None of us said anything for a long time. We just stayed in our positions with complete stillness. I didn’t think. I didn’t want to think, because I knew as soon as I did, the cruel scene which had been thrust upon us would become real. Before, I had been pumped up on adrenaline, experiencing everything in full effect. Now though? I was numb.

Just an hour ago, we had been having an enjoyable, if a bit boisterous, evening. In such a short time, everything had changed.

James was the first to speak. “This was my fault.” He sounded dead, a dreary, dragging voice all that was left.

Brad replied in a similar shattered tone, “Chris is dead? Why him?”

I kept on looking at his face. He looked stressed in his final moments. Never was one for horrors.

I wished from the bottom of my heart that I could go back in time and just put that book away and never touch it again. If I had done that, he would still be alive.

But I hadn’t, and now we had to face the consequences.

His head. Laying there. On the floor.

As I went through the events of the evening again and again, something began to build inside me. A heat in my stomach slowly spread through my body like a fungus sending its spores out.

We were responsible for causing the demon to come, but the one who had killed Chris was not us. It was that monster. It had given us hope and taken it away in the same moment. I recalled a line from the book.

‘They are not benevolent creatures’

It was an understatement. To kill someone so brutally in the blink of an eye, all while keeping that fucking smile on its face; there could be no greater evil.

And we had been helpless to stop it. He had already been killed before we had time to process what was happening. Just as the demon said, we were too weak.

I wondered, if I had been stronger, could I have saved him?

I kept on asking myself the same question.

And I could only come to one answer. Yes. I could have saved him. My weakness was the reason that I couldn’t prevent his death.

Would Brad and James die in a year because I was too weak again?

I wouldn’t allow it. If that demon wanted a hunt, I would make it his last.

I needed to become more powerful, only then could I keep them safe.

A year?

Then every moment counted.

“Brad, James.” I felt it inside me, resolve. “I’m going to kill that demon.”

They looked at me with emotionless faces.

“You can’t do it. That thing can’t be defeated by anything human. You saw it yourself. It killed Chris in an instant.” Said James.

“I know I can’t do it. That’s why I need you two to do it with me.” I said.

“David.” Said Brad, looking me in the eye.

“Do you really want to try and kill that thing?” He asked as if he was trying to tell me I was being stupid, but I noticed something else, hope. He wanted to believe that I was serious.

“Yes, I do.” I clenched my fists. “Today that demon changed our fate, if I don’t kill it when we next meet, then my soul will be taken. I can feel it inside me, the shackles of the contract. But more importantly, it killed Chris. I’m angry, more than I have ever been in my life. And I know I will never be able to return to peace unless I give him justice.”

Brad nodded slightly, as life started to return to him, and a similar expression to mine was being wrought upon his face like a statue being recarved.

“How? Tell me how you’re going to face that thing.”

I hardly had an idea myself, I was just speaking out of emotion and a deep sense that I had to do something. What they needed now though, was not to know that I had no clue, but that I had a plan, however convoluted.

“We must improve ourselves, just as the book said. That is the only way forward I can see. As we are right now, I’m as aware as you that we stand no chance. But, if we become as powerful as that demon, then we will have the opportunity to fight equally. We also have the advantage of knowing that the demon will come to us, so we can prepare a location.”

Brad nodded again, but he still seemed slightly unconvinced. “No matter how much we improve ourselves, in the end we’re human, there’s a limit.”

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I shook my head. “Is there a limit? The book had instructions on summoning a demon, and that was only a small section. Most of it was about killing demons, and whoever wrote it believed that humans could take the power of the demons for themselves.”

“Do you believe that?”

This was it. If I showed that I had faith that we could become stronger, he would accept.

“I do. If we don’t know how to improve beyond humans, I will find a way. If a way doesn’t exist yet, I will make one. I won’t rest until I do.”

Finally, he stood up and we stood face to face.

“Then I’ll join you. Either I die or that demon does.”

He reached out a hand, I grabbed it and shook it.

“Well said.”

We let go and I looked at James. He had been silently watching the entire time.

“You heard everything I have to say. So, will you join us?”

He lowered his head.

“Chris is dead, David. How can you even think about getting revenge so quickly? You haven’t even mourned.”

He was right, I had hardly shed a tear before I started to feel the desire for vengeance pushing me forward.

“I’m sad too, but we don’t have time to mourn. In a year we’ll see that thing again and it will kill us. We need to use every moment we have”

James brought his head back up and shook it.

“You don’t have time to mourn. You will see it. You will die. Not me, nor Brad. Whatever agreement you entered into, it applies only to you. I don’t feel anything inside of me. All I have to do is be on the other side of the planet as you in a year and I’ll be perfectly safe”

He was right again. I was the only one who had anything on the line. But it was about more than that, it was about Chris.

“It’s no-“ I was interrupted by Brad shouting.

“How can you say that? If David didn’t do what he did, then we’d all be heads on the floor right now. How can you be okay with not helping?”

James replied in similar volume.

“I’m not okay with it! But there’s nothing I can do to help. I won’t delude myself like you. There’s nothing we can do to defeat that monster, whether we have a year or a hundred years. Chris is already dead, I’m not going to throw my life away for an impossible chance.”

Brad took a step closer to him.

“So you’re okay with letting Chris’ death be in vain?” He asked.

“I’m not!” James shouted, then he stood up. “I need time to think. This has all happened too fast.”

He started walking towards me, to the door. I grabbed his shoulder.

“Are you sure you want to leave? I don’t know where our goal will take us. This might be the last time you see us. You might never have the chance to change your mind if you go now.”

He stopped for a bit, before shrugging my hand off.

“Then this is goodbye. I won’t kill myself with you.”

He walked into the hall. Brad shouted for him.

“James! Don’t go!”

I shook my head.

“Don’t. He’s made his mind up just as we have.”

I heard the rustling of a coat being put on, feet being shoved into shoes, the front door slamming shut, and then a car driving off into the woods.

“You know, what he said was true. There’s nothing forcing you to fight with me.” I said to Brad.

“This isn’t about being forced. I will fight with you. If I die, I want to be able to at least know that I tried my hardest to defend Chris’ dignity. So that his death wasn’t for nothing.” He replied

We were both on the same page. We didn’t have James, but we had each other at least. With only a year to prepare…

“Let’s get started.”

I had ideas flashing in my mind constantly about what to do, but there was something that had to be done first.

“We need to lay Chris to rest.” I said.

Brad nodded, “Should we call the police? They have people for this kind of stuff.”

I thought carefully before replying. “I don’t think we should. If we call the police, we’ll be the first suspects. They’ll never believe that there was a demon here. That means we’ll be held in custody for who knows how long. We can’t afford that time.”

Brad seemed hesitant. “Won’t they find out anyway? I’m sure he would’ve told his girlfriend where he was going. I think it’s better if we tell her and his family straight away.

I nodded, “I want to tell them as well, but it’s a risk. We can phone them right now and they'll be devastated and think we killed him, and then we’ll go to prison. There will be little we could do to prepare; I would die in a year and you would spend the rest of your life rotting away.

Or, we can slip away. Bury Chris somewhere nice, and start to get stronger. When the demon comes, we can get justice for him. But we can’t do that in a cell.”

Brad had a grimace on his face as he replied.

“That’s just the worst case. What if we can convince the police to help us? Maybe we can get his family to believe us, that it was really a demon.”

He was thinking too optimistically. It could happen that way, but I didn’t want to leave our chances up to other people.

“Brad, listen to me. You have to accept the likelihood that we would be crippled before we could even begin to walk. A missing poster is much better than a man hunt.”

Brad lowered his voice.

“Still, it feels wrong to leave his family in the dark like that.”

“I know, but we have to.”

Brad finally relaxed his face, “Okay, but we’re doing it properly, and we’re doing it now”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way.”