Deep down she knew he wasn't. The black cuts in his body now leaked an unearthly dark fume, almost as if he were burning from the inside.
"Hey, buddy..." Gerald tested.
Aaron's eyes stayed a solid black, and only blinked when they spoke. He looked down at his hands, turning them over and flexing his fingers. Alaire clenched the knife in her hand. She couldn't remember how many times she shot the gun, but she had some ammo on her - if there was time for reloading. But could she kill Aaron...?
"I thought they were trying to put the demon in my body," Gerald whispered, "How did..."
From the trees came Dylan, shouting like a wild man. He attempted taking Aaron out but was caught mid-assault by the throat. Aaron tightened his hand around the boy's neck and threw him back towards the trees with enough force of a moving truck. Dylan's injured arm was definitely broken now - a loud crack echoed in the woods as his body slammed into the bark. He crippled to the ground cradling his elbow.
"You proved to be a nuisance after all," Aaron spoke, not using his actual voice, "I guess family is blood."
Dylan grit his teeth, his dark eyes piercing daggers into Aaron's very being.
"Why Aaron?" Alaire asked.
"Why?" he replied, "He asked for it."
When Alaire didn't react, he continued, "Aaron knew of my intentions - he knew a lot actually. He thought he could handle the transfusion better than the Detective could, as in, fight me off from the inside. But he is foolish."
"Aaron chose..." Alaire gasped, "He wouldn't!"
Or would he? Alaire's mind raced, searching for the reason behind Aaron's sacrifice. And then it hit her. His sacrifice.
Maybe... The deal was still on. Thanatos wasn't allowed to harm those who struck a deal with him. Up until recently, Alaire thought they were safe from this madness, but Thanatos was stepping over the line.
It still made her feel filthy inside thinking of how they used their friend's several death's to bargain for their own lives the last time. The appropriate amount of sacrifices gave you one wish... Even if Thanatos was a demon, he could suffer some sort of consequence for backing out on a blood pact, couldn't he? It was his own rules.
Alaire had no idea how many people Thanatos or Kellor had already killed tonight, so there was no telling if another deal could be made, and she wasn't betting on it.
What do you want me to do Aaron? Alaire begged her friend to show her a sign. At this point, Thanatos was going to kill them all unless she...
"No..." Alaire breathed.
Aaron closed in on her and Gerald. The detective wriggled in his bonds, but some of the rope still needed cut, "Alaire, get me out of this thing. Alaire!"
"I can't..." Alaire's voice croaked.
"Yes you can," Gerald said.
She shook her head and the detective gazed up at her, puzzled. Realization set in - after everything he learned from this case, the real and almost unbelievable, he knew as well what they must do.
"Damn you, Aaron," Gerald grunted, "Alaire... let me do this. You don't need to."
She knew that. And somehow she knew it was part of Aaron's plan. Because, in all honesty, she would've done the same thing.
Aaron's neck twitched, the ominous possession working its way through his body. The fog seeping from his body reached the floor, caressing Alaire's combat boots. How many bullets were left? One? None? There was still the knife... Alaire choked. After they'd come all this way, how could it end like this? Why did Aaron want this?
Aaron, or Thanatos rather, was in arm's reach - that's all space he needed to kill her. She watched Thanatos squish Kellor and Taylor like they were nothing before- he wasn't going to hold back with her now, even if he was in Aaron's body.
Alaire raised the gun, making Thanatos halt.
"You sure you want to do that?" Thanatos's voice chuckled through Aaron's teeth.
"Of course not," Alaire trembled, "Of course not..."
A hollow growl simmered in Aaron's chest, and he lunged at her.
I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry.
Alaire sobbed. Aaron's body lay motionless on top of her. Blood soaked her top from the hole in Aaron's chest.
"I'm so sorry..." Alaire whispered.
There happened to be a bullet left. She'd done it.
"You..." Thanatos sputtered, "I'm im-pressed... You truly are... a killer."
"And you've soiled our contract," Alaire glared.
At first, Thanatos only chuckled softly. Then, he convulsed. It was obvious it was involuntary because his eyebrows pulled together in concern.
"What happens when you break the rules?" Alaire challenged.
"Nothing can happen," he hissed, "I'm in control."
But his body writhed, falling off of hers, and rolled in agony in the snow. The torch was started to vibrate and melt some of the ice coated its frame. Gerald managed to wiggle the remaining ropes off of his body and he staggered to his feet.
"Come on," Gerald pulled Alaire to her feet and took the gun from her hands. Alaire didn't look away from Aaron and Thanatos's seizure episode, even when Gerald scrounged up Dylan from under the tree. "I guess I don't have to beat you anymore," he grunted as he hoisted Dylan up with one of his arms.
Aaron suddenly held his chest. He rolled over onto his front, and black liquid spewed from his mouth - all the while, Thanatos's howls shook the world.
The liquid, like Ryan's blood, was pulled towards the torch until every last drop was absorbed into the artifact. And just like that, there was silence.
"Aaron!" Alaire ran to her dying friend. He fell to his side, but his eyes were his own again. A weak smile spread across his face, "Hey..."
"Are you an idiot?" she said, "You're dying, you know that, right?" She pushed him over to apply pressure to the wound. So much blood was already gone and his face was looking paler. At least it wasn't gray anymore.
"That was kind of the point..." Aaron struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Stay awake, Aaron," Gerald knelt beside them, "Don't sleep. It's going to be hard, but resist."
"We could've found a different way," Alaire pressed, "You didn't have to get yourself killed. How did you know it would actually work?"
"It did," Aaron's voice was faint, "It did..."
"Aaron?" Alaire shook, "Aaron!"
"Detective! Detective Robinson!"
Gerald shot up from the ground. From the thick of the trees, men in suits approached them, following the warm yellow light of the rising sun - melting the gloom fog.
"We're here!" Gerald waved them down, "There are two injured - one is shot, please hurry!"
Alaire didn't remove her hand on Aaron's chest. His eyes had shut, but air still flowed to his lungs.
"Help is here," Alaire whispered, "Stay with me."
"... Ok."
*****
The hospital ceiling was bland and bright. Alaire watched the same corner of the room for the past hour. Cops and people with cameras flooded the lobby - she could hear them arguing amongst themselves and the staff.
No one had come to update her. She shared a room with Dylan, who was dead asleep and had been since they fixed his arm up and left him on the hospital bed. The detective brought them some brunch from the hospital cafeteria, but her pudding sat untouched and warm.
The door to their cozy space opened, and a short nurse came in, "How are you both doing? Need anything? Feel any pain?"
"He's still asleep," Alaire smiled, "But I think we're ok. Have you heard anything...?"
"Not yet, but the doctor is great at his job," she reassured, "We just have to be patient."
"How are the other two? Did they come in yet?"
"Other two?" the nurse cocked her head to the side, "I'm not sure I know who you mean."
Alaire frowned, "Could you ask someone at the front, or send someone to me? There should've been a guy and a girl, Ethan... and Gen I think. She had pink hair, you couldn't miss it."
The nurse looked worried now, "I will do that."
How did no one find them yet? The detective would look into it, Alaire told herself, he knew about them.
Gerald was enduring his own grief right now too. Ryan's body was being examined, along with the few bodies found through the tunnels Alaire and Dylan found in the woods. The news was blowing up about the newest Thanato cult story. Alaire's parents were on their way to the hospital, along with a hired lawyer - she was going to need one. Luckily, she had the detective's support in their case as a witness to their innocence. There was no way to explain Thanatos, not in a way the world would believe them.
It was unclear if the threat of Thanatos and his influence were gone for good, but Gerald took the artifact and apparently "hid it somewhere no one would ever find it." Hopefully, that meant destroyed...
"Miss Bowen?"
This time a different nurse appeared, "Are you feeling well enough to walk?"
"Um... sure?"
Alaire slipped away from her tacky bed sheets, leaving Dylan to his dreams in their hospital room. The nurse took her to an elevator and they made it to floor 4. The map icon on the wall read "intensive recovery."
She didn't want to hope, but her heart pounded loudly in her ears. The nurse smiled as they exited the elevator, "If you head to room 416, you can see your friend."
"Even if I'm not family?"
The nurse put a finger to her lips, "Just real quick."
Alaire entered the dim room and listened to machines beep and beep. Her chest was on fire and she leaned over the long white bed - putting one of her tiny hands against the cold cheek of its occupant.
"Your hand is warm," Aaron grumbled.
"Shut up," Alaire laughed, "Really though, I don't think you should talk while you're recovering."
"You didn't shoot my vocal cords."
"I wish I didn't have to shoot you at all."
Aaron's eyes fluttered open. He looked around him, towards his chest, and then up at Alaire, "Wow. We really did it."
"You almost died," Alaire said flatly.
"I did for a second, actually," Aaron winced, "At least that's what I heard the nurses saying."
Alaire shook her head, "What if it hadn't worked? How could you trust me to do that?"
"I don't know," Aaron said, "I guess I thought... what you would do in that situation. I knew you'd sacrifice yourself to stop that monster if you could. So I did."
Her hand wrapped around his and squeezed. There wasn't much more that needed to be said. Not right now anyway. She let her friend rest, and eventually fell asleep in the chair next to his bed. They had another long few months, maybe years, of having to deal with their horrific experiences, more news, more questions, more unwanted attention.
So today, they slept.
*****
"Robinson said there were two more out here, and to keep an eye out for a dark haired woman named Maren Smith. Tall slender male, dark hair and beard, is Ethan, and a woman with short bright pink hair, will be Genessee."
Another troop was sent to the woods, hours after they'd found the detective and the others. A psychologist was also found dead, along with a few unidentified bodies - one looked like he'd gone through a garbage disposal.
"What kind of sick- horror movie loving -freak came up with this," one of the officers grumbled.
"They're insane, no doubt," his buddy replied, "Sick, twisted... disturbed."
"Reminds me of Saw..."
"Reminds me of Saw..."
"But we haven't found the killer?"
"I don't know. The detective is being really careful about what he says. Makes me nervous."
The group stomped through the snow with their heavy boots, guns at eye level. One of the officers put a hand up, and they all paused.
"I see something," he said, "Oh... Oh my god..."
The rest of the officers hurried to his side, one by one each of them holding in their terror. Hanging from a tree was the missing pink haired girl. Her leg was bent out of shape and stuck in a few branches, but her face was covered with her own intestines. The stomach had been ripped open, ribs protruding from her flesh and a thick pool of blood and organs rested at the roots of the tree.
The officers whirled around, their eyes sharp and guns loaded. One of them leaped ten feet in the air when they heard someone shrieking at them.
"Run! Run!" A man with a beard, fitting the description of the second missing victim, came running towards them. He was covered in dry blood and it looked like he was limping.
"Down on the ground!" one of the officers shouted, "Get down, now!"
"Please, we have to run!" the bloody man begged.
" I said-" but the officer was cut off. Just above the girl's mangled body perched a malicious and skinless looking creature. It dove down at the officers and pounced on the one shouting. Sharp white teeth sunk into the officer's throat until it tore out his esophagus.
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" another officer shouted.
The creature bellowed, making the ground quake and trees shake.
