The Jeep roared along the rural roads as Cassian, Helen, Ed, and Lorraine escorted the Perrons—Roger, Carolyn, and their five daughters: Christine, Andrea, Nancy, Cindy, and April—to a run-down motel on the outskirts of Harrisville. The farmhouse was left behind, but the air remained heavy with an oppression that weighed on everyone's shoulders. Roger carried a small suitcase, his face pale as he helped the girls into Room 7, and Carolyn, trembling, clung to April with glassy eyes. Cassian closed the motel door behind them, his crucifix glowing under the flickering light, while Ed and Lorraine unloaded their equipment in the hallway.
Roger turned to Cassian, his voice broken by exhaustion.
"Is it safe here? You got us out of the house, but Nancy is still shaking, and Carolyn… she's not okay. What do we do now? I can't see my family like this."
Cassian set his bag on the floor, his tone grave but firm.
"You're safe for now, Roger. The motel is out of the farmhouse's reach, but what's with you doesn't give up easily. Bathsheba and her master, a Praetor Infernalis, want something from your family. We'll exorcise it, and I don't need anyone's permission to do it. Ed, Lorraine, Helen, let's get ready."
Ed nodded, opening his suitcase to pull out a rosary and a bottle of holy water.
"I've seen possessions before, Cassian. If you don't need permission, I'm with you. How do we do it? Go back to the farmhouse or drive it out from here?"
Cassian pulled out his Latin prayer book and blessed dagger, looking at him with resolve.
"We go back to the farmhouse. Bathsheba is tied there, and so is the Praetor. If Carolyn is acting strange, she might be a lure to bring her back. Lorraine, what do you feel?"
Lorraine closed her eyes, her hands trembling slightly as she touched Carolyn's arm.
"It's inside her, Cassian. Not fully, but there's a thread, a connection. I feel cold, like something is watching me from afar. I think it's using Carolyn to get to the children."
Helen, reviewing her Vatican laptop, looked up urgently.
"Cassian, there's more. I hacked into the cameras we left at the Warrens' house. Judy, Ed and Lorraine's daughter, is in danger. Something is moving that doll, Annabelle, in her room. The readings are identical to those in the basement. Bathsheba extended her curse."
Ed paled, dropping the rosary to the floor.
"Judy? No, not again. Lorraine, how didn't you feel it? We have to go for her!"
Lorraine hugged him, her voice trembling but determined.
"I didn't feel it because it's hidden, Ed. Bathsheba is a conduit; the real power lies in that greater demon. Cassian, I can enter the astral plane—I've done it before. If you help me, I can save Judy."
Cassian nodded, pulling a vial of holy blood from his bag.
"You will, Lorraine. My blood, blessed by the Vatican, will give you strength. Take this, use it against whatever you find."
He cut his palm with the dagger, letting a few drops fall into the vial, and handed it to her. Lorraine took it, closing her eyes as she recited softly:
"Domine, duc me in umbras, protege filiam nostram."
Her body relaxed, falling into a trance as her mind entered the astral plane. There, Judy trembled in a spectral version of her room, surrounded by a swarm of lesser demons: winged creatures with claws and eyes glowing like embers. Annabelle floated in the center, her painted eyes following Lorraine. She sprinkled Cassian's blood, her voice echoing:
"Per sanguum sanctum, recedite!"
The demons screamed, their wings scorching at the touch of the blood, and Lorraine struck them with her rosary, breaking the circle until Judy was free. She returned to the motel gasping, looking at Ed with relief.
"Judy is safe, but Bathsheba isn't giving up. Let's go to the farmhouse, now."
Before they could move, Carolyn stood up from the couch, her eyes blank, and ran outside toward the Jeep, screaming:
"Christine, April, come with me!"
Roger tried to stop her, but she shoved him with inhuman strength, taking the girls in the vehicle. Helen ran after her, shouting to Cassian:
"She's possessed, Cassian! She's going to the farmhouse—I feel it on the sensors!"
Cassian, Ed, and Lorraine jumped into the other Jeep, chasing her at full speed. They arrived at the farmhouse just as Carolyn dragged Christine and April into the basement, her voice echoing in desperate pleas. Cassian went down first, his dagger ready, and found Carolyn kneeling in front of an improvised altar, a knife in her hand as the Praetor Infernalis emerged from the shadows: a being with flaming eyes, twisted horns, and a presence that crushed the air.
"Sanguis eorum mihi datur!" roared the demon, slamming Cassian against a wall with an invisible blow.
Ed ran to Cassian's side, raising his rosary and shouting:
"Pater noster, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum!"
The Praetor growled, distracted, and Cassian stood up, reciting with fury:
"In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, vincio te!"
He struck the demon with his burning crucifix, the light searing its ethereal skin, and the entity retreated with a roar. Lorraine approached Carolyn, kneeling in front of her as Christine and April cried.
"Carolyn, remember the picnic at the lake, when April gave you that flower! You're here, with us!"
Carolyn trembled, a tear falling, but the basement floor flooded with a black liquid that bubbled and whispered names:
"Roger… Christine… Nancy… Cindy… April…"
Cassian turned to the Praetor, his voice booming:
"Bathsheba wants a cult, Ed! To possess them all. Help me, now!"
Ed recited with him, their voices uniting:
"Domine meus, expelle hanc tenebram!"
The liquid receded, but the Praetor swiped, sending Ed crashing into a beam. Cassian dodged another strike, stabbing it in the chest with his dagger, and Lorraine shouted:
"Carolyn, fight for your daughters!"
Carolyn dropped the knife, her body convulsing as the Praetor roared, weakened. Cassian faced it, his crucifix glowing as he recited:
"Per crucem tuam, discede!"
The demon writhed but didn't fall, fleeing into the depths of the basement in a burst of shadows. Cassian helped Carolyn up, looking at Ed and Lorraine.
"He's hurt, but not dead. We need to finish him, together."
Helen arrived, panting, holding her recorder.
"I recorded everything, Cassian. That liquid… it was whispering their names."
Cassian nodded, his face dark.
"Bathsheba and the Praetor don't rest. Ed, Lorraine, Helen, we end this in the next step. The Perrons won't be theirs."
The basement fell silent, but the echo of the whispers lingered—a terror that promised to return with even greater force.