Quinn Harris had to admit that Darius Kane’s preparation was almost ridiculous in its thoroughness.
The power had failed exactly like it always did in horror movies, yet he had already packed multiple independent light sources instead of trusting the house electricity.
Darius aimed the powerful flashlight toward the window and asked, “Can you make out what it actually looks like?” Quinn forced herself to stare past her fear, narrowing her eyes at the towering silhouette outside, but darkness still concealed most of its features.
“No.
I can only see those yellow eyes clearly.” That matched what Darius vaguely remembered about Ozhin’s appearance in the movie, where the demon was deliberately kept indistinct until the later encounters.
Before Darius could say anything else, the flashlight in his hand abruptly went dark.
He pressed the switch twice, then checked it again, but there was no response despite the battery having been fully charged beforehand.
“All right,” he muttered.
“So that’s how we’re playing.” Instead of wasting time trying to repair it, Darius opened his backpack and pulled out several professional-grade emergency glow sticks designed for camping and rescue work.
He bent them sharply, and bright blue light immediately spread through the living room, weaker than the flashlight but more than enough to keep them from standing in complete darkness.
Quinn accepted two of the glow sticks and held them tightly as she continued watching the window.
Outside, Ozhin’s yellow eyes seemed to brighten, almost as though the demon itself was becoming irritated by Darius’s refusal to cooperate with traditional horror-movie logic.
The towering figure moved closer to the house and appeared to test the barrier directly.
The instant it touched the salt-and-glue line, a burst of pale sparks flashed around its lower body, forcing it to recoil several steps.
Quinn immediately whispered, “Darius, it tried to cross the line.
There was some kind of flash, and it backed away.” Darius’s expression brightened.
“Good.
That’s exactly what we wanted.
The salt is hurting it, or at least stopping it from crossing.” Quinn’s fear eased slightly as she realized their preparations weren’t useless.
For the first time since the demon had appeared, survival seemed like something more than wishful thinking.
She tightened her grip around the glow sticks and nodded.
“Then we just hold out until the timer ends.” Darius didn’t answer too confidently, because he’d seen enough horror movies to know that a supernatural enemy rarely gave up after failing at the front door.
A few seconds later, Quinn’s expression changed again.
“It’s gone.” Darius immediately scanned the room even though he still couldn’t see Ozhin directly.
“Then it’s checking another route.
Don’t move away from the protected area.” His guess was correct; Ozhin had shifted around the house, testing the roof and other possible openings, only to encounter the same salt barrier around each vulnerable point.
Unable to simply phase through the defenses, the demon eventually returned outside the living-room window and resumed watching them.
“There,” Quinn whispered.
“It’s back.” Darius nodded and pulled out his phone.
“Good.
Let’s test something else while it’s standing there.” He opened a saved page containing a traditional Latin exorcism prayer and handed the phone to Quinn.
She positioned one glow stick near the screen and began reading, only to stop after the first line when she realized Darius had accidentally opened the wrong saved page—an article about workout clothes.
Darius stared at the screen for half a second, snatched the phone back, and muttered, “Wrong tab.” Despite everything happening outside, the corner of Quinn’s mouth twitched.
“Very serious research.” “Focus.” Darius found the correct page this time and handed it back.
Quinn took a steadying breath before reading the Latin aloud, her voice initially shaky but growing firmer as she continued.
“Regna terrae, cantate Deo…
psallite Domino…
Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas…” The prayer invoked divine authority against unclean spirits, infernal powers, and demonic forces, and Darius watched Quinn carefully as she recited it.
When she finished the first section, she immediately looked toward the window.
Nothing happened.
Quinn frowned.
“It’s still standing there.” Darius had expected that possibility.
Words alone might not matter if the person speaking them lacked whatever supernatural authority made the ritual effective.
“Try again, but this time use the crucifix.” Quinn quickly passed one glow stick back to him and pulled the cross from around her neck.
Holding it toward the window with one hand, she brought up the prayer again with the other and started reciting from the beginning.
The reaction was immediate.
Ozhin’s massive silhouette jerked backward as though an invisible force had struck it in the chest.
Pale sparks erupted across its body, and it staggered several yards away from the window before regaining balance.
Quinn’s fear instantly transformed into excitement.
“It worked!
Darius, it actually worked—the cross pushed it back!” “Keep going.” Quinn obeyed without hesitation.
She tightened her grip around the crucifix and began the prayer again, this time speaking louder and with far more confidence than before.
Ozhin was forced backward several more steps, the black figure seeming to distort whenever the words and crucifix were directed toward it.
Another flash of light burst across its body before it collided with a tree near the edge of the yard.
Quinn could barely believe what she was seeing.
“It keeps moving back!” Darius smiled.
“Then don’t stop.” For one glorious moment, the situation seemed almost too easy.
If the crucifix and prayer could continuously force Ozhin away, Quinn only needed to keep reciting until her countdown expired.
The demon might have supernatural power, teleportation, hallucinations, and the ability to manipulate electronics, but it clearly wasn’t immune to everything.
Quinn suddenly felt as though she’d found an actual lifeline rather than another temporary trick.
She raised the crucifix higher and prepared to begin the prayer for a third time.
Ozhin vanished.
Quinn froze.
“It’s gone again.” Darius lifted the glow stick and carefully looked around the living room.
“Then it’s changing tactics.
Stay exactly where you are.” He expected Ozhin to search for another physical opening, but this time the demon had apparently understood that brute force wasn’t working.
The house was sealed by salt, Quinn had a crucifix that could drive it back, and Darius refused to panic.
If Ozhin wanted Quinn outside the ward, it needed to attack something stronger than her body.
It needed her emotions.
Quinn’s breathing suddenly slowed.
The living room faded.
She blinked several times, confused, because the furniture, walls, and lighting had changed almost instantly.
The modern house was gone, replaced by a place she hadn’t seen in years.
Family photographs hung in familiar positions, the old couch stood against the wall, and every small detail belonged to the childhood home she remembered from before everything in her family had fallen apart.
Quinn stood completely still.
“Mom…?” A middle-aged woman sat on the couch with shoulder-length blonde hair and features strikingly similar to Quinn’s.
Beside her sat a younger Jordan, while the woman gently stroked the girl’s hair with the same affectionate gesture Quinn remembered from childhood.
Slowly, the woman lifted her head and looked directly toward Quinn.
Her expression was warm, loving, and painfully familiar.
“Baby,” she said softly.
“How have you been?” Quinn’s eyes immediately filled with tears.
Her mother.
After all these years, the face she’d desperately wanted to see again was right in front of her.
“Mom…” Quinn’s voice broke.
“It’s really you.” The woman smiled, her own eyes turning red.
“I’ve missed you so much.” Quinn completely forgot about Ozhin.
Forgot the salt.
Forgot the crucifix.
Forgot Darius’s warnings about hallucinations.
Every buried memory of her mother’s death, every argument with Jordan, and every moment she’d wished she could go back rushed into her at once.
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks as her mother slowly opened both arms.
“Come here, sweetheart.” Quinn’s lips trembled.
“I missed you too…” Without realizing what she was doing, she took a step forward.
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