"Who are you?" Aubrey asks after she can find her own voice.

"I'm Molech, the demon that owns your mother's soul and your future child."

"You don't own us."

"You were promised to me, but the promise has been broken. It means her only blood, which is you, is bound to fulfill the promise."

"She made a mistake and she paid with her life! Please let her go. You've been having her captive for more than a decade! Isn't that enough?"

A roaring laugh rumbles through the space between Molech's muzzle and lower jaws, revealing its dark canines. "Forgiveness does not exist, human. What you have is only regret, resentment, and eternal burn. That is the purpose of you being brought into this world."

"That's not true. God loves and forgives."

A red flame blazes in Molech's eyes. "Do not mention His name before me!"

Aubrey takes a step back, intimidated by the bursting anger. Gathering her courage, she takes a deep breath. "Acts thirty verse thirty age: Through Jesus, the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him, everyone who believes is set free from every sin. A justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses."

"Enough!"

The voice booms in the air, followed by a shooting pain and familiar nausea in Aubrey's stomach. She clutches her abdomen as she drops to her knees.

"Good girl. Be on your knees before your master, as you should be."

Aubrey looks up and glares at the demon, her breath raging from the growing pain in the pit of her stomach. "You're not my master. You never were and never will be."

Once again, the laugh thunders across the room, causing the hanging light to swing back and forth. "The day you gave in to lust when that boy was about to fuck you is when you lost the battle. Or shall I remind you of the grudge you've been holding against your caregiver? How can you claim that you're being set free, child? Your flesh betrays you all the time."

"Obby..." Claire whimpers, her voice is so weak that Aubrey almost misses it between her own frantic breathing. "Don't listen to him, don't reason with him, focus on praying to God-"

The next thing Aubrey sees is the demon throws her mom to the other side of the room, only to jerk her back using the iron chains. Her mom hits the wall next to the window as a weak scream escapes her lips, muffled with the sound of cracking bones. Then her limp body falls on the ground with a loud thud.

Silence.

"Mom!" Aubrey screams as she rushes to her mom but a force throws her backward to the dark corridor. Her shoulder hits the door frame in the process, making her yelp from the excruciating pain. Then she lands flat on her back.

With glowing eyes, Molech walks over to her slowly, prompting Aubrey to prop herself up with her elbows. She bites her lower lip, holding back the urge to groan from the shooting pain that is now traveling to her upper arm. Her feet struggle to push her body backward in an attempt to keep her distance from the angry demon.

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Aubrey's body jerks as her head turns from side to side. Lorraine, who has been sitting next to her, jumps and grabs her hand.

"Aubrey, sweetheart, are you there? Can you hear me?"

Aubrey only mumbles incoherent words between her rough breathing. Her eyes remain shut.

"Bob, get the nurse!" Lorraine calls.

"Lori... the mirror... Obby... mirror... in her hand... now..." Aubrey says, her voice low.

It takes a few seconds for Lorraine to realize that it's not Aubrey who is talking to her. It's Claire's voice.

"Mirror...please..."

Lorraine jumps up. With shaking hands, she grabs her bag from the hospital cupboard.

"Obby is hurt..."

Once she pulls the cracking mirror out of her bag compartment, Lorraine rushes back to Aubrey's bed. She freezes there for a few seconds, not knowing what to do.

"Mirror in her hand... Pray to the Lord... " With that, Aubrey's body shakes vigorously, pulling off the EKG wires in the process.

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From the corners of her eyes, Aubrey catches her mother commando crawling in her direction. Her trembling hands dig into the decayed wooden floor so that she can pull her weak body upfront. Not wanting the demon to notice what Clair is doing right now, Aubrey fixed her gaze on the demon in front of her, holding eye contact.

Pray with me, Aubrey! A voice echoes inside her head. Aubrey blinks, thinking that she's going crazy because it's Lorraine's voice she just heard. Father, we come boldly to Your throne of grace, and find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Aubrey freezes as the prayer is being invoked in her head.

"Pray with her, Obby," says her mother from inside the room. "Pray to our Father in heaven."

Claire's line ignites the rage in the demon's eyes. His growl reverberates as he turns his body to Aubrey's mother. "How dare you mention the name here in my throne, you filthy whore!" he barks, followed by Claire's scream as her right arm is snapped in the wrong direction. A loud rupture sound fills the air.

"Grant us release from the bondage to strongholds of the enemy. We plead the blood of Jesus to cancel all commands of the power of darkness in our life," Aubrey says, repeating the prayers in her head.

The demon snarls at Aubrey yet it stays rooted to its spot, giving Aubrey enthusiasm to continue her prayer.

"Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. His blood defeated the god of this age. In Jesus' name, take back all the ground we gave the enemy. Draw us out of bondage and deception!"

A shiny object next to Claire catches Aubrey's eyes. She recognizes the mirror right away. She jumps to her mom while resuming calling out to her Savior, to seal them both from the demon. The growl from Molech's mouth grows louder every second, brutally shaking the ground.

Claire grabs the mirror and places it in front of Aubrey's face. "Look at the mirror. Think of home. Think of God's grace." She whimpers as she mentions God, arching her body and grunting in pain. "Go back to Lorraine... I'll destroy this mirror when you're gone."

"No!" Aubrey shakes her head. "You're coming with me! Or we both stay."

"Good call," the demon interjects, beginning to take a step forward. The pause of prayer seems to allow him to regain power. "Both of you may stay. No child should leave her mother alone in the demon's hand and let her soul be rotten and forgotten." The laugh roars again, shaking the ground even more.

"Don't listen to him. He's the father of deception. Do it now, Obby, or it will be too late!"

Aubrey closes her eyes as tears are forming in the corners of her eyes. She's torn between leaving her mom or coming home to Lorraine.

I love you, Aubrey. Please, come home.

"I love you, Obby."

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Aubrey's eyes snap open. Her breathing is rough and uneven. Once her brain registers the white surroundings, her eyes roam over the room, but everything still looks blurry. Feeling her nails digging into her palm, she looks down to her closed hand, the one which tightly held the mirror a few seconds ago. Slowly, she opens it and black powder is scattered on her palm.

"How..."

"Claire did it. She was here and took the mirror with her, through you," a voice says.

She recognizes the voice, but hearing her mother's name, Aubrey breaks into sobs. A pair of warm arms wrap around her shoulders as Lorraine's floral scent invades her nostrils, waking up all the emotions inside her. She cries harder.

"I'm sorry," she says between her sobs. "I'm so so sorry."

"Sssh, there, there. Easy, Aubrey. You're here now, you're safe." Lorraine slightly pulls away to take a good look at Aubrey's face. After wiping the girl's tears off her cheeks, Lorraine brushes her black lock before tugging it behind her ears.

"I should've listened to you, Lorraine. I shouldn't have gone to the prom."

"It doesn't matter anymore. You are here now. You're home. That's all I ask." Lorraine smiles, her eyes never leaving Aubrey's face. "Because you matter the most to me."

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