Chapter 2

Two weeks passed. Charlotte and Adam had kept close contact everyday. She would go to the park at three thirty, she would jog, he would show up with Bob at four and they would talk or just walked in silence. 

It didn’t bothered her that some times he’d just say hello and made minimal small talk, or that other times he would just talk her head off. He was funny and awkward and had the best timing to make any kind of input. He would talk excitedly about something and he would give her a toothy smile or if he was in a silent mood he would just grin at her when she would talk.

Bob would actually be very helpful towards Adam, walking slower when he wasn’t feeling so good or being more energetic when he was having a good day.

She had taken very close attention to the interaction between the two. Bob didn’t seem to get bothered with her presence, which surprised more than anything. He had said that as long and she didn’t hurt any of them, he wouldn’t hurt her. She had frowned pointedly at him, but the words ‘hurt any of them’, meaning him and Adam, were burned into her head. He was just protecting himself, but Adam as well.

At some point Charlotte had asked if the dog had ever turned on him. He had frowned up at her.

“What? No!” He had said, almost in disgust. “I don’t remember him even ever growling.”

“Never bit you or played rough?”

‘Thread carefully, hunter.’ Bob had warned.

Adam had shook his head vehemently and Charlotte left the matter alone.

She had so many question but had now way of asking without looking like a loony talking to a dog. She had tried in various manners to make Adam leave the dog with her. She had tried every excuse in she could possibly imagine from letting her to a jog with the dog around the park, to baby sitting him whenever Adam had to go somewhere. And every time Adam was the one that shot down the idea.

Charlotte sighed, as she did her final stretching exercises while waiting for the curly haired man to show up. She took her time to watch over the park. It’s wasn’t big, like the ones in the bi cities, but it was big enough for her to loose sight of someone at the far end of the park. It had a stream of water in the middle and a small wooded area at the far, with picnic tables. The grass was green, even with the kids and dogs that played on it and the bushes were flowery as well. Overall it was a peaceful and beautiful park, border lining on cliche with the birds singing and the wind weaving through the leafs.

She was looking at two kids running around a ball, while stretching her arm above her head, when she heard the crunch of the gravel from behind her.

“Hey Charlie!” Adam called and she turned smiling. She noted that more and more her smiles had become genuine instead of the fake one she put on the beginning.

“Hey you two!” Charlotte knelt down to scratch Bob’s ear.

‘I hate you hunter.’ Bob grumbled. Even as a demon, he couldn’t resist a good ear scratch and Charlie knew. And he hated that she knew it.

“Have you finished your rounds?” He asked her mentioning the park with his finger and she nodded. “Any more un-wanted guest at the motel?”

“Yeah.” Charlotte nodded and sighed.

The hunter had told him the motel had an slight cockroach infestation. Charlie wasn’t scared of the cockroaches, she would killed them with ease. But that didn’t decrease the amount of the disgust that rose in her stomach when she saw the critters walk around in the bathroom. 

Charlotte had been in Helmsfirth for a month and a half now, between the previous surveillance and tracking to the present date. She had managed to keep the Company at bay with constant reports and the lack of evidence against the demonic possession. Now The Company had a very strict rules when it came to demonic possessions. They wanted it dead, but the hunters couldn’t just show up and execute someone, they had to had evidence. Any physical change at best, and at worst a trapped demon caught on tape. They had left her to stay there with her promise that she was getting close and closer to the evidence needed.

“How can you sleep?!” He retorted with a frown and Charlotte shrugged.

“We have a silent agreement, they don’t get with 4 feet of me and I don’t smash them with my shoe.”

’Are you talking to me?’ Bob sarcastically interjected. 

Adam shuddered and Charlotte chuckled. He had an intense fear of crawlers and anything with more than four four legs and or two eyes. Charlotte din’t care much about bugs, but she wouldn’t jump at the sight of them.

“You should go over to Mrs. Jameson’s B&B.” Adam pointed to the dinner. The owner of the dinner would rent out rooms to business people or tourists.

“My budget isn’t infinite you know?”

’You should ask your friends for an upgrade.’ Charlie could feel Bob’s eyes rolling in her mind.

She had justified her presence in town with a “thinking-vacation”, which had made him raise an eyebrow and she explained that she was trying to have sometime alone from her live in the big city. Bob of course had cackled in her mind, even going as far as praising with her ability to lie so easily.

“Oh come on, it’s just a couple of more dollars. And a roach-free environment.” Adam tilted his head to the side as if thinking about what he said and then nodded. “And much better reputation.”

The motel was known for being the place where husbands would take their mistresses. Adam had this image in his head that the motel was a sleazy looking thing, with dirty sheets and bathrooms. Charlotte had a good laugh as he described what he thought the motel room looked like without even having stepped foot in it.

“I don’t care about the reputation. It has clean sheets...” She emphasised the clean sheets parts as the man opened his mouth to complain.

As he was about to say something else but a lady yelled his name. He clearly jumped surprised, his face became a shade paler and his eyes widened.

“Hey Adam!” A female voice said and he turned smiling forcefully. 

“Talking about the devil.” He said under his breath as the woman walked up to them. “Mrs. Jameson, how nice to see you.” He stuttered and pushed Bob’s leash to Charlie+s hand, leaving her looking at it as if it was going to come to live. 

“Hi sweetheart. Look Stephen’s computer seems to have a problem.” Mrs. Jameson smiled and Adam nodded. 

“I’ll take a look at it.” Adam said.

Charlotte took the distraction and knelt down near Bob, with the pretence with give him a ear rub. The dog looked at her with what seemed to be a questioning look.

“I need to talk to you.” she felt silly talking with a dog.

‘What makes you think I’ll go anywhere with you hunter?’ 

“I have to make a full report tomorrow.” She adjusted his bright orange coloured collar. “Either you talk to me or it’s quite possible that next week, you’ll be exorcise or dead or both.”

‘You are a hunter sent to kill me, and you want me to be alone with you?’

“Think about Adam.” They both turned their head to look at the shy man talking with the older woman. “I’m trying to help whether you believe it or not.”

‘Why?’

“You really want me to make a whole speech in the middle of a park? To a dog?”

“Hey! Sorry about that.” Adam apologised. “People around here seem to think ‘software-developer’ means ‘computer-technician’”

Charlotte smile widely, knowing that it happened because when he explained what he did to other people he said he did things with computer which led them to believe he was a computer technician.

“Peasants” she mocked and he took and over-dramatic sigh.

They kept walking after a while, with Charlotte looking at Bob intently. They were mid-stride when Bob back and tugged the leash away from Adam’s hand.

‘Keep up.’ Bob said while running through the grass.

“Bob!” Adam shouted and started running after the husky. “Bob, come here!”

Charlotte jumped and ran after the man and the dog. She reached Adam easily and saw he was started to breath heavily. He was losing the distance between him and the dog so Charlotte grabbed his elbow and made him slow down.

“We have to go get. Now. I can’t let him go. He never ran away. Why did he run? I have to find him. Why are we slowing down? I can’t slow down.” He was babbling again a thousand miles per minute and Charlotte had to fight the urge to slap him to make him snap out of it.

“Adam.” She said calmly. When he continued to mumble she grabbed his upper arms and shook him. “Adam!” He looked up at her, his eyes red and wide. “Sit down before you have a stroke. I’m a faster runner!”

Before he could answer, she ran after the husky. She saw the dog sitting on the grass and when he saw her he kept running towards the forest area. She reach the trees. It wasn’t a heavy wooded area, there was a good shade but the trees were far enough from each other not to be heavy.

Charlotte found Bob sitting at a picnic table with a dead bird on top of it. She walked there and he turned his head to her.

‘We have to be quick.’ she nodded and kept standing.

“You need to tell me your end game.” Charlotte crossed her arms and stood straighter. Shoulders squared back, chin up, her whole stance become completely different from the lay-back girl on the gravel path.

‘Ah! There you are, hunter.’ He taunted. 

“Tell me what you want and make sure it’s believable, or next week it won’t be me you’ll be talking with.”

‘I’m a demon, hunter. If I want you to you’ll believe anything I say.’

“You start playing games I start reciting a few prayers for you. How about that?” Charlotte threatened raising an eyebrow challenging the demon.

‘You’ll kill me and I’m 100 per cent that’s not what you want.’

“Doesn’t mean I won’t do it.” And they both knew she would.

The dog puffed out and looked straight at her with his almost white eyes. They stood silent for a few seconds and Charlotte was about to remind him Adam was already probably in fatal position waiting for both of them, she heard the demon sigh in her mind. The dog grabbed the bird with his pointy teeth and walked to her.

‘A dog is much easier to possessed then a human, you know. Even children’s souls have...strains.’ He started, walking towards the end of the forest and towards Adam. She walked with him, slowly. 

“But way possessed a dog? You things never had any quarrels with possessing other people.”

‘Boredom.’ 

“You’re lying.” Charlotte looked at him, stopping on her tracks. “Demons don’t like being told what to do. Having to answer to someone’s desires is the last thing on a demon’s wish list. What is, in fact on you things wish list is to cause mayhem.”

‘Do you know how long I’ve been a body-less soul? It takes a toll on you. And I, by no means, wanted to do anything good. This all came by a surprise. Or better yet with a realisation.’ They kept walking slowly. ‘My main focus with being a service dog was to cheat. How easy do you think it would be to create chaos into someone’s life when said someone already has a somewhat chaotic mind.’

Charlotte was disgusted by his words and grunted disapproving his mind process, but kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t impressed but his confession, she knew how they worked. It disgusted her, but she wasn’t surprised. 

‘So Adam came, and picked me and I happily went with him, thinking about how much fun I could have with him. I started by simply, not doing anything. If wanted me to be quiet, I would bark incessantly. He wanted me to stay I would run around the house, throwing thing off shelves. And all throughout my hellish stay at his house, he would keep talking to me, feeding me, scratching behind my ears. Then one particularly miserable day, he had gone out, and I had sank my paws on the ground and didn’t budge, so he went by himself. When he returned, he was a mess. I know what hell looks like but he was the one that looked like he gone through it. He was furious one moment and then crying and then quiet and then screaming.’

“Wasn’t that what you wanted?”

‘Yes, but I wanted to be me causing it. The mere fact that that human soul didn’t need a demon to become completely miserable baffled me. That why we picked the happier ones, the hopeful ones. Because it was so fun to watches mother made him get a dog, or she would move in with him.’

“Still doesn’t explain why you stayed. And why you helped him.” They kept walking, Charlotte still not understanding the demon’s reasoning fully.

‘Why did you stayed, hunter?’

“I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t hurt him.” She answered truthfully.

‘You could have killed me. That way you would have made sure I didn’t hurt him.’

“He seems to need you.” Charlotte sighed.

‘Yes, but why stay for a whole month? Why not just tell your friends you couldn’t find any evidence to the possession and left.’

“I wanted to get to know him and you. I was curious about this whole situation. And now I don’t think he can cope without you around. I wanted to help him.”

‘And so did I. First I reasoned that it would be easier to make him happy and then pull him down. But the more I lived with the man, the less I wanted to watch him be miserable.’ They could see him now sitting on a bench, his elbows on his knees and head on his hands. He did look miserable. ‘I went soft on him.’

The dog ran towards the desperate man. Adam looked and took a deep breath of relief. His face went back to his normal rosy complexion. He covered his mouth with hand and knelt near the dog. He started to argue with the dog, before depositing the dead bird at his owner’s feet. Adam looked at the bird and then at the dog and scratched his head, shaking it.

Charlotte approached them and looked at both of them, smirking. Adam looked up at her and sniffed.

“Thank you.” He sighed and Charlotte shook her head.

“All the jogging I’ve been doing lately gotta be put to the test.” She smiled and touched his arm reassuring it hadn’t been any trouble.

“No treats for you today.” He promised looking at the dog. “He never did that...away from home that is. He likes to bring me birds and squirrels.”

“I thought only cats did that.” Charlotte cringed at the idea and Bob barked happily.

“Maybe he was a cat in another live.” He laughed nervously, still reeling from the previous situation.

Charlotte expression changed from serious deadpan to quizzical. After a few seconds without blinking, she tilted her head to side and shrugged. Demons didn’t have past lives, they never died. Demons were just souls that resided in hell and would come up to the surface for fun. They’d snatch a body, live in it and sooner or later they’d be sent back to hell. So what Adam was saying could not have happened. But it had taken her a moment to fully realise that.

After another walk around the park for Adam to calm down they parted ways, with Adam thanking her over and over again until she rolled her eyes and he apologised and thank her one last time.

In the morning Charlotte sat at the desk in her motel room, in front of her laptop, waiting for the her video-call to get picked up. Every week she had to give a full report to the Company. They were getting more and more restless about the lack of results and Charlotte was nowhere near reaching a conclusion for her problem.

The call went through a smiling man’s face showed on the monitor. He was dressed in a black suit and a thin black tie, with a crispy white shirt underneath. His blonde hair was slicked back and his brown eyes were observant.

“Good morning Miss Winston.” He greeted and she gave him a respectful nod. “How are you?”

“Good and you Sir?” That man was Nick Kelvin, one of her superiors. He was the one in charge of this, and many other hunts.

“Good. Good. So tell me how are things going over there? Any developments?” He questioned while cleaning his glasses nonchalantly.

“I’m almost getting everything I need for this, sir. A couple of days and I'll have this whole problem under wraps, sir.” 

Charlie saw his eyebrow twitch and swallowed.

“Miss Winston, you've been on location for approximately two months. Hasn’t that time gave you enough evidence to put the problem down?” He placed his glasses on his face again and gave her a polite smile.

“You see Sir…” she started, trying to think of something that would give her more time. “Next week, there will be some sort of pagan festival in town.” She lied through her teeth and hoped he would believe her. “It's a small thing, not very publicised. But I feel it could be what he is waiting for. If you give another week I can have compiling evidence and I’ll stopping him before anything happens.”

Nick sighed, looked up at the ceiling and then back at the monitor. Charlotte was sitting straight in the motel chair, her shoulders tense and her face deadpanned.

“Miss Winston, I cannot have a hunter trapped in a town for 2 months without an inkling of evidence to show for.” Nick smile had vanished.

“I have evidence, just not documented.” This time she was telling the truth and knew that it would give her more time. But it would also mean the Company would a target. All they needed was for her, or.someone else, to do the job. “I have some contact with the demon, like I've told you before. He is most likely ancient and knows our ways.But have had in trapped, but not long enough to document it. We were surrounded by people, I didn’t think it was a good idea to make him angry.”

“We already had this discussion Miss Winston. We already know that your cover is blown. What you told us back then was that it didn't matter.”

“And it doesn’t, Sir.” She sighed herself and looked at her hands before looking up again. “I want to take in consideration the human that he has attached itself too.”

“That would be…” Nick looked down at the table. “Adam Trembly, correct?” 

“Yes. I still need to figure out if they are working on this together, but I have a feeling that they aren’t and if that’s the case I feel like I need to minimise the damage, in case Mr. Trembly feels the need to investigate the disappearance of is dog. It’s in the Company’s best interests that nobody suspects what happened.” 

“It’s in the Company’s best interest, for you to do your job, Miss Winston. And if you can’t, we would appreciate it if you let us know. Might I also remind you that you are dealing with a demon? I never had this trouble with you before. I saw you solve more complicated cases in half this time. This things take peoples bodies and do with them what they want!”

She had the sense not to retort that its a dog not a person. It wouldn’t help her case to be arguing with the head of the mission about the demons choice in species.

“Yes, Sir. I understand. I will be done with this as soon as possible. But I want to make this by the books.” Charlotte gave Nick a confident nod. 

“Just kill the dog, Miss Winston.” Nick commanded and Charlie nodded. “You’ve got a week, Miss Winston.”

He ended the video-call and she sat in front of the computer for a few moments, staring at her reflection in the dull monitor. She slammed the lid on the computer down and walked to the bathroom. She washed her face with cold water a stood in front of the mirror for a good while.

Her mother always told her that, when faced with a hard choice, one should measure the pros and cons of the situation and than make a decision. So Charlotte did just that. She closed her eyes and imagined a white board with an horizontal line in the middle. One one side of the imaginary white board, was the word pros, written on the top, and on the other side was the word cons.

On the pros side she added “hasn’t hurt anyone”. On the cons side she added “yet”. On the pros side she added “Cares about Adam.”. On the cons she added “Does he?”. Pros “Town is not engulfed in flames”; “Snarky but non-threatening.”; “Is a (Good) Service Dog”; “Adam will not cope with the loss”. Cons: “He” “Is” “A” “Demon”. 

Charlotte opened her eyes and kept staring at the mirror, hoping the reflection would somehow stop reflecting her and actually gave her an answer. It didn’t happen.

What was troubling her the most about all of this wasn’t even Adam. What troubled her was, how many demons were actually like Bob. How many souls had she sent back to hell that somehow managed to co-exist with the rest of us.

Bob hadn’t embezzled his story. He had told her what he had wanted to do, not matter how bad it had made him look, and how he did it in the beginning and then just stopped, didn’t feel the need to be evil anymore. How many were there just like him?

How many soulless bodies did she have laying by her feet, that maybe were just trying to be normal humans? 

The first thought that ever came into her mind when the doubts started to appear was the fact that there were a lot of evil people in the world that weren’t possessed and still made terrible deeds. So why not the other way around?

Author's Note

Ignore grammar problems, what do you think ?