CHAPTER TEN
*****************
Thecitizens of Homestead run in panic and horror, witnessing the black smoke slowly engulfing the town. They have finally realized that the town is not safe anymore... at all.
The streets grow darker as all the light poles explode from the dark smoke and from the city hall, a loud roar is heard, coming from Franco. The building completely shatters and explodes, obliterated into millions of pieces as the beast escapes, searching for Jassel and everyone he's ever met.
***
Jassel, Alex, Jason, Iris, and Melinda all watch in horror looking at the darkness slowly approaching in the distance.
"Jassel! I suggest you get your friends and family OUT OF HERE!",
Melinda yells before disappearing in a flash of white light.
"Okay, I need to call Kim, I'm not leaving her here.",
Jassel says, grabbing his phone to call her. She immediately answers.
"Jassel, what's going on. I just felt an earthquake and now I see dark smoke from a distance.", Kim tells him, obviously very scared.
"Kim don't worry, we're going to pick you and your family up and head west as far away from here as possible.", Jassel told her.
"Okay Jay be safe, love you.", Kim responded.
"Love you too Kimmy.",
Jassel responded, before ending the call.
"Mom, I need you to take Alex and Jason towards Kim's house, pick her and her family up and drive west as far away from Homestead.", he tells her.
"What about you? I'm not just gonna leave you here!", she says.
"Mom, I have to end it, I have to kill him and his evil league. Just trust me on this okay?", Jassel tells her.
Iris closes her eyes and starts to cry, realizing that he has to do this in order to protect them, she grabs his hands, hugs him and tells him,
"I love you."
"I'm going to see you again mom don't worry, we're going to see each other again, I WILL come back.",
he smiles at her, giving her a tight warm hug as well.
Jason looks at Jassel and tells him,
"Look I understand you want your mom, Alex and Kim safe but I'm not leaving you here to fight alone. I want to be there when we finish him off"
"That's why I'm here." says Randy,
"To protect and watch over him. I have already placed guns and endless bottles of holy water in your moms car. They'll be safe, as long as they go far away.", he continues.
Alex jumps in to the conversation and says,
"I would stay as well but I know you don't want me to leave your mom alone so I'm going with her to keep her and Kim safe I promise."
"Thanks, brother.",
Jassel says, before giving him a hug.
"Hey! No goodbyes, your COMING BACK TO US.",
Alex tells him with so much confidence.
"Okay, now go hurry! Call me when you get far enough away from Homestead!",
Jassel tells Alex, already seeing him mom waiting in her car.
Jassel and Jason watch Iris and Alex rush out and drive off.
Randy then leads them to his house about two blocks away to retrieve more guns, swords and holy water that he had stored.
Finding the house empty, Jassel asks,
"Where is your family?"
"They were never my family, I was adopted and they abandoned me when they found out who I was, the night of the city hall sinkhole, the one that almost killed your friend, thanks to Damien.",
Randy explained, handing over a silver sword to Jassel.
"Jassel, we may not be able to kill Franco before killing ourselves in the process so the only way that we can get rid of him is by turning him into stone. And you have to be the one to do it, because it is a special holy sword that can only be used by someone with a heart as pure as yours. An angel.", Randy told him.
"Okay so Franco is the devil now?", Jassel asked.
"No, he is just possessed by his powers. Trust me when the devil comes, the whole world will know, not just some small town like this one.", Randy responded.
The dark smoke arrived and engulfed the house, causing some of the lights hanging from the roof to crack and explode.
"I hope my mom and Alex don't have to drive through this.", Jassel said.
Without warning, all of the front windows in the house shatter, and the smoke starts to spread throughout the interior of the house. Finally, the door blasts open. It's Franco, who stands at the doorstep, with black permanent eyes, horns, and claws, and a disfigured face.
"Hello Jassel and friends.",
Franco says, starting to step foot in the house.
Randy, who is standing closest to the door, starts to shoot at him, round after round but it only slows him down a little, as all the bullets just bounce right back from his skin, falling on the ground.
"JASSEL, JASON RUN!, GO!, GET OUT OF HERE!",
Randy shouts, continuously shooting at Franco.
Jassel doesn't want to leave him but Jason grabs his arm and pulls it harshly, forcing him to go escape through the back.
Randy's gun quickly runs out of bullets as Franco approaches him and pins him to the wall, choking him.
"Hello, TRAITOR OF GOD!", Franco tells him.
"Yeah, that's right, I'm a traitor, OF YOU!",
Randy says struggling to breathe, grabbing a sword from behind his back and stabbing Franco in the chest.
Franco just smiles and pulls the sword out of his chest which instantly heals.
"You shouldn't have done that.",
Franco tells him, before raising his claws and forcing them through Randy's chest, pulling his heart out, causing him to collapse, killing him.
***
Meanwhile, Iris and Alex have arrived at Kim's house. Alex quickly rushes out to knock on her door.
Kim opens it right away and gives Alex a welcoming hug.
"Where's Jassel?", she asked.
"He didn't tell you?", Alex responded.
"Tell me what? I thought you guys were all coming together! Alex tell me, where IS he!?",
Kim demanded, her eyes already getting all teared up.
"Kim, you have to understand, he had to stay behind with Jason to try to save this town by killing Franco. In case you haven't noticed, he got really pissed off at the fact that Jassel didn't want to join his side.", Alex explained.
Suddenly, they hear a gut wrenching scream from upstairs. It's coming from Daniel.
The two quickly rush upstairs to find Daniel sobbing over his dad who is laying in the bed, very pale, appearing to be asleep.
"Kim, he won't wake up!", Daniel yelled.
Looking next to him, Kim sees a bottle of medicine that was completely full of pills, now empty.
"Oh my god, NO!", Kim yells starting to cry.
Alex checks to see of he could feel a pulse on his wrist. He felt nothing but a stiff cold corpse.
"Kim, Daniel, he's gone. I'm so sorry.", Alex tells them.
***
Iris who is waiting in the car in the front of the house outside the salt line hears footsteps in the darkness behind her. She quickly grabs a bottle of holy water and a places a knife behind her back.
The footsteps grow louder and a shadow is starting to form as the entity gets closer to the car.
It's Joan walking up to Iris, smiling.
"Hello sister.", Joan tells her.
"You are not my sister. You never were. You made me live a lie my whole life thinking the wrong idea.", Iris told her.
"Haha, that was the fun part.", Joan responded.
"What are you doing here anyways.", Iris asked.
"What do you think? That I'm here to talk? Nah, I'm here to KILL YOU IRIS!",
Joan yelled rushing towards her with her hands to choke her.
Iris throws the holy water and grabs the knife behind her to stab her but Joan quickly heals from the burn and her demonic strength pushes the knife back towards Iris's neck, which slowly starts cut her. In a last attempt to save herself, she presses the BEEEEEP to alert Alex. Blood starts to come out of her neck as the knife penetrates deeper.
In the nick of time, Alex rushes in from behind to impale her right in the heart with a thin log he found outside.
"Time to go back to hell bitch.",
Alex tells her, as she turns pale and rotten, slurping down to the ground like a piece of meat and turning to dust.
"Iris are you okay?", Alex asks.
"Yeah I just have a cut on my neck.",
Iris responded, covering her wound with her hand.
"Where's Kim and Daniel?", Iris asked.
"Upstairs, looks like their father committed suicide.", Alex tells her.
"Oh my god that's horrible.", Iris responded.
Alex quickly rushes back to Kim's house to look for a first aid kit, which he luckily finds right on the kitchen counter. He then runs upstairs where Kim and Daniel are.
"Guys I'm really sorry about your dad, but WE HAVE TO GO!", Alex yells.
"Come on Daniel, he's right if we stay were gonna end up dead.",
Kim says holding his hand to get up.
The three rush down and outside toward the car. Alex cleans Iris's wound and puts a large band-aid on it.
Iris steps out of the car to give Kim and Daniel a warm hug.
"I'm so sorry about your dad.", she tells them.
"It's okay, hopefully he's in a better place now.",
Kim responded, still crying along with Daniel.
"Okay seriously, we should really go now.", Alex tells them.
The black smoke starts to reach Kim's house and the four jump into the car as Iris starts it and drives off to the west, heading into an unknown dark forest of swamplands and marshes known as the Everglades.
***
In the meantime, Jassel and Jason are running through a park that's behind Randy's house. Jassel suddenly stops and tells Jason,
"I feel horrible for just leaving him."
"Look Jassel, he was stalling Franco and he sacrificed himself to save us. The only way he was going to fulfill his destiny to protect you is if he actually saved you which he did! If we had stayed there Franco would have ended up killing all of us!", Jason explained to him.
Out of nowhere, Jassel sees Damien lurking in between the darkness of the playgrounds.
"Jason we have to be careful, I think I just saw Damien.", Jassel tells him.
"Where?", Jason asked.
"Over there, by the playground!",
Jassel pointed, showing him.
"Wrong! Actually, I'm right behind you Jason.", Damien said.
Jason turned around and Damien swooshed from behind and stabbed him in the thigh.
Jason yelled in pain, dropping to the ground and Jassel grabbed Damien and pinned him to a large tree.
"I'm tired of all your shit you little bastard!",
Jassel yelled, before grabbing the silver sword to kill him. As he was about to penetrate Damien's chest, Jassel started to get a huge migraine in his forehead. Damien took the sword from his hand and dropped it, smiling.
It was Franco who was doing this to Jassel from behind, as Jason was screaming in the pain and agony of the stab wound to his thigh.
Getting annoyed, Franco grabbed Jason and threw him far back, causing him to hit a tree at such speed that he almost cracked his skull open. Jason fell lifeless on the ground with a bloody head.
"I'm glad THAT shut him up.", Franco said smiling.
"JASON!", Jassel yelled running toward him.
As he did so, Franco's strong force grabbed Jassel and pulled him back.
"No, no, your not helping him.",
Franco said, grabbing Jassel by the neck lifting him up.
"See what's going on around you Jassel, this is ALL because you didn't listen to me. All I wanted was very simple, you to join me!, but you didn't, YOU DISOBEYED ME!",
Franco yelled at him, strengthening his hands around Jassel's neck almost breaking it.
Jassel tried to focus all his powers on him but all it caused was a couple scratches on Franco's face and ended up giving himself a nosebleed for concentrating so hard.
"Haha look at you, so powerless against me!", Franco said laughing with joy.
All of a sudden, Jason was able to wake up and stand up amidst a stab wound and a severe concussion. He quietly grabbed the silver sword from behind and remembered when Randy said that only Jassel could do it. Seeing that he has to do it now, he asks himself,
"Well, let's see if I have a pure heart."
Before running from behind to stab Franco right in the heart.
Jassel is released from Franco's grip and falls back on the ground, being very close to death, having his neck almost broken, and the nosebleeds, he soon passes out and his world goes black.
Franco starts to yell in agony as slowly his body starts to turn into stone, overtaking him and causing him to freeze in his own anger, frozen in that emotion.
All the smoke in the town rapidly dissipates, leaving tons of demon residue all across the streets. With a now completely destroyed city hall, Homestead will never be the same anymore, having a permanent dark mark now, prohibiting in from EVER being safe again.
Jason runs over to Jassel to try to wake him up, shaking him.
"Jassel! Please wake up! Look I did it! He's stone!"
Damien looms behind Jason without him knowing with a dagger getting ready to kill him.
Jassel slowly opens his eyes and right when Damien is about to kill Jason, Jassel grabs the gun and shoots at Damien five times rapidly. Damien drops. Knowing that he will soon heal Jason says,
"This is the perfect opportunity to kill him Jassel."
Jassel bends over with his dagger at Damien who is laying on the ground and stabs him in the heart, finally killing him.
Soon afterwards, Damien's body turns into dust as Franco's frozen statue stands there, unbreakable.
Melinda appears out of a flash of light, congratulating Jassel and Jason on their task of saving the town.
"Where have you been all this time?", Jason asked.
"My orders were not to help you, as this was something that you had to overcome.", Melinda responded.
"Orders from who, God?", Jassel asked.
"Yes, unlike Randy, I actually listen to his orders. Now you have to make sure you put Franco's statue in a safe place because all you need to do is feed him the blood of a demon and he'll surely wake, and it'll be this day all over again.", Melinda explained.
"Ooh!, I know, how about we dump it in the Atlantic!", Jason said.
"That should work.", Melinda responded.
"Good luck guys, because trust me you're GOING TO NEED IT for what's to come.",
she continued, before disappearing in a flash of light once again.
Jassel grabs his phone to call his mom.
"Jassel, oh my god I'm so happy to hear your voice again I was so worried!"
"Mom everything's fine at least for now, you can come back.", Jassel says.
"Listen I'm going to be staying at Kim's house. Her father has sadly died. He commited suicide.", she whispered to him.
"Oh god that's horrible! I'm going to drop of Franco's body in the Atlantic with Jason and then were going to meet you there.", Jassel said.
"Okay honey, sorry for whispering its that everyone fell asleep. I'll see you soon love you son."
"Love you too mom.", Jassel said ending the call.
Jassel and Jason's grab a car they found parked with the keys still on and drive the statue to the Atlantic where they drop it off and watch it sink down.
***
Iris's group arrives back at Kim's house. Once there, Kim, Alex, and Daniel all wake up from their sleep.
Once they head in, Daniel and Kim quickly go upstairs and are shocked to see that their father's body is not longer there.
"Oh my god, who took his body!", Daniel asks.
"I don't know Danny, but I'm going to figure it out don't worry. Go take a shower and get ready for bed.", Kim tells him.
Kim heads back downstairs where Iris and Alex are sitting in the living room. She then heads outside in the front to get some fresh air for all she has been through. She quickly notices the salt line has disappeared. Before she could do anything, Jassel arrives.
She is very exited to see him, desperately running towards him to hug and kiss him.
"I'm so happy you made it!", she tells him almost crying.
"Me too.", Jassel responded.
"Wait, where's Jason?", Kim asked.
"He got caught up dropping Franco's statue in the Atlantic and told me to go ahead.", Jassel responded.
"Oh okay well come, come inside! Your mom is waiting in the kitchen!"
"And Alex? Where is he?", Jassel asked in very odd tone.
"In the kitchen as well, come on!",
she says before grabbing his arm to walk inside together.
Jassel steps in the house with Kim. As he comes in, he looks back outside and smiles as his eyes turn black, before slamming the door shut. It's not Jassel who has returned. It's Brian.
Suddenly, inside the house, a bright red flash is seen from outside and soon after, all the lights go off. One loud gunshot is heard, along with a loud scream coming from Kim.
***
About ten minutes later, the real Jassel arrives along with Jason.
"That's weird, how come all the lights are off?", he asked.
"I don't know come on we have to check.", Jason responded.
The two go inside the house which is in total darkness and silence. Jason goes to check upstairs, and Jassel checks downstairs.
"Mom, Alex, Kim, Daniel!?", Jassel yells.
Out of nowhere, he hears the sound of a large knife falling ahead in the darkness.
"Hello!?",
Jassel yells, as he slowly heads toward the kitchen... where Brian is.
___________________________
Author's Note
****************
OMG guys! I'm just as exited, scared and terrified as you are just writing this lol! :O
Note: this is the last chapter of book one. I Have already begun posting chapters of BOOK TWO! It doesn't end here! :D
Thanks for all the reads and comments I have received so far! :-)
I really appreciate your support! <3
If you have any questions please feel free to send me a message! :D
And once again feel free to vote and comment of you liked it! :D