wasn’t in the Pet section. Groceries, maybe?
I caught a glimpse of a shoe as it rounded the other end of an aisle, and I put on a burst of speed to catch up. I didn’t want her hiding down another aisle. This cat and mouse game wasn’t fun when I was the stupid mouse stalking the cat.
I had more breath than Morgan so used the walkie-talkie to send intel. “It’s heading straight south past Groceries!”
I swear to god, it was like the thing heard me.
Inky black ribbons shot out again and dragged one of the food shelves right out of position, blocking the main aisle completely.
I slammed on the brakes and almost didn’t make the stop in time before smacking right up against hard metal shelves. Fuck me, that hurt.
Morgan started swearing. “Time to go around.”
“Hey, you ever have a fantasy about climbing these shelves as a kid?” I was already backing up several paces.
“Uh…no? Only you would do that, man.”
“Nonsense, I can’t be the only one.” I took off, getting some speed under me, then jumped, landing halfway up the shelving—sorry, beans that I kicked—and with one last push off with my foot, I successfully reached the top.
Morgan muttered something below me that sounded like “fucking showoff,” but I ignored him.
I jumped neatly to the other side, but Annabelle was already halfway down the Grocery section—heading for the back doors, no doubt. Although at the rate the doll physically moved large items around, that thing could probably punch a hole through the back wall and just waltz right out.
Please, whatever deity might be listening, let it not think to do that. I did not want to chase a demon doll around a Walmart parking lot at night.
A walkie-talkie sounded and Kris spoke. “Church bells have stopped being effective, switch to something else. What’s a holy song?”
Fantastic idea! Hymns against a demon should work great. All the really old magic was set to music for a reason, and old hymns should be wicked effective if Annabelle was sensitive to sound.
There was silence for a second and then another song started playing.
Well, I said song but it was more like a chant with the occasional chime or beat thrown in.
I wasn’t raised Christian so didn’t know much about the religion except what I needed for hunts, but I recognized this one because I’d hunted with Gramps before.
The Oxyrhynchus hymn, one of the oldest existing Christian hymns.
Annabelle threw back its head and emitted an ear-splitting scream, this sound even more eerie than the last. I pressed a hand against my own ear in reaction.
It was like being near a foghorn overlayed with a cacophony of damned souls screaming.
My head rang and my stomach churned, threatening upchucks.
I had to pause, focus on breathing, before I vomited my soul onto my shoes.