Supernatural. An area that many are unable to comprehend, especially in our century of science and technology. People might think that they know everything, that all can be explained scientifically, but it is one big delusion. There are still many mysteries that science is unable to explain. Many of us think: if something is not visible to the eyes, then it doesn’t exist. Right?

Wrong.

Humans are not the only beings that inhabit this world. Moreover, there are other dimensions beside the one humans live in. And sometimes a few of them are lucky or unlucky enough to encounter visitors from these dimensions, entities that own the ability to cross the border between their and our worlds, and if you find some being appearing to you more than once or following you constantly, it’s a sign that it is interested in you for some reason or wants something from you.

This is the story of Lena Firth, one of the rare humans beings that encountered a malevolent visitor from another dimension.

Lena’s life has been rather usual, nothing out of ordinary. She finished studies, both bachelor and then master program, and now worked as a manager of a grocery store. Everyone in her area knew her as a very practical and hard working person, and, at the same time, an interesting conversation partner. People thought her to be one of those so-called realists who would dismiss such things as ghosts, spirits, etc., as a fairytale or a fruit of someone’s sick imagination. But oh, they were so wrong… Lena might pretend to be like that, but deep inside she believed in all this otherworldly stuff and was sure that people are not alone in this world. But she was ashamed to speak about it, as she didn’t want to be known as a psychopath or anything of that kind.

And so her life continued until recent days. While going to work and back, the young woman had a strange feeling… like of being watched. It’s like someone or something was following her all the time, but she could not see it. Lena thought she might be paranoid, but feelings of that kind never appear from thin air. If you suddenly feel nervous, there is always a reason for this. But even more strange is that she began feeling like that after she found out that some time ago in her neighborhood a whole family of four members were literally hanged by their necks on a branch of a tree in the backyard of their house.  And the fifth member, ten-year old Stephanie, has mysteriously vanished without a trace, and nobody has still found her, just like no one has found the murderer yet. It made Lena remember a few more cases she had heard about murdered families. Some were burnt alive in a garage, some were drowned in a swimming pool, some had their throats slit. And each of the cases involved a missing child of every family. But there was one more case, more recent one, with the Oswalt family, and that was terrifying. One day, when Lena went back home, she saw a bunch of police cars surrounding a house and a crowd of onlookers. Curiosity got the best of her and she dared to approach one of the officers and ask what happened. It happened to be a deputy that knew the writer, Ellison Oswalt, personally and tried to help him to solve the cases of murders and missing children. He told Lena that Oswalt was a true crime writer and planned to write a book about the Stevenson family that was hanged on a tree and whose daughter, Stephanie, went missing. As the deputy and Ellison Oswalt maintained kind of a friendly relationship, he was saddened by the death of a writer and his family. Oswalt himself, then his wife, Tracy, and their son, Trevor, who was twelve years old at the moment, were brutally murdered, dismembered with an axe. Their seven-year old daughter, Ashley, vanished, just like the kids of all previous deceased families.

All of this sounded frightening, but Lena couldn’t resist the temptation to find out more. It was like something was urging her to dig deeper and find out what it was all about. It seemed that this deputy had information and she managed to convince him to tell more. When he asked her why she needed all of it, Lena confessed that she couldn’t find peace because of being sure that somebody was stalking her. So they arranged a meeting at Lena’s place to talk things over without any other person listening. When he arrived, the woman invited him to the dining room for a cup of tea. He gladly accepted the offer and sat at the table, holding a folder in his hands.

“So, Ms. Firth, let’s get to business. You said someone is stalking you. Who is it? Have you seen the person?”

“I don’t know who it is, and that’s the main problem,” Lena said. “I couldn’t see him well, I just noticed from the far distance that the guy was dressed in black and had dark hair, approximately till the shoulders. But that’s it, I can tell no more. He was very far away from me, and I’ve spotted him a few times, the last time was today on my way to work. I have told about it to my colleagues and asked whether they had ever noticed this strange guy, but no, neither of them had. So is it only me that is seeing him? I might sound crazy, but I know one thing for sure – I’m scared, deputy. I’m very scared. I can’t sleep peacefully at night because of fear. I literally feel the presence of something, and it is following my steps, although keeping distance, for now.”

“All right. But why are you interested in these murder cases for the first part? Do you think there is a connection between them and this stalker of yours?”

Lena cleared her throat and answered:

“I’m kinda sure about it, deputy. Let me explain. I think this because the stalking began right after I found out about the Stevensons and the murder cases before them. If it started before I got this knowledge, I wouldn’t be that much worried, and I doubt that someone would need to stalk me at all. It might be a coincidence, but I doubt it. Something tells me there is a connection, and I want to make things clear.”

Deputy scratched his head and told:

“That sounds scary. When I spoke to Mr. Oswalt, he also complained that there was something in his house, he also felt the ominous presence. And he didn’t believe in anything paranormal.”

“But do you believe in it?” Lena asked quickly.

“Of course, I do,” deputy replied. “I told him that if I were him, I wouldn’t stay even for one night in a house where the whole family was hanged by their necks in the backyard, and their daughter is God knows where.” Then he opened the folder and pulled out a few photographs with a strange symbol in them.

“What is this?” Lena asked, studying the pictures.

“You see, Mr. Oswalt moved to that house intentionally, without telling anything to his wife,” deputy explained. “He wanted to write his next book about this case. And then he found a box with a projector and several reel of Super 8 mm footage. These films were actually murder footage of several families. And these pictures of a symbol that I’m showing you right now, were spotted in the films by Mr. Oswalt. He managed to scan them and printed them out.”

“So is it some Satanic stuff actually?” the woman asked, her curiosity growing stronger with each second.

“I don’t know what it is, but it’s definitely something of the occult,” deputy replied. “I advised Mr. Oswalt to call the University and contact professor Jonas, the occult crime expert. He could give more information about this symbol, if he had ever stumbled on it.”

“And? Did you speak to Mr. Oswalt about it afterwards?”

“Yes,” he nodded and pulled out a few more pictures, this time containing the images of a strange, creepy figure. “This is another thing that Oswalt spotted in the films.”

“Who is this?” Lena stared to the images in fear, feeling hot sweat covering her face. This figure was eerily similar to the guy that was stalking her.

“Well, Mr. Oswalt didn’t tell me all the details of his talk with the professor, but one we understood for sure – this guy is behind all those murders. When we began our first talk, Mr. Oswalt asked me to help him to find out the exact addresses of all the deceased families, and I found the connection between each case. If you put them in chronological order, you can draw a line from murder to murder. I found out that each family lived in a house where the previous crime happened. For example, the Millers, who got their throats slit, have previously lived in Sacramento, where the Martinez family was burnt in a garage. And the Martinez family, before moving to the place where Millers died, previously lived in the place where a family was drowned in a swimming pool. And now, the Oswalt family lived in the house where the Stevensons were hanged, then they moved to the place where they were dismembered. I realized that if the family moved to another place, they sped up that guy’s timeline and put themselves into it. I don’t know who this strange guy is, but I have a feeling that he killed the families and kidnapped one of each family’s children. We’re investigating, but it will take hell of a time to find him and the missing kids.” Noticing that Lena’s face was already covered in sweat, he stopped talking, concentrating his sight on her fully. “Are you alright? Ms. Firth, if there is something you want to tell me, do it. You can speak frankly with me about this theme, considering how much I have already told you.”

Lena took a paper towel and wiped the sweat from her face. Her heart was pounding like crazy. Now she was absolutely sure that it is definitely this guy following her. But why? – she thought to herself. - What does he want from me? Does he know that I’ve found out about his crimes? If so, then how could he know that? Millions of questions raced through her mind, but she could find no answers to any of them. It was pure panic inside of her, although she did her best to hide it.

“Deputy…” she began through heavy panting, lifting one of the images of a spooky guy. “I’m now sure that it is him that stalks me. This figure in the photos shares too many similarities with my stalker – black clothes, dark hair and pale face. So much I could notice. I think he somehow found out that I know about his crimes and now he definitely wants to get rid of the witness.”

Deputy took another sip of tea and tried to calm the woman down.

“Don’t worry, Ms. Firth, we will do our best to prevent another murder, if that is his intention. I sure would also like to know who this creepy bastard is, and if he is interested in you, he will definitely show up again. I will contact the police station so they can arrange the patrol of your area and your house specifically. The suspect is keeping distance, at least for now, which is good, so we will keep a constant eye on you and try to catch him. I can only hope that we succeed.”

“Thank you very much, I’d be very grateful for that,” Lena sighed. “I’m very afraid, really.”

“Try to stay calm and don’t panic,” said the deputy, packing the images back into the folder. “I’m glad you told me about it. I will also speak with the sheriff and offer an idea of demolishing that house where the Oswalt family was killed, so no unfortunate potential victims could suffer their fate. There have been too many tragedies, and we’re not going to allow another one to happen.”

Finishing his tea, deputy stood up and spoke:

“Well, thank you very much for the tea. It’s time for me to go now. As I promised, I’ll arrange the police patrol to keep you safe. You have my phone number and my e-mail, so feel free to contact me anytime.”

“Thanks, deputy,” Lena said with a kind smile, shaking hands with him. “I want you to know that I truly appreciate your kindness. I count on you.”

“Of course, it’s my pleasure,” he smiled back. “I tried to help Mr. Oswalt as much as I could, but… you see the result. He and his family were already doomed when they moved into the crime place, so I’m afraid there was not much I could do. When I met him, he was already too far with his investigation. So… if you see that guy again, let me know at once, alright?”

“Sure, I will,” Lena replied while he stepped out of the house. “Thank you once again and good night.”

“You’re welcome,” deputy smiled. “Good night and stay safe.”

After he left Lena’s place, she sighed in relief. She was happy to stumble on this kind man that was more than willing to help. She had much information to think about and truly hoped that they will manage to get their hands on that creepy asshole. She was still nervous, but at least now she could count on help. With this thought, Lena went to bed, hoping for a peaceful sleep.

2: Chapter 2

Surprisingly, this night Lena slept peacefully. Most likely the reason for it was that she could count on help from the police. At least she knew she wasn’t alone and somebody believed her. With the morning alarm came the new day. The first thing she did after getting up from the bed was peeking out of the window, just to make sure that no one was watching the house. Luckily, the strange creeper was nowhere to be seen. That was comforting. At least he didn’t follow her footprints all twenty-four hours per day.

Leaving home, Lena noticed two police officers, one on the other side of the street and another one a bit farther away, both patrolling the area. Good, the deputy did what he promised and police was keeping a watch on Lena’s house and the surrounding area. If anything happens, the stranger will not get away so easy this time.

The woman turned around many times on her way to work, trying to notice any signs of the mysterious stalker, but nothing was out of ordinary. She even didn’t feel his presence and no paranoia of being watched. And so it continued for several days, like things have returned to normality. But Lena didn’t relax just yet, this seemingly peaceful atmosphere might be like silence before the storm.

Oh, how right she was when thinking that! One evening, after the arrival home from work, Lena started feeling nervous again. Could it mean that the stranger was back on her tracks again? It is said that human bodies are able to pick up the bad vibrations, which is a sign that something is not right. Deputy advised her to stay inside at all costs, lock all the windows and doors and not to let anyone in, except for him and his colleagues. He would warn her in case he or any police officer was planning to pay a visit, so if there was no warning, she shouldn’t open the door to anybody. The good news were that the deputy spoke to the sheriff and he approved the demolition of Oswalt house and also the Stevenson house, and this will be done already tomorrow, around three o’clock, starting with the Oswalt family home. What’s more, sheriff had plans to contact his colleagues in other states where the murders happened and do the same to all other houses and burn all the places down if anything is left afterwards. As the deputy himself is a believer in supernatural kind of stuff, he said it is always good to be cautious, and no one should move into the house where such tragedies happened, especially the ones connected with occultism. This already sounds superstitious, but it is better this way. It is better to look funny then to allow another tragedy to happen.

Such future outlook was completely fine for Lena. Thus they maybe could put an end to this vicious cycle of death. This thought made her smile, despite the growing panic inside. She had a bad feeling that nothing will go as easy as she thought. Anyway, it was time to rest, as it got dark already and the night was approaching fast. Lena switched the light off in the kitchen and prepared to go to her bedroom, but… she didn’t know why, which devil made her do it, but she walked to the kitchen window to peek outside. At that moment she thought her heart would literally jump out of her chest. There, in the backyard, he stood in his ghostly glory within the high bushes, his pale face clearly visible, illuminated by moonlight. Lena couldn’t see his eyes, as they looked more like two dark spots, but it was more than clear that he was staring right at her. Lena jumped away from the window, panting heavily and covered in sweat, but the further, the more she desired to check again if he is still there. She nearly expected him to stand right in front of the window, but no, she was wrong. He was nowhere to be seen. Lena slowly moved to her bedroom then, as her phone was lying on a night table. She had to call the deputy and let him know that this creepy bastard was back and that he was in her backyard now. But just as she touched the phone, Lena heard a faint sound in the hall. At first she dismissed it as a hallucination, as the fear has large eyes, and her own mind could have played tricks on her. But she was quickly convinced in being wrong, as after a few seconds it was followed by a silent, but clear sound of footsteps. Now Lena was overwhelmed by pure, animalistic fear, and all she could think about was to hide in a closet, hoping that this someone, whoever he was, wouldn’t find her. Phone calls could be forgotten now, as he would definitely hear her talking, even if she whispered. Lena could only wonder how the hell he got into the house, as the door and all the windows were firmly locked. All she could do at this moment was waiting.

The footsteps sounded rather slow and unhurried, but with each of them the sound grew louder and louder until Lena could clearly hear them in the room. It seemed that the stranger knew exactly where she was, as he deliberately approached her hiding spot. And as a confirmation of her suspicions, the closet doors suddenly were widely open and a tall figure of a man in black stood before her. Lena didn’t manage to react as his large hand grabbed her by the throat and pulled out of the closet. That guy was definitely strong, as it seemed easy for him to pull an adult person by the neck out of a hiding place. Right in the next second Lena was pressed firmly to the wall. It was clear that she was not going anywhere in the nearest time.

Several intense minutes passed in silence while the creepy man obviously was studying the woman. Lena used this moment too and inspected him closely. He was dressed in black coat which seemed a bit old-fashioned to me and black pants, and underneath the coat the collar of a white shirt was visible. His hair was raven black, shoulder length and looked rather messy. But the most frightening were his very pale, in fact, greyish skin colour and the face, if it could even be called a face. The only part of his face than looked human was the nose, but the eyes… To Lena, they looked like two triangular-shaped black spots, and the mouth wasn’t visible at all, just a smudged, long and dark spot instead. He looked exactly like in those photos that the deputy showed her. If it was a mask, it sure looked terrifying. But something told Lena it was no mask, but a true face of this… man. Or was he even human? He looked more or less like that, but somehow she doubted that he was one. And she also noticed that his hands had the same grey colour as his face. All in all, his general appearance was indeed grisly. It was… sinister.

“Hiding is useless, Lena,” a deep, low voice rang out in her head. “You can’t hide from me.”

What the hell? How does he know what my name is? – Lena was beyond terrified.

“W-who are you? How do you know my name?” she asked in a trembling voice. Most likely he spoke to her telepathically, considering the lack of mouth.

“I know so much about you, Lena, I’ve been watching you for a long time already. And I know all the secrets of your dark soul.”

What? My… dark soul? – Now Lena was confused. - What is he talking about?

“Confused, I see? Well, let me help you then.”

The stranger then put the other hand on Lena’s head while still holding her neck in his iron grip. She wasn’t going anywhere in any case, but it seemed that he wanted to be sure of that. Suddenly a new understanding dawned upon her. Lena realized that deep inside she often wanted to do terrible things to people that she didn’t like for one or another reason. Such things that only a true monster was able to do. She often fantasized how she would burn one of them alive, tear the other one’s mouth apart, impale the third one, but do it painfully slow. In her mind, Lena was enjoying their suffering, their painful screams were like music to her ears. This is what he meant with the secrets of her dark soul. He was able to look behind the outer shell of Lena’s human body and discover her true nature of a monster. Actually, it wasn’t a new understanding, it was something he helped her to discover in the depths of her mind and realize what she truly was. And what is even more interesting – Lena felt all her fear of him fading into thin air.

“Do you understand now? This is what I saw in you. Your potential. That is why I followed you, letting you know of my presence now and then. I am so enthralled by you, Lena.”

“Well, all right, let’s assume it is so. But you still haven’t told me who you are,” she said, looking into his bizarre face.

“I am Bughuul, the devourer of children. I exist for thousands of years and feed on the souls of children to maintain my own existence.”

Ah, so that’s it. Now the whole picture of the murders was becoming clear, or so Lena thought.

“So you are behind each family massacre, right?” she couldn’t help her curiosity. “There was always one missing child. You kill the families and take away one of their children, don’t you?”

“Not really. I choose one victim and make him or her drug and then kill all the family before taking the child to my world where it is trapped for eternity.”

Now Lena understood it. This is why the police had always run into a dead end during the investigation of these crimes. They will never find the killer and the children that vanished without a trace. Because the missing children are the killers, controlled by a demonic entity, this Bughuul. His name sounded strange to Lena, as she had never heard about it, but it didn’t matter now. She was determined to find out what his intentions were.

“Okay, now be so kind and tell me why you are here. I highly doubt you came here just to say how enthralled you are by me,” Lena grinned slyly.

“You’re right,” Bughuul replied, although nothing in his face moved, not even a nod of a head. “I have much more important reason for that. I have a task for you.”

“What task?” she began blinking fast.

“It seems that after the last ritual, humans have become smarter. Now they will avoid these places like a plague, and the last place of the ritual is going to be destroyed tomorrow. And in the attic of that house is a box labelled “Home movies”, containing the things for a new cycle. You shall go to that house and collect that box, bring it to your place and keep it hidden until I give further indications.”

After what Lena had just heard, she felt like a bucket of ice cold water was poured on her. He wanted her to work with him? But why? Why does he suddenly need help?

“Wait a minute. Why do you need me for that? Can’t you manage it on your own? If I understand it right, you were always working on your own,” Lena said, not fully understanding the deal.

“One of the reasons is known to you. And now it’s time to get to business, without asking the unnecessary questions. And, I’m afraid, you don’t have plenty of options.”

No options… It meant that Lena had to do it, whether she wanted it or not. And since when should a demon care about the wishes of anyone else, except for his own?

“One more question, and believe me, it’s a necessary one,” Lena had to clear the last things up. “The Oswalt family house is definitely cordoned off, not mentioning about being locked. How can I get inside and stay unnoticed?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll take care of it. When you are there, the house will be open for you. Remember – a box in the attic with a “Home movies” label.”

“All right, so be it,” she sighed, although it wasn’t easy to do, as his hand was still on her neck. “I’ll do it, since I have no choice.”

“Good. Obedient girl, I like that,” the demon’s voice now sounded satisfied. “Precisely, you have no choice. You know where the Oswalt house is. Now go and complete the assignment. I will pay you a visit soon.”

This time Lena just nodded in response, without saying a word. Bughuul, in turn, returned this gesture and finally let her go. As soon as she was free from his grasp, the demon vanished, like nothing has happened.

“Damn, this is just hilarious,” - Lena said to herself. “I became an ally of some demonic entity, and he didn’t care to ask whether I agree to do it or not.” But she knew well that if she dared to disobey, the punishment would be very severe. So she dressed up in black pants and pullover, not forgetting to put a cap on her head to cover as much skin as possible. She had to go unnoticed, so the more body is covered, the better, so she could merge with the darkness.

And here she was, standing in front of the main door, ready for the most dangerous journey in her life...

3: Chapter 3

Lena looked at her watch, breathing nervously. It showed fifteen minutes to twelve. She was planning to begin her way to Oswalt house at midnight, at least there were less chances to be noticed by somebody. The police patrol sent by the deputy, were active at daytime, so Lena doubted that they would watch the area also at night, but you can never know. Either way, she had to be careful. At least she was dressed in black, so it would be hard to spot her in the dark.

When it was finally midnight, she opened the front door a bit and peeked outside. The lights in her house were all out for some time already, so everyone around probably thought that she was asleep. Well, it was only better for her. Lena put the gloves on first and then closed the door and locked it, putting the keys into the pocket of her jacket. It was important not to leave fingerprints anywhere, so using the gloves from the beginning was definitely a plus. Lena might be a bit paranoid, but being cautious was the number one priority.

The streets were deserted, not a single soul, but were well illuminated by street lights. Lena did her best to stay in the shadows and keep away from the light as far as possible. It took her around twenty-five or thirty minutes to reach the destination, considering how slow she moved, afraid to make extra noise. The Oswalt house was located just a few quarters away from her home, and if she walked fast, like she usually did, she would be there in fifteen minutes as maximum. Lena only wondered how it would be possible to get inside, as the place was definitely locked up and cordoned off. Bughuul told her not to worry about it, but could she trust a demon? That would be a crazy idea. Such creatures can never be trusted, but in this case she had no choice.

Finally, there it was. The place of the last crime. From the outside it looked like a normal house, just like the others, but Lena knew of terrible things that happened there. She approached it from the right, looking for a way to get inside. Everything was locked, and she tried to push and pull, but all in vain. Then she decided to search the backside of the house and… what do you know? One of the windows was slightly ajar. Could it be that they forgot to close it or did Bughuul take care of it? Actually, it didn’t matter. This was her chance to get in, which Lena used at once, trying to do it as quiet as possible.

The room she got in turned out to be a kitchen when she took out her flashlight and shone it around. All in all it looked lovely, rather wide, and Lena thought that each housekeeper would like to have such kitchen. But there was no time to admire it, as she had to find the stairs that led to upper floor and get into the attic.

The door out of the kitchen led into the hallway and when a ray of the flashlight touched its walls, Lena barely could make herself stand straight. The walls were smeared with what appeared to be blood. Besides, among the chaotic smears several drawings of kittens and unicorns could be distinguished. Lena could only guess who would do such thing. Then she remembered that the daughter of the Oswalts disappeared after the murdered family was discovered. Could it really be her that did all this? Probably. She remembered Bughuul explaining that he makes his victims drug and then kill their entire family before kidnapping them. But could a seven-year old girl commit all of this? Then it dawned on Lena that if Ashley was under Bughuul’s control, she could be capable of anything, like all the other children he took.

The spot where the woman stood at the moment looked like one true hallway of hell, so it was better to get out of there, and fast. The next room Lena got in was rather large, there was a fireplace between two big windows and a desk near one of them. She guessed this was where Ellison Oswalt usually worked and wrote his books. And that’s where she found a few puddles of blood. This is where Ashley executed her parents and brother by the order of Bughuul. The bodies were already taken away, but the blood was still there. The murder weapon was nowhere to be seen. Lena wondered why they haven’t wiped it yet, as it’s more than clear whose blood it is. She doubted it would somehow help the investigation, but who was she to judge? The police and detectives sure knew their business better.

“Now, where the hell could the stairs be?” Lena whispered to herself and shone the flashlight around the room. And there it was, practically behind her back. She had to be careful not to step into the blood by accident, so while she walked from the hallway into the living room and then to the stairs, she shone the light to the floor under her feet. Lena sure didn’t want to leave footprints or any other traces of her presence here, otherwise she would betray herself. Thus all the plans could go awry and Bughuul would be in rage. In that case, the punishment would be inevitable.

The young woman went upstairs quietly, looking back every few seconds, like being afraid to stumble on something or someone. She had heard about haunted houses many times in her life, about the unfortunate souls of murder victims or those who committed suicide for some reason. It seemed like there was some ominous presence in this house, but all was silent. This house was like one large grave.

Altogether the upper floor had four rooms – Ashley’s room, her brother’s room and their parents’ bedroom, the fourth one was the bathroom. Nothing out of order. All the rooms were closed, but Lena had no wish to check them. Besides, there was nothing of use for her. She had to find the attic. Speaking of which, there it was, in the middle of the hallway, a hatch in the ceiling. And lucky for Lena, it was open. It looked like the investigators had already climbed there once, as the ladder was standing right there, at the wall. All she had to do was to put it underneath the hatch and climb up there herself.

The attic looked empty, nothing special. The Oswalts might not have made a use of it, at least not yet. If they were still alive, perhaps they could have turned it into an extra room, as there was enough space for that.

Lena began to look for the box Bughuul talked about. He said to search for the one that is labelled “Home movies”. She saw a few large boxes with some domestic stuff, still unpacked, as the Oswalts had just moved into this place before their demise. Maybe the box she searched for was hidden behind them, as she couldn’t see it anywhere else.

Bingo! There it was, well hidden behind the big boxes and a pile of different stuff and rubbish. On its cover there are only two words written in large block letters: “HOME MOVIES”. Lena could barely hold back her curiosity and peek inside the box to see what’s inside, but she realized this was no place for such things. She had to go back home and there she could check it out.

The box had some weight, so it would cause a bit of a problem to climb down the ladder and then out of the kitchen window. Or maybe not… Anyway, it wasn’t that heavy that a woman couldn’t carry it, so Lena took it and put it right at the edge of the hatch, stepping down to the top of the ladder. She managed to get down with the box and put the ladder back where it stood before. Everything must look like it was before her arrival, not to cause any suspicions.

As Lena climbed outside through the kitchen window, she tried to leave it a bit ajar, just like it was before she got here. She didn’t know why it was left like that, but to hell with it, she only had to make sure everything was left seemingly untouched. Hopefully, no one would notice anything. Well, nothing except for the disappearance of the box she was carrying. But no one would even think that it was her who took it. It would take a lot of time to figure out who did it, so for now Lena could be peaceful.

As soon as she reached her house, she locked the door firmly and rushed to her bedroom. She couldn’t wait to see what was inside the box, although she had an approximate guess. Lifting the cover up, Lena shone the flashlight on it and yes, there were an old projector and several reel of Super 8 mm footage. Deputy had mentioned something about a box with such content too, but what is it all about? And what would Bughuul want it for? But, if he needed to keep these things safe, then there was a reason for that. Lena was sure that soon she would find it out.

The young woman was preparing to put the cover back when something caught her eye. As the light touched the inside of it, there were several drawings seen on it, obviously children’s. These were depictions of death scenes of families, the last one showed three people chopped in pieces. This was clearly Ashley’s job. And by each of the scenes there was a figure standing aside and named “Mr. Boogie”. It was him, Bughuul. So he was present at each murder scene and watched to make sure everything went smoothly. And now he was probably looking for the next victims to reiterate the macabre cycle once again.

Anyway, Lena had no idea how to use such old technologies and also had no wish to do anything now. She just had to make sure this box stayed safe until Bughuul gave further orders. So she covered it and pushed it underneath her bed for now. Tomorrow she would look for a better place to hide it. Bughuul would definitely make an appearance the next evening when she is alone at home, so till then it would be fine. For now she could rest in peace and soon slumber took her in its embrace.

4: Chapter 4

Lena didn’t expect to have a peaceful sleep this night, considering the recent events. It surprised her that she was able to fall into slumber that soon. So this night she could rest after all. But man, how wrong she was! As soon as the dream world took her into its arms, a faint whisper broke through it.

“Wake up, Lena.”

At first Lena was sure this voice sounded in her dreams, so she continued sleeping. But in a moment she felt her sleep being interrupted as a hand was put on her shoulder, shaking her lightly.

“Wake up.”

The second time this phrase was said loudly, in the same emotionless voice she had heard before. Bughuul was back. But why had he decided to appear right now, in the middle of the night? Was it really impossible to wait till the next evening?

“Oh… hey,” Lena said, rubbing her eyes to see clearer. “Why did you wake me up now, in the middle of the night? What’s wrong?”

“Did you do what I told you?”

The woman said nothing, but just climbed out of bed and sat on her knees in front of it, pulling out the box from underneath. And when she lifted her eyesight to the demon standing before her, Lena could swear that if he had a mouth, he would have smirked. But his face, as always, showed zero emotions.

“Good to know it’s safe,” he said with a hint of a sinister laugh in his voice.

“So, what now? You woke me up just for that? To check whether the box is safe and sound?” Lena asked not without irritation. She was annoyed, thinking that he didn’t let her sleep for this reason alone.

“No, of course not. Your mission for this night is not yet over.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have found the new family to begin my cycle once again. Your job is to deliver the box into their house and leave it in the attic so they can find it. The beginning of the process already is up to me.”

At this moment Lena felt like wanting to punch him into the face. Why couldn’t he do it himself? She would agree to get into an abandoned house, but to the place where people still live?

“Damn it, Mr. Boogie,” she huffed in annoyance, but at the same time grinning when calling him the name that children gave him in their drawings. “You could have at least warned me earlier! How am I supposed to get into the place that is inhabited without being noticed? I’m more than sure they would notice the traces of someone else’s presence, not mentioning about the house itself being firmly locked for the night.”

Bughuul laughed when she pronounced the funny nickname. Although he seemed entertained by that, one Lena knew for sure – this demonic laugh of his made her shiver not less than the first time she saw him. Of course, nowadays you can hear similar sounds in horror movies, but all of them appear to be manipulations of some specific programs. This, however, was not a programmed sound, but a true demon laughing.

“Oh, Lena, it’s such fun seeing you worried and annoyed at the same time,” he continued laughing, this time slyly. “Watching you in this state is worth many things.”

Great, just damn great. Now he decided that it’s a good time to come and make fun of me? What an asshole! – Lena was now beyond angry.

“Listen, if you think you can just appear in my house and mock me, you’re pretty wrong,” she hissed through her teeth. “First you find me useful and then suddenly decide to laugh at me like I’m some kind of idiot or something? What the hell do you want from me then?” Lena couldn’t hold herself from raising the voice anymore. Bughuul tilted his head like in confusion, his messy black hair swinging from side to side. But in truth, he probably expected such reaction from the woman’s side.

“Ah, I see that someone can’t take a joke?” now the sound he made was more similar to giggling. “First of all, it made me laugh when you called me “Mr. Boogie”, like all the children that I took. And second, I really liked seeing you in the state between being worried and annoyed. It only adds more charm to you.”

“Alright, forget it,” Lena sighed, feeling defeated. “Let’s get to business then. Tell me what to do.”

The demon nodded slightly, obviously satisfied with her obedience.

“That’s more like it. Now, listen to me carefully. The place you have to reach is located on Floyd Street, number of the house is ten. There is a family of four living there. What you must do is creep into their house with the box and leave it in the attic. The rest is my job.”

Lena thought for a moment, trying to concentrate on the location of the street.

“Floyd Street? As far as I know, it’s in a totally different district. Not very far, but I barely know the district itself. It will sure take hell of a time to find the right place.”

“Don’t worry about that. I will follow you in the distance and guide you. You won’t get lost.”

“But what about the traces? And how can I get inside the building?”

“Leave it to me. I will open it for you and remove every trace of your presence, just like I did the last time after you took the box. Now dress up and get going.”

Well, so much of the talking. Lena knew she had to do it, not like that she had plenty of options. Bughuul vanished from her room and she began to change. She put on the same clothes like before, all black, including the cap and gloves. Even if he promised to remove all the traces, she had to provide maximum safety for herself. You can never trust a demon blindly, as it might end not in the best way.

The journey took around one hour to reach the destination. Well, it was lucky for Lena to be woken at 2:00 a.m. and not later. Each time she had problems with orientation, Bughuul’s voice echoed in her head, directing her to the right way. The streets were absolutely empty, but the woman tried to stick to the shadows anyway. And every time she turned around, she saw a glimpse of Bughuul in the bushes or among the trees. Lena had to admit that thus he looked much more intimidating than in the moments when he was standing before her. She guessed it was probably because of the uncomfortable feeling and sometimes even fear of being stalked, especially in the dark of the night.

The house she was looking for looked humble comparing to the one that Oswalt family had. This one had just one floor, but the roof was rather high, indicating the existence of a spacious attic. The yard had no fence, just surrounded by beautifully cut high bushes. All in all, the place looked well-groomed.

Like all other buildings around, this house was dark and peaceful. Lena was pondering about how to get inside without making a sound when Bughuul’s voice echoed in her head again.

“Go to the back yard, there is a window to the living room open. You can get inside through it. The attic hatch is in the ceiling of the main hallway, I’ll open it as well.”

So he opened the window for her? Lena wondered how he managed to do that. With telekinesis? Most likely, as she highly doubted that people would leave the windows open before going to bed, especially if their house had only one floor. But, thanks to that, at least she can get in. Now she just had to be careful not to make noise.

Just like Bughuul said, the hatch to the attic was open and the ladder was pulled out. At least Lena didn’t have to open things herself, otherwise she was sure she would wake up all the inhabitants of this place. It seems that Bughuul somehow knew that she was rather clumsy when it came to climbing somewhere higher, so he took care of technical parts. “Very kind of him,” Lena thought with a bit of sarcasm. But, on the other side, that is actually huge help from his side, and for that she was grateful to him.

Lena put the box into the corner near some other things that were stored there, although she couldn’t see what exactly it was as it was pitch dark everywhere, and she didn’t dare to use flashlight, afraid of being spotted. But in any case, the box was left in a visible place, so the owners wouldn’t miss it.

Just when the woman was ready to climb down, Bughuul appeared before her again.

“All right, for now your job is finished, you can leave. But remember, this is not the last assignment.”

Of course, of course… How could she even hope that he would leave her alone once and for all? It was foolish to think that.

“Ok, so much I suspected,” Lena huffed quietly. “By the way, how can you know for sure that the owners are going to watch those tapes in the box? That they won’t throw it all into the rubbish bin like some old junk?”

“They won’t, you can be sure of that,” the demon replied. “No one has ever resisted the temptation to start watching them one by one.”

“So it means you affect them in some way, like force them to watch, but all looks like they do it willingly?”

“You can say so. Now go, leave this house. I will change things like they were before your arrival. See you around.”

Lena had no other choice than to make this place a memory, so she climbed down the ladder quietly and then slid out into the yard. The clock now showed fifteen minutes to four, so she had to hurry and reach home until dawn. On her way she giggled about the thought of shock on deputy’s face if he found out that this certain someone that is behind the family murders, has literally recruited her to be his helper and that this someone is not even human. But the other part of her shivered from it all. Deputy was doing his best to help her, but she… But… never mind. He would never know a thing anyway. And as long as no one suspected her, Lena was safe.

Luckily, she reached home without any occurrences. It was slowly beginning to dawn, so Lena was pondering about whether she should still go to sleep or not. She wasn’t even sleepy anymore, so trying to sleep now would be a torture. She didn’t know what to do now, but one thing she was sure about – when Bughuul lets her know about himself again, it will happen already after the tragedy. Lena could only guess whom he chose to take this time, but she would definitely find it out later or soon. Time will show.

5: Chapter 5

For a few days there was no sign of Bughuul. Lena didn’t know what exactly he was up to, but she remembered him mentioning about a new family he found, so he could start his deadly ritual once again. It was interesting to know whom he had chosen this time, of those four people that lived in the house Lena was sent to a few nights before. In any case, all she had to do was waiting for any occurrences. She only hoped that Bughuul won’t wake her up again in the middle of the night. That is not a nice feeling when you get disturbed while resting peacefully, at least on workdays when you know you have to get up early for work. Luckily, she heard nothing from him until the weekend.

Lena thought she could sleep longer on Saturday morning, but her hopes were broken like a piece of fragile glass. She nearly jumped of sudden noise of her cell phone calling. It was her habit to put it on the nightstand at the bed as she usually put the alarm clock in her phone. She stretched her hand to the phone lazily to check who it was, and what a surprise it was when she saw it was the deputy calling. Lena huffed in irritation, as the clock showed nearly fifteen minutes after eight. At the first moment a sting of fear pierced her body through, as she thought that he or anyone else among the police found out about her “night walks”.

Great, just freaking perfect, - Lena thought angrily. -  Even on the weekend I cannot sleep as long as I want. If not Bughuul robbed her of her sleep, then someone else would do that. But she decided to answer the call anyway. Maybe it was indeed something important.

“Hello?” she said in a sleepy voice.

“Hello, Ms. Firth? I’m sorry to wake you up this early,” deputy’s voice answered on the other end of the line. “But there is something you would definitely want to know. Looks like I found some information about your strange pursuer.”

So they found out about Bughuul? Now this already raised Lena’s interest. She was sure there is nothing new he would tell her, but she was curious about how exactly he managed to find it out. She had to do her best to pretend that she knew nothing about it.

“Oh? Really?” Lena tried to sound interested. “Did you find out who he is?”

“Yes, I did. And I…”deputy stammered, but continued nonetheless. “I don’t want to scare you, Ms. Firth, but… I’m afraid the strange figure that stalks you… It’s not even human.”

“What? Are you sure?” Lena tried to sound frightened now. She was thankful for having a true talent in pretending and imitating sounds and people. This is something she was good at.

“I wish I was wrong, but, unfortunately, we are dealing with something… supernatural. And this thing is apparently of a malevolent nature. Ms. Firth, I actually have something to show you.”

“Really? What exactly?”

“First, there are some new pictures that might interest you,” deputy explained. “Second, I obtained a recording that contains historical information of this entity that we are dealing with. And most important, now it’s absolutely clear that this thing is responsible for each family murder, at least from the sixties, starting with the family that was drowned in a swimming pool. But I’m pretty sure that this crime is far from being the first one.”

Well, this indeed might be something new that Lena had probably no idea about. She knew only the basic things about Bughuul, but now some details might provide some interest.

“All right, deputy, thank you for the news,” Lena said. “I think it would be good for us to meet again at my place. This already sounds interesting. Besides, if we know what exactly we are dealing with, maybe we could also find a way to fight it. If you have time, feel free to come here with all the information you got. Today I’m free all day, tomorrow as well. Just call and warn me where you are planning to arrive, alright?”

“Of course, that will do,” deputy agreed. “I think I might visit you today closer to the evening. I’ll call you again later to tell the exact time. So for now, goodbye.”

“Goodbye, and thank you once again.”

***

Time passed rather fast, and Lena couldn’t wait to know what the deputy managed to find out. Despite knowing the demon personally, there might be something still obscure about him. She knew his name and that he devours the souls of the children to survive, plus that he exists for thousands of years. And, of course, that he’s the one who forces the kids to kill their entire families before kidnapping them to his dimension. But that was it. Just the basic stuff, and no more. Bughuul ordered her to do what she is told without asking questions that he found unnecessary, so now deputy might shed some light on the things unknown. Around twelve he called again and informed that he was planning to visit her at five, so Lena had time to walk to the nearest grocery store and buy some baked stuff for tea. Last time she was so frightened that she couldn’t think of anything else, but now the situation was different. She felt more relaxed. At least no shocking surprises awaited her, or so it seemed.

Around five o’clock the sound of a doorbell rang throughout the house and Lena hurried to the door. Deputy was standing in the doorway with a strange, obviously old device in his hands.

“Hello, deputy. Please, do come in,” Lena kindly invited him inside. “Proceed to the kitchen, just like the last time. This time there is not just empty tea, I’ve purchased brownies. You know, I was too overwhelmed with fear last time, so my mind was filled just with that.”

“Oh, thank you very much, but… you shouldn’t have,” deputy smiled, putting the old device on the edge of the table and a folder near it.

“Why not? You are my guest after all, so I couldn’t do otherwise,” the woman smiled back. “Um… so… may I ask what is this thing that you brought with you?”

“Yes, of course. This is a record player. As I said, there is a recording that explains things about the certain supernatural entity,” deputy explained, opening his folder. “But before we get to that, there are some pictures that I would like you to take a look at.” He pulled out a few images with some strange, apparently ancient, drawings, but each of them depicted a death scene of a group of people. And every drawing featured the familiar symbol that she saw in the photos that deputy showed her earlier.

“So… what exactly am I looking at?” Lena asked, studying the pictures curiously.

“These are the copies of ancient engravings,” deputy explained. “Maybe you remember from our last talk that I mentioned about advising Mr. Oswalt to call the University and contact professor Jonas, the occult crime expert?”

“Yes, I remember that. And? What then?”

“Well, the first thing is that professor Jonas has mysteriously vanished without a trace two days ago. We found this recorder and the images among his documents and other belongings.”

“What? How?” Lena began blinking fast. Deputy sighed and continued:

“To be honest, I don’t know what to tell you at the moment. We began searching for him, but it will take a while. And I believe that his disappearance has something to do with that entity. I don’t claim it yet for sure, but those are my suspicions.”

“It could be,” Lena nodded in agreement. And when that creepy bastard appears again, he will answer a few questions, - she thought to herself, scratching her chin.

“All right, now it’s time for the most important part,” deputy turned his attention to the recorder. “Now we are going to listen to the entry, recorded by professor Jonas a day before his disappearance. I’m sure it will clear up the picture about your mysterious stalker.”

He switched the device on and in a few seconds the recording started.

“This is professor Andrew Jonas, entry recorded on August 27th, 2012. I’ve received the sad news about the tragic death of Mr. Ellison Oswalt and his family, which happened a short time after I contacted him via Skype. Mr. Oswalt called for my help to provide information about the background of the mass murders of families. I got a few images from him, containing a symbol, the meaning of which he wanted to know, as it appeared in the murder scenes. It's a symbol associated with the worship of a pagan deity. A very obscure one, dating back to Babylonian times, a deity named Bughuul, the Eater of Children. The crimes that Mr. Oswalt was dealing with, they all had the element of a missing child. Well, Bughuul eats children. Now, the fragments of stories that have survived, they all revolve around him needing the souls of human children to survive. Now each story involves a different way that he lures or tricks these children away from the physical world and traps them in his own netherworld, and he consumes their souls over time. Now any worship of this deity would include a blood sacrifice or the wholesale eating of a child. In these particular crime scenes that Mr. Oswalt was investigating, there was nothing of the things just mentioned, meaning blood sacrifice or the eating of a child. It is more like a cult initiation. And before my last contact with Mr. Oswalt, I sent him a few images per e-mail, containing the ancient engravings, connected to Bughuul. These images were the only ones that survived throughout the history, as everything else had been destroyed because of the superstitions. Early Christians believed that Bughuul lived in the images themselves, and each person that stumbled upon them had large risk to become possessed. The children that saw the images, were especially vulnerable to Bughuul’s possession. If a person gets possessed, he or she falls under a total control of Bughuul, and is forced to commit terrible things. This is what occurred during each crime, connected to Bughuul. Each missing child had apparently got under Bughuul’s possession and was forced to murder their entire family, and afterwards they disappeared. As I’ve mentioned earlier, Bughuul takes them away from the physical world and traps them in his own netherworld. Sadly, I have to admit that this is exactly what we are dealing with in each of these cases, including Mr. Oswalt’s case. The contact with him ended before I managed to answer his question, concerning the images serving as a portal for Bughuul to the world of the living. He asked me if it is possible to close the portal by destroying the images. Unfortunately, he didn’t get his answer, but now, in this entry, I claim the following: it is possible. If everything connected to Bughuul is destroyed before getting in close contact with it, whether those are images, recordings, etc., it is possible to deny him the entrance to our world. But if you try to do it after you have managed to take a good look at the images or anything else and study it, then it is no use. The connection has been established and Bughuul won’t stop until he completes his plans.”

This is where the recording ended. Lena sat in silence for a few moments, digesting all the information she had just heard. Deputy switched the recorder off and also stayed quiet, looking at the woman sitting across him.

“Alright…” Lena finally spoke after a deep sigh. “Now it’s all clear. This Bughuul is following me for some unknown reason. I can only wonder what the hell he wants from me. I’m alone, I have no children, so I actually have nothing to offer him. But nonetheless, he apparently has some interest in me.”

“It seems so,” deputy agreed. “But judging by what the professor said, looks like my future perspective is death. I’ve studied all the images, helped Mr. Oswalt with the investigation. I guess I have already gone too far as well. Now it’s just a matter of time. And…” he closed his face with his palms, supporting himself with elbows. “…I beg your forgiveness. I have drawn you in all this crap by showing you the images.”

Hearing this, Lena shook her head frantically.

“Oh, no, please, don’t say so. You’re not to blame in this situation. This entity, Bughuul, started following me days before I met you. So it’s not your fault, one way or another.”

And yes, to Lena it already didn’t matter if he showed her the images or not. She has encountered Bughuul personally and became his helper, whether she wanted it or not. She only hoped that deputy wouldn’t suffer from the demon’s intrigues.

“Ah, yes, you’re right,” deputy smiled, admitting his own mistake. “By the way, have you seen him since we met last time?”

Lena understood in grief that she was forced to lie and gave a negative answer. She knew what the consequences would be if she told him the truth. It would end tragically not just for her, but for the deputy as well.

“Good to know you’re fine so far,” he said. “But our deal is still valid. If you notice him or anything weird, let me know at once, alright?”

“Yes, of course,” Lena nodded in response. “And I would like to thank you for all the information, deputy. Believe or not, it’s always easier to act when you know exactly what you are against, whatever it is.”

“I can agree with that,” deputy replied. “It’s much worse when you don’t know what you’re dealing with. The most frightening thing possible is the unknown.”

“Right you are.”

Finishing his tea, deputy packed the images back into the folder and unplugged the recorder.

“Well, Ms. Firth, I guess it’s time for me to go. I hope the information you heard today was useful to you. Don’t hesitate to contact me if anything happens. If I find out any news, I’ll give you a call.” He put the folder on the recorder and picked it up, moving to the front door.

“Sure, I will if I face any strange things,” Lena replied. “Thank you very much for your help. I really appreciate it. Oh, by the way, do you need any help with carrying things? Is the recorder heavy?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” deputy smiled. “I can carry it myself. And you’re welcome. I’m glad to help. Good night, Ms. Firth.”

“Good night, deputy,” Lena said and closed the door after him, locking it for the night.

She stepped back into the kitchen and washed the dishes, while thinking over all the things she found out about. Something was already familiar to her, but some details were new, like those images that served as some kind of a portal for Bughuul to the human world. And she was indeed curious about what could have happened to professor Jonas. Has Bughuul done something to him? Most likely, otherwise why would he suddenly disappear without a single trace? There was definitely something strange going on, and Lena knew that soon she will find it out. Very soon.

6: Chapter 6

Sunday passed without any particular occasions, and Lena could take a walk around the town peacefully, without even looking behind her every five minutes. She noticed a police officer patrolling the area not far from her home, but generally all seemed safe. Even at night no one disturbed her, and she was more than happy about it.

The next day she went to work to the grocery store, as usual, and nothing seemed out of ordinary. But around the afternoon time she decided to switch on a small TV set in her office, just to hear the news. But what she saw and heard made the blood in her veins turn cold. The TV screen showed a female reporter standing in front of a familiar house. Lena recognized it at once – it was the same house on Floyd Street that she was sent to by Bughuul some days ago. And on both sides of the woman several police cars were visible.

It has finally happened, - Lena thought to herself and turned the volume up a bit so she could hear every detail.

“Yesterday, on Sunday 23rd, a family of three people was brutally murdered in their own house on 12 Floyd Street. Brian Hayes, 45, his wife, Mary, 40, and their daughter, eleven-year old Claire, were killed with gun shots into their heads, and their son, twelve-year old Daniel, is nowhere to be found. Parents and their daughter were found on the floor in the living room, tied with ropes and with a bullet in their foreheads. Looks like the Beretta M9 .22 LR handgun was used as a murder weapon. It’s said that this case eerily reminds of several family murders that happened before, which include the elimination of a whole family and the disappearance of one of their child. Police is conducting the investigation, but no more details are yet known.”

Lena switched off the TV set and turned away from it. So this demonic creep claimed another victim. This time he forced a twelve-year old boy to shoot his family with a handgun before taking him away. She wondered what Bughuul was up to now. Will he make her fetch the “Home movies” box again from the crime scene at night? Or does he have any other plans for her? Lena had no idea what to think now. All she knew that at this moment she needed to talk to deputy about this case. So she pulled out the cell phone from the pocket of her jacket and dialled his number.

“Hello?” a male voice answered.

“Hello, deputy? It’s Lena Firth speaking.”

“Oh, Ms. Firth? Glad to hear you,” deputy really seemed glad to hear her, judging by his voice. “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I’m ok,” Lena said. “But… I’ve just heard the news on TV… Another family has been murdered, right?”

“Yes, unfortunately,” deputy sighed sadly. “It was totally unexpected, but it seems that this creep did it again. By the way, how are things going by you? Any occurrences?”

“No, from my side nothing,” Lena replied. “Although it’s kinda strange. He seemed to be following me at first, but then he decided to switch for someone else.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. But I haven’t got a single doubt that he’s behind the murder again. Just like with the Stevensons, just like with the Oswalts. And now the Hayes family have suffered the same fate.” Deputy coughed and continued:  “And the worst thing is that if I try to explain it to my colleagues or the sheriff, they won’t buy the story for sure. I will be laughed at. They would say they need just facts, and not some myths and legends.”

“Understandable. No one would believe in all this otherworldly stuff unless they face it themselves. Moreover, as I see, this Bughuul attacks totally unexpectedly. I mean, you can never know who and when will fall victim to him. Am I right?”

“Yes, you are,” deputy agreed. “Only Mr. Oswalt was the first one to begin complaining about some weird stuff in his house, but he moved to a crime scene on purpose, you know. He knew about the Stevensons, and he also discovered that these crimes were connected to occultism. But before him no one had any complaints about anything strange. At least, not to my knowledge.”

“I see. Alright, deputy, I’m not going to distract you from your duties, and I have to get back to work too,” Lena said. “When I heard about the new case, I just… I felt I had to talk to you about it. Now I feel better.”

“But of course, anytime,” deputy replied. “Have a nice day.”

“Thanks, same to you,” Lena smiled, more to herself, and hanged the phone.

On the one hand, Lena felt a bit relieved after she talked to the deputy. But on the other hand, her own conscience didn’t give her full peace of mind. The demon destroyed another family and claimed another child victim, and she knew about his plans. She could have warned the deputy and thus prevent the new crime, but she couldn’t do that. Bughuul held her like in some kind of iron shackles, and she did not dare to disobey. He has gained power over her, and she could do nothing about it. But Lena was sure that she was also partially responsible for this particular crime, but not at her own will, of course.

Returning home, she did the usual routine as always before going to bed, like having supper and taking a shower. Often she liked to watch some interesting film before going to bed, but this time she had no mood for that. Some inner voice whispered to her that exactly this evening something was going to happen, but what? Lena had no idea, but in the same moment when she finished washing the dishes, she heard a strange sound, like fast clicking of some sort. The young woman listened carefully and realized that it was coming from upstairs. Lena slowly went upstairs, trying to understand where exactly the sound was coming from, and the closer she approached to her bedroom, the louder the sound became. It meant that somebody of something was in her room. But how was that possible if all the windows and doors were locked from the inside? Then in suddenly dawned on her: no one else was capable of such things but one being. Bughuul.

So he decided to let her know about himself now, just as Lena expected – after another deadly ritual of his. She opened a door a bit and noticed that her room was illuminated by a faint, flickering light. Then she finally opened it wide, and there was the demon himself, standing at her desk, behind the chair that she usually sat in when working with her laptop. And the light was eradiated by a working projector on the desk, the same one from the “Home movies” box.

“There you are, Lena,” the demon said in an obviously satisfied voice.

“Well, hello there,” she replied. “It sounds to me you’re satisfied with the result of your actions, aren’t you?”

“Oh yes,” Bughuul laughed.

“So, what’s your pleasure this time?”

“This time… This time, I think it’s time for you to get introduced to the whole matter,” he said. Lena tilted her head in confusion until Bughuul pointed to the chair in front of him. “Sit down.”

The woman did as she was told and sat down into the chair. Looking on her left, she noticed a few film cases near the projector, and one of them was empty, the one labelled “Pool Party ‘66”. From that she deduced that the particular film was inside the projector. Bughuul then pressed one of the buttons on the projector, and the film began. And when that happened, Lena felt both his hands lie on her shoulders. She wondered why he was holding her like that, not like she was going anywhere, but decided to keep quiet.

The tape they were watching now was dated as the earliest of the available ones. In it, a friendly family scene was shown, after which the same family was seen, taped onto pool chairs with ropes tied to them. An unseen figure pulled then each family member into the pool until they drowned. In the end, Bughuul could be seen in the water after the whole family was underwater.

Right here the tape ended. Lena watched it with her eyes wide from horror and sat in her spot like hypnotized while the demon changed the tapes, putting the next one into the projector. This one had the name “BBQ ‘79”, in which the family, after spending good time during barbecue, was seen chained inside their own car, which was parked in their own garage. The unseen figure set the car on fire, and Bughuul could be briefly seen in the picture, which could be spotted by the side of the car. Lena realized that this one was from Sacramento, she remembered the deputy mentioning a family burned in their own garage. And then there was this symbol on the car hood, the one from the photos that she had seen.

The next tape carried the name “Lawn Work ‘86” and showed another family, seen in a living room through the window from outside, followed by an episode that showed rainy weather at night, and a lawn mower being pushed by an unseen person is pushed up to a family tied up on the ground being run over by an unseen person, killing them.

At this moment, when the mower was pushed on a first person, Lena turned away abruptly, not wanting to see this bloody mess on the screen. But right then she felt Bughuul’s hand on her head that turned it back to the screen.

“Did I allow you to turn away?” he asked with a hint of a snicker in his voice.

“I don’t want to see that,” Lena said, covering her eyes. “This is disgusting.”

“Of course, you do, no need to lie to yourself,” the demon continued, putting the hand back on her right shoulder. “You are much stronger than that. I know it, and you know it perfectly. Now, where were we?”

While he changed the tapes again, Lena thought things over, realizing that no matter how disgusting these scenes were, the other part of her wanted to see it all, and even was curious about the many ways a human being can be murdered. This is what Bughuul obviously liked about her, and he knew for sure what to choose and why.

The tape with a name “Sleepy Time ‘98” depicted the murders of a family in St. Louis. They were seen, strapped down to their beds, and the unseen person slit their throats with a knife. These were the Millers, so much Lena remembered from the deputy’s story. This scene was more or less bearable, like the one with the pool or even the burning. The “Family Hanging Out ‘11”, in turn, showed the events with the Stevenson family, the ones that were hanged in the back yard. Four members of a family were tied to a tree branch with nooses, but their feet were still on the ground. An unseen figure cut another branch that was supporting the family, which pulled them upward, killing them. And in the background of the last frame, Bughuul could be seen among the bushes in the distance, watching the scene.

As deputy had said before, this was the same house where Ellison Oswalt moved in on purpose with his family not knowing about it. His goal was to write a book about the family whose death Lena had just witnessed. But his dream did not come true, and in the result this fatal mistake had cost him dearly. And the result of this mistake was seen in the “House Painting ‘12” tape. In the footage Lena saw Ellison Oswalt himself with his wife and son, lying on the floor in a living room, with their hands and feet tied with a sticky tape, and their mouths taped up as well. But when the family was chopped into pieces, Lena couldn’t help but close her eyes. Dismemberment was what she really disliked of all the acts of violence. The movie also included the paintings Ashley made out of her family’s blood in the hallway of their home. Although this scene with the walls painted in blood indeed looked terrifying, Lena had to admit that it charmed her with its macabre beauty.

And now, the last one. This was obviously the new tape, depicting the murder that happened just yesterday, and it carried a symbolic name, “Home shooting gallery ‘12”. This time Lena watched as a man, a woman, and a young girl were sitting on the floor in a row, supporting their backs against the wall, and all three were tied with ropes and had their mouths taped up in a similar manner the Oswalt family had. The film was silent, like the all the rest, but it was clear when each person got shot, like a target in a shooting gallery, as a bloody bullet hole appeared in the forehead of every family member: the first was father, then the mother, and the last was the daughter. And here the footage ended.

Lena rubbed her temples, trying to digest all what she had just seen. Bughuul has just showed her how each family died, and all the grisly murders were recorded. But why had the police never found these tapes?

“Is that all?” she asked in a tired voice.

“Just a little addition,” Bughuul replied, taking one more tape from an old envelope labelled “Extended Cuts”. Now Lena finally saw all the truth: the extra tapes revealed that the "unseen" individuals were actually the "missing" children. In these extended endings, each child came into frame after committing the murder, moved close to the camera and silently held one finger up to their mouth.

Lena already wasn’t too much surprised by this, as Bughuul had explained to her before, how his “rituals” work. She just didn’t expect to see it all with her own eyes, let it be just on a tape. She has just watched a series of real snuff films.

“All right, so…” she sighed finally, turning her head to face the demon standing behind. “Why did you show me all of this?”

“As I said before, I wanted to introduce you to the whole matter,” he explained, not without his sinister laugh.

“What for? And what does it all mean?”

Bughuul put one hand on her left shoulder and walked to stand in front of her. He bent down to look right into Lena’s face closely and whispered:

“It means that you will be the one to record the next ritual.”

7: Chapter 7

Lena felt like if a bucket of ice cold water was splashed on her. Did he just say he wanted her to film another murder scene? Why?

“Excuse me?” she asked half-surprised, half-irritated. “Why do you want me to do that? Isn’t it so that the chosen children do the filming?”

“Yes, it is so,” the demon replied. “But now it’s time for a change. And I know you can do it, so refusing is not an option. I think there is no need to remind that you are out of choices.”

“Yeah, yeah, so much I knew…” Lena huffed. “Have you already chosen the family?”

“Not yet. I will let you know when it happens. And believe my word, that will be very soon.”

The woman sighed heavily, but there wasn’t much she could do. Disobeying the demon would cause very unpleasant consequences.

“One more question. Do I have to carry the box again to the house where this “ritual” of yours is going to take place?”

“No. As you will be filming this time, you will bring the box with you on the day of the ritual. And you will need only the camera, so the projector and the tapes can stay at your home,” Bughuul explained to her. “Till then, keep it safe and hidden in your house. See you around.”

At this moment the demon disappeared. Lena still sat on the chair, trying to digest all that has just happened. First, he made her watch the murder scenes of whole families, including the most recent one. She had to admit that the last killings were the fastest and most painless, comparing to the rest. And now he wanted her to be present at the next killing scene and film it. If it was going to be something similar to the last scene, it would me more or less bearable. But she wasn’t sure. All that Lena knew is that Bughuul was definitely preparing her for something. But for what? The demon will not leave her ignorant, that she was sure about. She will get her answer.

In time.

***

Six days passed in peace, no sign of the demon or anything connected to him. Lena couldn’t complain about anything in general, but her soul couldn’t find peace, considering what she was going to go through. Bughuul could appear any day, any moment, and announce that he made his choice of the next victims. She was prepared for this though. Lena began to realize that Bughuul’s appearance at her house was becoming usual, like going to work or having breakfast, not mentioning the absence of fear of him.

***

One more week, and still nothing. Lena has already begun to wonder about what could have happened. Did it really take him so long to search for the victims or was there something else. She could only presume that he probably wanted to take a break between the murders, for any case. Otherwise it would raise suspicions at once.

On the fifteenth day, things changed at last. After her return home from work and having supper, Lena stumbled on the demon again, and once more in her own bedroom.

“Oh, hello again,” she said, crossing arms on her chest. “How are things going? I presume you have finally found what you wanted?”

“Yes, I have,” Bughuul said. “Are you ready to go?”

“I think so,” the woman replied. “But where now?”

“I will lead the way, just like the last time. Now take the box and prepare to leave. Soon is midnight, and then you can go.”

Bughuul vanished again, and Lena slowly began to dress up in her black “uniform”. She wondered how far he would make her go this time, but no matter where the goal is, she had to be maximally careful. She still hasn’t abandoned the thought about police patrol, even at night. After all, no one can be sure of that.

Lena waited till midnight, and right after the clock showed twelve, she opened the front door quietly, peeking outside for the signs of any people. For now, the streets seemed deserted. Lena thanked God that there were not many street lanterns in the street she lived on, so it would be easier to hide in the shadows. Holding the “Home movies” box with the camera inside, she locked her house and looked around, not knowing where to go.

“The place you have to reach is 10 Harbour Road, by the railways. Everything is ready for you,” Bughuul’s voice suddenly echoed in her head.

Harbour Road? Oh yeah, I know where it is, - Lena thought to herself. But what did he mean by saying that everything was ready? She didn’t dare to speak out loud, in case if someone might hear her. But it was no problem for Bughuul though, as he could hear her thoughts.

Lena carefully moved to the left, trying to stick to the darkness, hiding behind the trees and bushes if necessary. The demon warned her if there were any threats, like somebody stepping out of the house to smoke or a car passing by. She had to hide many times, but safety was the main priority.

She reached the chosen house in around thirty minutes, as her own house wasn’t located too far from the railways. It was also a relatively small house that had only one floor, and the windows were dark. Lena wondered what she was to do now until suddenly someone grabbed her wrist. Lena felt blood in her veins getting cold, thinking that she might be caught. But when she turned around, there was just a little girl standing beside her and holding her hand. She looked around eleven years old. And while holding Lena’s wrist, the girl always stared into the woman’s eyes, without saying a single word.

“Don’t worry, Lena.” Bughuul suddenly appeared behind her back. “She is the chosen one.”

“Oh…” Lena sighed in relief. “Damn, when she grabbed my hand, I thought I’m done for.”

“Don’t worry, no one shall catch you. I will not allow it to happen. Now, she will lead you to the place of the ritual.”

Still holding Lena’s hand, the girl led her away from the house, and right to the railways. There a horrible sight opened to her eyes: four people with their mouths taped up, tied to the railway, and all were still alive. Lena knew that this girl has drugged her family and tied them to the railway after she made sure they were unable to resist. The plan was now more than clear – they were going to wait until the train comes, and the unfortunate victims will severed into pieces by it. She shuddered from a single thought about filming this scene.

“Now, take out the camera and switch it on,” Bughuul commanded. Lena did what he told and then asked quietly:

“But how do you know when the train comes? We can wait like that for hours, especially at night.”

“The train is going to pass this spot in five minutes. It’s a night train.” the demon explained. “When I said that everything is ready, I meant it.”

The last words he spoke with a hint of a snicker. This uncertainty of hers entertained him, but it will go away in time. He knew she would become similar to him, and murder scenes will not affect her in any way, shape, or form. But everything comes in its own time.

Lena and the girl stood in the shadow where no one could see them. Five minutes have passed, and the sounds of the train were becoming louder with every second. Holding the camera in one hand, the young woman felt the girl squeezing her palm lightly. And right at that moment the train passed by in full speed, cutting the victims into pieces. Lena sighed heavily and sadly when that happened, but, on the other hand, she was surprised that she didn’t turn away or the strong feel of disgust didn’t take over her. Now all that was left of those unfortunate ones was a bloody mess. Lena continued filming, as Bughuul didn’t give the order to stop, and when all was silent again, the girl came out in front of the camera and put her index finger to her mouth, just like the other kids did after murdering their families. And after that Bughuul came into the frame, took the girl into his arms and carried her away into the darkness.

For minute or two, Lena just stood in her spot with the camera, not knowing what to do. Finally she decided to switch off the camera, as the “ritual” was over, and there was nothing more to film. Before she managed to put the camera back into the box, the demon’s voice echoed in her mind again.

“Your work is done for today, Lena, you may go home. Keep the box safely hidden until our next meeting. I’ll see you after a while.”

And that was it, no more sounds or any other signs of his or the girl’s presence. Lena packed the camera into the box and left the crime spot as fast as she could. Reaching her house without any incidents, the first thing she did was putting the other things from the box back where they belonged and hid them under her bed. Taking a quick shower, Lena went to bed, but couldn’t fall asleep for a few hours. No wonder, as the death scene she had witnessed and filmed still stood before her eyes. This is something she would be unable to forget for a while. All Lena could now do is wonder about how many times this merciless demon would make her film the grisly crimes. This sure is one hard mental experience. But she would get used to it later or soon, if she has to repeat this process again and again. After all, Lena just had to hold the camera, and as long as things were bearable, she was alright with that.

Unless…

Unless one fine day he makes her commit the murder with her own hands.

8: Chapter 8

Months passed one after another, and the news about new murders came out now and then. Again, each was similar in nature to the previous ones – a family dead and a child missing. And every time the police came to a dead end. No traces of a killer or any clues about who it could be. Of course, deputy had an idea about these crimes, he didn’t hesitate to present all the evidence he had, but still there was no solid proof that the crimes were of a supernatural nature. Even the recording left by professor Jonas wasn’t strong enough. Sure, it explained a few things, but the things he told about were historical and contained legends and stories about a deity named Bughuul. And the screenshots made by Ellison Oswalt while he watched the cursed tapes didn’t manage to convince. The authorities were sure that the stranger seen it the pictures was some guy in a creepy mask, a member of some sect that worshipped this Bughuul. He committed ritualistic murders and kidnapped one child for unknown reasons, sometimes leaving a symbol behind. This was the official version, and no one would accept the version about supernatural forces behind the murders. The investigation should be based on facts instead of legends and rumors.

Only one person knew the whole truth. And it was Lena Firth.

From the first time when Lena filmed a murder scene, not a single killing passed without her participation as an operator, and after every family death a new tape was added to the “Home movies” collection. She still didn’t fully understand why Bughuul made her film it all, and he didn’t explain anything either. But all has its own purpose, and with each murder scene Lena realized one thing – blood and death didn’t affect her anymore. She has become absolutely numb to it. She wondered if that was what the demon actually wanted, to make her treat killing as something ordinary. She wasn’t entirely sure though, but meeting Bughuul so many times and working for him helped her guess his motives at least a little bit. And this time he was definitely preparing her for something. Time will show what exactly it is.

One evening, when Bughuul appeared in her house again, their discussion made all things clear.

“So, tell me, Lena…” the demon began, moving the strand of the woman’s hair behind her ear. Lena was more than surprised by this gesture, as nothing of that had ever happened between them. This movement of the demon seemed almost… gentle. “What do you feel when you watch the children taking their families’ lives?”

Lena thought for a moment and said:

“Should I be absolutely honest?” In the next second this question seemed silly to her, as she knew now that Bughuul could hear her thoughts. “To tell you the truth, I feel… nothing. Not even a single emotion. Looks like I have gotten totally used to seeing people dying the most horrific ways. I highly doubt that something could surprise me.”

“Very well, I’m glad to know it,” Bughuul nodded, now touching her face with his fingertips. “This was exactly what I wanted, that you grow completely indifferent to the death of human beings. You are now ready.”

“Yeah, so much I guessed already.” Lena stared at him attentively, not denying that the touch of his cold hand made her feel relaxed. “So… maybe it’s about time you told me the purpose of this all?”

Bughuul tilted his head on the left, then on the right, and his messy black hair swung from side to side.

“Of course, it’s time to set things straight. Maybe you have already thought about it, but here it is: the next murder will be yours.”

Lena sighed at the last phrase.

“I guess I had my suspicions, and they turned out to be right.” She crossed hands on her chest. “That explains the reason for me to be numb to death. But does it change anything that the killer is not a child?”

“No. As I usually make the children to do my bidding, it doesn’t mean that I cannot make an adult person do it. Children are more vulnerable to my power, and among the adults there was no one that could fit for my task. To be precise – there wasn’t, until I found you.”

The woman continued staring at him, and she could swear that if Bughuul had a mouth, he would have definitely grinned at this moment.

“Alright, so… have you already chosen the victims?” she asked. Bughuul shook his head which meant a negative answer.

“No. This time I decided to give you complete freedom.”

“What do you mean?” Lena asked, tilting her head.

“It means that you can choose your victims and the way to kill them.”

***

That was already becoming interesting. He decided to give her the choice of victims and be creative in killing? Now that’s a surprise, at least so Lena thought.

“Wow… that is quite unexpected,” she grinned. “I thought you would make a choice, as usual.”

“With the children it is needed,” the demon explained. “They don’t know the life, and for them it’s all the same. I give the order, and they do what they are told. But you have lived the life, and I’m sure there are people you cannot stand, right?”

Lena began thinking. She needed some time to dig through her own thoughts and memories. Finally she had come up with the result.

“Well, yes, when at University, there were some female course mates that I hated. You see, they were rather popular, especially among the guys, which included also provocative clothing and make-up as a success. I, in turn, was different. On the contrary, I preferred to be known as a “grey mouse” than being like them. Not a single day passed without their mocking and insulting jokes. I was so happy when the studies were finally over. Although at the party we had afterwards, all were friendly to each other, but… there is still grudge in my heart. The things they said to me during the time of studies can’t be that easily forgotten.”

Lena felt a bit embarrassed while talking about her life to an inhuman being. But, on the other hand, she had no one else to talk to. Only him, Bughuul.

“All right. So you would choose them?” Bughuul asked.

“Yes, I think so,” Lena replied. “I will invite them to my place for a cup of coffee, and then take their lives. Our relationship now is more or less bearable, so there wouldn’t be any problem for us to meet. Although the murder must be planned properly, so that all goes smoothly and without fails. I have a hammer in my cellar, but the stakes… it would take time to make them. Plus, I have to make sure that the victims can’t fight back.”

“Don’t you worry about that. I will help you to make sure you succeed,” the demon assured her.

“Yeah, okay… As for the way of killing…” the woman scratched her head, thinking about the proper way to get rid of her potential victims. “I often fantasized about murdering them the same way you kill vampires, you know… like driving a stake through the heart. If I had to choose how to kill them, I would do it exactly like that.”

“No problem, I approve this idea.” Bughuul said. “Besides, it would be something new in any case. No child that I have taken has ever killed their family that way.”

During their talk, Lena giggled deep inside her heart. Who could have imagined that one day she would discuss the murdering plans, and her conversation partner would be not a banal serial killer, but a supernatural entity? Normal people would feel frightened and disgusted, but Lena didn’t. She already knew that people would call her a murderer and a psychopath, but, on the other hand, nothing has been normal in her life recently. Bughuul has entered her life unexpectedly and turned everything topsy-turvy. Not like she minded now, but at first such idea would seem crazy even to her.

“Listen, I’m going to call them right now,” Lena suddenly said. “If you don’t mind, stay with me, so you can know when we arrange the meeting.”

“No problem, I can wait.” Bughuul agreed. “I have all the time in the world.”

While Lena spoke on phone, Bughuul watched her, processing his plan in mind. He listened to her speaking and realized how eager her voice was. It seemed like she couldn’t wait for the day she takes their lives. And that made him more than happy. It means she was really becoming like him. And very soon she would join him. The demon himself realized he was becoming impatient, but he had to wait. All will come in time.

Finally Lena put her phone down and said:

“All right, that’s it. We meet next Sunday at five. There will be three women coming. To be honest, I was a bit surprised about how glad she was to hear me again, the one I’ve just called. Well, better for us, right?” Saying this, she winked.

“Of course,” the demon nodded. “So, here’s the deal: on the day before the meeting I will be here and provide you with the all the necessities, so you can complete the ritual without any problems.”

“It means on Saturday, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, Mr. Boogie, deal. Saturday it is then.”

Hearing the funny nickname again, Bughuul giggled quietly.

“You can expect me in the evening, as usual. See you around.”

Right then the demon disappeared, leaving her alone. Lena slowly walked around her bedroom, rubbing her hands and grinning evilly…

9: Chapter 9

Time till the weekend seemed like an eternity to Lena, but she had to be patient, there was no other way. Patience is always bliss, so much she knew. And on Saturday evening, Bughuul appeared in her house again, as promised. But this time he brought something with him.

“Here, this will help you to rob your victims of all the ability to resist,” he explained, putting a small bottle of some strange liquid on the table. The liquid had a suspiciously bright green color, it could be called phosphoric. Lena had never seen anything like that before. It looked like some glow stick liquid, but this was something much more serious than that.

“Oh, so that’s how the chosen children drugged their families before killing them,” Lena said, studying the peculiar bottle. “And how soon does it work? I mean, how long do you have to wait until the victims are drugged?”

“Yes, exactly,” Bughuul replied. “The effect of the drug is fast. Even if you add just several drops, the victim falls unconscious in ten minutes, even less. This is a very strong stuff, keep it in mind. It affects the human organism very fast. The more you add, the faster your victim loses consciousness.”

“Okay, good, I’ll remember that.”

“And here are the stakes and the hammer,” he said, putting several metallic stakes and a large hammer on the table near the bottle of drug. “The one you use to drive nails into the wall will not do. You would need a larger and stronger hammer to pierce a human body with a stake.”

Lena lifted the hammer to see closer, but it did seem rather heavy. The stakes weren’t that light as well.

“Damn, heavy stuff,” she said, shaking her head and puffing air out.

“Yes, and for a reason. Remember that this stuff is going to be used on human bodies.”

“I know. I just wonder if I’m strong enough to succeed. That will not be easy.”

“No worries. Just like with the chosen children, I will control your actions, and you will be as strong as you have never been in your life.”

That made sense. Lena could never understand how small children could kill adult people so easily, especially in Stephanie’s case. Now this got clear.

“I see,” the woman said, putting things down. “So, what else do I need… I think I would need to tie them up with something while they are unconscious, and tape their mouths up. I keep the tape in my cellar, so it will come in handy for sure.”

“All right. And don’t forget to prepare the camera before killing,” Bughuul reminded her, as this was also an important part of the ritual, although Lena still couldn’t fully comprehend the point of that. “I will be watching you during your meeting. You won’t see me, but just for you to know that I will be there. See you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, see you,” Lena replied, and the demon vanished. All she had to do now was hide all the things well and wait for tomorrow…

***

The next day was crucial for Lena. Today she had to commit a murder with her own hands. She still doubted whether all would go smoothly, but if Bughuul is near at that moment, there shouldn’t be problems. But one thing still occupied her mind. What would deputy say? How would he react when he finds out about all that happened? She was sure that after the murder, Bughuul will take her away to his netherworld, just like he did with all the chosen ones. He had never left anyone in this world, not a single time. And her case would not be exceptional. But, remembering all what deputy did for her, all the help he provided, she felt guilty in front of him. So Lena took a small piece of paper and quickly scribbled something on it, in hope that if deputy tries to look for her, he finds the note she was going to leave for him.

Putting the bottle with the green drug into her jacket pocket, Lena began to prepare the coffee. She has bought the cake on Saturday, so they wouldn’t drink empty coffee, and now she took it out of the fridge and put on the table, cutting in into several pieces and not forgetting to arrange the plates on the table. As it was autumn, it got dark pretty early, so she drew the curtains shut in all the house. It was what she always did, as she hated when it was visible from the outside what she was doing inside the house. Thus she provided herself full privacy.

While there was still time till five, she poured some green liquid into each cup, except for her own, and poured some teaspoon of coffee into each, making sure the deadly drug was fully covered by coffee. Then she hid the bottle in one of the cupboards, hiding it well behind many tins and boxes. No one must suspect anything, and as Lena was very good at pretending, all should go as planned.

Lena switched on the kettle to warm the water when suddenly silence was broken by the sound of a doorbell. She rushed to the door to open it, and there they were, standing in the doorway – Helen, Beth, and Lizzie, her ex-course mates and some time ago – the enemies.

“Oh God, Lena! It has been a while! Glad to meet you again!” Beth exclaimed. The other two greeted her the similar way.

“Yeah, long time no see,” Lena smiled back, giving each of them a hug. “Glad to see you too. Please, do come in.”

All three women walked into the house and hanged their coats in the hallway. Lena invited them into the kitchen, showing a bit of her house on the way.

“You have a nice house,” Helen said, peeking into the living room. “And you’re lucky to have a place to live in a peaceful area. You know, I used to like noisy places, but now… I guess my taste has undergone a change.” She laughed at her last words.

The water had managed to heat up when Lena and her ex-course mates entered the kitchen. While Beth, Lizzie, and Helen sat at the table, Lena poured hot water into all four cups. Her own cup stood separately from the rest, so she didn’t accidentally mix up the cups. While mixing the coffee, Lena was afraid that the green liquid would be very much visible, but, lucky for her, it wasn’t. It got perfectly blended with coffee, plus it had absolutely no smell and no taste, so no one would even know that there is some drug mixed in their drink.

“Well, girls, here you are,” she said, putting a tray with three cups of coffee on the table, adding also sugar and milk separately, in case any of them wanted to add some. Then she took her own cup and joined them at the table.

“Thank you.” The three women said it almost in unison, and each took her own cup of deliciously smelling hot drink. “So, Lena, how are you? What do you do for life?” Lizzie asked.

“I work as a manager in a grocery store,” Lena replied. “I wouldn’t call it fun, as every day it’s the same, but the job itself is fine, and the salary is absolutely satisfying. It’s enough for me to pay all the bills and just live my life.”

“I see. And you’re still alone, as I presume?” This question was asked by Helen.

“Yes, I’m single, and I’m absolutely fine with that,” Lena told her. “I feel I do not need to have anyone now. At least I’m free and can go wherever and whenever I want and do whatever I want to. So, what about you? How are you three going on with your lives?”

The women continued their talk in a relaxed atmosphere, and nothing foreshadowed any trouble. At least, Lena’s visitors were relaxed and peaceful, drinking coffee without hurry. Lena herself also seemed like that, but deep inside she was hiding a grisly secret. They had no idea about what she had prepared for them. And only Lena knew that they were being watched. Bughuul was hiding in the darkness and watching his apprentice’s every move. He admired Lena’s ability to pretend and behave so like nothing out of ordinary was going on.

Lena’s guests finished the coffee, and she was patiently waiting for the drug’s effect to begin. Until…

“Damn, I feel kinda strange,” Beth said, putting a hand on her forehead.

“Me too,” Lizzie added, shaking her head, but it didn’t do any good.

“Shit! What’s going on?” Helen exclaimed, trying to stand up, but couldn’t, as her vision blurred with every second. All three women had their mouths oozing with foam. Lena stood up, watching the scene nervously and patiently waiting until they finally faint. Maybe any of them managed to realize that she drugged them, or maybe not, but Lena didn’t care anymore. In the next moment all three of her visitors were lying on the floor unconscious.

“Well, so far, so good,” Lena whispered to herself. Now she had to tie them up somehow so they cannot move their hands and legs. She ran upstairs and pulled the “Home movies” box and a hammer with stakes from underneath her bed and carried it all down to the living room. Then she took the sticky tape from the box and began working. The tape was large enough to get their wrists and ankles tied together firmly, and the last step was taping their mouths up. Lena tied their wrists in front, so she could put the bodies on their backs, and then it would be convenient to pierce their hearts with stakes. When she finished with that, she pulled each body into the living room and put them in a row. While she stood up, staring at them, they really looked like vampires to her. And she was now ready to kill those vampires.

Before beginning the ritual, Lena returned to the kitchen once again. First of all, she pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and left it on the table. And while searched the cupboard from the drug bottle, she suddenly heard a sound from the living room and saw light flickering. Taking the bottle, she ran back and saw the projector working and Bughuul standing near it. When Lena looked to the screen, she saw a long, creepy corridor in it that seemingly had no end. She already knew that it was the portal to Bughuul’s netherworld.

“Good job so far,” he said. “Ready for the main part?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Lena replied.

“All right. Now prepare the camera before starting the ritual.”

Lena took the camera and turned it on, checking if it worked properly. Then she walked to Helen that was very slowly gaining consciousness, and spoke, not caring if she heard her well or not:

“You humiliated me when we were course mates. Such things can’t be easily forgotten. You shouldn’t have done that.”

Although Helen was barely conscious, she could open her eyes a bit. She could see Lena’s face close to hers, and Lena’s glance seemed lifeless to her. It looked like Lena was under some hypnosis. Helen realized that Lena drugged them all already before fainting, but she could do nothing about it. And now she was unable to move at all, like if her whole body was paralyzed.

Lena placed the camera on the fireplace, stabilizing it with the items nearby. Then she took the hammer and the first stake and walked to Helen who was the first lying on her way. Placing the sharp end of the stake right above Helen’s heart, she hesitated.

“Do it!” the demon’s voice rang in her head.

Lena understood that now it was too late to turn back, so she lifted the heavy hammer and delivered the first blow. Helen twitched and wriggled from pain, but couldn’t scream with her mouth taped up. As Lena continued driving the stake into her, she realized that she was feeling much stronger than before. She was conscious of everything, but couldn’t control her own body, like it obeyed someone else’s commands. And she knew, of course, whose commands it obeyed. Bughuul was still standing at the projector and watching her actions. She was now totally under his control, so the demon knew she would not fail.

When Helen was finally dead, Lena left the first stake in her heart and went for the next one. The second victim in the line was Lizzie. The process went easier with her, as she didn’t even manage to awake, so Lena doubted that Lizzie even felt anything. And the last to die was Beth who also lay unconscious. Lena repeated the same process with her, and after all three female bodies had stakes in their hearts, she put the hammer aside and stood up. Despite being under Bughuul’s control, she still retained her own mind, and Lena felt no remorse whatsoever, mostly thanks to all the experience that the demon made her go through before. The three vampires were dead, and Bughuul’s deadly ritual was complete once again. This case was an exception though, as the chosen one was an adult person.

Finishing her bloody doings, the woman walked in front of the camera and put her index finger to her lips, which was also a part of the ritual, the final step. She then turned her head to the demon and made a few steps towards him. Bughuul, in turn, walked to her until both were standing close and facing each other.

“Well done, Lena, my faithful apprentice,” he said, caressing her hair and face with his fingertips. “I’m very proud of you.” Then he stood beside her on the left and put his arm or her shoulder, thus hugging her. “And now… let’s go.”

Saying this, the demon slowly led Lena through the portal into his netherworld. It could be seen in the projector’s screen how both walked away into the corridor. Only their backs were visible, and only Bughuul knew and saw that the farther they went from the portal, the woman’s face was losing the color until it grew deathly pale and became greyish, just like his own face. At the moment she stepped through the portal, she lost her humanity and became a ghost, now a true proxy of an ancient demon. And when they disappeared in the end of the corridor, the projector switched off by itself, closing the portal.

And that was the end.

Lena Firth has left the world of the living.

Forever.

10: Epilogue

In a few days after Lena’s disappearance, the police had new matter of investigation. It all began with the statement of vanishing of three women – Beth Hayes, Helen Carter, and Elizabeth Phillips. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, Beth’s parents, reported that their daughter and her two friend were invited by their ex-course mate, Lena Firth, to her house for a cup of coffee. And after that there was no sign of any of them. Sheriff gave an order to go to Lena Firth’s house and interrogate her, as she was most likely the last one to see any of the women. Deputy and a few more police officers joined him, but deep inside deputy felt that something was not right with Lena herself as well. Was she alright? Or that demon finally got to her and got rid of her acquaintances too? In any case, they had to find out the truth.

Seeing a house surrounded with police cars, a crowd of onlookers began to gather around. Sheriff tried the door, but it was firmly locked. Deputy had tried to call Lena many times, but always got no answer. Her phone seemed to be turned off. That made him get seriously worried. The police first asked the neighbors if anyone had seen Lena Firth or someone else entering her house. One neighbor stated that yesterday evening the light was on in Lena’s house, and around five o’clock, he saw three women entering the house. But that was it. Afterwards he saw no one else leaving the place. Police had to be sure, so they finally decided to break the lock and finally got inside. The house was empty and silent, and as deputy shouted out Lena’s name, it was useless. It looked like nobody was home.

Sheriff ordered to split up and search all the house. He went for the living room while deputy checked the kitchen, and the two other officers went upstairs. The kitchen was empty, nothing out of order, but then a piece of paper on the table caught deputy’s attention. Picking it up, he saw that it was a note from Lena, and it was addressed to him. He was going to read it, until…

“Jesus Christ! Oh, my God!”

It was the sheriff’s voice from the living room.

Deputy put the note into his pocket and rushed to the living room to see what the problem was. But when he saw what sheriff was looking at, he couldn’t help but turn away from the horrible sight. There, in the middle of the room, three dead women were lying on the floor in a row, their wrists and ankles tied together and mouths taped up. But that was not all. Each woman had some metallic thing pierced right through the heart. Generally, all this scene looked like some twisted vampire killing scene.

“Oh, God… Who could have done that?” deputy was in shock.

“I don’t know. But it looks like we found the three missing women,” sheriff said. “Now we need to find the owner of this house. I bet she committed these murders. The bodies are in her house, so no one else could be blamed for that.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right,” deputy agreed with sorrow in his heart. “I’ll call the paramedics then. The bodies should be delivered to the morgue.”

While deputy called the hospital, the officers came downstairs, stating that they found nothing out of ordinary on the upper floor. And still no sign of Lena Firth anywhere.

“Well, it seems that the criminal has escaped,” sheriff sighed.

“The criminal? What do you mean, sheriff?” one of the officers asked.

“Take a look yourselves,” he replied, inviting them into the living room.

“Damn it! Jesus…” both officers were beyond shocked. “Do you think the owner of this house did it, sheriff?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m more than sure of that. The fact that we found the bodies in her house, is the number one evidence of her guilt. Now, let’s examine the bodies closer and the room as well while the paramedics are not here yet. And I’m afraid it will take hell a lot of time to search for Lena Firth. She could be anywhere at this moment.”

No other traces were found in the house beside the bodies. When the paramedics delivered them to the morgue, the coroner stated in his report that all three victims were drugged by something, but no one could understand what exactly it was. It was some kind of substance, unknown to the science. All that could be identified that this drug paralyzed the muscles of the body, thus making the victims absolutely helpless in the hands of a killer. As for the drug itself… that was the main problem. No matter how much research was done, no one could find any chemicals that could be even remotely close to the composition of this mysterious drug. Once again, the investigation has come to a dead end.

***

At his home in the evening, deputy was having tea, unable to find peace of mind. With pain and sorrow he clutched a piece of paper in his hand. It was the note that Lena had left for him in the kitchen, and after he read it, the whole picture was finally clear to him. And the note said the following:

“Dear deputy,

I’m leaving this note in hope that one day you will find it. All I want to say is I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. Consider this note as a gratitude for all that you did for me, as the feeling of guilt before you was overwhelming me in my last moments in this world. You see, the recent murders of the families and the missing children… I knew all about them, as I was forced to be a witness. What’s more, I had to film them all, except for the one on Floyd Street. This demon, Bughuul, had literally recruited me as his helper. This is why he was following me. He already had his plans for me. And he held me under his control, that’s why I was forced to keep silent and tell nothing to the police. If I dared to disobey the demon, my punishment would have been very severe. And the last case with the three ex-course mates of mine… Yes, I killed them, I’m not going to deny it. The thing is that Bughuul was preparing me for that, making me witness the death scenes, so I would grow numb to blood and death and would feel nothing. I already knew what awaits me, I knew he would take me away into his netherworld after I complete his deadly ritual. Don’t try to go looking for me, as it’s futile. In the moment you are reading this note, I am in the place where no living human being can get to. And I ask only one thing: please, forgive me, if you can. I know I have done terrible things, but I really had no choice. I only hope that you would never experience anything of the kind that I was forced to go through.

Once again, I’m very sorry and I beg for your forgiveness.

Sincerely,

Lena Firth”

Deputy put the paper down, feeling his eyes getting filled with tears. So this is what that unholy bastard was after. He turned her into a merciless murderer and then took away. Tomorrow he will show this note to the sheriff, hoping that at least this would make him believe that the supernatural force is behind all these crimes. If only they could find a way to stop the demon… but this mission was close to impossible. But still deputy didn’t lose hope. The must be a way. And he would do all he can to achieve his goal and also take revenge for what the demon did to Lena.

He hid the note back into his pocket and left the kitchen after finishing tea. Deputy lived alone in his house, but little did he know that he wasn’t alone now. Despite that the heating was on, it was freezing cold in the house, which surprised him. He had no idea that while he was busy with his household care, a woman was following his every step, turning her ghostly pale face towards him and accompanying him with her lifeless gaze. Only the coldness could be a hint that something strange was happening in the house.

Switching all the lights off in the living room, the kitchen, and the hallway, deputy was on his way to bedroom, when suddenly silence was broken by some kind of strange noise, like something had been moved. Shivers ran down deputy’s spine, as he now realized that there was something else with him in the house. He remembered Ellison Oswalt’s complains of similar phenomenon, and now he himself was experiencing that. The next moment deputy felt blood in his veins grow cold and his face covering in sweat. There, in the dark, a faint whisper could be heard, and it spoke only one word:

“Deputy…”