My fingers tremble, and I am scarcely able to write. But I must, for I am to die here, and there has to be a record of my failure. To warn others who may be fooled as I was.

My desperation, my pride has doomed us. I pray it dooms us alone.

The visions, the tomes, all lies. I performed the sacrifices, convinced the others to give some of their blood. I performed the ritual with perfection…but my boys did not come through the fell portal.

The Demon draws near. I hear his voice, as deep and smooth as a crooner. It wears William like a cloak, his body moving despite the fact I know him to be dead.

I did not expect this, but I still made plans in case of ambush or some form of territory. It will not be enough to save me, but if I can trap it here, maybe I can spare the town from the brunt of my failure.

God, I know I have no right to ask, but please let me spare them. Let this be enough.

To whoever finds this journal, pay heed to these words above all, do not cross the circle. No matter what it promises you. Do. Not. Cross. It.

It comes. I am out of time.

~<>~<>~

I stared at my pack, a numb sense of dread sitting in my gut. My eyes stung from lack of sleep, and my body ached even worse than yesterday. And Blair… my hands tightened on my water bottle.

I had avoided talking about it, but after last night… She knew something was wrong.

I… I didn’t know how to deal with that. So right now, my strategy was to not think about it, which was the same one I had for what came next.

I had already put away my tent. I had been in no mood for sleep after that episode.

Which was…well, it was normal.

But now I was running out of time, and my shameless procrastinating was about to end.

I tucked my knees close and grabbed hold of my pack. The heavy weight a comfort, even if it wouldn’t protect from anything.

Blair settled next to me, her eyes focused on the stream.

“You ready?”

I wasn’t. “Yeah. The next region…”

I paused to clear my throat. “The next region is called Old Tom’s Fall. And it is the most dangerous place in this Pass.”

Blair straightened. “Worse than the Straits?”

I nodded. “Its recent mental attack notwithstanding, the Straits is usually a bear-trap that will snap closed if you step wrong.

Old Tom’s Fall tries to lure you into that trap. And its prisoner is very good at getting you to take that step.”

Blair raised a brow. “Prisoner?”

I nodded, the sick feeling growing.

“A Demon.”

Blair froze. “By Demon, do you mean a type of devil, like an imp or—“

“I mean Demon. A capital D, biblical Demon. Something ancient even by supernatural standards, with intimate knowledge of mortals and how to tempt them. And it will be doing everything in its power to lure us into its claws.”

Blair pursed her lips. “I suppose that’s why you smell sick.”

I swallowed. “…Yeah.”

Blair took a deep breath, “I am assuming it's contained if the church hasn’t sent one of their squads.”

I nodded. “It is, but it's not perfect. A summoning circle keeps it in place, but it doesn’t stop us from crossing it. And if we cross over… even if the Demon possessed something we could fight, nothing would stop it from jumping into one of us.”

Blair stared at the path, a healthy dose of caution in her expression.

“So…we don’t cross the circle. Anything else?”

I climbed to my feet and slowly dragged my pack up with me.

My shoulder throbbed as I slid the pack on. If Niall had hit me even just a little harder, my shoulder would have cracked, at the very least.

“We don’t have any rules that will kill us if we break them, aside from staying outside the circle. But I cannot stress that one enough, do not cross it. No matter what it says or does, we can’t put a single foot over that circle.”

She nodded.

“That’s the only hard rule. But I’ve come up with a few more over the years. Mainly, don’t talk to it. Don’t respond to its barbs or taunts, or promises.

It will do everything it can to get you to cross over, and it’ll use anything you say against you. A Demon is very, very good at talking, better than anyone or anything else I’ve seen.”

Blair rose to her feet. “Don’t talk, and don’t cross the circle.” She paused, a thoughtful look on her face.

“Have you tried earplugs? They won’t work for me, but you could shut its voice out.”

I shook my head. “It’s a good idea, but it won’t work. I tried it when I was thirteen. The asshole hid until I walked by then jumped out at me. He screamed into my mind like he had a megaphone. I prefer to hear his voice in my ears rather than my head.”

I started walking towards the trail.

“We can’t go around either. I’ve tried. Not only does the trail lead into a narrow valley that’s impossible to go around, the few times I tried to do it anyway… there are things outside the Pass. These forests are old, and so are the things that live in them. At least here, there are some rules.”

Blair stared ahead before giving me an odd look.

“Thirteen? Blight and bone Alder, your childhood sounds awful.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad. I had the ghosts.” I stared at the trail, and the sick feeling grew worse. “Though there are certainly some things I’d forget, given the chance.”

~<>~<>~

The path dropped down until we were practically climbing down.

It narrowed at the same time, the forest pushing close as if trying to crush us…or get us to turn back.

The sky had darkened to an ugly gray, and the pleasant breeze was nowhere in sight.

My heart hammered in my chest, and it was taking everything I had to keep my breathing steady.

I could do this. I had done this. Just walk around the circle. You could do this in your sleep.

My pep talk wasn’t effective, but I didn’t stop walking, so I’ll count that as a win.

By the time we reached the valley floor, the trees had thickened until we walked through a narrow tunnel between the towering giants.

What few choked rays of light made it through cast the trail into an eerie twilight.

“You like horror movies?”

“Huh?” I stared at Blair.

“You know? Horror movies? Monsters, scares, screams, another adjective that starts with s?”

I snorted. “I know what they are, but where did that come from?”

She shrugged before ducking under a branch. “This whole place is like a horror movie, so I had them on my mind.”

“Ah… I guess I like them. Depends on the movie. Not a fan of how many of them look like they’ve had a gray filter over every shot.”

“Plenty of generic junk,” she agreed. “But they are my guilty pleasure, even the bad ones.”

“The bad ones are always good for a laugh.”

Blair smiled. “They used to scare the hell out of me, even the bad ones.”

I stared at her. “Really? You were scared of horror movies?”

She nodded, a slight flush tinting her cheeks. “You know how I stopped being scared by them?”

“How?”

“…I used them to prepare.”

I groaned.

“I’m serious!” she laughed. “I didn’t like how much they scared me as a kid, so I started taking notes. I would keep a journal of what I would do if I was in the movie. How I would keep my Pack safe. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could actually beat a lot of movie monsters, which made me feel better.”

Blair ducked a drooping branch, which I walked under.

“Now, their kind of comfort films for me.”

“You’re an odd duck, Blair.”

“Hey!”

“But I get what you're saying. And it makes sense to me, at least. But what do you write down when the monster isn’t something you can punch to death?”

She shrugged. “I look up what spook could take care of them and figure out how I could get a hold of them.”

The hill leveled out, and my next words died on my tongue. Ahead of us, still partially covered by the thick foliage, was a stone pillar. It was dark and worn with age, but I knew what I would see as we grew closer. Runes and sigils carved across it in an unintelligible script that itched at the eyes.

And on the ground around the pillar was a chaotic mass of white lines that stretched out of view.

The circle.

Blair sensed my tension and slipped in front of me. That wouldn’t protect me from what came next, but I appreciated the gesture.

As we closed in on the first pillar, the Demon spoke.

“Ahhhh, The Grave Keeper shadows my doorstep once more. A little early, aren’t you?” The voice was deep, and every word dripped with a silk-smooth charm that would have put radio hosts to shame.

I closed my eyes. Just don’t cross the circle, and anything he says is pointless.

I heard an exaggerated sniffing noise from the Pillar.

“Oh? A traveling companion? Have you come with another sacrifice? I will reward you even more handsomely this time.”

I clenched my jaw. That slimy shit!

Sowing distrust in seconds. I hadn’t thought of the mad warlock angle, but I should have. First, we go past Grumpy, and then I lead Blair through a dangerous magical wood to a trapped demon. That did look awfully suspicious.

Blair glanced at me, her eyes narrowed.

My heart fell. Only to turn that fall into a stumble when she rolled her eyes a moment later.

Her trust gave me a burst of warmth, and I clung to it.

“I joke, of course. I would never suggest that the dear Grave Keeper would do something so horrible. That’s so unlike him. Well…”

The rest of the circle was almost in view now, just a little further.

“It’s unlike him now. But he is prone to… episodes. Maybe the kind, foolish Grave Keeper did not lead you here, stranger, so that he could sacrifice you to a vile creature like myself.”

The sniffing noise repeated, and the Demon went on, his voice still smoother than a -door-to-door salesman and kinder than a priest.

“But who’s to say one of the others in his head did not make such plans for him?”

I stopped. He knew. He knew, and he had never said a damn thing to hint at it before.

The ball of dread in my gut grew.

How long had he known? Since the start? Had this creature been holding onto that knowledge for over a decade, just waiting on the off chance he could use it?

That kind of patience scared me shitless.

Blair turned to me, her face blank. “Keep going,” she mouthed.

I nodded. She was right. I couldn’t let it get in my head. He knew, so what? This was fine.

The underbrush was so thick it nearly blocked off the path, forcing us to fight to stay away from the rapidly approaching circle.

We passed by the first stone, and the inside of the circle came into view.

Nothing was there. He was hiding. Dammit. When I was thirteen, he’d done this. Skulking like something out of a horror movie. And the worst part was that he was just doing it to be a dick.

Oh, I’m sure there was an angle somewhere in this little hiding strat. Maybe he hoped to scare me into losing my balance or punch out reflexively and cross the circle.

But I would bet money that the real reason was simple enjoyment on his part.

This asshole liked pain. He liked to scare people.

We passed by the next stone, still nothing.

I tried to avoid looking at the circle at all and just kept marching forward. But that left my mind to offer up images of the demon inches away, his teeth coming for my throat, held at bay by nothing but lines in the dirt-

I looked up, my heart pounding.

Black pits filled with uneven, spiraling lines of chalk white stared at me from less than an inch away.

I sucked in a breath as I bit down on a scream.

The Demon chuckled, the sound rich and unconstrained.

“My apologies, it is rather boring here. I have to take what entertainment I can get.”

I scowled at the Demon. The expression froze on my face a moment later.

I had been so surprised by those nightmarish eyes that I hadn’t taken in the rest of the Demon.

He had found a new vessel—a werewolf.

Blair stopped and stared at the Demon, and her expression was… horrified. She looked on as if staring at her parents’ graves.

Seeing that look startled me enough that I didn’t follow my own advice.

“Blair?”

She said nothing, her gaze locked with the demons. Her hands were shaking.

The Demon wasn’t in the wolf form Blair had been in earlier. Instead, it was something in between human and beast, but wrong.

His body was a hunched, hulking thing that dwarfed me. Halfway up his torso, the gray fur split, a dark brown gash stretching from his stomach all the way to his neck. The wound dripped a steady stream of dark, almost black blood, and it was just one injury among many.

One arm dangled limply at his side, jagged points of bone pressing up against the skin, and one leg was halfway between forms, thinner and reverse-jointed like a wolf's, while the other was like a humans, only larger and covered in stained gray fur.

“Ah! You brought me another werewolf!”

The Demon sounded gleeful, which put me on guard even more.

“Why so confused, Grave Keeper? Do you not know? Werewolves revere their dead. Specific burial practices vary with region, but their respect for the fallen does not.” He chuckled, only for it to turn into rich, booming laughter.

“They punish desecrating the dead as harshly as rape and murder!”

He laughed harder, leaning over to slap his humanoid knee with a massive, claw-tipped hand.

Blair’s eyes had turned into red pools, and the shaking had moved to the rest of her body. She looked like she was barely holding back from hurling herself at the Demon.

Which was exactly what it wanted.

“Blair, don’t.”

The laughter cut off as those spiraled eyes locked onto me.

“What? Did you have a change of heart? You don’t want to sacrifice her now?”

He laughed again.

“Don’t want her to throw herself into a fight she can’t hope to win?”

Blair took a step forward. The stone beneath her foot cracked.

“Blair, stop! He’s baiting you!”

The Demon recoiled as if slapped, clutching a gnarled hand to his chest. “How could you say such things, Grave Keeper? That state of my current body is not a cruel attempt at manipulation. It’s an unintended side effect.”

He dropped his hand down and smiled, showing off a mouth packed with gleaming white teeth.

“You see, the fellow who owned this body previously wandered in here, then we had a little talk, and he ended up leaving me his body. But there are some problems with occupying a werewolf’s body when their soul is absent.”

Blair started to growl, the sound so low that I felt it more than heard it, a base vibration that rattled my bones.

“Oh, there is no need for such aggression! I am about to explain why, exactly, this body is in such a sorry state.”

He gestured down at his chest before dragging a claw along one of the open wounds. He sniffed the almost black blood staining his claw.

“Hmm. Smells almost stale. Not rotting, mind you, I am not occupying an undead. But stale. You see, werewolves and their precious Bonds have a rather…pronounced effect on their bodies.”

He glanced at Blair, the chalk-white lines in his eyes seeming to wobble and spin.

“The Bond is an old thing. Almost as old as I am, and as I have recently found out, not even I can tamper with it.”

I licked my lips. When had they gotten so dry?

“So, while this body is that of a dashing werewolf, the problem lies with me. Demons don’t have the Bond. So this vessel is…displeased.”

Blair took another step, putting her dangerously close to the circle.

I had no clue that werewolves had such a taboo with their dead, but I couldn’t have guessed that the Demon would be possessing a werewolf even if I had known.

No one came to the Pass. I only knew of two others who had traveled it in the eleven years I had known about it. And both of them had come to try and make a deal with the Demon. The werewolf had probably been hoping for that, too, before getting conned out of his body.

But what did I do now? I needed to calm Blair down, but how was I supposed to do that?

“There is no need for such anger!” the Demon laughed. “I am not the one who has brought you here. I’m sure you trust the Grave Keeper, at least, enough to follow him here. But I might be able to shine some light on a few details.”

“Do you know what his magic does? Ah, it looks like you do.”

I didn’t know how the Demon was reading that from Blair’s face, but it seemed sure of the answer.

“Ghosts are not what many think them to be. They are not echo’s or memories imprinted in magic; that’s what a shade is. Instead, a ghost is a soul not moving on. And a soul is a powerful thing, my wayward sacrifice.”

“So, magic that forces a soul to move on comes with consequences. Permanent, unforgettable consequences.”

I felt nauseous, so nauseous that it was getting hard to think.

“While I didn’t get all of a werewolves’ senses from this body, demons have some wondrous senses of our own, one of them being our sense for sin and another for soul. It’s quite on brand when you think about it, tempters being able to pick up on such things.”

He smirked, the expression nightmarish on his twisted face.

“Some of my fellows see it differently than I, but for me, sin appears as a black cloud over one’s soul. All are somewhat tainted. You have a few marks yourself. But most souls look…smudged.”

Oh shit.

The Demons’ swirling orbs dug into me as he laughed. “The Grave Keeper, though, his soul is black as coal! The acts he has bared witness to, the things his hands have done. Well, I suspect I will see him in the bottom of my home one day.”

Blair glanced at me before turning back to the Demon.

No, no.

“Do you know why ghosts stay behind? Unfinished business. So, when our Grave Keeper works his magic, he is taking a load off the ghost’s shoulders. He gets what they hang onto. The memories of their unfinished business, their greatest regrets, their greatest sins.”

When Blair spoke, her voice was rougher and slightly garbled. “Lair.”

The Demon threw his snout back and laughed. “Oh, I am a liar, and much, much worse. But I am not lying now. Can you smell the truth? If so, then you know I am an honest demon at the moment.”

It turned to me and took a step to the side. The motion was graceful, almost eel-like despite its mismatched legs.

One clawed, gnarled hand pressed against the edge of the circle, freezing as if against a wall of glass. “I could scarcely believe it when a mere child stumbled into my little valley, his soul already tainted worse than most murders and rapists I have known.”

I collapsed onto my ass as bile filled my mouth.

It turned its head to look at Blair. The angle was off, almost boneless.

“Now, ten or so years later… That's quite a few memories. Quite a few monsters permanently etched into his mind.”

Blair’s jaw worked, but no words came. She snarled, and something in her throat shifted. A second later, her words came out clearer than before.

“Shut up.” Her glare held the promise of violence, and she took another step closer, her nose mere inches from the circle.

“Can smell when he changes. Would know if someone else was in control.”

The Demon went still. The guise of life dropping as it stared at us. Its chest didn’t rise. It didn’t blink.

Its eyes slowly drifted to me, Blair, and then me. The wobbly white lines spun like slowly turning gears.

It started to smile again, but something had changed. There had always been a mocking edge to its every motion, but now something darker lurked in its monstrous face.

“Well. Isn’t this a shame. You’re strong, but your soul is young. I was hoping you’d be a little easier to goad.”

It chuckled. “It would have been so entertaining if I got his guest to kill themselves. And who knows? Maybe he’s attached to you. He might have just followed you into the circle.”

His smile grew, and it kept growing, moving past what should have been possible. The change wasn’t huge, the wolffish face shifting slightly as the rictus grin stretched further. But it was a slow, clunky change. Like a rusty lever slowly being cranked up.

After a few awful seconds, the Demon’s smile went nearly ear to ear.

“You should go now. If I can’t convince you to cross the circle, that is. Unless you want to talk, I have quite a lot of time on my hands, and I’m well versed in most topics you could think of.”

“Shut. Up,” Blair snarled.

It shrugged. “You don’t want to talk then? Well, that’s fine. I’ll just get back to entertaining myself with this new body. I admit I wasn’t being entirely honest with you earlier when I told you I hadn’t injured it.”

Something in Blair’s shoulder cracked.

“Now, what I said about the Bonds wasn’t a lie, sweetheart. This body really doesn’t want me in it. But I can’t say that all of these injuries were caused by that reaction.” It stretched out its broken arm, showing nothing but a grin, despite the grizzly injury.

“I had to do something to pass the time, you understand.” Its voice was a perfect balance between earnestness and cruelty. If I hadn’t known him, I wouldn’t have been able to point out if he was mocking us or being completely honest.

Blair’s hands lengthened, and fur started to burst from her skin. She took a deep breath, and the change receded.

“Oh? Why hold back? Change. Throw yourself at me and give me a reprieve from my endless boredom.”

The Demon glanced at me. “What are you doing on the ground, Grave Keeper? Have I upset you somehow? Shared some knowledge you rather have kept hidden?”

Bile in my throat, nausea in my gut, they overwhelmed my senses. I had to do something, had to stop this.

I- I- A noose appeared in my hand. I could feel its weight, smell the old rope, even through the bile. But when I made a fist, it was gone.

No, NO! Not now!

“SHUT. UP,” Blair roared.

The Demon’s too wide smile never faltered. “Make me.”

Blair didn’t move, but the shaking in her hands stilled. I didn’t think that was a good sign.

“Still not coming in? Well, I find your conversation to be rather lacking. So I think I’ll find my own way to pass the time.”

The Demon reached up to his broken arm, never taking his eyes away from Blair.

Blair flinched. “Don’t!”

The Demon wrenched, and a sick crack sounded from the arm.

“Hmm. Five breaks. Werewolf bodies are tough, even if the healing isn’t working. I wonder how many breaks it will take before the arm falls off. Care to make a guess?”

Something in Blair changed. I couldn’t place what exactly, but I knew, I knew she was going to attack.

She was going to attack. And the Demon would leave its current host and take her instead. Blair couldn’t stop that.

But I could. I’d have to. But I couldn’t. Not so soon after Niall. If I used my magic on the Demon, if I banished it, it would be worse than any ghost. I- I couldn’t!

But you can’t leave her to die.

My breaths started coming faster and faster as my panic built. I couldn’t leave Blair to die, but- but!

Do something, Alder!

Blair shifted her weight.

I moved.

Blair stopped, then slowly looked down at her hand. I held it as tightly as I could, my knuckles already turning white from the force.

She met my eyes. “Blair. Please! I-” my voice broke. “I can’t!”

She froze. The Demon kept taunting us, but I tuned him out.

Blair’s hand was burning hot. That heat brought memories bubbling up.

Johnathan’s hands tightening around my throat. Wayne’s side slick with warm blood. Margret’s fists as they pounded down.

My hand shook, and my gut churned. No! No! This wasn’t any of those situations. This was Blair!

There was a reason I hadn’t wanted to accept Rogers words.

I wasn’t someone who didn’t like to be touched, or at least, I hadn’t been. But I barely ever touched the living. Almost all my memories of it were beatings, torture… or worse. It made my fear of touch feel alien as if it were someone else’s reaction being forced on me.

Even now, as I told myself this was different, my body screamed at me to let go. I had to fight through the sense of revulsion, but I tightened my grip.

Blair’s blood-red eyes bored into mine. She was furious, so furious that I could practically feel the anger rolling off her in waves.

I prayed that her control won over her rage.

I couldn’t do anything else. If Blair decided to step forward, my grip wasn’t stopping her.

But she didn’t take that step. She just kept staring. Her eyes didn’t bleed back to blue, her anger didn’t recede, but her hand turned in my grip as she clasped my wrist, then pulled me to my feet.

“NO!” The Demon roared.

Blair kept staring at me as if she didn’t trust herself to look at the Demon.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

We slowly started walking again, keeping as far from the circle as we could, Blair gaze never leaving me.

“NO, NO, NO!” The demon composure hadn’t vanished completely, but the monster couldn’t hide its desperation. It slammed its shoulder into the circle, again and again, frantically trying to break through.

“This cage will not hold me forever, Grave Keeper! Even if it takes a thousand years, I’ll break free! And if you’re dead by the time I do, i'll see you in hell!”

It abruptly went still, and the rage left its face, replaced by a far more frightening calm.

“But before that… I’ll find your family, your kin, your blood.” pure hatred danced in its eyes, so intense I could feel it like fire on my skin.

“I will do unto them such horror’s that Yahweh would weep to look upon them.”

I tried to think of some witty come back to show that I wasn’t scared, but I was scared, both of the Demon, and that any pause would cause Blair to throw herself at him.

And after a second of thought, I looked away.

Walking away, free, from the Prisoner of the Pass was the best comeback I had.